Thursday, July 21, 2011

Family Kickball and Birthday Party

The family gathered one evening for good food, kickball, and 2 birthday celebrations. A funny thing about the food was that it was potluck and I had no idea what to bring. I discovered I had the makings for banana bread. After baking four small loaves, we thought it may not be enough for our large crowd. We ended up bringing carrots too. When we arrived, my sister-n-law placed her food on the table, which happened to be banana bread muffins and carrots. What are the chances?!

Gathering for kickball.
The girls in the field.
Miss E
O running wild all evening. This was the night he got poison ivy that lasted a couple weeks.
E, not sure when to run the bases.
W and Daddy.
A helping V run bases.
Exhaling contest.

Double the celebration with double the cakes and double the ice cream. Ice cream...that's what I'm talkin' about.
Make a wish! (I think it was something like moving to the state.)

Are You Serious!?

The boys' room used to be my craft room (sniff, sniff) and when they were born, I had no place to move my crafts. So the crafts stayed in their bedroom closet...locked up. All children clothes have been in E's room. I cleaned out my craft closet one weekend. It was a huge task because it was stacked floor to ceiling full of crafts, fabrics, and whatever else. It was a beast.
After the weekend, however, I forgot to place my paints back on the top shelf and lock up the closet. Big mistake, which I still get a stomach ache over. I don't know how I could forget something like that, especially since my boys get into absolutely everything. And boy, did they ever...
 W got into the paints and started squirting the paint across the room. He then gave O 5 large bottles of paint and 2 small bottles to play with in his crib. Paint was everywhere!
 Some places had squirts and dots.
 Some places had pools of paint.
 When I hysterically called A at work, completely sobbing, he told me to take pictures. I was so upset, I couldn't. I started cleaning it. I tried to scoop up the pools of paint and pick at the million dots and thin lines. I wiped down the doors, the walls, and the cribs. I finally realized that I had to take pictures of what these two crazy kids did.
 O's bed was the worst. He did empty 7 bottles of paint, you know.
 He had everything covered in paint, including himself. He was sitting in a giant pool of orange paint that had not only saturated through two sheets and a waterproof mattress cover, but it was spilling down the back of the crib.
I've never been able to get his handprint for anything. Not once has he let me put paint on his hand and place it on paper. Funny, how he didn't hesitate one bit in his bed...and look...2 handprints.
All of  his toys, his friends, a pillow and his beloved blanket were ruined.
Mug shot of the main culprit. I put W in the tub as I cleaned. He knew he was in trouble. No one got breakfast that morning except E because she could get it herself. I was quite busy and the boys couldn't go anywhere.
I was so sick to my stomach. There was no way I could bathe the kids. A came home early for lunch to help and just shook his head at the mess. What a mess! I tried calling professionals to do the job, but they wanted way too much money and there was no guarantee of removing the paint. So, I kept my money and cleaned it myself ALL DAY LONG. It was about 9pm when I finally realized I could do no more. My entire body was aching and I actually had a bruise on my hand from using my Bissell green machine.
It was sad to say goodbye to our beloved friends and blankets. A couple friends were mine when I was little. One was given to E on her 1st birthday. Three were given to W when he was born. Two were from birthmothers, which makes me very sad. We managed to salvage the friend from O's birthmother (blue, bottom right), but...
 we had to let go of our elephant rattle, which was given to E from her birthmother. So, so sad.
The collection of empty bottles.

The carpet looks a lot better, but some spots just won't go away. We will most likely need to get new carpet...in just about every room now. Add that to the needed kitchen flooring, and wow, we've got a whole house to redo! How...fun.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

How Much Is That Doggy In The Window?

Finally! The Animal Shelter is complete. It's been a major task for A for several years and it's finally up and running. We endured the heat and attended the grand opening. The kids loved seeing the animals, literally everywhere, inside and out of the building.
 The kids looking at the puppies in the viewing window, just inside the shelter foyer.
 O checking out the kittens.
 W letting the kittens lick his finger.
 Remember the viewing area? O disappeared in the crowd and I found him exiting the viewing area with one of the puppies. He just walked back there, opened the door, grabbed a puppy and left. Lovely. The worker was quickly there to help him hold the puppy.
She was very nice to help O.
 Outside there was an ice cream eating contest. The rule was to eat it like a dog. The boys were game.
 They licked away. Why not? It was free ice cream, I tell ya.
 E refused to join in the contest. It's ice cream. No. I don't want to. It will cool you off. No. I don't want to do it. Why? They don't have a spoon and that's not good manners.
 Crafts


 
And, of course, we were able to pet the mascot of some organization. How fun was it to see a donkey dressed up for summer, huh? Or was that just a little too odd?