No monkeys were hurt in the creation of these invitations

I really like birthday parties.  I *tend* to go overboard....all for my own entertainment.  That's all I'll say.  Seth's birthday party is coming soon. He settled on a monkey theme.  Fits him perfectly, right?  Well, here's the invites.  Super easy, no really - took about an hour.  And cheap!


The invite package.



Step 1:  made moon shapes in Word, typed invite information inside the moon. 

Used lots of puns, cuz i'm punny like that. 





Free-handed the stem at the top, cut them out, then cut a section for the top of the banana - it will be the part you see when you open the banana so I used a lighter yellow textured paper that I had on hand.





Inside view.  Just colored the stem with a brown marker, cut the bottom off at an angle and glued on the lighter yellow waffle-paper.




Cut out foam fronts - using the pattern I already created.  Then just cut down an inch or two to make a peel in the banana.



Hot glue-gunned the foam part on the invitation part - just at the very bottom.



Front view - the monkey is a foam sticker; just moved him around so it looked like he was hanging/peeling the banana.  Stuck the peel part under his head to keep it peeled open. 



Mom, you deserve a spot on my blog for your amazingness.

I've spent the last 31ish years making fun of my mom's craftiness.  Awful, I know.  But does YOUR mom have 16 chests of drawers full of random craft supplies?  Does she have a ribbon maker?  Does she still have leftover fabric from making your coming-home-from-the hospital outfit?  Does she make a wreath in the time it takes you to sneeze?  Does she know how to make your skirt last another year by sewing some lace or other nastiness to the bottom of it (oh yes, she did....out of necessity).  Does she?  I dare say NO!  My mother is truly one-of-a-kind.  But I suppose I should admit that she is pretty stinking cool.  And as I get older (and she, therefore, gets cooler), I must admit that she is one fancy shmancy crafty mom.  Take this.  She turned this:

 INTO THIS:

Amazingly beautiful, huh? 

And she made little Reed THIS:

And she made little Ryan THIS:

And she made little Seth THIS:

And she made the boys THIS:

Its a town for all their cars.  You probably can't see all the little garages that the cars can drive under/in. SO CUTE>>>hours of fun.

Sheesh, Mom.  I've always wondered where I've gotten my coolness.  I figured it must have just been from Dad, but I'm starting to think you might have had a *little* something to do with it. 

You NEED to eat these cupcakes.

Totally unhealthy but I don't care.  Every once in awhile you just have to throw down all rules of proper eating and go all out gluttonous.  Just a smidgen gluttonous. (I s'pose that's an oxymoron.) True confessions: I am really indecisive on how to best utilize my calories - I crave everything at once - cake, cookies, frosting, chocolate, all of it.  Welllllllll, my dreams came true when I made this recipe.  Its....wait for it.......get ready for this.......it's everything you want ALL AT THE SAME TIME.  Say it with me now:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes 

Did you see the "DOUGH" part of that?  Yep, anyone can make chocolate cupcakes.  And most people can make chocolate chip cupcakes.  But hold! on! to! your! belts! this baby has DOUGH in it. Ok, HUSH! to all you people who pretend you don't eat the dough.  I know you do....and if you really don't, you WISH you did.  You're missing out on one of God's most amazing creations.  D...o...u...g...h.  (said in my most dreamy voice.)

So here's the scoop (pun intended):

1. Make your favorite white/vanilla cupcake recipe.  I like Wilton's Vanilla Bean or French Vanilla.  (I tried this with chocolate, it wasn't as good).  Pour batter in wrappers in muffin tin.  WAIT!  Don't bake them yet!
2. Make your favorite chocolate chip cookie dough recipe.  I like this one.  But it helps if you use mini chocolate chips. WAIT!  Don't bake these either! 
3. Freeze the dough in small balls.  Or if you want to be like calorie-loving ME, you'll make a quadruple batch (oh yes, I do) and freeze them in balls to always have cookie dough around to eat  bake.
4. Drop a dough ball down into each cupcake batter in the muffin tin.
5. Bake according to cupcake directions.  If you want to have a kinda doughy bite in the middle, place the FROZEN cookie dough in the cupcake batter.  If you want a more solid cookie bite in the middle (more of a cakey consistency), put the dough ball in chilled, but not frozen. 

HELLO!?!?  Are you still here?  If you ran off to the kitchen to start baking, wait just a minute.  You need the frosting recipe.  Here it is.  And its gonna blow your mind.  It takes like cookie dough, too. 

FROSTING:
3 sticks softened butter (don't judge)
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine the butter and brown sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the powdered sugar until smooth. Beat in the salt, milk, and vanilla extract until smooth and combined.

Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips.  I'm not joking - best cupcakes ever.  You can play with the proportions of dough-cake.  And when you make these and your eyes roll up into the top of your head as you sink your little teeth into this masterpiece of caloric wonderfulness, think of me.  And bring me one.
(Thanks, Tish, for the heads up on this amazing recipe.)

Who has the best babysitter in the world? Hands down.....WE DO!

So, no preschool today so our amazing, wonderful, fabulous, marvelous babysitter took our boys and her kids on a special trip to the Boone train place (whatever it is called, Boone Scenic River blah, blah, blah....it's the TRAIN).  The kids were THRILLED!  AND, she is awesome enough that she took all kinds of pictures and sent them to me so I could enjoy it *almost* as much as they could :)

A little playing in the park before the train

Such a sweet face....would NEVER be naughty....

CHEESE!

All ABOARD!!!!



Seth is so excited :)



Got his ticket and he's ready to go

The boys with their "big buddy, Riley.

Reed's first train ride....can you see the excitement in his eyes!?!?

A little nervous about this one - DON'T FALL OUT!

Oh. My. SOMEONE GRAB THEM! AND CLOSE THE WINDOW! AND PUT ON THEIR LIFEJACKETS!  (so, I'm a little scared of water...who isn't?!?!?)  Good thing cooler heads prevailed and allowed them to have fun!

Reed checking out the view with our sitter's oldest daugher, Brianna.

Awwwwwww


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OUT.  But notice, he's even hoarding in his sleep.  Impressive, little buddy.



Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury,

Defendant:  Ryan, Age 4.  Charged with:  HOARDING:
Evidence:

• Ryan MUST pack two backpacks full of junk and take them everywhere he goes.
• He won't take his backpacks IN to any place - he keeps them in the van so as not to risk losing/sharing his precious items.
• The stuff in his bag is just JUNK - sticky notes, instructions, wrappers, empty DVD cases, receipts, toys, toys, toys.
• While he likes to play with toys, he is obsessed with stacking papers/books/etc.  He likes to hear things stack up:  "hey, do you hear what cool sound THIS makes?" - plops book on top of another book; flips closed a wallet, drops a pad of paper on the floor, etc.
• Yesterday he "played" for 2 hours, TWO HOURS! I tell you, with a random assortment of stuff.  "Play" - verb: To stack, sort, resort, restack, adjust, move to location 2, repeat.  These things included soccer shoes, superman figurine, paper, toy lizard, a blanket, 3 pairs of underwear, papers "stolen" from DVD cases, sunglasses, the day's junk mail and a key.  Was there a plot?  A story with lots of imagination?  Maybe...but I didn't notice anything other than hoarding it and protecting it from Seth. 
• He wants to take ALL of his toys to bed.  When we say he can't, he asks us as nicely as he can to "please do not touch my things and leave them nicely on the couch so I can play with them when I'm up and then put them away myself". 
• When given the choice, he will throw NOTHING away.  He has a purpose for EV.ER.Y.THING.
• As I am typing this, he saw my checkbook and got visibly excited about it.  "Mom, is this for ME?"  No.  Can I feel it for a minute?  Sure.  His eyes get huge as he opens, closes, slaps it against his hand.....THE LITTLE HOARDER JUST PUT IT IN HIS BACKPACK!!! 
• my father family has a history of hoarding. 

Defendant: Seth, Age 2 yrs, 10mo. Charged with: REVERSE-HOARDING:

Evidence:

• When he clears his plate after eating dinner, unless he is reminded first, he throws away his entire plate.
• Everything he can get his hands on, he "puts away".  "Put away" - verb.  To shove it where it doesn't belong, with the specific intent of breaking, jamming, losing, the "put away" item.
• Example reverse-hoarding incidents from the recent month:
• shoving penny into van air vent
• jamming seam ripper into laptop hinge
• placing debit card in DVD player
• cramming dozens of toys in small crack between bed and wall
• pushing football pass card into CD drive on laptop
• forcing a dozen markers into the crack between the fridge and freezer. (frozen markers)
• dozens of small toys have been discarded into the opening on the surround sound sub woofer
• squeezing football guys into wipe container
• dropping ball in toilet; flushing said ball down toilet

I rest my case. What say you?

I am STUFFED :)

Floppy, flat pillows :(

So I'm great at looking around and noticing problems.  Critical?  Check.  Got that covered.  Complainer?  Yep, that comes pretty naturally to me.  Well, maybe I'm being a little hard on myself ....but I've been so annoyed with my flat, squished couch pillows lately. 



When we bought these couches we only had a 1 week old baby and while I warned my dear husband that couches with removable pillows for the back was going to present a lot of parenting *challenges* as the kid(s) grew, he loved them so much (and I loved that he actually loved something at the furniture store) that we threw caution to the wind and got them.  2 active boys later - our pillow cushions have no "cush". 



It was/is a house rule to not take them off the couch, sleep on them (ga-ross), jump on them (again, ga-ross),  etc, but somehow they've just gotten saggy, baggy, lifeless and make sitting on the couch a chore.  And sitting should NEVER be a chore, right?  Well, stop complaining!  Do something about it!  Ta Da!  A few bags of poly-fil and batting later, and I've got a new couch.



Sad, saggy couch



And after! 

Maybe the pictures don't reeeeeally show it well, but it is a very noticable change.  Well, to me anyway....I didn't say anything to Troy and he has yet to notice.  Of course, he hasn't sat on the couch yet (just got home) but I'm CERTAIN that he will notice.  Right?  Guys totally notice these things....these important things like couch cushions, right?

And the next project...going to make some super fun reusable snack bags.  I've been using way too many ziplocs and such, so these are going to be frugal, fun, and fiercely cute. 

Step 1: Make a BIG mess.  (Pants optional if you're 2)

 

Steps 2 - 5,435 coming soon :)



"You'd better write that down!"

I hear it every day:  Those kids are growing up so fast!  I can't believe how time flies!  Wow, they are getting big!  Yes, I feel like I *blink* and have to look around, pinch myself, and remind myself that it is indeed 2011, I have a 4 year old, an almost 3 year old, and a 3 month old.  Yes, they grow up fast.  But you know what else I hear a LOT?  "I hope you're writing these things down!" or "Better write that one down or you'll never remember it."  Each time I think that THIS is the cutest thing ever and I'll NEVER forget said cute thing.  But, 2 hours later I don't even remember my middle name.  Whirlwind of life.  So, this past May I made a promise to myself to do A Sentence A Day.  That's all there is to it.  I write a sentence down each day about each kid.  Quick, easy, usually done right before bed when I'm thinking about the silliness of the day.  Sometimes its not what they say or do, but just something enjoyable about the day.  Something I learned.  Something I'll NEVER do again.  Etc.  Because all these people are right - I'll forget it.  And at the end of the year, I always make a photobook of the year's events, and now I'm going to add all these little one-liners.  So it may end up like our wedding album....it's around here somewhere....but I can see myself in 40 years:  crazy lady in my rocking chair, talking to my pet bird....all my little boys grown and gone off into the world.  But I won't be bored; I'll be reading all these precious moments, wishing I would have taken life less seriously, remembering the people and places that were really important, recalling that the happiest moments are the simplest, and reading all these sentences that tell our crazy life story.  Hey, they might make some great leverage over "too cool" high school boys, too.  Why not? 

Like today:  Seth had the best time EVER helping me core apples.  "Mommy, can I get up here and help you be your good helping helper?  I need to get pants on first!" Ryan has the option of going to the football game tonight with Troy and standing on the sidelines (since Troy isn't actually coaching this one).  As if he's doing me a favor - "Mom, I'll go to the game IF you let me skip my nap this afternoon...because football boys don't take naps."  Reed rode in the stroller through Target and HyVee and barely took his eyes off me the entire time.  Each time we made eye contact, he smiiiiiiiiiled with his entire body.  Got a cute little lion squeaker toy from a friend at lunch today and he LOVED it.

Anything fancy?  Nope.  Anything special?  To me, yes. 

Or last Thursday, made the boys' night by buying these cheapy planes, letting the suspense build up all day, and then having special "daddy time" flying planes when he got home.  Ryan flew his all over the backyard. 

Seth got a picture taken, threw it once, then stepped on it and smashed it and moved on to the next thing.

On another note, I survived my first football game with 3 rowdy boys:

Such sweet faces: