What we wore...RAINBOOTS

Has anyone else had CRAZY weather this year?

One day it is in the high 80's...

the next day it's in the 40's.

Cold. Wet. Rainy.

The perfect day for: RAINBOOTS

What I wore:

Rainboots: Target clearance $6

Jeans: IT hand-me-downs - FREE

White shirt: Forever 21 $3

Black Sweater: hand-me-down - FREE

Necklace: Love Stitched - gift - FREE

What Saxon wore:

Rainboots: Target sale $10

Shirt: ELEMENT from Ross $8

Jeans: H & M - $9

Hat: Gap "hats, gloves, scarfs, sale" $5

What Bridger wore:

Rainboots: Target - gift :) - FREE

Jeans: H & M - $9

Shirt: Old Navy sale

Hat: Macy's $14.99

What Dalton wore:

Jeans: Crazy 8's end of summer sale - $10

Shirt: Crazy 8's end of summer sale - $5

Shoes: Jack & Lily from Costco - $14 

(Photos by Love Stitched)

We'll be linking up at:

The Pleated Poppy

Momma Go Round

No Model Lady

G.U.M.

Currently, the bane of my existence is spelled G.U.M.

Let me give you a little background...

I'm not a gum chewer.

I never have been.

I don't like feeling like I'm constantly talking with food in my mouth.

My husband...he's a gum chewer.

He doesn't just chew, he smacks.

I didn't say anything while we were dating, but once we were married, I addressed the issue. Now, neither of us are gum chewers. :)

(What a great husband, right?)

I never let Saxon chew gum as a little kid.

One day we were at my friend's house and she gave her kids gum.

I caved, because I didn't want him to feel left out.

But, I drilled it into his head

"We don't swallow gum, we don't swallow gum, we don't swallow gum..."

Like a good little guy, when he was done, he didn't swallow his gum.

He stuck it in his pocket.

Yep.

Ruined the pants.

I renewed my resolve to be a non-gum-chewing household.

Now there's Bridger.

He's a snacker.

If there's a snack to be found in the house, he will find it.

I can't buy snacks because he will constantly sneak them.

I started to worry, so I re-evaluated my gum theory.

Maybe, just maybe, he would snack less if he chewed gum.

So, I broke down, and bought some sugar-free gum and gave it a shot.

Well, it kind of worked.

He doesn't dig for snacks anymore, but he is always begging for gum.

I have gum stuck to my sheets.

There is gum stuck to their comforter on their bed.

And there are piles of gum in every trash can.

Not to mention that they can't seem to leave it in their mouths!

The other day, Dalton walked out of the bathroom smacking.

SMACKING, like he's chewing gum.

I tried to get into his mouth to pull out whatever it was, but he clamped down his little jaw.

Finally, Nate tipped him upside down to make him laugh and I snatched it out.

G.U.M.

He had gone into the bathroom and fished an already been chewed piece of gum out of the trash can and was smacking on it.

GROSS!

I went into the kitchen to dispose of the nasty gum and came back out and Dalton is smacking!  Again!

The kid only has a few teeth.

How can he possibly be chewing gum?

He had gone back into the bathroom and found another piece of gum.

Thoroughly exasperated, I gave Nate the look that said "fix this please."

He took out all of the trashes in the house.

 

 Today, before church, I wanted to take a picture of the kids because they all looked so cute and ready for Halloween (Saxon's tie has skulls on it).

This is what I ended up with...GUM.

Even Dalton had a piece and swallowed it before I could snatch it out of his mouth.

(sigh)

What can I do?

Do you let you kids chew gum?

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

Me and my sweet baby Dalton.

I had to at least put a good picture, because the rest of this story makes me want to gag...still...

The day that I made Whoopie Pies, I swept and mopped my floor.

I think it's always good to start off a project with a clean house.

That way when you are done, you only have a project mess to clean instead of a house mess.

I fed my kids lunch and they made a disaster.

I sliced up peaches and the kids got sticky peach juice everywhere.

So, I swept and mopped my floor...again.

Then I let them eat Whoopie Pie.

Naturally, they made a huge disaster.

I sighed and started picking up pieces of discarded whoopie pie.

I reached down to pick up one chunk of pumpkin colored mess.

The piece I picked up felt kind of squishy.

It didn't feel like cookie.

Can you see where this is going?

If you're a mom...you might be able to guess...

So, I decided to smell it.

(I'm gagging just remembering this...)

Whoopie Pie would smell like pumpkin spice.

It didn't smell like pumpkin spice...it smelled like poop.

Like poop and peaches.

I started to gag.

I tossed it in the trash and started to scrub my hands, my arms, etc.

Then I turned to my baby...who giggled with all of the sudden attention.

"You..." was all I could manage.

I picked him up and more pooped out peaches squished out of his diaper and onto the floor.

Now that I was paying attention, I could find a trail of poop everywhere that he had been in the last half hour.

So, I spent the rest of the afternoon scrubbing the baby, the floors, the carpet, myself, everyone's hands, the floors again, etc.

To top off a fabulous day...

my 3 year old pooped in the bath that night.

And I spent all night scrubbing...again.

A World of Color

Dalton turned 1 on Friday and we decided to celebrate with color!

We went down to the park and set up a BBQ-Garden Party.

The park is right next to our garden, so it made a perfect backdrop :)

We started with little water bottles and added "Hawaiian Punch Singles" to them.

A box of Hawaiian Punch singles is only $1 and each little packet worked for 3-4 water bottles.  It was a super-cute and cheap way to add a little more color.

Plus, it was a huge hit with the kids!

They loved their colored juices.

(Plus a bonus for moms...the flavors are sugar free!)

We barbequed hot dogs 

(which I don't even like, but it had to be affordable, and my kids love them).

I made home made salsa from the garden, a veggie tray (with veggies from the garden), and rainbow jello cups with home made whipped cream and sprinkles.

They turned out so cute, but oh wow, were they a long process to make!

If you ever decide to try them out, start in the morning...

I made monster cupcakes from "What's New Cupcake?"

It's one of my favorite cupcake books because the designs are surprisingly easy and don't involve any fancy equipment.  Just grocery store candy, frosting, cupcakes, and ziplock bags.  A little time-consuming, but easy :)

Me and my cute baby who's 1 now...

He wasn't quite sure what to make of the candle in the cake.

I've seen him tear into a cupcake before, so I thought he would go nuts over the monster cupcake, but he didn't really care.  There was too much going on and too many people watching.  He wasn't interested at all.

This is the messiest it got:

And...his birthday hat!

A while back, I won a "Charlie Bug Hat Pattern" from Blue Cricket Designs.

Of course, it's meant to be made with fabric and ribbon and such, but I had about 5 mintues to spare before I had to leave for the park, so I used the pattern to make one out of cardstock.  I just placed her pattern over the cardstock and cut both of them out at the same time.  Then I hot glued it all together.  Done in under 5 minutes.  It's not as cute as the fabric one, but not bad for a last minute project :)

(Below is attempt #2 with the birthday cupcake...still no success)

Birthday Bloopers:

-Saxon was riding his bike all over the park.  At one point, my Grandpa asked Saxon to stop next to Dalton so he could get a picture.  Saxon did, but lost his balance and fell over on top of Dalton and the birthday cake.  He smashed the cupcake and got covered in blue monster frosting.  We had to laugh.  What else can you do.  Dalton got another cupcake (which is still didn't want) and we tried to make Saxon feel better (he was embarrassed).

-Dalton started getting fussy half-way through the party and kind of clingy.  So, I was holding him and chatting with my cousin, when he started throwing up all over me.  It was all over me, and him, and in my hair, etc.  Luckily we live close so I could run home and clean us both up.  He must have just eaten something that disagreed with him because after that, he was fine.  Poor guy...

(Linked this idea up to Tatertots and Jello)

Harvest

I sent my husband down to the garden to check if there was anything ready to be picked.

This is what he came home with:

He told me that he couldn't get it all because the bag was getting too full and he didn't want anything to get squished.  Oh wow!  I couldn't believe how much there was.  This is one of the reasons we love our garden.  All of the hard work all spring of planting and weeding and watering finally pays off...and in a big way.  Not everything works.  Our carrots aren't looking great and our pumpkins are taking over and threatening to strangle some of our other plants.  I fail every year with my cilantro.  Is there a secret to growing cilantro?  If there is, please fill me in... 

But for the most part, everything is looking beautiful!

There is just something fulfilling about the law of the harvest.  You reap what you sow.  When we work hard to plant this garden and take care of it, then we end up with enough vegetables for our family (and neighbors).  Plus, I have to get creative with my cooking.  Last year, I even tried canning :)  This year, we want to try canning salsa.  I'm still looking for a good recipe though...

And this is what happens when you leave your harvest on the table for too long before you wash it and put it away:

Somehow my baby helped himself to the biggest Roma tomato of the bunch and was walking around the house munching on it.  We could see everywhere he had been by the trails of tomato juice on the carpet...

It took him about a half hour, but he actually ate the whole thing!

What's your favorite thing to grow?

Turn away for a second...

It's amazing to me the things that kids can do when you turn away for just a second.

Sometimes it's funny...

Sometimes it's naughty...

Sometimes it's dangerous...

My sister Brooke is in town this week.  Last night we put Bridger in my bath and we were standing in the doorway of the closet (which is in the bathroom) talking.  We were only about 3 feet away from the bath.  Baby Dalton was crawling around on the floor and we were discussing some clothes options, when we hear Bridger make a sound of distress.

Not really a scream, but a little panic in his voice.

We turn around and Baby Dalton is in the bathtub, looking up at me with a "deer in the headlights" expression.

"Baby Dalton climbed in the bath!" -Bridger

Dalton likes to lean over the edge of the bath and watch the boys.

He is always trying to climb in, but isn't big enough.

Or so I thought...

Because he just slipped right over, there wasn't even a splash to alert us.

I was in the room with him, only feet away from the edge of the tub, and this happened.

I feel like I can never take my eyes off this kid.

He learns so fast and is so busy.

After my moment of panic

"what if he had drowned"

"what if he had hit his head"

"what if the tub was too deep"

My mind instantly starts running through every awful possibility...

After I calmed down and we made sure that everyone was alright, I grabbed the camera :)

Once Dalton regained his bearings, he was actually pretty proud of himself.

Is it even possible to "never take your eyes off of them"?

I feel like I need to have him in my arms at all times.

I'm going to have to find a good balance.

Perfectly Spaced

I've been thinking lately about what is the perfect space to have between siblings...

In my family, I'm the oldest, and my littlest brother is 11.

He was born a week before I graduated high school.

There are 6 kids in my family, spaced out over 18 years.

It was perfect.

I loved always having a baby in the house.  

I was probably the only one in high school who always had a car seat in my car.

It has always been fun to have holidays at my mom's house because there are always kids around.

When I had my own kids, I felt very prepared.

I knew how to take care of a baby was beyond excited to finally have one of my own.

When I got married, I told my husband that 3-4 years was the perfect space.

Well, Saxon and Bridger are 23 months apart.

(I get asked ALL THE TIME if they are twins)

I loved having Saxon.

I loved being a mom.

From the minute he was born, I couldn't wait to have that experience again.

I've never felt closer to heaven than when I hold my newborn baby.

Bridger and Dalton are 25 months apart.

Clearly, my plan was not working for me.

However, as I watch them, I have to say, that they are perfectly spaced.

They are buddies.

They defend each other.

They look out for each other.

They pick on each other.

They always have a friend and someone to play with.

(Saxon forcing Bridger to look in the right direction for the picture)

I think having #3 has made the big boys even closer.

It gives them a distraction.

Bridger gets to learn to share with someone smaller, and Saxon is learning to be more helpful.  (This is a work in progress...I hear girls are naturally more helpful...we wouldn't know... :)

And Dalton, of course, basks in the attention of the 2 big boys.

Since my plan didn't go according to plan, I guess they may never remember what it's like to change a diaper or make a bottle, or have a carseat...

but they will know how to be a friend.

They know how to share (well...they will have a lot of practice anyway)

They know how to say "I'm sorry".

They know how to look out for each other.

This summer they are going to play soccer together.

I never regret having them so close because for us, it is perfectly spaced.

I don't disagree with people who want a lot of space either.

I grew up like that, and it was perfect.

So, for as often as I turn the subject over in my mind and try to decide what the "perfect space" would be...I have decided that the perfect space is generally, exactly how it is.

Boys

These are the kind of things that happen when your 12 year old little brother is in charge:

Ha ha, I thought it was hilarious!

Maybe I'll try it the next time I need to multitask :)

My 12 year old little brother was just in town visiting and my kids were in heaven.

They love their Uncle Kasen and love having a "big brother" around.

He had to go home to California today and we've had quite a few meltdowns about it.

Wish us luck...Saxon has already informed me that 

"this is going to be the baddest day ever!"

Here's a quick story from having Uncle Kasen in town:

We decided to all go to the water park while Kasen (and his friend) were in town visiting.  I asked the big boys to watch the little boys while I went to rent some tubes.  They agreed.  When I got back, Kasen tells me,

"Umm, Dalton pooped.  He's holding poop in his hand, but we didn't take it away because we didn't want to touch it.  Here...you can take him."

Sure enough, Dalton had an explosion just as we get to the water park.  And can you guess the best part...I forgot wipes.  It was a disaster.