Cornbread and Chicken

The Fah-mer

Momma, when I'm a gwown up may-an, I'm gonna be a fah-mer.

I'm gonna hab a twactor and I will take you fowr wides evey-day.

 Cuz I wuuuuv you so, so much.

**swoon**

I can't wait for those tractor rides!

(clothing inspired by his love of all things farm related, including Farmer Jason)

Happy 4th birthday

A couple of weeks ago my precious baby boys turned 4. Wow. That doesn't seem possible,
Together or separate they are the most charming, delightful, loving, funny, affectionate, sweet, kind and adorable little boys! They make their momma proud every single day.

So, here is the run down of the party. We went a little different route this year. Years past have included a Monkey party, a Barnyard bash and an Airplane party. This year my little guys were begging for a  SUPERHERO party! While I knew it would be cute and lots of fun, I also knew it would be super hot and little boys in full superhero attire in my backyard would be miserable.


A compromise was in order.
I found a delightful amusement park that is fairly close to our home. While my boys, or any of my children for that matter, have never been to an amusement park, it only took 1 visit to their website and they were hooked! But just to sweeten the deal, I offered us to stay an extra day so they could stay in a hotel (a definite crowd pleas-er) so they could swim at the pool and jump on the beds. :)


It was settled. We would go to Lake Winnie the weekend before their birthday and the actual day of their birthday we would have a family party.


We were all so excited!!!

Then our lovely van had some issues and died the morning we were supposed to leave. Don't you just love it when God does something like save you from being stranded on the other side of a mountain, on the side of an interstate with 5 small children in late July heat?! I know I do.


Needless to say, our plans were cancelled   postponed, until our transportation situation could be worked out. Now that "situation" requires a blog post all on it's own. I'll be sharing that soon.
Needless to say, God once again provided and all is good. really good!


back to the party

So, the kiddos were all pretty understanding and we moved on, knowing that we would be going, just not as we had originally planned. So instead we went ahead and prepared for our family party. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking. My mother's thumb is acting up and it's a bear to type.

here we have a little fun with the pinata....I have no idea where Bud's pants are....

 Then we moved on to opening the presents. Yes, Monkey see got his "frum set and frum sticks"

Super hero power!!! They are so, so happy in these pictures!!

 Finally, they recived new bicycle helmets and pads for their bikes. They are actually girl princess bikes that our neighbors gave us for the kids to ride around on and since the boys didnt have a bike they claimed them for their own. However, little did they know that Papa and Nana got them new bikes to go along with their helmets! they didnt even see the bikes when they went out to the garage. I think Daisy had to point them out!

And away they go!

Finally, we moved back in for cake and ice cream.

 Monkey Do blowing out his candles

 Monkey See's turn!

 And we ended with a little music!

 Happy birthday to my precious boys!

Ups and Downs

So, April has come and gone.
Oops!
It appears I ran out of time (once again) to post.
Have I mentioned life here is busy?
Like Crazy Busy??
I'm sure I have.
like 20,000x's
I really need to get back in the rhythm of posting. It seems like after I missed a few days I start to feel like a few more won't matter, and then it just feels awkward to come back on here and post.
WEIRD.
And then my family says, "Show us some pictures!"
I guess all I can say is patience. Even though I need this little blog to document and keep up with memories for me- it has become hard to document them while I'm in the midst of living them!
There are hundreds of things I have wanted to get on here- so I don't forget- but they will never pass over this keyboard because, sadly, I have forgotten them.
**OH- just remembered one! Monkey Do says kiss the sweetest way... it sounds like "chiss". He tells me 20x a day, "momma, you da best, Let me give you a chiss!"

So since this post is titled "ups and downs" I thought I'd share a few pictures from Puddin's Egg Drop Ceremony at preschool the other day.

And when I say it was full of ups and downs, I am not eggs-agerating!

Bud, sweet little Bud, had a monstrous meltdown that had me in tears the rest of the day and feeling like the worst mom to walk the planet. A sweet friend reminded me that he is just passionate, and that is a good thing. I keep reminding myself of that too.

so proud! Her egg survived the fall!
It's hard to believe her preschool experience is coming to an end!!! Only a few days left!

In other news... I've started texting! look out!!! Sadly, I am still really slow but, I am getting there. Or mabe it's sadder that I feel like I've accomplished something by getting on the text bandwagon?

My "mother's thumb" is acting up in a bad way. Seriously aggrivating! I have avoided the steroid shots up to now but I am considering acupuncture to help it... never tried it but willing to give it a shot.

yes, that is an Elmo DVD case Bud is carrying around in the pictures above. He carries one nearly every day. Sleeps with it too and he even throws a fit if I bathe him without it in his hands. Strange? Maybe, but it makes him happy and he's not too particular about the case as long as Elmo is on it. Plus, at least it's a comfort item that want require orthodontic work down the road.

And if you want to know what's going on in this picture, come back tomorrow and I will explain!

Quote of the day...

This afternoon, during naptime, I had just finished the dishes, put another load of laundry in, swept and mopped the floors and decided to sit for a minute and take a break.

Did I mention it was naptime?
Have I mentioned before that this has recently become hit or miss for us?
It has.
Today it was kind of split down the middle.
Puddin was playing her Leapster in her bed (she had permission... details on the Leapster to come shortly.) And the Wonder Twins were dancing in their beds because they had taken a 20 minute nap on the ride home from picking up the trio from preschool. (the downside of preschool- babies who still need a nap!)

Anyway, the boys, were not sleeping either. Instead they were playing quietly in their room. I knew pretty quickly that was not going to be the good kind of naptime so I made sure we were all on the page... it was a quite time in their rooms.

When suddenly, one little unnamed Monkey was squealing a high pitched squeal at the top of his lungs, and came running down the stairs. For the life of me I couldn't understand why he was crying, but I knew it was bad. He jumped in my lap, holding his face, while I was still trying to figure out the problem.
Quickly I assessed... no blood- good,
he can walk/talk/scream/cry- good,
then finally, I understood the words mixed with sobs..."derwe's a diamond in my nose!!"
translation: "I STUCK SOMETHING SHINY UP MY NOSE AND I CAN'T GET IT OUT!"

Normally, this is where I would insert a picture. But due to the seriousness of having a diamond up the nose, I decided to jump into action immediately, rather than grab the camera.

So while I sent the other Monkey on the let's take forever and a day errand to get mommy a tissue, I held the diamond free nostril closed with my forefinger and placed my other hand in front of his nose to catch.
I promptly asked him to... BLOW.
Yes, I did.
He blew- nothing (but snot).
He blew again- still more snot, and yet, no tissue!!!
Then he started to suck back in and I was so afraid that precious diamond was going to get stuck up there further that I ordered him to blow HARD.
He did.. good boy!
And in the process shot out more snot, as well as the shiny diamond! It was actually a yellow acrylic bead with the letter B on it... the teacher in me immediately thought, oh how appropriate, b for booger. My boy is S-M-A-R-T!
Yes, I did.
Guess what... then the other Monkey showed up with a tissue.
Yes, he did.

Anyway, good news is all of my children have diamond free noses tonight and no ER was necessary! Ya-hoo!
I also took the time to use this as a teachable moment, ie, scare the fire out of them. And in all my mommy glory I explained that if he or his brother ever, I mean EVER put anything in their noses again I would not be able to get it out. Next time we would have to go to the doctor and he would take a long shiny tool and put it up their nose to get it out.
-Insert 2 deer in headlights looks-
Their question?
"Will it huwt?"
My response?
"YES-very, very bad!"

And so it goes!
Hopefully, all of the noses under your roof are diamond-free tonight!
I'm off to bed and will probably wonder what they will come up with tomorrow!
Night- night!

The Next Big Thing!

Look out NKOTB and BSB... Here comes the Fabulous 5 (minus 2 for today's show):)

My Only Sunshine from Melissa Flowers on Vimeo.

Puddin is the ballet dancing, camera hog.
Monkey Do is the rockin' farmer.
And Monkey See is paying homage to Michael Jackson in his one glove, his underwear and his sister's mary janes!
What a trio!

Be Prepared.... this may melt your heart!

I am Special from Melissa Flowers on Vimeo.

Halloween??

Pumpkin row... the pumpkin faces drawn by the kids and cut by mommy and daddy...

L-R... (and in birth order, just cause) Puddin, Monkey Do, Monkey See, Bud and Daisy.

Did I share this? Things have just been c to the r to the azy around here lately and I don't know which end is up it seems.

Anyway, I think sharing our halloween pictures is one of those things that fell to the wayside the past couple of weeks! So, 2 weeks into the November, here we go!

(BTW- my last show is coming up next week and then, while I'll be plenty busy with custom orders, I will be able to slow down a breath a little, I hope.)

Halloween 2010

Theme: Old McMonkey Do and the barnyard gang... totally decided upon by Monkey Do and his deep admiration of Farmer Jason.
So, thanks to Monkey Do we had a puppy, aka Monkey See, a lamb, aka Puddin, a mouse, aka Bud and a baby chick, aka Daisy. Bud and Daisy's costumes were from our costume collection previously worn by their siblings, but still as cute as ever. Monkey See's costume was courtesy of Gymboree and Puddin's was a home made lamb suit.

Ta- Daaa!

It is so, so hard to get everyone looking in the same direction and happy at the same time!

they're off!

after wards... assessing the loot. I put the babies to bed while hubby and the kiddos got busy with the candy! I think he was as happy about the loot as they were!

ummmm- Reece's peanut butter cups... yummmm!

Hope you all had a happy Halloween too!

a house fit for a fairy...

A couple of weeks ago we had one of our sweet little friends come and spend an afternoon with us. To say Puddin was excited would be the understatement of the year. For some reason, she has a sudden fascination with sleepovers. I'm not even sure where she was first introduced to the term, since we have never used it and she has never slept anywhere in her whole life except her own bed, or in a hotel room with her entire family. I blame preschool. Ha!

Anyway, her sweet little friend L came to play and Puddin was thrilled!

Puddin had been watching the new Tinkerbell movie and had been telling me for days she wished she had a fairy house for her back yard like the little girl in the movie.

So after the kiddos played for a while I gathered them all together in the backyard for a mission. They had to collect sticks, nuts, berries, leaves, etc. but I did not tell them why.

Once we had the basket full we went back inside, fired up the glue gun, and I told them the plan... to build fairy houses!

Here are our renditions! I think they turned out fantastic and the kids had so much fun!!!

Monkey Do and his fairy house. Yes, he is wearing his cowboy farmer hat, again... it's a daily thing these days.

Monkey See and his fairy house... yes, he is wearing food on his face, again.

Also a daily thing around here. All I can say is, that boy loves a brownie!

Princess Puddin and her fairy house. Yes, she is wearing blue eye shadow and lip gloss.... another daily thing thanks to the makeup kit she was given by Nana for her birthday! (We do limit it to after school and only if mommy has no other plans for us to leave the house for the day) It's all about the limits!

Definitely a repeat activity in this house in the future!