Good Books

Lately I have not had much time to read, but I have snuck these two books. I end us staying up too late reading when I should be sleeping and then I'm tired for three days! 

 This is a new author and I have no idea why I grabbed it. I expect that it was mostly because it was on the bargain rack at B&N. I have to say, it was a GREAT read and I could not put it down. A writer ends up teaching at a college and finds that there is an underground secret society. It has murder and suspense and all that good juicy stuff! I plan to read more of this author soon!

This precious book I read in two nights. I had heard about it on Kelly's Korner Blog. The writer is from San Antonio and she tells her funny and sentimental story about her journey of being a mother. A must read for all moms out there. So stinkin' cute!

Gunnar is 28 Months

I wonder if it's a problem that I am still counting Gunnar's age in months and he's almost two and a half? It's a hard, hard thing to let go of the baby details. It's bittersweet....so fun to watch him grow but so sad to see it happen! I don't think I've written about G man in a while and all he doing these days! 28 months aka almost 2 1/2 here we go.......

This boy is turning into quite a character! The last month or so he has started talking about everything.  Like, I can have a conversation with him. I can reason with him (some days). This week he told me, "Get up, shut caputer(computer), get me drink, Mommy!" Oh, Lord, child!!! He is also really funny. He wants me to notice that he's being funny and says, "I funny, Mommy." I love how he concludes his sentences with "Mommy". I adore it! He's been singing songs that he learns at school and speaking of school, he LOVES school and LOVES his precious teacher. He has the best teacher, and I am so blessed we were placed in her class. I dropped him off last week, and I was hanging around and he looked at me and put his hand in my face and started waving-I think that was my cue to leave! I leave him some days in extended care, which is three hours extra after school is over at 2:30. He loves to play with all the kids that stay. Well, they called me yesterday and told me he had a little injury and was in the office. I went up there to pick him up and he was in an adult sized rolling chair holding a pink dum dum in one hand and a pack of Smarties in the other! He had walked under the little cubbies and apparently caught the edge with the top of his head and was bleeding! He was fine and I laughed when I saw him-he just smiled really big at me. If you know Gunnar, the way to his heart is through a lollipop. That boys loves him a good lollipop! We put a little Neosporin on his head last night, but he was otherwise fine.

Gunnar is still in a finicky eating stage(and I don't know why because he ate everything as a baby). Some days I'm not sure what he uses for fuel. He really just takes a few bites and is finished eating....drives me nuts!!! But he seems to be growing because some of his pants are too short so I guess he's getting some nutrients! His favorites these days......chocolate milk, green beans, eggs, ketchup, tea, beans, nuggets, weenies, bananas, strawberries, yogurt, chips, cereal, apples, cooked carrots, french fries, and basically anything sweet. He has a sweet tooth-he would fight for an Oreo! He would survive on ice cream if I would let him. Not the breakfast or diet of champions for that matter but I keep trying. He weighs about 32 lbs and is wearing 2T clothes an size 7 shoes.

He loves to ride his scooter around the house, wrestle with Slade, and he loves his Finny. He actual calls her Inny Mouse. Kyle would say something like little bitty Finny Mouse and Gunnar started calling her "Inny Mouse". It's the cutest thing I've ever heard and now we all call her Inny Mouse. He says, "Inny Mouse take a bath with me, Inny Mouse come with me, Inny Mouse get me my cup". Finley mothers him like a little hen. Sometimes I hear her tell him that is he doesn't do this or that, he's going to bed! It's too funny! G has also started to become addicted to the ipad. He knows how to pull up Netflix and watch himself a cartoon. It's amazing what these kids can do. He loves a puzzle game called Tozzle and is a master at putting puzzles together. His fingers are just swishing all over the screen! He also figured out this week how to take photos on my iphone. So know I find all these random photos of carpet, legs, feet, walls, and such on my phone. He cries when Kyle leaves for work and always wants to ride in the "pick-up truck" accent on the "p"! He's big on putting things in the trash for me and hates for his hands to be dirty. He screams, "sticky hands" and that means to wipe his hands off. He also says, "I've got boogies" and we should wipe his nose immediately!

My boy likes rockets, robots, zoo animals, stacking blocks, trains, dirt and trucks. He says, "rockets in space pshhhhhhh". His fav shows at the moment are Team Umizoomi, Dora, Diego, Max&Ruby, and Bubble Guppies. He is still afraid of heights and doesn't like us to throw him in the air or swing him. He loves to slide, though. He loves to brush his "teefies" and would each all the toothpaste if I let him. He loves to bathe but will not get into the tub till it is filled up and the water is turned off. He doesn't want the water running while he is in the bath!?! This guy is the best haircut customer you have ever seen. He has to get his hair cut fairly often since I can't bare to part with his semi curls. When I take him in, I see that sometimes the girls are cringing that they drew the two year old card, but it's always a pleasant surprise! He sits there and watches my phone and never moves an inch. They never can believe how good he is. I think for as much as this child cried as a baby, he owes me that! Ha!

I could go on for days talking about all the amazing things this boy does. He is a mess but we can't remember life without him!

Valentines Day

There's been ALOT going on in our lives lately. We have had our plate full....and a mug and serving bowl, as well. I can't wait to tell you about our most exciting news and hopefully I can blog about it this week when I load my photos. I will say, since the holidays, I have been a total loser with my camera. I have got to get back in the groove taking photos. I even bought a new lens with my Christmas money and I have been a major slacker! I. Will. Do. Better!!! We went to the rodeo with my parents last weekend and I forgot my camera and had to use my iphone! What the heck has happened to me?!?! And as you will soon see, I also forgot to take the camera to the Valentine's parties. What can I say.......I've got more kids than memory now! But here are a few snaps of V-Day.

Finny Minny at her kinder Valentine's party. Her hair was fixed when she left the house and when I arrived in her classroom, it looked like she had been in a wind storm. But she's still cute and I will keep her.

I had to take cookies to her party. For the first time, I bought cookies (gasp) instead of making something! I just simply ran out of time. Fortunately, the kids didn't and care and the party still went ahead, nor were the kids bothered in the least that they ate Wal-Mart cookies. Good to know. A cookie is just a cookie to a kid.

Slade's party was pretty fun. In 4th grade, they combine the entire grade and have a giant party in the gym or cafeteria. There were games, music, ice cream sundaes, and craziness! I took cherry 7-Up to his party and also ran the Valentines Bingo game. It was a great party! I had to go back and forth between his party and Finley's party. And poor Gunnar just had his little party without me. All three had a party at the exact same time. 3 kids plus 1 mom equals not enough time to go to all the parties. I figure Gunnar won't remember who was at his party this year. I see my future being a bit more tricky especially since Kyle and I have come to the realization that at some point in the future, we will have one child in elementary, one child in jr. high, and one child in high school. That should be interesting. At least Slade can drive his siblings around by that time. Although, I'm sure he won't want to! I will just block that out for a few more years. (Oh, goodness, I just counted how many times I said "party" in that paragraph! LOL!)

And so not to leave out G man in this post, I had to show you the wonderful surprise he brought me the other day. He walked into the living room with his poop. Nothing says, "Happy Valentine's Day, Mom!", like a ball of poop. Thanks, Gunnar! Life was a little too pleasant. I had to be reminded how it felt to be in the trenches of motherhood again..............Oh, and just so not to leave you with poop on the brain, I sent strawberries to Gunnar's Valentine's party. Cookies, cherry 7-Up, and Strawberries. And poop. Ha, just kidding!

Blizzard!

Good morning, Snow. Thank you very much for the free day of no school. We will take it! The kids slept in till past 8 and we've had eggs, bacon, & cinnamon toast. The news is calling it an actual blizzard! Wow! It's blowing and snowing as we speak. Now, time to snuggle up in our jammies-we may not change out of them all day long!

Tuesday Random

 Slade joined 4-H and is participating in shooting. He loves it and is apparently a pretty darn good shot! Kyle takes him to shooting on Wednesdays.

 Poor Gunnar man has NEVER been a good rider. Solution......the ipad. Thank you, Apple. He takes it in the morning when I take the kids to school. And any other time he has to ride longer than three minutes.

 Awwwww........

 Gunnar's Easter shirt cracks me up.

 In January about the time that Finley & G got the flu, Fin had to take Ollie the Otter home from her classroom for the weekend. She had to take him everywhere and write a story about all he did. Here he is at Cracker Barrel.

 She also took him to the doctor's office but she was in a foul mood and wouldn't let me take any pics there.

 Gunnar claimed it was his otter the whole weekend.

 This is a cool print I ordered off of Etsy in the fall. I framed it in an 8x10 black frame and I'm loving it so much!

I got a new treadmill for Christmas! I have been wanting one for years!!! I was so excited! I used it 17 consecutive days without missing starting the day they set it up for me. It's awesome! I actually can go and use it after the kids go to bed at night and watch my recorded shows. Love it!!! Weather is no longer an excuse for me!

Popcorn and Chicken Pesto

Don't worry, popcorn and chicken pesto are not together! They are just sharing the blog! Ha!

 It has started to become a ritual that Finley comes home from school and makes popcorn for her snack.

 We've actually started using a Pinterest recipe. You buy plain kernels and put about a quarter cup in a glass bowl. I put one of my Fiestaware plates on top and pop it in the microwave a couple of minutes. Perfect popcorn. It's super cheap and it's really easy! The bag of kernels last a long time.

Anyone would know they have popcorn as a snack because this little man leaves a trail of crumbs everywhere!

I made Pesto Chicken tonight and it was yummy! I love love love pesto. All you do is spray a dish with Pam and spread 1/4 cup of pesto on the bottom. Place your chicken tenderloins on top and spread 1/4 to 1/2 cup of remaining pesto on top. Cover with foil. Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes. Sprinkle with lowfat mozzarella and bake another 5 minutes till melted and chicken cooked. My kids even liked it. I think these leftover pieces would be great on a panini or in a salad.

 And they are still eating popcorn.

Slade's Birthday, Part 2

Slade wanted to have a slumber party for his birthday. I told him he could ask two people. Well, two turned into three and three turned into four. We ended up having 5 including Slade. It was definitely a house full. We were busting at the seams!

 Slade wanted to have an air soft gun party. The big thing around here are air soft guns. All the boys love them. It's kind of like the new age BB gun. All I can think of is Ralphie...."you'll shoot your eye out, kid!" Boys and their toys.

I had a lady make these awesome camo cupcakes for the boys.

 This inside was even camo! They were perfect!

 Here are the boys before they headed out to Kyle's shop. We are missing one-he came later after a basketball game. I had the boys cover one of their eyes. I told them if they didn't wear their goggles at all times, this is how it would be not to have one eye if it got shot out. I'm a crazy mom like that, but they did keep their goggles on. (I did have all parents approval of the shooting of the air soft guns.)

 Bob, Payton, Slade, Ben, & Jackson

 For hours, the boys worked and worked on their "forts". Jackson and Slade enjoyed driving the golf carts all over.

Slade and Jackson were on one team and the other three were together. Kyle said he didn't realize that the game was 95% preparation and 5% shooting. It was so funny because they really didn't shoot that much, they just worked on their forts the entire time!!!

And we did have a slight problem during the party. Seems that the smoke bomb that Ben brought actually did have a spark. Everyone thought it only produced smoke. Yep, we started a little fire.

 The fire loved the dead grass and the little fire became a big fire that Kyle could not put out. The Woodrow Fire Department had to come put out the fire.

If the wind had been blowing that day, we would have not had a good outcome. Ben's mother was horrified. We were horrified that a fire started while we had other people's kids with us. It was a lesson that they will not soon forget. Kyle said their eyes were as big as saucers. Us Smart's like some excitement at our birthday parties, what can I say.

 Not to worry, though. We had the fire put out and continued the air soft gun party. That's how we roll. After it got too dark to shoot, we went and ate pizza at Cici's and they played Minecraft in Slade's room into the wee hours of the morning. Two of the boys didn't sleep a wink actually. They were rockstars!

And in the words of Bob, "Slade had one EPIC party!" Yes, Bob, yes he did.
(Special thanks to the Woodrow Volunteer Fire Department)