I think it's time!

I think it's time for new pajamas! One morning Cannon woke up & his toes had popped out in the middle of the night! The funny story is that it was really bothering Carter! I didn't get Cannon changed out of them right away because we got busy with our morning routine & they weren't bothering him! Carter probably told me about 20 times that I needed to change Cannon's pajamas. He waited for me while I got Cannon dressed & marched the pajamas into the kitchen & threw them in the trash!

The Good & The Bad...

 The Good...

And The Bad!

As a Mother & Wife I am always looking for the healthy food options. Aren't we all! So, these Oven-Roasted Garlic Vegetables looked so good. Maybe it's because I have been craving spring & summer & fresh produce & home made fresh salsa.... I could go on & on! The recipe is from Peach Tree Cooking Oven-Roasted Vegetables. Carter would devour these while McKay would try and hide them in his napkin!

I took dinner to my friend last week & had to cheat with Costco Red Velvet cupcakes for dessert... I have to admit that I felt a little guilty! And a little guilty that there was about 300 calories in each one! That's when you give half of them to your friend & let your kids finish off the rest... except for that one that did call your name a little too loudly! I think I might have to redeem myself this weekend & take her these! Peach Tree Cooking Red Velvet Cupcakes.

Oh & the Tuscan Garlic Chicken was dee'lish! I was excited when James forgot to take the left overs for lunch! Eating that for lunch is causing me to have to go to Zumba tonight after I already went to the gym this morning! But, it was worth it!

I Think I Will Make This For Dinner...

Tuscan Garlic Chicken

I Love when you come across a new recipe that looks Sooooo good & you have all the ingredients to make it right now! I am off to make it! If you think it looks good here is the recipe that I found at Peach Tree Cooking.

It's That Time...

Everyday when McKay comes home from school he finds his list of to-do's here. This is what has to be done before he can watch any TV or play the Wii. Today there was a new activity that there hasn't been in the past. Can you guess which one it is??? Last night McKay's Babe Ruth coach called & he has his first practice this Saturday! He is ecstatic! So, from now until the end of the season he will play catch everyday (except Sunday) with James or I. I believe that if you are going to participate in something you give your best. And practice makes your best even better. Batting practice will also be added to the mix. It is at this time that I am more than grateful for the hours (and I do mean hours people!) that my Dad spent with me playing catch in the back yard. I often heard from him "I refuse to have a girl who throws like a girl"! (I often wanted to yell back that "Ummmm.... HELLO! I am a girl!). Or the countless times I was dragged across the street to throw batting practice for my brother's (who are 4 & 6 years older than me!). Seriously having balls ripping past you from big teenage boys was a little intimidating! Even as an adult as we visit my parents house during the summer my Dad will often grab the mitt's & a ball & we spend time together playing catch. He still even makes me chase after a bad throw! But, now as I have three boys of my own I am TRULY grateful for the first time that I don't throw like a girl!   

Seriously...

I really wish that I could say that this happened because I sent my husband and kids to the grocery store unsupervised... But I can't. I was there. This is what happens when a family runs to Walmart after the Family Home Evening lesson to get a treat. This is what happens when we all have a different idea of what we want & we all stand in the ice cream section of the store until Mom gets cold & Dad caves!  And neither parent wants to give up their Mint Chocolate Chip (for him) or the Lemon Sorbet (for her)!!! I can honestly say that this is the first time in 7 years of parenting that this has ever happened! Yes, I'm just trying to make myself feel better!

Is There Anything More Precious...

I really don't think there is much more precious than this! This little man had a hard time falling asleep today. He thinks it's fun to pull up his blinds & look out the window instead of going to sleep... But, finally sleep came & I hope his dreams are as sweet as he is!

Something I Love...

 This book was printed in 1947! It's 64 years old! I loovveeee the old pictures...

 This old Lucky Star book is 53 years old...

 McKay reads these old readers every day - he seems to prefer them as much as I do & loves all the old stories.

One of the first things I do when I find an old book is look to see when it was published! I love knowing how old it is!

 And this book about Maybelle the Donkey is 60 years old.

These are my recent finds. I usually pick them up at thrift shops for .50 - $2.00.

I truly have a love for old books. When I was little I had all of my old books set up on a library system. All categorized by title & author! I still have some of my old books & smile every time I read one to the boys & see my number system written on the inside of the cover! Now I scour all of the little thrift shops looking for old books. I love the old, weathered, textured covers & the old fashioned stories and pictures. Most of them are from old libraries & still have their old "check out" cards on the inside flap. I simply love them!

Our Day...

I love the little moments in a day...

Today:

Cannon is sick. Carter has been extra sweet with him & doting on him. After a trip to the doctors we are now armed with two antibiotics. Hopefully he starts feeling better soon.

I maintain that some of the best money I have ever spent is on Lego's. Carter especially plays with them for hours! However, I often times get tired of cleaning them up. So, today I put a pile of macaroni on the floor & turned on the vacuum... Carter was in the other room & could hear the macaroni being vacuumed up & came running! When he asked me what I was vacuuming up I told him it was his Lego's!!! Holy smokes he had a melt down!!! But, I don't think I will have to ask him to clean up his Lego's when he is done playing with them again! And yes, I did feel a little guilty!

McKay came home from school today thinking he could speak Chinese... he was talking to Carter in his "Chinese" & it just kept frustrating Carter. So, after I heard Carter ask McKay to stop & after McKay did not stop... The Mother had to get involved! I heard McKay again speak his "Chinese" to Carter & I called McKay into the office & told him he was grounded for swearing at Carter! He was totally confused & I told him that I Googled the Chinese words he was using & that he was swearing at Carter! He didn't know what to think! He had to go & apologize to Carter & I don't think we will have a language barrier at our house anytime soon!

We downloaded new songs onto the boys Ipod's yesterday. They both had a couple new songs that they wanted. I put the new song "I Won't Let Go" by Rascal Flatts on McKay's & told him that if he was ever sad or having a bad day that I wanted him to listen to the song & know that it was from me. He ran off to listen to his new songs on his bed & a little while later I went into check on him... only to find him bawling!!! Completely doing the ugly cry where you have a hard time breathing kind of crying!!! He had listened to the Rascal Flatts song & was convinced that he never wanted to leave me! I was so touched to see how much it had meant to him! I did have to explain to him that I gave it to him to make him happy & not sad! And after he worked through his emotions he finally fell asleep in my arms! What a sensitive little man he can be! Something my heart will always remember.

Right now I am loving watching Carter dance to Michael Jackson out of the corner of my eye! He is dancing like no one is watching! I think I will go join him.... I am so grateful to be a Mother!

Good Morning Sunshine!

This little man keeps me company every morning as I clean up the kitchen after breakfast. He always sits across the bar & we have the best conversations! This morning we were discussing who was a better dancer... Chris Brown vs Michael Jackson! Michael Jackson won out! He stays with me until the kitchen is complete. Often jumping up to take the garbage out or the "help" sweep the floor. It's our time together & I look forward to it each day. And I do have to admit that those eyes do have a way of getting him out of trouble!

Darling Cupcake Stands

I saw these darling cupcake stands and thought of my cousin Melissa! She LOVES anything to do with cupcakes! I mean seriously who doesn't! Here is the super easy tutorial from Modern Moments to make your own. Is it okay to have cute little cupcake stands at little boy birthday parties?!?!?

A Little Cannon Love...

 Cannon officially had his first band aid this week... not really a big deal.... after three boys band aids are a common thing! We buy them in bulk!  But, it was a major deal to him!!! He did NOT like the band aid and just kept pulling it off - which just made the cut bleed worse...

 And he just kept getting more upset every time I put another one on! I mean seriously they were camouflage band aids! How much cooler can that get for a little boy!

 It really got to be a little much for him! So, that's when you bribe him with popcorn! Works every time with this little man! It worked until the popcorn ran out... Finally I just had to lay down with him until he fell asleep. I had to stay in there to make sure he didn't pull it off again! He did wake up screaming though... because he was trying to get the darn thing off again!

 This is the new smile he gives to whom ever is pointing a camera at him....

 He's all ready to play with his big brothers... the mitt full of golf balls is a little nerve racking!

 Cannon LOVES hot dog & hamburger buns! Which is abviously apparent in this picture! He will go through the bread drawer until he finds them. I guess like in most cases 4 is always better than 1!

Super Delux Easy Pillows

I had been looking all over for fabric to make Cannon some pillows for his bed... and wasn't finding anything I liked. Then I came across a tutorial at Lemon Tree Creations that showed you how to take a men's button up shirt & make it into darling pillows. ( I still haven't decided if you can use the word "darling" when you are referring to things for boys! But, I do!) I knew that I wanted an orange pillow... and I was really eyeing one of James' good shirts in his closet... But, I was lucky enough to find an orange plaid shirt at the DI. The last time I decided to use one of James' good shirts to make Carter a tie it ended up being Brett's shirt & not James'! Woops! Anyways, I bought both of the shirts at the DI for $3 each. I also bought decorative pillows there for $2 each to use as the inserts. It's a lot cheaper to do it that way than to pay for inserts. I did however have to come home & spray them down with Febreeze & Lysol & threw them in the dryer to dry them. So, two very cute pillows came to the grand total of $10! And it seriously only took me about 20 minutes to make them. I do have orders for a couple more... It seems as though McKay & Carter think that the pockets on the pillows are pretty dang cool!

Here's the tutorial: Men's shirt Pillow Covers

Wishing For Spring...

I have a couple recipes that I really like that call for fresh herbs... I got tired of paying $4 for fresh basil that looked terrible. So, I went to a little greenhouse just down the street hoping to buy some fresh plants that I could keep in my kitchen. But, I was a little to early in the season. So, I did the next best thing... I bought all the stuff to grow my own! I bought basil, cilantro, rosemary & oregano seeds. It took about a week for the basil & cilantro to come up. I was a little worried about the rosemary & oregano. So, I fished these plastic containers out of our garbage (they are the containers that our croissant's came in from the grocery store!) & placed the starts in them for a couple days & now they are starting to sprout. One of my favorite things is to have a garden. So, as the snow has continued to fly outside it has been fun to bring a little spring gardening inside! The hardest part of it all has been trying to keep the fingers of a two-year-old out of them!

I'm A Lucky Girl

One morning I woke up to this... I have to admit that at first I did not see it! I was standing across from Mckay at the bar in the kitchen giving him his breakfast & McKay read it to me (only after his father had whispered in his ear to read it to me because I was obviously a little pre-occupied!). I even had to turn around to see what he was reading! It made my day! I even left it up for a week!

Today I got a little package in the mail... I had been eyeing a cute pair of pumps at The Buckle. Somehow they ended up on my front step! They were paid for by a gentleman by the name of James Turley...  It made my day! I even mopped the floor with them on! They made mopping so much more fun!

A couple years ago James asked me what two cleaning jobs I despised the most out of all that I did. I didn't even have to think about it! I quickly told him unloading the dishwasher & cleaning the toilets! Since then he has always cleaned the toilets & unloads the dishwasher! He gets up at the crack of dawn & I hear him out in the kitchen putting the dishes away. It makes my day!

More times than not I get a call as he is on his way home from work asking if he can stop anywhere for me and pick anything up... It makes my day!

Sometimes I get calls from him & when I answer all I hear is him singing along with the radio - when I listen a little closer it is usually one of my favorite songs! It makes me laugh every time!

In the middle of the night when I just can't get myself out of bed to go to whatever child is calling for me... He always seems to know & jumps up for me! I am always so grateful when he does!

And it always seems that the only time I crave sushi is later at night when he is all settled in for the night... And he always says - "Are you seriously craving that right now? If you are I would be happy to go get it for you!"

I'm a lucky girl! Yes, I am!