We're Back!!!

Where's Phil when you need him?!? This is the only picture of all 4 of us together at the beach and E is making a funny face. Phil is always so good at getting my kids to smile and look natural. I can't imagine why the perfect stranger that took this for us didn't have any bubbles or fun toys!

Anyway, I enjoyed reading everyone's posts this week while my kids napped and wanted to make sure I posted some pics from our trip.

What I miss most about the beach? The absolute freedom of no schedules, the seafood, and no mosquitos!

What I love most about being home? Sleeping in my own bed, not having to take 3 showers a day to get the sand off each time we came in, and being back with family and friends!

Not-so-friendly visitor

My dog hates storms, so we typically put her in the garage when we know one is coming. Well, of course we raise the door about a foot to keep it well ventilated. I ran out to my car and stumbled upon this visitor that decided to also seek sheltor in the comforts of a garage. Guess the hole that he dug (that I blamed on the poor dog) was flooding. Now, the dog was scared of the armadillo, so she was hiding in the storage room in the garage! R had a tough time getting that little thing out of the garage. They are similar to a cat in that they make a hissing sound and jump much higher than I would have imagined when "shooed" with a broom. Sorry, fella, but there's only room for one pet around here and you had to go.

Somebody should have warned me!

Yes, this is my 2 year old jumping off a box, imitating Spiderman. Why didn't anyone warn me of the #2 child?

#1 follows my directions. #2 tells me "no" with his arms crossed and mouth pouting.

#1 brings me things I need. #2 hides my shoes.

#1 uses the potty. #2 puts things in it.

#1 is friendly to all. #2 pretends to shoot those he doesn't know.

#1 is afraid of heights. #2 doesn't believe in the laws of gravity!

Whew! #2 is a handful, but how could I not adore all his mischieviousness when he thinks I hung the moon? #1 sometimes prefers his Daddy. #2 is a momma's boy. #1 doesn't always want to kiss me. #2 would kiss me a million times. I can tell you that I was definitely surprised about #2 coming along so quickly, but I wouldn't change it for the world!!!

If you know of any......

While cleaning out closets today, I realized that I have several things with E's name embroidered on them. Diaper bags, clothes, etc. Anyway, if you know of anybody having a boy or with a baby that shares his name, please let me know so I can get rid of this stuff! I wised up when I found myself so quickly pregnant with a second boy and began personalizing with just our last name :)

My Birthday Boy

I had to post this pic because I know all you moms would agree with me that it is definitely way more fun to watch your kids open presents than opening your own. Don't get me wrong (in case hubby reads this) presents for me are good, too, but the look on that face is priceless (spaghetti stains and all!!)

My "baby" recently celebrated his second birthday. I know, I know, you can't believe he's two! Me either! I guess I finally have to stop telling people that I haven't lost all my baby weight. It officially just goes under the "she needs to exercise and quit eating so much" catagory.

I thank God for this "surprise." I couldn't imagine how I was going to love another child as much as I did my first. God surprised me with this, too. Kind of like the Grinch, your heart just gets bigger :)

Happy Birthday to all of us!

Okay, so I said I wasn't going to post this b/c after all the time I spent on this cake for Hubby's birthday (huge Star Wars fan) he made fun of me blogging it. Well, I said there was no way I was going to blog it after his comment, BUT I don't have any pictures of my own birthday cake (because there wasn't one!) so here it is.

Last week was R's birthday, yesterday was my birthday, and next weekend is P's birthday. Not to mention we have countless close friends that have birthdays in the same week. This leads E to continuously ask me when it's going to be HIS birthday. It's really hard to explain to a 3 year old he has to wait 5 months until his when everyone else is celebrating (especially little brother.) There is no concept of time, other than "IMMEDIATELY" for a 3 year old. I know this is awful, but I'm seriously debating making a cake for Cinco de Mayo and singing "Happy Birthday" or "Feliz Cumpleanos" in that case -hee, hee!

And so it begins......

When we found out we were having a boy four years ago, my husband was elated. Being the sports enthusiast that he is, he was already so excited about sports with the little fellow. Well, the time has finally come where he can play something and while he's still too young for pee-wee football or even tee-ball, there is soccer. Ah, the world's most common sport now taught to three year olds with quick water breaks and Little Debbie's every 10 minutes or so. Here are a few of my favorite pics.

Fixer-upper

These are my old canisters (you can see the tint is chipping off.) R has been hastling me about getting new canisters for a while now, but all the ones I like are waaay expensive.

Some of you may not know this about me, but I am a pack rat. I know, it's a nasty habit. I keep things, thinking that it may provide useful in the future. This pack rat is also closely related to the "fixer upper." I like to try to keep things by fixing them up. Sometimes, the fixer-uppers turn out and sometimes they are just tossed by my disapproving husband. We are 100% opposite of each other when it comes to this.


Anyway, here are some old canisters I found at a local antique shop that I thought I could fix up. After some help from my soooo organized friend, Amy, with her scrapbooking tools we had perfect ovals and rectangles and I just painted in them. I may still go back and add some grosgrain ribbon or something. Hubby should be proud that this only set him back by a grand total of $22.

Bunny Cookies

Here's a pic of the Easter cookies I made for my niece and her class. Of course I quickly agreed to make these b/c I just love my sister-in-law and her children so much, but didn't realize the amount of time I would spend. Whew! In the end, I think it was all worth it when I saw the expression on their faces. I can always count on my sister-in-law to praise any of my "creations." Thanks Su, for always being so supportive! Love ya!

Eggs-actly what I needed to hear!!!

Okay, I know, I know......really, the bad pun at the top is definitely the teacher in me!!! I have a thousand different "egg" words I can use just stored away for this time of year. Anyway, I wanted to post this joke b/c it's terribly funny and a little terrible, too. It's kind of a blonde joke, in a round about way, so to all my blonde friends ---you know I love you!!!

A man is driving along a highway and sees a rabbit jump out across the middle of the road. He swerves to avoid hitting it, but unfortunately the rabbit jumps right in front of the car. The driver, a sensitive man as well as an animal lover, pulls over and gets out to see what has become of the rabbit. Much to his dismay, the rabbit is the Easter Bunny, and he is DEAD. The driver feels so awful that he begins to cry. A beautiful blonde woman driving down the highway sees a man crying on the side of the road and pulls over. She steps out of the car and asks the man what's wrong. "I feel terrible," ! he explains, "I accidentally hit the Easter Bunny with my car and KILLED HIM." The blonde says,"Don't worry." She runs to her car and pulls out a spray can.
She walks over to the limp, dead Easter Bunny, bends down, and sprays the contents onto him. The Easter Bunny jumps up, waves its paw at the two of them and hops off down the road. Ten feet away he stops, turns around and waves again, he hops down the road another 10 feet, turns and waves, hops another ten feet, turns and waves, and repeats this again and again and again and again, until he hops out of sight. The man is astonished. He runs over to the woman and demands, "What is in that can? What did you spray on the Easter Bunny ?" The woman turns the can around so that the man can read the label. It says. (Are you ready for this?) (Are you sure?) (OK, here it is) It says........................ "Hair Spray Restores life to dead hair, and adds permanent wave."
H a p p y E a s t er !!! (BTW---not my joke, a forward of a forward and so forth, so I don't know who to give credit to!)

Smooshi, anyone?

Just had to post this! E and I were having one of his typical, inquisitive conversations where I'm forced to explain "how and why." I thought it was so funny (could be my skewed sense of humor these days) that I wanted to share. Here's how it went:

E: When is dinner going to be ready?
Me: As soon as it's finished cooking.
E: In the oven?
Me: Yes.
E: What's an oven do?
Me: Cook things.
E: How? (I knew that was coming!)
Me: It gets really hot and cooks it.
E: How?
Me: (Like I know!) Well, it gets electricity from our house to run and the heating elements heat up and make the food hot. (Please don't ask me to explain further!)
E: Hummm.....we don't eat raw food.
Me: No, we don't. Well, except sometimes Daddy does when he eats sushi. You know, like he gets when we go eat Chinese noodles?
E: Yes. Daddy likes smooshi. It's his favorite!

I thought it was so appropriately re-named!