The Unthinkable Happened Today

Today, I told Beanie that no matter how hard she tried, she just would never be able to make shooting gun sounds because she was not a boy and they just naturally seem to be able to do it. I nearly fell off my seat hearing the words come out of my mouth. How had this happened? How had I let myself actually ever allow those words to be thought, let alone fall from my lips? The mere thought that any of the fairer sex could not do something because we are of the fairer sex is against everything I believe in! Yes, we have our limitations, but that is because we chose them, not because they are any type of physical or mental limitations because we are not in possession of a Y chromosome! Especially something as simple as making a gun shooting sound from our mouths! If we want to make shooting sounds we can make them just as well as the boys can, dangit!

After I committed this verbal atrocity, I grabbed Beanie, and she and I went off to the other room to practice our shooting sounds and mouth noises. Maybe one day I will try to teach her to spit, too. Though, really, I never have gotten the hang of that one either. Maybe one day we will decide that really there is just too much spit involved in the process to really want to make shooting sounds, or maybe shooting things is really gruesome in and of itself. Then we will be choosing not to do it.

But, dangit if Smoosh cannot already make shooting noises better than both Beanie and I combined after a lot of practice on our parts. Silly Y chromosomes.

Spring Painting

The transition from winter to spring typically means the projects move from inside to outside, but this past weekend we actually had one last blast of snow so we had that last opportunity to finish our inside painting. And by we, I mean Joe. I am incredibly bad at painting. I get paint all over myself before I have even opened up the paint can. Joe could paint in a suit and tie and not get a bit of paint anywhere. He doesn’t even use a drip cloth. He is a truly talented man, that guy; however, I digress. While he was at the task of finishing painting the boys’ room, I set the kids to painting flower pots in the kitchen so they didn't get the bright idea of joining Daddy upstairs to paint.

Painting flower pots was a perfect way to remember spring was still on its way despite the snow and to keep all the eager helpers downstairs out of the way. Even Squeakers was given some finger paint of her own. Of course, she had to taste it. It’s ok though, it was nontoxic stuff and she looked cute in a mutant smurfish kind of way.

Smoosh eventually got paint all over himself and had to go upstairs to change. I caught him halfway up the ladder with his Daddy trying to help out. I am so good at predicting that these things are going to happen. And while I wanted to protest about him being up there because of future fingerprints on the walls, he was really cute up there with Joe. This was probably one of those things most moms would think is a bad thing for some kind of bizarre safety reason, but, me being me, I went and found my camera. I then had him reclimb up so I could get a picture of him being cute with his dad.

The room is finally completed, the pots are painted and ready for plants, and we are now done with all winter projects inside and ready for the outdoor projects to begin.

We've Loosened Up A Bit

We gave Squeakers a bowl of whip cream tonight to have for dessert because it was bath night and we thought it would be fun to watch her play with it. Having a 4th baby is fun.

The Creative Wave

Since my 4th little one was born, I have been hit by this insane wave of creativity. I have embraced every kind of creative process there is....ok, maybe that is a bit of a stretch, but I have picked up knitting, crafting, and sewing with a fervor that I have not done before. While I used to do these things before, it was when I was maybe 10 and really dabbled in it back and forth in between the years. Now, I think I have become very engrossed with it because my kids love doing and creating with me. It was with combined self-loathing and pure excitement that I found Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafting at the local library and checked it out. I actually think I let out a little squeal of delight, then made some sort of noise of disgruntlement at myself for being so excited. Obviously, I have not come to full terms with myself for enjoying Martha Stewart yet. However, this wave of creativity is flowing through everyone in my family. I caught Otter reading the book and when I actually decided to purchase it, he was the first one flipping through to the crafts he wanted to make (soap and candle making). I then purchased 2 more sewing books and found that Beanie and I were taking turns lying in the library reading through the projects and trying to decide what to make first.

One of the joys of this new found love is seeing the kids receive handmade creations from fabrics or yarns they have picked out. Beanie designed and colored her very own scarf and voila, had it made for her! Otter was amazed to have a camouflage bag made for his birthday and is now designing a camo quiver for his "arrows." Smoosh just wants something yellow. Squeakers even gets her own little adventure bags to put little things she finds around the house into. Bean has her own sewing machine and knitting needles that she loves to use. She has her own yarns and can sit and hand knit for hours with me. There really are not any kind of toys out there on the market these days that can match that kind of joy. Smoosh also loves to just cut fabrics and play with yarn. He has even sat and made his own bag with me at the sewing machine. And happily, I caught Squeakers yesterday playing in the yarn basket yesterday with the needles in and out of yarn balls. Yeah! She is on her way to becoming our next little artist in the house.

While it is still very easy to tell what is homemade vs. store bought around here as my talents do not quite match my enthusiasm, I would much rather spend my time and money getting fabrics and creating with the kiddos then doing just about anything else. Except maybe sleeping every once in awhile:)

For the Birds

Spring is in the air and so are the birds again! Yeah! We found a great idea to use our fabric scraps and make a "nest scrap bag" for them. Smoosh of course thought the birds would love everything yellow. Otter wanted to use camouflage for their nests, and Beans hunted out the pink and flower scraps. Squeaks just tried to taste everything, so we put her down for a nap.

SuperHeros Abound

Now introducing.....SuperRia and SuperParker.....

I think Parker is trying to wink in this one ------->






She's so strong----->

lollipop, lollipop

She's the fourth baby, so, thanks to her siblings, she's earned the right to discover things at her own pace without Mommy yanking them out of her hands quicker than you can sneeze. Today, Indie discovered a lollipop, complete in its wrapping and untouched by any other kiddos. She unwrapped it, played with it, and eventually it found its way into her mouth. It then found its way back into her hands, onto the floor, onto the sofa, into the dog bowl, onto the dogs' backs, and into the dogs' mouths. She took her time running around the kitchen with the lollipop, pulling out dishes and banging on them with the lollipop, stirring imaginary things in bowls with it, and hitting the cups with the lollipop. At that point, it was aimed for her mouth again, but Mommy grabbed it then. She was not happy that her magical toy had been taken away, but she did have a fun time up until then with the lollipop.