HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

These crazies ... and their parents ... are off to spend a Thanksgiving holiday in sunny CA and ... have breakfast with SHAMU (and Santa ... shh!!) HAVE a great Thanksgiving!!

The Artist. Now ... With the Finished Piece.

Joshua and I read a book the other day about Emma. Emma is an artist. She has secret stashes of all her paintings ... reminding her of all the things she loves.

We had barely closed the book and Joshua announced that he needed a canvas ... and who am I to turn down a "thematic" moment. So ... the next day, we were off to JoAnn's in search of the perfect canvas. I pulled out an 11x14 canvas.

Joshua: "That won't work. I need a rectangle."
Me: "Well, 11x14 is a rectangle

. See, this side is longer."
Joshua: "Nope, I need a REALLY LONG rectangle."

And with that ... he spotted an extra long canvas and announced, "This one is perfect! Let's go find some colors."

He had the entire piece mapped out in his mind. An ocean scene.

He needed a little dark blue for the water. Red for the fishes.

Sparkly green for the boy and girl playing with the beach ball.

Black for the lifeguard house.

And yellow for the sun.

A boy after my own heart. My little budding artist!

It's Going Down Hill. FAST.

I had a lot of "I'll nevers" before I had children. Like ... I'll never let my kids go out in public with leftover bits of lunch stuck to their faces ... and I'll never give the thumbs up to outfits containing obvious clashes of color ... and I'll never bribe my child in a grocery store with the promise of a yummy just to get what I need, get out the door and maintain my sanity. I was going to be different.

But year one passed ... and I saw myself with a kid, in Walmart, with GOO on their face ... smells coming from their clothing and an opened container of YUMMIES. I had reached a new low.

Or maybe ... just a new normal.

I think I lke the word normal better.

Because this is what comes as a "good outfit" choice for Sir Eli. He's picky ... he's particular and he doesn't much enjoy meshing with the crowd. He likes to stand out a bit. Take a fashion risk. After all ... who doesn't like to grocery shopping with a good Nascar hat, a dinosaur shirt, a tiger backpack and a pony to boot?
And then there's this one ... who has some bizarre love for socks of all shapes and sizes. He declared he was going to Costco like this ...
And convinced the already stylish younger one to grab a pair of my socks ...
And put blue chalk on his face ...
And it doesn't just stop with fashion. Nope. My downward spiral has included such things as M & Ms ... at 8:57 in the morning. Because that's TOTALLY normal ... right?
So ... with my parenting skills clearly showing their weaknesses, I had to regain my upper edge somewhere. And the only thing I could think was doing a project. Or two.

So I found a place for my new polka dot pillow.
And my new green side table ...
And finished my bird "sculpture" ... three months in the making.
So don't worry if you see my kids in mismatched clothes with evidence of early morning candy consumption ... because I'm probably just sipping some tea ... leaning up against my new pillow and gazing at the birds ... wondering why I was ever crazy enough to come up with that list of "I'll nevers" in the first place. This normal stuff is way more fun!

Our Weekend.

On Saturday ... we went here ...

And I saw her ... but didn't get to say HI ... because ...

I had brought them ...

And all they wanted was popcorn and balloons ...

I did buy a FABULOUS new side table and a polka dot pillow...

so that almost made up for not talking to her ... almost ...

And then we finished off the day with McDonald's at the park ...

Today was a little less exciting. Well ... except for the fact that I was watching (brace yourselves) NASCAR with the boys and we saw Ben ... walking across Pit Road ... wearing a gray shirt and smacking gum and Joshua yelled out, "I didn't know he was breaking the wheels off too!" (Breaking the wheels off is what How refers to as a pit stop ... ) So Eli requested we watch that clip AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN ... until I said it was NAP TIME!

And then this evening ... I made three wrong turns before getting to the grocery store. Think that's a sign I should go more often? And the boys spotted a "car" shopping cart and I listened to them shout "Go NASCAR ... Go Lightening McQueen!" as I QUICKLY tried to get a few items in my cart! And then I crashed into someone (it's a huge cart) and Joshua was thrilled! "PIT STOP! You just broke our wheels!"

And then we came home. And Eli did this.

7pm is a fantastic time to start learning how to get dressed.

And then he stuck his hand in the air and said, "Mama. No pictures. No pictures peas."

And with that ... I decided it was time for bed.

And I can't wait for our NASCAR rockstar of a dad/husband to return!!

I Am In Love.

In Love. With my new black and white canvas pictures of my boys!

I have been hunting for MONTHS ... for the perfect pictures. Pictures that captured each boy's personality. Pictures that made my heart melt each time I looked at them ...

And I finally found them ... and ordered two 18x24 inch canvases of their PRECIOUS faces!

I have big plans to add three more of these to our living room ... but I'll have to save a few more pennies. These were my "treat" from participating in a diaper study for Eli. Seriously ... I wouldn't recommend it. Two weeks of free diapers and $$ at the end was really not worth all the gagging and paperwork ... but I guess it was ... since I now have THESE!

Time to Party.

It's November. I know. So why am I still trying to recap all the adventures of late October? Good question. It's my pseudo Type A personality ... it screams for order in the midst of chaos. It screams LOUDLY ... but as of late, my Type A has become rather Type B. Until tonight. I saw the piles. The paperwork. The toys. And I kicked Type B out. So ... in welcoming the return of Type A ... I give you ... MORE OCTOBER HIGHLIGHTS!

I skipped over the fact that we went to U2. It took us 2.5 hours to get from my mom's house to the concert. I have pictures ... they're on another camera. Maybe we'll see those puppies in ... say ... December? I have to find the camera first. Once Type A gets here in full force ... I'll get right on that.

Then it was How's preschool party. For weeks, he has talked about being a cow. A cow? Yes! I found a costume on Craigslist. Drove to Queen Creek to get it. Morning of the party ... he didn't want to wear the costume. He wanted to see all the other kids wearing their costumes first. Ben agreed to let him go to school "un-costumed" as long as he changed once he got there. You can see where this is going, right? Get to school. How is in hysterics. "I NEED TO CALL MY DADDY!" Me ... "Fine. But your daddy is going to tell you to put on your cow costume!" Walk out to the car with How ... decide it would be a good idea to just get the kid in the costume. I had help. It didn't go well. The zipper busted. Great ... now I couldn't make him wear the costume if I wanted him too. He's weeping. I'm frustrated. He wants his fireman jacket. Really? I offered that to you at home and you said no. I need it now! I meet Ben ... he drops off jacket. I walk back into the classroom ... only to see my firstborn ... through his tears ... in the middle of circle time ... saying ... "I REALLY wanted to be a fireman ... but my mom made me be a cow!" Seriously ... because I remember that going just a little bit differently!

I left ... and we returned ... it was PARTY TIME ... and thankfully, I was greeted by a very happy fireman! Who was most enthused to decorate his pumpkin cookie ...
Catwoman ... Starbucks Man ... and Spiderman ... that's one good looking family!
And then you have us ...the anti-costume ... but seriously pro-sugar family ...
Delicious!
Time for singing and dancing ... totally right up How's alley ...
A little time for trunk or treating ... and Mr. E was checking out the goods ...
YUMMY!
And a class picture ...
-It was a super fun morning ... just wish I had pictures of the cow wrangling in the parking lot! That would have been nice!

It's Official.

We are now living life with a two year old. Well ... a two year old and his older brother. And while I missed wishing him a HAPPY BIRTHDAY on the exact day, I couldn't help resist giving an after-birthday post in his honor. Because really ... who wouldn't have a LOT OF LOVE for this little guy ... who comes into my closet ... ON AN ALMOST DAILY BASIS ... and declares his love for SHOES!

He creates one heck of a mess ... but he loves shoes! Who can be mad at that?