Last night, we were over at the Andrews' house, and all the kids were playing sticks (or samurai swords, as they imagined), when little Rachel (the twins age), comes in and says that Caden hit her with the stick.
I told her thanks for telling me, and that I would take care of it.
Caden, who has snuck inside and heard me talking, with a worried little face, brown furrowed in concern,

CADEN- "don't take 'care' of me mommy!"

It was super cute. :)

"when i was a mosquito..."

we had an insect infestation the other night. as in huuuge bugs and moths and crazy winged insects all over. there was this massive mosquito hawk flying around. and ellie- like the crazy puppy she is, kept trying to eat it. but as soon as it got into her mouth, she spit it out because it was still alive. ANYway, she finally killed it, and its gross dead body stayed at the top of the stairs for a little while before i cleaned it up. we kept telling the boys that it wasnt a mosquito, it was a mosquito HAWK- and that it ate mosquitos. thye boys thought that was hilarious.

Rylan, talking to himself, or at least someone other than me, said...

RYLAN- "when i was a mosquito- a mosquito hawk ATE me!".

it was hilarious. :)

beeps...

So ethan loves 'beeps'. they are absolutely his favorite. crunchy, salty, who knows why. in case you hadnt figured it out, 'beeps', are ethans way of saying chips. he woke up first from naps today, and as a special 'mommy and me' time, we had a few chips (WAY out of the ordinary). i head back to the playroom, where ethan asks for more 'beeps'. i tell him that if he cleans up candyland (cards and mess everywhere!), he can have more 'beeps'. He does a great job, cleans them up, gets his 'beeps' and is happy. then he figures something else out. he goes over to the Memory game, shakes the box until all the cards fall out. He then proceeds to pick them up, one by one, until they are back in the box. He then brings the box to me.

ETHAN- "MOM! all deen!" (all clean)
"MOM! more beeps! more beeps!"

apparently, all you need to do to get 'beeps', is make a mess, then clean it back up again. go mom. good thinkin there. :)


and just for fun. i added a cute pic of him over christmas.

heres a quickie!

Today, all the boys were playing in the backyard. Caden found a metal bar that is used to hold the RV gate shut, and pulled it off the fence. he walked around with it like a cane, and said...

CADEN- "hey mom! I'm Jesus!"

not quite sure when he has seen Jesus with a cane, but i guess he has!

OH yeah! I just remembered one more. Earlier today, we went to breakfast with some old high school of friends who were in town for Christmas. We dropped Rylan off with my mom, and Caden and Ethan with Chris's parents. On our way after breakfast, we picked up Caden and Ethan first. Caden was VERY worried that we were going to forget to pick up Rylan (I guess he missed him! :). He kept saying...

CADEN- "mom! dont MISS rylan! I LOVE him!"

It was super sweet. I guess, despite all their fighting, they really DO love each other!

not so funny...

i think that every once in a while, this blog will serve as a reminder that not every day are my children fun or joyful or obedient (as i hope to remember them being!), and that not all days are funny and fun. :) today, has been one of those days...

Ill start at the beginning.....

Daylight savings time just ended. so of course, my kids have to wake up at 6am. i am NOT a 6am kind of girl. normally i would just drag them into my room with their pillows and blankets, turn on sesame street, and climb back in my warm bed for another hour (or two!), but since we are currently at my parents house, that is not exactly an option.

To top it off, ethan is sick. So i woke up to a sweet little whispering voice of ethan, "mom! mom! yuck!", i sit up, take a sniff, and know immediately that he is covered in puke. all over him, his blanket, his pillow, the playpen. wonderful. i get him out, clean him up, dump the dirty stuff in the hallway to be washed later, and try and get him to lay in bed with me. no such luck.

two minutes later, they are all up. for good. i try and take them to my parents room to turn on the tv, so i can snooze some more.

nope. every two minutes (NOT an eggageration) there is some sort of a fight, kick, scream, or a bathroom cabinet that is not supposed to be open. Scratch the going back to sleep part.

by 730, we're up for good. we do breakfast, toys, and cleanup. more fighting. by 1130 i feel like ive totally lost it.

Caden has been in time out at least 6 times (breaking a clock, taking off his clothes, taking off his clothes again, playing with the hose outside and getting soaked, kicking the dog, hitting his brothers, etc, etc).

Rylan needed to go poop. i sat him on the toilet. 15 minutes later, i finally let him off the toilet, and threaten that he better tell me when he needs to go (because i KNEW he had to go). 10 minutes later, sure enough, im cleaning out another poopy underwear.

ethan was just the normal terror that he is, just slightly slower, since he was sick. in stacies room trying to open nail polish, eating chapstick, playing with her makeup. the normal.

chris gets home from court at 1130, and he could tell by the look on my face, that i was definitely done. he tries to help, but i send him to bed, since he had to leave for work less than 7 hours later.

So in my desperation, i turn to carls jr. we hardly ever play at playplaces (they are just dirty germ infested melting pots), so i only go there when i am absolutely at my wits end. we leave. we get there. it starts raining. we drive home again to get our sweatshirts. we drive back.

the boys are in heaven!! they play for 45 minutes! and im finally feeling happy! i eat some lunch, play on my phone, answer emails, and i dont feel like crying anymore. they eat their lunch without any yelling, which is an absolute miracle. i give them a 5 minute warning that its almost time to go home.

two minutes later, here comes caden, out of the playplace, covered in POOP! diarrhea. lovely. ethan had it yesterday, and apparently its cadens turn. i immediately find rylan and ethan, ban them from the playplace, and leave caden dripping poop on the ground.

i climb all over the playplace, looking for a total of SIX lost shoes. in SIX different places on the three story playplace. also looking for the diarrhea that i know is somewhere in there as well, since there is NO WAY it all stayed on his legs and feet. i find some here, there, all the while yelling at the boys to stay out and put on their shoes.

i mentioned previously that playplaces are germ infested melting pots. obviously my post has reinforced that idea. i was sickened by the thought of some other kid coming out covered in my childs poop, so i did my pest fo clean up every spot i could find. gross. but give me credit- at least i tried!



im on my way back down, and while crawling, stick my hand in a spot of missed diarrhea. even better. awesome.

finally get out, get all three kids, three sweatshirts, and 6 shoes back out to the car. strap in ethan and rylan, and clean caden out in the middle of the parking lot, (since the back of the car is filled with stuff to go to the storage unit). strap a naked caden in. drive home.

today, is definitely not a good day. lets hope for a better one tomorrow.

Rylan ITCHES!

Rylan is playing with his woody doll. he takes woodys arm, puts it around his back and says...

RYLAN- "My back itches. My butt itches.

"Scratch it!"
Chris texted me this one while I was on my way to a photoshoot. I about crashed the car because I laughed so hard. :)

caden and his 'girls'

Lately, Caden has been trying to decide whether or not he 'likes' girls. about a week ago, I was making pancakes for breakfast. Caden originally said that he LOVES pancakes! Then as we waited for them to cook, he apparently changed his mind...

CADEN- "I dont like pancakes!"

ME- "Yes you do, you LOVE pancakes!"

CADEN- "No, i DONT love pancakes... they're not GIRLS!"

Totally cracked me up. Then this morning, Chris was cutting the boy's toenails...

CHRIS- "Are we cutting your toenails to make them all clean for the girls?"

CADEN- "Yes!"

CHRIS- "Are girls pretty?"

CADEN- "Yes!"

CHRIS- "Do you like girls?"

CADEN- " NO! I like MOMMY!"

melt!