The Man Store

Its Memorial Day

BK is off work which is awesome.

He took the boys to the man store for some supplies for our sand box project.

They were so jazzed.

I know my little men love me,

but in some ways I could never compare to Daddy,

and I am totally ok with that:)

I know we have been given the blessed task to raise men,

which means they need to get dirty, go to man stores,

and it is also why I stopped saying things like "outfit, and Quinty"

(BK's tip)

I love that BK seems to love going to the man store with them,

as much as they enjoy going with Daddy.

Its probably crazy but seeing him be such a fantastic Daddy,

reminds me why I love having BK's babies.

But don't worry, no more babies around here at least for a while:)

If life was fair....

When I was younger i had naturally blond hair.
Age, birthing, and living in winter have all made it darker.
Now, I am forced to pay someone to highlight it to keep it a bit blond.

Today it occurred to me, how unfair this is....
I am a naturally ditzy person, which I feel has gotten worse since the babies.
At least when I was younger I had the fantastic natural blond to go with the spacey brain.
But since mommy life I feel like I have gotten a bit less brainy, yet my hair has been darker and darker.

I know life is not fair, but if it was I would not have to pay for blond hair.

A magician

Today my friend told me the cutest thing her daughter said:
She was looking at here swim teachers college grad picture wearing her cap and gown....
The little girl said "when did Ann become a magician?"

Super cute.

The light switch

Today I just glanced over at as Quint and Russell were heading over to the craft cupboard, and noticed something awesome.

Quint was already opening the cupboard and Russell was right behind him.

What amazed me was as Russell was following Quint to the cupboard he paused reached on his tippy toes and turned on the light.

I didnt even know he could reach the light switch.

In that moment I realize wow he really is getting big.

Hard to believe.

It's just a reminder to me to pause,

because everyone tells me you blink and thier in college,....

Or able to reach the light switch:)

Guard at gitmo

Sometimes I am amazed at what comes out of my mouth as a mother.
Today i was loading the boys in the car and they were resisting.
I heard myself say
"no water till you are in your seats!"

Omgosh....seriously, it's very possible that a guard at gitmo said the same thing.....
Wow.

Someday I will post other phrases I have said as a momma.
Many of which I heard my momma say, and swore I would never....
But I have:)

**disclaimer**
I don't regularly refuse water to my children, and they were far from dehydrated.
they just wanted their water cups in the car.

I think I can...

We were at the Lincoln school playground.
I remember a few years ago when I saw the sticker on the playground....
Which says ages 5 and up and thinking wow that is so old.

Today Quint Russell and James were running all over the playground.
They could all do most of the playground activities.
There was one tough twisty ladder.
Russell wanted to attempt it.
I stood close but he did it.
I couldnt believe it.

Q saw this and said he wanted to try.
Q tends be a bit less risky but he was being brave.
He said "I think I can...I think I can...."
He was calculating and cautious...
But he did it!!!

I was so proud of him, but mostly of his can do attitude.

Lellow

Today was yellow day for Q at preschool.
They sang the yellow song.
Q was belting it out and I was so proud.
The cutest part was how he says yellow
"rubber duckies are lellow!"

Some of the preschool mommies were giggling about Q's "lellow"
I think he even got a bit self conscious, and sang quieter for a bit
But quickly resumed belting it out "his" way,
I was so happy he did.
I want my children to embrace their unique traits.

It took me a long time to embrace my uniqueness.
Now I realize it is a gift to be different.
Q won't always say "lellow" but he may have other traits, likes, or values that are different than the crowd
I hope he stands tall then just as he did today.

I hope I can role model
Embracing uniqueness
And
Fervent disregard for approval from "the crowd"

A little lego

Rhett has been sick, so he has been fussy.

He is never fussy so this afternoon when he was fussy I just thought it was because of his sickness.

I tried to nurse and he refused.

Which he never does, so I thought,

"wow he must be feeling really bad".

BK was home...

so he suggested teething and stuck his finger in Rhett's mouth.

And....

pulled out a little lego.

Seriously.

I freaked out.

He could have died.

I often say, my children will be lucky to survive my parenting.

Today it was a miracle.

Worst mom of the year award....

I've officially got it in the bag.

Is that a screw driver?

Maybe it is just me but even finding time to pee is challenging.

So, last night after it was all quiet and I and to pee I took my time.

Normally I am running in and out.

As I peacefully sat down and actually closed the door all the way, I noticed a play screw driver behind the door.

Not sure how it got there,

but it made me think,

someday I will probably be an empty nester, and miss finding random toys behind doors.

Right now, as I pick up my millionth little lego,

I find picking up toys annoying.

But, toys on the floor or hidden around means there are little kiddos playing around.

There is life in my home.

Three little blessings from God

who may drive me crazy somedays,

but I know if my house was perfectly clean with no toys to pick up,

I would feel like it was missing something.

So, next time I pick up a toy or are annoyed with my mess,

I will try to remember,

in some weird way the mess shows we are blessed.

Peek a boo

I am not feeling well, Q and Russ are a bit sick too.

Rhett is still not recovered from his 2 ear infections in a week,

which means him and I are not sleeping well:)

BK is at drill so I am solo momma this weekend.

Its a miracle Q and Russ are napping but Rhett did not get the memo.

I am desperate for a nap,

but its not happening.

Rhett and I were just hanging out,

and I started peek a boo.

He laughed and laughed.

We realized recently he has an awesome laugh,

but today I realized it has youtube potential:)

Rhett's laugh is:

bubbly,

easy,

contagious,

happy,

and

priceless.

It made my day.

The pledge

Today Q stood on the couch and started reciting the pledge.
It was adorable,
Missing a few words
Stumbling over words like indivisible
Hand over his heart

We are a family who values love of country
Even if it is imperfect...
Still the best around in our opinion:)

It was super cute.

Q's preschool teachers son is a Ranger medic.
He just deployed
I am awed by her strength and sarafice.

I can't imagine the worry if any of my sons choose to serve
But I know I would be proud.

Our gratitude to military families is immeasurable.

How do you pick you kids names....

All our children have surnames for first names.
Tonight BK and I were just hanging around playing on the computer when we decided to look up Starretts family crest.
It was awesome.
We decided to look up Russell and Quint's (Baxter).
They all seemed to go together, similar colors and in some way they seemed to fit our kids.
Baxter says "vincit Veritas" Which means truth conquers. Seems to fit Quint and his black and white personality.
Russell had a big red lion on it:).
Both Quint and Russell had a knights helmet, but Rhett had.a top hat....does this mean our bash brothers will go fight the war Rhett will be our pacifist?
He is very low key...
Only time will tell:)
It was a fun thing to look up....

The funny part was then we looked up some of our other fav baby names...
We said maybe if someday we are blessed w another little one...
Maybe we should pick one with a matching crest....
Silly....
How do you pick baby names?

Maybe only in the midwest?

It is finally spring.

Praise God.

Quint was playing outside.

He was busy making some contraption which went around his waist and attached to his wagon.

Russell wandered outside to see what Quint was up to....

I overheard Q say to Russell

"Russell! A tornado is coming!"

"You need a safety harness, or you will get sucked up on the tornado and Mom won't know where you are!"

Quint offered to make him a harness, but Russell didn't seem worried.

I wonder if kids everywhere play tornado?

Maybe only in the midwest?

Or maybe only kids who have mothers who freak out if it is a little windy outside:)

An Augmentin tale....

Like I mentioned Rhett had a raging ear infection....

which put him on Augmentin

which is an awesome antibiotic for ear infections....

but,

also causes super strength diarrhea.....

This morning Rhett was sleeping with us b/c he has been extra fussy (can you blame him...)

and I was awaken by the sound of very explosive diarrhea.

Half asleep I could not decide if I dreamed it or if it had really happened.

Later that evening,

I was about to change Rhett and do the pj thing...

when....

I heard it again....

I was pumped, at least I hadn't changed him yet:)

Then I picked him up off the floor...

and saw a huge puddle of poo on our "rented" carpet!

Pretty sure that stain is not coming out....

Then again this morning we were out

I heard it again....

this time on my pant leg....

Augmentin is awesome for sickness....

not so good for carpets, pants, and baby bottoms:)

The perk....he is getting alot better fast!

YAY!

It is the worst to see my little men sick...

The stroller incident

I try to not answer phone numbers I dont know in an effort to conserve cell minutes, but this morning when an unknown number popped up I go it.

Not sure why....

It was a good thing I did....

It was the pediatritian office.

We were just there yesterday for Rhett and I immediately thought ...

I hope there is nothing wrong with my insurance....

She went on to say "I think you left your stroller here"

I thought to myself she must have the wrong person,

but as she described it I thought...

oh my gosh,,,,

I couldn't have.....

could I?

She said they found it in the parking lot.....

Seriously,

I am a mess.

If there was any question....(which I doubt)

this officially confirms it.

It was a bit embarrassing picking it up......

I am pretty sure I would lose my head if it was not attached.

Even worse...I spent 15 mins looking for my keys before we left for the doc,,,,it was not my day

Not potty trained

Russell and Q had recently gotten out of the bath and I had not gotten to dressing the yet...they were playing legos very quietly in the bedroom so I decided not to bug them right away about getting dressed. A few minutes later I realize I waited too long...

I was taking the free moment to clean up a bit when Russell wondered out of the bedroom, looking adorable and holding something up for me to see,,,,

All the sudden I realized it was a hunk of poo!

My mind raced GROSS! UNSANITARY! AHHHH!

I rushed him to the bathroom and at the same time hollered at Quint, "Quint is there more poo in the bedroom?!?"

He said "no....ummmm....yes...."

I was in the bathroom frantically cleaning up RUssell so hopefully he wouldnt get some nasty disease....I wanted to be mad at him but he was so cute about it....in my mind I was thinking poo is definitely one if the grossest parts of mommy hood.

Russ finally clean I went to the bedroom to get the rest....

Gross.... But I hope I never forget how cute/innocent russ looked as he wondered out holding his poo:)

Wisdom from the cement man....

It was hard to motivate to take the boys out for a bike ride (well mini digger and trike) around the block. But, once we were out it was awesome. Rhett strapped on my back, and we were gone. The awesome moment came when we turned the corner and saw a cement mixer pouring a driveway. The boys were pumped. Q actually got off his digger to run. Then he fell while running, and I could tell he wanted to cry, but forced himself to shake it off....didn't want to miss the cement mixer:) We walked over and asked if we could watch. The boys were facinated. We were so close!

The cement guys were nice and I think they got a kick out of the boys.

One told me "they grow up fast, mine are 13 and 14".

I thought to myself....

Everyone tells me that, and I am sure it is true, so why do I struggle to live in the moment, and just soak up my time with them?

He went on to tell me his oldest is a freshman in high school, and last weekend his boys told him they wanted to sleep in....

Being terribly sleep deprived I thought of how nice that would be....

but I know deep down...

when it gets here I will miss them waking me up too early.

So, this is a reminder to take it in....

because I know, just like the cement man said, and many others like him....

they do grow up fast.

3am

I don't know about you but I love to sleep.

I have never been one of those people who could be perky on little sleep....

I wish I could but even when I was a teenager

I would find there were nights I was just too tired to go get into trouble:)

That is how I know I must "need" sleep:)

I wouldn't have missed trouble for many things...

Recently, two mommy friends told me today they were up till 3 am

the previous night.....

I thought maybe out on a super hot date with their hubbies?....

but deep down I knew what they were up to....

mommy work.

I get it there are very few moments with toddlers when the house is quiet.

Still....

No one with needs to be met....

This part of 3 Am appeals to me....

but, my bed beckons me much earlier than that....

In my mind I wonder though....

what could I accomplish if I could do with out sleep....

My list of to-do's goes on for days...

thank you cards, emails I should send, gifts that need to be mailed,

laundry, deep cleaning, organizing,

errands, couponing, and on and on....

My want-to-do list is long too...

books I long to read, events to blog, photo booking...

But, many nights I say maybe tomorrow....

I delay my list....

for sleep.

When my friends told me this...

I felt guilty,

maybe I should sacrifice sleep to chase my to-do's....

Not sure what the right answer is....

maybe I could pray to need less sleep.....

hummm.....