Mrs Cleaning Machine and Kids!

It's been one of those really fun, productive days today! It's much easier to be productive when you're headache free! (PTL!!)

I am so busy getting ready for Z's party tomorrow. I baked the cupcakes ahead of time and will put them together in a (hopefully) cute cake tomorrow. And Eliana and I did some laundry (she's actually a really big helper!!) and did lots of cleaning. Weird cleaning. Aside from normal stuff like cleaning up clutter (not much these days, thanks to our new systems!) and vacuuming, I was doing things like oiling the piano and washing the walls.

I know, weird, right? But when you have small children with dirty hands in the house, you tend to find lots of smudgy little finger prints on the walls! It was looking pretty dingy. I got this really cool little book about cleaning with baking soda, vinegar, lemons and salt; all natural stuff w/o chemicals and it's amazing what you can do! I mixed up a vinegar solution and wiped down the walls and they look so much brighter! Much less....hand-printy:)

And yes, ok, I'm a little nervous about some parents of Z's classmates whom I've never met coming over and hoping that smudgy walls, toothpaste globs on the bathroom door and 148 school papers from this week can be cleaned up before then so we don't scare them away!

Miss E has been into wearing her backpack a lot lately. I think it's a combination of wanting to be like her "brudders" and also loving Dora, who also wear a backpack constantly. Or, "packpack" as E says:)

She put it on today to go pick up the boys from school and everyone thought she was so cute!

I mean, who wouldn't??

Zakkai made me laugh out loud with one of his newest school projects! And a close up of what he wrote....

"When I am 100 years old, I will be big and fat." hahaha! Let me tell you, Zakkai is not the kiddo you want to have close-by when suffering from a migraine or trying to do some peaceful yoga, but he is definitely someone you want around if you want a good laugh or someone to chat with!

Samuel got a nice postcard in the mail today from his teacher and student teacher thanking him for being an awesome kid and I quote, "bomb-tastic." haha. He was pretty happy to get that!

Today the kids celebrated Dr Seuss' birthday at school. Tonight Samuel asked if he could read for a bit after I tucked them in and I said sure. When I climbed up the ladder to give him hugs and kisses, I found him with a stack of Dr Seuss books:) Then he snuck downstairs (He definitely sneaks) to get some paper and said he wants to write his own Dr Seuss book! So cute.

Well, I'm back to party prep and hoping to have some great pics to share of the birthday boy and his peeps!

Shwowtid.

I'm so sorry to have neglected my blog. I sent myself to bed early last night with a terrible migraine. I seem to be suffering from them a lot lately and would love prayers to figure out why and how to kick them out on their backside!

I was up very early yesterday doing some party prep and making my grocery list and I thought I'd peek out at our guardian snowman, only to find him smashed beyond recognition. I felt really sick about it. I know it sounds silly. After all, it was just a snowman. But to explain to your children, who are innocent of the ways of this evil world, that some person lacking kindness and goodness, came by in the middle of the night and smashed their hard work to pieces....not an easy thing to do! Their sad faces broke my heart:(

In good news, we are working hard to prepare for this party on Saturday! I finally got off the procrastination train and the creative juices have been flowing. Finally. Hopefully I can get everything cleaned and put together with minimal stress! We'll see. I'm just really glad I don't plan parties for a living or something. Kudos to those people! Next year, we just may be sticking with a fun family activity. Maybe parties every other year? haha. I bet that would fly really well with them, don't you think?

I leave you with a sample of Zakkai's cute writing. They went to see a theater play of "I'm Going On A Bear Hunt" for a field trip on Monday and must've been asked what their favorite part was. Zakkai wrote,

"I liket the sho. I liket when they shwowtid the wotre (water) guns at us and I got shwowted in the face. Zakkai Thomas"

Haha, I cherish these writings!! Oh and p.s., "Shwowtid" means "shooted" which means "shot." In kindergarten speak:)

Let It Snow!

 We're finally getting our winter at the end of February! This morning I was out and about getting pelted in the face with sleet while taking Z to his 6 year check-up. (He's nice and healthy! Tall and a healthy weight!). By the time we left the drs office at lunchtime, the icy sleet had turned to snow.

And it hasn't stopped snowing yet!!

And lucky for the boys, it's perfect snowman building snow! They finished their homework in a jiffy and raced out to play and build a snowman so that we could see it from the window. Here is Miss E watching the action:)

I peeked out and was amazed at the size of their first snowball!!

Here's the boys rolling up the strangely shaped head:)

Missy wasn't feeling too well today, as she's coming down with (another) cold. Blast these winter germs! She and I just watched and took pictures from the comfort of our warm (ish) home.

They got stuck when trying to lift their humongous snowman parts on top of each other so they enlisted the help of Daddy.

Quick as a flash, their 6 foot plus snowman was put together and ready for some decorating!

They had so much fun that I was almost tempted to join them. Almost:)

They found a scrawny carrot for a nose, some charcoal for the eyes, cheerios for the mouth, a scarf and someone even gave them a pipe for his mouth!! I'll have to take a good picture from outside tomorrow so you can see. All the neighbors walking by seemed to enjoy watching the boys!

Anyone else think the snowman has a little resemblance to E.T.??

I just have to share my latest project with you!! I am so excited about this one! And disclaimer, in no way am I intending to brag or act like I'm some put together bloggy, blog mom (gag); I just really love to do stuff like this and enjoy sharing!

I almost never sew anything for myself but I spotted this bag pattern and knew I had to make one for myself! I should admit here and now that I do have a bag fetish. Just so you know.

I learned some really cool new things while making this! I put in my very first zipper, as you can see in the front zippered pocket. Not nearly as scary as I thought:)

I learned how to put in eyelets to make the purse sturdy for the drawstrings. (the bows).

I did magnetic snaps for the bag and for this cute inside pocket!

Oh, I'm just crazy about this bag! I still entertain the idea of making and designing bags to sell someday. To share the love with people who also love bags like me:)

And something that is fun about this bag is you untie the bows and pull it out to make a huge bag to fill with whatever you want! A fun travel or beach bag maybe?

Lots of room inside!! It took me over a week to make it because there were a ton of steps involved and I needed some special tools to pound the eyelets in place and got stalled after I ordered a tool that didn't work and had to send it back and wait for the new one.

I think I just might take this fun bag on our vacation to Florida next month! That's right, our family is making the long sojourn down to Florida in a few weeks to visit my grandparents. What's even more fun is that we'll be meeting my mom, step dad and my sister and her little fam down in Georgia and we'll travel the rest of the way together!

Woohoo!

And I leave you with another (terrible) shot of our new guardian. He sort of looks like a dog snowman in this picture.....but don't tell the boys I said that!

Ciao!

The 3 Amigos

It was really quiet as I was preparing dinner the other night so I peeked around the corner and this is what I found:

I do love moments like these!

Sweet Dreams...

He may be 6 years old but he's not too big to fall asleep listening to Daddy read a bedtime story....

Sweet Dreams!