Playtime with my Jocelyn.

We are sitting and reading books.  

Jocelyn stands up and has decided she's done reading.  

She grabs my hand and leads me to her next idea of fun.

We sit and play.

She screams and laughs. 

She decides she wants to eat them.

I tell her, "No, you can't eat them. They are toys. Not food."

She laughs at me for telling her such nonsense. 

She decides she wants to play in a different way.

Like 52 Card Pick-Up kind of way. 

I tell her, "No, we don't dump them out."

She didn't listen. 

She gets mad when I laughed when she bonked herself in the face. 

She gets over it and decides to continue her destruction. 

I tell her, "You need to take care of sister's toys. She loves them so be nice." 

So, she gives the toys a hug. 

I ask her to help me. "Let's clean up okay?" I even sing the song. 

"Clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere."

She laughs at me. 

She doesn't help.

She left, and returned to reading. 

Playtime with my Jocelyn.

Tee pee = T.P.

So, I thought of this idea to have a tee pee inspired baby shower. This soon to be new baby would be Totally Perfect (T.P.), so why not go with that as the theme?

I checked Pinterest and found that once again my original ideas had already been done by somebody else. And better than what I had come up with in my head. Ugh. I seriously hate Pinterest. But oh well, I was committed to the T.P.

I wanted to have it in an actual tee pee. Ok, that's a lie, but I did want to have one at the party as decor.

I knew I could make one if I was really ambitious, but I'm not, so whatever. We asked some ladies at church if anyone had a pop-up tee pee, you know, the little ones that are so popular on Pinterest, that blasted site full of more creative and smarter people than me. But, sadly no one had one. Ugh. A sweet sister did offer her giant 10 foot tall tee pee, but I declined since it would not fit in my living room. (I could have actually hosted the shower in that giant thing. Oh well.) Ugh to normal size living rooms.

But, I persevered. I would have a tee pee no matter what.

I talked to my mom and asked her if she had anything I could use for the party and she said, "Well, I think I still have your old tee pee from when you were a little girl." Say what!!!! Sure enough, she did!

I was stoked. I finally had a tee pee, just the right size for my crazy vision of this party.

But, I wanted more. So I bought some cheap fabric at Joann's in the remnant section, cut some branches off of my Mom's oleander tree, and tied them up with a hair band. BAM! Mini tee pees on my dining room table as centerpieces.

Then I just needed one little thing that said "Totally Perfect." So just in case you weren't getting my theme of T.P., this little sign would clear it up for you.

Man, I have problems. But whatever, this party turned out cute, it was well attended, and most importantly the Mom-to-be was so incredibly thankful.


Basically, the party was Totally Perfect - T.P.

I divided the table up into two sections of food.

Hunters - "Man Bites" Sweet Baby Rays Crock pot meatballs and "Skewered Meat" Marinated Grilled Chicken breasts on a stick

Gatherers - Fruit, Veggies, and Tribal Trail Mix

In the center up front on the table was "Tribal Treats" vanilla cream cheese frosting cupcakes. 

I can't take credit for all the food. 

All I did was the meatballs. 

Shout out to Tacy, Vicki, JoAnn, and Shyanne for their wonderful contributions.

I used the leftover sticks as decor anyway I could. 

To tie back my curtains, to pop out of large pots, and to make pretend arrows.

This stuff was free! 

Woo hoo. I love free.

I also borrowed some yellow, brown, orange, and red paint chips from Walmart that I cut and turned into ombre feathers. I made a feather garland that hung in front of the window where the food was. 

I didn't get a picture of it. It was cute. UGH.

Just believe me when I say they were Totally Perfect.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

So there is this boy I know. He has the sweetest little heart, the cutest little smile, and the most magical eyes/eyelashes anyone in the world can possess.

This little boy asked his mom for a Ninja Turtle party for his 5th birthday. So, because he has captivated his mom's heart, she put together the best little Ninja Turtle Party that she could. (She even had help from the little boy's daddy, because he loves this little boy as much as the mom does.)

This mom had good intentions of making this party very low key - very different from her traditional parties. Just a few green balloons here and there, posters of the Ninja Turtles, and the Ninja Turtle cupcakes for sure. This mom was trying not to stress because her son's birthday would be after returning from a long trip to Seattle and the first week back to school. AHHHHH!

But, her mind began to come up with ideas. Then she went on Pinterest, and holy crap. This simple low key party, seemed to change into something a little bit more intense.

Food - Anchovies (Goldfish crackers), Nun chucks  (Ho Ho's and Twizzlers), Sewer Lids (Oreos), Turtle Snacks (TMNT Fruit Snacks), TMNT cupcakes, and of course PIZZA!

Decor - Ninja Turtle madness all over!

"SHELL SHOCK" Game - I found these water grenade balloons at Walmart and thought they looked like turtle shells. So we made 60 water balloons, I drew Kraang, a member of the Foot Clan, a Robot Droid, and Shredder on the wall with chalk, and had the kids run as fast as they could trying to "Wipe out" the bad guys! It was so stinking hot so this water game was a hit. 

"SPECIAL DELIVERY" Game - I found some white plastic plates, made them look like pizzas, had 5 pizza boxes donated, and cut out some bad guys from a TMNT coloring book. The kids had to attack the bad guys with their pizza throwing skills as fast as they could. It was pretty funny to watch.

I ask our guests to take a picture with the birthday child, whichever one it is for every party I do. Then I use these pictures to write a thank you note for their gift/coming to the party. This way they get to keep a little memory from the party, along with being appreciated for their kindness.

All of Jack's buddies got a mask (felt), a turtle shell (roasting pan sprayed painted green with yarn strings), and nun chucks (pipe insulation, rope, and duct tape). 

This is where I got a little carried away. 

His face throughout the party, made it worth every minute of it going from low key to intense!

So this boy I know, after having his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle birthday party came up to me and gave me a big hug and said, "I love you Mommy. Thank you for my party." Did I mention he has the sweetest little heart, the cutest little smile, and the most magical eyes/eyelashes anyone in the world can possess?

We love you Jack boy! You are such an AWESOME little DUDE! Cowabunga baby boy.

Stupid School

My sugar starts school again tomorrow morning. Stupid school.

He's in his fourth year, so that's nice.  But whatever.  Stupid school.

He's had a 4 week break and we've had lots of fun, but whatever.  Stupid school.

Ugh.  Stupid school.

Before his summer semester ended, he finally took us on a tour of this school. About freaking time - it's been three years, man. Stupid school. 

My babies loved seeing where their Daddy spends so much of his time. They liked seeing the dummy in the sim lab. They liked touching all the pedals and everything else they shouldn't be touching. They liked spinning on the "swirly whirly chairs" and pretending to take notes on the computer. They liked seeing him in the dentist chair. So did I. They liked pretending to be his assistant, while he worked on each kid. They liked squirting the water from the air/water syringe. They liked hearing stories about their Daddy from his classmates and professors. They liked so many things about this special tour. It made them feel good as they walked through his school holding hands with their "almost a real dentist" Daddy.

I will remind them of the things they liked from this tour and how important it is that he is there working hard for our family. I will remind them how proud they felt of him on the "tour day" when he is stuck at school studying all hours of the night for boards, exams, and scheduling. I will remind them how much he loves us for working so hard, surviving the first three years and staying strong for his final year at school. I hope they will remember these things when they don't see their Daddy for the next two semesters. Stupid school.

Good luck Sugar. We love you so much and are so proud of you. You have worked so hard and we appreciate that. Hopefully as you walk through these places time and time again over these last two semesters, you will also remember this day, these memories, and these little faces. 

Let me say this, the school is very nice, not entirely stupid. But, I'm just bitter that the school will get to see my husband, their Daddy more than we do, and that is especially true these last 2 semesters.

Ugh.  Stupid school.

Soccer Family

We became a soccer family last Spring. Soccer family as in, Daddy was the coach and I was the assistant coach. Afton even got involved as Assistant to the Coach. (The Office reference.)  We had no idea what we were doing, but we were pretty confident that we can do just about anything! Ha - way too confident!

But seriously, it was a lot of fun. The little boys were so sweet. They really improved so much from the beginning of the season to the end. The best part was watching my sweet boy play for his Daddy. I loved every minute of it! They both did too.

As assistant coach, I got to put together the uniforms, with a SKOR bar and cute little tag at the beginning of the season. I did other stuff too, but this was my favorite part! The little boys were so excited to get their jerseys. It made me smile. 

Jack couldn't decide which cleats to where. 

He just "liked them both sooooo much!"

I also got to take team pictures. 

Man, do I suck at taking actual pictures, with a semi-nice camera. 

But if it is done on my phone, I swear I am a natural. 

(Instagram helps me with my confidence in this area.)

Number 3

My Sugar with his PANTHERS.

At the end of the season, we had a little party. We had some food, talked about how much growth all the boys had shown, reminisced about Mateo's amazing natural raw talent, but most important was the awards ceremony. I loved hearing what my husband had to say about these sweet little boys. 

Jacob - "Most Aggressive Award - not just towards the other team, but with our own as well."

Tristan - "Motor Award because he is always on the go. Afton helped me come up with this one because she said, 'Dad, that kid never stops!'"

Brennen - "Most Improved Award because he started out the season barely kicking the ball but by the end of the season, he almost scored a goal."

Mateo - "No one is going to argue that you were our MVP, because you scored like 800 goals and you had such sweet moves while doing it."

Brayden - Sadly he had already left for the evening, but he would have won the "Most Interested in Things Other Than the Game Award." Little man was so cute, and easily distracted.

Last but not least, 

Jack - "You get the award for Best Celebration After a Score Award. He told his mom, I want in and I am going to score. And he went in and scored two goals. He did it." Then he walked to midfield with a smirk on his face and pretty much popped his collar, so proud of himself. 

We start another season in a few weeks. I am excited. We all are!