Capturing Time

Time.

It goes too fast.

Look how long it's been since I've last posted? See what I mean.

I've been feeling those warm feelings of completely loving someone.

Bunnyboo's vocabulary has exploded the last 6 months. I love how she says certain words and how she phrases things so they make sense in her world.

Lately, whenever she hears a noise, she'll turn to me with one hand over an ear and ask......


"What's that noise about?"

I swear I could eat her up at these moments.

Which reminded me of my other kids most memorable phrases.

Boobear used to get the word structure mixed up. When he meant although or wanted to use the word but ~ he would INSTEAD tack but/though on the end. As one word.



Like: " I really wanted to ride my bike, but/though."

And chickiepoo would say "hairpoo" instead of shampoo. I loved hearing her little girl voice say it and would try to get her to say it as many times as I could.


But my oldest, bugaboo? I can't remember ONE specific example.


And I'm heartbroken over it.

I've been racking my memories for days. Nothing.

Was it because he had some severe speech issues and being a first time mom I couldn't relax enough to separate what was normal from problematic? I'm not sure.

It took me more than a day to remember EXACTLY what boobear said. So maybe it's just the old mommy mind at play.

I am returning to my blog long enough to record these memories and hope to add more.

I refuse to not capture those words that fill me with love, but/though.

(All pictures capture each child around 2 years old)

SPT: Something Blue ~ The Kids of the Shores

It's SPT Tuesday and the theme is something blue.

I present to you: The Kids of the Shores!


Here's Bunnyboo........



And boo bear............

And Chickiepoo.........

all of eyes of blue.

And then we have Bugaboo...........eyes of green

.......but wearing blue.

Go see whatever else may be blue @ Amuse-Bouche.

Sincerely 'Fro Me To You: Trailer Trash Kids

Jumpin' back on the bandwagon of Sincerely 'From Me To You and I find out there is a new driver. Buckle up......it's sure to be a wild ride!

Today I bring you the younger, more critical ~ some may say condescending ~version of the Mama.

I've told you my love for my Mother In Law. And really, I have nothing to really, legitimately complain about. But you know I'm gonna anyway.

She is VERY passive. You know the kind: if you looked martyr up in the dictionary, you'd find the picture I posted in my first Fro post.

She doesn't assert her opinion. Will hardly give a decisive answer when asked.

Would NEVAH presume to tell us how to raise our family, even though she did an outstanding job with her boys and has taught elementary school for over 40 years.

I tried to emulate this attitude when she was kind enough to watch the kids for us when we went out of town.

Really, stop laughing.

After I gave her whatever details she wanted about kids schedules, likes and dislikes etc. etc. I tried to keep my mouth shut.

But inside I seethed.

You see, she loves to take pictures with her non digital camera. She is even more snap happy when I'm not around. I guess I take some of the fun out of it :)

She puts all the picture doubles in those little $1 plastic brag books for my kids to have. They love them. Me? Not so much.

You see it seems my mother in law doesn't really sweat the small stuff.

Like getting dressed. Or cleaning their faces.

Here's a picture of my two oldest when My Man and I were out of town.

When I saw this picture almost a decade ago, I was mortified.

My children look like Trailer Trash Kids.

(what we call dirty kids.......you know, with 7/11 dirty feet, babies dressed just in a diaper, breakfast, lunch and dinner still on their faces, mamas cussing about beating their children, daddies burpin while rubbing their beer bellies; need I go on?)

I saw this as a reflection of my parenting skills and morals.

But, now?

Here's a picture *I* took while camping.

Would you looky there: Babyboo is all trashy AND suckin on a pacifier. (my other three babies only used paci's in the crib until they were 1)

Yup, I've run over that condescending self with a 4 wheel drive and am so much more content.

I can actually look at these pictures and see the love instead of critiquing each person.

Ahhh, wisdom ~ the ONLY benefit to being this damn old!

Sad Life Lesson Learned Today

My heart is breaking for Chickie Poo.

We learned Monday that one of her classmates, on the afternoon of Easter, had chased a ball into the street and been hit by a SUV. The child broke both arms and legs and was not going to able to return to school to finish the year. Chickie Poo felt sad for him and was making cards and such to send to the hospital.

Me? I laid awake until after 3 that morning re-enacting the accident. I saw myself as the driver, since I drive a SUV. I saw Boo Bear as the child hit, as he plays ball CONSTANTLY and thinks he is invincible. I had other worries going on, but this was one of the major ones.

I recommitted to driving more carefully. I emphasized the importance of letting the ball go, looking both ways and overall safety with my older kids.

We discussed how lucky he was to survive with broken bones but still alive.

My phone rang an hour ago with Chickie Poo crying uncontrollably on the other end.

The school just announced this child had passed away.

I pray for his mother and family. I pray for mine as well.

Today is to the day when my child will forever be changed. She now is acutely aware that bad things CAN happen to another child; someone she knows.

I'd give anything for her to have never learned this lesson.

She's a blogger too.......

Chickie Poo has started her own blog.




We have it set to private and so far just my mom and I are "invited" to read. The blog admin(me) have to add the email of each reader we approve and then send them an invitation. She wants to add a few friends and other family members.

New Years Day is a day for new beginnings and seemed perfect for starting her adventure.

I hope she will enjoy blogging as much as I do.

Am I crazy to do this?

Our Christmas 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas this year.


I was able to totally surprise My Man with the help of a friend or two and their husbands.


After waiting years, and years, and years..........My Man finally has a large, flat screen tv. On the 23rd of Dec. our family went to dinner with a few friends while my above noted elves snuck into our house and set it up. I couln't have pulled it off with out their buying advice or sneakiness. Ain't it good to have good friends?



The kids got most of what they wanted from their list, with the help of Grandparents and Santa.


Bugaboo's favorite gift was the PlayStation that I deemed unnecessary but obviously was outvoted.





Chickiepoo loved her red laptop.

Boobear is always easy to please as long as there is some kind of sports ball involved.

And Bunnyboo...........she didn't make a list but wouldn't get out of her pushbuggy car. She also got a sweet tooth and has been demanding candy and sweets hourly! Have no idea where she could have gotten that from!

I got a few things I've been drooling over including adorable cupcake stands that I've borrowed that last few times I've needed them.

Again, I didn't take many pictures....but these are a few. Maybe this should be a resolution for 2009? Take more pics!!! I hate to miss anything and somehow feel like I'm not there when shooting pictures. I also hate the early morning pictures that aren't staged. What? Me? A perfectionist? Nah..........

All in all ~ a very good Christmas!

Baking Goddess

Chickie Poo had a very brief list for Santa this year......

1. $$ towards her Laptop that she's been saving to buy
2. A personal label maker for organization
3. Cooking game for Wii
4. Art Set
5. Baking lessons from Mom
6. Love for the rest of her life


We surprised her with pooling money from other relatives as well as the $250 she had already saved and ordered her laptop. By far this was her favorite gift!

Coming in second was the baking lessons item.

I put together a little package with a Christmas apron I whipped up in a few hours, measuring spoons and cups, and a little booklet I made with recipes.




I think I've created a monster!!!

A diaper bag for my eleven year old?

I found it very difficult to find the time to make gifts this year. Bunnyboo was always getting into everything if I tried to do it while she was up, and by the time I got everything pulled out during her nap, it was time for her to wake up. Another obstacle seemed to be hiding things I was making for Chickie Poo from her. If I waited until Bunnyboo was in bed for the night, Chickie Poo was all up in my business!





I wanted to make a computer bag for Chickie Poo's new laptop she had no idea she was getting. I searched online for free tutorials and found a diaper bag pattern I could enlarge a bit to make work for me.






I told Chickie Poo I was making a diaper bag for a friend. I consulted her on fabric choices, colors, and even made her "try" it on to make sure the strap fit well.



>

When she opened the gift on Christmas morning, she said she was wondering why I'd give a diaper bag to an eleven year old.





Cause that's the way your mama rolls.

Christmas Card Photos

I've told you how HARD it was.

But are you wondering which pictures I used for our Christmas Card this year?

All's well that ends well.

I had to cut the Holiday Wishes part of the card off for privacy reasons.

You understand.

How hard can it be?

Seriously, how hard can it be to take a picture to send holiday cards???

My family is obviously photographically challenged. Can we get disability for that?

I realize that I have made it exponentially harder each time I add another baby.....but I'm done now, I swear! I accept that I am not photogenic and therefore will hate any picture including me. But I failed to realize I could pass this gene on.

I shopped for coordinating outfits for all 6 of us, avoiding anything too matchy-matchy. Then I find a day when our schedule is fairly open. This is MUCH harder than it seems, as it is basketball season. A few things I didn't count on when trying to organize: the windy, overcast weather, My Man losing a game the night before, and as previously mentioned, the un-photogenic gene.

Throw those three challenges together with a willful toddler, two kids in braces who don't like to smile, and a hyperactive child who either smirks or has the widest fake smile, and can't seem to look at the camera unless he's blinking. Oh what a very, merry Christmas time, this year!

We haven't taken a family picture in about 4 years and Bunny boo has since joined our family so we thought we'd try to get one of these.

Here's a few examples of how it worked for us:

This was our first shot and bunny boo was still cooperative. The wind, however was not.

We switch sides of the gazebo trying to avoid the ONLY ray of sunlight, but the wind is still crazy.
Bunnyboo is getting fussy. Let's go to the boardwalk and see if the wind is blocked a bit. Nope.
Let's go back to our friend's house (she is the photographer for the day). But all Bunny boo wants to do is swim!
Bunny boo is done at this point. My Man is over it. Let's just go with what we got and try to make something work.



I played with photoshop for a few days but just couldn't get anything I was happy enough with to make 100 cards out of. I'm new to photoshop and it shows! I told My Man we would choose one of the family ones and just make a few 5X7's to give to grandparents, but I thought our best shot was a card with picture of the kids.


So yesterday, I decided to take the kids out back individually and shoot a few pics. The weather wasn't a problem, it was a bright, sunny day with just a bit of wind. My Man wasn't AS stressed. And I didn't have to be in the pic. What else could go wrong? Genetics, baby!




I know you have braces, but could you please smile????

I guess not.

I sound like a broken record, but: I know you have braces, but could you please smile??

OOOHHH, maybe not.

Hey, I'm over here!

Have you been into the benedryl again???

All that's left is the baby. Should be a piece of cake! I mean babies look cute all the time, right? Ummm, not so much.

Nice drool!

Don't tell Mommy no! I promise not to take anymore pictures.

No need to hit the camera. I swear that was the last one.

By some miraculous feat, I managed to get at least one decent shot of the three older kids and the baby's just shows her personality. It's just this year's card. I can do better next year. Maybe I should start working on this in May..............

Please tell me I'm not the only one who has this affliction. PLEASE!

Thanksgiving ala' Chickie Poo

It looks like I'm only able to hit the holidays, blogwise. I am pathetic, I know. Wanna hear what's worse? Chickie Poo actually took these pics and told me they were for my blog. So now I must post!

I've mentioned before that I am married to a college coach. He coaches basketball which is currently in season. They practice Thanksgiving morning and play in a tournament the following two days. Athletes that have family living within two hours usually go there for dinner. But many live too far for it to be practical to go home. So they come here. That means I never know until about 2 hours before I'm serving my meal how many people I will be feeding. This year we had the least; 14. I'd guess the most we've had was 30 or so. It always makes trying to plan fun! Yeah, right!

My husband also let's each player shoot ONE half court shot after Thanksgiving practice. If they make it, they get a homemade pie of mine. This year two players came close but no one won. Last year, two kids won. I was told that one of the current players who came close this year complained because he is a senior and won't get another shot!

Chickie Poo wanted to take pictures of our rustic holiday table decor. I was too busy getting food out and resetting the tables each time the phone rang adding and subtracting guests! But I promised I'd post them so here they are........





Our Adult table set for dinner.



I made a dollar tree run the night before and picked up these candle holders and candles.



Then I used stickers and made tags spelling out THANKFUL. I used twine to tie them on.



For the Kids table: I clustered votives, tied them with a ribbon, and put them on a glass salad plate. Then I turned a glass bowl upside down, put a pine cone inside and placed the plated candles on top. Looked cute, but we lit them too soon and then melted before we sat down to dinner.



This was our dessert table. We had four types of pie, ice cream, whipped cream, cool whip, as well as caramel and chocolate sauces.



This was our Thanksgiving Tree. I'm pretty sure Chickie Poo made some of the players add leaves of what they were thankful for. Can you see the football game on?



Of course, Chickie Poo made a sign for the tree, in case anyone didn't know what it was. And then she had to take a picture, because.......If you give a mouse a cookie...then.....


She took more pictures, but I'll save you. I'll try to be more consistent about blogging and if not, there's always Christmas and New Year's coming soon :)

Cheesey Halloween Pictures.........

Bunny Boo still E N U C I A T E S all the words she says............so why we kept saying, "say cheese!" is beyond me.

But, this is the result:



This one is her trying to escape:




And God forbid I get a picture with all four of my children looking at me:




So after many tries, I gave up and took one of just the older kids:




So to recap: I SUCK at being a photographer............that is all folks!

PS: anyone notice the new length of a certain pirate dress? she lost part of the costume since last friday night so we had to make do. whatevah!

Happy Halloween........

From ours to yours........


This picture was from last year. You'll have to wait for this year's photo until after tonight!

Driveway Movie Theater Party

For Chickie Poo's 11th birthday we did a Driveway Movie Theater Party. We borrowed a screen and projector from My Man's work, as well as a table top popcorn maker. We hooked up our dvd player and the girls watched Hair Spray.

As her guests arrived, Chickie Poo took them out back and had them each decorate a scrapbook page for her birthday book. I took a picture of her with each of her guests to put on the corresponding page. When all the girls where there they came inside for pizza. After pizza, they went poolside and did a little freeze dance while I put the baby to bed and stocked the concession area.

I made a banner that said concessions and hung it over the tall bushes/small palm trees. My Man had hung lights earlier that day. Then I moved a small bookcase and table outside. I had small cokes in a bucket on the top shelf, and three different types of candy stacked on the other shelves.

Each girl had a tray to carry her goodies to her spot. I also bought pink/green buckets and applied an initial sticker for each girl to hold her popcorn.

Here the girls are watching the movie. Chickie Poo passed out the personalized pillows I had made for each of the girls.


I didn't time the movie correctly (it was longer than I thought....and yes I thought I looked) so I had to bring the cupcakes outside toward the end of the movie.

Chickie Poo loves Reese Peanut Butter Cups (not sure where she gets that from?!!?) so I made chocolate cupcakes with a mini Reese cup in the middle. Then I frosted them with Peanut Butter Buttercream Icing and put half a Reese on top of each. I was rushed and only took a picture while I was baking... but trust me, they looked FABULOUS! Personally, I'm not sure how good they tasted as I am dieting and didn't have any. But I was assured they were good.

We had SEVERAL cars stop and watch some of the movie and a few people out walking wanting to join the party. It was a beautiful night with a slight breeze. The only negative was the Rays were playing in the ALCS and about half of the girls who came got stuck in major traffic either coming, going, or both ways!


All in all this was the least expensive party we've ever done. Costs: Pizza, candy, soda, cupcakes, fabric for pillows, and buckets. We borrowed or had everything else. We even borrowed the movie from the library! Now Boo Bear wants to do this for his party.........but his birthday is in July and this is FLA! Not sure he gets the concept of how hot and buggy it is then. I'll just have to keep thinking and persuade him of a better party. Any ideas?