Blame it on Pintrest

Are you on Pintrest?

Because if you are, you will totally understand what I'm about to say. And if you're not, then nothing I can say will help you understand. I'm just sayin...

Okay, so I'm kind of addicted to pintrest. And what's funny to me is that all my friends on pintrest all "like" and "repin" the same stuff. So we are all going to have the same ideas for food, home ideas, photography poses.. you name it.... we'll all be doing it.

But I love it.

I have no idea when I am going to have time to try even a fourth of the ideas I've pinned, but I love it.

I saw this on there the other day and couldn't stop laughing so I've posted it for you.

Obviously I fall into the 1%. Although I'm never home 'alone'.

Every little thing I do

I heard this today on the radio and completely related to it.



I have no idea why.

Ironic, isn't it?

My husband informed me when we were still dating that he would like a snake or a lizard. At that point I was planning on eventually marrying the guy and decided I needed to take some action in determining what type of creature would be habitating in our future home together.

After much research, I decided that a leopard gecko would be the best option.

1. It wasn't a snake

2. They get to be about 6 inches long

3. They are easy to take care of

4. I thought they were kinda cute

So I paid around$20 for one and also bought a tank, sand, warmer rocks, and several habitat things to go in the tank. I got it for his birthday and he named her Mortimer. After we were married, we added Bosco to the family.

Mortimer and Bosco lived happily in their tank. We bought them cricket and superworms every week and an occassional pinki whenever Mortimer got pregnant.

Several times she laid eggs and we desperately did every single thing we were supposed to do to hatch gecko eggs in captivity. But they never hatched. Nothing. No babies.

The irony you ask?

We now have baby Mediteranean House Geckos.

Wild baby Mediterranean House Geckos.

As of Tuesday, we've seen 4 in the house. And they seem very happy. And consequently our ant problem in the bathroom is gone and every single house spider that lived in a corner is gone.

1. We paid nothing for them.

2. We don't have to feed them.

3. We didn't have to buy a tank or special warmer rocks to regulate their temperature.

Irony. Gotta love it.

Friend-day Friday

Well, we started back to school the first Monday of August.

Why you ask?

Because it is so stinkin' hot in Texas that there is just absolutely nothing else to do. It's too hot to swim. The pool water is as warm as the air. It's too hot to breathe outside much less attempt any sort of physical activity. It's just too hot.

So the kids and I decided that if we started back the first week of August, we could take off the entire month of December.

Brilliant.

So we did.

But since all our friends are heading back to school next week we decided to have one last friend bash. We called it 'Friend-day Friday' and everyone invited over their bestie.

The new rage here in Texas are the painting places where you can go, pay money, they provide all the supplies and take you step by step through a painting. It's fun to go with a someone so you can paint an identical picture with your friend. We thought it would be fun to do the same at our casa.

It really wasn't that hard or expensive. Hobby Lobby has the economy canvases at $5 for 2 and their Annie's acrylic paint is so cheap, they almost give it away.

So the kids would have a little more success, I printed out a picture of the project they picked out and then outlined it briefly with a pencil on the canvas.

We went step by step in painting. We looked at the pictures and discussed which colors would work best. It was really fun.

And they all went home with a fun picture that they painted with a friend. A fun momento that they could hang up in their room. Or their closet. :)

This is a friend-day activity that we will definitely do again!

We should have named her Lola

That's right.

Like the song.

Oh come on... you know the song....

Whatever Lola Wants......Lola Gets...

Our baby girl is almost two and she wakes up most days with a 3 step plan to take over the world. Step one is to take out Mama.

Me.

That's right.

My husband calls her a high-maintenance terrorist.

I'm pretty sure she can leap small buildings in a single bound.

We used to have a no-negotiating-with-terrorists policy. Which meant with the older 3 kids, we didn't give in to their demands.

We have completely given into Lola. She'll come in the room and ask for her 'bobbi' (bottle). I'll tell her she can't have it right now. She'll ask again in a slightly louder tone. I'll politely tell her she can have it later. She screams, 'BOBBI!!!!" and we are all scrambling to fix her bottle so she'll be quite.

Go ahead and judge. I know I used to.

I would see people at a restaurant with their kids. They would leave and the table underneath was a wreck and my husband and I would shake our heads and proclaim that we would never, under any circumstances, leave such a mess.

Yeah right.

When we had a 4, 3 and 2 year old eating out, we would always be appalled at everything that ended up on the floor. We did our best to discreetly clean up our humble pie, leave a huge tip and exit as quietly as we could.

So go ahead. Judge away.

But really, that's not the best part. The best is that she has learned how to get out of her crib. And she politely declines to sleep in the very cute Pottery Barn Green Daisy themed twin bed I have for her. (I would like to take a moment and thank Craigslist and all the parents out there who upgrade the theme of their child's pottery barn room after only having it a year) And if we shut her in the room with the childproof handle on the inside, she cries for hours on end.

So we have just decided to let her wander around the house at bedtime until she gets so tired that she falls asleep.

And we go find her and carry her to bed.

I realize we have fallen far into the depravity of parents who have no boundaries with children. We are working on a plan, I promise. But there are days where I think it would be easier to just let my children be happy and not worry about their character one bit.

We really thought that the 4th kid would be the easiest. She would be easy going, laid back, have a desire to obey and please her parents.

Nope.

Our 4th kid is 5 years younger than the next sibling and she acts like a first born. Fortunately God made her so stinkin' cute that she might just make it through the next couple years based on her cuteness alone.

And this is what I am going to put on the wall of her bedroom.

Very fitting, don't ya think?

_______________________________________________________________

Update: 8-23-11

Lest you feel that we have totally given up on parenting our 4th, I wanted to put in an update that we have been working on setting boundaries with her and also putting her in her big girl bed at her 8:30 bedtime. The first night we stood quietly outside her room and put her back in bed everytime she came out. After 27 attempts at escape, she finally decided to sleep the night in her bed. The second night only took 17 attempts and last night, after 5 attempts to leave her room, she stayed in bed and slept there all night! There may be hope yet. For her and us!

The Arboretum

So I took the kids to the Arboretum last week.

It was beautiful! I thought I would share my pictures just in case you don't get to go.

Well, just throw me in the Briar Patch

I have a confession to make.

I don't want to work with kids at Vacation Bible School. (I know, go ahead and gasp and then sit back down)

Since I have 3 kids who are attending I feel somewhat compelled to help out. But I have specifically asked to be put somewhere that I won't have to work with kids. It must be the fact that I work with my own kids every day, because I used to love working Vacation Bible School. It was one of the highlights of the summer. I loved it. But when I worked 2 years ago (of course, I was 7 months pregnant) I was completely exhausted by noon and was almost to the point where I would just rather not have my own kids go than to feel like I have to stay and work all day with a bunch of other peoples kids.

In fact, I remember clearly that by day 3 of VBS two year ago I had 3rd graders talking to me all day. Talking, talking, talking. Then on the way home my 3 kids talked to me allll the waaaaay hooooooome. Talking, talking, talking. So by the time I got home I said, "That's it. No more talking to mommy for an hour!"

My at-the-time-4 year old daughter sweetly said, "That's okay Mommy, I'll just talk to the baby in your tummy."

At that point there was just a long silent scream in my head that said, "No more VBS!"

So guess what?

There is apparently a "photography/slide show maker" position at VBS.

And it's mine.... all mine!!!!

Can I just tell you how excited I am?!? I can work at VBS and yet not be in charge of any children! I've been doing the happy dance all day long. Happy, happy, happy!

I feel just like Brer Rabbit. No, please, don't make me take pictures. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Is that terrible that I don't want to work with kids?

As much as I appreciate the thought...

I'm just sure if I took a picture and posted it of my mullet in it's full glory, THAT would be the picture they would use on the news if something tragic happened to me.

You know they would.

They always seem to find the most hick looking person in a crowd to interview and they always seem to have the most uncomplimentary pictures of people to show when something tragic has happened.

Besides, I have figured out that if I flat iron it really really good, that it looks somewhat decent and then if I put a ton of make up on, no one seems to notice my hair at all.

On the contrary, I've actually had a couple compliments on it.

Which actually really concerns me.

It should always be concerning when a mullet hair cut is considered to be an improvement on your previous hair style. Or maybe it was the lack thereof.

I'm at the point now where it has grown out just enough that it is a little more manageable and it is just in the mornings when it is most prominent. When I wake up it's like I have my own shoulder-length hair, and then I have this other hair entity resting on top of my head.

It's nice.

So what I'm telling ya, is if you want to see it, you're just gonna have to drive down here. I just can't bring myself to post a pic. But I will assure you of one thing.... I do have more volume on top.

Just sayin.

Someone To Pray For

I was made aware of the blog, The Simple Wife, yesterday. I had never read her before. But her story is heartbreaking. Her husband has been updating her blog. She had a stroke on Tuesday. Clear out of the blue.

She's around my age, she has 2 girls that she homeschools, she's a Christian and a wife and a really brilliant blog author.

They had to cut part of her skull away yesterday because there was so much swelling.

Monday, she was just like me. Today she is lying in an ICU, completely sedated and they are not for sure what is going to happen on Saturday when she should wake up.

Please pray for her. She has been heavy on my heart.

It makes you totally reconsider everything you are thankful for.

I said "Volume" She heard "Mullet"

A good hair cut can make a girl feel like the queen of the world. A bad haircut.... well, a bad haircut won't grow out soon enough.

I've got a bad haircut.

I'm pretty sure I told her I needed more volume up on top. You sit and chat and watch them trim and cut and it really isn't until the hair is dried and styled and they turn you around and show you in the mirror what the back looks like that you really understand how much they cut off.

And you then see that instead of trimming it up to add more volume, she just cut a layer of bangs all the way around your head.

So you pay the nice girl and hope that when you get home things look a little better.

And when you get home your husband says, "Well,... if you like it, I like it" (bless the man)

And then it really hits you. You have a mullet. I would take a picture and post it so you can judge for yourself, but I'm afraid the reality of it all would be too much for me.

It reminds me of the time a different hair stylist was cutting my hair and we started discussing her family. I asked something innocent about her mother and come to find out she's adopted and only recently met her real mother.

She started to cry.

While she was cutting my hair.

And the harder she cried, the faster she cut.

I lost 8 inches that day. Was only wanting a trim.

Lesson learned.

Several years before that I had just had my second boy (so I guess that would be roughly 8 years ago) and it was winter, my hair was dark and gloomy and I desperately wanted a highlight. I compromised and went to someone that I had not been to before who was pretty cheap and could get me right in (let me just say, if someone is very cheap and can always get you right in, that also should cause you some concern).

I just wanted a highlight. Nothing fancy.

Halfway through the rinse she said, "Uh oh."

What?

"I need to go grab some toner"

WHAT?

She then proceeded to spend the next 10 minutes washing my hair. I will just go ahead and tell you that that is not a good sign.

By the time I made it back to the mirror, I was very concerned. As I should have been. Apparently. Because my hair was no longer a mixture of several shades, but in fact one very solid shade.

Of orange.

Or a derivative thereof.

She said she could try to fix it. I paid the nice girl and vowed never to return.

Mrs. Troop came by the next day to bring us a meal (since we had just had a baby) and I mentioned how I looked like an undercover spy agent with my solid orange wiglike hair. I may have even mentioned the name Sydney Bristow. It was at that point that our lasting friendship really began. She revealed to me that she too secretly admired the undercover spy agent, Sydney Bristow from the show Alias. (oh how I miss that show) We were best friends from that day forward.

We spent more money on my hair trying to get it back to something closer to what it should be than we would have had we just paid someone the big bucks in the first place. So my husband decided that we would no longer skimp on my haircuts but go with someone who knows what they are doing.

Lesson learned.

So now I am wondering how I should have communicated differently to avoid having a mullet. (and if you are reading this blog, and you have a mullet, please know it is not the mullet I have problems with directly, the shape just doesn't compliment my face). Who knows, maybe I'll start a new trend.

The Mom Mullet.

But if not, fortunately it will grow out in 3 - 4 weeks. And if you see me between now and then, you can just smile at me and nod sympathetically. That will be sufficient to convey your empathy.

Mrs. Troop really wants me to post a picture. If I get up the nerve, I'll do it.

But don't hold your breath.

The Lego Party

My 8 year old wanted a Lego themed party for his Birthday. That is pretty much all he is into these days.

Legos.

So I scoured the Internet and found all the best Lego party ideas and implemented the ones I could. We decided to make it an Expert Lego Builder Training Camp.

Lego cake, covered with fondant. It's a good 10 footer. As in, it looks pretty good from about 10 feet away. I used half a jumbo marshmallows and covered them with fondant for the knobs on top of the legos. I cut the name out of fondant to look like Lego font and then traced it with an edible black marker.

Lego candy. Found at our local candy shop. You can stack them and they will even lock! I used little clear plastic jewelry bags from Hobby Lobby to put some in for each kid and we used them as prizes.

Lego head marshmallow pops. They were seriously cute.

We had custom shirts for all the kids that said "Expert Lego Builder" and their name. You can buy t-shirt transfer paper at Target, Hobby Lobby etc and print your own design right off of your printer! How fun is that!?!

Even our Lego Destroyer got a shirt.

Activites

Each Kid had a booklet they got to decorate when they showed up with Lego minifig stickers (found in the Lego Minifigure Sticker book). Inside were listed all the activities they needed to do in order to be an Expert Lego Builder. When they completed an activity, an adult gave them a lego sticker to check it off in their booklet.

1. Lego Uniform. The first activity was to be dressed in their Lego uniform (custom shirts). All the kids seemed pretty excited about these. One mom told me later that night that her son loved the shirt so much, he wanted to sleep in it.

2. Picture with the birthday boy. Everyone had individual pics with the birthday boy. If I had not put it down, I probably would have forgotten to do this.

3. Minifig Construction. Each kid got to make 2 minifigures. We bought a HUGE tub of legos about 7 years ago at a garage sale for $25. It was one of those times where you try not to look positively elated and you get the tub in your car before someone offers $200 for it. There were probably about 100 minifigs in there with a gazillion other legos. We divided about 30 - 40 of them and put them in for the kids to each make 2. Just like at the lego store. They loved it. We put them in the little plastic jewelry bags and then they put them in their gift bags to take home.

4. Guess How Many Legos. We bought a $10 149 piece lego creator set and poured it all into a plastic container. We then added 10 lego duplo blocks (to make it look fuller) and let the kids guess how many legos were in it. The one who guess closest got to take the lego set home.

5. Lego Architecture. Duplo lego build off. We had a wide variety of ages at the party so we divided up into 4 teams of 2 or 3. The 9 & 3 year old division, the 8 year old division, the girls division and the 5 year old division. We then gave each team a box of duplo legos (divided them all up equally beforehand) and told them they had 7 minutes to build a tower. They all loved this and were very creative in how they built their towers. We gave prizes to each division but they all won for different reasons like, "Tallest tower", "Most creative tower", "Tower with the most pieces used", "Sturdiest tower".

6. Lego Creativity. We then did one more build off and this time they had to use all the pieces in their box and they had 7 minutes. Even the 9 year olds had fun with this. Once again, we came up with creative descriptions and everyone won and we handed out prizes.

7. Lego Race Car Building. We bought a K'nex/Lego Race Car set for everyone at a discount store at $3 each. We set them all out and each kids got to randomly pick on and build it. Great activity! They were so quiet. I would highly recommend it. The dads had to help the younger kids but the older ones really got into this one.

8. Lego Racing Skills. And then they got to race them!

For a race track I used a craft table and put up just one of the sides and then used black poster boards taped down to the table. The kids had a great time racing their cars down. I had stuff to decorate it with but I ran out of time and the kids didn't seem to care anyways.

Gift Bags contained an individual Lego man marshmallow head wrapped in a candy pop wrapping, the lego candy, the minifigs they made, the race cars and we also added a lego set from the 'Lego Party Pack'. It comes with 8 bags of lego sets - 4 cars, 4 airplanes. On the back of the bag is a free child ticket with paid adult to Legoland (one is opening in Dallas this spring) and a free subscription to Lego Club magazine.

It was a fun party and by the time we sang, opened presents, had birthday cake and ice cream, it was time for everyone to go home.

So there you have it. All the best Lego ideas I could find.

Happy Birthday Nathan!