Mother's Day

My 8 yr old gave me a poem, a painting and some perfume. 

My 7 yr old gave me a flower and and a long, sweet hug. 

My 4 yr old gave me a self portrait and the promise of a helping hand with any work today.

My 2 yr old handed me his booger and then pooped on the patio.
 
Best. Mother's Day. Ever.

Basketball

Cannon finished the basketball season with a bang.

Got hit in the face with a ball.

But he shook it off, rubbed his nose a bit, hopped around while his eyes watered, then jumped back into the game.

Good job buddy!

*Those are smooshed oreos in his mouth...not black teeth.

Rainbow Tie Dye Birthday Party

Maeve wanted a very, very, very colorful birthday this year.
A rainbow/tie-dye birthday.
At first it was a rainbow/tie-dye/my little pony/dress-up/princess party.
But someone had to reign it in. 

(boo)
(hiss)

Whatever.

I did the best I could.
There were all things rainbow....



 
There was a table with so many colors on it that you could barely stop your eyes from bouncing around.

There were all the favorite (and highly requested) foods from the birthday girl.
 
 
There was a fruit water that none of the kids liked...but the adults loved.

There was a tie-dye birthday cake...that was so full of food coloring it was almost absurd.
And of course there was rainbow sherbet.

 

 
 There were clothes to tie-dye, and coffee filter art projects to do.

And gifts to unwrap, and unwrap, and unwrap.

And there was a little girl who could no stop grinning.
So I think I did a darn good job.

She brings me such joy!
Happy 5th birthday to my #3.

Little Urban "Farm"

It's no secret to Rich that I would love to move back out to the country again. 
Don't get me wrong.
I love that our trash is picked up on Monday morning out of the neat and tidy trash can.
And that our water supply isn't dependant on whether or not the well pump is working.
And that when the power goes out, you don't have to find a bucket of water to use to flush the toilets....

But I do miss the space.
I miss the smell of dirt, and the sound of nothing.
I miss looking out my window and seeing trees, rather then my neighbors' hairy back....

But, all that being said, I'm doing my best with this little plot of land that we are living on.

Our garden went in a few weeks ago...and it's beautiful! 
I tried square foot gardening, and I am LOVING it!
We've got a decent little crop, and will soon plant the summer things.

 
 
 
And, although I am pretty sure this plan will backfire on me, I talked the hubs into chickens.
Actually, I asked, and he said "no".
Then I asked again, and he said "nope".
Then I asked again, and he said "no way, I really don't wan to step in chicken poop all the time".

So I let it go.
And then one day he said, "Let's get chickens".

After I recovered from the shock of it, we bought an used coop, and built a little (itty, bitty, tiny) run, and went down to the store to pick out some chicks.
We went in the store with the intent to get just 2 chicks.
Turns out they don't sell any less then 3.
And we somehow walked out with 4. 


 
Funny...

Then I had a panic attack and realized that this means I now have 4 more things to take care of.
In addition to the rat, dog, fish, and (oh yeah) 4 kids and a husband, we now have 4 chickens. 

Eeek. 
I *might* have bitten off more then I can chew on this one......

Car Time

#3 and I spend a lot of time in the car waiting.
We wait for the kids to walk (at the most leisurely pace ev-ver) the path everyday after school to the car. 

We wait, and we wait, and we wait.

So while we wait, we've been working on some kindergarten readiness work.

This little one is not as ready for next year as I would like her to be.
In fact, it wasn't after her preschool parent teacher meeting, when phrases like
"repeat preschool" &
"home school" &
"at least stay enrolled during the summer"
were uttered I realized HOW far behind she is.

Like, we better start working on those A,B,C's kind of behind.

So, that is what we have been doing. While Nolan complains and whines about being confined to his car seat while we wait, Maeve and I work.


I'm trying to drill them into her, and she is daydreaming her way through a workbook. 
Typical Maeve - life is rainbows and butterflies for her. All. The. Time. 

I was a little worried about it, until we had her kindergarten assessment and I talked to the teacher.  He assured me that she was fine, will do fine next year, etc, so I have lightened up a little bit on the after school cramming, and we get to go back to just hanging out...with some academics involved.

I love this little one!

Lego Star Wars Birthday Party

 
For the 3rd year in a row, Cannon has asked for a Lego birthday party.
This year's variation was....Lego Star Wars.
You would think that it would get old, but this kid loves. his. Lego's.

The invite was a tweaked version of a pic I found online.  I think it came out really, really, good....mostly because I didn't do it.  Special thanks to a talented friend for that one.  I'm pretty inept at photo shop type things.

The goody bags were super simple.
A Darth Vader candy I scored after Easter, a clearance pencil and eraser, an otter pop, complete with a felt cozy that I made to look like a light saber, and a glo stick. And each kid would also take home a "real" light saber. 
*Best project ever....if you never, ever, ever want to love duct tape ever. again.



 
The food was all finger foods, and I tried to prep as much ahead of time as possible so I could keep an eye on the boys who were beating each other silly with the pool noodle light sabers.
We only had two tearful incidents, and one punching scuffle.
I call that a success.







 
My hot hubby decorated the "death star" and we hung that, with a bunch of "ships" that Cannon made over the food table.

Cannon helped the day before with anything that he could.
He's pretty sweet like that.

I made him a shirt to wear, which he loved.
It was my first attempt at crafting with freezer paper.
I think there are many more projects with it in my future....

The party went well.
Thank goodness it was only two hours.
I'm not sure my house would have withstood any more light saber battles, or sweaty boys, or yelling, or spilled food.
Looking back I think the most common phrase that I said during the entire party was
"no light saber fights in the house" and "food stays in the kitchen". 
I'm that nagging, stressed out mom at parties. 
Yep. 
I will claim it now I guess.

I was kinda proud of my cupcakes this year.  Not the limp, saggy light saber decoration, but the taste and denseness of the cupcake itself, and the frosting. 
Cause I am all about frosting.
And we all know it's really all about me...right?
 

So happy birthday to the amazing boy who never stops asking questions.
(And by never, I mean NE-VER.)
I hope you don't ever stop!