My funny Valentine

Someone is about to turn 5! Someone who is adorable and funny and wonderful. Someone who is SO ecited to celebrate her birthday that she can hardly stand it.

Yep, this is the kid! She was only 3 here.

And she was 2 here.

She sure was an adorable baby!

And to think she started out as a 9lb 4oz gargantuan bundle of troubled joy. Here I am, delighted to finally get to hold her when she was 3 days old.

Delaney is a silly child and so much fun. She has been described as the most random child ever. That she is! She is a joy and a delight and makes me laugh every day. Here's a little gem from this morning:

Delaney dragged her feet getting ready to go to the Library for Story Time. She did not want to have to go upstairs to find socks and then did not want to put her shoes on. She was angry and in tears by the time I got her into the car. She was not a happy girl. And then, suddenly, she was happy. Delaney giggled with her sister and life was sunshine and roses. Then she asked, "Are we going to be late?" I said, "Yes."

"Oh ," She said sadly, "I'm sorry I made bad choices."

Getting Creative for Valentine's Day!

I saw this idea on a blog I love and it looked so cute and simple, I decided that this was finally going to be the year we did personalized Valentines! I know, I picked the year that 3 are in school and the last 2 are in preschool. Sigh. But I really wanted to do these so we did. I was lazy though. I went for the "get it done" method over the "make it cute" and I am fine with the results!

130 results. Did I mention we made 130 of these guys?!! 30 each for the older 4 and 10 for Rylee. My hand still aches!

Here's what I did.... I dragged the kids out and made them let me take pictures. They complained about the sun being to bright and I said too bad. They complained that their clothes weren't cute enough and I said too bad. I snapped pix till I was satisfied and then I uploaded them to Walmart's 1 hour photo. Yes, it was kind of pricy to order 130, but the total cost of everything came out to under $5 per kid. AND it makes us look all cool and everything!

So I got the pictures, I did the standard size, but wallets might have worked too. The instructions said to use an exacto knife to cut slits above and below the fist. I do not have an exacto knife (and have an irrational fear of them since the leg-stabbing incident when I was 9), so I thought I could use a hole punch. My scrapbooking cutter was going to be my back up. Fortunately, the hole punch was able to be my main tool. For most of the pictures, the fist was located close enough to the side that it worked. For Marian's cards.... there was no way.

This is how I had to cut Marian's cards. It might have been worth the $7 to get the exacto knife, because this thing was wildly hard to place properly and a lot of the cards had very large slits in them. These took the longest to do. Thank goodness I had great helpers!

Marian was delighted to place lollipops in her cards. As hers were the only ones without a picture denoting who it was from, I made her write her name on the back of all the pictures (with a thin Sharpie marker). Being Marian, and being awesome, she also drew some animals on some of the backs. I recognized an antelope and a giraffe. So cute and clever!

Joshua's cards. He would NOT give me a decent picture. He kept trying to do an evil grin. He admits he looks a little more Chinese than evil though. Note the hole punches. Callie was awesome at punching most of them herself!

Marian didn't want pix of herself, so she chose this shot of a cheetah instead. I confess, it came out better than I expected, but it was much more work than the others.

Callie's hand was barely close enough to get with the hole punch, so I did a punch on the top and a slit on the bottom. You can see how I've sliced off her wrist as well. Still, I figure the kids won't care!

Yeah, yeah, yeah... by the time we got to Delaney, I didn't care how far off the hole punches were going to be!! I was not going to use the cutter. So they're a little off, so what!

Rylee's were adorable. And only 10 to do!

So that was my burst of creativity for the month. It took about an hour to do all 130, with help from the kids. I also chose poorly in buying long lollipops that needed the ends trimmed. Maybe next time I'll just do dum-dums. I was pleased with the way they came out and the reward vs effort gets an A+ in my book! However, I would not recommend leaving the lollipops in reach of your youngest child who may ingest too many of them and then puke it all over just as you are sitting down to dinner. I'm just sayin'.

Crazy Busy Day!

I long for the days when all I had on my calendar was... nothing. The days keep getting busier and busier. Somehow I even have a book that I checked out from the library over a week ago and I have not even read it yet! What has happened to my quiet, leisurely life?!! Today I pulled out the camera and took pictures of our adventures.

Not pictures of everything. The day started with getting the big kids out the door at 7:45, then a 45 minute date with my elliptical machine for me, followed by a shower and breakfast and a hustle out the door to be at the function at 10am this morning. I was already pooped by the time we got there!

This was our first time to attend the Toddler Time put on by the base. They made some Valentine's cards, which involved paint, and therefore required close monitoring, so no pictures. Then it was cookie decorating! Yum! Delaney was so careful with her frosting spreading.

And she poured a mountain of sprinkles on her cookie.

Delicious!

Rylee chose the white frosting and quite enjoyed spreading it all over.

Dumping on the sprinkles... although I think more frosting ended up on the sprinkler, than sprinkles ended up on the frosting.

Mustn't waste the frosting!

Tasty!

Then we were off to the commissary, but lo and behold! The Budweiser horses were visiting this week and one was hanging out right in front of the Exchange. Delaney just HAD to go see it. We waited our turn to pet him. Here's Delaney, chickening out now that I am not standing right next to her. (It was quite the massive animal.)

Rylee is screaming "Not pet horse!!"

We did get to the Commissary and I survived the experience.

Yes, I bribed them with little ice creams. I told them that well behaved little girls got ice creams today. Delaney was delighted to be a well behaved girl.

After groceries and naps and lunch and stuff, the big kids got home and we were off to the Chiropractor. Love her! Everyone got adjusted.

And thank goodness for friends! They told us the big park (which has been under renovation for 3 months!) was having it's grand opening this evening. So we stopped by on the way home from the chiro for fun and free dinner! All the hotdogs and chips you could eat. The kids had a blast checking out everything an playing at the "new" park.

Delaney was pleased to have free reign on chips. I rarely buy them, so it was a real treat.

And the bounce house! They had put one up and the kids kept asking who's birthday party it was. They bounced, they climbed, they ate, they played.... life was good!

It ended at 6pm and I dragged everyone home, and now it is bedtime. I don't know why they are all still running rampant, I'm exhausted!!

Things I like

I love this kid. He makes me laugh. And I like this extra loooong bread. This is what Dan brought home the other night. I like Dan. I called and said "I don't feel well. Will you bring some French Bread home and make French Bread Pizzas for dinner?" And he did! The kids loved this bread. Dan also made French Toast with it Saturday morning. Like!

I love these 2 girls! I especially love it when they play nicely together. This day they were "making a fort" It seemed to consist of them bringing down every single piece of bedding and pillow that they could find. Not very fort-like, but apparently lots of fun.

I like this new ceramics place I just discovered! Callie got to go to a party there and it looked so fun!! I think I may have to take the kids there for a summer activity. Not that we have anywhere to put their finished products or anything.... But how fun!!

This is my elliptical machine! I love this thing! Yes, it does sit right inside my door in our entryway. Thank goodness the entryway is large enough to accommodate it. Plus, it lets me watch tv, while I sweat. It is quite large, but it is a fabulous item and I do not regret getting it 6 years ago.

This is my new favorite thing! Odd, perhaps. However, since we moved into this house, I have plunged toilets more in the last 6 months than in the duration of my entire life. All 3 toilets clog regularly. They get plunged at least once a week, and probably 4-5 times a week on average. I banned flushable wipes, but the cloggage continues. I have concluded it is not us, but the house. So I was super-excited to find this industrial strength plunger, and quite delighted with its results.

I love-love-love these kids! They crack me up and are so much fun. I asked them to just line up for a picture and I didn't even care how they looked. This is what I got! Best kids ever!

(Today, at least!)

And finally, while I am not a huge fan of Mardi Gras, I am a fan of fun school projects! For the 100th School Day celebration, Callie had to make a Madi Gras float using 100 items to decorate it. This is her finished product. She was so cute, and did not want my suggestions at all. I was only allowed to paint the masks and hold the glue gun. I proclaim it..... Adorable!

Wordless Wednesday: Deluge Delight