Its a party

Today was the pirate party and let me tell you how crazy fun it was. Gwen tested out the cupcakes before the party just to make sure that they were good enough to give her friends.
These were the party favors with fun pirate things like maps, spy glasses, whistles, and candy of course.
Here are the skull and cross bone cupcakes, that made me realize that I am not one who should be doing baked goods decorating, but they were yummy and super moist.
Oh what Gwen eating yet another cupcake, yes it is true sometimes you need a little bit of wiggle room on your birthday, plus I was doing like fifty other things so we let it slide.
All the kids had fun decorating pirate eye patches with jewel, skull, and pirate stickers. Here is Katelin showing off her "bling".
Even Harrison got in on the decorating.
Here is Gwen's finished product, and she will be the first to tell you that she did it all by herself, there is that independent streak again.
Having some lunch, nothing better than that...except for maybe the cake and ice cream afterward.
And everyone was such great help in opening the gifts, it was so fun to see all the kids get closer and closer and closer to Gwen as she opened the presents, and then all of a sudden they were in a little pack -BAM!!-
Then we had to test out the gifts with all the friends, and the results are in, total success. Everyone liked all the presents. And everyone wanted to use the tea set, nice work Paige.
We had a treasure hunt outside that lead us to the pirate that took our treasure, so we brought him back to the house and took turns telling him to give us our treasure...or basically giving him the beat down, and with the final and awesome blow from Tyson this is what he looked like afterward...
It was a really fun and exciting day for us. Gwen was loving that it was her birthday, and loving eating cupcakes. We were so glad to celebrate the day with our friends and family, and talk to some of our family that live far away too.
Gwen got more than her fair share of gifts today, and I have to say that I am feeling pretty good about the fact that we have a whole year until we do it all again. Thanks for all the birthday wishes for Gwen and for all the friends that came to celebrate with us today. Hooray for Birthdays.

pirates are for girls...

So my baby girl is turning three tomorrow, and she wanted a pirate party!! Yep that is right no princess' around here. So how do you make pirates fun for a three year old girl and her friends you may ask, well stay tuned and I will show you how.

shave and a haircut...

So this is our hairy Harry. He is in need of a haircut, but I can't bring myself to cut it. I think that it looks cute long and shaggy. He is still a baby if we leave his hair as is right?
The other night after some serious pizza face I had the kids in the tub and I was mulling over the idea of trimming the back and sides of Harrison's hair. Well James had been trying to get me to use the clippers on it and I was totally against it, but I will admit that it was getting really long, so James suggested it once again and I caved, as I always do to his ideas, and so we pulled Harry out of the tub and began the adventure.

He actually sat really still and let James cut it with the clippers down to 3/4 inch. (which totally looks like a buzz to me) And by the end when we were trying to just trim up the back and by the ears he was done. And needing some love. But here he is all ready for the summer heat, and looking way too grown up.
And this is the massive pile of hair that was just on the ground after the event. There was more on the towels and in the sink!!! The majority of it was about three inches long. Pretty sure that is more hair on the ground than when I get mine cut.

And today while Gwen is at school he is running the show here at the house. I still can't believe that we really cut off all those golden locks. Oh well he doesn't seem to care at all, and I guess that since he does look kind of cute with it short that we will still keep him. It is funny though sometimes I will look over and he reminds me of my youngest brother , or my nephew Ezra at that same age. I guess that he really does belong to us.

Ladies and Gentleman

Ladies and Gentleman, introducing one silly kid who learned how to say cheese for the camera.




Also the other day we I was driving with the kids, and I hear Gwen tell me that she needed to take off her shoes, and then she asked me where her socks had gone so I turned around to find this,

Sock puppets in the back seat. She was singing a little song about socks, and so I pulled out my phone as fast as I could to get these funny little pictures.


Also it is official our camera is gone. I have a theory but can't prove anything. So it looks like we will need to get a new one. Our search was long and it involved a lot of deep cleaning and searching in places where only Harrison would hide things, but unsuccessful. I guess that I was looking for the camera enough that even Gwen caught on because we were at the playscape one afternoon and she was playing by some rocks, and I asked her what she was doing and she said she was just looking for the camera. Thanks for helping Gwen.

Sugar Detox

I don't know about the rest of you, but in preparing for Valentine's Day, going to parties, and birthday celebrations, and then the actual day of chocolate covered strawberries and eating out a ton, we are now in sugar detox mode. I never, Never, NEVER thought that I would be saying something like this, I mean I love treats and snickity snacks, but we (myself included) have just had too much. So starting tomorrow James goes back on his little diet, and the rest of us get to start eating healthier. Whatever that may mean. Thanks to all the peanut butter hearts you were fantastic, and the cookies, and the ice cream, you have all been truly wonderful, but the time has come to part ways...just for a little while.

We will be having some family come and spend some time with us in a few weeks, and I think that is a good time to throw the health to the wind and bring back the sugar high, until then we will be watching the High Fructose Corn Syrup intake, and drinking lots and lots of water. I will just keep telling myself how great it is going to be, then maybe I won't be so terrified to try to cook healthy.

Independent meets Irritated

You know when you take those personality tests that basically tell you that you are either totally uptight and bossy, or laid back and easy going. I have usually fallen into the mild and mellow side of the charts, however it seems that as Gwen gets older and more independent, I find myself moving to the other side of the spectrum, mostly in the bossy and picky areas.

Here is a recent example.

Me: Hey Gwen lets get dressed so that we can go outside.

Gwen: I can do it.
m: Okay that sounds great.
g: Oh I like this one it is so cute.
m: Lets just make sure that we have a shirt, pants, and socks first, so pick out one shirt that you want to wear.
g: What about this one? What about this one? I like this one. Oh this one is so fun...
m: Do you need some help?
g: No! I can do it!
m: Well lets just pick one.
g: I think I need a dress.
m: Whatever you want, but lets pick it out so we can get going, Harrison is already dressed and ready to go.

g: Alright.

This is what happened after that.






almost an hour later she still had no shirt, pants, or dress on. No clothes. She had emptied out the contents of her drawers and the jammie drawer too. I find that I am getting irritated with her streak of independence. Its not that I don't want her to do things for herself, Oh I do, but I would just like quicker results is all. I know she is a two year old what did I expect, well I guess that I better work on my patience because she is quickly moving into the big girl phase, and showing Harrison how to do things for himself too. I suppose that I always knew the day would come when I wouldn't be able to tell her what she should wear, or how we were going to do her hair, I just thought that I would have a little more time is all. They do grow up so fast.

we may not have the camera, but...

Before I realized that I had actually lost the camera to the kids schemes, I thought that I had just forgot to put it back in my bag from preschool. So I didn't get any pictures from the birthday party that Gwen went to for Ellie. It was a polka dot party and it was so much fun. The part that Gwen was asking about all week long was...the cupcakes. Oh my and they were lip smacking yummy. As Gwen is showing us here.


On Monday I was getting Gwen from preschool and I asked her what she wanted for lunch. Giving her options like a sandwich, mac and cheese, noodles, hamburger, or chicken nuggets, you know the standards as well as a few special choices. Her reply was I need to go with dad to Chuck E. Cheese's. So I said well I don't know if he is going to be up for that but why don't you call him and see if he wants to do that.
Gwen is the kid that can make James do anything that she wants, so later that evening we took our two hooligans to the cheese's. And lo and behold what did we find, Oh a giant horse for Gwen to ride. She loved it, you can tell because she is actually smiling in one of the pictures.

See I told you.
Here is Harrison taking a ride with good ol' Chuck himself. This morning Gwen told me that today we needed to go back to Chuck E.'s with dad so he could play basketball. ( I guess she was paying attention when James took on the basketball throwing game) Who knew that a grown man could have a good time in a place with a singing and dancing mechanical mouse. Thanks Chuck you provided the perfect place for a Monday night.

Code Red

We are in a code red around our house because one of my little sidekicks has taken the camera. Now if your house is anything like ours there are secret hiding spots all over the place that the kids use every now and then, who am I kidding all the time. Well I have checked the regular ones like the pantry, James' shoes, the bathroom closet, the utensil drawer, and under the couch in our bedroom, but alas no luck.

I keep asking Harrison where he put the camera but he just starts giggling. I know that he can't answer me in a sentence, but that kid knows what I am saying and it is a big joke on mom that she can't find where it is stashed. So until I find the hiding spot (hoping that it was not in the kitchen garbage that I took out the other day) we are just going to have to use the camera phone, and some of the funny/strange things that the kids say and do around here. I hope that is not too boring, but I promise that we are still looking.

So those of you looking for the next instruction video on yoga moves will just have to wait. Sorry to disappoint all you workout lovers out there, but who doesn't like a little day or two off from exercise? You may even thank me for the little break.

block yoga

Harrison is a champion when building with the blocks, his skills are way better than Gwen's were at his age. He has some serious balance with the blocks...and with his body too. Here is a little peek at what happens after all the blocks tumble down, and the yoga monster arises. I guess if you are looking for a new routine he is the guy to inspire you.

have kids will travel...someday

So I hopped in the shower really quick the other day, and when I stepped out, I didn't hear any crying or screaming or fighting...that is always cause for alarm or a sign of trouble, well I came around the corner to find this chaos.
Lots of toys scattered about, and two kids in the suitcase digging through my makeup bag and exploring the contents therein.
Well I was a little bugged about the makeup bag being strewn about all over the place, but I will admit that I thought that the buddy system for the suitcase was pretty funny. Its nice to know that they can always count on each other to be partners in crime.

On a totally different note today I taught my first day of Gwen's preschool, and I will be the first to admit that I had a really good time. We did lots of fun activities for Groundhog day, and played outside for awhile too. Gotta love the Texas winters.