The Wilson Clan

Happy Anniversary to me

2011-06-21T16:13:00.001-07:00

Jake and I recently celebrated our anniversary.

Last night he wasn't feeling too hot and was lying in bed miserable. I'm laying next to him in our dark room listening to the hum of the fan and the chirp of the night birds.

He rolls over, and in his best poppa bear voice asks me to tell him a story.

So I did.

By the time it was over I had sweet tears in my eyes. It was a lovely story, and I surprised myself in the telling of it.

Happy 8 years my love.

Few things are more satisfying

2011-06-18T21:39:00.000-07:00

Few things are more satisfying in life than

To sing a quiet lullaby,

Then to tell your little ones in vivid detail all the sweet dreams they will have

Paul, you will be an artist in your dream. All the people will ask you to make pictures of their families and their homes. And you'll make beautiful pictures of flowers and animals, and your pictures will make people happy and they will put them in their homes. [And the boy smiled].

Nona, you will live in Zarahemla and hear the Prophet Samuel foretell of the birth of Christ, and you will be there with all your friends when you see him standing on the wall. [She giggles excitedly, because she is familiar with this story from just learning it].

Beau, you will be a grown up who rides his bike everywhere. You ride your shiny bike to school, to the store, to the park, to the Farmers Market. You have a bright red helmet to keep you safe and you ride your bike everywhere you want to go. [He smiles, because he has now mastered the training wheels of his little bike, and can't wait for the freedom a big boy bike brings.]

Then you kiss them all, some of them twice if they ask it. And then you turn on the cd of bedtime music, the same music you listened to when you were a little one, back when it was on a cassette that your Momma would have to come in and flip over half way through.

You kiss them all again and leave the room. You cross the hall and sit down to get some work done and hear one sigh happily, hear the other yawn big and wide, and hear your sweet baby ask his big brother "Can I snuggle with you?" and the big one says yes, and there is a rustling of blankets, and then another happy sigh and then all is quiet.

Few things are more satisfying. Especially sitting here now as I type this, I can hear them giggling and fighting those last bits of sleep, together, happily.

Bad, Good Enough, Awesome

2011-06-15T18:16:00.001-07:00

My awesome sister Sara took a photography class and was practically begging for people to practice on. I washed the kids faces, put them in clean clothes and told her to meet us on the beautiful river trail.

Now, you know, when you have little kids there are three types of family pictures. There's the bad.

BAD= there is no way we will ever even remotely put that anywhere in the house.

There's the good enough.

GOOD ENOUGH= ohhh, we were so close to having a decent picture here. And maybe with a bit of fancy photo shopping we still could.

And there's the awesome.

AWESOME= I love it!!!! Print me four copies, stat!

So, without further ado, the bad, the good enough, and the awesome.

Awesome:

Good Enugh:

Awesome:

Good Enough:

Awesome:

Awesome:

Bad:

Awesome:

Good Enough: (and the best one of Beau Boy)

Awesome: she loved all the pictures, crazy girl

Awesome:

Good Enough:

Good Enough:

Good Enough:

Bad:

Awesome:

Good Enough: (with some photoshopping to get rid of mount vescuvious on my forehead, I'd categorize it as awesome)

Awesome:

Awesome: and sexy

I love them and can't wait to print them out and refill my frames with all these cute new prints. Didn't my novice sister do an awesome job? Thanks so much Shush!

Wall swap

2011-06-06T21:04:00.001-07:00

We rearranged the kids room today. Nothing fantastic, just switched the bunkbeds and dressers to opposite walls. But you know what, it feels like a whole new place to the wee ones.

I love it when the simplest of things can make something old new again.

Meet Chuck

2011-05-31T20:40:00.001-07:00

About two weeks ago, for some inexplicable reason, I was browsing the pets section in my local classifieds. I came across an ad that said

"One year old Shitzu to good home"

Once I opened the ad it explained that the dog had been living on his own in the backyard after his family had to move. I was compelled to call and set up a time to see this guy. We set up a time for the next evening. I got a call early the next day asking if we could reschedule, well, that wasn't possible for us, so I asked if we could just go to the vacant house alone and see him. That was fine with his owner, so we went by that afternoon.

We got to the empty house and went to the side gate. The first thing we saw was empty yard, and then very slowly, from around the corner of the house toddler a small white rug.

This poor guy was matted with months of ungroomed fur. It took over 4 hours just to clip him down. He had sores from his dirty hair and couldn't see out of one eye because it was matted over. He had no food and a large bowl of dirty that was floating with dead bugs and the sides were green with what I can only describe as pond scum.

I knew that even if Chuck wasn't supposed to be with our family, he couldn't stay at this house anymore. Once I made sure he was friendly towards the kids, we loaded him up in the van and brought him home.

After a couple of hours of clipping and shaving, we finally had him hair free. We got I'm a little collar and leash, and he's having a great time hanging out with us. Him and Rooster are fast friends.

If anyone has a need for a super cute pup, let me know. But in the meantime, we don't mind letting him hang out. Who knows, he might just fit in here after all.

2011-05-22T16:52:00.000-07:00

Recently my awesome older sister Sara ran her first 5K, and on her 30th birthday, too!

The whole family came out to cheer her on. We were supposed to rendezvous with everyone else and spread out along the race course so that she could have cheering sections all throughout the race, but you know how it is with kids. We wound up being totally late and just snagged a spot somewhere and hoped she hadn't passed us yet.

Thankfully though she was right on time and we were able to cheer her on with enthusiasm and love. My brother Owen ran with her and helped to pace her and give her encouragement on all those uphill slopes.

After she passed us we all piled in the car and tried to find a parking spot near the finish line but we didn't get here in time to sing happy birthday as she crossed. Everyone else did though, and we're happy for that.

At the finish line they had a fabulous gathering place. There were bouncy houses, live music, and a face paint artist! Beau was a tiger, Paul got an eagle and Nona had an abstract fairy design. The kids were in heaven.

All in all it was a wonderful day for Aunt Shush, and we're so proud of her! Great job Sara!

Life, as we know it

2011-05-19T19:36:00.001-07:00

I always thought I'd have a home that could only be described as 'Cottage Chic'. I imagined my children running around in the waning twilight wearing cotton and lace. They'd have brushed hair and clean little feet in the perfect lawn. I'd have a dog that never pooped and sat happily watching his family from the deep porch.

We'd eat rounded meals from matching dishes from an antique table lit by soft lights every night. Everyone would enjoy the meal and would smile and hold silly conversation while taking dainty yet hearty bites of their savory meat and fresh vegetables.

Then they'd happily clear their plates and the whole family would have a deep, philosophical discussion as we washed and dried all the dishes together. The children would give me sleepy smiles as they walked up the winding oak staircase to put on their matching pajamas. Jake and I would read them a classic bedtime story, just after we'd said beautiful and simple family prayers together. We'd tuck them into their beds under homemade quilts and give them a quiet goodnight kiss and close the door softly, because their room would have the beautiful light of the stars to keep away bad dreams.

At least that's how I always pictured it.

But reality is so much sweeter.

Nona dresses herself in pink polka dots and orange stripes. She wears yesterday's messy pigtails with pride, and frequently sports a mysterious blue eyeshadow.

Paul wears black socks and yellow converse. He always has paint or markers or glue stuck to his little grubby hands. He has a nasty old sweater that he wears with everything. It's been left out in the sun and bleached in the best tie-dye pattern, a motley red/orange.

Beau always has the remnants of a sandwich on his cheeks. Even if he hasn't had a sandwich for days, the jam and peanut butter just seem to stay on his face permanently. He likes to dress himself these days, which means Pauls pants on backwards, and they're always sliding down, and one of his shirts on inside out. He has one pair of shoes that he likes to wear, and they're 2 sizes too big.

My kids lives are sustained by ramen noodles and frosted flakes. They frequently sneak apples into bed because they didn't like/eat what we have for dinner.

Kamikaze Lagos live in my carpet. The dog sleeps on my bed. Jake brought me in a lilac clipping from the yard, just because. I find the kids all huddled in one bed like puppies because that's where they all wound up after I sang them a lullaby. Nona loves to set the table with ikea dishes, because they're all different colors. Beau likes to play cowboy with the dog, and together they round up cows and bad guys both. I have my own personal collection of custom artwork, and it all hangs on my fridge.

I frequently wake up with more people in my bed than I started with.

And you know what they say, the more the merrier.

It was a mustache kind of day

2011-04-24T20:33:00.001-07:00

I'm sure these kids parents hate me by now. Every now and then they come home with something random painted on their faces. This day it happened to be mustaches, although we all did feel just a bit smarter for those few hours.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

My kids are pretty sure I'm an idiot

2011-03-30T10:35:00.000-07:00

Paul was recently invited to a birthday party, and this morning he asked me again if the party was today. I told him no, and then he asked if I was sure. And if I knew where the party was at. I replied with yes, I knew the address. He asked me sceptically what it was, trying to trip me up wiht my lack of knowledge. I told the sneaky cuss that I would have to check the invitation, but I knew when and where the party was and that I wouldn't let him miss it. Of course this whole conversation came after Nona was upset that I wasn't throwing a party for her this morning. Why wasn't I making food, why wasn't I inviting her friends, why wasn't I making toys that she was in a Joannes catalog, why wasn't I cleaning and calling and preparing? When I told Nona that you couldn't just prepare and have a party in one day she gave me a disgusted huff and rolled her eyes before walking away. And no matter how hard I tried to help her plan a party for the weekend, she just stays disgusted with her stupid mom. It's a wonder I survived this long.

Paul's video game of choice

2011-03-29T07:45:00.000-07:00

Paul and his friend Anthony were playing in the basement, and i heard the distinctive ping of video games. Given the chilly, overcast weather I shrugged it off, fully planning to kick him outside in 2 months when it is warm.

Not 10 minutes later they both come upstairs out of breath and with sweaty, red faces. What were they doing?!?

Oh yes, they were playing video games, but they were playing Wii fit. They had thought that running the Long Jog and earning credit points sounded like a rousing good time. I just wish they had tried the Yoga, now that would have been good.

Boys, I"m a grown woman, and I still don't understand them.

You're not going to want to date those girls, young man

2011-03-26T17:34:00.000-07:00

Paul has a wonderful book all about the human body, and today, while his friends were over, they were all looking over it in fascination.

They come to the page with certain...anatomy, to which Paul's friends release an adolescent "EEWWWWWW!!!". Being the mom that I am, and believing the things that I do about the body, I turn around and gently explain that penis's are not gross, and that everyone has them and they're not bad things.

Have you seen the error of my ways yet? When I made this comment I made it with my young audience of boys in mind.

So when I said "Everyone has them and they're nothing gross or bad" boy 1 replies with a disgusted "Yeah, and even some girls have them, too!"

Ohhhhh, it was awesome. Another quick and simple anatomy lesson taught these 6,7 and 9 year olds that no, girls in fact have vaginas, and no girl actually has a penis. And that is what makes girls and boys different. I felt like I needed a theme song or a cheesy puppet.

But now my neighbor boys are educated on the physical differences, whether their mother wants them to be or not.

Not your typical sausage

2011-03-25T07:41:00.001-07:00

Nona is looking through our BIG BOOK OF ANIMALS while I"m in the kitchen getting breakfast together.

She excitedly tells me "Momma, this is a sausage!" so proud that she knows the name of this animal.

It took me a minute to dry my hands off, but when I walked over, she was proudly pointing to a picture much like this one

Such a boy

2011-03-03T11:33:00.001-08:00

We come home from taking Paul to school and I bring Nonainside, but Beau wants to stay and play in the van and pretend it is a fort. I'm fine with that, seeing as how the front door is open and I can see and hear him. Not 20 seconds after I leave him out there I hear the car door open and he yells my name.

I look out the door to see Beau with his pants around his ankles, peeing onto the driveway out of the car door.

And he thought it was the coolest thing ever.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Beau's quotes of the day

2011-03-01T16:24:00.001-08:00

"Momma, this one has MONKAAAYS!!!"

As he devours a plate of strawberries and cream
"Momma, why do I just keep eating this?"
Uhh, maybe because it's strawberries and cream, Beau!

This kid is great, and surprisingly eloquent sometimes.

Cheers!

Wordless Wednesday: Spaghetti Monday

2011-02-23T20:53:00.000-08:00

My five year old daughter

2011-02-20T20:19:00.000-08:00

This picture scares me a little. See that look of adoration?

Aunt Hopey gave Nona a whole bag full of make up. It starts.
She asked me for a purple floppy bunny, and I finished it in four days. She promptly named it Julia.

This picture sums up the whole party. I love it.

Get your glam on, girl!

Even GG got her glam on!

And Tuffy couldn't let an awesome birthday hat like get away without a photo opp.

Nail polish, a staple in her life.

Nona was so happy when Spud arrived, it was a precious moment.

She dressed herself for her party. What a birthday outfit!

Beau helped me make the chocolate cake earlier in the day. What a helper!

Happy Birthday Nona girl!

Kids vs Chair = Plants vs Zombies

2011-02-03T21:32:00.000-08:00

There is a game/app called plants vs zombies. The premise of the game is that zombies are attacking your house and you can plant plants in your yard that will attack the zombies and save you from having your brains eaten.

It's the kids favorite game.

There are pea shooters, cherry bombs, walnuts, frozen pea shooters, spitting mushrooms, and all kinds of attacking plants.

And in a lovely new twist, the kids have also taken to playing it in a live version.

Paul and Nona wanted to play the live version, but didn't think it would be as fun to pit themselves against each other. There'll be plenty of time for that when they're teenagers, right?

They were unsuccessful at convincing Beau he should be a Zombie, so they made one in stead. Yes my friends, my kids made a zombie. Paul is a chomper plant, and Nona is a pea shooter, and they're getting ready to fight some Zombie! Notice the arms made out of pipe cleaners and plastic drum sticks.

But you can't be good all the time, so they went a little Zombie themselves for a while.

And just to tally it all up, this is a kitchen chair, wearing a Knight helmet, the helmet is on a mixing bowl that has somehow grown a zombie face (I don't mind sacrificing an old bowl for the sake of imagination), the bowl wearing the helmet is stacked on top of every single kitchen towel I own, which is stacked on top of a storage cube, which is on the kitchen chair. Pipe cleaners woven together form the arms.

I figure there are worse things they could do than kill the living dead. Hey, real world experience, right?

Rub a dub dub

2011-01-29T21:10:00.000-08:00

I ran the tub the other day and wandered back into the kitchen once I determined the water was a sufficient temperature to cook the kids. Just kidding, I don't cook them, I bake them. Anyway, they all started giggling, and then splashing, so I go in ready to reprimand, only to find:

Why yes, that is 3 kids and a dog in the tub. I think we should make it into a movie. I've heard of worse plot lines before.

Ignore the creepy eyes, he's actually really sweet. And once he warmed up his little tootsies he left the kids to their tub and let them bathe in peace. And when I say in peace I mean with lots of splashing and squealing and very little washing.

See? He's actually really sweet, and lets Beau ride him like a horse, so I count it all good.

In which I explain SEX to my 4 year old

2011-01-22T22:52:00.000-08:00

We're driving home last week and about halfway into our hour long drive, I hear Nona from the back seat

"Mom, what does the S word mean?"

Nona has a tendency to shorten words that make her feel uncomfortable, or words that she thinks she might get into trouble for using. So, at first, I wasn't sure which S word she was talking about. So, I asked her, which one? She tells me, "the private one".

In less than a second, a multitude of scenarios run through my head. There was the 'just skim over it all and promise her details when she's older' one, I think most parents would have gone this route. But I knew this wouldn't satisfy my Nona. And knowing that girl, she either would have erroneously filled in the blanks herself, or found someone to erroneously fill them in for her.

So, we had the talk.

I told her about erections, and orgasms, and love and lust.

You might think this is a bit heavy for a 4 year old. But what is bad about sex? What about it needs to be hidden? It's not bad, just private. And thanks to a faulty door lock, my kids aren't strangers to it either.

Now, I didn't use all the big words I listed above, I think she would have just tuned those out, and I don't really want to have these talk all that often, so I said things like 'feels good', and 'gets big'. And yeah, it was awkward. But thanks to me driving and her sitting behind me, it wasn't a face to face conversation, which I think made it more honest for me and her.

And now Nona, and Paul who was listening also, know how babies are made.

And why.

Early Church

2011-01-15T20:41:00.000-08:00

Last year, we had church at 11:30, but now in 2011 we have church at 9am. Might as well be the butt-crack of dawn for our family. Oh sure, Daddy and I can function and survive on 6 (or 4) hours of sleep, but the kids? No freakin way.

Sunday morning and I wake the kids up at 7:30, and the little champs that they are, they do their best to eat and get dressed. They did so well in fact that we had a couple minutes to spare. So, they sit on the couch while I take my time finishing getting ready myself. I come back in the room to find:

And then a bit later:

Yes, that is Paul, asleep on the floor, sitting on top of the heater vent. He tried to stay awake, but the heat just got to him and he cozied back into dreamland.

Nona wasn't immune either:

But we made it to church in time, and now I look forward to this spectacle every Sabbath.

Life according to Beau

2011-01-07T15:51:00.001-08:00

Verbatim:

How old are you?

four he's three

What's your favorite food?

Popcorn as he sits here with a big bag

What's your favorite movie?

The Spic of all me (Despicable Me) and Shrek Fourth

What's your favorite color?

pink and orange

What's your favorite toy?

geo tracks and trains and tracks and a tunnel

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Beau Boy

Who is your favorite person?

Beau Boy

No, I mean who's your favorite?

GG and Tuffy and Ivy and Eighters and Porter and Simon, The Lady( a woman at church who he adores!).

What's scary?

Pumpkins, and sarecrows

What's something silly?

a silly pumpkin

Tell me a story

hmmm, okay here I go. Ok, Once upon a time, there was a puppy. His name was Rooster, and he said "My name is Rooster." And he had to go poop last night. Ok, what's next? And me. You? Yeah me, I have to go poop, too. For real? Noooo! In the story! Can someone get the bathroom out here, I need a toilet out here. Someone? and then he runs off to go to the bathroom, for real

Scooby Dreams

2010-12-29T08:35:00.000-08:00

I"m laying in bed lsat night, trying to find a way to get Beau's feet out of my ribs (and yes, he still sleeps with us, mostly. Every now and then we can convince him to sleep with his brother) But, last night, I"m laying there, when all of a sudden he twitches, rolls over a bit and under his breath says "Shaggy, Scooby, Daphne, Scooby, Freddy, Shaggy, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby."

Now this little tirade could have been due to the new figures tucked in his hand that he got for christmas. The whole gang was there, and he hasn't parted with them since.

In other news, Jake got a portable hardrive on some sweet day after sales and now everything of importance, including pictures, is on that sucker. So until I figure out how to crack into it and get me some pictures off of it, you're just gonna have to use your imagination. Sorry!

love this girl

2010-12-23T19:32:00.000-08:00

Coincidence?

2010-12-22T19:24:00.000-08:00

It's a casual dinner night around here.

Jake has been in bed for about an hour thanks to last nights graveyard shift, and I've been sewing all day preparing for the big day of gifts. So let's just sum up with, nothing was prepared for dinner.

Finally, at 8:30, I drag myself to the kitchen. Beau and Nona wind up with eggs and toast and oranges, same thing we had for breakfast. I warm myself up some chowder left over from yesterday. But no matter how many times I ask, Paul still insists that he's not hungry, and that he doesn't want anything for dinner.

I'm about to sit down with my warm bowl of sweet corn and sausage and I ask Paul one more time "You sure you don't want anything for dinner?"

He replies:

"No thank you, I farted all day."

Giggles insued.

(pic courtesy of Beau)

Strawberry loveliness

2010-12-20T20:24:00.001-08:00

We really got into strawberries when they were in season, and now in December the kids still tell me to pick up some strawberries when I go to the store. Tonight Paul and Nona were in a deep, food involved philosophical discussion and I heard her ask him why he "just loves those strawberries so much?"

"Well Nona, because they're so smooshy and lovely."

A sequence of swinging

2010-12-18T10:14:00.000-08:00

When we go to the park there is one thing and one thing only that Beau wants to do. Care to guess?

Medieval Torture?

2010-12-11T19:55:00.000-08:00

Dear Beau:

It's just a sleeve, and if you didn't wriggle around so much like a little naked fish, your head would never have been caught in it, and you wouldn't be in this situation. So stop screaming and give me your hand.

Love, Momma

What's the weirdest thing you've ever found in your bed?

2010-12-11T10:00:00.000-08:00

Nona is known for being feisty. But let's be honest, there's feisty, and then there's "So help me I will ship you over to GG's house if you don't stop now!"

On one particularly feisty day, I told Nona she needed to go sit on her bed until she could calm down and be nice. Half an hour later, I realize she hadn't come out of her room, so I go into check on her. This is what I find:

I almost peed my pants. Some thing is asleep in my Nona's bed. I creep closer with a nerf bat, prepared to introduce justice to this creature. Oh, wait.

It's just Nona with a peanut butter face AND A BATMAN MASK.

What the what?

Love that girl.

Christmas decorations you can't put out until your kids are 30

2010-12-09T07:54:00.000-08:00

advent calendars: they just open every day up every day anyway
ornaments on the tree: glass ones get broken, plastic ones get rearranged, played with, and or lost
jars of festive candy: do I really have to explain this one?
anything remotely stuffed: it turns into instant toy
anything remotely small: it turns into instant toy

So if you are to come over to my house and find it completely unfestive, now you know why.

2010-12-08T10:22:00.000-08:00

It's not unusual for Paul to ask me, "Mom, how do you spell lego?" It's usually because he's looking up lego.com, but one night it was for a reason a little bit awesomer.

That is a star wars rebel bunker, made of lego's. If this boy's not on lego.com, he's building something with lego's. They're everywhere, and I mean everywhere. But it's good, he could have worse hobbies.

What eats five eggs a day and is usually naked?

2010-12-05T18:43:00.000-08:00

This guy!

Miss me?

2010-12-04T09:47:00.000-08:00

One brief catch up, and then I promise to post weekly. Momma's honor.

Paul started kindergarten and is doing awesome. Turns out he's something of a math whiz. His reading is great and he still loves to color like nobodys business.

Nona is in pre-school. Still the Diva. But so adorable at it. She is playing a lot of dress up/babies/house now. Starting early, I guess.

Beau is the lone sole at home with me, and it shows. That kid can throw a fit like nobodies business. But he's so cute, and it's just not fair. Makes bringing down the heavy really hard.

So there you have it. Now you're all up to date. Tune in next week for funny stories and the like.

Do not feed the animals

2010-07-25T22:31:00.000-07:00

CAUTION:

You know it's been a long day when...

2010-07-16T23:05:00.000-07:00

Momma put in a movie so that she could go take a quick shower...

Asleep in his own clandestine chips. I guess he didn't have much time to enjoy them.

The picture that inspired this post: How could I pass this up?

Love them. Twas a good one.

it must be a special breed

2010-07-14T20:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the wee ones were imagining, and Nona went off to buy a puppy. I hear her ask the imaginary salesman "how much? Oh, fifty million? I'll take it!".

Let's hope it was a cute dog!

Happy Daddy Day

2010-07-03T23:24:00.000-07:00

We have an awesome Daddy around here. And we love him. A lot.

2010-03-02T07:45:00.000-08:00

I've been laid up for the past couple days with a bum ankle, and so we have been eating our meals a'la Daddy. (read a lot of premade frozen foods)

Daddy is working the night shift and away from us for the first time since my injury. My lovely parents order some pizza and have it delivered to our house. THis is something we never do. Paul answers the door and stares open mouthed for a second before turning and yelling to Nona "it's a pizza man!!!". I just gave the poor guy a smile and a nice tip and sent him on his merry way.

Paul gives it to me straight

2010-02-26T19:41:00.000-08:00

Paul's been having trouble keeping his nighttime diaper dry. We were talking consequences if he didn't wake up in the night to go potty, something to give him an incentive, you know? I tell him "Paul, when I need to go pee, I get up in the night and walk to the bathroom and use the potty, just like you should."

He leans a shoulder against the couch and heaves a long suffering sigh "Well, that's great for you Momma, but I can't do that!"

Needless to say the conversation stopped there.

Winter Time Blues

2010-01-27T09:17:00.000-08:00

As we speak:

Nona is lying in my bed surrounded by numerous and varied stuffed things, watching a princess something save something using something. Can we say PC Feminism?
Paul has been sucked into the TV into Mario land. He now has an Italian accent and mustache and a little cap. plus he jumps a lot.
Beau is at my feet trying to put a power rangers sword into my disc drive, and using my lap as a secret hiding place for his "goo guy".

Remember when the sun shone? Remember when we could actually go outside to play? Remember when there was more to life than electronics and how they could distract us until it was time to sleep again?

Dear warm weather, please hurry, love this bored momma.

Inspection gone wrong

2010-01-20T08:21:00.001-08:00

Every year, when it comes time to renew our lease, our landlord or his agent comes on an inspection of the house, to make sure that we're taking good care of it and to make sure that they still want us in their property.

Yesterday was the day, and he showed up early.

For the most part the house was clean, although your definition of clean and mine may vary largely. But there was a ginormous pile of laundry on the couch, and the living room was scattered with the remnants of yesterdays happy meals. Nona's trash can was overflowing the old doughnut box I found under her bed (true story) and Paul's was full of smelly diapers.

He had to gingerly navigate his way through the family room due to the great dinosaur/army men migration, which Beau has not let us touch for several days under penalty of much screaming.

And did I mention that I was still in my pajamas? Yesterdays pajamas? THe ones with the kids dinner smeared across my front? Yeah, he was that early.

But he didn't say anything, no weird faces. So we're safe, for another year.

The joys of co-sleeping

2010-01-07T07:44:00.001-08:00

Last night, somewhere around 3am, Beau rolls over and smacks me in the face. It freaks me out so I put my hands out to try and prop myself up so I can sit up fast, and wind up smacking Daddy in the face. Yeah.

Beau talks in his sleep. Last night there was something about trains (big surprise). He also likes to fight with Nona in his sleep "Nona! Miiiiiiiine! NooooooooNAA!". Great way to wake up I tell you.

I keep telling myself it will all be over soon, he's 2 now, he'll move to his own bed before I know it. There have been times he'll fall asleep with Paul on the couch or something and we get out bed to ourselves until about 5AM, and those are awesome nights. Mostly because Beau sleeps horizontally. So our King sized bed suddenly becomes the size of a full, and the blankets go all funky trying to accommodate him and us.

But on those nights when he snuggles close and says "Momma, I chiddy!" and pulls the blankets under his chin, the nights he kisses my face and heaves a big sigh of relief in my arms, the nights he keeps me warm, those are the nights that are worth it.

Family Pictures of the Generic Kind

2009-12-30T21:00:00.000-08:00

Taking family pictures if always an adventure, especially when the majority of you are under 3 feet. So we got the customary nice ones that we can send to Grandma and plaster on that Christmas card (the one that I will send out in January). And then there are the ones that are cute but you're not quite sure what to do with them. They are blog worthy my friends, and I share them with you now. Behold! semi-awkward family pictures:

But there is a light at the end of this fussy tunnel,

Fairly normal, happy faces, all looking at the camera, no strange bulges or colors. Ladies and Gentleman, I do believe we have a winner!! Look for it in your Happy January card.

Why I don't force my kids to go to school

2009-12-14T18:54:00.000-08:00

At least they got the brithday part right

2009-12-09T10:55:00.000-08:00

Apparently today is Sleeping Beautys birthday.

The venue: manger
The Guests:

baby Jesus
Santa
Pirate
Shepard's and Wise men
Snowman
Christmas Teddy

All the while Beau drives his train through the party singing "Happy tutu! Happy tutu!"

Next time won't you sing with me?

2009-10-22T14:02:00.000-07:00

Paul is learning his Alphabet, and which letters make which sounds.

So we were in the kitchen, going through the letters. We get to the end, and I hear Beau Boy sing:

W X Y and Because, Now I sing ABNees, sing a meeee

that's how we sing it around here.

Thomas the Train (and other obsessions)

2009-10-12T07:39:00.001-07:00

Somehow, and I"m not quite sure how it came about, Beau has come love Thomas the Train. Slowly and painfully we have found ourselves adding to his small collection of trains, and now they are of the blue smiley-faced variety. Beau takes these trains with him everywhere, in the car, in the tub, to bed, to church, to the store, pretty much anywhere you can think of an almost 2 year old to go. And if he happens not to get his train with him, you will hear him cry "Thoooooooomasssssss!" He's really quite good at talking now. Just this morning I found all of his little trains lined up on the edge of my box springs. There's about a half inch lip, just enough room for a small magnetic train, and there they were, until he can wake up and continue on with his play. I find myself perusing the Internet for Thomas clothes, Thomas bed sheets, I bought fabric to make a Thomas quilt for Christmas. I have heard from mothers of other Thomas Freaks that this is a fad that doesn't pass lightly, and it will stay for years. At least that's what these mothers warn me when they see me in the train aisle at Target (the only store that sells Thomas besides Toys r' Us) or the fabric lady at Joannes. The mom with the kid who had the Thomas the train boots on at the library was very helpful with where she finds all of her Thomas paraphernalia. Us Thomas Mommas gotta stick together.

Hot potatoe

2009-10-06T10:17:00.001-07:00

My dad is a captain with the local fire department, so we always get a nice heads up when the firetrucks will be out doing something cool. Last week we got a call early one morning from Spud to tell us that he would be out with the truck and to bring the kids by.

You can tell by the look on their faces how excited they were.

Stress is my middle name

2009-09-28T09:08:00.000-07:00

Busy Busy Busy

That's what I am. Who says the fall is slow and enjoyable? Who says that at the end of September ninety degrees is acceptable? Who says that I am organized enough to accomplish all of this?

My little sister gets married in 1 month. As acting maid of honor (but not official, it's a long story) I am in charge of the co-ed bridal shower coming up this week. The food, the games, the organization and entertainment of 20 something 2o somethings. I have little boy tuxes to alter and hem to fit perfectly (and boy howdy are they going to look handsome) I have a little girl who wants to be a bride for Halloween and I need to make her a bride dress that lives up to all her expectations. She also needs a fall wardrobe, because sun dresses and sweaters aren't going to cut it when the weather hits the 50's on Wednesday.

I have the WCCPP to plan and prepare. 2 days after a wedding. Busy much? I have costumes to brainstorm and complete for pretty much everyone. I have weight to lose and hair to coif. And the ever present house to clean.

So if you don't see me for a while, see above, and don't worry. I'll be back someday.

Just to tide you over, these are my children. My beautiful, perfect children.

You know he's not a baby anymore when...

2009-09-25T15:18:00.000-07:00

You tell him to smile and he does this >>>>>

he brings you his diaper and wipes when he wants to be changed

he asks to 'nuhse', to go 'ouside', 'whyyyyyy?' and 'peeese!?', for 'ceweal' and sepicles
When he falls asleep with his sister on the couch and doesn't need me until 6am.

That's when you know he's a big boy.

She's the princess

2009-09-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

At this moment, Nona is lounging in a warm tub, with a fist full of graham crackers and several barbies floating around her. She looks like Cleopatra.

You get what you give

2009-09-15T19:29:00.000-07:00

Paul and Anthony asked for a popsicle. Considering they had just spent the last 3 hours tearing my house apart, I told them they would receive said popsicle once they spent 20 minutes cleaning up. I set the timer.

You would not believe this place!

I should have taken before and after pictures. Who knew two boys could be so industrious? The groceries were all stacked on the table for me to put away. All the papers were piled on the computer desk for me to sort. All the laundry had been thrown down the stairs, all the shoes had been put in the basket, all the toys had been put back in their bucket and the bucket put back in Paul's room. All those tiny random bits of garbage that accumulate in a house like mine were picked up by tiny hands and thrown away. All Paul's sticks were put out on the porch.

This place is immaculate!

I need to buy more popsicles.

Hint: It's a summer treat

2009-09-14T13:02:00.000-07:00

Paulguage:

Sepicle

As in "MMOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!! Beau stole my sepicle!"

In the case of this picture it was a sepicle of fudge.

Any guesses?

Excuses, Excuses

2009-09-11T11:19:00.000-07:00

I had a stck of overdue library books (story of my life) that needed returning, so I commanded the kids to shoe up and head to the car.

Nona looks at me and whines "but Momma I don't want to go to the libraray!" Strange words coming from my daughter, so I asked her why. "A giant ate me and he chewed me up with sharp teeth and I got stuck in his tummy!"

Really Nona! How awful that must have been for you! But we still need to go the library. "And he had lava in his tummy and I got died!"

Oh no, that sounds terrible. Would you like me to carry you to the car?

A bag of dry cereal later and some pink shoes and that giant was history.

School Kicks

2009-09-08T14:08:00.000-07:00

And the best part is, he picked them out himself!

The sum of us

2009-09-05T22:30:00.000-07:00

11:28 pm

Jake is out on the traditional Saturday night grocery run.

Nona is watching a movie on the couch, probably asleep already.

Beau is playing honest to goodness soccer in the living room. Goals between the couches, the whole bit.

Paul is washing dishes in his hockey jersey.

I sit here and blog about it all.

A hard working daddy, an in-over-her-head momma, a son who thinks he's all grown up, a defiant daughter, baby son who's huge. The Wilson Clan.

Very funny, Universe!

2009-09-01T07:47:00.000-07:00

The other day Nona got a fortune cookie which said

"Your hard work and patience is about to pay off"

Uhhhh, this girl?

All it takes is a little responsibility

2009-08-31T11:10:00.000-07:00

Because I am a brave woman, I went grocery shopping Saturday night. With the kids. Without their Daddy. Just me and my 3 hooligans and 500 other inhabitants of this fair city.

But it needed to be done, there was no alternative.

The best way to keep the kids in line is to keep them occupied. There are several ways to do this.

let them bring a toy to play with in the cart
buy them assorted donuts to eat in the cart while I do my shopping
give them a job to do

So before we left the house, I employed #3, with 1 and 2 in reserve. Each kid got a list, on which I had drawn simple foods that were on my list as well. On Nona's list I had drawn a strawberry, oranges, cookies (to remind myself to get the appropriate butterscotch chips for my infamous oatmeal butterscotch cookies. Jealous?) and something that vaguely looked like a lopsided circle, meant to represent tortillas. Paul has popsicles and corndogs drawn on his list, as well as more produce. Beau just had a picture of a donut, because he likes those. And a firetruck, but I wasn't in the market for emergency vehicles that night.

Walking to the car, Paul asks me "Mom, can I drive?". Oh my son, I haven't give you that much responsibility yet. Paul only got lost once, I found him in the candy isle. Beau got his donut, it kept him busy enough. He just eats off the frosting and leaves the bare bottom of the donut in the bottom of the cart. Nona took her responsibility very seriously.

It went well, there was the typical fussing in the checkout lane, but the benefit of living in a college town? You are surrounded by baby hungry co-eds who are more than willing to make silly faces at your kids and ask them all the appropriate questions.

However, I think we'll just starve next time.

Pretty Pretty Preschool

2009-08-20T16:42:00.001-07:00

All gussied up

Inda Jones Birthday

2009-08-20T16:26:00.000-07:00

Paul's Inda Jones cake

Paul's Birthday hat that he made himself out of a paper bag and a toilet paper roll. He said it looked like a cake with a candle.

He's 5 folks. I'm the mother of a 5 year old. Scary.

Paul's #1 Moment

2009-08-17T07:07:00.000-07:00

this is less of a moment and more of a thing

#1: Paul's Imagination

That boy can turn anything into anything. He loves playing, he comes up with some of the funnest games because he can think of the wackiest stuff.

For Instance:

He has a box of sticks, like old tree limbs and branches, as well as twigs and such, he keeps them all in a real toy box on the side of the house. They're his weapons. Everything from rocket launchers to grenades to hand guns to swords. HE frequently has to protect us from the bad guys that attack our home, leaving my yard looking like a lumber yard.

There was the time we were all Ninja Turtles for a couple of weeks. My pots and pans frequently turn into drums. He likes to put on a circus and ropes Nona into being the clown while he performs feats of acrobatic lunacy. He's always off somewhere climbing a tree being the king of his little boy kingdom.

He's quite the artist. He draws some of the most amazing pictures, comes up with the most amazing stuff. He likes to cut up paper and then glue it on a sheet to make another picture, he likes to make pipe cleaner toys, even if they don't last long.

There is always some fort, somewhere.

All in all, he's the perfect boy. I'm just grateful he's not into bugs.

Some of my favorite Paul stories

Paul's Happily Ever After

My heart is Angry

stories of Paul

Paul's #2 Moment

2009-08-14T07:37:00.000-07:00

Paul's #2 Moment

The flying poop incident

When Paul was a baby we lived in a little one bedroom house. The one bedroom was incredibly large, and in it we had a king sized bed, a dresser, Paul's changing table, and a cradle. We usually used the cradle like a clothes hamper, so that had double duty.

The bed was in the nook that was created by the closet sticking out, and the changing table was just at the end of the bed, up against the wall. That way, it was easy to roll out of bed in the middle of the night and change tiny diapers without really having to travel far.

One early morning, I'm going to have to say in the fall, possible September, making Paul 2 months old, I was sleepily changing Paul into a clean diaper by the weak light of the rising sun. Jake was still in bed, but waking up slowly, as he had to get up and ready for work soon. Baby Paul was lounging bare-butt on the changing pad, his feet kicking toward the bed where daddy still lay, I was turned away loading a new pack of wipes into the box.

PPffffffFFtttt! Swiff, SPLAT!

I didn't see it happen, I will say that right now. But somehow, Paul had pooped that wonderfully runny baby poop, and shot it the three feet off the end of the changing table to land on the blanket covering his daddy's feet on the bed.

Seriously, there was enough room between the end of the bed and the changing table for me to stand comfortably, we usually kept a laundry basket there. It is not a small space.

Jake groggily looks up "what was that?". I stare, stunned at the brown puddle cradled between his blanket covered toes. He follows my gaze, and I see the recognition, then the horror in his eyes.

From the on, we always changed Paul with his butt facing away from the wall, but the shooting poop was never repeated. Fortunately for our enemies.

Paul's #3

2009-08-12T11:25:00.000-07:00

Paul's #3 Moment:

determining his birthweight

Most of you know that Paul was born at home. We didn't plan ahead enough to think to have a scale there afterwards to weigh him. While it is a fun gee-wiz factor and is required for the birth certificate, it wasn't on my list of 'things to have'. So we didn't.

It wasn't until later that night, when all the family had come over and loved and hugged and congratulated and left again that we weighed Paul. (although at that time I don't think he was quite 'Paul' yet). It was 11:30pm, Daddy and I were both still ramped up from this awesome thing we had done, so we set out to find a scale.

We wound up at the post office.

In the main lobby, where people have their P.O. boxes and the stamp maching is located, there is also a digital scale that will calculate your postage depending on the weight of your package. We carefully balanced Pauls baby car seat on the postage scale. Once with him in it and then with out him. The difference was 8 pounds 12 ounces. Now, we know that that morning he had weighed a bit more, because babies poop out a few ounces and what not in the first couple hours, but we figuired that was good enough. So we bundled our new baby back into his car seat and drove home to record the number in his baby book.

He grew quick enough. By the time Paul had reached 6 months he was in the 90%. And then stayed that size until 18 months. To this day he is still a little small for his age. But one look at his feet gives me no worries about that. He's gonna grow into those bad boys one day.

Spa Day

2009-08-10T09:34:00.000-07:00

Miss Nona, being the girl that she is, decided she needed a little pampering.

She had her hair done, She got an exfoliating mud bath,

and a relaxing pedicure.

the water is not this color due to the obvious reasons, it's a dye. Really.

So now she's ready to be her usual charming self.

Pauls #4

2009-08-07T09:43:00.000-07:00

Pauls does Preschool

2 days a week, 2 hours a day. Colors and letters and numbers.

on the last day of school with his teacher Mrs. Grossman

Paul's top 5 moments

2009-08-05T08:41:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Paul's 5th birthday coming up, I'll be posting his top 5 moments of life, until he actually turns 5, on the 16th.

Paul's #5 moment

When Paul was a little over 2, he liked to do things for himself, as most 2 year olds are wont to do. This included getting his own silverware when it came time for dinner.

One day I was upstairs nursing baby Nona and Daddy was downstairs taking care of Paul. Daddy had gone into the kitchen to fix a plate for his little son, and was busy at the counter top. Simultaneously, we both hear CRAAAAAASSSH!, lots of jingling, a thud, and some whimpering. I'm laying in bed with an almost asleep baby at my breast and am hoping that Daddy is taking care of whatever it was I just heard.

Turns out Paul had went into the silverware drawer to get a spoon for his Spaghettios that Daddy was cooking up. (that's Daddy's specialty) But Silly me, I kept the baby spoons in the back of the drawer, so little Paul just kept pulling out that drawer, and kept reaching, until there wasn't enough left of either to keep the drawer in the counter. The heavy drawer, filled with forks, spoons, butter and steak knives, fell down onto my 2 year old son. Luckily it knocked him in the head first so he was flat on the floor by the time it landed on his chest.

Daddy turned in time to see the drawer make its final descent onto Paul and shoved it off almost immediately. But nothing could have prevented this, seeing as how it was the first contact and all.

skinned, swollen and bruised. He walked around like this for over a week, people gave me nasty looks.

But Paul's a little bruiser, he always has a cut/scrape/bruise/something swollen. Maybe that's just little boy, but I sure know it's my boy!

Pondering the use of "the kid blog"

2009-08-02T00:07:00.000-07:00

disclaimer: blogging at 1:09 AM, I may not be responsible for the thoughts I project at this ungodly hour

Do people even read this blog? I mean really, other than myself and the grandparents, who even wants to know? How many random blogs about other peoples children do you read?

The dilemma stems from me having my own personal blog. If I have an opinion or some crucial info to share, then I do it there, leaving this blog to be solely about the awesomeness of my children. But like I said earlier, who really cares? They're my kids. Therefore only cute and extremely intelligent to me.

Many women have one blog, occasionally spout off about their kids, and then use the other posts for themselves, am I the only one who has separated the two?

Now, I admit, there have been a few times when I have pulled out of the Universe a work of wonder. A blog post so funny that you read it and pass it on to all your friends and link to it on Facebook and tell all your friends about it. I'm particularly proud of this one, and this one, and this one, too. But like any genius, you can't be awesome all the time, it comes and it goes.

There are moms who raise their kids with some kind of 'technique' or 'method' and then those blogs are for informative purposes. How many entertaining kid blogs are there? We all have entertaining kids, that's what's kept them alive all these years.

I don't update here often, usually because I'm just busy enjoying my kids. When something is too good to pass up, I"ll post it, or if it was especially clever or cute. But for the most part, unless I get something like 15 comments saying "No NO! we love this blog and we read it all the time and we do pass it on to all out friends because it's so hilarious and cute and we love your kids more than our own and we wish we were you because you are awesome and such a talented blogger and if you didn't update regularly we would take to eating chocolate to fill the void, and not good pure chocolate, but the cheap Easter crap that tasted like the foil it was wrapped in and that would only add to the obesity crisis and it would be all your fault because you stopped telling us all about your darling wonderful talented adorable intelligent children!", then I will probably just update here once a week, just to check in, throw up a picture or two, and a case of my 3 year old swearing, just for laughs.

Stuff like that.

Why road trips with kids are awesome

2009-07-29T09:41:00.000-07:00

he wore this

for a good half hour, just staring out the window. I think he may have forgotten he had it on.

Just so you know: Nona

2009-07-27T09:38:00.000-07:00

No thanks, I'm on a special diet

2009-07-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

Many of the adventures my children get into arise from my parenting style. The "Meh, whatever" style. I'm currently writing a book.

One such adventure:

Carrot soup
ingredients:
-baby carrots
-pickles w/ juice
-sand
-mozarella
-ketchup

Pour all ingredients into an old flower pot and stir with a dead branch. Serve cold. Best with Pickle Juice Punch.

Pickle Juice Punch
ingredients:
-Pickle Juice
-Sand
-Mustard

To make the meal complete, eat with family outside. Enjoy!

My little lovelies made this meal all by themselves. They were so excited and proud. It was muey fun-o until it came time to eat it.

Who wants family photos?

2009-07-22T16:48:00.000-07:00

you can enter the contest here. This girls work is amazing!

New YellowMomma listings

2009-07-22T15:40:00.000-07:00

check them out here

Home again

2009-07-22T11:09:00.000-07:00

We took a trip to Bear Lake with GG and Spud (Abby's parents). We stayed for 5 days and had the best of adventures.

Coming home was bitter-sweet. We found out on friday that our dog Peter had run away. We left him at GG's house to stay in the yard with all the other dogs. The dog-sitter called to say that he wasn't there one day when she came over. It has been over a week since he went missing. It's hard. The kids ask about him a lot.

I already lost my tan, that's what 3 days inside cleaning up after vacation will do to you. But it is nice to sleep in my own bed again and to be able to walk around naked, which you can't do when you share a cabin with your entire family.

4th recap

2009-07-09T07:11:00.000-07:00

getting up early for the parade makes little boys drop where they stand.

mans best friend? girls best friend.

you can kind of see the matching outfits. The boys had shorts, and Nona had a dress, I made them myself, thank you.

Chocolate on your face is better than no chocolate at all

2009-07-06T10:23:00.000-07:00

Paul is eating a chocolate ice-cream cone and has some all over his face. Nona tells him and he proceeds to clean himself up by licking it off. He missed a spot and Nona informs him again, that there is indeed chocolate still on his face.

Paul proceeds to get extremely angry that Nona is telling him that there is chocolate on his face when he had just licked it off. Upon seeing the chocolate on the rag after I wiped his face, he looked a little sheepish. And went right back to that ice cream.

It's like an instant baby

2009-07-03T12:14:00.000-07:00

That's what Jake told me last night, when we were taking care of Peter.

Peter? Yes, Peter.

Our Peter. As in Peter Pan, Peter Parker, Peter Paul and Mary. A 7month old Cocker Spaniel/Golden Retriever mix. His is full grown, may get a few inches taller, but is almost the size of his dad already, and has surpassed his mom by a few inches. We got him for free off Craigslist.

He's quiet and well behaved and as far as we can tell, completely house broken. He doesn't bark, and lets the kids maul him. He is so good with kids, it is amazing. I completely expect Nona to try and dress him up before the week is out.

Peter.

This last picture is to show you his size as in relation to Nona, and in no way to show you how messy my house was yesterday.

Explaining the 4th of July

2009-07-01T10:47:00.000-07:00

me: A long time ago there was a bad king for the sake of the story, bear with me and he sent some people far away and told them to do jobs for him. But when the people needed the King's help he didn't help them and the people got angry.

Paul: did he have knights? did they have swords?

Nona: was there a princess? what color was her dress?

me: uhhhhh, so when the people got angry they told the king they weren't going to listen to him anymore and the king sent his soldiers to make the people do their jobs.

Paul: did the soldiers have rocket launchers?

Nona: did the princess have a pink dress?

me: ... the people fought against the soldiers and after a long time they won and they didn't have to listen to the king anymore. And on Saturday we're going to remember that they won, and have fireworks and flags and a parade.

Paul: I remember the parade! there was a firetruck!

Nona: I don't want to go to the parade!

Then we googled the American flag and Paul wanted to make one.

So we did.

So everyone, have a happy and safe "Bad King with no princess sent soldiers with rocket launchers but they didn't win" Day!

That's what I birthed them for

2009-06-30T14:37:00.000-07:00

The kids asked if they could wash the dishes.

*cracks whip*

Heck yeah!

You can't get something for nothing

2009-06-30T07:05:00.001-07:00

Nona says

"Momma, You can paint my face if I can paint yours."

Why not?

Fairy Face! We're obsessed now.

the best kind of start

2009-06-26T07:57:00.000-07:00

nona sits in my lap
the boys sleep in
the rain falls softly outside the open door
the house is clean thanks to my awesome babysitter
I'm eating home-made caramel corn for breakfast

Free-Range Paul

2009-06-25T09:20:00.000-07:00

You've heard of farmers raising free-range chickens, or ranchers with their free-range beef. Well, I raise free-range kids.

Same idea, just applies to off-spring of humans.

Yesterday, I took Beau inside to get him ready for bed, leaving Nona in the neighbors yard where the majority of the kids were, and Paul was across the street with some of his buddies. When I come back outside 20 minutes later Nona is now on my porch and I don't see Paul. I ask Paul's shadow Anthony where he is.

Anthony tells me that Paul went to the park. By himself.

At first I freaked out, i got a little worried. And just when I was preparing to wake up Beau and go and look for Paul, he comes around the road, riding his bike (watch for that post). I sit on the porch and watch him keep coming. He gets to me and before I say anything, I see the light in his eyes.
"hey mom, guess what?! I went to the park. My friends were there and I was playing with them, I was playing with everybody! And we were playing a cool game. And then I was done and I came home and I was so careful to watch for cars. It was so cool mom!"

His eyes were bright and he had this sense about him. Other free-range parents describe it as the pride of 'i did it!'.

We laid a few ground rules. Like, he has to tell me next time before he goes, and he as to wear shoes and a helmet. And it has to be before dark. I doubt this will happen regularly. But as I watched my boy make a small step toward becoming a responsible human, I wouldn't mind if it had.

For more on free-range kids, go here. I particularly like this article.

Happy Fairy Day!

2009-06-24T06:07:00.001-07:00

The legend goes that on the shortest night of the year, the fairies like to come out and make all kinds of mischief.

Today we are going to go to a friends house and celebrate this joyous occasion.

Paint a face, make a fairy treat, a fairy toy, a fairy house. Find something beautiful in your backyard and make a fairy welcoming circle to leave it in for the fairys. When they come and pick it up tonight, they take it back to their secret enchanted lands and leave a little bit of fairy dust (sparkles) behind. Maybe even a present for you (if momma has prepared that far in advance).

Celebrate fairy day. Build your babies imagination, help them understand the wonders of make-believe.

Finger Puppet Giveaway

2009-06-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

I am giving away one of my own designed sets of finger puppets.

Enter here.

da nuh nah nuh!

2009-06-22T06:02:00.000-07:00

And I say, it's all right duh nuh nu nuh nuh nu!

The rains have gone, and the sun is here. The windows are open and I am looking forward to getting the kids out of the house today. probably going to turn on the hose, let the kids 'water' my flowers, and themselves.

It finally feels like summer, just in time for the solstice!

update

2009-06-18T18:15:00.000-07:00

The little ones got haircuts today. Always a big day around here when that happens. i didn't realize how shaggy my kids were until I cut off all their hair! Now they have nice, light summer cuts to keep then cool and less-sweaty.

Both Nona and Beau were so exhausted from getting their hairs cut that they fell asleep right away, but Paul is still up cutting paper and taping it into all sorts of objects. My living room floor looks like New Year's Eve, there's little bits of colored paper everywhere.

Life feels like one big party.

The Summer Concert Series

2009-06-16T08:08:00.001-07:00

Crochet Horse

2009-06-15T08:20:00.001-07:00

Beau kept playing with this guy. It hurst when he gets shoved in your face for kisses, or you roll on him when Beau takes him to bed.

So I made this guy. Much more cuddly.

Home-made sand tunnels

2009-06-10T07:10:00.000-07:00

Supplies Needed:

yellow cornmeal kept on the bottom shelf

this kid>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

cyclone vaccume

and, voila!

If you give a boy a camera...

2009-06-08T06:59:00.000-07:00

...he's going to take some weird pictures.

Paulguage: krama

as in "Mom? Can I take some pictures with your krama?"

These were all taken by Paul, even the awesome ones. He has an amazingly artistic eye. We were on a drive to calm the crankiness known as Beau Boy and Paul pulled the krama out of my purse. We drove out to Utah lake and he says "Mom! I can see the whole world from out here!" and proceeded to take pictures to prove it. When we were driving through downtown Provo, he would make me stop or even sometimes circle the block because he wanted a certain shot of something. Good thing for good batteries and large memory cards!

Breakfast of champions

2009-06-05T06:54:00.000-07:00

when we got married I got these weird molds, like cookie cutters but bigger. I grew up on a farm where we milked our own goats for milk with our cereal, we didn't do a whole lot of gourmet out there. But I finally found a use for these fancy fandangles.

Paul calls them his superstar eggs, and he gets 2 every morning. His favorite color is orange, requiring me to drop red food dye into an egg, bring to mind nastiness? Oh yeah. But it's the only way to get the boy to eat. I'll deal with some nastiness for this face.

What do you do with a fussy boy?

2009-06-03T06:41:00.000-07:00

Beau won't let me put him down in the mornings while I try and make him breakfast. But he's cranky because he's so hungry. This was my solution:

Toys on the table. Nothing says fun to this little guy like playing in places he shouldn't.

The summer of sleepovers

2009-06-01T06:39:00.000-07:00

Remember when we were kids and we couldn't wait for summer because that meant we could stay out late and have our friends over at all hours?

Every Sunday, after church, I take the kids over to my parents house to let them run wild for a few hours. That's what grandparent's houses are for! Last summer, my 8 year old brother instigated that every sunday when Paul came over, the would then spend the night and come home some time on monday.

So here it is, June, summer, and Paul is over at GG's house, sleeping in as I know he is so fond of, while I toil away here at home with two sleeping, grumpy babies. I think of a day taht doesn't start with my Pauly man, and I get a little sad.

He's growing up folks, 5 in a couple months! Where did it go? I hope that he is making awesome memories that he can cherish and reflect back on when he sits at his own computer while his grumpy babies sleep.

Paul's Party

2009-05-29T07:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday when I asked Paul to clean up some of his mess, I never realized what I would be getting myself into.

IN a flurry, my boy began cleaning. Now, you might think this to be an awesome development, but you don't know why he was cleaning. In the middle of running a load of lego's from the front room to his room, Paul turned to me and said "Mom! You have to make food for our party and put it on the table." Party? What party? "We're having a house party and we have to clean and you have to make food and put it on the table!"

I guess to have a party it requires a clean house and food.

The whole day Paul prepped for this party. He cleaned the Living Room, he cleaned his bedroom. He stayed on my butt until I was cleaning and cooking sufficiently for his party.

After a couple hours of party prep, I realized we hadn't invited any guests, and chances were that this late in the game, we might not get any here!

But GG pulled a mass text and requested that all of Paul's aunt's and uncle's attended. When they showed up, Paul greeted them at the door with open arms and a big "Welcome to my party! Come in and eat food!" and then he proceeded to entertain them with awesome dance moves and ninja impersonations while they filled themselves with homemade cookies, store bought pizza, and grape kool-aid, a party staple.

He was sad when the party ended, at 9pm!, but you could tell that at the end of it he felt very proud of himself and fulfilled in a way that only a little boy can experience. i was so proud of him for spearheading the whole thing. And for a 4 year old, he's not a bad party planner!

Hint: he has a rope and a hat

2009-05-26T06:46:00.000-07:00

Paul got a new video game in the mail, and over the course of a rainy weekend, he passed the whole thing. I'm semi-against video games, especially in marathon quantity like that, but part of my is proud of my little 4year old for allowing himself to be sucked into it like that.

Last night we borrowed the movie that is the game from a friend, and watched it with Paul. Any guesses what the movie is?? It's Inda Jones. That's not a typo. Inda Jones. And every step of the way, for every minute of the movie, Paul could tell us what was coming next, because he had played the game. "Oh, this is the part where he finds the snake. See that's the girl! Now he has the stick and the fire will shoot out if it, see? He's fighting on the airplane, when does that happen?"

What was the point in actually watching the movie again?

Sugar, the medicine of champions

2009-05-22T06:08:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I asked Jake to run to the store and get me some eggs and some cream cheese (I'm a little bit of a cream cheese junky.) He takes Paul and they are gone for an hour and a half. Just as I am about to call him and ask where the double hockey-sticks he is they pull in the drive way. But instead of pulling out one grocery bag, they just keep coming. Finally there are six bags on the couch, waiting for me to put them away.

The tally of sending my boys to the store:

ice cream > 4
Popsicles> 3
hostess snacks (of all varieties)> 2
King sized Reese's packs > 4
sugary cereal> 2
Donuts> 1 dozen (which I"m not complaining about, really. He brought me not one, but 2 raspberry fritters. The man knows how to love me.)

Late that day, Nona knows the hostess cupcakes are hiding in the fridge. She tells me

"Momma? My legs are broken, I need a treat." So, yeah, she gets one.

However, the same trick didn't work the next time she asked. At least not until she had some real food first.

The new graffiti

2009-05-19T06:35:00.001-07:00

Every Friday night the kids get to watch a movie and fall asleep on the couch. Imagine my surprise when I wake up Saturday morning and see this:

Yep, those would be the couch pillows. All of them. I'm still not sure what they depict, and Paul really wasn't either when questioned. What story do you think they are trying to tell us?

The magic bunkbeds

2009-05-18T05:54:00.000-07:00

Recently Paul and Nona moved into bunkbeds in Paul's room. Paul, being the big boy that he is, sleeps on the top on his transformers sheets, and Nona is on the bottom, ensconced in pink.

These bunkbeds are the same bunkbeds that I slept in when I was a little girl.

When Paul told me that he was afraid he would have nightmares, I explained to him why that was impossible. These bunkbeds are magical! They only let you dream about what you want to dream about. Every night before Paul goes to bed I have him tell me what he wants to dream about that night. He tells me things like puppies, spiderman, ice cream... and then I cast a spell on the bunkbeds to help his dreams come true. And every morning he wakes up excited to tell me that the magic worked and that he didn't have any bad dreams.

That's right, I'm awesome.

Who could blame her?

2009-05-14T07:01:00.000-07:00

Last night, after Nona's bath, she's sitting on the counter top while I try and comb through her curls. If you've never been present for this demonstration, it sounds a little something like this

"OOOOOWWWWWWWW! AAAAAHHHHHHHOOOOWWWWWW!"

Trying to distract my distraught daughter from the evils of leave in conditioner I ask her what her favorite part of today was. I expected her to calm down and tell me all about the game she was playing in the backyard, or the baby doll the neighbor girl let her borrow. But, alas, my plan is futile, for she screams at me, "I didn't have a favorite part!" That kind of reaction is understandable when it feels like someone is ripping your hair out, trust me, I know. I was once that little girl pinned between mommas legs while she wrestled you into submission.

Hoping that I hadn't just turned every happy reminiscence into a painful memory, I asked Nona what the worst part of her day was. Let make the painful experience truly painful, eh? Still sobbing Nona tells me

"I don't have a worst part. I HATE parts and just don't like them."

Don't blame me, I'm just his Mom

2009-05-13T15:47:00.000-07:00

How often have you gone out and had your kids with you, and they made you wished you hadn't?

There are the fits, the tantrums, the demands, the embarrassing phrases/words they blurt out about passing people, the clothes they demand to wear...did I miss any?

Take for instance last friday: We were going out for the day, and stopped at the grocery store to get some goodies to take with us. Paul hadn't wanted to change out of his pajamas before we left, so I brought him a change of clothes to convince him to change in the car before we went anywhere.

He didn't.

He went the whole day in his pajamas. Everywhere.

In the grocery store:

At the renaissance faire:

The whole day he roamed happily in those froggy jammies while people looked at me like I was a lazy and inattentive mother. Who would be so lazy as to not get their kid dressed for the day?!? She must be a horrible mother!

I'm going to make a t-shirt with the title of this post on it, that way people know that I know that I know.

Have you ever felt like you needed one of these shirts?

New Adventures and the sunburns to prove it

2009-05-11T05:35:00.000-07:00

I hadn't realized it had been a whole week since I had blogged until yesterday. There was just too much to do. We were busy for the better part of the week, want to hear about it?

Tuesday- We go to the library and spend hours. We bring home an insane amount of books ( and a couple movies) and spend the next 2 days reading them non-stop. Myself included, no dishes were done, no laundry... Read, read, and read some more.
Thursday- We took a trip to the Zoo. We watched the bird show and talked to the monkeys. Paul and Beau ran from exhibit to exhibit while Nona and I tried to catch up with the stroller. We kept coming back to the elephants, no matter where we were. I only lost each of them one time. Which, I must say, is a pretty good record!
Friday- We went to the Renaissance Faire. We saw live jousting and a real jester. There were 'princesses' and pirates, fairies and men on stilts. We watched a real blacksmith and a puppet show. A live combat demonstration and Merlin The Magician. Did I mention that I pushed over 100 pounds of children all over in the stroller? For 4 hours? Muscles, baby, I got me some.

We had a blast and always came home exhausted. There are no pictures because if for once I would stop to pull out the camera someone would run away. I quickly learned my lesson on that one. No pictures. Just use your imagination. Thanks!

Maybe they should call it a crap apple tree

2009-05-04T08:03:00.000-07:00

Jake and I were sitting on the porch watching Beau Boy play in the mud when one of the neighborhood kids comes running up and tells us that Paul is pooping and needs some wipes.

Something I always want to hear.

Jake turns to me "that ones all you, honey" of course it is. I set off to find Paul. I catch a glimpse of him popping a squat under an old crabapple tree, his pants around his ankles. SERIOUSLY??? I hide behind the nearest object and try to get my sons attention without attracting anyone elses. "psst! psst! Paul! what are you doing?"

"Momma, I need a wipe." I can see that.
Well, just come home and we'll clean you up there. Paul then asked if he should pull up his pants to walk home.

he waddles over to me as you would expect someone who didn't wipe would, and I ask him what he was thinking. he replies, in all manner of matter-of-factness "I had to poop really fast".

Thankfully, everything cleaned up just fine. Thankfully, no one lives at that house right now. Thankfully, the only people who know about this incident are family and Paul's little helper friend. And now you of course.