Messy Fun

Arizona is HOT...in case you were wondering. Summers are hard when you have two busy boys who want to play outside. We do the swimming thing...the splash pad thing...and the indoor mall play place thing, but I needed something new. So...my floor needed mopping anyway and we had chocolate pudding...and the boys were up from their naps and ready to play - so what better to do than....

FINGER PAINT WITH CHOCOLATE PUDDING!

I moved the table to expose the cleanest, least walked on part of the floor, stripped them down, and let them go to town!

Carter began by eating it

Drew was careful not to get too messy, but liked "painting"

Carter got VERY messy

Andrew continued to draw

It was quite slippery...good thing too. That meant they couldn't run away with their chocolaty little bodies!

After pudding we headed outback to hose off. We played in the grass and the little pool.

As if that was not fun enough - the boys had a bath and we blew bubbles! I love the catchable bubbles and they are so fun in the tub.

Whew - we were all ready for bed after that. I love my boys and having fun with them. They mean the world to me. I love being a mom and being able to spend time at home with them. They are so much fun and so precious.

Happy Ending

I am hoping a happy ending is what this week has in store for me. It has been a rough week to say the least and I am not quite ready to go into details, but it just seemed to build day by day. My poor boys have been hit hard with the poor luck as well towards the end of the week.

Long story short....due to a lack of supervision on my part....poor decision making on my part....and just the horribleness of accidents this week...

my Carter fell off the couch and hit his head

Drew fell off a bed and hit his face giving himself a nice fat bottom lip and a bloody gum (I was so worried about his top tooth, but it seems to be okay)

and then the doozy....I was drying Carter off after the bath and when I dried his little head he was leaning forward and when I let go.....he hit his mouth on the tub.

Oh remembering the sound his tooth made hitting the tub still makes me cringe. I panicked to say the least. His mouth was bleeding....and I was so scared to see what happened to those cute little teeth of his. Well....it is sad but true that my baby has a nice fat upper lip and a chipped top tooth. A chipped tooth...yes....his tooth is chipped. I was devastated. What have I done?! Yes, he is still adorable...and no I didn't mean to do it...and yes it was an accident, but still - I felt like such a bad mom. He cried, but forgave me quickly when I let him play in the kitchen sink. I was SO angry at myself for doing that - seriously though, what was I thinking? Well, it is in the past now and there is nothing I can do. I still feel sad and angry at the whole situation, but he is fine, he is happy, and goodness gracious he is still so darn cute.

Needless to say I have been a bit stressed, a little on the tired side, emotionally drained, and ready for a break. The house is kinda messy, the fridge needs tending to, and my floors need to be mopped.....BUT that will all have to wait. Tomorrow morning bright and early I am heading to California! Shelley and I are taking the boys to visit Grammy and Poppie and we are SO excited! Hopefully we will have a happy ending this week!

**Sorry no pictures of all of the events of this week - I was a little preoccupied and didn't snap any of the blood and tears.....I will soon post pictures of my little baby "chip"***

Visit from Poppie and Grammy

My mom and dad came to visit a couple weekends ago and boy were we excited! They were only here a couple days, but we loved every minute of it!

We had a tickle fest on the guest bed with Carter. He is so tickley and just so cute!

We all went out to dinner to Red Robin - YUM!! It was so fun to all be together. We were even joined by my dad's cousin who is in the area for work right now. It was nice to meet him. I am sure he was exhausted by the end of the night with all the craziness going on!

Carter thoroughly enjoyed his lime. He chewed and sucked on it for quite a while. I have to admit I have used this tactic since when preparing dinner. It keeps him entertained for quite a while.

I ADORE this picture of Andrew because you can kind of see some chubbiness in his face. We have been working hard on eating and trying to put some weight on this kid. His face just looks so healthy here!

Grammy and Poppie brought out some stuff to give to each of us girls. They brought it in big boxes and Andrew could not have been more thrilled! They played in this box for weeks after. I sometimes wonder why we spend money on toys when they are just as happy with a cardboard box.

The boys played video games while us girls played board games. We played a little Sorry and Mexican Train Dominos.

Andrew even got a horse back ride from Poppie. Oh how Drew adores his Poppie....and what a nice Poppie to do this for my half pint with his bad back and all!!!

We have this little cubby in the front entrance way of the house that I have still yet to decorate. I find that my children fit rather well in there and are a cute addition!

We can't wait to see you again Poppie and Grammy! You are welcome here any time!!!

The Hallway

Somehow our "time-out" has turned into "the hallway". Instead of telling Drew he needs to go to time out we will him to go sit in the hallway and he knows right where to go. There is no timer involved, but he knows he has to sit there until he is ready to be happy and to say sorry for whatever he did. He is really good about it and it works most of the time.

Well this morning while Bry was in the shower and I was working the boys were playing in our bathroom. Andrew came running to the office calling "Megan, Megan.....'mere (come here)....Carter....trouble". This had to be good...Bry must have been calling me, hence Drew coming to get "Megan". Apparently Carter had gotten ahold of my perfume bottles under the sink - he loves those things. Andrew felt Carter needed to sit in the hallway. To satisfy the child, Bry put Carter in the hallway. It was the cutest thing ever. He just looked up at Bry with those big blue eyes. I told Andrew Carter was sorry and was ready to come out...Drew thought otherwise. That passed....and then

Apparently Andrew felt the block needed to go sit in the hallway for hurting his thumb. It was the cutest thing!!! I asked if the block was done sitting there and he said no....and the block is still sitting in the hallway. I love this kid!

Dinner on a Dime....or maybe about 30+ dimes...

Tonight's dinner plans all started with this little ad in the newspaper....

I mean really - how can I pass up on free dinner? I called ahead to be sure I could get one per family member so that I could have enough to take to Bry at work without him having to come with. Of course...they would let me get one for the baby who doesn't eat that much and Drew who would not come near a hot dog with a 10-foot pole! To top it off I had a coupon for 0.99 chili fries...I figure why not - the hot dogs are free anyway. I ended up with 3 chili dogs and two chili fries for just over $2.00. Little did I realize how appetizing these things would look....I found pictures on the Internet that looked as close to what we ended up eating....appetizing, huh?

I also found a coupon for 0.99 Limeade Chiller from Sonic thanks to my couponing blog!!! It was on the way so I stopped to get a cherry limeade cooler - it is a limeade mixed with vanilla soft serve - DIVINE! Next time I think I will go with straight lime limeade chiller. I was glad I had this because the lime that came in it entertained Carter for the last 10 minutes in the car.

So for dinner for four (even though three only really ate) it cost us just over $3.00 - not too shabby if I do say so myself...and I didn't have to cook!

After eating such a healthy meal...I wanted to do nothing more than throw up - I didn't, but I don't think I will be eating a hot dog, let alone a chili dog or super greasy chili fries with cheese in a loooong time. I had my fair share of VERY naughty, not so worth it calories and fat grams tonight! The limeade was so worth it though! Maybe next year we will just get the ice cream and call it good.

FYI - when I called Weinerschnitzel about the free stuff they said they handed out 300 last year and are expecting 500 this year...so I looked up how many lovely calories that would be they are handing out to the American people.....for 500 chili dogs....190,000 calories...wow - yuck....and 10,500 grams of fat - makes my heart hurt thinking about it.

Serving Size: 1 chili dog
Calories: 380
Fat: 21g
Sodium: 1600mg
Carbs: 33g
Fiber: 1g
Sugars: 3g
Protein: 16g

Speechless

I was in the office checking a recipe for dinner when I heard in the front room a little whimper. Not a scream, yelp, or even a cry so much as a little whimper and a little sad voice. This is not a typical sound Carter makes so I came out to see what was going on. Both boys were sitting on the floor silent...and then I saw it....the perfect ring of teeth marks on Carter's arm from Andrew's perfectly straight, perfectly perfect teeth. Speechless...that is what I was....well, for a second at least! I calmly asked Andrew if he bit Carter and that was all it took for complete and utter meltdown. He said yes so I told him to go sit in the hall (his timeout place). He was a sobbing mess. Carter's arm began to swell a bit, but he was not crying - surprisingly. I knew I needed pictures....so here they are!

I am afraid Carter will be left with a bruise. This is what his arm looked like in the bath...I am so glad Drew did not break skin. Needless to say we will be reminding my sweet boy that we don't bite!

I mean really.....could this face cause so much trouble to deserve a bite? (minus the bbq sauce on his face). According to Drew maybe he does.....

I will be on the look out though for these pearly whites - hopefully we can nip this in the bud and remember that we need to use our words...and not our teeth!

Happy Independence Day

Better late than never....but we had a great 4th of July. A little low key, but we had fun (minus the excruciating Arizona heat!). We spent the morning doing as we usually do and the boys had late naps so they could make it through the evening events.

Shell and Rich came over for a little BBQ, at which we had some VERY overdone hot dogs...at least we knew we wouldn't get sick from them. My sweet husband has possibly learned a little too much about microbiology and now feels that we must boil the hot dogs before we BBQ them in order for them to be safe. He just forgot how FAST they would grill up after they had already been boiled. That made for some pretty leathery dogs. But a soft bun, ketchup, and some cheese sure made them tasty!

We ventured off to Schnepf Farm for some Independence Day celebrating. We had to be there at seven because the school Bry works for was having a booth and he had to be there from 7-10. There was hardly anyone there when we got there...and for good reason. It was still sweltering HOT! The sun had not set yet and it was pretty humid on top of it all. We were sticky, sweating, hot, red, hot, uncomfortable, hot, thirsty....did I mention hot? It got quite a bit better after the sun set and that was when the crowds trickled in. We had a nice spot by Bry's booth so he could join us for the fireworks at 9. We were kept busy keeping track of Drew, walking the boys around, and eating popcorn.

The fireworks were nice - not the most amazing show, but pretty good. It didn't help that the music went out about half way through. Andrew was VERY nervous about them to start. I was worried he was not going to do so well, but he just snuggled in and covered his ears and enjoyed the colors. He kept saying what color they were and would say "nice, nice". I covered Carter's ears in the beginning, but then he got used to it. We covered them again during the finale, but overall he really like them! He was glued to the sky.

Since we were at a booth we were able to come in a secret way, which means we went out the secret way and avoided all the traffic! Hooray!!! It was so nice to be able to just go home and not have to sit there forever.

I had made a red, white, and blue cake for the day, but we were so tired that we didn't end up eating it until the next day, but boy was it good! I think next year I will go with keeping the cake white instead of dying it blue, get more of a white colored pudding for the middle and then coloring the whipped topping blue - but any way it is made - it is quite a tasty cake!!!

Happy Independence Day! I am so grateful to be able to live in this country and for all who have sacrificed so much for my freedom. I know I have been given so much and need to remember all that has gone into making the life I live now so wonderful. I love our Country and those who serve. What a wonderful holiday!

Drewbie Doo

**Said his first prayer all by himself on Sunday night - it consisted of "Dear Heavenly Father..day...daddy...mommy....Carter...Andrew...Jesus......Christ amen". It was SO cute!!!!

**He knows that we all have the last name of Baker....even his aunts, uncles, and cousins. ::smile::

**When Carter is getting into something he is not supposed to Andrew runs to tell me "Carter....trouble". Love it!

**When he is upset with me or Bry or Carter he will say "Mommy Cakes", "Daddy Cakes", or "Carter Cakes" in a tone that you know he is not pleased. It is SO funny. We call Carter cakes because since he was little Bry would sing Patty cake, but with Carter cake.

**He loves So You Think You Can Dance and will dance while the performers dance.

**He has created the one entity called "ShelleyRich". Their names are always together.

**He loves his stuffed Curious George monkey and has to sleep with it for his nap and bed. He is a great sleeper and still takes a 2-3 hour nap and sleeps 10-12 hours at night. I can only dream of that much sleep!

**He can recognize and name pretty much all of the letters in the alphabet.

**Eating is still progressing - I think he is gaining weight and his quantity of food is increasing...we are still working on variety, but he is a tropper.

**He loves to play with Mr. Potato Head these days. He knows where all the parts go. Bry and I turned around the other night to find Drew like this....

**We are getting ready for a new set of braces to hopefully help him walk better. We shall see!

**He is a little FISH. He is getting quite brave in the water. He will jump in the water and likes to be thrown and go under even. It is so much fun to watch him swim.

**In the bath the other night he layed down on his side and started squirming his arms and legs...and informed me he was a octupus. He cracks me up!

**He makes an awesome grumpy face. I love it when he is playing and does it, but it is not so great when he is really being grumpy.

**Drewbish: Blubs = gloves, blabs = crabs, weaky = squeaky

Again....I wish I could freeze time - His evolving language makes me smile. He is such a lovey, snuggly, outgoing, self motivated, amazing child!!!!