No words to describe....

Evan always wants to be comfortable.

His favorite type of pants for as long as he could talk, have been "softpants". You might be more familiar with the term sweatpants. Lately his favorite shirts are also of the sweat variety. Preferably the ones with a hoodie and a front pocket that both his hands can fit into at the same time.

It is not uncommon for him to go to his room after school and change into his pajamas. On this particular day he came home from school and went right up to his room and shut the door. I went up and knocked and asked him if he was okay. He told me he was. I asked him if something had happened at school. He told me no. I asked him if he was mad or sad about something. He said no, he just wanted a little bit of alone time. I told him that was A-OK. A few minutes later he emerged from his room with a whole new ensemble on. A get up that I am incapable of describing. Something that has to be seen to be believed.

Pajama shirt. Shorty pajama bottoms (that are about two seasons too small). And some sweet, pink, fluffy socks of mine that I could tell he had been coveting.

He wasn't too thrilled with me photographing his outfit.

I think he kind of looks like a seventies athlete - or maybe rock star!

Scavenger

My son is a collector. Wherever we go he finds treasures - the beach, the park, even the side of the road. His treasures may look like pieces of trash to some people, but to him their value is immeasurable.

This photo was taken about a year ago on the beach. My other two children were taking advantage of the warm wintry day by running up and down the shore daring the water to lap at their shoes. Evan sat on the beach quietly and searched for these tiny shells.

I know this is not the best composed shot, but I love this photo. This is Evan - always taking note of the little things and trying to hold on to them. I love the look of his hands in this photo. They are still kind of chubby and baby looking. Today is a year later and his hands have grown up just like he has.

His hands may be getter bigger, but that just gives him the opportunity to carry more.


The theme this week at {I Heart Faces} is hands. Head on over there to check out some amazing photographs.

Geek chic

Spencer had a program last week at school commemorating Martin Luther King. The music teachers must have told the kids to dress up because when I was helping Spencer find something to wear, he asked me if he had a tuxedo. When I told him that he didn't, he wondered if he could wear his tie and sport coat. I told him he could wear a tie, but the sport coat might be a little much. Most of the kids in the show were dressed nicely. The majority of girls had dresses on. The boys had nice sweaters. Spencer and I think one other kid had ties on. A couple kids had on hoodie sweatshirts. Apparently, they didn't listen to the "dress up" instructions. There are always a few it seems.


Here are Spencer's eight and a half year old answers to his interview.

Favorite food: mac and cheese

Favorite drink: cherry coke

Favorite show: Krypto the superdog or Kids Next Door

Favorite color: black

Favorite movie: Bolt

Favorite holiday: Christmas or Halloween

Favorite treat: brownies

Favorite friend at school: Robby

Favorite friend at home: Jacob

Favorite flavor of ice cream: mint chocolate chip

Who is your hero: Mom and Dad

What are you scared of: spiders

Favorite book: cat books

Favorite animal: kittens

Favorite game: Wii bow and arrow

Favorite place to visit: the dells

Favorite subject in school: science

Favorite sport: tennis

Favorite restaurant: The MAC

What do you want to be when you grow up: magician

Because she never wants to be left out.

When I finished interviewing the boys, Hailey came in and sat on the chair and told me it was her turn. My gut impulse was to tell her that she was too little, but then I realized that she isn't. Some of the questions that I asked the boys didn't apply, so I skipped over them but all in all, she did great. Here is Hailey's first interview at just over three years old.

Favorite food: grapes

Favorite drink: milk

Favorite show: Dora

Favorite color: red (always her first guess when I ask her what color something is)

Favorite movie: Krypto the Superdog (not really a movie)

Favorite holiday: Easter (after I had to tell her all the holidays)

Favorite friend to play with: Mommy or Ella

Favorite kind of ice cream: American ice cream

Hero: Mommy ( I told her a hero was someone that you wanted to be like...awwww.)

What are you scared of: alligators

Favorite book: Fancy Nancy or Franklin

Favorite animal: turtle ( I think Franklin was still on the brain)

Favorite game: Hide n' seek ( the reason that she can count like a champ)

Favorite place to visit: Mrs. Lynch's

Favorite restaurant: mac n' cheese

What do you want to be when you grow up: play with Mommy

Hailey Marie, you are such a delight! Every morning you wake up with a great attitude and a big smile ready to start your day. You are busy and seemingly into everything all the time. Mostly things that you shouldn't be into. You keep me on my toes - that is for sure! I can't believe how fast you are growing up! I love you so much my sweet baby girl!

One boring afternoon in February...

My kids love to be "interviewed" by me. I love to hear their answers to my questions. It is a good way to document a "moment" of their lives because chances are if I asked the same questions a week later, their answers would be totally different.

Here is Evan's latest interview from his fast approaching six year old self.

Favorite food: chocolate

Favorite drink: chocolate milk

Favorite show: Super Hero Squad

Favorite color: red and black

Favorite movie: Curious George

Favorite holiday: Valentines Day (I think proximity had a lot to do with this one)

Favorite treat: candy

Favorite friend at school: Sammi ( a girl)

Favorite friend at home: Mommy

Favorite flavor of ice cream: chocolate

Your hero: Spencer (awww)

What are you scared of?: The inside of pumpkins (so cute and funny!)

Favorite books: action books (no idea)

Favorite animal: lions, tigers and cats

Favorite game: kill the man (thanks Daddy!)

Favorite place to visit: Grama's house and the Dells

Favorite thing to do in school: art or technology

Favorite sport: soccer or baseball

Favorite restaurant: Red Robin

I just can't get enough of this kid! He is funny and silly and so enthusiastic about everything that he does. We have some big decisions coming up concerning our middle child and my heart is heavy with concern. I pray that what we should do will be made clear and the outcome will be what is best for him. Evan Daniel you are loved so very much!

Bang, bang, bang on the door baby...

I cut Hailey's hair last night. At the suggestion of Grama, I decided to try some bangs on her. Personally, I have a love/hate relationship with bangs. I get them cut for a bit of a change and then a week later I am growing them out again. Bangs have not done much for my look since the late eighties when they were HUGE and POOFY. Even then, what passed for looked "good" is questionable. But when you are walking around in pink neon with your arm full of black rubber bracelets, bang issues should be the last of your fashion quandaries.

So far, I am really liking the bang look on Hailey. In all honesty, my daughter is not too fortunate in the hair department. It is sparse. It is thin. And she won't let me do anything to it. Though lately, we have been making huge strides in the amount she will let me touch her head. She is a fan of the single ponytail. She only screams a little bit and makes me promise to give her a piece of candy for her torture. Over the weekend she let Grama put her hair in a French braid. I hear she didn't fuss at all, but then Grama was also calling her "Elizabeth" at the time so maybe she thought Grama was braiding someone else's hair. (The "Elizabeth" was part of a game that Evan and Grama made up).

In other news, I really need to get back on my organization bandwagon. I was on such a roll through the month of January, then February hit and it seems like it has been one project after another. Last week was exceptionally crazy with Valentines Day and the kid's 100th day of school all rolled up into one week full of glue, googly eyes and candy with hearts all over it. I was hoping that this week would get me back on track, but here it is already Tuesday and so far it is not looking too good. Which probably means that I should get off the blog and start to tackle this pile behind me that seems to be getting closer and closer....

Will you be my V-A-L-E-N-T-I-N-E?

If you will you surely know how happy I would be.

Sugar, spice and all things nice that's what you are to me.

Will you be my V-A-L-E-N-T-I-N-E?

Comin' to the rescue is a very special child...

When it comes to being crafty, Evan seems to adhere to the "Go Big or Go Home" motto. I have no idea where he gets it. Ahem. His class project for the month was to pick a famous person. The term "famous" is used very loosely since five year old's don't even really know what it means to be famous. It could be a singer, actor, president, cartoon character, pretty much anyone. They then had to present to the class the person they chose, why they chose them and then show a picture or a puppet they made of the person.

When I first asked Evan who his famous person would be he answered "Barack Obama". I honestly didn't know that he even knew who Barack Obama was. A week or so later I told him he really had to decide on his person because we had to get crackin' on his project. He said "I already told you that I am going to choose BARACK OBAMA!" I told him that was great, but he had to draw a picture or make a puppet of Barack Obama and I asked him if he even knew what Barack Obama looked like. He just looked at me funny for a second and then replied " FINE! I choose Diego then!"

I got out the craft supplies so we could fashion together some sort of Diego puppet. Evan was not on board with the puppet idea, he found a styrofoam ball that he insisted on using for Diego's head. I had no idea how we were going to make a puppet with a foam ball for a head and then I spied the popsicle sticks and my brain went into super craft mode. We can use the craft sticks for a "skeleton" and stick the ball on top for the head. I just happen to have the brown spray paint out in the garage. I must have scrapbook paper scraps the color of Diego's clothes. Oh...but what to use for hair?

Diego's hair was a major source of stress. The rest of him was coming together great. We had fuzzy pompom balls that didn't look right, brown felt that just wouldn't adhere. Then while perusing the craft aisle at the Walmart, I saw the skeins of yarn and was inspired. The yarn hair worked amazingly well. To add the finishing touch, Evan found some animal safari stickers that he used to decorate Diego's vest and shirt.

Diego turned out awesome and Evan was so proud of him.

Pizza Crust Makeover

My Grama J always used to tell us to eat the crusts off of our sandwiches because it would make our hair curly. I find myself repeating many of the mantras told to me in my youth to my own children - the crust theory being one of them. Most of the time the kids respond to me by saying they are not going to eat it because they don't want their hair to be curly.

Last night the kids were eating pizza for dinner and Evan kept shoving his pizza crusts over the counter at me.

Mom: Evan! Stop pushing your crusts at me! I don't want them!

Evan: I am giving them to you so you can eat them and they will make your hair curly. Then all the boys will think you are HOT!

I guess I better plug in those hot rollers I found in my bathroom closet!

Crazy kisses!

When Hailey was still sleeping in her crib, her going to sleep ritual included many crazy, made-up kinds of kisses. There was the running kiss, the banana kiss, the broccoli kiss, the jail kiss (as seen in the photo) and numerous other kisses that Evan and I would make up on the fly while we were trying to get out of her room. While I was putting her down for her nap today, I got a little nostalgic for all of the crazy crib kisses. I know that she would call for kiss after kiss just to stall going to sleep, but it is a warm, fuzzy memory anyway.

Her crib has been replaced with a new big girl bed and she has taken to it like a champ. The first two days were rough and had me second guessing our decision to move her, but the third day was the charm. I don't know what I was expecting her to do. The night that we took down the crib and set up the bed, she had basically a few hours at most to get accustomed to her new digs before we put her to bed and expected her to be completely at ease. I mean, who can blame her for getting up and out over and over again? The next day as she napped, she was watching out the window while her Daddy took off in his car running errands. Of course she would feel scared that we had abandoned her in this unfamiliar new territory. That night as she fussed and cried and we kept putting her back in her room, I remember asking Spencer in frustration why she wouldn't just go to sleep? He told me "Well, since it is a brand new bed to her, she is just a little scared. She just has to get used to it." Sage advice my son. From that night on, she hasn't had a problem.

So here it is. The new big girl room. I am not ready to commit to a theme room yet because I don't know what she is going to be really "into" or want to spend the next ten or so years of her life looking at. I just found a primary colored "girlish" comforter to match with the colors already in the room. I haven't taken down the crib quilt hanging on the wall yet because I don't know what to put there. Her bed is Trent's old twin bed from his parents house. When she is older, we will have to purchase a loft type of bed to go in her room with space underneath for a desk or dresser. Her room is so small and her closet is a joke, a bed off the floor will be the only option for a tweener girl. We were looking at Walmart and Target for a cheap bed that she could use for the time being. We were not having much luck and then we remembered Trent's bed sitting unused at his Dad's house. I would prefer it to be white, but wood and free is a combo that you can't beat.

I like being able to climb into her bed with her and snuggle and read books. There are lots of giggles and giant hugs as she squeezes up next to me to save herself from falling down the "crack". When our reading time is over (her two book limit tends to become three or four as she looks at me with those blue eyes and pleads "Just one more?") she hugs me for dear life and tells me to try to leave. When I can't get out of her grasp she tells me it is because she is the mean witch and she will lock me in a tower all the while smiling and giggling like no mean witch ever would. If she is not a witch, she is a "big, max, wolf." Don't even ask, because I have no idea why she replaced "max" for "bad", but I don't ever want her to stop saying it because it is just way too cute.

So the crazy kisses have been replaced by ferocious hugs and pleadings for "just one more kiss" as I am walking out the door. How can I look at her laying there with her little lips puckered up and not oblige? Today as I was leaving her to nap she called out for a "broccoli" kiss. So maybe the crazy kisses are not gone forever. Yea, it makes me want to jump for joy too!

Everything's better with Blue Bonnet on it.

Sometime over Christmas break - I can't remember the exact festive occasion that I was cooking for - Christmas, Christmas Eve, New Years Eve or one of the many other days that we had family over or went somewhere with a dish to pass, I took out a stick of butter to let it soften on the counter.

Later that day, I started to make whatever it was I was making and could not find the butter that I set out anywhere. I checked the fridge to see if I absentmindedly put it back in there. I asked Trent if he put it away. I asked the kids if they had seen it or taken it or put it away. The butter was nowhere to be found. I went on a quick search of the house and all of the usual hiding spots and had no luck. It was like it vanished into thin air.

This weekend we continued with our Mission of Organization (or what I like to call MOO) and look what I discovered in a corner of Evan's room packed into a dinosaur bin.


Evan still claims that he never took the butter and doesn't know how it got there. I can't see Hailey taking it and putting it in Evan's room without wiping it all over herself and everything in her path. Maybe I was going to make butter cream frosting to put on cookies or something and wasn't moving fast enough for Evan's liking, so he took the butter to get back at me? I guess I will never know.

The funny thing is that I grabbed the butter expecting it to be totally soft and mushy, but since Evan's room is so cold (we jokingly call it the refrigerator), it felt like we had in fact just taken it out of the refrigerator. Don't worry, we threw it away regardless.