soapy hair

Because my baby has such a full head of long, handsome hair, I get to do fun things with it like style it with soap suds during bath time.  Last week we got extra creative.

I call this one "the tidal wave":

Look at that curl action!

I call this one "the rooster":

This one is knows as "horns":

I refer to this one as "ducktail":

And last, this is what my baby would look like if he had a normal amount of hair for a baby:

I love this sweet, soapy, wet baby!

first day of school-1st grade edition

The day after Labor Day, Kade and Ky started first grade!  To say they were less than excited about their summer break coming to an end would be an understatement!  These boys love to stay home with me and play.  Even if we aren't doing anything exciting.  But, I think they were also a little bit excited to be first graders!  They've been in school a couple of weeks now, and so far, we haven't had any tears about going to school, so I will call that a success.  I also know it just takes my sweet sons a little while to get used to any kind of change.

I couldn't decide which picture of Ky to put on here, because he is a chronic "picture-facer" and I'm not sure which one looks more like a smile!

 The boys were happy to see some of their kindergarten friends when they got to school that morning.  Too bad only one other boy from their kindergarten class is in their class this year.  Oh well, they are good at making friends, and they have each other!

 These two are best buds!  I'm happy that they are in the same class again this year.  It makes me feel better knowing that they can look out for one another while they are away from me.

 When their teacher told them it was time to go into the school, they waved good-bye without hardly even looking back at me.  Which is probably good because I didn't want them to see the tears that were welling up in my eyes.  Does it ever get any easier to drop your kids off on their first day of school?

Krew and I went home to get ready for a fun luncheon we were invited to, and had only been home for about 10 minutes when I decided that the house was too quiet and I missed Kade and Ky already!

We were both excited when they got off the bus that afternoon!

a perfect late-summer evening!

We've had some great weather this summer.  There have been weeks where it has been hot and dry, and some fairly rainy weeks, but for the most part, it's been great.  One of my favorite things to do this summer has been to spend the evening outside together as a family.  We don't do anything fancy, just play on the swing set, play baseball, football, golf, or soccer, and spend time together.  Here are some pictures from a few weeks ago when we were enjoying one such evening.

happy 10 months!

This little charmer is 10 months old already!  I have been loving this stage (didn't I say that about the last stage, and the one before that?)!  He is so much fun and has such a big personality!  He is just the sweetest baby and I love being his mom!

Now that he is moving all over the house (he finally mastered the high crawl, although he still low crawls when he's in a hurry), he has slimmed down quite a lot.  He weighs 20 lbs. 9 oz, which is the 53rd percentile, a big change from when he was 2 months and in the 95th percentile! He's still quite tall for his age, in the 93rd percentile. Oh, and he has a big head too!

He's learned lots of new tricks this month, including:
       ~ Sleeping through the night!  (yay!)
       ~ Giving high fives
       ~  He gives "noggin"  (bumps his forehead to yours, like the sea turtles in Finding Nemo)
       ~ Can get himself down from standing at the furniture
       ~ When asked, "what does a lion say?" he growls
       ~ Loves to mimic sounds
And, he finally got a tooth.  One tiny little tooth.  I think it's adorable!

He still eats like a champion.  He'll eat almost anything I give him, except for the days at a time when he decides he won't eat anything pureed and then he'll only eat finger foods.  However, his favorite food is definitely pancakes.  He can really take those down.  Several weeks ago, I nursed him, then he ate half a banana and 6 pancakes! Granted they weren't huge pancakes, but still...

Krew has been given lots of nicknames by this point.  We all call him Krewbee a lot.  Bart often shortens that to B.  Kade and Ky lengthen it and call him Kerbopperee, or Bopperee, or Bopper, or Bapper.  I usually call him Stonkerton, or some variation of that.  (Any Office fans out there remember flonkerton?  I think that must be where Stonkerton came from).  Variations of that include: Bonk-flonkerton, Krewserton, Snuggleton, Stinkerton, etc.  I also call him Mommy's baby, or Mommy's Bear, or just Bear.  Kade and Ky often call him Neemee, or Neemee-do. No idea where that came from.

Krew, your whole family is in love with you!  You bring such a happy spirit into our home and we can't imagine our family without you in it!

rollercoasters!

As a last-week-of-summer fling, we took Kade and Ky to Six Flags in Chicago.  Bart's sister Sadie and their foreign exchange student from Mexico, Brenda came with us as well.  Bart's mom was kind enough to watch the baby the whole day.  (And, while it was hard to be away from him all day for the first time, it was so nice to be able to spend some quality time with the other boys).

Let me just first say that I LOVE roller coasters!  I will go on just about any ride, although I'm not a fan of the spin-yourself-silly types.  Bart, on the other hand, does not like roller coasters.  At. All.  But Sadie and Brenda were totally willing to ride the crazy rides with me.  Kade and Ky have been saying for weeks that they were going to ride all the rides they were tall enough for (which, surprisingly, was lots).  I figured we would just wait until we got there to see if they were actually brave enough to go on the "big" ones.

The original plan was to start out with the kiddie rides, and work our way up to the roller coasters, so as the rides got progressively wilder, they could stop if they decided they weren't ready for anything crazier.  Well, that plan went out the window when we walked past the Demon early in the day.  The Demon was the one we were saving for last because it has two loops and two corkscrews, and even though the boys were tall enough, I wasn't sure they could handle it.

But, without even hesitating, they got in line, and got on the ride.  I asked Kade halfway through the ride if he was okay, and even though he said "yes," I could tell in his voice that he wasn't loving it.  When we got off, he said he was surprised he was still alive, and that he never wanted to go on it again.  Ky on the other hand loved it!  He kept asking the rest of the day when we were going to ride the Demon again.  And, by the end of the day, Kade decided he was ready to go on it again, and they both loved it the second time around.  I'm just excited that as they grow up, I'll have someone to ride the big "scary" roller coasters with!

Another couple of fun tidbits:  Bart, Sadie, and Brenda went on the Superman ride while I took the boys on some kiddie rides.  While they were in line, the Jackson kids (as in MJ), got on the ride in front of them.
Also, the new ride this year, X-Flight, was awesome!  I got to go on it twice, once with the girls, and once with Bart after I practically dragged him by the ear through the line, promising him it would be the best ride he'd ever been on.  And, wouldn't you know it, he loved it!  It was SO smooth, and it just felt like flying!  I can't wait to go back!
It was a super fun day, perfect weather, no crowds, and a great way to end the summer!  Plus, my little guy was waiting, somewhat impatiently for me to get home, but as soon as I took him in my arms, he stared at me and laughed, and laughed.  It was the perfect ending to an amazing day!

make over my living room!

We interrupt the updates about my cute kids to ask you to help us out.  See, Mandi at Vintage Revivals is hosting an EPIC Room Makeover!  This means I could have her come to my house to help me get out of my decorating funk and finally finish decorating my living room! (Plus, she is absolutely A.Maz.Ing.  I love everything she puts on her blog!  Seriously, when I'm talking to anyone about home decor or DIY, I think most of my sentences start with, "So, you know Mandi of Vintage Revivals..." It would be fantastic to have her touch in my home!)  So, please go on over to her website and vote for my entry!!

We have lived in our home for 4 years now (crazy, huh?!) and our living room has never been "decorated."  Sure I've tried lots of things here and there, but I can't commit to anything.  The room is too big, and it's the first room anyone sees when they come in, and the ONLY room that many people see, so I want it to look amazing.  But, since I'm not sure how to do that, I get stuck, and give up. Over and over.

Watch this short (and very awesome) stop motion video to see what I mean: 

Here are some pictures of the rest of the room so you can see what other issues I have (well, issues with the room at least-- I'm sure I have issues that you won't be able to learn about from the following pictures!):

I love this apple green color, and I loved this fabric when I bought it to make curtains.  Perhaps I loved it a bit too much, because the only way I could buy it was if I bought 10 yards of it!  Which meant I had enough to make curtains and 4 matching pillows.  Can we say "matchy, matchy?"  Oh yes, I think we can!

I was sick of the builder's beige wall color that was all over my house, and I wanted something bold.  What goes with the curtains and pillows I already had?  Apple green that's what.  Oh, and the only thing I have on my walls are these cool floral pictures from IKEA.  They actually looked kinda neat in the room until I painted the wall green and now I have green pictures on a green wall.  Oh, and my throw is green too!  Matchy. Matchy.

For a long time, the only surface I had to decorate in this room was this mantle, and the weird too-high-and-too small-for-the-TV cutout thing.  So, I threw up some wimpy, meaningless decorations (some of which are, you guessed it, green!) and they are still there.  I hate the way this is decorated, but I don't know what else to do with it, so I haven't done anything yet.  In fact, see that ugly clock, just propped up in the corner there?  I never changed the time when we were all supposed to "spring forward" because I keep thinking I'll just take it down when I decide how to redecorate, so why bother moving it now.  At this point, we are going to have to "fall forward" and then it will actually be the right time!  See?  Not lazy--energy efficient!

My living room has high, vaulted ceilings, which means I have this really tall wall.  Yes, a really tall wall with a really wimpy star.  And nothing else.  Although, my boys like to use the middle of the star as a target for their Nerf dart guns.

I have always thought a nice, patterned, colorful (hey I know! What about green?) chair would look perfect here.  But I've thought that for years and I still don't have one.  So instead, I fill this empty corner space with colorful toys.  (At least they are another color besides green!)

My husband painted this thrift store table for me while I was out of town.  In May.  I still haven't put anything on it.  Or on the wall behind it.  Still don't know what to do with it. But I love the table!

When we bought this house, I was so excited about this awesome, huge plant shelf.  I didn't really know what I was going to put up there, so I threw some framed pictures that I had just unpacked up there.  Here it is, four years later and I HATE my plant shelf.  I have no clue how to decorate them, my pictures are not working up there, that photo of my twins is about 5 years past needing to be updated, and you can see the can of green beans that is propping the frame up.  (See I told you.  Issues.)

Oh, look.  Another plant shelf.  Yippee!!  This one is decorated with nothing but a blanket of dust.  Fancy.

So, now that I have exposed some of the major issues we have in our living room, some of you are going to think less of me.  But, while you are contemplating un-friending me on Facebook, can you please go on over to Vintage Revivals and vote for my entry?  And if you still love me, in spite of the nauseating amount of apple green, please go on over and vote for me too! (My entry is somewhere near #130) You can (and should) vote for me once a day starting Friday (September 7th) until the 14th.  Thanks!

And don't worry, I'll be back soon to post more pictures of these awesome kids: