Birthdays and Bath time

For Caroline's 3rd birthday she wanted a mermaid - her cousins had gotten some mermaids from the dollar store which, though cheap, were a HUGE hit. Unfortunately, because they were cheap, they fell apart quickly so I knew we'd have to find her mermaid at a slightly nicer location. It so happened that Joe and I took an excursion one morning while the kids were at school and/or Mother Goose Time, Kari generously offered to watch Ethan, and we headed to Toys R Us in Colorado Springs.  We found lots of Christmas stuff and THE PERFECT mermaid. So awesome! Slightly larger than  a Barbie, real hair, silicone flipper that's very realistic (you know, if mermaids were real), and it swims when you put her in water! It takes batteries, which baffles me a bit that someone thought batteries in a water toy would work out, but they claim the battery case is completely waterproof, so we'll see. IF NOTHING ELSE, she has a silicone flipper and real hair and that's dang cool. 

Can you see in Amelia's eyes that she's in love? Caroline couldn't take her eyes away from her new doll long enough for a picture. 

I may have caused problems, though, since then Amelia has been asking for a mermaid for Christmas and Caroline wants a BLONDE mermaid for Christmas… they do sell one, and seen swimming so photoshoppedly here… We may just have a girls-day excursion to the Springs after the holidays :)

Like most kids, our kids love baths - not to get clean, just to play around in. I thought Kellan (the mermaid) would be PERFECT to extend bath time - after all, she's made for the water! Caroline disagrees, though, and she doesn't like to get her doll's hair wet. Oh well, she still takes 30+ minute baths, and by the time she gets out she's all prune-y. She told me "My fingers are all crumpled." I thought that was a good descriptions! "That's because the bath is crumply." …well, maybe not the best explanation, but hey, she's a 3-year-old…. 

Who dresses herself ADORABLY…sometimes. Infrequently enough that I take pictures of it, I guess!

You're getting' so big! *tear!*

.

PS Remember her first haircut I didn't like so much? I figured rather than sped $10 or $15 to get  haircut I don't like I could give her a perfectly bad haircut at home… but turns out I love it! I think she looks adorable with layers. 

This will not tell you anything about last month.

I've been awful about posting, but it's not because things are awful - quite the opposite. I've been having such a good time being a lazy bum I haven't even had time to feel guilty about being an awful blogger! The truth is, I've been pretty bad about just about EVERYTHING… except watching Scandal and The Office on Netflix with Joe, and I am REALLY good at doing that. It's gone from being a guilty pleasure, trying to sneak in an episode or two after kids go to bed, to an all-out date-night where we purposely put to kids to bed early, pop some popcorn and scoop some ice cream and snuggle under the blankets… And THAT is good.

Instead of catching up about Thanksgiving and such, I'll take my scrapbooking advice and start with NOW.

We went out to see Frozen, and the clip of Elsa singing "Let it Go" is on youtube, so we watch that every day, multiple times a day. Patrick cracks me up because he tries to make himself sound really awesome when he sings by sliding his voice from high notes to low - "let it GOooooooooeeeeew, let it GOooooooooeeeew, can't hold it back any-Mooooooaaar" You just can't pimp out a Disney princess singing, but it's funny to hear him try.

Patrick got some boxing practice gloves - one set of gloves, one set of pads to hit that another person wears. Instead of hitting the pads the kids just act like it's two sets of gloves, though, so he and Eli were boxing with those. Patrick was coming after Eli and instead of fighting back Eli just ran away. Patrick stopped him and said, "Don't run away, just box me. That's the thing about boxing: remembering to box."

Eli gives great hugs. MAN, that kid can hug. He didn't snuggle much as a baby so even 4 years later I'm still taken off guard when he goes in for a hug and doesn't let go. I've heard when a kid hugs you, you should let them let go first because you never know how much they might need that hug. Well, if that's the case, I'm still giving Eli his bedtime hug from last night.

Eli tries to fool us that he is the smartest kid EVER. We got a Highlights seek-and-find calendar, so 12 months'-worth of hidden pictures, and every single one he'd challenge me to find things first. Not so hard, but as soon as I'd point to one he's said, "I already noticed that." So I would challenge HIM to find one and he'd say, "I already know where that is. It's…..riiiiiiight……it's……riiiiiiight……." and he'd drag his finder over the entire page looking for it. As soon as I got tired of that and pointed it out he'd say, "MO-om, I already noticed that!" I think he means he already knew that, but he would say knowed, which of course isn't a word, but "knowed" and "noticed" sound very similar and I never corrected noticed since it's not made-up. Now it's pretty common any time he tries to fool us into thinking he already knew something, to hear that he has "already noticed it."

Caroline still sings to herself, and I still love to listen in. She sings a lot of Frozen, along with my other kids, but she particularly likes to sing "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus. Can't say I approve of "crazy" as a lifestyle choice, but that girl sure has some pipes… unlike Caroline, who sings it the highest possible notes she can hit (and plenty that she can't). Maybe Caroline is a bit crazy like Miley anyway - today she waltzed out of her room in what she declared "fully dressed" - cowboy boots, tights, and a glittery shirt with a ruffled bottom - she was convinced it was a dress so she refused to wear pants, even though it covered 0% of her bum. I could see some starlet out shopping in that…

Ethan's a terror. No spot is safe in my home, even the safe spots - he'll find a way to destroy it, and try to destroy himself in the process! I swear he's a hired hit man, and the job is himself - he will find a way to do himself in, just give him some time. He escaped from my house one day, unnoticed, and was returned to me by a neighbor. I felt AWFUL!! I've never had an escaper in my mothering experience, so I was unprepared. More diligence! So it was a bigger surprise when he managed to escape over Thanksgiving when there were 4 adults in the house! My mom happened to be heading house to house and rescued him from down the sidewalk a ways. Hey, if he can escape with 4 adults, it's no wonder he got away from 1.

We tried to wean Ethan off the bottle. All the other kids have been pretty content to take whatever we give them, so long as they can get a drink, but Ethan has his own ideas.  We completely took the bottle away and had sippy cups at the ready - the first day was rough, the second day was rougher, the third day seemed like we were on the up-swing into him accepting his new life… but the third NIGHT he woke up and cried inconsolably for 1-1/2 hours, from 1 a.m. - 2:30 a.m. We finally plugged him up with a bottle, and it took him quite a while for him to forgive us enough to even LOOK at those sippy cups again. We may end up with a 2-year old who happily totes his bottles to playdates, the park, and potty-training, but I figure there are worse things in the world. I only figure that because I'm his mom; I DISTINCTLY remember judging another mother who had a toddler with a bottle at church. When the tables are turned, I am much more forgiving (you're welcome, Self)!

About the adults: Joe was working diligently on our basement bathroom until Thanksgiving break, and since then we've been diligently ignoring it. One of these days I'll get around to the Bold and the Beautiful: Part Whatever, but today is not that day. Tomorrow doesn't look good either.

Joe turned 30! It wasn't a huge celebration, though I got him a particularly awesome Honey Badger card.

So that was awesome. Joe shopped for and cooked his own delicious birthday dinner and dessert (he chose strawberry shortcake. This would never be my choice because it does not have any chocolate) and we ate with Kari & Jonathan & their kids, then the next night they babysat for us and we went out to Catching Fire. This was also my birthday celebration of sorts, since my day fell on Sunday and Joe's not home and Sundays suck… but at least we hit the movies, right?

And then you've already heard about me and popcorn and netflix, so now you know everything! I mean, noticed everything! 

My other blog (she has another blog?)

I originally started two blogs, one for my family and one for my scrapbooking, but the last time I posted on my scrapbooking blog was 5 years ago! I decided to remedy the situation and now I'm working to keep a fun log of favorite scrapbooking pages and ideas and tools and whatnot. If you're interested (or just bored out of your mind and have nothing better to do at the moment), go check it out at willscrapbookforfood.blogspot.com. Enjoy!

Muhammad-al-Eli

Eli and Caroline and Patrick really like to brush my hair, but none of them are particularly good (i.e., gentle) about it. After finishing up with a particularly painful brushing Eli asked me if it hurt when I brushed my own hair. I said, "Yeah, but not as much because I expect it. It's like when you punch yourself, you can't really do it so hard it hurts because you expect it." Eli said, "I can punch so it hurts!" and he immediately punched himself straight in the face. Well, you sure showed me, Eli!

Family photos with mischievious children...

Although we had family photos over the summer in Estes park, our kids grow by the day (practically by the second, judging by their food consumption and outgrowing of pants) AND I needed to update their individual pictures. Since everyone "turns" in the winter months I like to do it all in one fell swoop: family photo, individual yearly photos, and material for Christmas cards. We had our good friend Cami Chapman do them for us, and I'm pleased with how many cute ones we got!

 One of those "All because two people fell in love" beginnings... First we were crazy about each other, then we had four kids, and now we are just crazy.

Awww, Patrick is old enough to pose by a river and not fall in - so big! *tear!*

I maintain that Eli is the handsomest. Like, EVER. In the history of ever.

This is a common look from Caroline when she's embarrassed - the only thing missing from this expression is her looking out the corner of her eyes.

 How can you resist this guy?!

 Wicked cute!

 There was some serious wrestling by Patrick and distraction by the parents to get Ethan to sit semi-still for this shot.

 In the end we ditched him because he was determined to throw himself off the boulder and own the hill. I'm holding the frame in one hand, Ethan in the other, out of the shot.

 But I still love him. And he still loves me (and my teeth).

My handsome dudes

 We didn't do it! We were framed! Very cutely framed!

 Framed or not, Caroline's too cute to be found guilty.

 ALL my handsome guys.

 

Cami is the same talented friend who did Ethan's baby photos, so if you're in Pueblo and need some nice pictures snapped, call her!

The Help, injected with honesty

You know in "The Help" (by Kathryn Stockett) when Aibeleen tells the little girl she watches, "You is good. You is smart. You is important."? It always makes me want to cry because I can see myself on both sides, being like the mother who is distracted by inconsequential things instead of using her energy to wisely raise her daughter, and being like Aibeleen who is truly busy yet trying to instill in the girl a sense of self-worth in spite of sometimes difficult circumstances. Yes, I can be distracted by inconsequential things, like crafting far too late into the night so my kids get TV and candy in the morning while I get a nap; on the other hand, I spend nearly every waking minute with 3 of my 4 kids so there are more moments than I can even count where I am reading to them, talking with them, playing with them, cleaning with them, eating with them, encouraging them, lecturing them, and loving them. 

To make the most of some of our quiet moments, and to counteract some of my negligent moments, I've taken a note from Aibileen and been whispering encouraging words to my kids as I tuck them in bed. Caroline, especially, since I catch myself saying nice things about her, but things that are not necessarily something to aspire to, like, "You're my pretty girl." Caroline, don't go getting the impression that I am basing your worth on how pretty you are! I'm not! But I'm your mom, and I think you're pretty, so I say it. So at bedtime I say things like, "You are smart. You are important. You are special." She nods in agreement with each one, which warms my heart. Last night after I'd whispered to her and was leaving the room she added, "And difficult," and nodded with her satisfied little smile. Now THAT is the truth, Caroline, that is the truth.

Perhaps craftier than I thought...

 A friend walked into my house yesterday and appreciated these colorful curtains. I was happy because I LOVE these curtains, they were a big part of bringing more bright colors into my living spaces!

I said, "Thanks! I made them from some clearance fabric I found at Hobby Lobby." She was surprised and noticed that the pillows were homemade, too, so then I started pointing out all the things I've crafted that decorate the one room we were standing in… it was crazy! The family sign over the door.

The wreath on the front of the door. The pillows on the couch. I knitted the blanket on the couch. I painted the frames that are all around the room.

I whipped up the cafe curtains over the sink, and made a cute pink accent stripe around the window.

I was feeling pretty good about myself! Most of the projects have slowly spanned the last 5 years or so, it's not like I suddenly began crafting 6 months ago and have transformed my home, because that's simply not true. But the slow accumulation of homemade items combines to make a unique and fun (for me) place to be! Later this weekend, hanging out with Kari, we were sitting on our rears doing nothing while the kids were playing well and quietly together - why waste time? Let's do more crafts! So I went to get the materials from my house for a new Valentine's wreath I've been wanting to start, and in collecting the material I came across materials for old projects I never got around to finishing! So instead of a from-scratch Valentine's wreath I ended up completing these 3 beauties:

A Valentine's 3-D thingy. I painted an old scratched-up frame from Goodwill (got the cheapest one I could find, less than $2). The Zebra background is scrapbooking paper, on hand (and stolen from my sister Kari, so REALLY free for me!), the roses are simply scrapbooking paper cut into a circle, then cut a spiral into he circle and wind it up from the inside out, then hot-glued on. SO EASY, you wouldn't believe it (especially for how cute they turn out!)

A decorative tray. I salvaged an unfinished wood breakfast tray from Goodwill (maybe $2? It was YEARS ago), painted the edges and mod-podged scrapbooking paper cut and/or torn to make the interior picture.  The tree on top has sequins glues on as ornaments, the wording was cut from Cricut. All the items were already on-hand, I didn't buy anything special for it, so I'm gonna say $2 for this bad-boy. It's sitting on one of the chairs I re-upholstered myself :)

This nice charger I got on wicked clearance at BBB after-holiday sales. Originally $10 it was only $1! I hand-cut "joy" and cut the rest from Cricut, then mod podged it together. The paper and mod podge were on hand, the Cricut was borrowed from my sister, so the whole project was seriously $1.

I guess I need to dig through my craft stash more often, I know I have more half-finished projects lying in wait for a quiet afternoon!