Monkey Shiner Babblings

M - Oh! Charli! You stink! Did you go poo poo?
C - NO!
M - I'm pretty sure you did. You're really stinky!
C - *holding her baby* Baby poop
M - No, Charli poop!

M- I really like those new pants on you.
J- I DONT! The only thing I like about them....is that I can hide SUCKERS in them!
M- You probably shouldn't tell mom that...
J- Well... They have big pockets!

Hunter walks into the bathroom, unannounced, and finds mom leaning over the sink looking in the mirror.
H - Hey mom, why are you popping your nipples?
M - My what?!
H - Your nipples. 
M - I'm not. Do you you even know what a nipple is?
H - It's on your body...
M - Yeah, lift up your shirt and I'll show you.
H - Oh yeah! These are them! 
M - So yeah, I wasn't popping my nipples....I was popping my zits. Big difference bud. The last thing I need is for you to go to school and tell your teacher I was popping my nipples...

A few things about Charlotte that need to be mentioned...
-When she's done eating, she'll yell "I'm DONE!!!" at the top of her lungs. It usually comes out of no where, but it actually sounds like she's yelling "I'm DUMB!" which of course makes her brothers die of laughter. Every time.
-Since we cloth diaper, I dump her poo into the toilet (your supposed to with disposables too...) and this whole process is so exciting for her. We walk her poo to the toilet, dump it in, and as she flushes it down, she says, "Bye poop!" really excitedly. And then she's over it. Perry left for Spokane the other week and I said, "Say 'bye' to daddy" and she did. She said 'bye' and as soon as the door shut a few seconds later she said "poop". Later that week she flat out said "bye poop" to Nanny. Oops. 
-It's adorable how many times during the day she mixes up her brothers...

An Outting to Art on Tap

For those who know me, I'm a pretty crafty person. I love making stuff! Although I enjoyed my time in shop class while in high school, I'm still kicking myself for not taking an art class... It was the one class I was so excited to take when I was in elementary and junior high, and then never did when I reached high school. The other month, a good friend of mine invited me to join her at Art on Tap. I had never heard of it before, but it sounded fun so I was all in. After checking out their website, I discovered it's  a weekly event (you have to RSVP prior) that takes place at one of the wineries or distilleries around town where an instructor teaches you how to paint the featured picture. Mini-art class? Heck yes! And it was so much fun!

When Miss Megan and the rest of her posse arrived at the Montgomery Distillery, the five of us staked out our easels, and headed to the bar to claim our free drink (it's included in the class and who can say no to a free drink?!) Mine was delicious - had vodka, honey, a few other things and a rosemary twig for garnish. 

 I would guess there was enough easels for about 40 people, but I would guess that maybe 25 people were there. We, obviously, started with the background, and she demonstrated how to bend the colors. I stuck with the same colors the instructor was using. A lady behind me added purple streaks to hers, which I loved and wish I would have thought of that too. Next time!

Then we had a short break so the backgrounds could dry. During the intermission, we added more paint to our trays and mingled for a bit. There was a poker game going on at the distillery as well so it was a little louder than I had expected it to be, but it was enjoyable none-the-less. After our break we dove into painting the flowers after she demonstrated the shapes and how to shade. I clearly missed something with the shading. The featured painting had orange flowers with yellow highlights, so maybe my problem was the different color flowers. I tried to add some red highlights, but then I ended up with a pink color, when I still wanted it to be purple... It all came together once we added the stems. 

It was fun to walk around and see everyone else's paintings. All the same, but all different at the same time. 

These are two of the many pictures the instructor had on display. My favorite ones by far! The wheat in the corner along with the wheat fields remind me of home. I don't know what it is about the trees, but I love that one as well. Maybe sometime I can recreate the wheat one...

As soon as I arrived home from Art on Tap, Perry helped me hang my flowers at the end of the hall. I had taken down a picture Kimberli drew for me and moved it to my gallery wall (which is missing one thing, and then I'll show you that!) and since then this spot has been bare. We didn't notice it around the holidays because this is where we hang a couple stockings, but as soon as the decorations came down, the blankness started to bother Perry. Problem solved thanks to an enjoyable afternoon! I'm definitely going back soon!

Happy Birthday to my Superhero!

I'm pretty sure JP thought his birthday party would never get here! He has been waiting and waiting since Hunter's birthday...in November. But the last few weeks it hit him hard. "How many more days?!" It's a good thing I had it at the hotel again (and that they're super flexible!) because I had to change the date around a few times since Perry had a last minute trip to Spokane. His birthday was actually on Tuesday, but with Perry being gone, we changed it to Wednesday so he could be around for part of it. 

On his birthday, I let him order what ever he wanted for breakfast, which was an egg on toast with sprinkles. Aunt Kim and Nanny came over later that morning and stole him and Charli away so I could decorate the cake. (Cooking dinner with Charlotte around is hard enough!) He went bowling and almost got a strike, played on the train at the mall and went birthday shopping with Nanny and picked out his present. By the time they got back, the cake was almost done. It really only took a few hours... For dinner he requested Mac 'n Cheese, and after I had the water boiling for it, I realized we were out. I instead formulated a plan that was better than just Mac 'n Cheese. We went through the drive thru at Wendy's and came back and ate it in a fort we built in his room. And then Hunter and him got to sleep in it. 

I thought he was going to pick a Ninja Turtle cake again, but I was wrong, JP wanted a superhero cake this year. I was so excited about that decision because I had been wanting to make a hero cake for one of my kids! (In JP's head, Ninja Turtles *are* superheros so Leonardo made an appearance too!) You can see more cake pictures on my cake blog.

 Wednesday finally arrived and he was SO anxious to get to the pool to swim with his friends. He had so much fun with all of them! I could tell everyone had fun - even the moms :)

 JP even went down the slides a few times with Aunt Kim, and once with me. Contrary to his belief, he ended up liking it! 

 Charli got in the pool too! She was really scared of the kiddy pool because of the mushroom waterfall being really loud, but she eventually got in and sat in the big pool. Hunter spent most of his time in the hot tub...

 Just having a green table cloth and green plates, literally, made his day! I'm pretty sure all his friends are aware of his green obsession...

 Despite what the picture shows, he was super excited, internally though. He's like me in social settings and definitely and introvert!

 

 After singing "Happy Birthday" he attempted to blow out his candles from way back in his chair. He really struggled to get the last two, so I hoisted him up after a few more failed attempts. 

He also wanted nothing to do with cake because he was just itching to open all of his presents. He was so excited! 

JP slept like a rock last night. Hunter did too...kind of. He came upstairs about an hour after bedtime and walked down the hall like a zombie. He climbed up on my lap and snuggled in like a cat. Perry and I tried and tried to asked him what was wrong and before we knew it he was out. At one point he was hanging mostly off the couch, with his face on my tummy, and his hand smack in the middle of my face. We're both sure he was sleep-walking, especially since he doesn't remember any of it!

A Lazy Saturday

I don't understand my children one bit. On the weekdays they are a *pain* to get out of bed . I usually get Hunter up and going around 7:15 and JP usually wakes up on his own in all the commotion but is super grumpy about it, or he'll wake up when Charlotte does since her room is right above his. I've recently wrangled Perry into helping me a little with Hunter in the mornings because I am *so tired of fighting* with him. Put your toys away and get dressed child! Then the weekend rolls around... Perry and I are super excited to sleep and what's that I hear? Whispering on stairs? Foot steps in the hall? Charlotte giggling? You're kidding me. It's 6:30 in the morning, on a SLEEP IN day! Whatever. Let them play... But seriously, nothing is more annoying than saying, "Stay in your room and be quiet when you wake up," and finding them bouncing off the wall in their sister's room... Or letting her out of her room... 

This Saturday started out similar, expect it was just Hunter bouncing off the walls in Charlotte's room. JP crawled into bed with me in the middle of the night after getting sick in his bed. Clearly I didn't process that. Because only minutes from me getting out of bed after Perry, I rolled over and asked JP how he felt. He just said his body felt icky. And then he erupted on me. Not once, not twice, but three times. Needless to say, our Saturday was already off to a grumpy start... I hate laundry.

 After breakfast Perry decided to surprise the boys by getting his Legos down from the attic. JP had been building with Legos a few days before and became very frustrated with his structure because his platform was bent. Perry agreed to get them some new flat board to build off of, but didn't say when. As soon as the kids were dressed, he brought them in and their excitement could not be contained!

 He has a lot of random pieces in his Lego collection. Just like our boys', his Lego collection was created by mixing sets of Legos together. He has pieces from ships to castles, to trees to spaceships, and the usual police cars and race cars. (And a few miscellaneous things like marbles, rocks, screws, and puzzle pieces.)

 Of course you can only keep Charlotte off the table for so long. She loves digging around in the boys' Legos. And nothing makes them more upset. There was a lot of "CHAW-LEE"s being shouted. 

 She thinks she's just soooo funny! Stepping on Legos like it doesn't actually hurt...pssh.

 Perry had a lot of Medival guys in his collection so Hunter and I set them up in our ships. The guys below are playing racquetball, while the guys up top are actually fighting. 

 Some of my guys ran out of weapons to hold so they fought with oars, and a stop sign. 

 JP was content building rockets. They were entertained for HOURS. 

 By the time dinner rolled around, I was feeling very unmotivated to cook. I've been overly tired the past few weeks where it's a struggle to get through the day without a power nap. When Perry suggested roasting hot dogs over a campfire, JP ran to the door yelling, "This is going to be the best dinner EVER!!" 

 Charlotte was very cautious of the fire, saying "hot" every time she looked at it. Literally, every time. 

It was a little chilly out but perfect none the less for our first cook-out in 2015. After dinner we all sat down and pulled out the directions from 1996 (he's a Dustin...) and Perry and Hunter worked on building a massive pirate ship, while JP and worked on making a yacht. Because there was actually two tubs of Legos, and we only had one of them, both groups were missing key pieces so we all quit and got ready for bed. Our bed was still drying after I shampooed it from the mornings "incident" so Perry and I opted to camp-out in the living room. Worst night of sleep ever.