Lifelines

Last weekend, Jenny hosted our co-op’s tween/teen party at her house and had a gigantic swim party.
We took Colin for the evening which was a mutually beneficial arrangement: the teens had one less “pesky” sibling around and Rhyse had his best friend to hang with on a Friday night!

We enlisted Emily to watch Creux at home (sigh, that poor house-bound boy!) and we took the bigger kids out for a night on the town!

First up–pizza at Mellow Mushroom…

Where a very competitive game of seek-and-find took place.
(These two weren’t messing around! In these photos they’re just getting started but by the end, they were like elbowing each other off the table and cupping their hands over their puzzle to prevent the other from peeking!)

Greer kept busy with my phone.
And her 10,000 silly bandz.

The boys really enjoyed the pizza dough tossers.
I’m afraid that Rhyse thinks he’s found his calling :)

And since it was such a nice night, we bagged the movie idea and decided instead to take them…mini-golfing!

Those pics are coming up…after a nice…long…zzzzzz…..

No better way to kill time waiting on this baby than to indulge my Littles with more crafty fun, right?

You know the drill: Was browsing online, saw a cute craft here, stole it shamelessy, enjoyed the hell out of it…

We made these “fireworks” using nothing more than some cupcake liners and markers!
And glue.
But DUH.

I just flattened them out, told the kids to draw/color/scribble all over them, folded it up and cut into it.
Super simple.
And so pretty!
(Maybe I’m so Fourth festive as it’ll be baby’s birthday? Look at me still trying to finagle a way out of the 9th!)

I did ask that they do some with just the red and blue markers as, well, those are the colors of our flag!
But then, I hauled out all of them and said, “Go for it. Doodle your heart out. Go CRAZY with the color.”

They didn’t really go crazy.
And these are Greer’s–what color she did use, she used well.
I think they’re gorgeous!

Actually, I lied to you.
I also used some of these puffy letter stickers that I had on-hand and thought would be fun for them to add on.

It’s good letter practice for Greer and for Creux, I just want him to start to see the letters of his name more regularly these days.
(He saw a lot more than those alright as he stickered the crap out of his paper :))

As tends to happen when we’re crafting, people drift in and out, trying things for bit and then moving on.
It’s good in a completely disorganized way :)

Beautiful!

And the “fireworks” are lovely, too.

I guess this pool is a bigger hit than the last since all FOUR are in there and smiling happily!

“Swimming”–not to be outdone by all of the attention big sister has been getting for zooming around the pool underwater :)

TOTALLY not supposed to be playing with that.

Would someone please tell me whose half-grown child this is?
Because I don’t recognize him.

Oh wait–THERE he is!

Greer’s always got a smile for me.
Always.

Are there irresistable spots of deliciousness on your kids?
For me, it’s that chunky neck.

So many great spots to kiss and nibble–I can’t see it and not dive in.
In fact, I might need to go find him right now.

(And on babies, it’s thigh rolls. I can not resist a really good thigh roll, one that ripples down, down, down in pure heavenly pudginess.
Oh my.
I REALLY need to have this baby!)

Ready to terrorize save the free world (but he only has five minutes because it’s naptime :))

Here’s what I think summer should look like when you’re two:

There’s nothing better than a super sunny summer day, spent splashing away, not a care in the world.
Except maybe wondering if you can have a popsicle when you’re done :)

I don’t know how an ordinary moment goes from this:

To any of this:

But I’m so glad it does.

Okay, that was a joke :)

Clearly, there is no bashing going on with THIS mama.
Last year I was cruising down the coasters at Cedar Point on my day and this year…I just wanted low-key and quiet.
Surely I would have preferred to be basking in the sunlight, somewhere deep in the Florida Keys OR in hard-core, here-comes-baby labor but alas!
It was not in my playbook today.

(Though the Keys? Maybe next year.)

My mom brought dinner over (thanks, Ma!) and though I’d originally said I didn’t want to do anything for my birthday (not in a martyr-ish way, I’m just tired–too tired to really do much at all right now), it occurred to me that seeing a movie might be fun.
With EVERYONE.

I’d been wanting to take the kids to see Toy Story 3 and my dream of dreams when I knew it was arriving this summer was that maybe, just maybe, Creux could pull it together in time to join us as a family.
I had my doubts, almost two hours is a long time for any two-year-old to sit, but it’s like damn near impossible for mine.
I might as well have asked him to walk on water, is what I thought.
But you know what?
He did great!

We brought Emily along as an insurance policy–had he not been able to sit, the two of them would have torn Pottery Barn Kids to pieces while the rest of us finished the movie in peace.

In the end, there was no need.
We were all able to enjoy the movie together and it only took one bag of popcorn and an entire package of mid-movie desperation peanut M&M’s to help him behave.

Ironic, right?

NOW my monster can sit through movies just in time for us to need a sitter for the newbie :)

C’est la vie around here!

Moments from my night…

A quick but not quick photo with my babies.
You all know I was hoping to take this shot bedside with a little bundle snug in my arms but it’s apparently wanting its own day.
Maybe it is a girl after all? :)

With my mom (and we’re missing my sister!):

Creux blew out the candles like THREE TIMES before everyone got through singing “Happy Birthday!”
Here I guess I was trying to help him control those hot lips of his :)
I was late though–he’d already blown out half of them!

But finally, we were able to make our wishes together.
(And I will LOATHE the day where my angels aren’t excited to gather around my cake and help me out–that’s the best part of being the birthday girl! Well, okay, and having everyone sort of feel like they can’t tell me “no” all day long. That’s pretty friggin fantastic, too :))

Happy that you were here to share in my day, Em!

And looky, looky who was all proud in his big boy seat at the movie theater!
“Monster at the Movies!”

(He didn’t last in that seat for more than three of the previews. He scrambled up and sat between mama and daddy and snacked on his popcorn and asked questions in his outdoor voice and just all in all left me dizzy with monster looooove. He was super sweet, so small sitting beside me with his little hooves crossed at the ankle, munching away on his snacks. Had he had a bow stuck on top of his head, he would have been the BEST birthday present EVER right then. Along with the resounding crash of my water breaking :))

It was a great day for me.
A great, great day.

What’s not to love about being 34???

Birthdays aren’t about the presents that you receive but rather the gifts that you surround yourself with in life.
I am so very blessed with my gifts.

Thank you to my family for making my day so incredibly special.
And thanks to the many of my “virtual” friends who shared in my birthday by sending such lovely wishes my way.

It’s been an amazing day because of you all.

XO

And it is!

This morning I have woken to sweet kisses from my kids, phone calls from my family, and lots of wonderful birthday wishes from friends via my in-box and Facebook wall.
Thank you, everyone!!!
I’m always so touched by how thoughtful those around me are and it truly means a ton to know that so many are thinking of me on my special day.

But there’s one birthday wish that stands out for me right now, one that brought me to tears when I received it in the mail yesterday.

My little sister made that card for me from her camp in Maine and made sure that it arrived in time for my birthday.
It’s actually not unusual for Brittani to spend such time and direct her creativity in this way–she’s always made me banners and wall doodles and sometimes cards.
(But usually she likes to give me ones that are snarky, where on the front they say how fab I am and then when I open it, I read I’m so fab because I have such a GREAT sister. You know the kind of card, right?)

Anyway, maybe what made it so special to me is that I think my sister is pretty miserable right now.
She’s far from family, dealing with her first major heartbreak, has no alone time and yet…makes me a card for my birthday.

It just really touched me, and honestly, my heart is aching for her in general right now.
I miss her and think of her every day, wondering how she’s doing and hoping, praying rather, that she is enjoying her time away.
Sniff.

Anyway, she doesn’t have much free time or much access to technology but I just wanted her to know, in case she checks in, that it meant the world to me.
Best Card Ever.
(And B, we all miss and love you!)

Other birthday news:

I’m 34 today.
And unfortunately, I’m still pregnant.

GAH!

Of course I’m wishing for a birthday gift, (”You want a HUMAN?” says Charlie to which I hissed back, “YESSSS!”) but am not currently holding out much hope for a baby today.
Maybe tomorrow.
Maybe never.
I’m starting to feel like I’ll be pregnant while out picking pumpkins in October.
(And I’ve not even hit my due date! Can you imagine what will happen if I PASS the damn thing? I never have. And I’m not planning on starting that trend now. Drastic measures will be enacted SOON.)

Off to do birthday things…like make lunches and declare naptimes!

Geez, it just all seemed so much more exciting, this birthday business, when I was seven :)

Yep, that’s me.

Lady. In. WAITING.
And still smiling.
For now :)

38 weeks, 3 days.

My darling Creux is left out of EVERYTHING.

My olders go to Jenny’s, my Creux stays behind.
We go out to a family movie, Creux stays behind.
The other three spend Sunday night over at Memaw’s, Creux hangs with the ‘rents.

So I didn’t feel a bit guilty today when I indulged him in a craft of his own–something special just for HIM.

This is the most perfect craft for his age and he loved every moment of helping me.
Well, almost every moment.
There was that ONE where I took control of the food coloring and all Creux Hell broke loose.
Sheesh.

Anyway, super simple idea here:
Rice, food coloring and a bit of red, white and blue confetti all tossed together like a big American salad and then played with for the WHOLE rest of the afternoon.

Love. It.

Here’s what I used–and I had all of it right here in my kitchen!
(Okay, so the colored dye needed to be dug out of an old box of crap out in the garage but still. It was a near painless craft to assemble.)

Creux was just a TAD bit excited to get started, as evidenced by his big mitt sneaking in to swipe the rice.

So we scooped the rice from the bag and dumped it into three different ziploc baggies–one to be dyed red, another to be dyed blue, and the last left white but with confetti added.

I could have easily done the pouring and separating of the rice myself but it added a good ten minutes to the fun for him and it just so happened that I had the time to give.
This made him INCREDIBLY happy.

(Note: the first picture was taken in the kitchen as that’s where we started but then I wised up and took it out back…though within three minutes it was raining on us (and we’ve discussed my stance on rain)…so we raced back through the house to the front porch and were luckily able to finish this simple-as-can-be-if-only-you-can-find-a-location craft.)

He picked red first.
We squeezed in about 15 drops of color, sealed it, and I let him go to work squishing and squeezing to mix the color up.

And here’s where it just tanked.
All I wanted was to make sure my pants didn’t get permanent blue spots on them.
They’re like the ONLY things I still fit into, damn it!
Why can’t I set ONE boundary and have that be okay?
NO WONDER HE DOESN’T GO ANYWHERE!!!
Sorry.
Way off topic there.

In the end, I gave in.
So what if I’m pants-less.
I have bigger issues, if you can believe that.

Squish, squeeze, mash, squash.

Last but not least, just a bit of funfetti mixed into plain ol’ white rice.

That rice made us HAPPY, it did.
Cheerful, patriotic rice!

And then we laid it out on wax paper to dry over naptime.
Over OUR naptime.
(Best time of the day.)

And when we woke up, I was careful to not combine any as I dumped the dry rice into a tote box because I KNEW he’d LOVE mixing it all together.

I was not mistaken.

Okay, so stop!
Look closely at this picture right here.

Do you see that sweet, little smile?
It is not posed nor did I request it, I just took aim with my camera as he started to swirl his colored rice together.
THAT SMILE, that moment, is why I do these crafts.
Any learning gained, great.
But inducing that precious delight is my motivator.
I. Live. For. It.

Back to the box–I almost recycled these empty Playdoh containers the other day during my, um, binge but then figured they had to be good for SOMETHING, right?
Right!

(And this is how “Excited Creux” gets into his seat. Not sure how this will go over at preschool :))

At last!
PLAYTIME!!

But wait–he hears something!

Oh yes, he definitely hears something.

Giggles and squeals of fun coming from the creek area.
He now knows his siblings are on the loose.
I know that our time together has just been officially put on a countdown.

But this is still pretty enticing at the moment–spoon and pour, in and out, fill and dump.

And look who came to peek in on what we were doing–those giggling, squealy KIDS!

And look who they ran off with–CREUX!

That’s okay.
This tote has been hauled out three times since this afternoon and I know it’ll see lots of great play all week long.

(Plus, my neighbor’s dog was willing to stay and play and keep me company.)

Easy, fun, made my little boy happy.
My kind of craft :)
(And I found it online here.)