It's NOT HUNNY!

In the wake of my night readings of Winnie-the-Pooh to the boys, Emet's eyes popped wide open when his father served him an over-easy egg the next morning. When he stuck his fork in and pulled it out covered with runny yellow stuff he smiled in exuberant exultation and said, "YESSSS! Honey! (But I'm sure when he said it, he meant "Hunny!" just like Pooh bear.)
Elijah looked over at him with a look of disgust. "That's not honey. It's yolk. And that's the reason I like my eggs fried all the way through. It's Yuck!
Not to be deterred, Emet took a defiant lick of his sticky fork and declared, "Well, I Yike it!

To see more original drawings by E.H. Shepard from Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne, click here.

The Potty Dance

This commercial is hilarious...and very relevant to where we are with our littlest. I think he needs to learn this dance so that he will quit wetting on everything.

I am Spiderman

Emet swears he made this spiderweb on our houseplant using his super Spidey web-slinging skills. And he showed me how. Just stick out your hand palm out and facing away from you, bend your two middle fingers while the others stick out and make this noise, "TSSSSST!"
It works. Here's the proof:

This is a really good movie...

you should watch it again.

I made my boys watch it with me. They didn't want to, but when it was over they said, "That was a pretty good movie!" Surprising that their mother has good taste...

There's nothing cuter

than a little boy in an oversized Titans helmet.

A quote from Elijah -

when all of the bowls were dirty: "A whole plate of popcorn?? Wow, this is the best day ever!"

Let's Play Dress Up

We like to dress up for Halloween, but I'm not the kind of person who normally buys costumes for the kids. Generally we make our outfits from whatever toys and gear we have lying around the house...and we use a lot of imagination. This year, Emet was Spiderman (easy, because we started collecting Spiderman stuff with Kaleb, then Elijah...) Elijah became Obi-Wan Kenobi by turning Kaleb's old Harry Potter Quidditch Robe inside out and donning a lightsaber, and Kaleb...well Kaleb was scary. Seth painted him up with face paint. Not my favorite look - but he was pleased.
I found a vintage skirt that I re-worked quite a bit to make the waist fit me (women must have had waists as thick as spines in the 50's - or else wore corsets...) and I became Donna Reed.

All His Own

Kaleb's birthday was earlier this month. Remember when I said we had something up our sleeve? Well, that something was Kaleb's own room! He went on a camping trip with the Boy Scouts the weekend of his birthday and when he came home the front studio had been transformed. We figured a pre-teen needed his own space...and we were right. His favorite thing to do is sit in his room and listen to music. Typical. But we were excited to give him this wonderful gift of "alone time."
Elijah, by default, also got his own room (for now.) He has decided to sleep in his tent from now on. Cozy.

Bembo's Zoo

Heard of this children's Alphabet book? Well, I love the website even more...and the kids do too. Click here.

Painting toast

My kids have been sick all week. The past couple of days, my middle child has been too sick to go to school, but not sick enough to forgo playing and getting a bit hyper. My patience is on it's last reserves, so I'm coming up with a project. I saw this toast painting craft on Make and Takes, a real cute, crafty blog.
Click here to find out how to do it. I think the kids will like it...and I hope it keeps them busy for a few quiet moments...

Those Golden Rule Days....

Today was the kids first full day back to school. I got tons of things done while they were gone...and I'm exhausted. They are too.

Image from here on flickr. Which, incidentally, is a really lovely (and geometrical) photo stream, so take a browse if you get the chance.

A Quick Click, Save a Life

There are tons of organizations set up to send donations of food and water to hungry children as long as we are participating!
Click on these once a day:

http://www.worldofgood.com/sn/f

http://www.bhook.com

http://www.pajacyk.pl

http://www.porloschicos.com/PorLosChicos.NET/index_english.htm

http://www.clickbokin.ekokoro.jp/50.html

http://children.care2.com

http://www.feedsa.com

http://www.hungerfighters.com

http://www.hungrychildren.com
http://www.clickbokin.ekokoro.jp/floq.html

http://www.OneClickOneMeal.com

http://www.definition-of.com

http://www.thehungersite.com

http://www.youthnoise.com/page.php?
page_id=2335

http://www.okruszek.org.pl

http://www.chintai.net/contribution/index.html

http://www.worldhunger.org/contributefood.htm

http://www.spendu.org/beta/index.php

Free Donation Search : http://www.helpuu.com/

Or play these fun games to donate:

http://www.freerice.com - Free Rice
http://www.freeflour.com - Free Flour
http://www.freepoverty.com - Free Water
http://www.helpthirst.com/ - Free Water
http://www.savetheworldwithmusic.com Play a day!

World Hunger: Interactive Map - Want to know more?
Click Here
World Food Inequality: Want to know more?
Click Here

Ummm, wrong bed!

The baby has learned to climb out of his crib. Apparently that does not deter him from taking his naps, though. This is what I found when I went to check on him after I put him down for nap in his crib. (That's my bed.)

Mother's Day Gifts

Mother's Day, for me, began earlier this week when the kids started bringing home things that they had made for me at school. Elijah brought home a necklace made out of a jar lid, and several construction paper Mother's Day cards and a magnetic picture frame adorned with tissue paper flowers complete with a picture of him. Kaleb, not to be out done, began to come up with presents of his own. Several colored pictures and a saxophone concert later, on the day before the actual holiday, he presented me with this lovely chart explaining me. It's so sweet and creative, but I asked him "Only ten percent caring?" "Oh, Mom," he replied, "You're more caring than that, but I had to make it all fit. You know I can't have more than 100%!"
At least I'm raising a child that knows his math!

Emet got his hair cut.

Not only has he gone from looking like a baby to a big kid, but instead of Bozo, he now looks like a Precious Moments figurine.

Monkeys for the Monkeys

I love the sale aisle at Michael's for stocking up on inexpensive crafts to whip out in those moments when the kids are about to drive me up the wall needing something to do. This week we painted little plaster monkeys...and somebody got confused and painted one of my live monkeys...

Head, Elmo, Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes

I asked Emet to show me where his eyes were, he knew and pointed to them, touching his squinty eyelids. Then I asked him to show me his mouth and ears, chin and cheeks, fingers and toes, and he knew where all of them were and was so proud of himself whenever I exclaimed "Yay! That is your _! Good job!"
Then I asked him where his elbow was and he turned tail and ran out of the room. I thought "O.k. he must be tired of this game." Only to have him return a few seconds later carrying his Elmo. All I could do was laugh and say "Yay! That is your Elmo! Good job!"

Pen pals are fun

I was going through old pictures looking for something to post when I ran across this photo of a package that my kids got in the mail from a pen pal (someone we hooked up with via the blogging world.) I fully meant to post about it when they were doing it, but it got lost in the mix.
Anyway, they were so excited to get a letter from a boy around their age with a little package of stuff from where he lives (salt water taffy, sea salt, Utah brochures - oh, and I can't forget the ever special Pokemon cards.) It also gave my kids good practice to write a letter telling about themselves to someone else (although our package paled in comparison to this one.) Yay for pen pals!

Happy Birthday!

Today my sweet Elijah turns 7 years old! I can't believe it has been that long since I had that adorable - and huge - 10lb baby. He almost killed me getting here, but he has been the most precious thing ever since. I love you, Lijah!

It's snowing...no, it's spring...no,snowing...no,spring..

It's raining now, but over the weekend it was glorious! It is strange that we had a snow day just last week, but true to the pattern of Tennessee winters lately, spring poked it's head in early...and randomly! Here are some photos from our tree climbing outdoor play at Mimi's house.