Three

I know!  I know!  More bath pictures.  But I can't help it.  It's become one of my favorite things about having three kidlets. 

How much longer do you think I'm allowed to keep this up?

Baby Monster

The boys call Quinn their Baby Monster.
I don't know where it came from or why they call her this.
I have no idea if I should think it is endearing or sad. For now when I hear it I chuckle and think it's cute.
Because really, they have no idea what's in store for them. She's on the move and I have an inkling they aren't going to like what's about to come.
Oh, and for journaling purposes, those bottom teeth came in first, the top outside ones next, and then the top middle ones most recently.
Cutest hillbilly Baby Monster I know....who happens to love her grandpa and his mustache...and her cousin Ally (too cute!).

Dinner Schminner

With Austin being gone for dinner five out of seven nights a week (all weeknights), we have to do things around here for dinner to spice it up. So, we have a few new weekly traditions that just sorta came to be on there own, but the boys look forward to them, so I can’t possibly stop.
Tuesday has become known as Switch-a-roo Tuesday. The ice cream truck conveniently makes it’s way around the neighborhood at 5:00pm. As a mom, quite annoying, but for the ice cream "lady"? She's brillant to come at that time. We don’t usually eat dinner until 5:30 or so. I would feel so bad telling the boys they could get an ice cream and then depriving them of eating it right then and there to only put it in the freezer and wait until after dinner. So, we switch-a-roo dinner and dessert on Tuesday and the boys can happily eat their ice cream sandwich before their peas and carrots. “Why not!” I say. I think they will have fonder memories of me letting them eat their dessert first.
Wednesday is wacky Wednesday We picnic on a blanket outside or on the floor for dinner. I figure as long as we’re eating together, why does it have to be at the dinner table? For some reason the boys tend to eat a better dinner this way too. Who knew??
We end the week with Freaky Friday. It’s breakfast for dinner…a family favorite. Can’t go wrong.
I realize this routine might not make me mom of the year, but they seem like happy kids, right? It makes that struggle at that time of the day without a husband around a little more bearable.
I’m always looking for new ideas. Anything fun you did when you were young or you do with your kids that could up my cool mom status and keep it fun and exciting on those long week day nights??
Side note: I have no idea what the picture has to do with any of this post, I just thought it was sweet. I never have pictures of me with my kiddos. I love them so much.

Holy Hail

Don’t mind our lazy Sunday attire. We weren’t really prepared for this.
It’s called hail. We Arizonans don’t see this. Ever. And it looked like Sonic ice falling from the sky. As Dax put it, best Sunday ever.

Black Eyes

Funny how just a few posts ago I was talking about how I wanted to freeze my kiddos because they are the perfect age. Well today, I want to fast forward time. And I mean, fast fast forward. And get out of this sibling rivalry phase as soon as possible.
The boys are animals. They think they are Power Rangers. Or kung fun ninja fighters. Or warriors. And they beat each other. Most the time it is playful, but a lot of the times it's serious and they are really mad at each other and legitimately trying to hurt each other. Without fail, every time, someone gets hurt. I have taken the "let them work it out" approach, but that just leads to more bruises, blood and broken things, so I can't just sit back and let them figure it out any more.
Wyatt has been sporting a black eye since Friday. We have family pictures on Saturday so it better heal fast.
Seriously, though, how do I get this sibling rivalry to stop?!? I want the boys to get along and be friends and protect each other...not leave bite marks On each others arms and black and blue bruises all over each others bodies. I know lots of boys and brothers act this way, but it makes me so sad to see them do this to each other. I'm desperate! Help!

Stop it

No.

Nuh-uh.

No way.

Make it stop.

This isn't happening.



You should NOT be standing your wirey self (as grandma describes her) up onto furniture.

Stop it Quinn. Stop it right now.

(And get someone to pull those bangs out of you're face while your at it! :) Sheesh!)

It's the simple things

Days are flying by. Way too fast. Sometimes I need to stop and enjoy all the little things. I hear that all the time, to slow down, but lately I have been really feeling it. My kids are the perfect age. They are so fun to be with. Yes, there is the occasional late afternoon when I want to tie a certain 4 year old to a tree and sell him to anyone who is crazy enough to take him. Or when your husband gets a phone call that your six year old was sent to the principles office. (Yes, this happened.) Those occasional things I can do without. But overall, they are perfect.

Last night at dinner it was just the four of us, Dax, Wyatt, Quinn and me. Somehow we got to telling “ghost stories” while we were eating. Wyatt kept telling the same story and kept getting to the same exact point in the story when he was laughing so hard he couldn’t go on. It went like this, “Once upon a time there was a ghost named Eyeball.” And then hysterical laughing. Laughing with tears and drool and gasping for breath laughing. Wyatt thought he was the funniest thing on the planet. Dax thought Wyatt was the funniest thing on the planet. Quinn, seeing her brothers laughing, thought that was the funniest thing on the planet. And I couldn’t stop laughing at how hard the rest of them were laughing. This lasted all throughout dinner. Genuine laughing. It felt good.

As I was putting the kids to bed I thought about our dinner. Nothing else was on my mind when we were laughing about the scary eyeball. I wasn’t thinking about how I needed to hurry them along to get in baths, or about the pile of dishes or the dirty floor that needed to be swept. I wasn’t thinking about the good book I was finally going to be able to pick up again once they were in bed. There were no interruptions by the phone or the television. Nothing else was going on at that moment that was more important than my kids. And I wanted time to freeze. I wanted to enjoy it longer and more. I need to enjoy it more.

So, I am interjecting a mid-February New Years Resolution. It’s to stop and enjoy the simple things. To not take them for granted. To cherish these moments with my children. To take mental pictures of their laughing, chubby faces. To remember that we laughed about eyeballs for 20 minutes. And to not wish time by.

Wyatt and I sat outside last week on a gorgeous 74 degree day (don’t be jealous…okay, never mind, you should totally be jealous!) and watched Quinn. She is my example. She was enjoying the simple things. She gasped when a breeze came though. She stopped and listened to the birds chirping. She enjoyed the warm sun. She laughed at her brother when he was being silly. She smiled and kicked her legs when Brewster went cruising by. She felt grass for the first time. She was enjoying the simple things. I want to be like her.

I tried to put a magic spell on my kids last night before bed. I willed them to wake up the same, not a day older or bigger, but the exact same. Because right now, they are perfect.

Funny Valentine

My funny Valentine wants to buy lunch on Friday. It costs two dollars and ten cents. I told him he needed to earn it. When I said he needed to earn it, I'm thinking good behavior, going the extra mile, doing service...those sorts of things. Dax had an entirely different plan. He wants to sell his "hugs and kisis" for 5 cents. Any takers??

If not, no worries, I would happily pay anything to hug and kiss this handsome boy.

Brewster Buddy

I am not a pet person. Never have been. Never will be. I think my kids will survive. It might be the meanest thing I do as a mom not to let them have a pet, but that’s just the way it goes. Well, at least, that was the plan. Somehow, someway, about 4 months ago, we adopted a turtle from a family friend. I had no say in the matter. The transaction was said and done by the time I got home. The boys were already in love. He even had a name.

Brewster.

You know that saying that animals are more scared of you then you are of them. That is totally false. I am way more afraid of them. I told Austin I was afraid of Brewster because I didn’t want him to jump out and scare me. Austin laughed his head off and had to sarcastically remind me that turtles don’t “jump”. Obviously I know that. My point was that I don’t like being startled by animals. I don’t want to be in the backyard not paying attention and then BAM! there’s Brewster. It scares me. Contrary to what you may think about turtles, they are fast. No, really. They are. Brewster would be cruising around, I’d turn my back for two seconds, and he’d be gone halfway across the yard. I didn't like that mystery in him.

The boys couldn’t get enough of him and it was really sweet to see them race home from school and head to the backyard to enjoy a game of scavenger hunt as they searched for Brewster. I’d just watch from the kitchen window. He was small and stealthy and just kinda freaked me out. I didn’t want to be pushing Wyatt on the swings and then catch him from the corner of my eye lurking in the grass. He gave me the creeps. The boys knew this and would love to creep up behind me with him in their hands and laugh their little guts out when I would scream.

But, this is how I was sold on our pet. He roams around the backyard wherever he wants. There is no cleaning him, or cleaning up after him. He eats whatever he wants and essentially can be our garbage disposal too. He even hibernates in the winter. He came out from hibernation a few weeks ago and he looks bigger. Lots bigger. I have to admit, overall he’s a really good pet. The boys have loved playing with him again. I, on the other hand, am trying to get used to the mini heart attacks again when I take out the trash and spot him spying on me from behind the red and yellow Cozy Coupe. Freak me out Brewster Buddy!

"One time I touched his nails."

"Fly Brewster! Vrooooooom!"

"Smile Brewster! Smile!"

"Ready! Set! Go Brewster! Go!

"Ahhhh! Haaahaa! Brewster Buddy!"

Baths 2.0

Just in case you didn't believe me that this girl has the craziest, longest, mane-ish hair ever...here is further proof. Out of control. I know Austin will love cleaning out drains twice as often as he does now! We obviously have no problem growing our hair out in this house. I don't think any of us will ever have to worry about losing our hair at a young age. But this little thing, do I keep hers long or short? Here are some pros and cons I thought of...do you have any more?

Long Hair
Pros:
You can do pretty much ANY and EVERY hairstyle out there with it
Its flowey (as in beautiful)
Cons:
It can get in the way
It can make you feel hot, especially in the summertime
It tangles easier than short hair
Baby food gets smeared in it easier

Short Hair
Pros:
Keeps you cool in the summer
Doesn't tangle a lot
It doesn't get in the way as much
Austin can do her hair
Cons:
Can't do as many hairstyles with it
It's not as flowey and pretty as long hair

What do you think? Any more ideas to help me make up my mind??

Express Yourself

Remember in school when they said you should not wear hair-dos, clothing, shoes or accessories that might distract other students or be disruptive to the school program??

Wyatt wore this to preschool last week:

four beaded necklaces

one scorpion necklace

two green sweat bands

one Batman pin

two friendship bracelets

one Superman/Batman cape

one green CTR wristband

I'm not sure. Do you think this would count??

Nicknames

If someone was to ask me if I had a nickname, I’d probably have to say “Twiny” or “Twinner”. Nothing super imaginative. It probably originated simply from somebody not knowing what twin I was. Austin’s nickname is “Dawg”. He was called that all throughout High School and on all his sports teams. I’ll have to ask him how that came about. His dad still calls him that and all his high school buddies. It's kinda cute to see him get together with all his buddies and hear them call him that. You might catch us calling Dax “Daxy-pie” or “Daximus”. Wyatt we like to call “Wy-man”. Again, nothing too creative or special, but fun nonetheless. However, Quinn by far wins for best (and longest) nickname in our family. She was nicknames by Dax and it caught on in an instant. You can hear the boys call her this many, many, many times a day. Here she is...
Quinner-Winner-Chicken-Dinner-Had-A-Wife-Who-Couldn’t-Keep-Her-Put-Her-In-A-Pumpkin-Shell-And-There-She-Kept-Her-Very-WellSee? Pure awesomeness.
Side note: Her hair is still as wild as ever. The first picture just cracks me up to see it all spread out.

Baths

I am going to make a confession. Please don’t judge.

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to bathe the boys at least three times a week. If I use the words “at least” three times a week, you’re safe to assume that I was not bathing them prior to the New Year three times a week. And, I’d probably have to correct you if you thought I was bathing them twice. See? Embarrassing. Prior to the New Year the boys were more often than not once a week bath takers. Gross, I know. Without a doubt they needed baths more than that. But I hate bath time. We don’t use the word hate in our house, but for this one time only, I’m allowing it. I. Hate. Bath time.

Most moms probably love it. The kids play and it might give them a chance to put laundry away, finish dinner, do a quick clean, really anything. In our house, this was not the case at all. The boys fought me on getting in the bath each and every time. Once I would convince them to get in, one boy would complain the water would be too hot, the other boy would complain it was too cold, one boy would take up too much room, the other boy couldn’t stretch out, that boy had the toy the other one wanted, this boy would splash that boy in the face with water…and on and on and on. If I would leave the bathroom for five seconds I would come back to a pool of water on the tile floor. They hated (oops, used that word again) to get washed and they disliked getting their hair washed even more. So, we moved to taking showers. That was a disaster. Then we moved to one boy in the bath and one boy in the shower. I was running back and forth like a mad woman while Quinn laid in the middle of the floor wondering what the heck was going on and why I wasn’t holding her. Bath time always lead to fighting, tears and someone getting hurt. Too much drama for me at the end of the day and right before bedtime, so I basically gave up. Ridiculous.

And so I had little, dirty boys who may have got a “wet-wipe” wipe down at the end of the day if they were lucky. Austin was appalled. But he wasn’t here to give them baths and so he couldn’t make me.

But the New Year brought about resolutions, so I set mine within reach. Three baths per week. I am happy to report, so far this has been obtained. And in some cases, exceeded. What?! I don’t know what happened. It was like a magic flip was switched on in 2012. They even ask for baths now. There is no fighting, no complaining and minimal water on the floor. And best of all….clean, handsome (funny-faced)boys.

Rice Not So Nice

In my baby album I have a classic baby picture. It's the one where there is food, probably some form of chocolate, pudding or cake (or who knows; maybe all three), all over my face. In my hair. In my ears. Covering my orange terrycloth bib. I can picture it perfectly. I couldn't have been more than one. And I looked a hot mess. A total raggamuffin. To say my blonde hair was no longer blonde would probably be an understatement. I'm sure some intense washing and bathing were required to get me clean. I'm sitting in an 80's style highchair, in a brown and orange kitchen all alone. It's really quite sad to think about it. Where were all my sisters? I was never far from my twin. Where was she? Or my mom? Come to think of it, Jamie probably has the same picture in her album somewhere too. My mom was big on making sure every picture she took of us as baby's we weren't always together, which in retrospect was good thinking. But that created a problem in and of it self because we still have a pile of pictures to this day that we can't tell which twin is which. I am positive there are pictures of just Jamie in my album and pictures of me in hers. Regardless, I laugh every time I see this picture (whether it's actually me or not). The story goes, that my older sister Nicole was feeding me/us that day. A super nice gesture to serve her younger sisters. But let's remember, if I was only about one, she was only about three. And my mom had let her loose with a spoon to feed us. What was she thinking??

I guess as a mom with three of my own, I understand now. When I told the boys that we were able to feed Quinn rice cereal, they were ecstatic. They didn't want my help. They wanted the spoon. So I grabbed my camera. She wasn't impressed with the mush. They only got about three bites in her mouth which she promptly pushed right back out. We haven't been successful since. I think I'll wait a few more months and let them have another go at it. In the meantime I'll check with my mom to see if she can remember what that chocolate goodness was. That'll be fun to recreate. Oh, and lucky for us, grandma is close to do the baths.

Day To Day

I told Austin the other day that I was going to start a quote book. By the time I see him at the end of the day, I can hardly remember all that has gone on, let alone the things the boys and I talk about, their sweet words (or not so sweet), the way they played with Quinn and the day to day happenings in our life. You see, Austin works. A lot. This year, in less than a week, he's starting school again. It'll be an accelerated, intense 18-month program. 15 weeks on. 1 week off. For 75 weeks. Sounds brutal, right? I know it will be. Thankfully, I think the kids are small enough that they won't ever remember this stage in their life. But Austin will. And I know it breaks his heart that he probably won't see the kiddos some days. That they will be sleeping when he leaves and already in bed when he gets home. That he'll miss their funny words or tiny milestones. Or, their school performances, first steps and riding on two wheels. It makes me so sad to think about. But, I know this sacrifice he is making is for our family. It will be so worth it in the end.
So, when I mentioned a quote book, he reminded me about this somewhat abandoned blog. He said that this was the way he wanted to hear and see about our day.
Deep breath.
It's hard for me to work from home on my computer 6 hours a day, and then put even more time in to blog. But here I am. Posting a picture of Wyatt, doing what he does best. Playing Batman. It pretty much goes without saying that we play some form of Batman everyday. Every. Single. Day. Batman meets Cars. Batman meets Dinosaurs. Batman meets Trio blocks. Whatever it is, Batman is sure to "meet" us.
It might not be very exciting for you to see our every day life. In fact, things are pretty uneventful. But I know it'll make a difference in Austin's day. And that's who we're doing it for.

2012

Happy New Year! Here's to a year full of love, happiness, friendship, joy...and more pig tails!

5 months

Guess what I did to celebrate turning 5 months old (hello, that went by way too fast!)? You guessed it...I got my first hair cut! It's so nice to not have little hairs hanging in my eyes anymore or getting the back caught in the Velcro of my bib. Boy do I feel like a new little woman! My mom's friend didn't even charge her because she said she had years of hair cuts to pay for. Wasn't that nice?

P.S If you are looking for an "after" picture, we didn't get one. I pretty much look the same, just "cleaned up" and feeling pretty!