Quote of the Week

Mom "Hunter, I am not your servant, I am your Mom and you need to treat me nicely."

Hunter "You my servant. Go to bed!"

Random Pictures...

I have some random pictures to share from this week.

Random is definately the word to use.

Ella-marie and the "tote" that I made yesterday.

Two hours=a magnificent tote.
Hunter wanted to show off my tote too!

This picture is from a Sunday, and if you can't tell, Hunter went into my room and decided that he wanted to wear my pantyhose. It went as well as can be expected, he did a pretty good job considering he was pulling them on by himself.

Here's a close up. I hope that you are appreciating this...

And Levi decided that he was cold and found a sweater of Corbin's to wear.

He is just as cute as a bug.

Bike Riding Extraordinaire!

I took Miles out to learn to ride a bike today. I didn't have very high expectations, but I figured we could do an hour of working on it. Lo and behold, just when we were both ready to quit (after 40 minutes), I just decided to let go because I couldn't keep up anymore and ZOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!! away he went! It was quite a shock to both of us. Miles realized that I wasn't right behind him after about 20 seconds and then panicked. That didn't stop him though because he got right back on and said "Let go Mom. Mom, let go! Moooooom!" I guess my little bird was ready to leave the nest and I was unable to let go. So, Miles learned to ride his bike in 45 minutes. Quite impressive. And then he didn't ever want to stop.

I do want to share my favorite crash of the morning...Miles was riding quite well, but didn't quite turn in time to continue on the parking lot. I saw his arms both go up in the air, his whole body launch up and then.............nothing. He completely disappeared from sight. He had gone over the edge of the lot and down into a grassy ditch. I was laughing so hard I could barely run over there to help him out of it. It was very funny to see. Miles wasn't even hurt in the process. It was a good time.

Happy Spring!

Happy Spring to everyone! I just want to say that Spring is my favoritest season of all, and I'm so glad it's here. The weather has been absolutely perfect and we took advantage of that yesterday when we went on our first official hike of the season. What an adventure!

Levi and Spencer are very happy. Yes, I know that Levi is wearing a 'girl' hat, but I don't have another boy hat right now. Somehow all of my little boy hats have fallen away into nothingness.
Here the children are looking at an American Toad. It was right beside the trail and was kind enough to let them look at it. I tried to take a picture, but it was too well camoflaged. This was just the beginning of a fantastic hike.

This is what I like to call "The fallen tree of death with lots of mud and goopy water surrounding it!" And it was right across the trail. So up and over we went, a little wobbly, but all in one piece.

Note the water/mud surrounding Hunter. He didn't mind though, it was all good.

Since Hunter was brave enough to stand on the log, Ella-marie decided that she was brave enough too.

If these aren't happy hikers, then I don't know who is.

We ended up seeing birds, toads, frogs (getting a little frisky), turtles, geese, ducks and various sundry bugs. It was a great day!

Do you have any Grey Poupon?

Levi 'a la Mode'

Delicious Looking, isn't he?

Ella-marie's Birthday!

Ella-marie had her 4th birthday this past week. It was quite an eventful week. I had the flu early in the week and luckily for me, Ella-marie wanted funfetti cupcakes with purple frosting and sprinkles. Done. And thank goodness.

Notice that I am standing upright without falling over. It was a good day.
Yumm!!

Presents!

Ella-marie's favorite present...a princess canopy for her bed. Not only her favorite, but everyone elses favorite too.

The Saga of the Binky Weaning

I've had enough! I decided this last weekend that Levi was out of luck because I am totally done with the whole binky drama. I'm done, just done. Levi, however, was not pleased with my decision and has decided that I am a terrible mother. Ah well, such is life. Let me give you a rundown of our marvelous weekend.

Friday night: Crying. Crying. Screaming. Cursing his mother. More crying. Moved Ella-marie to our bed so that she could go to sleep. Crying. More screaming. Pitiful whimpers. Feeling like a terrible mom, but won't give in. Falls asleep 1 hour 15 minutes after being put in bed. Still hiccuping from all of the crying. Woke up twice crying and cried for 20 minutes each time. Not such a bad start for the first night...

Saturday morning nap: Screamed for 1 1/2 hours. Tore bed apart, took off all clothing until foiled by snap buttons. Never slept. Finally gave up and got him up (and got him dressed).

Saturday afternoon nap: Repeat of morning nap, only a little less crying and a smidge of sleeping. Probably about 20 minutes asleep before crying again.

Saturday night: Only crying and cursing for 30 minutes. Still put Ella-marie in our bed. Finally fell asleep with all of his clothes on and his blankets in his bed. Counted as a success. Didn't wake up in the middle of the night at all.

Sunday morning nap: Repeat of Saturday morning nap. No sleeping.

Sunday afternoon nap: Cried for 20 minutes and slept. Only slept for 1 hour because he got woken up by his brothers. (whom I wanted to wring their necks)

Sunday night: Didn't cry when put down. Instead decided to become room president and started bossing Ella-marie around and talking to her. Talked for 45 minutes and then slept. In fact, there were five people "chatting" for that time period. Hmmm, seems suspicious. Slept all night.

Monday morning nap: I wish!

Monday afternoon nap: YES! Only cried for 5 minutes and then slept for 2 1/2 hours.

Monday night: Children were threatened within an inch of their lives to not talk so that Levi could go right to sleep. Yahoo!!! IT WORKED!!! Fell asleep within minutes without crying at all. This may be the best evening of my life!! Once again Mom is the victor and the binky is gone!