Tupperware Tyke

Boy, if this isn't a sign of mothering a 3rd child, I don't know what is in my world.

Katherine had her own tupperware/pots-n-pans drawer.  Everything in that drawer was fair play for her to enjoy while we were in the kitchen together.  We found a way to prop open the drawer, she emptied it, re-stocked it, banged pots, put lids on, took them off and played until her little heart was content.

Well, I tried that with Brandon and he prefers the real thing.  The tupperware we use regularly to store our leftovers in is also there for Brandon's playtime enjoyment, apparently.  No matter how much I tried to switch him over to the play drawer, he wouldn't have it.

I spent 20 minutes of my life to hand wash and neatly place the tupperware back in its right place, 1 time.  And then I decided on something different.  I made a new rule in our house and informed the other regular-kitchen-attender of it: You must wash or rinse out any tupperware container and lid before you use it.  Including the steamer basket, the hamburger mold, the apple slicer, the pots and pans and the cheese grater.  Basically anything stored in the bottom cabinets.

I know, I know, you're thinking, "Why is your child playing with an apple slicer and a cheese grater?"  Well, I don't want him to be playing with it, and I frankly haven't thought about moving them up higher until typing this out.  (Maybe I should do that.  No maybe I shouldn't.  He would just find anything else stored in the bottom cabinets and play with them.  I don't have enough room to move everything up to the higher cabinets anyway.  Who am I kidding.  We're sticking with the rinse-before-you-use technique for the entire bottom half of the kitchen.)

So, thank goodness we have this understanding about pre-washing/rinsing.  Guess I better pass that on to any guests that visit our kitchen.
 

Another day, same cutie.

Super sleepy

On the way to school to pick up sissy, this is what Nathan would do about half the time.  The 12:30-2:30  time span apparently wasn't enough for his little body, so the trip there filled in the sleepy gap.

What the little tyke didn't know when he innocently fell asleep in the back seat, was that his mother thinks people sleeping is HILARIOUS!  And she takes pictures!  She used to get in trouble in high school and college when another student would fall asleep in class.  The head-bobbing, gaping mouth, drooling on the desk was too much for her to handle and the giggles would set in and wouldn't go away no matter how hard she tried.

So fast forward a hundred years or so, 3 children in, and this ole' mom can't resist the temptation to snap a shot of my sleeping prince.  Sissy seems to think it's entertaining also.

Back yard ramifications

This is what happens when I ban the older 2 to the back yard so I can finish up some last minute supper details:

Her and her brother are the roly-poly-finding experts.  Some of their excursions yield hundreds of them collected in the nearest bucket and they can't wait to show off their collection to mom.

Late Easter pics

I thought this was funny enough to share.  It's incredibly late, considering Easter was April 8th and today is June 19th.  Sweet late-blogging.

These pictures were humorous because of the kid's outfits.  I stayed home to care for Brandon, who was sick, and Jim took the other 2 to church.  Years past have taught me to let the kids wear whatever play clothes their little heart's desired, because ultimately they will change, after the egg hunt and breakfast, into their fancy Easter clothes anyway.

My somber mood that morning was mainly due to our family not being together for the 2nd Easter in a row, but I can bet you what topped it all off was watching my precious first two babies leave without me and their little brother, to go celebrate Easter at church wearing this:

Spiderman made it to the Easter morning egg hunt...

 

And so did the pink leopard print/teal sparkle/red-white gingham combo outfit - with leggings.

  

I am a shallow, shallow person.  I think to myself, "Self, your beautiful children will be in other people's Easter egg hunt pictures wearing Spiderman and the wicked combo."  And those people's children will grow up, look at the pictures their parents took, and feel sorry for the Boyer children that had nothing nicer to wear for Easter morning.

Deep sigh

Thank goodness Nathan doesn't understand that he was carrying around a sweet pink, wicker, little bunny Easter basket to collect his eggs.  At least my friend A gave her son L a boyish backpack to collect eggs.

 
Something tells me the boys enjoyed collecting eggs a tad more than the girls did.

 

Here's to hoping Easter 2013 is phenomenal!

Happy Meal Man

Say hello to my little friend, Happy Meal Man!

As embarrassing as it is, this says a lot about what encourages and inspires our children now-a-days.  They will do practically anything for a Happy Meal with chicken nuggets.  And I've also learned to check, before I drive away from the drive-thru window, for the correctly gendered toy.  It is sure to create a near Chernobyl meltdown if the wrong toy is sent home.

You know what would make me feel a little better about these dreaded trips to McDonalds?  Substituting a yogurt parfait for the french fries.  When are they gonna catch on to that?  As much as I hate to admit it, much less write it down and put it in print, sometimes the drive-thru is the only answer to keeping life sane.  I'm just sayin'.


That's all I got.

Sigh.

Katherine's 6th BDay Party

The day started very early for myself.  Me and the kids had already taken 90% of the decorations down to Bamah's Farm the day before and had a fun day playing there, but food has to be taken care of the day of.  I thought I was being smooth by ordering everything well in advance: the sandwiches, cake, wings, balloons and even had a list of final items to pick up in addition to the ordered food.

What I did not take into account was our driving situation.  I had to take the truck.  When all the food was put in the truck, there was little room for the cheapest, most effective decorating tool I'm accustomed to: the balloons.

The bag boy at Publix was obviously pre-kids and even pre-wife, so his experience with me was humorous.  I was a little tickled at myself, to say the least.  I couldn't seem to pull myself together and quit giggling at the conundrum I had put myself in: lots of stuff with not enough room to transport it.

Luckily, we found a way to fit it all in the cab and even some in the truck bed.  I got quite a few looks while driving down the road.  Good news is everything and everyone got there in one piece.

Here's a picture of what the cab of the truck looked like with all it's contents.  It was impossible for me to see to the right and even behind me.  So I had to plan accordingly.  :)  It ended up being one of those moments where I felt so dingy/ridiculous/silly that I just laughed the entire ride down there.

Katherine decided she wanted a ballet theme.  She originally wanted all of her party guests dressed up in their tutus so they could play ballet and dance all day long.  But after much persuasion, a discussion about how she wouldn't be able to play on the playground equipment or run around in the field and a mock dress rehearsal by her father, she decided against it.  just kidding Jim

Bamah and the late Nanny even got in on the decorations.  We got to use some of their fine silver platters and serving trays.

She wanted so bad to come down early with me, but I wanted her to be surprised.

Her first look at her birthday party decorations.

Some of our guests.

She had a great day.  The actual party had to be postponed a week because of the 3-week long marathon of sickness at our house, but it still turned out cute.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I'll be honest, though, it broke me for wanting to do a big party for a while.  Poor Brandon got a lunch after church with grandparents and cousins.  He didn't get the big front yard shindig the other two got.  Oh well, just another thing to add to the mommy guilt list.

Katherine is growing into such a pre-teen.  Yes, I know she's only 6, but she's starting to act like a 13-year-old.  Makes for some interesting mother-daughter showdowns.

She is quite the athlete.  Since she was little, her grandparents have always commented on how agile and coordinated she was.  Well it's really starting to blossom in her athletic abilities.  She's a good ballet dancer.  Her insatiable desire to please helps with that in dance class.  She's a good soccer player.  We added her to Nathan's team at the last minute and she has flourished.  She doesn't stop running the entire game and is actually showing some natural soccer-ing ability with little to no training.  And she's still a great swimmer.  We've signed her up for the Y swim team.  She didn't need the lessons, she just needed to work more on form.  It will help fill up the summer a little bit also.

She still adores her little brother.  After much begging, we finally moved his bed into her room.  She's a good sport with his early morning crying.  She just has baby intuition.  Crazy how that works.  Like an omnipotent being had a hand in all the designing of these kids, or something.

Katherine's first year of school was a huge success.  She made lots of friends and is speaking up more.  She loves going to school and likes to brag about how she never had her horse moved for the entire year.  (the kid's horses were moved to colored barns if there were behavioral issues)  Little Miss People Pleaser was NOT going to get her horse moved.  Ever.  And she didn't.

She's certainly not our little girl any more.  Thank goodness she still likes to cuddle.

Cute Brandon pics

A budding love of books.

Possibly some budding good looks also?.?.?
 

 

 

That's the most action that bottle has seen since college.

There's now a very elegant, fancy and effective rubber band keeping the bar doors closed to prevent this from happening anymore.

 

Ravines 2012

I really don't remember much about this trip other than there weren't that many flowers.  It's kind of turned into a yearly trip we make.  Something fun to do to welcome Spring time, I guess.

Looks like we visited a tad too early in 2010 with a February visit.

Looks like we hit it just right in March 2011.

Just pictures...

He's still carrying a stick. :)