more water fun

the kids can't get enough water play these days. will and stephen both have created their own great wolf lodge in the backyard. sometimes in the sink. today we found a tutorial for this cool little water feature and decided to build it. so brandon hit home depot and spent about $10. then he built it in the time that it took me to whip up a steamin' hot pot of mac 'n' cheese. they are having a blast! i don't expect to see will in this house until dinner time.

ps. check out how his feet rarely touch the ground!

Randomness

here's just a current picture of miss abby. hmmm. an abby update. well, she's almost two. so that comes with some natural weirdness. she's learning to copy her brother. she mostly picks up on the annoying habits. he'll teach her a word (today the word was 'nine') and they just say it over and over until i lose my mind. she also pours stuff in stuff. mostly milk into her dinner, or some decorative piece. she's also figured out that she can get out of her bed. and she does.


on a different topic, jen had her baby. his name is parker grayson and he's stinkin' adorable. he has so much hair you can style it.


and on another topic, vacation at the great wolf lodge was awesome! we loved every single minute. ok, almost every single minute, but you just can't ask for better than that. i was too chicken to take my camera to a waterpark, but amy took some pictures and they're on her blog, so check those out.

cars. cars. cars. and keys of course.

will's obsession with vehicles continues. as his 5th birthday approaches we will be honoring that obsession by indulging him with a car themed party. he's all about hot wheels and i thought i'd just stick a hot wheel on top of cupcakes. but he said he would really prefer a big cake. his ideal car? a red toyota sienna. he told this to a mechanic the other day who laughed his butt off. naturally, keys are part of the deal too. last week he worked his lemonade stand to get a new key from home depot. as soon as he had enough money he shut that thing down and jumped in the car to go buy yet another blank key. the photos you see here are from a book that i'm making for his birthday of all of his favorite cars and why he loves them. that part is stinking cute.since the pages are all fixed up to be printed the pictures look kind of small so click on them to see the pure joy on his face.

Forgotten Blog Pics

There's nothing remarkably super special about this post. It's just a few pics that I forgot to put up here a while back. The kids love love love their birds. Pico is too tame for their tastes though. He's too much like a person or pet. The Ugs (short for Uglies) are wilder. They fly like lunatics when we clean their cage. We do it in the pub so they can't escape, but look at the joy on the kids' faces. They are wild for those funky birds.

PROJECTS!!!

i'm feeling pretty handy lately. overly confident, i think. but here are some of the projects that are up in the air.

the wagon. this little red radio flyer was on it's deathbed. it was will's when he was tiny, and now abby's at just the right age for it. so i thought before we tossed it i'd try to bring it back to life. so i've started sanding and painting it a nice ivory color. i plan to do some nice details and upholster a cushion fit for a princess to go in there as well.

the coffeehouse. this is the first installment to an entire secret village that is going to go behind the garage. i've turned into a carpentry nerd pulling plans from this site, and this is the bottom half of the coffeehouse. tonight we are going to sand and prime it and tomorrow we paint. i've picked out a super fun green and can't wait to see it all come together.

what i'll be doing in the middle of the night is painting will's ceiling. don't tell him. it's a surprise for him to find when he gets home from his chill week with grandma and grandpa.

AFTER pics to come...

Creativity Bootcamp: Ivory

Today I started Creativity Bootcamp, just a fun little thing to get my brain working. Each day there is a word to prompt an activity, an art project in any medium. Today the word was "ivory". There are few things in this world that epitomize the word ivory more than my offspring. So I got Miss Abby in her birthday suit and pulled out the sheepskin rug and the ivory canopy. It was really pretty. I think I'll use that in sessions again.

money talks

Sorry about the total lack of blogging lately. I've been kind of tied in with this other blog that I started. It actually took off pretty quick and even had an article written about it. I'm kinda proud actually. But the point is that after I do all that intense blogging I'm pretty tired of the computer if you can believe that.

But anyhoo, here's what's up with the kids this week. Abby is getting over her freakish people phobias. I think we're on the upswing. That's super good. We managed to make it to church with minimal drama. That's a huge relief. I knew it would pass, but whoa, that was a rough month.

Will has discovered the joys of cash. He's getting a little allowance for doing chores around the house. My windows have never been cleaner. So he picks up laundry, washes the windows, and (get this, it's pretty sweet) gets Abby out of bed in the morning. She's pleased as punch to wake up to her big brother. It's pretty cute. This week he spent his money on french macaroons at the Farmer's Market downtown. I think he'd do it again too. He's playing with Britten this week. She's in town and came over this afternoon to play after they all went to the zoo. They had a blast. So that's what's new in the casa.

Here's the link to the other blog. There are a few more kiddy pictures on it. And here's a link to the article about it. Cool, huh?!

Working Hard at the Farm Today.

Today we expanded the farm. We doubled it's size and besides two people, we did it all Cupitts. Stephen was an excellent foreman. He kept us all busy and safe. :)

Abby got so incredibly dirty that we had to bathe her outside. We filled up the pool with soapy water and she took a long cold bath. All the dirt and, um... other organic matter is still being brushed out of her hair.

My Quilt

I said I would post this, so here it is. It's taking me forever, but I mostly like every step of it.

Sorry I don't have fascinating stories and awesome pictures of the kids lately. As you probably know, Abby has lost her bloody mind and is a whining basket case that is making me a hermit and a hostage alone in my own home. BUT, we had some progress at Jen and Greg's last night. She didn't cry the whole time and even had a touch of fun. Will had a blast with Cara and Preston. Maybe we're coming out the other side with Abs. Crossing my fingers.

Jenn and Shawn's girls

These are Jenn and Shawn's little ones. Ainsley just turned one and Skyler is a month old. They are so cute, and Ainsley just wanted to kiss her all day.

bluebonnets.

i love the pouty picture. and can you believe how big my kids are?! what's going on?! look at will. he's really looking like a stud in his new jeans with that dimple and eye brow going on.

Spring Cleaning Week

I only clean once a season and this week is when it's going down. I'm following along with a bunch of other mommies and we're all doing the same thing. Today was cleaning off the surfaces. My kitchen surfaces are a joke, constantly being cleaned and dirtied. Constantly. But the top of my dryer, and the neglected top of Will's dresser.... those got hit today. Not a bad start.

I'm feeling domestic. I might even bake a pie or something. Who knows? Look at that lady on the cartoon! She's all smiling and scrubbing. That's me.

Easter Weekend on the Farm

We spent Easter at Whispering Oaks and just got back last night. The kids had a blast, communed with nature, and wore themselves out. In fact, it's Monday at 2pm right now and they're still in their pajamas. Here's a run down of the pics. Above is Abby "posing" in her Easter dress. The quotation marks imply sarcasm in this instance because she was really airing out her bum after dropping a bomb in a pasture. Her diaper's over there on the sidewalk. Maybe too much nature. And maybe time to consider potty training.

Will and Savannah playing in her hideout, a fig tree. It makes sort of a tent with a bit of a clearing in the middle. She says she loves it in the summer because it stays cool. The leaves apparently get gigantic. Will liked it in there.

Here's Savannah looking lovely in the morning. I love how it looks in the morning.

And here's one of the kids on the ride home. They were soooo tired. They had so much fun and that kind of fun wears you out! And here's a funny tidbit. That box that Will is holding is the "kennel" of a chocolate bunny. On the side it's actually encouraging him to go online and get a birth certificate for that bunny. Imagine the conflict, naming a bunny that you know you'll eventually eat... And all that on Abby's face? That's chocolate.

Looks toasty. But it's not.

It's still cold, but the kids still want to go in for about 3 minutes. I can't believe that my kids are old enough to look like this. Do they just look giant to you?

say hello to pico

we finally got him today! he's super fun. we adore him. he's just a little spoiled. :)

and naturally, he's chosen brandon as his person. of course.

Meet the Budgie.

This is Budgie, the budgie. Today, after many years of wanting a bird, we are finally going to bring our baby home. But this is not that baby. This is a throw-down bird. We just got him because I had an extra cage and thought a cute little parakeet might be fun. The thing is that Brandon and Will are super bonded with this budgie now. Isn't that funny?

Bathtime

Here's a little update on Abby. It's all random, but I'll just throw it out there.

• Abby loves music. She doesn't speak much English, as Will says, but she's got the melody and the last syllable right
• She could stay in the bathtub all day
• Her hair is getting long. There is an adorable bob that I thought would be great on her, but I can't cut it. Turns out there are a few curls in there.
• She looks alot like Hannah did at this age. Her body and hair and mannerisms.
• When she gets out of bed in the morning she insists on taking one of her blankets or animals with her. It's not always the same on. Depends on the day, but there are a few favorites.
• Abby LOVES strawberries.
• She likes to pick out what she wears sometimes.
• Her napping schedule is killing me. She's going down to one nap, but she's pretty tired in the evening.
• Her favorite show is American Idol. She loves applause and there's clapping on there every few seconds.

I think that's about it.

will's new tent

our neighbors, the Serokas, gave us a bunch of fun toys including this tent that will is now sleeping in. it's on top of his bed. next weekend we'll be painting his room. it'll have stars on the ceiling. not sure about the walls yet. but it's time for will's room to get some love and he's ready.

abby let me take some pics too.

don't look too closely. she's got snot and ketchup on her face. it's the nature of the age, right? i had no idea we were doing a photoshoot. she just didn't cry when i put her on the chair and that was that. it's a lucky chair. next time i'll prepare. but super cute anyhow!

i got a new chair.

sometimes he just cutes me out. that dimple is adorable. doesn't he look too cute? i was ready to kill him this morning, but once again, his life is lengthened by his adorability.