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365--week 16

and so another week has come and gone all too fast.

day 106
a not-so-fair game of connect four with the porter boy as you can see by the two-fisted-chip-dropping going on! apparently sticking out your tongue helps with concentration:)

day 107
bird's nests in our yard + curious boys who can't leave them alone = the above picture.

day 108
this is the window above my kitchen sink.  oh i could go into a long story right now because i'm so stinkin' mad about it but to try and be brief...we have voles. no not moles but voles. they do a lot more damage than moles and are in my flower beds. i saved this last tulip before they devoured the rest including the bulbs! these were special double tulip bulbs that i had bought a couple years ago and they had finally doubled this year--okay, okay that's enough about it. i'm gonna call someone this week for sure!

day 109
a typical site on any given morning usually after i've dropped the older boys off at school.

day 110
this was not the best picture i could have chosen for the day but it's one that just made me laugh as to the crazy things i find around here. if you can't tell, that is chewed gum smooshed between the outside of our dryer door and the bubble gum wrapper! this angle doesn't show all the sticky smeared finger prints around it either. hmmm...i wonder who did that?

day 111
i loved walking out back to find this going on! the boys and our neighbor friends (couldn't fit the other neighbor friend in the pic) sitting at the table under the play-set just drawing, how awesome is that! love love love it! and i had nothing to do with it either:)

day 112
it was bedtime and the boys were begging to have some reading time to themselves in their beds. now that is a hard thing to say no to! i gave them 10 minutes. seeing them read makes my heart smile!

 

i'm just sayin'...

*this week i've been infatuated with ali edward's blog as she is doing her week-in-the-life project. i just love it and it's made we wish i participated this year. it's similar to the 365 idea but way more detailed and just for a week. you document your entire day, which is what she did this week and then this coming week she will be showing on her blog how she is scrapbooking it. it's all about the details of your everyday life; what you ate, what you watched, what you listened to, what you wore, your daily routines, etc.. etc... it can be anything you make it to be, all the stuff you want to remember someday. it really is so cool. i did it 2 years ago (of course i never got to the scrapping part) but that was before i had a blog. i thought it might be too much since i am doing the 365 project life but now i'm regretting not doing it. i'm thinking it might be fun to just pick a day every now and then, maybe once a month, and do just a "day in the life". the thing that i like about the week-in-the-life project is it shows the whole story (mostly) where as my daily pictures for the 365 project really are just one little piece to the overall puzzle that makes up our day. anyway, that's just something i've been diggin' this week:) 

*we were at cooper's baseball practice and i had to take porter to the bathroom, as he was undoing his pants i asked him if he needed to pee or poop. as he sat down he said "poop...and pee...and fart" and then he proceeded to fart! made me laugh out loud. (is that tmi to write on my blog?? having 3 boys i guess i'm just used to talking about that kind of stuff) hope that didn't gross anyone out!

 *on the way home from one of easton's first baseball practices last week he says to me "mom, my coach doesn't know anything! he kept telling us if we don't focus we won't win any games and it's not about winning it's about having fun!" (okay so i might have said that a time or two). now fast forward to  yesterday at porter's soccer practice. he runs up to me and says while trying to catch his breath "you know why i can make so many goals mom...it's because i'm focusing!" again, i had to laugh out loud:)

i want to leave you with a quote that ali edward's had on her blog this week that really resonated with me:

"normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. let me hold you while i may, for it may not always be so. one day i shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return." ---mary jean iron

have a blessed week.
xo 

happy friday!

 
i decided to clean up the house and fold the massive amounts of laundry that was on my bed last night so i would have a place to sleep instead of working on my 365 post for today. now that today has flown by somehow i wish i would've just let all that go seeing how you can't even tell i did anything by the current look of my house! 

so i just wanted to throw this up real quick for my 5 lovely friends who i know check this on fridays to see my 365 week of pictures. (although i am friends with all of you on facebook so i'm pretty sure you all have seen this already). this pic was from last week that didn't make it into my post. i was jumping on the trampoline with the boys and porter gave me a big hug and said he loved me but didn't want me to get old. i showed him one of my moves from back in the day so he wouldn't worry! ha ha-- momma's still got it! LOL

i have to go get ready for dinner with our small group from church tonight, will be the first time i've gotten ready and actually put make-up on all week! but i will be back to get my 365 post up.

have a wonderful friday evening! 

365--week 15

i have to admit i'm not feeling it this week, hence one of the reasons (besides being busy) that i'm late getting this post up.  i have to assume that's somewhat normal in this process of doing the 365 project life deal. not every day or every week is going to be super exciting which mirrors my life right now i guess. but here it is anyway...

day 99
easton was the "high fiver" in his class for the week so he wanted to bring in dexter to show the class. it was fun to see the confidence he had in front of the class calling on kids who had their hands raised and answering their questions. proud momma moment:)

day 100
jeremy surprised me by making a reservation for my birthday at "the melting pot" on the country club plaza (fancy area in kansas city). obviously it was a fondue restaurant.  we had our own private booth with drawn curtains, it felt like we were in a cave but it was a lot of fun...any very yummy!

day 101
pretty tulips from my yard surrounded by my wonderful birthday cards.

day 102
okay so math has never been my best subject and i have to admit that i get stumped with 3rd grade math more often than not, which is why i am so thankful for the nights when jeremy is home so he can help with easton's homework!

day 103
this is actually the one image i did get excited about this week. we were at easton's first baseball practice and after a few minutes i said they could go play on the playground. they were so excited they grabbed each other and ran the whole way there. they seriously ran the whole way holding hands!! this actually happened people! maybe it's just surprising to me since they are usually hitting each other--LOL.(look at how dirty porter's feet are!)

day 104
trampoline fun with daddy! we are about to have a big party in our back yard with lots of kids so we are in the process of ordering a replacement net and pad. funny how we've let our kids jump on it without a net for over a year but the thought of other people's kids jumping on it is what finally makes us order the parts!

day 105
i went out to dinner with 4 of my long time forever girlfriends. we try and get together at least once or twice a year and as always we closed down the restaurant. after all the tables around us had the chairs on top and they were mopping the floor we finally took the hint and went outside and sat for a couple more hours! i love those girls!

*easton and cooper both started their baseball practices this week and porter's t-ball starts soon too. there is only 4 more weeks of school left so the craziness is upon us! i am really looking forward to summer though. i just need to get some sort of a schedule planned out.

*my basement is really really bothering me (to put it mildly). it is out of control and i think i need to ask for help...which is not like me.

*i also got some bad news about my grandma yesterday. the cancer is back with possible brain tumors and it doesn't look good. i can't imagine my life without this woman in it.

 just some random thoughts from my week.

thanks for taking a peak.
xo xo 
 

hello 'MID'-thirties!

well i had a birthday this past weekend...i am now 35 years old! and for the next 2 months my husband will get so much pleasure by rubbing it in my face that i am older than him. just tonight cooper asked him how old he was and he said "34...but mommy is 35", i yelled from the next room "he didn't ask how old i was!" to which he said, "yeah, i know i just like saying that"! nice.

really though, 35...that just sounds so old! i was talking to a girlfriend a couple days before my b-day and she said, "your'e almost in you're late thirties". i was quick to correct, "oh no, MID thirties my friend...MID!" i will be hanging on tightly to that this year before i am forced to let go and enter the dreaded "late" thirties! LOL

unfortunately, jeremy had to work at the fire station on my birthday. he did take me out on a very nice date the night before though.
this lovely card was waiting for me when i woke up.

the boys actually remembered and greeted me right away and were anxious to give me these
jeremy told me that when he took them to get my cards that cooper was very adamant about wanting to make me a card and not buy one. i love that! don't get me wrong, they are all precious but you can never go wrong with the love that goes into the hand made stuff! they were all so proud to give me the gift that apparently my mom took them to get when jeremy and i were on our date. they picked out some exercise clothes for me! (should i take that as a hint?) my mom said that they had originally wanted to get me a dress but then passed the work out section and changed their minds. so adorable!

this was part of the card coop made me. i love that it's just him and i holding hands:)

we went to church and then to my parent's house for brunch. cooper asked to pray and bless his heart, this was part of his prayer "thank you for my mom's birthday. i bet she's gonna have a wonderful time. i hope mom has the best birthday ever! amen".
i don't know what got into the boys (mainly cooper) but they turned into the sweetest things on the planet! they were being so kind and polite, giving tons of hugs and kisses and were doing the most adorable little things for me. they went outside and eventually they each came to the door with a little bouquet of flowers that they picked from the yard.

 
 
they brought these beautiful flowers in and put them in vases. they were so proud that they decided to go back out a play numerous games of door bell dash with flowers. the door bell would ring and this is what i would find when i went to answer it...
 some giggling boys were hiding behind the near by bushes, so cute!

THEN... oh then, my favorite part of the day happened. we went and sat on the back patio since it was absolutely beautiful out and the boys decided to do some improv songs for me. totally orchestrated by cooper--so stinkin' funny...and adorable of course! i have to share just one with you.

oh that cracks me up every time i watch it! they did so many of these that day, yes a lot of them were quite repetitive but still my cheeks were hurting because i couldn't stop smiling and laughing. the thing that just kills me is in almost every song they sang to me they sang about how i was "the goodest chef ever" and how i make great chicken. they were dwelling on the thing that i feel most guilty about as a mom...my cooking skills. i hate to admit this but meal planning and having a wide variety of things on my menu are just not what i am best at and that's what they chose to sing about! so hey, if they think i am the goodest chef in the world then that's all that matters right?

then i was smothered with more hugs and kisses!
what a lucky momma i am!!

cooper kept asking me over and over throughout the day, "mom, are you having a good time? is this your best birthday ever?" so precious. he made me this sign and put it on the designated birthday chair.
 
on the other side of that paper it started out as this...
thank you for quickly fixing that coop! ha ha

now time for some cake!
my mom always always writes "darling daughter". i heart her.

although the boys were being super good, it was no surprise that this happened when i blew out my candles.

oh man! we ended up re-lighting the candles three different times so everyone could have their 'fair' turn at blowing them out! geesh! so now we were finally ready to actually eat some of my 'strawberry shortcake'.

i have to briefly tell the story of my cake. when i was little of loved the cartoon character and dolls of "strawberry shortcake". my sister had the strawberry shortcake doll and i had the baby apricot doll. they were the kind of dolls that smelled so yummy. my mom actually still has them in her toy closet for the grandkids and they still smell! talk about taking me right back to being 6 again! anyway, i had a couple of "strawberry shortcake" themed cakes when i was little and every year since then i get my "strawberry shortcake" for my b-day minus the characters:) i guess that is my birthday tradition.

here are some pictures that i found of my first "strawberry shortcake" cakes.
you can't see the "strawberry shortcake" picture too well on the top of the cake but that "you are special" plate has been another tradition of ours too.

my mom said that my late aunt made this cake for me. so that's why i still refer to my birthday cake as my "strawberry shortcake" cake.

my 35th birthday turned out to be a really great day. the only thing that would've made it better was if jeremy could have been with us too. thanks to all my wonderful friends and family for the beautiful cards and birthday wishes. i am so blessed and thankful for this life God has given me. i am determined to enjoy and embrace this year in my "mid" thirties!

if you've made it through this long post...thank you, i am thankful for you too!
xo 
 
  



 

 

365--week 14

happy friday peeps!

day 92
a friday night trip to a favorite place, target! the boys were dying to spend some of their money and since jeremy was at the fire station i figured it would help pass some time. i know that might sound bad but you know some times bed time just can't come soon enough!

day 93
lovin' me some good ice tea!

day 94
one of the highlights on Easter (aside from the Easter bunny and egg hunts) was when my dad got out this huge kite for the boys to fly. they were so excited and it was a nice windy day too so it worked out great. it ended up with with my dad on a ladder fishing it out of a tree but hey, he had to of known that would happen! LOL!

day 95
this is the first year that easton has actually eaten the hard boiled eggs, the other two...no way. we thought this one looked super cool post peeling:)

day 96
after three trips to home depot and 17 bags of sand later, our sand box is almost full! we haven't got fresh sand in almost two years so the boys were absolutely thrilled with the oh-so-soft-sand. they had to immediately take turns burying each other!

day 97
thanks to these medicines last night was the first night in 5 nights that coop didn't come in our room 2-3 times crying because he was itching so bad. poor guy. yep, he has poison ivy...again. took him to a walk in clinic on Easter sunday to confirm it. thankfully the medicine is kicking in!

day 98
i spend a lot of time in the van. that needs to change.

i've been reveling in the beauty of my cleveland pear trees and jane magnolia blooms this week. (i spared you pictures though!) i hope you are taking time to appreciate all that spring has to offer as well.

take care,
xo xo

  




 

some Easter happenings

are you tired of seeing everyone's easter egg dying pics? if so skip down a ways to see a little egg craft. if not, well goodie, here's some more!

okay, i know hard boiling eggs isn't exactly a difficult task but i am a fan of anything that makes even the simplest of things easier. therefor i have the cuisinart egg cooker. LOVE IT! my only complaint is that i can't do more that 7 eggs at a time.
you know it's nice outside when you have to actually make them come in to dye their eggs!
getting bright vivid colors is pretty hard when the longest you can leave the egg alone is 30 seconds!

i thought this paper towel was a work of art all by itself!
most years i have dyed eggs with the boys by myself because jeremy is at the fire station and it's usually  complete chaos! the craziest memory that comes to mind is the Easter right after we got sinbad. it was 3 years ago so the boys were a lot smaller, porter wasn't even 2 yet and oh my word, that's when he was such a terror!! so i'm supervising the egg dying and trying to keep porter from dumping everything out while taking pictures and i can't keep our new puppy from humping my leg...all at the same time! i just remember cracking up but still wishing jeremy was there to help. thankfully it has gotten much more enjoyable as they've gotten older but i'll never forget that insane time! i'm thinking next year i might dye some extra so i can sit down and have some decorating fun too!

speaking of decorating fun, that leads me to the second part of this post...

rhinestone eggs!

you will need lots of these

to make something like this
the above egg is 14 years old. i absolutely cannot believe that! the story is, i was in art school and the kansas city magazine came to the illustration and design departments with an Easter egg decorating assignment. a select few would be chosen to be in the magazine. i can't tell you how many times i changed my idea and agonized over this, especially after i would see what my classmates were doing. i finally was to the point of throwing my hands up with frustration and said without a hint of enthusiasm 'oh i'll just cover the whole thing with rhinestones and be done with it!'. i was dating jeremy at the time and we both can still remember me sitting there for hours gluing those things on. SO this does take some time:)

you can imagine my surprise when i saw this
from the april 1996 issue of the kansas city magazine. i still can't believe my rhinestone egg made it in there with all those other amazing eggs.

that egg belongs to my mom and every year she brings it out and people want to know about it. last month when my sister was here my mom had it out and all the kids were just enthralled with it so i thought it would be a fun project to rekindle. we headed to hobby lobby (our local craft store) for the supplies and got to work.

my original rhinestone egg is the size of the largest egg. these are wooden eggs that i painted white and then put a coat of this clear glitter paint i have so that's what you see in between the rhinestones instead of the wood. as i was working on this my mind was overflowing with all the different ways you could do this like painting the egg a different color other than white, a solid color egg, a design in the egg with the rhinestones, a 2 tone egg, even the rhinestones come in different sizes, etc... etc... seriously endless possibilities!
i started with the smallest egg because i wanted to see what a solid color would look like. i don't have a completed picture because i ran out of this color but you get the idea:)

all my sister and i got accomplished when she was here was priming and glitterfying (i made that word up ha-ha) the eggs. the kids just wanted to paint the eggs we got them and didn't have much interest in doing the rhinestones...nor the patience! of course my sister finished hers right when she got back to colorado before Easter and me, well...story of my life. wish i would've had her send me a picture of hers.

this is coop writing 'Hulk' on his painted egg!

your egg is on it's way back to you mom. hopefully my set will be done before next Easter!

i'd love to see or hear about any fun Easter projects that might have taken place at your house. have a great day and thanks for stopping by:) xo
 

  

 

 

 

365--week 13

it's technically still friday as i'm composing this but i'm pretty sure it won't be by the time i'm finished! i have had an exhausting week to say the least. i was out late two nights, one late night bible study and a long talk with a dear friend afterwords and a late night dinner with another wonderful friend who i don't get to see too often due to my crazy life and her even crazier life with 6 six kids. having some mommy alone time with girlfriends is so necessary and rejuvenating for me but staying out so late two nights in a row just threw me off for the rest of the week! not so rejuvenating the older i get! LOL! i'm not a fan of getting old and the fact that i will be 35 in a little over a week is not setting well with me. i have always been a night owl but already i'm finding it is getting a lot harder for me to do--that really sucks! not to mention i worked tilling up a garden for over four hours one day and couldn't move by the end of the night but that's a story deserving of it's own post!

here is a look at our oh so normal, non eventful, ordinary but wonderful week.

day 85
i was walking out the door to go to a wedding and realized i hadn't taken my POTD (picture of the day). not wanting to take my camera to the wedding i snapped a pic of my shoe. why, you say? well, besides the fact that i was in a hurry and didn't know what else to do, these shoes and i go way back. i got these shoes for my rehearsal dinner now almost 12 years ago. i loved them then and i love them now. what's great is that these shoes seem to be timeless and never go out of style. of course, that is a matter of opinion and i am certainly not a fashion expert!

day 86
the boys love having their own human jungle gym, aka...daddy!

day 87
porter and i having some rest time on my bed this sunday afternoon. jeremy was doing homework with the other 2 downstairs so porter thought it was pretty cool to get to watch something on the computer with headphones and i thought it was pretty cool that i got to take a nap!

day 88
the boys, including a neighbor friend, lining up for their turn to catch the football. jeremy had just walked in the door from work and was smothered with these kiddos wanting him to play with them. i'm so thankful that even though he's tired he takes the time to do that.

day 89
yes, it's spring and these are my first blooms. these daffodils are from my grandparents yard in kentucky so they are extra special to me. i love my flowers people so i'm afraid you might see them almost as much as you see my kids...almost! ha ha

day 90
first time to the creek this season. hosing off shoes, hosing off boys, sending them straight to the shower, wrapping up all their dirty wet clothes in a towel and taking them straight to the washer, etc...etc...  this is almost a daily occurrence in the summer, not sure i'm ready to start it now. oh the joys of having boys!

day 91
as much as these little dudes drive me crazy, i love them more than life!

as i'm thinking of Good Friday today i'm reminded that porter's teacher pulled me aside this week to tell me that she was moved to tears by his reaction to them telling the story of Jesus's death and resurrection using resurrection eggs. she said in the middle of the story he burst into tears and cried out "but i don't want Jesus to die!" he was apparently very upset. how precious to see through a child's eyes every now and then. i can imagine being there on that sad day and just crying out to God "no, i don't want Jesus to die!".  what an amazing thing he did for us though, giving His life for our sins so that we may have eternal life. i thank you Lord for that sacrifice. i am so not worthy but am so thankful for Your amazingly wonderful Grace.

grace and peace to you all. i hope you have a beautiful Easter weekend!
xo xo