Monday's with the MOB

Man oh man I have been busy! We are in project mode still and today we finished up our garden area and planted our Zucchini and Cucumber plants that are already crazy big.

So I thought I'd do a quick round-up of some highlights from my boys over the past week or so....

Quote from my oldest: "Mom, can you please go away?" Envision him poised towards our youngest waiting for me to leave so he can take his toy... :)

My youngest today as he dove(purposely) into a mud puddle while some friends and I were letting the kids play at a nearby college campus. In an attempt to make him "cleaner" he became shirtless the rest of the time while still having a blast in the puddle. Cute boy was in his element. And then later on tonight when we arrived at a track night(the kids get to run and have "races" with other kids) at the same college I was getting our youngest out of the car and realized we forgot his pants. HA! So, yes, he was shirtless and pantless on the same campus in one day. Needless to say he didn't mind a bit :)

The next pictures are from the hike we took the boys on last Friday. They LOVED it! They could throw rocks, jump off rocks, play in the dirt (get dirty), splash in the water, and just be free to be boys....

A park at a nearby campsite

We kept attempting to take a "good" family pic, and this is the best one!

Throwing a million rocks :)

I hope you have had a good Monday (with the MOB)!

**Special Date**

Today was a special day, for a few reasons...

1) I FINALLY felt well! For the first time in a week. Hallelujah!

2) I got to go on a "Momma~Caden Date" with our oldest. We were supposed to go a week ago, but I wasn't feeling well so we had to post-pone...

About a week and a half ago I was having a really hard time getting our oldest to go to Pre-school. This is VERY unlike him. He is normally excited to go to school to see his friends and teachers, but this morning I was only getting big tantrums. After calming him down and talking to him I was able to get him to school but as soon as I was about to leave he started bawling. His teachers were shocked because they had never seen him do this. I left our youngest with his sweet teachers to play while I went to talk to Caden alone. He didn't want to come home with me, but he didn't want to stay at school. Instead I loved on him and calmed him down and then left him--crying again--with his teachers(broke my heart). I told them to call me if he didn't stop, and secretly I wanted them too, but of course he stopped and ended up having a great day.

When I picked him up one of his teachers, the one who calmed him down, told me what Caden ended up saying to her. He told her, "I don't want to share my toys with Pryce, I don't want to play with Pryce, I don't want to see Pryce, I want to see my Momma, I just want to see my Momma."

Broke my heart again....he needed to spend one-on-one time with me, and only me. And ya know, I've always known this needed to happen, and kinda thought it did since our youngest takes a nap in the morning, but he needed me to set special time aside just for him.

I decided he and I would go on a date and he told me he wanted to go get ice cream. Then, to make it even cuter, he said to his dad, "Daddy I need some money so I can take Momma on a date." Love :)

He has been looking forward to this for over a week now and got the cutest smile on his face when I told him we were going to be able to go today. "Momma, I'm going to take you on a date today, but you're going to drive, and I'm going to sit in my car seat." His daddy is taking full advantage of this situation to also teach him about how to treat girls. "You always pay for girls...you tell them how pretty they look...remember to ask her what she would like before you get your own..." It was really sweet overhearing their conversation. Here I was wanting to make him feel special and I was the one feeling special in return.

Some pics of our fun...He let me have a mini photo shoot before we left....

sweet laughs

Gotta love being tickled :)

Loving his ice cream with his "bears and M & M's" on top

I just like this

The yummy mess in a HUGE bowl

He wanted to drink his "juice"

 Caden picked out our table, right by the window, and pointed to a store he wanted to go to after we finished our ice cream. It was one of those $1 jewelry stores, and I had never been in it before so I was all for that one! He giggled as he tried on bracelets and gave me "pretty, shiny" ones to try on. Sweet boy...I tucked away the thought to break this to his dad gently :) After that he wanted to go to the pet store. We saw dogs, cats and fish. He was happy and he even got to pick out a toy and a couple dog treats for our pup and a friend's dog. After picking out Valentine's for his friends and picking up a *special* Valentine for momma (Just happened to be the day Breaking Dawn came out...) we headed home.

He was the most polite, thoughtful, and cute little boy I have ever seen and brought smiles to people around us and to myself. We didn't do anything big or over the top, we just spent time together that was out of the norm. Days like this are needed, for all of us. Today has helped me "see" my oldest again, for what he is, a sweet little boy, and it has hopefully helped him feel how important and special he is.

He even was excited to get home and see his little brother AND share his toys with him :)

Blanket or Duvet?

Today is day 5,861,273 of me being sick. Okay it's only day 5, but it feels like it has been that long. Yesterday thanks to some wonderful people in my life and my new best friend, NyQuil, I was allowed to be comatose ALL day. Because of that I am feeling somewhat more functional today. Hopefully in the next few days I can actually report a completely clean bill of health, but for now it is what it is.

I want to share this conversation I had earlier with our oldest....

C: "Mamma is this my blanket?"

Me: "No, honey, it's your duvet cover"

C: "My blanket?"

Me: "No, Du-vet co-ver"

C: "Bla-n-ket?"

Me: "Du-vet co-ver"

C: "Dave?"

Me: "Yes, honey, Dave" ...sigh...

It was slightly frustrating, but at the same time pretty funny. It just reminded me of the many conversations I have had with my husband about the names that girls have to have for things including this same duvet vs. blanket debate.

When debating I like to have evidence to back myself up, so for kicks and giggles, the definitions of each...

Duvet Cover: A duvet cover (pronounced du-VAY) is a removable cover that encloses a comforter.

The duvet cover comes from the word "duvet," a french word meaning a bag filled with some kind of stuffing--often either feathers, down or wool--to be used for warmth. To read more, go here. It actually was pretty interesting...

Blanket: A large piece of woven material used as a covering for warmth, especially on a bed.

There you have it. But besides the definitions, Duvet Cover just sounds a whole lot prettier than blanket. My boys will be taught the correct names for things. I feel like I am fulfilling one of my duties as a mother by doing this... :)

I love this picture from a couple years ago of my oldest on his new Dave/DUVET COVER that I made using scraps from his baby bedding.

Welcome, Second born...

February 3, 2011 our youngest was born. I can't believe it has been a year already. It seriously went way too fast.

Pryce Hawkins, 7lb. 15 oz, 21 inches long

 It's crazy how we went from this...

 To this in what felt like a short year...

Happy Birthday to our energetic, lively, curious, and happy little guy.

Train Church

There are the days that are filled with screaming, tantrums, messes, etc....from the kiddos by the way, you will NEVER see me acting like that ;) ....and then there are the *sweet* days in which your son asks to make a church for the trains so that they have somewhere to go to Bible class.



Yes, it's a Pink shoebox. It's what I had. Sorry to the Hubbs for emasculating our son for a little bit :) and btw, the sign says "Train Church" if you couldn't read that.




"back, back train and get your load...."



I asked him if we should get some activities for them to do, but he told me, "No, they don't have hands mom, they have wheels! They can't color."

Thank you, Lord, for his sweet little heart.

I'm a snowman!

Today I was visiting with a friend who was dropping their son off to play with my oldest for the day. My oldest was in the bathroom and taking an extremely long time to come out. Deciding to wait until after my friend left to check on him, I went in there after what had been quite a while.

I walk in on a half-dressed little boy smeared (hair and all) in foam from our soap dispenser. With a huge smile on his face he says, "Look, Momma! I'm a snowman!"

Love that kid.

Every moms dream, right? A boy who is keeping himself clean :)

Explanation, please?

How do you explain a "baby shower" to a 3 year old? We had this task last night as I was trying to explain to my oldest where I was about to go. Here's a quick recap....

Me: Momma is going to go to a baby shower for a little bit then I will be right back

C: You are going to take a shower?

Me: No, we are just going to give baby gifts to one of momma's friends.

C: (Still stuck on the shower idea) You are going to take a shower with your friends? (Getting kinda bad)

Me: No, no, no. We are not taking a shower.

C: (Typical male still stuck on one idea) You are going to get naked and take a shower?

Me. Wow, no, no, no....You know what? I'm not going to a shower, I'm just going to a party for a friend who is having a sweet baby girl.

C: You are going to give the baby a shower and get it all clean?

Me: Allllright, I love you. I will see you in a little bit!


Love that kid and can totally understand why he is so confused.

Here is a short article about this very question: http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Baby-Shower---Why-Its-Called-That,-and-How-to-Have-a-Great-One&id=3108737

Order vs. Chaos

I like order, the boys in our house prefer chaos. Order is the last thing on their minds most of the time. The "men" might appreciate it if I described it as being a little more "free." This can be a great Yin to my Yang on most days, but on the days involving paint and tiny hands, let's just say that I prefer order over chaos.

On Tuesday after dinner I got the idea in my head that I wanted to paint a Fall picture with the boys...something to keep and cherish (aww). In my head I had a picture of the four of us with smiles on our faces, taking turns, and taking our time to make a beautiful piece of art. What I got was not what I pictured...paint flying, hands with paint on them touching way to many things they shouldn't, impatient males putting their mark on the "art" wherever they wanted(not where I specifically told them too!), and me losing my cool a few(maybe more) times.

In the end, we all still ended up having fun AND I realized the original "picture in my head" was absolutely ridiculous! Needless to say, I'm learning about boys, adjusting my expectations at times, and trying to just let boys be boys. The boys were actually pretty cute and we still wound up with a pretty cute picture that we can keep :)

Hand prints on the tree and thumb prints on the ground

Caden's favorite part is the brother birds :)

Attempts at getting a "good" picture of them with their art...

.....try #1, 236....

And we said uncle.....



Boys and beans....

Ha, so this post probably isn't what you thought it would be about, but......

What's in our forecast? More heat. Boo. Which means, one very energetic toddler in the house most of the day instead of outside. Boo again.

Have you ever heard about sensory tubs? I had, but didn't really know what they were. One of Caden's Sunday school teachers had one out for his class one night and explained it to me. Caden apparently loved it! I basically compare it to an indoor sandbox for kids(in caden's case anyways). Now I totally love the idea of a sandbox, because I know boys love to dig in it, build things, etc.....BUT I was not about to invite more dirt than necessary into my house!

The tub is usually filled with scoops, funnels, cups, cars, etc.....sky's the limit with what you want to put in it. Instead of sand people usually use rice, but seeing as how that can be a really hard mess to clean up, I chose pinto beans for our tub.

Since it has been so hot outside I decided I needed to give Caden something else to play with, for his sake, and for my sanity :) Today at the store I got him a plastic tub(not too big, not too small) and a 4 lb. bag of pinto beans. When we got home he helped me empty the beans into the tub and I grabbed (slightly random) things that I knew he would have fun with. In went a scoop, plastic spoon, small bowl with lid, toy monster truck, cow Easter egg :), clothespin(to work in fine motor), even an ice cube tray!

And the verdict? He played with it for about 5 hours today. No Exaggeration.

He added magnetic alphabet letters, two plastic Easter bunnies(I have no idea why we have all these Easter items randomly around...), and two more cars :)

Who new THIS would be THAT much fun?

My conclusion? Best. Idea. Ever. (and I totally stole it) He even was careful not to spill the beans (ha) and when he did they were easy for him to pick up. Mamma loves that.

I have in the plans to make him different tubs with other fillers. I know some people even have themes...I'm thinking seasonal themes?

Opposites attract....

This blog was mainly created to celebrate "girlness" of sorts....but today I am going to highlight the beautiful boys in my life and just a few funny/interesting things I have witnessed lately that make me love them even more. I say funny because I have no choice but to find humor in some of these things!

Our almost 3 year old is our "original cutie" and now just has a little "extra flare" to him due to his age :) He is definitely creative, a lot to handle, but extremely....let's just say, awesome. Some of his moments lately:

• When eating pasta the other night I look over and he is crinkling up his nose and saying "ouch, momma, ouch." I ask him if his nose hurts and he said, "yes, I put a noodle in my nose." My response(laughing perplexedly inside), "well yes, that would make your nose hurt." After exhaustively trying to blow, etc the noodle out and it doesn't resurface, I begin to wonder and just give up. Caden tells us that he needed a band-aid....and sure enough it felt better after that. Crazy how that works out, huh?!  And yes, he did insist on wearing it like this the rest of the day despite Dad's efforts to remove it(I wanted it to stay on mainly because it was pretty darn awesome). We'll call him Rambo.

• I call this the "summer of the dinosaur" for Caden.  He loves the show "dinosaur train," has many shirts with dinosaurs, has perfected his incredibly loud T-Rex roar(which he likes to "surprise" people at church with from behind), and the never-ending "stomping around like a BIG T-Rex." So I decide to be a cool momma this week and teach him how to paper mache when making a dinosaur. We were doing good....made the body out of balloons, sticks, etc...and were almost finished with the first layer when my always learning boy looks at the dino and asks, "this a boy, momma?" My response, "yeah it can be a boy." Caden's conclusion, "he needs a p****, momma." I busted out laughing and then he exclaims, pointing to a piece of paper that was sticking out in a VERY convenient spot, "OH! He already has one!" And here I had already named "him" Eleanor...oops...
  
• A shout out to the Fourth of July....Tonight while my husband was giving Caden a bath, he started *tooting*(I hate saying that btw)--which, LADIES don't do of course ;)-- and told his dad, "that's just fireworks, Dadda..." Normal, of course! And also normal was the streaking that followed while wearing only his Green Lantern mask..... :)

This little guy, well, is just cute....and I am loving finding all the things that make him laugh....and inevitably finding the things that don't. Loves: Caden's horse, girls(typical!), the trampoline, the song "chicka chicka boom boom," and....being held....a lot :) Dislikes: sleeping, being put down(I will admit that I am partly to blame for the not liking to be put down thing...he's just SO huggable!), having toys taken away by the toddler in the house, and rice cereal.

My husband: Well...I love him, and am understanding him better which each boy we add to our clan. We'll leave it at that :)

I LOVE, stay bewildered, and am constantly amused by this COMPLETELY opposite sex....