You did what?

Once upon a time when I was a small child my dad had a hair brain idea to dress me up like a boy. I can remember the night so clearly. After I had a bath my dad got out a button up shirt, buttoned it to the top and carefully combed my hair like a boy.

That sounds so odd when I type it out. What kind of family does that?
Apparently mine. Hey, don't judge! It was actually funny and a great memory to look back on. And its kind of scary how much I look like a boy in this picture.

Or how much I look just like Carson, with red hair.

So tonight in the bathtub when I was washing Declan's hair and ringing it out there is no way I had the same idea.

Or maybe I did. And he thought it was hilarious and Trevor just rolled his eyes!
Next time I'll find a girl shirt for him and maybe a curling iron.
Just kidding!


Speaking of fun hairdos.

Sunscreen works as a fun hair product.

Butterflies.

Our little butterfly garden sprang into action last week. Within just a couple of days all 5 cocoons hatched.

The boys and I went and got them some fresh flowers.

And we've been feeding them sugar water a few times a day.

We can release them when it is at least 55 degrees outside so we'll probably be entertaining them for awhile yet. But that's ok, the boys love watching them and checking up on them.

Butterflies

These came in the mail this week. I know your jealous. I mean, not that many people get insects in the mail.
Welcome to my life with three boys.

We opened up the little box to check out our larvae (soon to be butterflies). Aren't they cute? No? I didn't think so either. But what do I know. According to the directions they get to sit in this little jar and eat that brown stuff until they cling themselves to the top (I'm actually holding the cup upside down...oops). Then at some point we transfer them to this fun butterfly house we have and Voila! Butterflies! The boys can hardly contain their excitement.

And in less then a week these little buggers have become quite big. And kind of creepy.

To be continued....

Spring Flood 2010

Saturday morning as I was cooking breakfast I looked out the window and noticed that the river had come up over its banks. Just 12 hours before we had commented that it was pretty close to the edge of the bank. We didn't really think much about it and packed up the boys to go to the sportsmen show.

Two hours later we got home and immediately noticed the river was much higher. I'll admit, I started freaking out, but Trevor and our neighbor didn't seem to think it was a big deal. They just kept putting stakes out there marking the water. It must be a man thing!

By Sunday morning the river was getting really close to our house. Close enough for us to panic, or at least I did, Trevor's pretty laid back, he never shows much panic or nervousness. You see on Saturday morning when the river was much farther away Trevor made the comment that if the water got to the "big tree" (the one on the left side of this picture) we would start moving things upstairs. I think all I said was, "Holy Crap its to the big tree." I don't think either of us ever thought it would get that far.

It had spread over towards our playground too. We made a few phone calls to see if sandbagging was in our future. I was fairly certain it was, Trevor and our neighbor.....not so much. The thing these pictures don't show very well is the slope in our yard. It's fairly steep and unless you are standing on the other side of the park, by the playground or the river, you don't really notice it.

We got in the car to go check things out. This picture doesn't show the angle either but its as close as I could get to getting a picture of the back of our house without getting wet and muddy.

We drove down to Falls Park to check things out there and it was insane. The amount of water running through there was the most I've ever seen. Which really doesn't say much since we've only lived here 3 years. But believe me when I tell you it was alot and it was loud and really neat to see.

Usually we can climb on most of these rocks. Most of them were either under water or no where near being safe enough to climb on.

By Sunday late afternoon we noticed that the water was starting to go down, you can see it on the tree lines. I started to breath a sigh of relief. Then around 5pm I noticed huge chunks of ice floating down the river. I wish we had videotaped it (that would require a working video camera). It was insane to see. They just kept coming and coming and coming. Large sheets of ice, big trees rushing down the river, crashing into trees and loosening up all this water in the park.

By this morning the water was down considerably. Thank God. It looks like we should be ok. Thank you to everyone for your prayers. Thank you to all our friends who offered to help. What a blessing to know how many people would jump right in and help us save our house.

Getting Out

Life with three kids is crazy. I don't have to tell you that. I'm usually totally worn out by the end of the day and I usually pass out about 35 minutes after they go to bed. I lead an exciting life I tell you. But I wouldn't change it for anything.

I'm a mommy who has to get out of the house, every day. Or at least I used to be. And by getting out of the house I mean getting out and doing some activity with the boys playgroup, library, playing at the mall, etc. Rain, snow, sleet, wind usually don't stop me. About the only thing that does is freezing cold temps and blizzards. And lucky for me this winter, we've had both, more then once. Getting out of the house saves my sanity. I'll go crazy if I'm stuck here....just ask Trevor. But with 3 kids getting out of the house and doing something can be a lot of work. Especially when it requires coats, hats, gloves, snow boots, blankets, etc. Is it summer yet?

So our days of getting out and doing something fun and grand are different. I tend to run my errands with just two kids while Carson is in school. Some days the only time we leave the house is to get get Carson at school. Two days a week we go play with our friends. It's amazing what getting out of the house does for my mind, soul, spirit, patience and mental well being. Even just getting Carson from school helps.

The other day Carson didn't have school. And we had nothing planned, no real errands that needed to be run, the library was closed, no playgroup. What should we do? How about we go to the grocery store that has little kid carts? Anyone game? Anyone?

Careful Carson, don't look too thrilled. (He was but taking pictures is not something an almost 5 year old likes to do).

We had three carts and got some oranges and 3 gallons of milk. It was an adventure I'm sure they'll remember forever!

And what's a post without Mr. Bennett?

Smiling.

Even with a crappy cell phone picture he's still cute!

Trevor 1, Mole 0

Towards the end of the summer we started to notice little trails in the park right near our property line. At the time they didn't go through our lawn so we ignored it...which is the proper homeowner thing to do. A few weeks later we noticed that they were starting to reach our lawn, again doing the proper home owner thing...we ignored. Then one day we stuck Emily out on her leash and she went nuts on the yard, digging a nice size whole in a matter of seconds. And it dawned on us...

She would be looking for the mole that had now dug its way through a good chunk of our backyard. Hmmm, note to self...ignoring mole trails close to your yard....not a good move.

So daddy and the big boys headed to Menards in search of some sort of Mole trap. What they came back with was slightly disturbing, sharp and reusable! Perfect. So they set the trap and checked it for a few nights...nothing. We thought maybe since it had snowed and gotten cold the mole had gone into mole hibernation. Then one day the trap was triggered but no mole. Seems the trap couldn't get through the ground. So, we reset it and one night last week...

Viola! Mole has been caught!!

You know its been a long day when......

We were in Menards tonight doing some browsing. Declan was being his usual crabby self so Trevor put him on his shoulders. He wanted his plug that was in the cart so I grabbed it for him. I turned around and placed it in his mouth, when he resisted I pushed a little harder and then turned around to walk down the aisle. Two seconds later Trevor is saying my name so I turn around and notice I had just shoved the plug into Trevor's mouth.

I meant to put it there, really, I did. ;-)

I'm Famous

Maybe I could make millions on selling the copyright to my picture!!

(Click on the picture to get a bigger view)

Here is a link to the story.

God Bless me for trying

Well since we don't have a camera I guess you'll have to put up with me writing for a few days, weeks or months....

Let's see where to begin....

Trevor convinced me this afternoon that I could handle taking the boys to church by myself. Call me crazy (and you might after this post) but since its Ash Wednesday I figured we should all go. So we ate an early dinner and headed to the church for 6pm service.

It was packed and we were early (something that doesn't happen in our family often).

So we made the 7 mile uphill climb from the parking lot into the church with 2 kids in tow, a diaper bag, a church bag full of toys and about 14 pounds of winter coats, hats and mittens. I thought my arm was going to fall off. As I entered the church I was certain that everyone had driven their own car because it wasn't quite as packed as the parking lot portrayed. I scored us a seat up front, not uncommon for us. Carson loves to read through the hymnal, who knew. So once I figured out what "youw big book" meant I gave it to him. Of course it was the only one I grabbed and he wasn't into sharing.

So much for singing at church today or following the readings.

About 4 minutes into the service he ripped a page out. Of course it had to be when the church was silent and everyone could hear the ripping of the (very thin) paper and him saying quite loudly, "Uh Oh mama." So we moved onto our ever so promising bag of books, crayons and other misc "quite" toys. I was able to keep them quite occupied with said toys through all the readings. But then our behavior and my mental stability took a turn for the worse.

You see if Carson had a toy Declan wanted it, and well, you can't say no to Declan because he just flings and flops his 23 pound body all over the place while screaming hysterically like you just stole his mama from him.

Did I mention we were in the FRONT row and this was about when Father was giving his homily and of course I have no idea what he said.

So we made it up to get ashes and back to our seats. The ashes thrilled the boys for about 3 minutes. They proceeded to rub each others off and Carson pointed out everyone else that passed by us with ashes on their forehead. It was pretty cute. But then the bickering over toys began.....again. At one point I told Carson if his behavior didn't improve then I would take away his Thomas movie at home. About 4 seconds later he continued said behavior and so I shot him "the look." To which he replied....

"Youw gwonna take Thomas away."

I tried to hide my laughter at that one and sadly his behavior didn't really improve. At least he's got a memory.

Declan continued to scream at various things and make a scene. I could just feel the eyeballs on me. Everyone thinking, Can't this women control her kids and why did she pick the FRONT row if her kids were going to act like that?"

Because I love to torture myself and every other person in this church, that's why!

I know they were thinking that because, well, I've thought that before. We all have! So Declan and I went up for Communion (he was still screaming) and Carson refused to follow me. We get back to our seats and Declan is still loosing his mind so I throw the toy bag at Carson to carry, grab all our winter coats and the diaper bag in one hand and a screaming 16 month old in the other and we bolt. First time I've left right after communion.

And it probably won't be the last.

God Bless!

The Big Game

WOW! What a game that was. I was pulling for the Giants but I didn't actually think they would win. We decided to order pizza and have a picnic in the living room. The boys had a blast and they actually ate as is evident from the pictures.

I'm fairly certain that Declan ate more cookie then he did actual dinner. Good thing the cookie had oatmeal in to provide some sort of nutrition.

We finally started brushing Declan's teeth last week. At first he wasn't sure but now he is pretty content sucking the toothpaste off the toothbrush as fast as he can.

This post ends in a bit of a tragedy. You see I thought it would be fun this morning if we all made muffins together. So Carson pulled out both stools so that him and Declan could help out. When I saw them both standing there I knew it was a Kodak moment (or Canon moment since that's what I got, er had). So I quickly grabbed my camera then ran around the other side of the counter to snap this picture which really isn't even that good. Seconds after I took the picture Declan thought he could just step off the stool, not realizing it's a good 2 or 3 foot drop (its a big stool). So I leaped around the counter to try and catch him and in my mad dash to save my son from what would have been a good fall, I dropped my camera on the floor.......with the lens open. So, my poor camera now sits with the lens half open and at an odd angle. She won't go back in and she won't take any more pictures. Trevor would probably tell you this is all an elaborate plan to get this camera. And I REALLY want that camera but I still want my little point and shoot too. Bummer. Bummer. Bummer. So I'll be without a camera for awhile. It won't get fixed this week and I'm not sure if I'll contact Canon or try and take it somewhere. So, in the meantime, let's hope my kids don't do anything too picture worthy. :-(

Don't adjust your screen.

Yes you are seeing cleary.

Yes that it my Durango parked IN my garage.

Yes, it's even backed in (just for you Trevor).

Yes, I did this all while Trevor was working and the boys are napping.

No, honey nothing was broken or even thrown away in this event. All your stuff is still safe and sound. Phew! ;-)

Now, just don't look in my basement where said stuff happens to have landed.

I love having a house. Now if I could just get doors on my kitchen cabinets!