around our house today

Just some randomness...

find the blonde

Little blonde head poking out of his fort.
Pretty sure this is the first fort he's built entirely by himself.

Little boy milestone.

lego maniac

Legos.
Always legos.
Lego birthday party on Fri!
With a pinata, his one and only request.

best little bear ever

When you are the third child mom lets you sleep in your carseat in the laundry room.
No biggie.

i went to sleep with wet bangs

I am sick.
No voice.
Hard to yell at the kids.

I have decided to rip apart my office.
I am a skeered.

Also, it must be reassembled by Thurs night because of the Lego party on Fri.
Yikes.

seven quick takes, #3

1. Once upon a time Hubs brought a nifty handmade mug home for me from a business trip.
I told my mom I loved it and wanted a whole set of mismatched, giant, artsy-fartsy coffee mugs.
She got me a new one for Christmas.
I love that mug.
I need more.

2. Since the New Year I have been awesome at meal planning (it's only been three weeks...)
I think this week I'm going to start meal planning for lunches and breakfasts, too.
And I've been saving the used menus...so in a few weeks I can start replaying some of the meals.
And then the next step is meal planning for the whole month.

It's good to have goals.

3. Child #1 has been coughing for a week.
I kept him home from preschool on Mon, and sent him in on Tues and Wed.
On Wed he came home with a note saying that he coughed non-stop.
So I made a Dr. appt for Thurs.

Naturally, there was no coughing yesterday.
I swear he saved his coughs for after the appointment.

4. I have been hit by the post-baby super-sads.

Can I recommend something to you?
Skip finding a pediatrician, just go with a family practice.
That way, when you feel like you are losing your mind and cannot stop crying, and your 4 year old has a nasty cough at the same time...it's super easy to just sneak an appointment for yourself in at the same time.

Bonus points because your Dr. will see the three ring circus that is your life (and that circus will be putting on an extra good show due to space constraints) and will not hesitate in the least to send you out with a prescription for some mild drugs.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my little circus people.
I'm just having hard time dealing with the circus and the tidal wave of hormones my body is currently producing.
Plus, it's really hard to get outside.
I need the sun.

5. #3 can sleep through anything.

baby loves playmobil

6. The Christmas decorations are almost all put away.
This upsets child #2.
He keeps asking if Christmas is over, and when we tell him it is, he cries big alligator tears.
He's just so sad.

Then he remembers that he really really needs a piece of candy.
Then it's time to beg for candy candy candy candy.

7. I've been thinking more about my living room.
I tried a chair from my office in the room thinking it might work in front of the window.

No dice.
That space for sure needs two chairs, and I'm thinking they need to be relatively modern.
I need to scour Craigslist.
I have zero desire to spend anymore money at Ikea.

What have you been up to this week?

Visit Jen for more Quick Takes.

seven quick takes #2

Back with 7 Quick Takes...thanks Jen for hosting!

1. A direct quote from #1: "Larry King...had a beautiful neck."
Obviously we have been watching too much Gravity Falls lately.
#2 keeps requesting it - "I need Gravity Falls Wax!"

sick day from school

2. Wed. was sunny and warm (40 is warm for Jan.)!
I let #2 skip his nap and the boys played in their new snow shoes.
Thanks Grammy and Papa, for such a fun present!
(Thanks Mom and Dad, the snowshoes slowed my boys down just enough that #2 only ended up in the street once!)

the carrot nose was a non-negotiable

3. Hot cocoa, our favorite after playing in the snow.

so yummy!

4. SMILES!!!!!

ready for bed...too happy to sleep

5.Too big for the Bumbo.

take my picture!

6. Nearly 7 weeks old.
Size 6 month outfit.
The outfit did run small - good choice Auntie Rachel!

please don't grow up

Also...notice the blur above Bebe?
That's #2.
This sweet baby is pretty great about sleeping through the chaos (for now).

7. Good bye old, hole-y Spiderman slippers.
Hello new Spideys!

spidey sense x4

And #2 has a pair as well :)

seven quick takes #1

I've been pretty silent on the blog for a few months...of course life is going on, I just haven't felt like sharing.
The problem is that when I'm not sharing I also feel like I am not remembering.
And I need to remember.
These little people are too important to forget.
Currently, my brain only remembers things if they have been written down.
So...

I'm thinking if I link up to 7 Quick Takes over at Jen's blog I might just be able to remember, oh I don't know, maybe seven more things each week ;) Hey, this week Hallie is hosting because Jen is hospitalized with pulmonary emboli - please pray for her and her growing baby boy.

1. I bought a gingerbread cookie kit before Christmas...so naturally on Jan 2 Child #1 and I decorated a few cookies for dessert.

It worked out the best that way, he had a little special time with me on his first day back at school, and he was inspired to create his own "Capt. Cookie" from his new favorite book The Gingerbread Pirates.

note the toothpick peg leg (it was very important)

2. I *bought* a gingerbread kit instead of making cut out cookies because I had to back off from many of the Christmas activities I usually enjoy (like baking) - having a baby between Thanksgiving and Christmas forces you to cut back, or have a metal breakdown.
I chose to cut back.
It was pretty great.

Anyway, this was the extent of my holiday baking:

cookies for santa

Haystacks
Nutter Butters dressed up as Baby Jesus (my brothers thought this was hilarious) - a great idea from Catholic Icing

Ritz Crackers dipped in melted Andes Mints and "dusted" with fancy sugar by #1

3. Child #2 loves stickers.
Well, honestly, he loves anything sticky.
Very hesitant to let me wipe his hands after a meal.
Loves how sticky his fingers are after eating a candy cane (another favorite).
Must have a sticker for naptime/bedtime.
Often gives me a sticker and tells me "For your sticky finger!" But the word finger comes out "pinger" and is just all kinds of adorable.

sticky googlie eyes, what could be better!

4. I hate cleaning the bathrooms.

5.

6 weeks old.
Outgrowing his clothes at an alarming rate!

6. I am packing away my maternity clothes, but I only have one pair of comfortable jeans.
Well, they might not be comfortable, but I can button them and they look decent.
The treadmill is calling my name...

7. The Christmas decorations are all still up...I don't want to take them down!
Some years I am eager to clean up Christmas, but this year I just keep picturing how empty the house will feel once everything is stored.

I need a decorating project to motivate me.
What room should I tackle next - dining room, living room, family room, kitchen?

he is here!

I'm shaking the dust out of the old blog to introduce this little guy:

two days old, so little!

He arrived the Sat after Thanksgiving (Nov. 24), and I can't imagine life without him.
He fits so well into our family, we are blissfully happy.
Even when life with three little boys is stressful, it's this weird happy-stress.
I love it.
I love him.
I love our family!

five weeks old, with his biggest brother, who felt it was very important for him to hold a star wars angry bird

Have an excellent day my friends!

some recent milestones

We rode the Lake Express from Milwaukee to Muskegon to visit family.

a random stranger asked if he could take a pic of us, that never happens! thank you kind sir!

It was fun! #2 slept during both trips, #1 slept on the return trip (the water was really choppy) - I thought for sure he was going to get sea sick; I'm so glad he took a nap instead.

First day of K4!

my backpack is still way too big!

#1 now goes to school (1/2 day) 5 days a week.
He is loving it and so excited to tell me about everything they do (today he was very impressed with a Clifford the Big Red Dog art project). I admit we miss him while he is at school, but I have gotten so much done around the house, and #2 has no problems getting into trouble without his big brother ;)
PS - the school crest includes an image of Mary, and my sweet boy loves to point her out "This is Mary, see Mama?"
Melts my heart.

This guy moved into his big boy bedroom!

sleeping peacefully with bunny

So for now the nursery is empty...which means I can start sifting through the baby stuff and taking inventory of the few things we need/would like for #3...but first I think we will be refreshing #1's bedroom.
I see Star Wars art in my future :)

And today is our 9th Anniversary!
And I would totally scan a pic for you...if I could just get my hands on them ;)
Instead, enjoy this pic of Hubs eating a warhead..

happy anniversary honey!

Happy Thursday, friends!

FB friday - my favorite statuses from August

Welp, it's been a month since I have posted.
August flew by, folks, just flew right by.

This little space here is where I keep track of all of the stuff we do...except lately I haven't been very good about adding little bits of cuteness from the boys, projects in the house, travel stories (oh my, there has been many), etc. I have been keeping a pretty good running list of stuff on facebook...but after a few days everything fades away, and then it feels like the memories are lost forever.

So I was thinking.
Every Fri (or you know, as often as I remember) I could list all of the FB statuses (of importance) as a way to catalog stuff. I like it.
If you want to join in too please add a link in the comments :)

August 1
#1 is headed to the Brewers game with Daddy :)
#2 will nap soon :)
I will eat a cookie, without sharing!

August 2
Target sells porn in the checkout lane.
I am nursing this baby where ever the heck I need. No more hiding in a bathroom stall or dashing out to the car.

August 9
The only solution to getting rid of these ants seems to involve also getting rid of the 2 and 4 year old.

August 11
Minivan parked in the driveway, baby #3 on the way...I believe the transformation from sorority girl to soccer mom is complete.

August 23
According to #2, we are eating Mac-n-Jesus for lunch.

August 27
First day of school! #2 and I already miss #1 :(

August 28
Harold and his purple crayon have nothing on #2 and his green jumbo crayon. Oy...I need more magic erasers.

August 30
#2 wants sprinkles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

movie monday, blast from the past!

I wanted to post a movie, but I have zero motivation to talk to the camera (also my children are loud today).

This commercial has been running through my head lately:



As a young child I was absolutely convinced that a bus full of the happy Sweet Pickles characters would show up at my door. I made it my mission to pester my mother until she caved and ordered me Sweet Pickles.
She refused.
Again.
And again.
And again.

Good job Mom!
I think of this every time we are at Target and my children demand in demon voices ask nicely for a new toy, or whenever we drive past McDonald's and I hear a chorus of "Happy meals! Cheeseburgers!!"

I know that I drove my mom nuts, she is mostly alright today ;)...my sweet boys will not break me with requests!
I learned to read without the Sweet Pickles flashcards, my kids won't starve if I don't hit the drive thru everyday (even if they are suddenly STARVING).

I am turning into my mother.
It is wonderful! (for real, my mom is awesome)

Anyone else channeling mom lately?

"Sweet Pickles is great!"

sometimes...

Sometimes, when the kids are being really quiet, I think "They're being so good, quietly reading and playing so I can enjoy my coffee and catch up with the internets." And then you snap back to reality and realize...they are being quiet because naughtiness is happening.

And you walk into a living that looks like this:

monkeys, blonde monkeys

Hmm...yell? throw your hands up? one more lecture on not destroying the nice furniture?

Nope, I decided it was a nudge from above to vacuum the furniture.

So now it is clean and put back together...

And of course I couldn't stop with just the vacuuming, the train table (which we hauled up from the basement playroom in Jan.) is heading back downstairs, everything's dusted (finally!), mantle is freshly made up and I have grand plans of picking up some summer throw pillows.

My living room is going to feel so fresh!

Sometimes...all you really need is a little bit of happy chaos to add to life's wonderfulness.

And that's just what is happening around here...baby #3 is due the end of Nov!!

We are thrilled, I know three kids (and let's face it, we all know this will probably be another boy :D ) will create even more chaos, but along with the chaos is so much love. I can't wait :)

Anything exciting happening in your world?

randomness from me

We had a fun Valentine's Day.
Hubs brought me flowers and a small box of chocolates (I told him Mon night - if you do bring chocolate make sure it's a small box - next week is Ash Wed).

He's pretty excellent.

I gave him a Mason jar full of green M&M's.
That's what happens when you buy a few bags of Christmas M&M's on clearance...you put the red ones in gorp for the kids, and the green ones into a jar for your love.
Perfect.

We've already vacuumed the first floor. The stairs, upstairs and the basement are next. We need the house to sparkle for Grammy and Papa!
(they arrive on Fri!)

The boys are wearing a diaper and a pair of batman underoos.
It's Feb in Wisconsin.
Whatever. I figure they'll wrap up in blankets before hypothermia sets in.

more raisins!

I need to get them dressed.
I should probably put on some concealer.
We need to go to the mall and buy new shoes for #2 and then hit up Trader Joes and pray the shelves contain cilantro.
Maybe we'll go to 5 Guys for lunch...could totally go for a bag of fries.

never enough coffee. never.

That's all.
Smooches.

eating ice cream in the winter

On Sat we took the boys to Dairy Queen.
I won't lie, we pretty much had ice cream for dinner.

Highly recommend. 
Highly.

#1 enjoyed his first ice cream cone - he ate it so fast there was no time for it to make a melted mess.
#2 was so cold from his ice cream he could hardly get the spoon into his mouth.

Somehow he soldiered through ;)








I'm thinking movies on Mon might be fun.
Not always of the boys (although, they are pretty entertaining)...what do you think?

my silly boys

Sometimes Mondays are a real drag.
We've had a good day at our house, and I just found this silly video...I figured I should share it.
It's a little grainy, and slow at the beginning, the real action starts around 0:24...I think the actors are adorable ;)

Enjoy :)

weekend makeovers

Working on a few makeovers this weekend.

Sitting in my kitchen...

Because we are refreshing the laundry room. Woohoo!

I planned ahead.
Washed all of the laundry.
We should be set until Monday (when the laundry room will be back together)...
Except #2 wet through his diaper.

But then the best thing happened.
I called a friend to see if we could visit and do a little laundry.
That means I have friends! Not just the kind that you wave at from the car during preschool drop off.
The kind that let you co-mingle wet-flannel crib sheets.
And eat frozen pizza with you, while the kids run around like banshees.

It's so nice to have friends :)

The second makeover of the weekend...

MY HAIR!
I'm going back to something like this.
But maybe some bold bangs.
Or something like that.

oh, sunday

We had a nice day.

Started by lighting the third candle on our Advent wreath.

Because it is "pink candle week" I might have forced encouraged everyone to wear red to mass...we looked very cohesive in our pew in the cry room.

We managed a family shopping trip to Target after church. I would not suggest this; the store was a zoo. Our outing was successful, because Hubs kept the boys occupied with popcorn (I'm sorry for the mess, Target employees) and then herded them into the car while I braved the checkout alone.

At some point today, #2 grabbed the remote and found...

do you see what i see?!

Gnome TV!!!
If you have U-verse, it's channel 1100, Christmas music and a gnome.
Oh yeah, and a cozy fire, too.

After naps we worked on our gingerbread house!
Okay, #1 and I worked on the house, Hubs had camcorder/camera duty and #2 ate candy...lots of candy.

And then after we put the boys to bed, we enjoyed our Christmas lights.

yep, there is totally a stand out on the big tree...oh well!

I love this time of year :)

Want to guess what this is?

hmmm...

 

time for catholic crafts!

Did y'all know I am Catholic?

Yep. I like standing up, sitting down and kneeling at Church.
And I call the service "Mass."
I have a box of different rosary beads.
And I love me some Saints; among other things...

One of the super fun things that I have been wanting to do with my boys is to celebrate their name day, which is the Saint Day for the Saint they are named after (even though I didn't specifically name them after a Saint, we just have lots of Saints, so finding one with your name is not difficult - in fact here is a guide for you).

So I've been meaning to do this...which means every time I see someone else do this I think,
"That is super awesome, I will totally do that."
But then, I forget to do it.

Then one of my new friends (I know! I think I have 4 friends here in WI, it makes me happy!) invited us to a little name day party for her son Andrew.
Yes! Just the kick in the pants I needed to get this tradition started.

So today (St. Andrew's feast day is Nov. 30) we gathered at my friend Katie's house and the boys ate pizza and ran around like crazy men carefully and calmly completed a craft. And while the three year olds were screaming at tops of their lungs praying the rosary, the moms (and some sweet older girls) made a mom craft!

mom craft!

This, my friends, is a chaplet.
A chaplet is basically a bunch of beads that we Catholics use to count our repetitive, rote prayers - it's a prayer tool.

We created it to pray the St. Andrew Christmas Novena, which is a prayer directed at God, but begun on the feast day of St. Andrew (hence the name).

Hail and blessed be

the hour and moment

in which the Son of God

was born

of the most pure Virgin Mary

at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold.

In that hour

vouchsafe, O my God! 

To hear my prayer

and grant my desires

through the merits of

Our Saviour Jesus Christ

and of His Blessed Mother Mary

and of Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse.

Amen.

Let's look at my chaplet again:

hey - I figured out how to use picnik!

I used two anchor beads, because I needed to wrap the beading wire around something and I liked the beads. Then there are 15 prayer beads, I alternated between two pearls and a polka dot glass bead because it is easier to keep your place with an assortment of beads - your fingers don't get lost as easily. And a cross, because I love Jesus, alternatively a St. Andrew medal would be great on this chaplet (but they don't sell religious medals at Micheal's).

To pray the entire novena you repeat this prayer 15 times a day, every day from now today until Christmas. Then your wildest dreams will come true...errr...your prayers will be answered. We are dealing with God, so if you are praying for something that He doesn't really think you need (ahem...new diamond earrings), it might not happen.

I happen to really enjoy repetitive prayers, I find them meditative, and once I've memorized them they are really easy to pull out in stressful situations.

Going to make your own chaplet?

Impressed by my Picnik skills?

Running for the hills because I mentioned religion?

grace

Mr. Three likes to say grace before dinner.

Sometimes he is funny, and oh-so three.

Sometimes he is the sweetest thing ever.

"Thank you God for a new day.
Thank you God for a special day for our family.
Amen.
Can we eat?"

I'm not sure what made today so special for him, but his prayer made it very special for me!

candy!

yada, yada, yada...stuff and a sort of recipe

It seems like I have eight million blog posts running around in my head...but I can't get them out of my head and onto the screen.
Blah.
It's getting crowded in my brain.
Life and children take a lot of time...I'm not sure how REAL bloggers do it.
And Hubs has been traveling, so that means I am solely responsible for keeping the Kinder alive.

Mildly stressful, and yet everyday those little boogers do at least one thing to make it all worth it for me.

furby, sort of the best thing ever

Lately the baby has been answering "Me!" to certain questions...
"Who's ready for lunch?"
"Who wants to go for a ride in the stroller?"
Hearing his enthusiastic and adorable answer is the best thing.

Mr. Three had a challenging week, he missed daddy, had a little incident at school and was a total grump yesterday. But when I had a massive stress headache he played nicely and quietly with his brother so I could have a little rest on the couch.
And then he gave me a bunch of kisses and hugs "to get better."
Yep. Totally keeping him.
Also, the only Halloween candy he wants to eat is smarties, tootsie rolls, suckers and starburst. You'll never guess where all of his chocolate bars are... ;)

So by last night I was frazzled, but didn't feel like baking and had already eaten all of the good Halloween candy. I needed some chocolate. Amanda wrote about pumpkin bread with a Nutella cheesecake filling and I was sort of (100%) obsessing about that...

I ended up mixing together a spoonful of cream cheese, a spoonful of Nutella and just a little squeeze of honey. I ate it with Graham crackers and it was perfect.
That's a sort of recipe...not to be confused with a recipe-ish (have you seen this blog? I want Leslie to be my new best internet friend!!)

Tomorrow's Friday!
Yay!!

halloween recap

We carved.

We dressed up.

Trick or treat!

We ate candy.

And we totally killed a pumpkin pie.

We had a great Halloween!

I bought the baby's costume because my sanity was becoming an issue; Darth Vader is a feat of engineering created out of cardboard boxes and duct tape.

boxes from the recycling bin + black duct tape = happy boy!

And one light saber....cannot forget the light saber!

We invited a family from Hubs office over.
I made a really simple dinner, hot dogs/chili dogs, chips, apple slices, grapes, candy corn. Everything was laid out nicely, but I skipped cutesy labels and didn't embellish the bottles of water (in fact, we don't do bottled water) (I could write a post on all of this...).

Guess what?
Everyone still had fun!
The dads took the kids out (they lasted for about 45 mins) and the we all had some pie...and they left the leftovers at our house.
Score!

So, of course I had pie for breakfast (we call this cowboy breakfast).

Now I'm packing away Halloween and lamenting the fact that I really don't have much Thanksgiving decor...
I'm getting bored with my general Fall items.

I feel a pin fest brewing...

thanks!

Thanks for all of the comments on my last post :)
I wanted to message all of you individually, but most of you don't have email enabled for your comments...you should! It's super fun to get email from bloggers :)

I was also busy with this...

Oh Mr. Turtle, so much fun!

I made the mistake of telling 3 that we had to put the lid on the sandbox so that cats wouldn't make poo poos in it.

Now he is obsessed with cats using his sandbox as a litter box.

He stands in the kitchen window and growls.

Says he's scaring away the bad kitties...

Speaking of my kitchen window...I think I have brainstormed a new treatment solution!

Cross your fingers, I'm going to start cutting and sewing (probably cursing a little) tonight.

Ahhhh....let the creative stress eating begin.

tidbits and a ridiculously easy and delicious salad

* The house is a mess. I can't get control of anything...never buy a house with 4 toilets...no one needs to clean 4 toilets.

* Lately, I've been making a lot of ice cream. Inspired by Wisconsin? I don't know...but I am having fun!

* We went to the county fair on Sat. Tons of fun. Fried Oreos. Sno-cones. Noms.

* Ate at Five Guys for dinner on Sat. Have you been? Good greasy burger, a zillion french fries and peanuts! Plus, the line cooks were singing along with piped-in 80's music; I'm not sure if that's the norm, but we thought it was great.

* The furniture store is stalking me. I guess they really don't like holding our guest bed while we wait for our couches to arrive. I keep telling them if they waive one of the delivery fees, that I would be happy to accept the bed. No dice ;)

* Speaking of the furniture store; received a thank you note (sort of) from the salesman. "Thanks for your recent purchase. Roy" I threw away his business cards.

* Bought a bunch of costume hats for the boys. Bebe keeps running around in the pig hat and snorting. He thinks it's hilarious!

* Low key Sun, complete with splashing pool and wiggly-caterpillar sprinkler. And we finally ate on the deck. I threw together this salad, and I will totally make it again.

Summer Salad

equal parts:

fresh mozzarella, cubed

cucumber, chunked up

grape tomatoes, halved

Newsman's Own Light Cesar dressing and fresh pepper to taste

mix it up and enjoy!

I ate the leftovers for lunch on Mon, just on a bed of lettuce, so delicious!