Guess Who's 4?

We have had a crazy week around here because my little Bridger turned 4!

For some reason, being 4 seems so big.

0-3 still seems like a toddler, but 4?  Huge.  True big kid.

When I asked Bridger what kind of party he wanted, he said snakes.

Luckily, we know just the person...

My cousin Jeff has a reptile business and he came and put on an animal show for the kids.

He brought bugs, and lizards, and snakes.

This one, is Cinderella.

Just to give you an idea of how big she is...Jeff is 6'6" and the snake still looks HUGE on him.  Yeah, it was massive.

Everyone got to touch Cinderella...

And then feed Gordon...the tortoise.

Bridger (who was actually really embarrassed to have all the attention on him) picked his own birthday cake from Costco with a dinosaur on it.  Every year I make my kids a birthday cake.  I go to a lot of work too.  I try to make something really unique.  This year, Bridger begged for a cake from the store.  LOL.

Since we just got back from CA, I didn't have a lot of time to plan this.

Brittany came over to help and we decided to keep it simple.

After all, the reptile show was enough.

Happy Birthday Bridger!!!

The things they learn...

 Do you every wonder where you kids learn to say somethings and then you hear it on their favorite movie?  

Or they repeat something that you say and it makes you think twice about the things you say in front of them...

My kids learned the word "idiot" from Disney movies.  Have you ever paid attention to how often that word is used in cartoons?  I never even noticed until my kids started calling each other idiots.

Speaking of Disney movies...my kids are sooooo excited to see BRAVE!

Anyone seen it yet?

There are seriously thousands of commercials and trailers on the Disney channel advertising for BRAVE.  The boys are going to wear their kilts and we are going to go see it with my Dad (who is in town this week) because he went on a 2 year church mission to Scotland.  We can't wait to all go see the movie.

If you've seen the millions of commercials for BRAVE, you will know where this came from...

Today, Bridger put on his kilt, came running out of his room and yells:

"Feast your eyes on this!" (in a Scottish accent)

and then he lifts up his kilt, 

flashes everyone, 

and then runs back to his room giggling.

We of course (being terrible parents) busted up laughing.

My cousin who was over said

 "taking them to this movie is totally going to backfire on you."

Well, it couldn't be any worse than the commercials, could it?

But really, how do you let your kids be kids (and not turn into one of "those" parents) but still teach them that they can't copy everything they see in movies.

I had a professor at BYU suggest that you talk to them so much beforehand about not being negatively influenced by media that they will be aware of it and then not as susceptible.

We'll see :)

Life with Boys

I cannot tell you how many times a day I hear:

"Three boys!  Are you going to keep trying until you get a girl?"

or

"Wow!  You sure have your hands full!"

I think that's the polite way of saying that we are making a huge scene wherever we are.

Yes, I do have my hands full...but I try (apparently unsuccessfully) not to make it so obvious. 

I never know how to answer that first questions.

I usually just laugh.

We will have as many kids as we feel good about.

If they're all boys, so be it.

If the next time around is a girl, it doesn't mean we'll stop because we finally did it.

So, I don't know...

But for now, I'm enjoying having all boys.

Being super-girly myself, I'm always surprised (and horrified) about the things that they say and do. 

Here's some recent ones:

 

 -Bridger: "MOM!!!  (giggles) We all sat on the toilet and put our feet in!"

 -Me:  "That is so gross!  What were you thinking?!?"

 -Bridger:  "Why is it gross?  There was no poops and no pees in the toilet."

And few minutes later Saxon picked up Nate's beard trimmer and started combing his hair with it.  Then he asks "What would happen if I turned it on?"  Then he turned it on.  Now he is missing a chunk of hair.

-Saxon: "Mom, my friend at the park today, she said BUTT!"

-Me: "We don't say butt, we say bum."

-Saxon: "I didn't say BUTT, she said BUTT, so I'm just telling you that she said BUTT because I know we can't say BUTT.  She did Mom.  She really said BUTT.  But I didn't say BUTT."

(This is his new sneaky way of saying "potty words"...by quoting them to me.)

Yesterday, I happened to be walking by the bathroom when I saw Saxon barely make it to the toilet in time, and in his haste, overshot and hit the shower curtain.

-Me: "SAXON!  You just peed on the shower curtain!"

-Saxon: "Sorry Mom.  That happens a lot."

I've also learned that boys are born warriors.

They fight.

They defend each other.

And they learn to be boys so fast! 

At the Scottish Festival on Friday, we let Saxon and Bridger "fight the giant."

We were the last ones there as it was getting dark, so the guy in charge handed Dalton a sword and asked "You too?"

The baby boy didn't waste any time running out there to battle the giant.

Sword swinging and kilt blowing in the wind.

He is fearless (except for puppies, he's terrified of those), and can't stand to be left out.

If the big boys were going to fight the giant, then so was he!

Having all boys definitely makes life interesting :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

I hope everyone is having a great day so far...

Last night we made a Leprechaun Trap Cake:

I mixed up a cake mix and divided it into 6 bowls (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple) and layered them into a bundt pan.

Then we mixed up some green frosting.

Once the cake was cool, we turned it over onto a cutting board and started squirting on green frosting on it to make it look like grass.

We put pretzel sticks over the opening and gold coins on top.

Then the boys drew a picture of a rainbow to let the Leprechauns know that there was a rainbow inside.  We were hoping that the Leprechaun would climb up to get the coins, and fall through the pretzels and we'd catch him in the middle of the cake.

We left it on the table over night...

But that sneaky little Leprechaun ate his way out of the trap...

Rainbow cake:

The boys woke up really early to check their trap.

They discovered that the Leprechaun had eaten his way out of the cake and left a trail of gold coins all the way to the door.

They boys got up before us and so Saxon appointed himself the leader and suggested that since the trap didn't work, they might as well enjoy the cake!

So he used the bamboo skewer and cut a huge section out of the cake and they ate it with their hands.

Then they ate all of the chocolate out of the gold coins but left the gold wrappers exactly where they found them (in a trail to the door).

We became aware of their self-sufficiency when Dalton came into our room covered in green frosting...

They somehow decided that since the cake didn't work as a trap...it might as well be a toy.  I got out of the shower to find Luke Skywalker and Han Solo waist deep in rainbow cake:

Boys...I don't know what else to say...

I hope you're having a great St. Patrick's Day!

Circus

Guess who's thinking of running away and joining the circus?

Last night my cousins invited us to go to the circus with them.

Saxon and Dalton got their faces painted:

And Bridger almost fell off the elephant.

Saxon put his arms around him to keep him from sliding all the way off.

I thought it was scary.

They thought it was awesome!

On a different note...

Does anyone know the recipe to Disneyland's Vegetarian Gumbo?

My sister and I had it on our trip to Disneyland and I've been dreaming about it ever since.

I've googled it, but I didn't come up with anything that sounded right.

Any suggestions?

*Don't forget that today is the last day to enter the giveaway from Through the Eyes of the Mrs....

Christmas Recap - part 1

This Christmas season has been unusually busy for us!

Between my etsy shop, and my husband having to work a million hours, it's been hard to get anything else done.

We invited my husband's family over for Christmas Eve dinner, but since Nate had to work all day on Christmas Eve, that left me to take care of the preparations by myself.

I was busy from the time I woke up in the morning...I didn't even dress my kids.  I wanted them to look nice for dinner, and I figured that the best chance I had was to dress them just minutes before dinner started.  I scrubbed the bathrooms...mopped the floors... folded the laundry... all while trying to make sure the rolls were rising and the fudge was cooling in the fridge.  

While I was entirely distracted, Dalton helped himself to breakfast...

Of course it had to be fruity pebbles that he dumped everywhere!  I was in a hurry, so I vacuumed up the mess and threw a tablecloth on to cover the fact that there were fruity pebbles wedged into the cracks of my table.  He was pretty impressed with his self-sufficiency:

While I was frantically cleaning up cereal, I heard Bridger go into the bathroom that I had just cleaned.  When he came out I said "Please tell me you aimed..."
Bridger: "Actually...I missed...sorry..."
Figures.
There was pee everywhere.  How does that happen?  So...back to cleaning the bathroom...

And I thought it would be simple...

Do you ever think "I'll just do _________ real quick..."

I need to start remembering that nothing is "real quick" when my kids are involved.

The other night Brittany and I decided that we would take the kids on a quick walk.

We wanted to walk over to the grocery store and return a redbox that we had rented before 9:00 p.m.

(we didn't want to pay for an extra day).

So, it went a little something like this:

7:45 p.m. - "We should go for a walk..." Good idea!  So we start gathering everything that is "necessary" to take with us when we bring the kids on a walk.  Brittany and I changed into sweats because it was freezing outside!

8:00 p.m. - We started getting the kids in sweats and beanies and slippers and layers, etc.  We tried putting Uggs on Saxon and he told me that his toe hurt. I tried putting socks on him first to make him feel better.  It didn't make him feel better.  I suggested a bandaid.  He suggested a bandaid with neosporin.  We tried again.  His toe was still too sore for shoes.  He settled on wearing Brittany's Uggs instead.

8:15 p.m. Bridger has to poop

8:20 p.m. -"WIPE ME!!!!"

8:25 p.m. - We finally make it downstairs with the blankets, the pillow pets, the sweatshirts, the beanies, the portable DVD players, the sippy cups, the snacks, and all 3 kids.

8:30 p.m. - Loading all of the kids in.  Bridger lost a slipper.  Dalton threw off his beanie.  They didn't want the movie that we brought for the DVD player.  Saxon has to arrange his blankets in a certain way (the fuzzy one of the bottom, the quilt on top...) Bridger is thirsty...again...

 

8:45 p.m. - We finally start walking down the road and Saxon says "I'm all wet!"  What do you mean you are all wet!?  He spilled his sippy all over his blankets.  Great.

9:00 p.m. - Back on the road.  The redbox is late. sigh...I should have known better than to think that I can get anything done "quickly".

What adventures have you had lately?

Farm Girl

This weekend, my Grandparents were in town from California.

When they got here, my house was covered in tomatoes from the garden.

We were planning on canning them, so they are sitting out in bowls all over the counters.

Not to mention the signs and the paint that were out.

I was a little embarrassed.

While chatting with my Grandpa, I told him that I found my dream house online.

It was built in 1900.

It's brick and beautiful and on .70 acres.

I'm in love...

I keep dreaming of fruit trees, a HUGE garden, and a motorcycle track for the boys, a trampoline, a swing set, and maybe even a tree house!

(Since we're not in a position to buy a house, I just have to dream about it for now...)

Then I told him about our garden and the vegetables that we're growing and how I'm going to try to make dinner in a pumpkin.

When my Grandma walked in and asked what we've been talking about,

my Grandpa said:

"Caitlin thinks she's a farmer."

Ha ha.

I've never thought of myself as a farm girl.

A California beach girl, maybe, but farm girl...no.

Then as I started thinking back on the things that I do now, I had to laugh.

Maybe I am turning into a farm girl (LOL)

 When I became a mom, I felt so blessed to have that precious little baby in my arms, and I wanted to be the best mom ever!

I realized, or course, that I had a lot to learn.

Now that I'm a SAHM, I like to try new things...

(sewing, gardening, quilting, cooking, painting, etc.)

To my surprise, I like some of them.

I love gardening, and I think quilting is really hard.

I try new recipes all the time and love to go new places and see new things.

I'm getting pretty good at finding adventures that are free!

So...here we are at the closest farm learning about animals :)

Since it was a nice day out,

my baby decided to help himself to my diet coke.

If you ask my kids what they wish for, they will say every time:

"A house with a backyard and a dog."

So, maybe one day, I'll be a farm girl (LOL)

and will live in a house with a backyard and a dog :)

Apple Orchards and Caramel Apples

 Every week, Bridger and I go to "field trip Fridays".  

A group of moms in my neighborhood get together every Friday to do an activity that represents a letter.  

Each week, we talk about the letter with our kids, and then do an activity to represent that letter.

For example, we went to a FARM for the letter "F".

And last week, we went to the apple ORCHARD for the letter "O".

Bridger and I had so much fun learning about apple orchards.

The farmer let Bridger take a bag and pick some of the little apples that were left on the trees.  

They were the small, lumpy, ones, but they were perfect for Bridger.

Even Dalton got to pick an apple and eat it :)

He also showed us how to make apple juice, how to store and sort apples, and even talked about the different kinds of apples.

The farmer even let the kids ride in his apple crate :)

 

Since we had all of these little, tiny apples, we decided to make caramel apples.

Most of the recipes that I found for homemade caramel were exactly the same.

This is the one that I used though: 

1 stick of butter

2 cups of brown sugar

1 cup of corn syrup

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp. vanilla

First, wash the apples really well.  I washed them in hot water and scrubbed them a little to roughen them up so that the caramel will stick.  Then I dried them and put a craft stick in each one.

Next, melt the butter in pan, and then add the sugar, corn syrup, and milk.  Stir constantly for about 30 minutes until it reaches 248 degrees.  

Then, I let the caramel cool for a few minutes.  I read somewhere that it works better with slightly cool caramel.

Next, dip each apple in the caramel and hold it up and let the excess caramel run off.  Then place it on a sheet of wax paper.  I dipped the bottom of each apple in either crushed Oreos or crushed Butterfinger.  That way it didn't stick to the wax paper.  Then I stuck them in the fridge to harden up and keep the apples cool.  The great thing about homemade caramel is that it doesn't get crunchy in the fridge.  It stayed nice and soft and chewy.

Last comes the fun part:

DECORATING!  :)

We made a Jack-O-Lantern face, a ghost, a Frankenstein, etc.

I let my kids come up with the ideas :)

Here's baby cakes helping himself to his own caramel apple:

And Saxon finishing off his:

Nothing says "fall" like homemade CARAMEL APPLES!

DIY Phineas and Ferb Costumes

Disney Channel's Phineas and Ferb is a HUGE hit at my house.

And, I'll admit it...I like it too.

They remind me of Saxon and Bridger.

I looked online for some costumes, but all they had were huge Phineas and Ferb heads, where the face opening is in Phineas and Ferb's neck.  They were really expensive and not cute.  We decided to make our own.

After a trip to Wal-mart and a trip to Goodwill, I found everything that I needed to transform Saxon and Bridger into Phineas and Ferb.  And of course Dalton has got to be Agent P.

Here's what you need:

Cowboy accessory kit from Wal-mart ($4.98)

White polo from Wal-mart ($5)

Perry the Platypus shirt from Wal-mart ($7)

Girl's purple sweats from Wal-mart ($4)

Orange striped shirt - already had from Target during the summer.  

(I did see some at Wal-mart though...)

Blue shorts from Goodwill ($1)

yellow/orange tights and ducky feet

(borrowed from a friend who bought the baby chicken costume from costco)

Colored hair spray from Wal-mart ($1.29)

Black ribbon, safety pins, hot glue (already had but can get from anywhere)

-I started by wrapping the black ribbon around the cowboy had to make the Agent P hat.

-Then I measured the sweats on Saxon to the length that I wanted and cut them off.  Since sweats don't fray, I didn't even hem them :)

-I bought Dalton's Perry shirt in Saxon's size so that Saxon could wear it after we use it for Halloween.  There are lots of tutorials about how to turn a shirt into a romper, but since I wanted to keep the shirt, I just rolled it up between his legs and pinned it from the inside with a big safety pin.

And now, I'd like to present:

FERB

PHINEAS

PERRY the PLATYPUS

and the whole cast...

These were the perfect costumes for them.

Two crazy, smart, adventurous brothers

pretending to be

two crazy smart adventurous brothers.

Perfect!

Of course since we were at the park, we had to act out the cartoon.

I was assigned to be Candace and Aunt Brittany was assigned to be Isabella.

Every time they tried something new, I was required to scream

"You are SO BUSTED!"

Onlookers were probably starting to wonder about us...(LOL)

And Baby Dalton/Perry the Platypus had to keep up with all the action.

 

 So...what do you think?

Also, be sure to check out "Where I Link" to find where this post is linked up to.