ALL Aboard!

I found Carter playing with his guys...as he calls them...and below is what they looked like. I tried to help him put them into a bigger car/bus, but....nope...this is how he wanted to roll:

Tuesday...

I cannot put into words what this sweet family must be going through today...Please pray for baby Tuesday and her family...yesterday she lost her hard-fought battle with cancer...

Seriously...

Someone please block Scrapblog on my computer, so I will stay away...far far away...from it...

Pretty Impressive!

I usually beat Ryan home from work, but yesterday I had a meeting at another school and ran into a friend I used to teach with years ago, got caught up chatting about our lives...yada, yada, yada...you know how we women are...So I didn't get home until pretty late, and when I arrived, this is what I found:

The impressive part is Ryan made this, what I have named "candle koozie", all by himself! Really? You made that?...was all I could say when I saw his masterpiece. The candle came from Ryan's parents...it was just something they were getting rid of...and was gray which doesn't go with our colors, so Ryan went into my scrap fabric drawer, cut a piece to fit around the candle, used my hot glue gun, and glued the fabric and the trim to the outside. Does the fabric look familiar, Britney? Pretty impressive for a man!

Award Time...

Here is the award I have humbly given myself...After my previous post, I received a call from the nurse at Austin's school...he had just thrown up in the nurse's office...My poor little guy...I am officially a bad mom...

"The Teenager"

It was nice having the day off yesterday...BUT...and I will repeat loud and clear....BUT...my oldest son, I'll simply refer to as 'The Teenager", drove me absolutely nuts!

Let's back up about 13 years ago...I vividly remember standing over his crib with my mother, in the wee hours of the morning, only a few days after giving birth to him, staring in awe at the tiny human being, a part of me, I was his only source of nutrition, totally dependent on me, tears in my eyes, and saying, "I cannot imagine ever getting angry with him..."

Fast forward almost 13 years...I am completely sure that my mother was laughing under her breath that night because she had been there and done that. She knew I would face trials and tribulations with Austin. She knew there would be days where I would be willing to sell him to the lowest bidder, or ingeniously set him out in front of the house with a sign that says "Free to a good home", but instead, she chose to keep silent, let me enjoy the innocence of a new mother, appreciate those tender moments between mother and child.

Yesterday was NOT one of those days full of tender moments...It started with finding him outside in shorts, banging on the gutters so the ice would fly out the bottom...right outside the neighbor's windows...The neighbors who were probably still asleep. From that point on, my patience level was short, and his activity level and attitude level rapidly increased. Can you imagine if children were born as teenagers, and we never had all those precious years leading up to that point? My mother told me that the way she made it through our teenage years was by remembering Proverbs 22:6 --- "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." If it weren't for this, I promise you he would have ended up on eBay or Craig's List yesterday!

What the...

So while stalking other blogs this morning, I came across this:

and this...

Two simple words came to mind...What the...Really what is the world coming to...mantyhose!? I would have to kill Ryan if he came home from work in this outfit...I don't care what Hollywood says! This is real...check it out.

I Blew Up the Blender...

Yes, it's true...I blew up the blender last night. No, we weren't having some amazing, super packed party where we were concocting multiple fruity cocktails causing a surge overload. I was simply making the boys some "Jawa Jive Milkshakes" from the Star Wars cookbook Preston checked out from the library. It started off as a great idea and quickly went downhill...


Preston being goofy with his fake smile! Here's the cookbook...
The Star Wars Cookbook: Wookie Cookies and Other Galactic Recipes

They were going to be so great...

Then...it blew up...

It was ugly...


Oh well...It was a good idea...Isn't it the thought that counts...

Moral of the Story...

I don't know why the "bad" part of me seems to come out at approximately the same time each day, but it does. My mother always called it the "witching hour"...the time when all mothers begin to feel the effects of the day. Perhaps it is brought on by a whiny 4-year-old crying about his brother taking away his Chewbacca toy or Backugan ball, perhaps antagonized by the glass of wine that seemed like a relaxing idea at the time, or maybe...maybe it's a lack of patience brought on by every single child calling my name at the same time, for a different reason, needing something "very important" right at that moment...no way they're waiting until I am done doing what I happen to be doing. Whatever the reason, it happens...and then he walks through the door, home from work, and life is suddenly good again...and that "door" I wrote about yesterday...slams shut, and I'm happy right where I am.

Moral of the story...
Enjoy your blessings, enjoy today, enjoy EVERY moment...

FREE...

I wanted to pass on a website I discovered with FREE backgrounds for your blog!
Simply Chic Blogs....just sharin' the love...

On My Mind...

Random thoughts on my mind today...

1. How is it possible that 2 staplers and 2 tape dispensers have "walked" out of my classroom over the past 5 months? Really...who takes them, better yet, who WANTS them and why...and how do I not notice someone walking out with them?

2. Why is it when you don't have a dime to spend, you can find ALL KINDS of things you'd like to buy, but when you actually have the cash, and you go shopping, you can't find anything!?

3. Why must we need to continually remind our kids to put their towels up after their baths, put their dirty clothes in the laundry basket, brush their teeth after breakfast....EVERY single day...Dude, you did the SAME thing yesterday and the day before!

4. Why do I need to pee EVERY time I go into the grocery store? I have always wondered that...

The Door....

You know what "the door" is....it's that entrance into "Should we have another one?" I hate it...every time I think we've made our decision, that freaking door unlocks and tries to suck me in...

This is what opened it this time....It's my brother's fault for bringing her over just as she's learning to walk...with that precious little waddle babies do before they learn how to balance...dressed in the cutest pink tutu and tights and shoes and bow...I won't even mention the matching pink jacket with a zebra print collar...Uggg!

Back and Forth...

It's no secret Ryan and I have gone back and forth on the topic of having a baby. There are days that something will spark that little urge....like watching my niece, Addyson, taking her first steps, and the "door" opens. Then there are days we have all four boys together, and we start to think 4 is a good even number, and we'd be crazy to have another....the "door" closes!



So...Ryan and I were sitting in the kitchen talking on Friday night when I made a suggestion and received a response I was so NOT prepared for because it made that freakin' door open again! I brought up the big "V" word...you know that word a lot of men don't want to talk about because it involves a knife and part of their manhood...Are you with me? It's not a secret, it's no big deal...it's part of life. What I wasn't prepared for was his response...I had made the comment the other day that we never know how we're going to feel in a couple of years...we're still in the newlywed phase...we might change our minds...So, when I brought up the "v" word, he wasn't sure we should consider that step yet...The "door" is open again.

Push-ups...

I have no idea why I find Carter doing push-ups so funny...but I do. His little body just looks hilarious! Sweet boy...

Trysten's Family Birthday Party

Today we celebrated Trysten's birthday with our families at our house. We had originally planned to have the party at Ed and Carol's, but with the two of them having to fly back and forth between New York and Texas, we decided not to impose a house full of kids on them. It was a lot of fun, and I had a great time planning a special day for T!

The cake and goodie bags...or boxes...I used Chinese take-out boxes for the party favors.

My insanely precious niece, Addyson...born on my birthday almost 1 year ago!

Ryan and I set up a bowling game, complete with prizes for the winners!

In this game, the kids had 2 minutes to create the tallest tower made from toothpicks and marshmallows...Preston chose to make, what he referred to as a "rectangular prism". He cracks me up!

Trysten received more Backugan related toys...This is the little "arena" where you can play the actual game...

"Happy birthday to you...Happy birthday to you..."

Jennifer and I...love her!

The Soladay's...=)

Yum!

Thursday night we had a belated birthday dinner for Trysten, and I didn't want to have cake since I am going to make one for the family birthday party on Saturday. I remembered from our family vacation in Point Clear last summer, that Trysten loved these little chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches which the boys ate almost every single day by the pool. I found a recipe to make them on Martha Stewart.com...of course she had recipe for these little jewels....what does that crazy woman not have...The recipe called for making the cookies from scatch, so I complied, but you could easily use premade dough and assemble these in a sec! The cool thing is that you can make them, wrap them individually, put them in the freezer for up to 2 weeks and have one whenever you want! They were a huge hit!

They even somewhat resembled the pics on Ms. Stewart's site...


Yummy!

The Park...

Ryan picked Trysten up from school to hangout for a few hours before he went to a birthday dinner with Britney's family, so we decided to take the kids to the park and let the boys run wild and play for a bit.

I cannot believe how much older Trysten is looking. I simply can't get over how big his feet are!

I am always nervous at the park...The boys kept telling me not to worry...but look at them!

This little video is of the boys playing with an Iron Man rocket launcher my parents gave Trysten for Christmas...Total boy thing...

I love catching one of those sweet moments between Ryan and Carter on video...They have really developed a special relationship...

Good times...

Happy Birthday Trysten!

I always say that Trysten is such a lucky little guy to have so many people around him that love him, and I feel lucky to be able to be one of those people! Happy birthday, Trysten!

Meet Barack Obama, Kids...

It's no secret our families are staunch Republicans, so during the election, we tended to focus our discussions with the boys on Senator McCain. After watching the inauguration today however, I felt the need to go home and talk to the boys about "who" President Barack Obama is, considering he will be our leader for at least the next 4 years. I found these little printable books on one of my favorite websites, Enchanted Learning, and it had all kinds of activities for the kids to do which would springboard conversations. It was pretty interesting the dialogue that went on, including falsehoods shared between kids at Austin and Preston's schools. For instance, a friend of Austin's told him that President Obama is going to do away with summer vacation....ummm...no.

Here is the book...I also printed out coloring sheets, and Carter's rendition was....colorful...

Preston patiently helping Carter

Austin and Preston calculating President Obama's age


President Obama according to Carter...


Love this...Carter telling me who the President is...

Just Because...

Just because a student brings cupcakes to school to celebrate his birthday, doesn't mean I HAVE to eat one...but NOT eating one would be rude...right? I swear, teaching makes you gain weight!

And yes, my students thought I was weird for taking a pic of a cupcake...My camera is with me at all times...drives my family crazy!

According to Carter...

This morning on the way to drop Carter off at preschool, the following conversation took place in the back seat...What prompted Carter to say this right as we pulled out of the neighborhood, I'll never know...By the way, I apologize in advance if this offends anyone:

Carter:
"Mom, did you know that if you have a pee-pee but not any nuts, you will die?"
Me:
"What did you say?"
Carter:
"If you have a pee-pee and no nuts, you'll die."
Preston:
"Mom, he said you'll die. You won't die right away, Carter. If they fall off, you'll still live for a little bit."

Okay...I am trapped within an immense cloud of testosterone...

Two Cinnamon Rolls...Not Three

So I made cinnamon rolls for the boys this morning, and the rule is each child is allowed to have 2. The rule has been the same in our house for eternity, and everyone knows it and adheres to it...except Carter. It never fails, every single time I make them, he asks for 3, and every single time I say no. After I denied his request today, he became upset, reluctantly sat down to eat his 2, finished them, and proceeded to come back into the kitchen and ask for a third. I told him they were gone, and reminded him about the rule. This announcement caused him to run to the family room, THROW himself on the couch and initiate his infamous whining...this time about wanting a bowl of cereal. As he was doing so, Carter was slowly sliding off the front of the couch, and speaking in a voice which sounded like a child on his last leg of life...so dramatic...Suddenly he realized a show he liked was on the television, and all was well with the world again. Seriously, was all of that necessary? What if we did that when we didn't get our way...

Good Times...

This weekend started on Thursday for me since the kids didn't have school on Friday. My boys went to their dad's, Ryan and Trysten had a father-son night, and I went with a friend to listen to Waking Norman at Sullivan's. It was certainly an interesting evening...fun...and interesting!

Courtney and I =)

On Saturday, Ryan and I took our good friend, Billy, out to dinner for his birthday at Kobe's in Addison. Good times!

Ouch...

More Randomness From Me...

I apologize in advance if this bores anyone...Below are a few random thoughts I have had over the past several days...


1. It should be mandatory to pass a common sense test before becoming a parent.


2. If people pull up to a red light in the right hand lane with no cars in front of them, and they're NOT turning right, why don't they simply move over to the left hand lane so that the people behind them can turn right? This happens to me almost EVERY morning on my way to take Carter to school...drives me crazy!


3. I wish I could record my 12 year old getting so upset at a video game that he ends up crying and show it to him...really...it's a game, dude!


4. Here's a better one: I wish I could record a large group of men at a sports bar watching a football game, screaming at the team that's losing and show it to them...really...it's a game, dude!


5. I wish I could freeze Carter at the age he is for just a little longer so I can continue to enjoy the crazy, funny things that come out of his mouth....When he gets frustrated with me he says, "I'm not your mom anymore!"...When we're watching something on television, and he wants to see it again, he says, "Will you 'forward fast' it for me?"


6. I wish I were like Jane Jetson and could get up in the morning, push a button and my hair and make-up would be done, push a button and the bed would make itself, go into the kitchen, push a button and breakfast would be made for the kids and to top it off, have a robot like Rosie to clean the house among other unfavorable chores.

She had the life!

Procrastination...

Would you say I've been procrastinating on grading papers a bit? Yah...now on to the not-so-fun part of teaching...See...I am procrastinating grading these even more by posting this....

Children Are Like...

There is a saying which states: "If you don't like the weather in Texas, wait a few minutes, and it will change." This morning I decided that children are like the weather in Texas, and for some odd reason, mulling over that statement helped me get through the whining which lasted for 15 minutes in my bathroom. Seriously, is it necessary for a 4 year old to throw himself on the ground, use his legs to turn himself around in circles while on his side and whine about being cold and wanting his blanket, when what he is supposed to be doing is taking a bath? In order to keep from losing my mind, I just kept telling myself...Give him a few minutes, and he will get over it...just like the weather in Texas...and he did...

Just a Little Friendly Competition...

There are many things I can say without hesitation....Ryan is better at than me. For instance, he can grill a steak better than me. I'm telling you...the man can cook a mean steak...but I will have it known, as of tonight, I am still the reigning dominoes champion...7 games in a row! There's nothing like a little friendly competition to make life fun! In all seriousness, one facet I love about our marriage is how much we laugh and goof around...I love that when I'm with him, I can simply be me...

By the way, I think he needs to buy me this shirt:

President Bush

With the inauguration of President-Elect, Barack Obama, coming up on January 20th, we cannot help but look back at the legacy President Bush will be leaving behind. After reading this article on Time.com, I felt despondent and discontented with the response a vast majority of our country is promoting regarding his presidency. Instead of looking at the positive, even President Bush himself is being forced to focus on the negative. I made a mental list of every major event which occurred during his 2 terms in office, and I would love to know exactly what all of the people bashing him would have done differently...and I would like to see if the drastically different outcomes they proclaim, would really materialize. I am a Republican, I voted for Bush, and even though I may not agree with every decision he made, at least he respected his wife enough to keep his pants on while in office...

Excerpt from the article:


"In the current Administration's waning days, Americans have struggled to find a single word that would encapsulate history's judgment on the two-term presidency of George W. Bush. The left has offered disastrous, citing the damage they see inflicted on the country by Bush's foreign policy and economic stewardship. The right has countered with secure, arguing that another 9/11 was prevented by Bush's taking the fight to terrorists at home and abroad. But in what the White House says will be his final press conference on Monday, President Bush himself provided the word everyone has been looking for: disappointment."

Family Weekend Recap...

Word: exhausted

Definition: extremely tired

Synonyms: beat, bushed, debilitated, kaput, run-down

I am all of the above after this weekend. There is absolutely NEVER a dull moment when we have all the boys together, and this time was no exception to the rule!

My ever resourceful mother-in-law gave me this book called Kids' Projects for Rainy Days because she knows I am always on a quest for something fun for the kids...especially inexpensive activities! I love this book already! The boys and I looked through it and decided to make play dough. If you've never made play dough before, it's super easy, and provides hours of fun...regardless of whether or not the kids play with the substance as actually intended...hence Preston and Trysten trying to "jump" theirs on the trampoline!

Click on the picture, and you can write down the recipe!

Preston measuring out the flour...the messiest baking material on the planet...

I love the left over "basketti"...as he calls it...on T's face from lunch! He asked me to take a picture of him so that he could see it!

The play dough! The boys thought it so so cool! We made red, green and blue!

We visited Grandma over the weekend, and the 3 little ones had a blast playing in the pampas grass...It's 8-10 feet tall!

That's Preston underneath...

Sweet boys...

On Saturday we had a Family Game Night. I love doing this because, as I have said before, we're not just sitting in front of the television...which is fine every once in awhile...but playing games provides a chance to laugh, talk and develop some friendly competition! Not to mention learning a word called "strategy"...Ryan taught Preston the meaning during a game of Battle Ship!



Gotta love Candyland!



To end the recap of our weekend, I must share 2 of the moments I wrote down over the past 3 days that simply cracked me up, and further solidifies the merriment of our kids...

1. Trysten and Preston holding a flashlight up to their stuffed Incredible Hulk's eye.When asked what they were doing, Trysten said, "Trying to make him go blind."

2. Trysten, Preston and Carter seeing who could stick the largest number of "Nerds" (candy) into their belly buttons...and then proceeding to eat them.

* Come on....how do you not love that!

Costume Changes...

I previously mentioned Trysten's inclination for "dressing up"....Below we have 2 of his ingenious costume changes this morning:

This one is called "Surf and Nerf"...Making his Daddy proud!

This one is called simply..."White Rapper".

The Boys and Ninja-Light Saber Guys...

You're probably wondering about the title of this post...Me too...I went to get my nails done after work today...and this is what I came home to...So much for family game night...the kids had other plans!

Carter, Preston & Trysten...Notice the HUGE piece of gum in T's mouth! You know why I love this pic...because here are 3 little boys, playing with a very masculine toy...a pirate ship...and all of the pieces to play with it are stored in a pink, striped bag from Victoria's Secret! Does that qualify as an oxymoron?

Here we are about 10 minutes later...You have to know Trysten to really appreciate this picture. He LOVES to dress up, whether it's Ryan's shoes/clothes..or sometimes mine...old Halloween costumes, hats, masks, etc., and this year, a ninja costume was included on his Christmas list, so we found him one. Here he is in 1/2 of it...complete with a light saber! This is precisely why having kids is so much fun...because In the celebrated words of Forest Gump, "You never know what you're gonna get!"