So If You're Wondering About the Speed Showering...

... no, I'm still not fast enough. If you ever think to yourself, "self, did you push that bag of flour far enough back on the counter?" Life lesson #49: always double check the flour.

Have a flour-tastic day!

Speed Showering and Rocking Chairs

It's always a risk when you decide to take a shower while the kids are awake. You have to weigh the pros and cons. Sure, you'll smell a little better, but how much of a mess are the kids making while you're gone? I'll show you! Despite my best effort at speed-showering, Madeline still had time to break into the cabinet and liberate half a bag of chips. She got the clip off, dumped them on the living room ottoman, and went to town chowing down. Please notice that Caleb is munching on a chip, too. This is amusing because the second I poked my towel-wrapped head into the room he said, "Oh no, Momma, Madeline got the chips out." Thus he tattled while eating some of the evidence.

On a different note, Madeline is now in her toddler bed instead of the crib. When we moved Caleb to a bed it took him months to get brave enough to get out of bed once we put him in. It was glorious. It took Madeline about 15 seconds to realize nothing was holding her in, and she's taken full advantage of it. Although she still hasn't realized that playing the toy piano is a dead give away that she's up. Heheh. Lately, we've often found her like this:

She loves to be rocked before bed, and she would prefer it if we'd just rock her until she was asleep each time. I don't want that to be the only way she goes to sleep, so I always put her in bed while she's still a little awake. Several times a week I'll go to check on her and find her fast asleep in the chair. She gets out of bed, grabs a blanket, and rocks herself to sleep. How cute is that?

Have a chip-filled sleep-tastic day!

The Aquarium

We took the kids to the aquarium today. As it turns out, my daughter is afraid of fish! Who would have thought? She spent the entire first half of our visit making faces like this:

and crying if we got too close to any of the fish. Luckily, she warmed up to them after a bit... as long as we didn't go too close. Caleb, on the other hand, loved it. He was right up front at each little exhibit.

We finally hit a turning point somewhere around the stingray tank. Caleb was standing on the bench looking in, and Madeline decided to join him. I think it was her favorite spot. We stayed there quite a while.

By the end of our ramblings Madeline had settled down into her normal, happy self.

Have a fish-tastic day!

Too Hot Outside?

Go spray your children with water!

Etsy Shop

So I'm thinking about opening up an Etsy shop soon. I'm just not sure if I have the time to devote to it right now. Any opinions? Either way, for now I'm just taking orders for different things on a word of mouth basis. Here is an example of the cute gift bags I'm making to package my superhero capes. The great part is that they're reusable! I think I'm going to make some for wrapping Christmas presents this year, too. :-)

Sewing Project

This is my first try at a new clutch pattern. What do you think?

My Mini-Me

Madeline takes every opportunity to borrow my cell phone. She's sneaky... she'll find it in my purse, or she'll climb things to get it off the counter. Yesterday she stole my phone, opened it up, and proceeded to talk to someone while she played. I'm pretty sure I heard her say something about Elmo, so maybe that's who she was talking to. Either way I laughed when I saw her holding it up with her shoulder. The multitasking starts early!

Recent Craft Projects

Lately Caleb has been playing superhero a lot... I blame SuperWhy. Anywhoo, we found him a pair of pajamas that were supposedly some kind of generic superhero. He spent the entire evening flying around the house... so proud of his new "cape." But the cape that came with the jammies was tiny. Sad. Very un-super. So being the Mommy I am, I decided to make him his very own Super Caleb cape. I think it turned out pretty darn cute. I couldn't forget his sidekick, Super Puppy. He got a cape, too. How fun is that?
In other random craft news... Know what this pile of stuff adds up to?

New hair bows for Madeline! I know some day she'll outgrow the whole bow thing, but for the moment she loves them. She even wants one if she's in pajamas. My girl is a girlie-girl. What can I say?

Have a crafty day!

Balloons

Yesterday a very nice lady gave my kids balloons. They were more than excited... it made their day. Sweet Madeline spent the rest of the day like this: She carried it around everywhere. Until she discovered her favorite new game.... letting it go and watching it float up to the ceiling. Then she wanted me to hold her up so she could reach the string. Everyone would cheer.... repeat. Until she realized that it went much higher in the living room. Unfortunately, I can't reach balloons up there.

So.... enter the balloon-hook-o-matic 3000... or as I like to call it... my broom with a bent hanger.

Mommy saves the day again!

Congrats Michael!

So on Saturday Michael graduated. Yay! I know he's gotta be thrilled to be done with school. We wanted to go to his graduation, so we made it a bit of a family event and took the kids. We knew they'd never make it through an entire graduation ceremony, but we were prepared to take turns walking around in the hallway. I was also prepared with a bag full of crayons, books, small toys, and jelly beans. (Emphasis on the jelly beans.) Unfortunately, I was so busy kid wrangling that I took almost no pictures. Sorry. That's why this is the one and only shot I have of Michael... even though it was his graduation... and he's the entire reason we drove to Fayetteville... Although come to think of it, I'm not sure I spoke more than three words to him the entire time we were there. Sorry, Michael. We really do like you. We weren't ignoring you on purpose. Promise! Fortunately, Popup decided he'd help kid wrangle. He got to walk around in the hallway, too! It's like an exclusive club out there in the hallway. To gain admittance you just needed a little kid or a baby. Bonus points if they're precious and tiny!

Uncle Bobby was there, but we don't talk about him. Don't ask... You don't want to know anyway. Unless you're a single lady on the prowl... then feel free to ask. I have an odd compulsion to marry him off to someone.

So in the long run we survived (and enjoyed) graduation... even though it was scheduled for nap time. And after all the excitement we had a nice, quiet ride home.

Have a nice day!