Do I have anything to gain from this? Not really, but I like the idea of getting my thoughts out there. Hopefully other moms will read this and see that you are not alone. My kids are crazy too.
Nothing says Happy Birthday like a Garden Gnome Party! I have no idea why I picked this as a theme. Something about the red and white just seemed suiting for her.
Recognize these blocks from the crabitats or perhaps Aiden's construction party? I'm so happy with my little block decor. Scrapbook paper and countless hours really go a long way! PS, no blocks were permanently defaced as I am sure I will use them again! Like you were really concerned, right?
I opted out on the cake. Didn't fit the theme:) We had pumpkin pie and mini apple pies instead.
I made the toadstool out of a $5 table I found at Goodwill. I thought the kids (and adults too) would get a kick out of taking gnome pictures. I couldn't get Maddex to wear a beard, but she was nice enough to leave the hat on for 10 seconds at a time.
Don't be surprised when we are all gnomes for Halloween next year. Or maybe I can even carry it over into Christmas and dress up a snowman like a gnome just so I can caption it "Chillin' with my Gnomie". They're kind of like elves. Gnome on a shelf? Secretly start bearding random objects in the house? Eh, I guess I need to let go. Could it be that I'm hanging on to my LAST baby and her LAST first birthday?
I wanted to squeeze in Halloween pictures before I get too far behind. I don't know why, but I was SO OVER Halloween this year. Probably because we started decorating way too early and I had a haunted house taking over our play room for over 2 weeks. I constructed this monstrosity for the kids to play in with their friends. It was a success, but I think even the kids were done with it after a week! I couldn't wait for Nov.1 to come so I could take that bad boy down! The kids had more than enough festivities to last them until next year. We took them to Boo at the Zoo, Trunk or Treat and good old fashioned trick or treating. We will also be paying it forward today and taking the remainder of our candy to the dentist so they can "ship it to the troops"...I put quotations around that because I'm not 100% convinced that's what they really do with it. We got enough Easter and Valentine candy to convince me that they are probably stashing it for themselves for next year so they don't have to shell out any money to buy candy. Cheapskate dentists. Whether they do or not, I'm still donating. We're all out of chocolate now anyway.
Boo at the Zoo. Brian may be the first person ever to be dressed as googly eyes...
And some Halloweeny stuff in between...traumatizing small children, carving pumpkins, spider muffins on Muffin Monday, eating overly frosted sugar cookies.
Accidentally grew pumpkins and squash (that's what happens when you use compost dirt, things just sprout!)
Trunk or Treat
Hey, if you count Brian's googly eyes, everybody's looking!
Trick or Treat
Here's a video of the 'haunted house' and the kid's most very favorite Halloween song CLICK HERE
and if you want to watch me teasing Aiden again, CLICK HERE
And of course, there's the after Halloween clearance sales for next year too!
So today is the 11th and Maddex is 11 months old! Ironic since her birthday is actually 11/11...this time next month she'll be turning the big ONE! I should start party planning right away. First I gotta get a Halloween Party under my belt and THEN I can focus.
Take a look at those pearly whites. How is it possible that she still only has 2 teeth??
Moving right along...I can finally giver her credit for saying her first word! She's can say 'uh-oh'. Exciting, right? Mostly she hums it, but she'll let it out occasionally. She's got a few approximations too...all done, bath and diaper. I have yet to get 'diaper' on film. I harassed her at lunchtime trying to get her to perform. And what a difference a week makes in her walking progress! I'm not calling her a walker just yet (she still crawls most of the time) but I've stopped counting steps. If she really puts her mind and her feet in the right place, she can get where she wants to go.
This is really getting more and more challenging. Getting this girl to stay in the bean bag was my biggest accomplishment for the day. She found it much more entertaining to roll around in it and make herself fall out. Glad she was having fun and that she was nice enough to give me one picture I could work with!
And on an unrelated note, I found my long lost brown eyed girl!
Nah, just kidding. It's Maddex:) I snapped this of her this morning. And that's not a booger in her nose, it's cheese. Although, her finger placement does make me feel like she's picking her nose. Either way, I don't know why, but I like this picture!
This has been our first official summer vacation. It doesn't really count when your kids aren't in school because let's face it, when you stay home with your kids and your husband is working full time (with VERY little time off) every day, every season, pretty much seems the same.
I felt a little guilty not planning a better summer vacation (can I just call it SV?) for Ella, but we moved right smack in the middle of it. So the first half was packing, and the last part has been unpacking. But we managed to squeeze in a little fun in between.
So you know how when you start back to school your first homework assignment is to write a paper entitled 'How I Spent My Summer Vacation'? Well, here's mine.
We kicked off the summer with our one and only family get away by taking Brian to the beach for Father's Day.
I had a hard time choosing what pictures to post (this one of Maddex is my favorite), so I made a video instead. Our beach trip was short and sweet, but just what the doctor ordered. Brian realllllllly needed the break.
I blocked out the two weeks prior to us moving and assigned which room was getting packed on each day. It wasn't so bad, and the kids were more than willing to help.
'Moo'ving right along into July. Pun intended. In the cow way and the moving way. This was the day we got the keys to the new house and we got free food (twice) on Cow Appreciation Day at Chic-fil-a. If you missed it this year, mark your calendars for July 15, 2014!
We also got to see this almost perfectly arched rainbow hanging out over the Toyota dealership.
And the next day, WE MOVED!
The kids love the new house, especially because of the swanky neighborhood pool. We go several times a week. And they learned how to swim too!
A few other summer highlights...
Ella grew up.
I stayed up waaaaaaaay too late.
Maddex learned to drive.
Aiden earned 'cool brother points'. After the girls helped him clean up his room one day he stayed upstairs and came down with these flowers he made for each of the girls. He handed them each one and said "Thank you for helping me clean up my room, I made you this flower." It was so sweet, I couldn't help but document his kind gesture.
Maddex got her first tooth!! The second one came a week later.
Riley grew up too.
I've kept Brian busy on the weekends helping me with several building projects. He'll be relieved when it's all over. I'll post them in their entirety later...
Oh, and I almost forgot. Maddex turned 9 months!
Ella and Aiden start school on Tuesday. Just a few days of SV left! They are debating right now about going to the zoo, the park or staying in and making cookies. Either way, looks like my free time is over for the day!
