seven

whooosh! seven years has flown by all to quickly. it is hard for me to believe that i have a child that is seven. i get a little scared if i think to much about how quickly kids grow up. i would love to put them all in formaldehyde so they could stay these ages forever. but that is not the plan. so i guess the plan is that we raise them to be independent responsible adults. when really what i would like is to keep them under my wing forever. (sob, sob, sob)

when sullivan was born i had no clue the joy i felt would keep growing. i feel privileged to be his mom. he is wise and i love to see him progress. he is a happy little stink. the husband and i are pleased that porter and lola have him as an example.

enough! before i turn into an emotional wreck.

don't you love this little space dude! i love this set. it is another new stamp set over on lizzie anne designs.

i just had to use some crystal effects on the space dudes helmet. it is hard to tell in the picture but i wanted it to look like he was really under the glass.

i thought it was perfect for sully's birthday card. click on over to tricia's blog of lizzie anne designs she is having a give.a.way (it's her birthday too.)

craft room invader

i was making some gift tags today for a present i need to send off. this lizzie anne snowman stamp is my favorite this year. i have used him a ton.

i bought this bakers twine back in july. i must say that i have been patiently waiting for the holidays to make tags with it. i think i will be making more tags this weekend for me. oh how i love that twine. so as i finished my projects today i was cleaning up and ripped the top page of my work pad off and laughed.

i have had an intruder in my room. i think that this is enough evidence. my intruder must like copics.

i think i need to give my intruder some drawing lessons. i hung it on my wall. kids are great!!

soccer saturday review

i'm gonna kick you so hard!!!

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blind stampede

oh no, here come all the white shirts



who wants to play on the playground instead of soccer?



hey, i have to pee!



i'm drowning in my uniform and stuck in this net.

soccer rules!

soccer saturday

well, we knew these days were coming but it is now official. our saturdays are consumed with soccer. we were excited to be there in the suburban soccer glory. but not as excited as the boys were.

porters first experience with a real sport. he was a little nervous but once we got there he kept asking me when his game would start. he was like a bull waiting behind the barrier.

sully is learning a lot this year. they officially keep score, have goalies, play in positions and have a ref. different from the play in a pack of four traveling everywhere the ball does. they both had fun that is what counts.

give it a whirl

this afternoon i could not get the boys to do anything. they were a little bit on edge. they did not want to play outside. they did not want to play a game. they just wanted to bug each other. we were sitting on the floor just talking about what we could do. nothing was clicking. lola went over to a basket and pulled out these jacks.

they had their noses to the floor and started spinning.

this shot is funny porter just asked me if i could take lola outta here so she would not pick up all of his jacks. i declined.

lola loves to sit on this step.

contests started forming to see who could spin the longest.

after all the teasing and crying we ended up having fun. thanks lola!

what does summer look like?

we had cousins around yesterday. so fun. lots of otter pops consumed. as i sat on the grass watchin' i was just enjoying the look of summer. the boys decided that their shirts were no longer needed. i loved the slurping sound of their favorite color of pop. i was thinking how i didn't want summer to end. the grass was great and i just can't imagine cold coming. it will and i will be wishing for these summer days to return. i hope to enjoy these last few days.

(today was not that great of a day so i needed to post about yesterday)

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time. ~John Lubbock

i wanna know

i often wonder what my kids are actually thinking. usually they talk a lot. a lot. oh and my kids talk a lot. the questions never stop. today in the car it was sully. oh is he the best at asking questions.

"mom why do fireworks boom"

"what makes them have colors"
"are they buried in the ground"

"why are they lalegull"

"what is dynamite"

"is dynamite like fireworks"

"what chemicals are in them"

porter starts like porter does (LOUDLY)

"YEA MOM THEY ARE LIKE TOTALLY LOUD AND AWESOME"

"THEY GO BOOMMSSDFKLJSLDFUIAD (hands flailing, spit flying)"

so this is the day, a million questions about a million subjects. some i answer and some i can't. i say "ask your dad". i love the way they talk and i love the questions. (most of the time, lets be honest, the questions can get annoying)

but in their quiet time what are they thinking about. i doubt their minds are still. i hope they are happy. i hope they know they are loved. i wish i could listen to their thoughts.

photobooth

this is the kids at their finest. they love to look at the camera after i have taken a picture of their silliest face. we could have done this for a couple of hours, they were having a blast. i really enjoy looking at their best face. they were laughing so hard. lola decided to have a meltdown so we had to end the fun and pay some attention to her.

mom is out....

Joslyn occasionally has the chance to leave her mom/wife duties behind for a couple of hours and take part in more adult actitivities. Tonight was one of those nights for her to go out with good friends for a good meal and even better conversation. It was girls night out for her, so a little bit of chaos ensued on the homefront.
The boys love all things pirate. Both Porter and Sully are enthralled with Pirates of the Carribean even though they have never watched any of the movies, and probably won't get to watch any of the movies for a long, long time. I have some of the soundtrack to Pirates on iTunes. The boys asked if we could listen, and being the strict, disciplinarian type of dad that I am, I said sure, and turned the volume way up. Almost immediately, Lola started her "I am having lots of fun" shriek, her hands high above her head as she was walking around the family room. Porter found his dagger, and Sully fashioned a sword out of the giant tub of tinker toys:

The boys think they will be in trouble for fighting when mom sees this post, but I told them that she would have to walk the plank if she gets mad. Shiver me timbers!

pool party

this was the first pool party of the year. as you can tell they had tons of fun. my boys love the water! every day i go outside to water my flower pot and they try every trick in the book to get wet. they love the bath, to spray the squirt bottle, sprinklers, and all toys get dunked in the bathroom faucet . water guns make them way way too crazy, (usually ending in injury). water can keep them occupied for hours. boys will be boys!

how to be mother of the year

if you would also like the mother of the year award,
let your kids do this.


when there is silence i find this.



when i try to talk to them they respond like this.



when one show is done they do this.

when its sad they do this.

yea! i know you never let your kids watch t.v but i do. and i am so sick of saying "hey porter, porter, helloooo porter, HEY PORTER, i yell in my mother of the year voice "PPPPPPPPPPPPOOOOOORRRRRRRRTTTTTTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

then he calmly looks at me and says "what mom?"

okay, the only way to eliminate this is to stop.

so for the summer we will try to eliminate most tv watching. we need to craft more, talk more, run more, read more, play with toys more, not fight over the remote, not break the remote and give the remote finger a rest. i know it will be tough. it's not like we watch it all day. but i hate the non responsive look. so here we go. they are excited. dad bribed with a vacation. we will report.

K. gone

kindergarten is over? i am a little nervous at how fast the year went. i feel sad. he is so grown up, a little man, reading, counting, spelling, and asking weird questions (what does sexy mean?). first grade is like official school. i am not sure i am ready to let him be at that point in his life. i look at how fast it has gone and i know that the rest is just going to vanish. can't i live in this crazy toddler bliss forever? why do we have to get old. i am scared for teenagers! will i be able to teach and mold these babies into responsible adults?

the future is exciting but can it be as good as it is right now? i love the learning that i see take place each day. i love the beauty of their young faces. i love the stumbling of words (pecuter, hostible, morhoni). they are amazing kids and i am going to cherish more days than i do.


"children are the hands by which we take hold of heaven."
-henry ward beecher-

par for the day

this picture taken today represents my day. we started out good things were going okay. then it all hit the fan.

it is not that anything bad really happened, i think i was moody and by the end of the day we were all just overtired.

we were kneeling for prayers (after the boys had just got in BIG trouble for spitting on the carpet.) porter says, "mom how do you say those i'm sorry prayers?"

so blue

until next year

• last game.


• last time to find mitt and cleats.


• last time for begging to go to the goody shack.


• last time for dad to get off work at 4:15


• last time for porter to run into the middle of the field.


• last time for lola to have a cow at the game.


• last time chatting with friends at the game.


• last time enjoying watching your child hit the ball (or not).


• last time to watch yelling parents.


• last time for begging to go to the goody shack.


• last time to see sully in his "lucky" baseball pants.


• last time to watch porter want to play.


• last time to watch grandparents support.
  

until next year.

hey porter, next year your up. (this will be good)

gazillions

we love bubbles. lola says "bubu". last night john was the bubble man for about a hour. there is no way that the bubble man would of kept up with the bubbles if it wasn't for GAZILLION bubbles. i had a friend recommend this brand and i thought that bubbles were bubbles. well if you are a doubter like i was give them a try. they keep going and going. their wands are the best. it make for a very magical bubble night. the bubbles make for great pictures. if you get good lighting the reflections are amazing.

teeth?

i love the mountains in this picture but i can't get used to her teeth. i kept trying to get her to not smile but she was all smiles for this shoot.

porter lightyear

to infinity and beyond..................

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jet pack (monkey)

power suit (pull up)

powers (fist)

porter lightyear to the rescue

when is it my turn?

next year porter

polkadots

lots of pictures today. these were my favorites. and i love love this polka dot dress. i don't want her to grow out of it. but she is! all the boys did today is fight so there weren't any post worthy pictures of them.