Hold the hands hold the hands!!!!

As many know, last week was birthday week, which also means, making cakes, which means making homemade-to-die-for butter cream frosting. This ALSO means, everything is in upheaval and a disaster area with things left out and baking products everywhere. I admit it, when i am planning, things are a disaster. One morning for breakfast, Jackson decided he wanted green eggs and ham. SO i made him green eggs seeing as how the kitchen was chaos and full of baking supplies. Later that morning, the Lindsey kiddos came to play while their mommy was at a bible study. Kids played and I cleaned. everything was going swimmingly. My friend Jess came back and we ate lunch and sis and Aubrynn were sitting in the chair when I looked over and I saw it and all i could think was "hold the hands, hold the hands!!!" Sis had gotten into blue food coloring and gotten it all over her hands. The pic below is after washing. It was WAAAYYYY brighter believe me. The next night as I was dying icing with my mom I turned and she was into the yellow Wilton icing dye. EATING it!!! what is it with sis and the food dye??? Thankfully it managed to be fairly easy clean-up and didn't get on anything other than skin. An angel was watching I tell ya. The please don't make a mess so mommy doesn't pull her hair out angel of mine that seems to be permanently attached to my shoulder. Thank you Jesus for making her mine. I so need her!!

The Lure of the "Red Stuff"

So this is the face of our little diva after I noticed her missing one evening after dinner. I had left the bottle of ketchup on the counter to which sis had pushed a chair over, climbed up, got herself a plate, and dumped a almost entire bottle of ketchup covering the Disney princess' , and then preceded to eat plain ole ketchup with her fingers. I just don't get the lure of the red stuff. I mean it's good with fries and on burgers and dogs, but eating plain?? Dipping a green bean in it?? on a ham sandwich?? I don't get it??!! Some of my girlfriends would tell me to ban the stuff because of all the "red dye" in it sent from Satan. Don't think I'm quite that extreme, but I do think there is some kind of narcotic in it to make kids dump it all over Ariel's face and eat it with their lil fingers.

Trying to make a memory dang it!!!

So, I was trying to be the good mom and I bought all the fixins to make smores thinking we would all stand around the chimminhea, sing campfire songs, hold hands and giggle. Right, that worked out well. The kids did ok for about .5 seconds. Jackson didn't even want to eat his marshmallow, Maddox just wanted the bag of marshmallows to eat out of, Danno hates smores and wouldn't even act like he was interested, and Miss Ava wanted to poke her brothers with the skewers because she thought it was funny after eating 4 Hershey bars. Her tiny face smeared in rings of chocolate and hands a sticky mess that attracted every bug in our backyard. I am trying to make a memory here family, please humor me in participating!! I did enjoy two of them after Jackson went in the house to play Wii, Maddox begged to open bubbles, Dan played with his phone and sis continued to drag her chocolated coated hands through the clean hair that I had just washed. So I guess that the memory is... no one really likes smores but mama :( But, never fails, I will try to make this same memory again, when its a little cooler.

Is there anything better??

There are so many things that make summertime that much better. Dips in a cool pool, no school, and endless hours playing video games and watching TV. But can anything really be better than a Flavor-ice on the front porch. Their easy no dip plastic packets you would think could be every mommy's no fuss dream. My children however, seem to find a way to make them almost as bad as a baby eating rice scattering it all over the floor. But never fails, every afternoon and into the evening, someone begs to have Flavor-Ice Popsicles to ease the heat of summer and make that 100 degree that much more bearable. Not to mention that it seems to cost a dollar for about 100 of them :)

Just a great pic of sis that I took. Thought I'd share....

VBS and Day Camp week

Last week was VBS and Day Camp for the kiddos at church. This was Jackson's first year at Day Camp which was held at Eberly Farms. The kids got to praise Jesus everyday in a camp like setting, while making new friends and learning about God's word. I felt a little at ease because I knew Jackson's camp leader and had told her of his lack of swimming ability despite my frantic rush for swim lessons at the Y the last couple of months. So you can imagine my surprise and heightened anxiety when I went to pick him up the first day and he plops in the truck telling me that he went off the slide into the deep end without taking the swim test and also got lost the second he stepped off the bus onto the camp grounds. This is my BABY!!!!! He what???? He seemed to take it all in stride and not care much about getting lost and completely thought I was over reacting about the deep end thing. But that is my Jackson. Laid back, no big thing,mom, Jackson. Where did my baby go??? Well, I got over it and am slowly letting go. He had a GREAT time at camp and is talking constantly about how indestructible and undefeatable our GOD is. He is such a wonderful little boy, my Jackson.
Maddox. Well, you know goobley. It takes him a few days to warm up, but once he does, he has a GREAT time. He made boat loads of crafts and proudly sported his VBS shirt each day. He was in the same group as his "one and only lady", miss Aubrynn. He now sings to all his songs in the car and demands that no one else sing but him.
Sis went to the nursery class that she commands each week. No big surprise there.
Mommy worked her tail off serving snacks, no a daily buffet, to all the hard working volunteers that help make the week possible. I'm fairly certain that I gained a few, which I am feeling this week on my cardio.
All in all, a great but exhausting week. So grateful that our church hosts such an event that tells all the kids about Jesus. There had to be 500 + children involved. Truly, a blessing.

Fun with Cousins

Recently, the kiddos and I got to watch my baby nephews, separately of course, while their mommies and daddies were working hard earning a paycheck while we we busy having fun. Little Levi, is such a character. He is constantly smiling and playing and Sis would NEVER leave him alone. Poor little guy I know must've been exhausted after being mauled and tackled from kisses by our little princess. He is absolutely a little doll with his precious belly laughs and ornery faces.

Maddox seemed to really take to Elijah, the most mellow laid back child I think on the face of the planet. Little Eli has Mommy and Daddy completely spoiled, as he hardly ever makes a peep. Maddox played with him, proud to show him his cars and Little People play sets, which he stuck each animal in his mouth to ease those sweet teething little gums. We played outside and sat in the shade enjoying a gorgeous day.

Although these little guys are both so fun and cuddly right now, I can't wait for picnics in the park, days running through our zoo, and hot afternoons splashing away in the pool. I possibly could attempt these things now, but how fun it will be when everyone is a little more mobile. Thanks Joey and Bekah and Cassi and Justin for some fun times with these precious little guys.