Catterpillars to Butterflies......or is it a fairy?

Okay, so the last few days it has felt like we've skipped spring being in the high 80s. But I hear we're supposed to have a normal spring soon. Anyway, the kids have NOT COME inside at all and played and played (awesome because there's no mosquitos out yet!) On our deck there seems to be 5-6 new caterpillars every time we go out. The kids LOVE LOVE LOVE it. Here they are playing outside and Camden is showing off one of his.

(Warning Mom: this post MAY disturb you since you think Aleeya isn't enough of a "girl".....especially considering she's outside playing with dinosaurs on the table.) Oh, and that caterpillar, along with 3 others went to preschool with Camden today too. Awesome show-n-tell, huh.Before our walk, here's Aleeya holding a caterpillar. She puts the death grip on them and doesn't let them go.....and didn't the WHOLE walk.......as you see, Emerson even tries to take them from her while she's distracted but he has never suceeded.

Oh, I need to add on that walk we found a driveway that had literally hundreds of caterpillars on the ground. The boys kept stuffing them in their pockets to take home and Aleeya added a few more to her fists. They ended up in the backyard, in the empty wading pool just WAITING to be the kid's entertainment for the next couple hours.
Here is the fairy/butterfly showing me her personal bucket of the caterpillars she caught herself. She's pretty talented.

In my defense, I DO dress her up and do her hair when we go out, and even put a shirt on. I promise Mom, I do. But isn't my little fairy (Brooks hates that word) so cute even with these incredibly dirty faces and nasty hair-dos?

Sleeping Angels

I just LOVE looking in at my kids after they go to sleep. Here's Emerson just looking like the angel he is. If he wakes up in the middle of the night to pee he'll crawl into Bronson's bed with him and they snuggle. It's so cute. The other morning when I went to wake up Bronson for school Emerson and he were RIGHT up against each other and Emerson lifted up his head and sleepily said, "Buenos dias, Bronson" and put his head down and went back to sleep. He's so funny. Here's Aleeya-beeya, cuddling her baby with her scuffed up face from keeping up with the boys. She's such a trooper.

I have the BEST friends.....ever

Ok, so the memo to all was WEAR pjs or comfties....but some didn't listen, or just look TOO cute in their pjs (man, their husbands are lucky!)......but here are some of my friends that were sooooo sweet to get together, bring snacks and get this, they EACH brought a freezer meal for me for after the baby comes.

Aren't they the best?

I could probably sit here and go on and on and tell you what each one brought, but I'll spare the details. We had such a FUN night!

(Note to self: green or ALL one color on me is NOT flattering and could come across as a big slimey blob.....or Flubber)

The happiest kid on earth!

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY EMERSON!!!!Take a look at that kid's sweet face. He was sooooo happy with his pinata that he SPECIFICALLY asked for. It's a certain cartoon character and I'm going to see if you can guess who it is (the ultimate test of my pinata making skills......even if you guess wrong, it won't matter Emerson said it's perfect. :) and yes, he's easy to please).

Let me just say something about this kid. He's my angel and has my heart. He's the biggest Momma's boy and lights up when I walk in the room. Being prego, and about 6 weeks away, I can't help but think when he was born. On Good Friday 3 years ago he was the longest labor (after Camden's 45 minute one, ANY one would be long), opting for natural again (silly me.....I'll try not to make that mistake again), almost losing it mentally/emotionally, and being so worried about if my other kids at home were okay without me. So after his birth being the worst I've had so far, I guess it's only fair that he owns my heart even more. I love his smile, his laugh and his sweet stuttering. Okay, enough going on, I'll save it for his journal! :)

Potty-trained

Wow, am I sure glad I got Aleeya potty-trained at 18 months before the new baby came!!!!WAIT......WHAT THE?!?!? Aleeya, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

Ok, so NO, I'm not potty-training her, nor would I be crazy enough at this point. So WHERE she got standing up next to the toilet seat to pee is beyond me. :)

After I ask the boys to go pee before bed, she always runs in, pulls up her shirt, grabs her ABNORMALLY LARGE AND PROTRUDING belly button and holds it

out to go pee. We're going to have HUGE gender identity issues when it comes time

to actually potty train her come fall. She's so cute though.

Easter Morning Rolls

These are fun and yummy rolls because they are "empty" inside just like Christ's tomb on Easter Sunday.

1 pkg. of frozen bread or roll dough (or use the dough from you fav. homemade rolls
6 T sugar
1 t. cinnamon
1 bag large marshmallows
1/4 c. butter, melted
Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside. Divide dough into individual roll-sized portions. Press each portion into a flat circle. Place 1 marshmallow in the center of each roll. Pinch roll dough very firmly around the marshmallows. Roll each into a seamless ball with your hands. Brush rolls with melted butter. Sprinkle sugar mixture over rolls.
Cover rolls with plastic wrap and put in the fridge overnight.
On Sunday morning preheat oven to 350. Bake for 15 minutes or until rolls are golden brown.

Happy Birthday to Me!

So I'm officially 28 and old. :) The night before my b-day Brooks told me to go pack a bag so we could go to a hotel that night! This is us on our way out and me thinking:

-I don't have, I mean GET to put them in bed

-not wake everyone up at 6 to feed them breakfast

-not make breakfast

-not drive Bronson to the bus stop
AND Pat (Brooks' mom) told us NOT to come home before the afternoon. Ummmm, if you twist my arm.

We both automatically woke up early anyway the next morning, but I still lounged in bed for a while. Then we looked at carpet samples (for downstairs), b-ball standards, maternity clothes (got yet ANOTHER comfty outfit), and went to Olive Garden for lunch. We came home around 1:00, stuck the kids down for a nap (the only one REALLY excited to see me was Sally, the dog), and just relaxed......since Pat already had dinner cooking.

Pat even took the kids to 3 stores getting me a cake, balloons and other b-day surprises. But don't worry, I got plenty of b-day songs (mostly from Emerson), hugs and kisses from the kiddos. I love those kids.

To top off the evening nicely, Biggest Loser was on! I've never liked Tuesdays for birthdays, but this year was the BEST!

The New Mommy

Here is the new Mommy. Or at least that's what Camden asked. ("Is Grandma Emerson's and my Mommy?") We had the BEST visit with her here! Darnit, I just didn't pull out my camera enough, and partly because she kept taking my kids and disappearing. (Trust me, no complaints here) Bronson kept ending up on Grandma's lap. He's six and heavy and not allowed on my growing belly unless just resting his head on my lap. So you SEE he found a sucker in Grandma and someone to unconditionally scratch his back. I loved the backyard picture because Bronson and Camden were with Brooks at the church watching conference and here is Grandma on double-duty pushing Aleeya and pitching to Emerson. Super Grandma.

Then the last picture is her at work with Brooks getting ready to witness an autopsy. Pretty gross, but I guess I would want to know what my boys do one day at work too!

Unfortunately no pics with Camden which is weird because he was the one that had the hardest time with Grandma leaving.

My rascals

A few pics of the kiddos. They are soooooo cute all bathing together!
On second thought, maybe we don't want a girl next with as big of a Daddy's girl as this one is!

Sharing the high......

I had 6 $5.00 off Huggies product coupons still and they were going to expire soon. So I recruited Brooks on this one and we ran to Target. Since the wipes were only 2.50 we ended up getting the hairspray, toothpaste and laundry detergent (I'm so weird but I LOVE the smell of this kind) almost free.The total for all of this was $3.50. But the funniest part is how
Brooks arranged it and wanted to take a picture. Nothing brings a marriage closer then a good deal! :)

Dog-lovers Central.....except Brooks

Two weekends in a row we had guest dogs saying. We had 2 puppies come when the Mathson's came to visit for the weekend. You can see Camden's look of PURE joy....seriously, in heaven.
Then here's Salta, the chi-wa-wa (I'm aware that's not how you spell it). Camden just kept following her around. We dog-sat her for the weekend. Salta kept getting on Brooks' lap...afterward he would remove her and put her on his side.....then she'd get on his lap again....Brooks would move her again.....and on and on. He let her stay when he realized he didn't have to get up and fix the sound on the computer while we were listening to conference.....and I didn't want to wake Salta, so I kept fixing the computer.
Oh, and I took a ton of pictures of Camden and Salta and yes, EVERY one had his hand positioned like this picture. What do you do?

Spring Break Action

Brooks took a day off last week during Bronson's Spring Break (that apparently was only supposed to be Wed.-Friday due to snow day make-ups but I didn't read the memo so he got Mon.-Fri.......had he been a teenager I would've been a cool mom. This time I wasn't, and he was sad he missed school) and we went to a Nature Center/Zoo-ish thingy......I believe that was the name on the entrance sign.This picture was funny because Bronson and Camden are seriously just asking for it. Don't you think? Chasing and touching the peacock's tail? This one happened to be EXTRA patient though. And no, we didn't get any feathers.
The "tigre". I actually lost Brooks here. He just sat and watched these tigers. They were soooo cool. The boys thought the best part was seeing it pee. Or maybe that was ME that thought it was cool. Think spray bottle or those aerosol hairsprays. Seriously, it was just a puff to mark their territory. I found myself walking away, wishing my kids pee-ed like tigers.

The extra patient peacock. Brooks kept telling me to get closer......ummmm. that's as far as I got.

My sweet angel. He LOVES crocodiles. He turns 3 next week. I can't believe my baby boy is getting so big.

Anyway, it was a super fun day.

April Fool's!!!!

So silly me thought I was soooooo cool and funny in putting "Urinary Discomfort" medicine in some cookies for two of my friends.....to make their pee turn neon yellow/orange/possibly red depending on how much I put in. But I DIDN'T want to kill their kids so I don't think I put too much. I felt like scum (sneaky scum, that is) when my friend Rachel called up to thank me for the yummy cookies. Tee-hee, I thought. UNTIL Nikki called and left a message the next morning saying, I called Rachel up this morning to hang out and she couldn't because her boy Matthew was up ALLLLLL night puking and with diarrea on the pot after eating too many of my cookies. OOOOOH, did I feel horrible. I ran sooooo fast to the medicine label thinking if I missed something or didn't read the label right. It did mention not to eat it on an empty stomach, but that's all I could find. I grabbed the phone and called Rachel to grovel and postrate myself before her begging for forgiveness (wondering secretly if she'd take back all the yummy treats, bows and crafts she had given me before). She didn't pick up. I called her cell. Nothing. The kids were down for naps and all I could think about was my kids sleeping and her's not, and how I'm a horrible friend just to get a laugh. Rachel called me back. So the begging for forgiveness and offering my first (or second through fifth) born as repentence began. When I finally took a breathe she quietly said, "April Fools!"
She got me. Better then I got her. Arg.
But I did smile the rest of the day thinking of her dying laughing when she pee-ed neon yellow and knowing I got her. So there was SOME consolation I guess.

Forever Rain

Anyone who lives here and second me when I say last week it felt like it was raining EVERY day!! What was it, 5 days straight? But it still felt awesome outside (like in the 60s). The kids were tired of staying inside so I found Emerson and Camden outside while it was raining playing with their animals and letting them be swept away in the gutter down the hill. They got completely soaked, but loved every minute of it. They WERE smart enough to put on their hoods from their hoodies, but Emerson DID forget his pants. Oh well, I'm sure the neighbors enjoyed seeing a little Buzz undies. I mean, who doesn't?

(That's Camden on the far left in the black hoodie bending down. Bad picture, but I sure as heck wasn't going out in the pouring rain to get a better shot. :) )

Our Crazy Roadtrip

We left on a Friday to go on a 8 hour roadtrip to Nashville, TN. (those of you who know Brooks and his love for driving and being in the car can laugh now).
We broke up the ride there by stopping at the Knoxville Zoo (4 hours into the trip). This was the first time being to the zoo with Aleeya old enough to care, so I couldn't stop snapping pictures of her.


Her favorites were the Timon-like animals (From Lion King......can't remember their real name), black bears and the elephants....partly because they were right by us bathing and squirting water and she and Brooks even witnessed one of them peeing. Quite a highlight in a child's life.


Bronson and Camden LOVED petting the Camel. He was such a good sport even when Aleeya was yanking his hair/fur/rat's nest of a hairy mixture.


THEN.....the kids napped the rest of the way until our tire blew out (20 miles out of Nashville) and Aleeya blew out of HER

diaper. (I think I would've preferred to change the tire). My camera battery died but I did manage to get a picture of Emerson with Austin (our second cousin). I even got to visit with my friend Winter, go to a wedding (well sort of), and hang out with family. On the way back we stopped in Johnson City to visit with old friends. We got back Sunday night. Crazy trip, but worth it. The kids were C-H-A-M-P-S in the car. Especially considering I didn't bring Aleeya a DARN thing to play with. So she played with her blankie, fingers and toes the whole time when she wasn't sleeping and blowing out of another outfit.