Important Words

So many things about having a daughter make me smile. This particular conversation (albeit pretty much one-sided) is definitely one thing that made me smile and Bobby sigh all at the same time.

Me: "Lanie, can you say 'MaMa'? 'MaaaMaaa'?"

Elaina: nothing.

Me: "Well, how about 'Dada'? Can you say 'DaaaaDaaaa'?"

Elaina: nada.
Me: "Okay. Let's practice the most important word of all: Shoes. Can you say 'shoes'??"

Elaina: "Ooooooo. Oooooooo."

I'm not even kidding! This is the first indication that Bobby is in real trouble with this gal. So, in my "nature vs. nurture" questioning........check one for nurture. This baby girl is showing definite signs of being ALL mine!

Desperate Measures

Even though we live in a pretty close quartered neighborhood, we've been blessed with a really large back yard. I find that many times I'm standing on our back deck yelling my head off at the boys with little to no chance of them ever responding. Now, mind you, some of that may be selective hearing. However, since my children are near perfect obeyers and listeners (humph....), I will chose to believe that it is the breeze carrying my sweet voice to places unwanted. So, in my desperation to keep the kids out of the tiny creek water with their good shoes, and to get Bobby to retreat from his golfing green for dinner in a timely fashion, I broke down and bought:

A megaphone.

Now that baseball has concluded we are once again going to have time to spend out in the back yard chasing rabbits and scoping out the area in the trees that the boys are convinced would be a great spot for Grandpa to construct the perfect secret clubhouse. I'm sure this new purchase is going to cut down on the time I spend overworking my vocal chords. In fact, not only does it work when the boys are far away, I've also found that it's not too shabby in close range either. Looks like mom's voice won't be ignored around these parts any longer!

Room: Completed!

Just shortly after Elaina arrived home I was able to finish her room. I had a stranger on Etsy paint her a little ditty to go behind her crib. It turned out really cute and really cut down on all the bare wall. After much fiasco, I also got all of her furniture in and assembled. I won't go in to how I ordered her furniture in JANUARY before I even knew she was coming (living expectantly :) ) with the assurance that it would be here in March....only to be first of April.....end of April....probably will be here at the end of JUNE! WHAT???? Apparently they had to actually hunt and kill the trees to whittle. Anyhoo, I hard nosed and got some different furniture available just in time for Little Tee-Tiny.

Here is a picture of her little painting. Don't let the color fool you. There is no red in it. It's actually dark pink in real life......darker than I would have liked but definitely not red.
The shelf above the dresser was made by my dad and has been in every baby room I've had. I had to re-stain it to match her furniture but it's keeping up with it's legacy and holding a very precious handmade blanket with pink ribbon and crocheted frillies!
I also found that I can tie a pretty mean bow and I'm quite adept with the hot glue gun. Craftiness is NOT my specialty but I wanted a little somethin' somethin' to hold all of her 'properly proportionate to head' bows. If you peek in the mirror you can see the sheet turned shower curtain I crafted as well (idea from the ever crafty Misty!). Who knew that having a girl would bring out this artsy side in me??Okay. I went too far. I don't think "artsy" and me can be in the same sentence with a serious face.
The best thing about Tee-Tiny's bed is that just this week she's actually been sleeping in it! After 6 weeks of only sleeping in her car seat she's finally made the transition!
Even better is that she seems to like it! I caught a little grin on her sweet little face and had my camera handy to capture it. Imagine that. Me and my camera poking around this baby. Mmmmm. I'm in love. Again.

Shiner

Unlike Sammy Sosa, baseball has not been berry, berry good to Cade. Not only did the ball make contact with his bat several times during the game (which is a great thing), it made unfortunate contact with his cheek as well. Boo. In a failed attempt to catch a pop fly he ended up with quite the shiner.

Day 1 wasn't too horrible. The picture doesn't do the seam marks on the cheek justice.

I was so thankful that he was wearing his Kareem Abdul Jabaar sports glasses because it could have been much worse I fear. I give them their props. They are indeed shatterproof as advertised.

Day 2 brought in some nice color.
When day 3 rolled in he was wearing the black eye like it was old hat. It was no longer painful as demonstrated by slapping himself on the cheek and saying, "See. Doesn't even hurt." Thank you for the visual. I could have just taken him at his word.
I'm proud of my boy for two reasons: First, he didn't come out of the game even though he was really hurting. He stuck it out and finished. And second, he has remained truthful about his eye mishap even though Bobby and I encouraged him with several good stories involving ninja's, bad guy robbers, and the like. "That would be lying." Ahhh, yes. But WAY more interesting. I'm sure this won't be the last black eye around this house. If these boys don't perfect their toilet aim there are going to be several more this very summer!

Parenting 101

If you're my facebook friend you've already seen this picture. If you're not, I thought you deserved to see it as well. I also wanted to have it included in my end of the year book.

I've decided that the most effective way to parent four children is:

The Swaddle

It works for children of all ages. I swaddle the children between the hours of 8 and 4:30 so that when Bobby gets home the house can look decent and the laundry is folded. It also gives me time to update this here blog and check my peeps out on facebook. I may not have skills to amount to anything in the corporate world but I AM a Master Swaddler and I wear the badge with pride. Well, if there were a badge I'd wear it with pride.........

Party Time!

Normally we celebrate Cade's birthday while we are on vacation but, since this year's plans were scrapped, Cade was able to have his first spend the night birthday party! He made a list of about 10 kids which I quickly narrowed down to four. Much more manageable! The party started out with our handy must-have-during-parties water slide. This time, however, Bobby thought it would be a great idea to lather the slide in dishwashing liquid. He claimed that without it the slide just wasn't fast enough. The boys loved it and if Bobby wasn't just over the safe weight limit for the slide he'd have been all over it.

There were serious suds in the pool at the bottom. All the more fun!
Once the slide had run it's course Bobby organized a game of kickball. Did I mention that this party was a dream for Bobby? It was basically his "Half Birthday" party since his bday is in December and rarely does he get his friends to spend the night :)
A little thunder started to roll in so we had to come inside for a bit. Cade opened up his presents and we sang a little Happy Birthday ditty.
It was also nearly time for our pizza to come. I got one shot of the kids before they scattered and ran around the house like crazies. One thing I do wonder......why is it that when you get a group of boys together, the conversation inevitably turns to flatulence? Seriously. EVERY time. When talk turned from their own personal flatulence and it's stinky properties to the flatulence of their parents (actually NO ONE in their families was safe) I quickly instituted the "What's Said at the Morgan's, STAYS at the Morgan's" rule. Oh dear mothers of these children....gas passage is a fact of life. Thou shalt not be too embarrassed!
In lieu of cake and ice cream, Cade requested a bonfire with smores. It worked out great since the Great Flood of 2010 left so much wood debris in our yard. Bobby worked up a great roaster. Cade was so kind to let Grant and his bud come over to the house to take part in the bonfire activities. Kindness. It comes out every now and then around here.
I brought down the marshmallows and the boys went at it. They cleared out my grahams and chocolate so fast I had to get a second load! Since it was drizzling rain I brought out my handy dandy pocket camera for the bonfire shots. That thing proves itself useful quite often!



I think the smores were a great hit. Everyone was high on life (or chocolate) once they were finished. They spent the rest of the evening playing in the creek creating "Friend's Falls" out of rocks. They were completely filthy when all was said and done and I DID make them shower before bedtime.
Bobby finished off the evening by shooting off some fireworks with the boys. I'm telling you, it really was hard for me to figure out just exactly whose party this really was. Water slide, kickball, boy talk, creek play, bonfire, fireworks......what more could you ask for?? The boys, minus one, hit the sack around 10:30. Bobby went out to check on the smoldering fire and decided it would be funny to tap on the window and jiggle the door knob since they were all sleeping in the basement. Cade ran upstairs with absolutely NO color in his face and said, "Mommy! Someone's trying to get in downstairs!" "Cade. It's your father." I replied.
He laughed (a little nervously, I might add) and went to tell his buds. Bobby was rolling with laughter. Funny joke for a 16 year old sleepover......not an 8 year old sleepover. Only two of them made it all night in the basement after that fiasco. Scaring never grows old for the Bobster.

It was a great night of fun and laughter for my boy. Eight years have passed too quickly. I hope eight more years from now he still wants to have his buds sleep over at our house. It will be here before I know it!

The Birthday Morn

Today I am officially the mother of an eight year old. It's really hard for me to believe. Especially since I'm only 23 years old. I slacked on the birthday crown. I don't think Cade has ever had the privilege of wearing the crown because we are usually on vacation on his bday and I never have the supplies. This year we were suppose to be in Florida soaking up the sunshine (and some oil) but Little Tee-Tiny joined our family instead. We'll take that.

I slaved over a hot oven and made the Birthday Boy's request for birthday breakfast: coffee cake. Here's a nice blurry picture of that. I have never claimed to be a decent photographer in the wee morning hours. What little skills I possess are not awake at that time.

The brothers were up at the break of dawn to share in the goodness that is coffee cake.
Little Sister had to wait until later in the afternoon to get her picture made with the birthday boy. One day too soon she'll come running down those stairs to make sure she gets her share of the coffee cake!
The one thing Cade asked for this year was a Razor scooter. I guess now that he's eight the 3 wheeled spiderman one he has is embarrassing. It was probably embarrassing last year and the year before but he's such a trooper he didn't care.
I got him the deluxe version that makes sparks and has light up wheels. It's pretty cool if I do say so myself. I may or may not have taken it for a spin and ended up flat on my back in the neighbor's yard with grass clippings all over my face AND back. I guess that's what happens when you loose control and try to bail but end up cartwheeling through the air.
It's always good to give solid examples of why you push for safety rules. Such as the "always wear your helmet" rule. Just doing my job, folks. Just doin' my job. It would've been such a better example if I would've actually had on a helmet. Oh well. I never said I was a perfect parenting example. Just an example.

Happy Birthday, Cade! I hope you fair better than your mother with your new scooter!