On Board

I feel like I can adapt to a lot of things. 

I am pretty open about styles, and think that there are a lot of things that I can "get on board" with.

These shoes are not one of them.

I just don't understand the appeal of having ones feet look like they belong on Frankenstein.

But if they tickle your fancy...well than all the power to you.

You can even go for silver with fur too.

I won't judge. No seriously...I won't. 

You kind of loose the opportunity to judge when you have worn something within the last month that was pulled out of a dumpster.

Funny story:

My friend April and I were at an estate sale. The lady having the estate sale had thrown away a bunch of vintage clothing. We looked in the dumpster and found a whole box of clothes. 

This shirt came to live with me.

The End.

Another thing that I can get on board with is having an old steamer trunk for our boys room. 

Granted it is large, but it is dual purpose. 

The kids can use it as a coffin/hiding space, and they can also put their toys in it and not have the option to dump the whole thing out. 

Can I get an amen?

One of my friends Wendy is in the hospital. 

She had to have a bone marrow transplant, which started out with a heavy round of Chemo. 

To do something nice, a lot of the kids in the neighborhood made hearts to go all over her door.

Gavin made this one. 

At first I thought that it was so so sweet then I laughed.

Take another look. That lady in the bed is Wendy. That scribble below the bed? Her hair. 

If I could start a conga line for my kids art I would.

When they make me look so pretty, how could I not?

Now, I am going to break it down for you.

I can not get on board with animals dressed as people.

Alright so I was going for stealthy but all I ended up with was a picture of Gavin. 

Check out the guy behind.

His dog was in a dress..waiting in line...to see Santa. 

Hey, if you wanna stand in line and take a picture with Santa and your pet...all the power to you. But please...please...don't start to talk about how you are worried because your dog is yawning and you are really nervous that your dog may fall asleep before their fancy picture.

Or... 

You may catch me rolling my eyes as I try to control my 4 yawning kids from tearing down Santa's whole establishment.

Speaking of Santa and animals...

Laney is positive that she is getting a bunny for Christmas. We have gone past the "I hope I get a bunny..." and into "When my bunny is here..."

I will be the first to tell you that animals...well...they aren't really my thing. 

But they used to be. I used to love them. I actually had a pet bunny which is where I am sure that Laney got the idea.

Originally when she started to say that she wanted a bunny I told her that I had a nice bunny, but that my sister Ramonah had a mean bunny. It was so mean that it would hiss and bite you.

Laney was not swayed. 

She just said that if her bunny was mean that we could put it outside. 

Canon said that if it was mean we could put it outside and not feed it, then it would die. 

Canon. 

Always coming up with evil options to things.

Anywho...

Then I got to thinking. I loved having pets growing up, and my kids should have the same option too. 

So....

coming to live with us on Christmas morning...

our new pet.

Blake and I originally thought that Laney would be distraught that Santa had not in fact brought her a bunny then I came up with a fool proof plan:

Write a note from Santa saying all of the bunnies were mean this year so, he brought us a cat instead. 

Then give Laney one of these bunnies to appease the last little bit of disappointment...if there is any.

So evidently I am on board with pets now. Just not dressing them up.

Because how could you resist that creepy/can't stop staring at it face?

It truly is a face only a mother could love.

I seriously don't know what she was doing.

No really. 

No idea.

3 Minutes

*Thanks all! I am uploading my pictures to Photobucket. That seemed to help.*

Cereal boxes everywhere. 

Our mornings always look like this. 

Everyone seems to think that they need their own box. 

Sometimes two. 

They also like the cereal with sugar.

Except for Laney who seems the most sensible and will choose plain Cheerios or Mini Wheats the majority of the time.

Canon likes to hoard all of the boxes when all of the kids are done.

Then snacks on them leisurely. 

Then the sugar kicks in and he goes through the 6 steps of a sugar high.

High: getting shaky.

Ninja like speed.

Elation.

Woot woot.

Rage.

Normal.

Then he has a couple more bites and we start again.

A wide range of emotions can happen in just a few minutes. 

Monday

Four.

Canon is four.

Not four feet tall or four pounds, but four years old.

In true Canon fashion we started the day with a head first dive into balloons that were not very deep.

He didn't cry. He didn't even complain. He just picked up his balloons and got excited in the fact that they were "tiny".

Having his birthday on a Monday kind of threw us off our game.

We did not plan accordingly and forgot to pick up some birthday cereal for him.

He expressed his disappointment in us.

So I hopped in the car and I drove him to pick out his cereal.

He had a hard time choosing but peanut butter, chocolate, and sugar won out.

Before the kids left for school we let him open his present.

Drum roll on the top of the present...

We got him a boat with a shark and some little men.

He was just excited for "how strong" he was to hold it above his head.

 Without fail our kids almost always pick Red Robin for their birthday dinner.

I am not sure if it is the balloons, the food, or the unending ranch...whatever it is Red Robin has got it.

Know what else Red Robin has?

According to Canon, as he was hugging the Statue of Liberty:

"I am just giving a love to Jesus."

Red Robin has a statue of Jesus. 

Makes perfect sense.

He is spunky.

He is reckless.

He has funny cowlicks in the front of his hair,

and a funny accent on occasion. 

He is four. 

He is mine.

He makes me proud to be his Mom.
Almost all of the time.

You Would Think...

...that February would be one of my most favorite months. After all it has my birthday, anniversary, and Blake's birthday all rolled into one month. It isn't.
I may be trunky and ready to go on vacation but I am fairly certain it has more to do with the fact that I need sunshine. For realz.
I decided after much debate that I would go tanning a little bit before the cruise so that I wouldn't fry. We are going to be out snorkeling and swimming and figured that a little base color would be good because no matter how much sunscreen I slather on my body I am guaranteed to burn this pale pale skin.
So I went to the local tanning salon to get my fill of wrinkles/cancer/tan. Now, I don't tan and I typically don't blame people for things that I have control over, but...that girl at the tanning salon may have been a complete idiot. I told her that I didn't want to burn, that I don't go tanning, and that I only wanted a little tan before we went. She tried to sell me a $100 lotion (because that is realistic) then proceeded to put me into a bed, for 12 minutes (I figured the bed was a max of 20 minutes). I didn't think much of it. My fault. 12 minutes was the maximum time that you could go into that bed. Her fault.
I have never been so burnt in all of my life. A week later my skin was still pink and now my skin is starting to peel. Lovely. At our house lately, when we say our prayers at night the kids normally call out each other for all the ways they are disrupting the house.
"Please bless Canon won't get out of his bed. Please bless Penny won't cry in the morning. Please bless Gavin can fold his arms during the prayer...."
All the while Penny is under the impression that we are playing duck duck goose. So she is walking around saying "Do. Do. Yea Yeah." Canon is under the impression that Mom and Dad are going on a date on a big boat. I don't think he gets that the "date" is gonna last a week.
He also thinks that "decorating" Mom's room is putting an Ipad cord around the closet doors. And that when ever he wears his Donald Duck shirt that he is "Super Chicken". Laney is as stylish as ever.
The other day Addi came over and asked Laney "where her skirt was?" Most of the time I am not sure if I should be proud of her independence, and the fact that she has her own opinions. Or if I should hang my head in shame with the fact that she wears some pattern combinations that could burn your retinas, and I let her.No matter.
Her teacher said in our parent teacher conferences last weekend that Laney scored the highest on the tests and is the smartest kid in her class. So, toot toot.

Christmas

Let me break it down for you, real easy like.

Christmas Eve:

• open one present
• said present was pajamas
• take picture in pajamas
• read Christmas story and Jesus' birth out of the Bible
• Steal some of Santa's cookies on the not so sly.
  
  • 
• Go to bed dreaming of sugarplums.

Christmas Morning:

• Wake up to quite possibly the "best day ever."
• Notice that Santa has stuffed the stockings (including Penny's Addidas sock. Don't judge.)
• Santa had also eaten some cookies (or what was left over after Penny) and left a note
• Left some bikes for the older kids...
• and a spray bottle for Penny (once again, don't judge. She thinks it is the best ever.)
• Practical presents from Dad and Mom were open mostly including shoes, clothes, underwear, etc.
• Princess dolls that were intended for Laney but profited all.
• Blake got some Oakley's to replace some lost a while ago.The real treasures where left for me. Sure I got slippers, shoes, some new perfume but the real treasure was from the kids. They picked it up on our family shopping trip to the Dollar Store. Canon originally told me that he was going to get me a "milk mustache" for Christmas, but that seemed to fall through. So imagine my surprise when I got this beauty for Christmas.
  The snowman is from Gavin, Laney got me the base. And....wait for it...It changes colors. Shazam. Plus I got a bird one from Canon so that I could switch it up if I wanted to.