My boys

1. H - He is making so many connections and expresses them in some of the funniest ways. On our Monday walk he looked at me and asked, "Mama, why is S brown?" S is a little girl we watch and she is half black; my children practically glow in the dark. I never even considered that he would notice, but few things escape him. His daddy explained that all people come in different colors. That was all he needed. As my husband I discussed it later my husband said, "Kids notice, but they don't care." So true. If only more of us could be like that.
Tonight we got home around 7:45p from the store. I turned on Wheel of Fortune (waiting for the Biggest Loser) and he asked if I thought we were watching Jeopardy. I explained this was Wheel of Fortune, the letter show and he responded, "No, it's Jeopardy with Allllllex and Vanna White." So funny.

2. G - He is so much more responsive to questions. He nods yes and shakes his head no. He lets us know what he wants in any way possible. He signs "more" and "please." He LOVES to read. Today I watched him give something back to his brother because J got upset when he took it. He likes to swing, but prefers to do so on his own and not my lap. He's independent but cuddly. Food can perk him up and get a smile out of him most of the time. He loves his family. He's still a biter and we're still working on getting him to stop.

3. J - He LOVES pincher bugs. I kid you not, this boy sees one across the patio and is after it. He has to pick it up and play with it, and he will play with it until the poor thing (normally I don't feel this way about them, but in this instance...I have a heart) dies. And yet, he doesn't understand why the bug quits moving, he just wants to play and explore the world. He would rather speak than sign (although his only words are Mama and WOW). He's recently started doing better about signing "please" and will sign "milk." He likes to show you what he wants by taking you there. He loves to swing on my lap. He's daring but shy. Food can perk him up, unless you tell him to say please, then he gets mad. I watched him be kind to his brother today as G wanted something and he gave it to him. He loves his family and laughs when H chases him around the room. He needs to quit bring the pincher bugs into the house when he catches them.

So excited at his catch

This is how he manages to not get pinched

Exploring - notice the open pinchers - usually he uses his finger to touch them and not a rock

Handsome Boys

So, as a mother of boys, I don't get to shop for frilly dresses, hairbands, and shiny shoes. That's okay. I enjoy finding clothes to make my boys as cute as possible. For Easter, my mother bought each of the boys a suit. The twins were too skinny for their pants, so we ended up buying some dark jeans (I couldn't find black slacks in anything below a 2T and we needed 12 mo.). Needless to say, they were more adorable than I could have imagined they would be.

A week or so ago I won a stamp from Bella Blvd. Studio. Much to my surprise, the not only sent me the stamp, but some wonderful product from the Mr. Boy line. I was SUPER excited. Last night I had the chance to sit down and make a layout with their fun products. I haven't used the stamp yet, but I used the paper/chipboard stickers, etc.

I'm editing this to add a picture of another layout I made (same picture and concept) for my mother-in-law. These two layouts are our Mother's Day gifts.

Embrace the Camera

I'm really bad about being in pictures - I usually am the one taking them. As I was reading some of my usual blogs this morning, I came across this thing called Embrace the Camera and I decided I wanted to try and get some pictures of me and the boys.

We take walks daily (sort of...ok, not daily, but I try). I love our walks because they get us out of the house. It's fun to watch the boys point stuff out. The twins still sit in the stroller, but H walks with me and he finds bugs, plants, sticks, whatever. You name it and he thinks it's a reason to stop. In the past this has bothered me, but I'm trying to be better about going with the flow. It may not be super exercise at this pace, but it is great bonding time.

I did some posed pictures with the timer. In the first, the twins weren't sure what was going on. They understood more the second time. The second picture isn't centered, but we're all looking and smiling; that's amazing!

If you decide you want to do this too, click on the link above and join in. Thanks for looking.

Pretzels

I've been blessed with 3 boys who eat pretty much anything. When they decide they don't like a food, I can't complain too much because there are few things they won't eat.

It is because of this, that I find it funny Gideon doesn't like pretzels. He is a fan of almost any food and pretzels are so normal. Yesterday at snack time I had my niece and nephew here along with my own children. I started with some craisins, kiwi, and apple chips, then I moved onto pretzels (they are picky eaters and didn't want any snack other than the pretzels). The twins looked like little beggars standing at the gate waiting for me to hand them whatever, until the pretzels came out. Gideon saw what was in my hand, shook his head no, and walked away.

Tweet Tweet Challenge: Take 2 (and a birthday card)

I really liked the bird challenge over at Unity Stamp Co., so I decided to give it a second go. Not entirely happy with the results. I should have dug around more in my stuff for a better frame, but it was late. The card is for my Grandma, and I know she won't care. I do like how the owls and word bubble turned out though. (Sorry for the terrible pictures).

It's hard to see, but there are little word bubbles in VersaMark all round the page.

The thought bubble was also stamped in VersaMark and then cut out.

I just used some random cardstock for everything. The images and sentiments were from the Unity Set: Lollypop Tree You and Me. I used VersaMark Dazzle Frost for all the VersaMark stamping. The owls were colored with some blending chalk by Plaid and some markers I had on hand for accents.

On to the birthday card. My husband is turning 29 this Friday and I decided to make him a card using the Unity Set: All About Today. Really, I just wanted to use this set and I figured I could make it work for a birthday card. Here's the end result.

I used some VersaMark (can be seen in the up close shot below), the YOU stickers are from Studio 112 (bought at JoAnns), the exclamation point is by SandyLion (love this set), and the happy and birthday sticker borders are by Flair Designs.

Thanks for looking.

Unity Stamp Co.: Tweet Challenge

Unity Stamp Co. has a challenge going on at their blog for the month of April. The challenge is to use a bird on your card/layout/etc. Here's what I came up with. 

Front 

Inside

The front has some random ribbon from H&M Fabrics (in Bakersfield - AMAZING store!), the chipboard frame is from Colorbok and I used Chocolate Covered Cherry Glimmer Mist on it. The bird is by Unity Stamp Co. (not sure of set it was in a random batch I got). There are also swirls (another random Unity stamp) that I stamped using Versamark Champagne Dazzle ink. The bird is popped up with pop dots. The inside sentiment is a sticker bought a long time ago from Miss Elizabeth's (sold at the Dollar Tree). 

I think that's it. Thanks for looking.

Weekend Fun

Today was a little different than most Saturdays. Normally the boys and I are home most of the day, and if we leave it's to go shopping. Today my sister-friend needed a ride to her art class. Once we dropped her off, I felt like it would be a waste to go home because we were all already in the car. That was all it took. I decided to go to the park. On the way there I thought of a friend who might like to go with me and called her. We ended up driving to her house, walking to a nearby park, playing, walking back, having some cool down time, and then going home. It was wonderful. We all had fun. The boys got to play and I had some mommy time.

One of several that he rode on

J

J

Z

G

H LOVED the sand

G