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!

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!

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!

Proud as Punch

This little guy is as proud as punch!

He dressed himself!!!

YAY!!!

This may not sound like a big deal to some, but when your twin brother has been doing this on his own for quite a while, you start to notice and feel bad about it. Poor thing!

Have I mentioned before how fiercly competitive he is?? Well, he is. And, he was determined that he was going to be able to do this "all by myselwf" as soon as possible!

We worked on it, and worked on it. Finally, today he popped up after he was dressed and yelled, "MOMMA!!!! I did it all by myselwf!" I was so happy for my sweet boy! Way to go Monkey See!!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

So, I'm having trouble keeping up these days.

Preschool has thrown me for a loop. Well, not really preschool... more like the 2 babes not in preschool.

Oh well! That's another story for another time.

For now, these pictures have been screaming to get out of my camera!

Puddin, Monkey See and Monkey Do started baseball this past weekend!

Aren't they the cutest things?!?

Hubby is on the right helping Monkey See get his legs just right, Monkey Do is standing next to them, one of the coaches and 2 of the team mates are on the left and the little pixie running free in the outfield??? Well, that's Puddin!

Monkey Do at bat

Puddin at bat

Monkey See at bat

They had fun, so did Daddy!

It was so cute to see the 4 of them out on the field together! I loved it!

Monkey Do running home

Bud and Daisy

My boys!

Everyone had a ball until they got hot.

they are starting to wither!

And well, if you have a preschooler, you know how that goes.

Now, onto team pictures tomorrow and another "game" on Saturday!

And just to earn myself a few points here... all 7 of us were dressed, fed, and at the ball park with minutes to spare before our 8:00 starting time on Saturday morning! I couldn't believe it!

Tractors on Main Street

Puddin has started taking violin lessons. She loves it. I'm so happy she is enjoying it but there was a big, BIG, hesitation on my part before we started. It was, "What am I going to do with the other 4 kids in a music store while she takes a violin lesson??? Am I crazy- I already have to deal with this during dance lessons, and man- it is not fun!" And really, truly I say to you, it.is.NOT.fun.
When they were little it was one thing- I mean, they would sit and be entertained by all of the smiling mommies... they are no longer entertaining and the children no longer like to sit.
Dilemmas.
So, what's a mom to do??
Well, with a little planning that violin lesson went by lickety split!
All I had to do was load up 2 John Deer Tractors and double stroller, along with the violin of course, and voila! Tractors on Main Street!

We dropped Puddin off at her practice, I told the teacher we would be walking around the square in case she needed me and told her I would be back after the practice was over. She was very understanding- as was the rest of the music store staff- and we headed out. Unfortunately for the boys, the start of our journey was all uphill... isn't that just like life!

My sweet little Monkeys persevered and made it all the way. Monkey See is in the lead of course- he has a competitive streak a mile wide and absolutely can not stand to not be first.
You can't tell from the pictures but he is peddling a mile a minute!




Here they are taking a break at the corner before we had to cross the street again. Aren't the precious?! Too bad they both won't look at the camera at the same time!

While the boys were having a ball driving their tractors around downtown Murfreesboro, I was in hot pursuit pushing these two darlings. Bud fell sound asleep and Daisy did not. She was having fun though, despite the look on her face.

I loved this shot in front of the flag. Very Norman Rockwell, don't you think?

New flags up around the square... Go big BLUE!

My Monkey's beside the monument remembering when Murfreesboro was the capital of Tennessee, waaay back when.

And finally, Puddin, outside the music store, starring into the sun for her commemorative "1st day of violin class" picture.

All in all, a great lesson for Puddin and lots of fun for the boys. And in case you wondered, yes, I was a little stressed at the end. Monkey See channelling his inner race car driver, and distracted motorists made me a little uneasy a couple of times. Thankfully, he is an obedient child and when momma screams "STOP!!!" he listenes. Not that he was almost hit or anything... he just got to going so fast a couple of times I made him stop and wait for the 4 of us to catch up to him.

We'll see what next week has in store for us!