Homophones

Max is very into "mine" lately. The other night at the dinner table, he went around possessing members of the family. "My mommy. My daddy. My Pearly. My Sammy. My Ruby."

I said back to him "your Ruby, huh?"

He replied, with a smile like I'd made the funniest joke... "No, mom, I'm Max! I'm not Ruby!"

This is why I love two year olds so much:)

Big.

Her first press on nails. Getting so big! (sniff sniff)

P.S. They stayed on for about 20 minutes, then came off in the shower. That was fun:)

4 months

She's four months old. Where has the time gone? She's mastered some new things, like thumb sucking, toy grabbing/slobbering, and general alertness. She refuses to fall asleep while in the jogging stroller now, becuase she might miss something. She's still the sweetest of babies, and loves to share her smiles. Boy do we love her!!!!

Seize the day

After reading an article my friend Ashley posted, I felt inspired to ignore my laundry and taxes and dishwasher and make cookies with Sam this afternoon. Sweet time together.:)

Valentines

So... I'm crazy. I decided to take all four kids to JoAnn's with me today. I know, who would do that to themselves? But I really really really wanted to finish off the easter outfits so I could clean up the sewing mess and I needed double sided fusible interfacing so I could make booties for Ruby... you understand the urgency. And I had a whole day before me yawning ahead by myself with four kids... we had to do something.

So in exchange for good behavior, I bribed them with a visit to target's dollar bins (conveniently located next door). I also got an awesome clearance shirt that I embellished for Pearl's skirt, good day:) As we were perusing the dollar bins, I noticed both boy and girl flavors of valentines pencils. And I thought, I can do something with those... it's better for me not to have candy around this year.

So, at home, I hop on the internet, and lo and behold:

Really, someone was brilliant. But I don't have the energy or creativity to put these together, I was hoping for some nice little free printable, no such luck. But that got me thinking.... hey, I know some superheroes!!!!

A quick trip to the halloween photos (I have GOT to get my milelage out of those awesome costumes!!!) and I have my own homemade superheroes. My master plan is to poke holes and put the pencils in over the swords... not quite as cute as the lollipop from last year but pretty easy. The images have already been sent to Costco for printing.

I really wanted to do this picture for Sam:
But he really wanted this one, so I said ok, even though I think his pencil sword will cover up his face. Oh well.
I apparently really love being prepared for holidays. I wish I was as motivated to work ahead on something useful, like tax season:)

PS the kids really were good in JoAnns. Then we made it thorough Target AND Chipotle where I also had to nurse the baby. On the way out from Chipotle, a guy saw me from his car in the parking lot and commented on my bravery.... you have no idea... the courage I summon to take all four ANYWHERE!!! At least they are amazingly good kids!

PPS Annie - I have a couple of shots of Jack and some extra pencils if you want this for your valentine too... let me know and I'll doctor up the pics and send em over:)

Friday night party

Guess what I did tonight? Easter outfits for the kids, of course! Jared is still gone and I was feeling bored of normal stuff, you know, laundry, dishes... So I did this. Tonight I learned about shirring, but in order to do it I had to take my sewing machine apart 3 times. Love how everything turned out, now I just need a sweater for Pearl:)

Brilliant. Really.

We were reading the book "too many toys" and when we got to this page, Max busted out with LETTER RECOGNITION of symbolic letters AND phonics. I think he's brilliant. I had to run and get the camera.

Now if he only put his brain power into potty training....