We are going to be late.

Wow!! I temporarily lost my mind Saturday night and cut all the "binkies." Yup. Cut the tips off of all of them. I had enough. I was tired of hunting for them. I was tired of fighting the Dudes for them. And mostly, I was tired of the temper tantrums when I wouldn't let Owen have one. Saturday night as I was trying to get him in the bathtub he threw an epic tantrum because he wanted a "binky." The rule has been for over a year they only get pacifiers at nap time or bedtime. Over the course of the last two weeks Owen had started going into his room and getting a pacifier and laying on his bed so he could have one. He had also been trying to sneak them out their room. One time he even hid it down his shirt when I tried to take it away. Carter isn't as attached to the pacifiers as Owen has always been. He likes to have one, but there are plenty of times he has gone to sleep without it in his mouth. When I came to my senses Saturday I started to feel bad. I h

Another year has past. I shared last year about my brother in law Walter Joe . It's been 4 years now. The old saying "Time heals all wounds" is somewhat true. It doesn't hurt as bad. I still miss him. I still look for him. I still stop in my tracks when I see a man on a motorcycle with his pony tail whipping in the wind. It's the "could have beens" that hurt the most now. What could have been? What would have happened? What would things be like now? Olivia still asks questions and we still talk about him and look at pictures. The Dudes are getting older. The older they get the more I realize they are so much like him. They have his kind and fearless spirit. Carter has a mischievous twinkle in his eye and I can see his Uncle when he smiles at me with that ornery grin. When they are older we will talk about him and look at pictures with them. We all still miss him terribly. But, life goes on. We keep his memory alive and the world keeps turning. I'm st

Every once and a while the Dudes surprise me and do something so sweet I just have to stop for a minute. It happened this morning.  The Dudes were awake, but as is normal they were happy so I left them in their room for a little bit while I drank some coffee and ate some breakfast. I was almost done when I heard a horrible terrifying scream come from their room. I knew it was Owen. I looked on the camera and saw his arm was in the top drawer of the changing table. We keep their pacifiers in the top drawer. Nothing else is in the thing, just pacifiers. The Dudes like to put their "binkies" up and get them out a million times at bedtime and nap times. He has gotten his arm shut in the drawer before but this time it looked different. I ran into the room. He was on his tip toes at a weird angle. I free his arm from the drawer and he is hysterical. I look at the arm and move it around. I was picturing my trip to the ER. His arm seems fine. We rock a minute in the rocking chair.

I always start to feel a little crafty when the seasons change. I also always seem to forget that I am not a crafty person. I'm much better at spending money. I really want to be a crafty person. I have mentioned before here and here that my crafts usually look like something that a Kindergartner did. Thanks to Pinterest  I think that I can be crafty. Not only do I think I can be crafty they give me directions how to do things and shopping lists. My brain goes crazy. So, I did what I always do. I browsed Pinterest and pinned a million different things and then went to Hobby Lobby to make my pins become realities. Oy Vey! I had found a pumpkin decoration for my front porch that I thought I had to have. I bought my supplies and began creating. I thought the process was pretty easy. Though my spray painting skills are probably on par with the 2 year olds. And, I initially severely misjudged how much spray paint I was going to need. I had to go back that night and buy more spray p

So. Olivia has always LOVED art. Anything involved with coloring, painting, writing, drawing, etc. She loves it. She was a daycare kid and did art projects daily. The Dudes are not daycare kids (seriously~who can afford daycare for 3 kids?!) and I have had some feelings of guilt because they do not do art everyday. Truth is the mess stresses me out. They used to eat the crayons. It was just a disaster. I am trying to put my issues aside and let them make messes. My friend Megan is wonderful about letting her kids make messes and be creative. I'm a work in progress. So when Olivia asked earlier this week if she could paint instead of my normal automatic "No" or "Wait until your brother's are sleeping" I said Yes . I surprised Olivia. I surprised myself. The Dudes had been given some toddler paint daubers as a gift a while back. I was to nervous to let them try. So I covered the table, busted out the paints and some coloring books and let the kids go. The ki

I don't blog about food very often. I find that a little strange since I like to eat so much. I also really like to bake and cook. I like the idea of creating things. It's a niche that I've found that I like and I am pretty good at, usually. I really like finding new recipes and "experimenting" on my family and willing friends. Lately I've been looking for new recipes and ideas for breakfast. I am not much on making breakfast. I was raised on cereal. Olivia is perfectly happy with a yogurt in the morning. Mr. Mayer doesn't usually eat breakfast. The Dudes are getting older and eating more and more (I honestly don't know how I'm going to feed them in a few years). They wake up starving. They really like muffins and frozen waffles. That stuff is kind of expensive. My kids can kill a box of chocolate chip muffins in one morning. Why couldn't I just make my own muffins? It's bound to be cheaper. The day I came to this realization is the same da

Mr. Mayer writes a blog. Sometimes. He blogged tonight. It's pretty funny, as usual. I think the runner's out there will enjoy it. www.geekonlife.com

Happy Wednesday people!! Hope this finds you all well and I hope what you are about to see makes you smile as much as it did me. This girl child of mine is something else. She is definitely an individual. I hope that never changes. It's Wednesday and I remembered to take a picture! T-shirt w/attached vest~ Target Black tie sweater~ Target White denim shorts~ Target (I'm starting to notice a theme) Neon Yellow tights~ Aunt Betsy (I think she bought them at Target, but nonetheless she is to blame for those tights) Pink Boots~ Um....Marshall's maybe? I don't remember She has a personality to go with the outfit. Maybe she will be a fashion designer someday.