Egg artist

It's been while since I've seen my sister, Tonya, and my nieces. So I invited them over for some egg-cellent dyeing fun. Cheesy, I know, but just hear me out.

Lesson #1- Two years old is a little too young to be dyeing eggs but don't you dare tell him that. In his eyes, he's perfectly capable and beyond excited about being an egg artist. I'm not sure how many of these actually were cracked by little chubby hands reaching and rolling them like they were ping pong balls.



There were innumerable gasps and people holding their breath knowing that Campbell was within reach of the colored dye liquid and breakable eggs.

And he was quite the comic relief dipping his egg holder into the dye and blowing with such force wondering why in the world bubbles weren't coming out. I didn't have the heart to tell him that it wasn't a bubble wand.

 

Notice Campbell still just-a-blowin' that egg holder...

A five year old on the other hand is extremely meticulous. Well, my 5 year old is, who obviously inherited his father's artistic gene.



Guess who made the biggest mess of them all? My 37-year-old husband who spilled blue dye all over my niece and the table. Good times.

 
My nieces were by far the most patient with their decorating. That's what being 10, 12, and 15 years old will do. I absolutely love having them there because with Campbell alone, that's how many extra hands I needed in order to actually snap some pictures.

And in sticker obsessed fashion, my boys went nuts plastering their eggs with stickers. But I can't blame the kids, I was pretty sticker obsessed myself as a kid. I distinctly remember my mother hiding band-aids from me because they're stickers too, right? Anyone?

Here's some proof that this guy had enough patience to keep his hands in the dye long enough to do his own Incredible Hunk finger impersonation.

Finally Campbell lost interest and there was an audible sigh of relief from all the hands on deck. Those 15 minutes of interest were exhausting for all involved.

And when the kids lost interest, my biggest kid (Justin) went in for some creative egg therapy. Can you tell which ones are his?

Curiosity gets the best of all of us...

It's happening. My very inquisitive 5 year old is asking questions. This is nothing out of the ordinary.

"Mommy, what does modify mean?" 

"Daddy, what tells your eyes to see?"

But the mother of all questions came this week when I was putting the boys to bed while Justin was at church.

"Mommy, how is Landry going to get out of your belly?" 

*GULP*

It was one of those mother meta cognitive moments where you're fully aware that you're thinking about what you're thinking. I think my thought at that very moment was OMG, how can this already be happening!? He's only 5 years old!

Something I feel pretty sure about when it comes to parenting is that I want my children to feel like they can come to me for answers and know that I'm going to tell them the truth. But it's finding that line of telling them the truth and then telling them what they can developmentally handle at that particular time that's the tough part.

So my head was spinning fast and all I could say after a pause that must have been nearly a minute long was, "Well, Mommy is going to push her out." I was really praying that would pacify him.

But that was quickly followed by another question, "Out of your mouth?!"

Completely without meaning to, I busted out laughing because it caught me so off guard. He asked why I was laughing at him and I had to reassure him that I wasn't laughing at him merely laughing at how adorable and cute he was.

After realizing that more information given to him would only entice him to keeping asking more questions, I finally ended the conversation with, "It's getting really late, Daddy and I will answer that another night."

So I might be truthful, it might only take me 5-10 years to tell the whole truth.

Getting my craft on

I saw something similar to these buckets on Etsy and there's not much I can say this on when it comes to that website but I thought, "Hey, I can do that."

These are my dollar spot finds from Target that I'm using for Easter buckets. I bought the vinyl and cut it out on my cricut and I thought they turned out pretty cute for being as cheap as they were.

 

And here's the back side. Oh and in case you're wondering who the "L" bucket is for, it's for Baby Girl! I haven't written her name out on the front yet. I actually need to buy something pink for once! So I guess it's official, we have a name picked out...Landry. We're still working on a middle name but that will come soon enough.

Blue for you...

Sometimes I drive around Texas and I think about how ugly it is with our grass fires and flat land. And the triple digit heat in the summer only magnify its ugliness when driving around in the concrete jungle of the city. I mostly feel this when I've just come back from a trip or I'm sweating through my shirt. Sweat makes me grumpy.

But some days, I'm taken back by it. A sunset in Texas is a sight to be seen, farmland with rolling hills and windmills have its own unique sense of beauty. We live near a lake and seeing the sun reflect off the water gives that feeling that there's fairy dust in the air.

But bluebonnets? Don't even get me started on those suckers. They make driving in the concrete jungle that much more bearable when you see them sitting there all prissy like they just know they're cute right along a highway. It's like they're saying, "Aww, c'mon, Texas isn't so horrible!"

The only thing that could be better about bluebonnets is that they should definitely stay longer than a few weeks.

I've got this bluebonnet thing to a science. I've figured out that on Justin's birthday week, they are at their peak. The only thing I don't have down to a science is where to find them. One year, we drove around for two hours looking for them. I highly recommend NOT doing that with two kids 3 and under. Bad idea.

And once a mama has had a bluebonnet beat down, she vows for it never to happen again. So I must say for the past two years, we've been on a roll. I start a couple of weeks before scouting them out...but this year, nothing. It was so sad driving around here. It was a pitiful display, to say the least.

But my sweet co-worker, Carlynn, told me of one field that was a little out of my way but boy was it so worth it. I think this must have been the one spot in my area that actually got a decent showing of bluebonnets.



And apparently everyone got the memo because there were at least 7-8 other families doing the same thing we were except we were by far the biggest amateurs out there.

 But we did our best to try and act like we knew what we're doing. Confidence is key, right?

 So we didn't have Radio Flyer wagons and old tattered chairs out in a field (why didn't I think of that?) but who needs props when you've got this oozing cuteness working for ya?

 

The boys have had a camera in their face since birth almost daily so the bonus to that is that they seem to not mind it and just carry on doing what they're doing. And candid photography is my absolute favorite.

Swear that we had no part in the 'hands in your pocket' pose. That was completely all them. They are becoming quite the posers, aren't they?

And Campbell in his horse obsession kept himself entertained by feeding the bluebonnets to his horse.

 

 Another year of successful bluebonnets makes for one happy mama.

Boy or Girl?

Think PINK!!!! WOW, can't believe it myself. I was so convinced it was a boy. And all I've ever known is how to raise boys so this one threw me for a loop. But I couldn't be happier and more excited. Because let's face it, girl stuff is way more fun and cuter than boy stuff. And I can't wait to learn how to make bows for this little girl. I promise not to make them bigger than her head can hold up (well, on most days but don't hold me to it 100%). So I haven't wasted one second slapping a bow on this girl. I'm sure she'll grow up to be a tomboy with two older brothers so I better enjoy it while I can.

Recently, I spoke with the boys about what they wanted...a boy or a girl. Nolan from the beginning has wanted a girl and has voiced it over and over again. At first when I asked Campbell he said he wanted a boy but then I think he thought that meant we were trading in Nolan for another boy and he kept saying, "No, I want Nolan." Once I told him Nolan was safe and we weren't baby traders, he was on the team girl side.

When we had Campbell, I got a lot of comments from people along the lines of, "Are you sad it's not a girl?" or "Are you going to keep trying for that girl?" It made me perturbed, to say the least, that they didn't just see the blessing in having a healthy baby boy. So when the boys and my parents made their voices pretty clear that they wanted a girl, there was a lot of pressure (even though it was completely out of my control). So mostly importantly I'm glad that things look good with the baby and I'm so grateful!

I took this video about a month ago before we knew what we were having. Guess it's going to be a tough conversation that Uniqua Tasha McDonald may not exactly be what we're looking for. Can you tell my kids are big fans of Backyardigans?

The sonographer (who's never been wrong, by the way, but watch us be his first) said he's 95% sure because I was so early at my sonogram (I was one day shy of 15 weeks). My first question of course is, "Can I go shopping?"  He said that he'd still go to Vegas and bet on it so I may hold off on painting the room, but a little shopping won't do any harm...

Birthday Boy

"Marriage is the alliance of two people, one of whom never remembers birthdays and the other never forgets them." - Ogden Nash

When I found this quote, I thought this so perfectly portrays our marriage. In fact my sweet friend, Paige, calls me her party trick that I can remember birthdays. It's a number thing for me. I think it was all the years of working as a teller in college at a bank, and the fact that I'm a math teacher probably adds to it. I'm not something like Russell Crow in Beautiful Mind or anything but I seem to remember numbers more than people's names. Wish it was the other way around, I can't remember someone's name two seconds after shaking their hand.

One birthday that is never hard to forget....my husband's. Today he turns 37, and I love that I've known him since he was 25 and I hope to know him when he turns 97 because that would make me 92 and I will still give him grief him being so old.

I have to share this story that happened this past week that makes me love him even more. Last Sunday was a rough day...a really rough day. This week was the most stressful and exhausting week of the year for teachers. It was our state testing week which means long hours of walking and pacing your room. Not to mention the stress of having to get all your kids to pass the test. And being four months pregnant with hormones raging never helps a situation like that. We had company coming in town and the house was an absolute wreck and on top of everything the boys were not napping so I could get things done and possibly even sneak in a nap myself. But the icing on the cake was definitely when Campbell pooped his pants and while I was trying to take his underwear off and prevent a huge mess from getting all over him, I somehow managed to let the poop fall and completely splat all over my foot.

Oh and Justin was at church while all this was happening. So somehow it was all his fault...
And right when I felt that all over my toes, it was like a button was pushed on the whack-o hormone meter and I just started crying. It wasn't even the poop foot I was sporting... it was just all of it put together.

Justin called me on his way home from church and got an earful of hormones and he just sat there and listened...which is exactly what I needed him to do. He came home and for the next hour or so we didn't talk, we both just knocked out everything that needed to be done with the house and the boys and were in our "mission" mode. And after the house was picked up and feet and bottoms were washed because of previous events, I took a breath.

And Justin came up to me and just hugged me and told me how much he appreciated me and everything that I do for him and the boys. It was exactly what I needed to hear and what I needed him to do. He knows me well enough to know that listening, helping, leaving me alone, and hugging help almost any situation when it comes to me and I love that he knows me that well.

So on a day like today, I'm so glad here's here in this world because even if he's a grandpa to me, I couldn't do it without him for more reasons than I can count.

 

 

Top 5 photos

I'm linking up with Click it up a Notch and had to pick my Top 5 pics of my children so far this year. 

It's way too hard for me to pick my Top 5 photos from the beginning of the year but here's my best attempt. I can't believe how much photography became a hobby almost overnight since last year. Now I just look for any opportunity to take their pictures and can't wait to download them and take a look on the computer.

I love this picture because there is nothing sweeter than seeing my boys side and side and yes they even hold hands sometimes. It just absolutely melts my heart. 

This one was included because we went on a hiking trail and found this ratty ol' cabin. In order to get the boys to cooperate for the picture I had to act like I was a bear sneaking up on their cabin. Moms will do what they have to in order to get a great picture.

This one is fresh off the camera from yesterday. Texas has wonderful bluebonnets and every year we hope to find a beautiful patch. This might be the prettiest patch we've ever found. I absolutely love this one of Campbell with his Daddy.

Snow is a rare commodity here in Texas so snow pictures are an extra special treat. Even one we try to taste!

Here's another one that I had to include. I love how the bluebonnets just make his eyes pop and love that the aperature setting has his brother blurry in the background.

There, it was hard to do but I did my best. I still can't pick my absolute favorite!