Happy Halloween

No Bull

As we were driving home this afternoon, Big Brother randomly said, "Bulls can throw you off."

Hubs immediately replied, "That's why you don't ride your dinner."

Stormtrooper Down

Looking for droids really takes its toll.

Cake Mix Cinnamon Rolls

These are the yummiest cinnamon rolls I've ever made! My whole family loves them and they are definitely one of our favorite breakfasts. I found the recipe here. They are really easy from start to finish. I use my Kitchen Aid mixer to knead the dough. It's rolls out easily too.

Here they are right out of the oven.

After the icing, they are ready to devour. Yummy!

Darth Starts 1st Grade

Cherry Pie

I LOVE cherry pie! My mom makes the best cherry pie and it's always been my favorite. I am not a pie baker. I suck at pies. I've tried to make a couple before to no avail. This time was a little better. I made a homemade crust which actually turned out pretty good.

I did get the edges a little overdone. Told you I suck. I know I should have put foil around the edges, but didn't even think about it. It didn't matter. I ate it anyway and it was delicious. Maybe I'll be a pie pro after all...with a lot more practice.

Happy Birthday Big Brother

Sonic...Yum

I'll have a New York Dog. Hold the Spicy Mustarad. Thanks!

Mmmmm.....Good

Hubs smoked ribs today. I've never liked ribs until I ate these. Oh my gosh! I could have eaten the whole slab. If you think these look good, you should see his smoked beans.

This is for the Birds

We made ice cream cone treats for the birds today.
First we spread peanut butter all over the cone.

Then we rolled the cones in a bowl of bird seed.

Added a few Cheerios.

Ready for the birds.

Crazy Vs. Normal

Do you ever have one of those "crazy mom" moments? If you're anything like me, you probably have them a lot.

I was filming the boys just being wild in the living room this afternoon. Baby Jaws was explaining to me how the "football guy" holds the football and throws it into the air. The boy was right and has quite a spiral at the ripe old age of three. Big Brother had his work gloves on and was building a floor that he had purchased at Staples. (Imaginations run rampant in this house.) They began dancing. I kept filming. 'Jingle Bells' and 'Happy Birthday' were sung and then an argument over whose birthday was next ensued. Before I turned the camera off, I asked them to say "bye". It's just a really weird thing I do every time I film them. I never want to just cut them off; I always want them to end it with a sweet good-bye.

They both said, um yelled, "BYE!" and I just couldn't press the stop button. Big Brother began acting like a cat and Baby Jaws asked, "Want some cat food?" I just couldn't stop my camera. I sat there watching them through the view finder and started crying. Yep, I filmed them and cried.

I thought to myself, 'What if I would have stopped the camera? Look at all you would have missed, Crazy Mom. Don't you want to watch this great performance 20 years from now? How can you even think about pushing that little red button?'

And I wanted to film them forever.

Sometimes it breaks my heart how fast my boys are growing up. Breaks. My. Heart.

Queue Crazy Mom. When my heart is breaking, sometimes I do crazy things. Sometimes I read the journals I've been keeping for them since they were born...and I cry. Sometimes I look at pictures of them when they were babies...and I cry. Sometimes I remember how Big Brother used to pronounce "ketchup"; he would say "parcher"...and I cry. Sometimes I remember how Baby Jaws used to say his prayers every night; he would pray, "Bub, bub, bub, bub, dad, dad, dad, dad, mom, mom, mom, mom, papa, papa, men (his amen)"...and I cry.

And I can guarantee every time I'm being crazy and crying over my babies growing up too fast, my husband will come along and catch me and ask, "Why are you doing this to yourself?"

Because I'm Crazy Mom, that's why. And shut up with the "they don't stay little forever" line! It just makes me cry even more. (Men just don't understand.)

But maybe, just maybe, I'm not crazy. Maybe I'm normal. Surely I'm not the only mom on earth who cries over her babies growing up too fast right before her eyes. Surely I'm not the only mom who cries when looking through baby pictures. Surely I'm not the only mom who cries while filming her kids doing really funny things.

Yeah, surely.

First Baseball Game

Just because I'm too big for t-ball doesn't mean I'm too big to play in the dirt during the middle of the game.

Happy Birthday Baby Jaws

Turd Words

Big Brother wanted to play with my Up Words game tonight. He loves to practice his spelling with it. Little did I know he was spelling some of his favorite words: turd bucket & butt crack. I'm so proud. He is pretty good at sounding out words. I'll give him that.

After the Storm

Who are you to judge your neighbor? James 4:12

I sometimes wonder who is judging me whether it's something I say, something I blog about or even what I put on my Facebook status. I'm not perfect. I say things I shouldn't. I do things I shouldn't. I get mad over stupid little things. And I judge people everyday.

I've been remembering a devotion I did at Youth Camp when I was a counselor. It was titled, "Love sinners, hate sin". It's something I think we all forget. Jesus didn't keep himself from sinners. He searched them out. It's who he came for. It's who he died for. After all, we're all sinners.

We can disagree with things that people do or say, but we should love them no matter what. I'm just tired of hearing how bad certain "types" of people are. And who says they're bad? A human with human judgment.

We're not to judge them. We're to love them. Period. We can disagree, even hate what they do, but we love them because that's what Jesus does.

"Jesus said whatever you do to the least of these my brothers you’ve done it to me. And this is what I’ve come to think. That if I want to identify fully with Jesus Christ, who I claim to be my savior and Lord, the best way that I can do that is to identify with the poor. This I know will go against the teachings of all the popular evangelical preachers. But they’re just wrong. They’re not bad, they’re just wrong. Christianity is not about building an absolutely secure little niche in the world where you can live with your perfect little wife and your perfect little children in a beautiful little house where you have no gays or minority groups anywhere near you. Christianity is about learning to love like Jesus loved and Jesus loved the poor and Jesus loved the broken." —Rich Mullins

The Joy of Toys

I just love Toys R Us...the happy little faces...the wonder of thousands of new toys...the "Glad it's you & not me" looks I get from other parents as I drag my screaming 2 year old away from the Power Wheels...the 40 year old men examining Hot Wheels like they're rare diamonds...the look of disappointment on Daddy's face as Big Brother chooses a Toy Story Jessie doll over Legos...not being able to open Jessie's box without a knife, scissors or blowtorch...enjoying watching Hubs try as he says, "Crap!" each time he comes upon a new twist tie.

Another Man

I had a migraine Saturday when I woke up. Fun times! I didn't feel all that horrible until about mid-morning, when I started getting really sick. Hubs ran to the store to pick up a few things leaving the boys home with me.

I finally couldn't take it anymore. I texted Hubs and told him he best be on his way home. I told the boys to be good so I could lie down, which didn't last long. There was screaming, yelling and fighting. Of course there was.

Baby Jaws didn't feel too hot either going on about 3 weeks with a horrible cold. His little snotty nose was bleeding. I wiped up all the snot and blood, got him calmed down and went back to bed. A few minutes later, Baby Jaws climbed right up beside me and snuggled. He stayed there until he heard Hubs come through the front door.

I was alone at last or so I thought. I just wanted to sleep off the headache, but Hubs came in to check on me. And then I heard him say, "I see you're in bed with another man."

I had no idea, but it sure looked like he was having a good time.

10 Snow Day Observations

1. If a mom is busy enough, a 2 year old can and will get his booger sucker (bulb syringe) and suck out his own snot.
2. It doesn't matter that we have 4 trillion Legos in our house. They always fight over one.
3. It takes approximately 10 times longer to get dressed in snow suits, hats, gloves, boots and coats than it does to actually play in the snow.
4. Once outside in the snow, a 5 year old will immediately need to pee.
5. We could live in Antarctica and Big Brother would still want to play outside all day and Baby Jaws would still never wear socks.
6. If I want my Netflix movie, I have to walk to the street to meet our mail carrier because some Einstein on a tractor shoved huge piles of snow against our mailbox. Got my movie.
7. Birds are awesome.
8. Baby Jaws does not enjoy being face down in deep snow while his loving mother takes pictures for posterity.
9. Little turd got me back though when he wanted to take a bath after we came in and proceeded to shovel a good gallon of water onto the floor with a sandbox shovel while I cleaned up the dripping snow suits, hats, gloves, boots and coats.
10. Sandbox toys should be left in the sandbox.
    

Is Uranus a Butt?

Big Brother is obsessed with our entire solar system. He constantly asks questions while reading his space books. Just this week, we checked out another buttload of astronomy books from the library.

He cracked me up the other day. He was home sick from school, sitting around reading his space book when he asked so seriously, "Momma, is Uranus a butt? Sister says it's a butt."