A Little Elbow Grease

The boys are all about helping... Usually it's helping themselves to making a bigger mess, but every once in a while, they pitch in and get things done.  It's so refreshing when they tackle a little project; they're proud of themselves and I'm happy just that things are gettin' done up in here!  This weekend, we tackled their bedroom.  It needed a good vacuuming and the cups of milk that accompany them to bed were piling up.  I think some sort of a happy little circumstance happened where they had the attention and desire to be helpful and I had the patience to let them.

These pictures crack me up, they really did do a good job and now that I know that they can do a good job when they want to, it's surely something that I will be having them do more often.

And I couldn't resist reminding everyone of another time when the boys were showing off their vacuuming skills, albeit when they were much younger and not as skilled with the vacuum and it was really more work for me... But at any rate, they were cute and working together and it was freakin' cute, so eat it up. 

It's All About The Milestones, Baby!

We're hitting those milestones, left and right.  In a few weeks, Cullen turns five.  F-I-V-E.  I cannot believe it.  Cullen is wonderful for so many reasons, he's happy-go-lucky, he's hilarious, he has the best laugh, but he lacks a little bit of discipline and focus.  So, we signed him up for karate.  The first class was rough, he spent the majority of the time falling on the floor; apparently, he already knows what karate is all about- hitting, he's seen it on Power Rangers.  But the instructor had patience and made sure that he was focusing on the actual sport of karate and not just the action-shot highlights. He did a lot better during his second class, his focus and participation was much more refined.

Arden got signed up too.  He's a natural athlete and needs to harness some of his athletic skills for screaming, "watch 'dis!" as he jumps off of any spot that he can find. Arden has taken on the role of the younger brother: you fall, I fall; you laugh, I laugh; you make fart noises, I make fart noises.  Karate helps Arden harness some of his energy and also find constructive ways to show his talent, rather than just jumping from surface to surface.

And finally, the baby.  She's getting teeth.  Not going to lie, I thought for some reason that maybe she wasn't going to get any teeth, like they hadn't formed or something, so I was real happy when she started cutting the bottom two.  And as luck would have it, girl likes to eat.  She gets that from her Mama.  We started off small, baby food and what not and we've now moved up to anything Gerber that doesn't require teeth or small pieces of anything that's soft; bread, cake, pie, you name, she's tryin' it.

It's a very exciting time for our family, we're all learning and growing together.  The boys are becoming more athletically inclined old boys (Cullen yells at me when I say that he's a young man) and Jameslyn is chewing and once there's chewing there's talking and then there's everything else...  And that's what I'm looking most forward too: the everything else.

#targetprobs

I go into Target for one thing and this is what happens...  Why?  Because I whiz down every aisle on the hunt for red stickers, who doesn't love a good 30% off end cap?  If I were on Project Runway, Tim Gunn would take a look at it my cart and kindly, but firmly remind me that most of the success of anything comes down to the editing... In other words, put back the ORANGE CREPE STREAMERS, I don't care if they're only a dollar.  And yeah, that hot pink duct tape for fifty-eight cents can go back too.

Now being the creative genius that I am, I will say, "thanks for that feedback, Timmy, I will take that into consideration."  :wheels squeak as I plow ahead to the checkout line:

A Girl's Gotta Eat Her Cake

Do you like cake?  Probably.  Do you like the freedom of eating that cake whenever and however you want?  Probably.  Are you a baby?  Probably.

The other night, Sissy had her first cake eating extravaganza; it went from a nibble to a full blown chow-down.  It's cool though, she rocked the 80's look with flair, darling.  And much to my delight, I feel like this will be a preview of how the 1st birthday smash cake will go, which would be fantastic, since my boys just looked at theirs and then over at me like, "and what I am supposed to do with this?"

Happy To Be Three

About 7 months ago, give or take a few days, Arden turned three... And about 7 months ago, give or take a few days, Jameslyn was born.  Both were very special moments, and both of them involved me being tired, huge and pregnant/not pregnant.  Arden definitely got the short end of the stick on his birthday.  We just got a grocery store cake, had over our parents, sang and called it a day.  It was totally a legit birthday, but it also could have been better.  For the next 7 months, I talked frequently about the party that I was going to have for Arden.  Themes, food, people, etc.  Well that talk never materialized into an actual party...

Guilty mother that I am, I decided that I just needed to have the damn party and that no matter who showed up or what decorations I actually managed to make/buy that the party had to happen.  It was a nice party and he was happy to be three, because, well because he doesn't have a say in the matter.  We got a bouncy house, I made a cake (I think that's sorta my thing now...) and we ordered food.

The day started off with a knock on our front door at 6:45 am; the bouncy house was in da' house!!!  (Or really the back yard)  Despite being 3 hours early, we were all like: awesome and there was bouncing and sliding before 7:00 am.  The party ended when the birthday boy laid down on the couch and fell asleep; party over.  I know it wasn't over the top, or jaw dropping, but it was legit fun, something that cannot be overlooked and certainly the number one priority to a three year old.

...And I'm Back

It's kinda like the Backstreet Boys' Everybody, when they proclaimed Backstreet's back, alright!  And I was like, wait... where did they go?  Well that's what I did.  An unannounced (clearly) hiatus for the summer and you know what, it felt kind of good.  We had some lazy summer days and then some totally crazy, non-stop summer days.

There was lots of rollin' and sittin' and gigglin', courtesy of Jameslyn or else there would be no need to mention these things, since the rest of us have been doing them for years.  We went to the beach and to a the boys started swimming in my Mother's pool for the first time; they're naturals.

Jim and I did some fancy-pants stuff like go to weddings and the Billy Joel concert, we had two (that's right count 'em up!) nights to ourselves this summer, both were glorious.  And as I'm recapping it I'm starting to think, perhaps I didn't need that break after all... but then I realize that I'm typing this whole post like this:

Well whatever, I'm making my official return and it's gonna be fabulous.  We've got some fun things coming up: a trip to my old stomping grounds, Jameslyn's first Halloween (spoiler alert, her cosutme's gonna be sweet!) and so much more.  Until then, enjoy the highlights!

J Slash K

Remember when I said that I was going to do 30 Blogs in #0 Dayyyyyyyyssssssss!!!  (said like Oprah), well clearly, it's not happening.  This blog is a passion of mine, but it's not something that I can commit as much time as if it were my full-time j-o-b.  What happened after I made that announcement is that life called up and was like, "Hey, do you want to work overtime in every other area?  Yeah, it's not an option to say no."

What this means for me, although it's a little personal defeat, is that I'm not going to be writing posts every day and that "Announcement"?  I guess I was just kidding, j/k.   I'm going to try to be more consistent, posting about 2-3 times per week and continuing to talk about things that are important to me.  Also, it wouldn't be right of me not to say that my sister, Megan was totally right, this is not going to happen (frowny face).

It's Father's Day: Hooray!

Obviously, yesterday was Father's Day, which means that today, I'm sharing my social media shout outs to my husband in honor of his big day.  

I'm enjoying this very special Father's Day. Jim has given me three wonderful children and he has given them years of stability and knowing a father's love. His love is priceless, and gives them the ability to have a positive male role model guiding them through their lives. He's grooming our sons into future fathers and teaching our daughter the qualities that she should seek in a man, so that she can have a wonderful father for her future children. Plus, he's keeping money in their wallets since they won't need therapy to complain about an absentee dad. Happy Father's Day, Jim you're the best! 

I Wanna Hold Your Hand

In my family, we talk a lot about physical features.  My sister's hands and feet are long and slender; we call them Grandma Edna fingers and toes.  My hands are the opposite of hers and I affectionately call them my pirogi fingers.  I have Grandma Midge fingers.  She was a tiny Polish woman who was pretty fierce in the kitchen, hence the pirogi fingers.  To be candid, my ring size is an 8, but I got them upsized so that when my fingers swell I wouldn't feel huge.  (Have you ever seen when a woman's rings are strangling her fingers?  Not attractive.)  It's amazing how these features can define who you are, when I look at my hands I see a hard working woman who was a nurse in WWII and raised 5 girls.

My daughter's hands are beautiful.  They're soft and chubby, kind of like mine.  She's got a powerful grip, always letting me know that she's doing more than hanging on;  she's taking my hand, holding it because she wants to.  I wonder if she will have my features?  If she will be a powerful woman?  Powerful women are awesome, but don't confuse awesome with invincible.  Even powerful women need support.

I want to hold my daughter's hand both literally and metaphorically.  Her tiny hand in mine.  One day, I know that she won't want to hold my hand and that her power will eclipse mine, I am fine with that...  Until then, I'm going to give her my hand every single time she wants it.  I'm going to pull her up and she's going to guide me through this mother-daughter-thing.  So, what I'm trying to say is, look out!, cause here comes another powerful woman; pirogi fingers and all.

The Gift That Keeps On Giving

After we bought our house, I knew that we had a good thing.  Like a really, really, really good thing, but this past year has been a little bit of a roller coaster.  Jim keeps a running tab on everything that's been "screwed up" by the previous owners; we all do this though.  When you live in a house, you do things your way; "sorry for ya, next owners!"  It's cool though, we've had so many other wonderful discoveries along the way that it kinda makes up for the other not so good things, like the toilet paper holder, the busted pipe, etc.

We are coming to love the yard, it's a huge difference from our last house that was perched high up on a cliff.  Just last night, we were all getting our mad Frisbee skills on; look out neighborhood tournament, that prize has our name written on it... Just kidding, there is no tourney and if we entered, we'd place last; but it's not all about winning now is it?  There is one thing that we are winning at right now, the flowers.  I realize that they were planted by the last owner and that there is no up keep, but they're in our yard, so we can take some ownership.

This weekend, as we searched high and low for bugs (it's insect week at school), we rounded the corner and right there were these two beautiful flowers.  Perfect for what they were, I whipped out my iPhone and snapped away.  I'm thinking that these little things make up for the fact that we've got to paint all of the trim downstairs (who paints trim taupe?) and that the siding is warped because they grilled too close to the house; but, it still doesn't make up for the toilet paper holder that one sucks.

Check out our perfect flowers, they're pretty awesome, right?

Hashtag- Purplehairdon'tcare

So, remember a few days ago when I was complaining about my hair, well I did something about it... a purple something.  I go to a pretty conservative salon in a smallish town, so I've been told that I'm a hair dressers dream client.  Once every 6 months or so I get bored and boredom leads to change and this time change led to purple hair, hence the #purplehairdon'tcare.

I love it.  Jim loves it.  The boys keep saying "you have purple hair!" or my favorite, "it looks beautiful, Mom!"  The only thing that doesn't love it are any surfaces that it touches, like my pillow case, my shower, my neck, etc.  All of those look like they have come into contact with Grimace and not in a good way, in a Grimace-got-caught-in-a-rainstorm-and-smeared-all-up-on-things kinda way.  But it looks so freakin' cool that I'm keeping it, at least for now.

What do you think?

But no matter what color it is, Arden is good for a least one hair pull a day.  Thanks, kid.

Wanted: A Baby Sister

Not too long after we told the boys that they were going to have a sibling, the gender talk started.  My husband was firmly in the boy camp- thought it was a boy and wanted a boy.  I, on the other hand, thought that it was a girl and said I wanted either a boy or a girl... but I won't lie now, I really wanted a girl.  As most things went in our household at the time, I figured I would be outnumbered in the wish-upon-a-baby-boy-star, but surprisingly that wasn't the case; the boys really wanted a baby sister.  Obviously, there's nothing that we could have done at that point to grant their wish, but they were the first two people I thought of when we learned it was a girl; her big brothers were going to be happy.

So far, they love having a sister and it probably has a lot to do with the fact that she's great.  On the rare occasion that she cries for longer than 30 seconds, one of them comforts her by saying, "I'm here Sissy, don't cry."  I realize that this kindness and concern may only last for another few years, and eventually they may become the cause of her tears, but for now I'm sincerely in love with their love for her.  They are much more gentle with her than with anything else in the whole world.  When they talk to her, they both use a soothing, higher pitched voice.  They, above all else, show me that they love her and that's all that I've ever really wanted, love for my children.

This week, I've been nearly ready to put her in her crib.  (I know, I know; that beautiful nursery that I'm so proud of hasn't gotten any real use...) We've been hanging out more in her room and she's spending little periods of time in her crib to grow accustomed to it, but when all is not well and Sissy is done with the crib, her brothers come rushing in and soothe her and tell her not to cry.  And she stops and watches them and then everything is right in the world again.

New Hair, Don't Care... Or Do I?

Yeah, I think I do care about my hair.  Although, this vanity may be lost on anyone that sees me on the weekend, 'cause Lord knows that my weekend hair looks like duck.  Seriously though, it looks like ducking duck.  But here's the thing, I've had the platinum and black look for a little while now and I'm bored.  I've Googled and Googled and Googled the duck out of new hair, but I've come up empty.  Therefore, I'm going to turn my hair over to the pro and see what she can do.  Here's to hoping!

A Little Break

Well, I've returned from an unintended mid-spring break.  The time away was for a good reason, I was caught pretty off guard during a family tragedy that I will write about later and needed to take the time to spend with my family in order to be well again.

During the time away, nothing too much happened.  The days went on and the kids grew up; I missed the blog... Is that weird to say?  Probably, but this blog is that feeling I have at 2:00 am when something mom-genuis pops into my head.  It's a guilty little thought when I see the kids doing something awesome that I want to scream and shout about! like Baby girl rolling over at 7 weeks.  Most of all, it's a place where I've been as real as possible about a lot of things: motherhood, my marriage, my family, etc. and this newest chapter is something that I feel compelled to share.

Please be patient with me, I've got a lot of photos to share and little stories to tell.  A kinda big announcement is coming your way by the end of the week, so stay tuned.  Until then, here are some pictures from Mother's Day, please enjoy their simplistic beauty, which translates to a not taking a shower and snapping photos on the iPhone.