Pirates & the Bathroom??

Little boys are so cute! E comes running in....

E: Mommy, you know how pirates like to go to the bathroom in the dark?

Me: They do?

E: Yeah! So I just went to the bathroom with the lights off! *giggling*

Me: Wow! That's very piratey of you!

E: I know! Hey J! Guess what! *running off to tell his siblings*

LOL

*I promise I have another post coming for my Vacation on the Cheap series! We are having issues getting pictures from my iPhone onto my pc. :(

"Prepared", As Defined By My 5 Year Old

Normally, each day I write out my kids individual assignments for school on some cute but cheap little blue note paper & distribute them. I'm sure there are plenty of other good ways to do this, but it's workin' for us right now. At any rate, I still haven't planned out E's preschool. So I was feeling quite a bit of mom guilt once again as this conversation ensued:

E: Mama, do you have my school work prepared?

Me: Prepared? (tee hee)

E: Yeah, prepared.

Me: No, baby I don’t, but I love that you used such a big boy word like “prepared”.

E: (tapping my arm) No, no, no, mom. It means did you get ready for me!

Me: Yes, I know what it means. No, I do not have it prepared for you. (Grabbing him in a bear hug, kissing his cheek, and still giggling) You are just too cute!


Despite the mom guilt, there was a certain sense of pride that my baby knew what prepared meant & could use it correctly in a sentence! LOL

Candy Crush Heartbreak

If you play the evil game that is Candy Crush, you will understand my pain. If not, you could always read any of these posts on other things My Cute Kids do.

I have been stuck on level 147 for what feels like forever. Literally, it's been weeks.

(See the lovely set up here >>>>>>>>>>)
Each of those chocolate covered jellies takes like 4 or 5 times to clear them. Those corners are just plain evil.

Yesterday morning I played my five allotted lives & started using my amassed extra moves. I decided that I needed to start using them or I may never get through this stupid level.

When I left the game, I had 70+ extra lives and moves saved up.

When I went back to play it last night I had 5. Yes, just the five. My heart may have skipped a beat or two.

Luckily, all children were in bed & asleep and therefore escaped certain wrath. I'm still not sure who the culprit was.

All of the extra lives are gone, but there is a small upside to this, though. (Whew!) All of the extra moves are saved onto level 147 for me, so I do get to use those every time until they run out.

Does anyone else get this worked up over that stupid game???

How my day started

I turned off the 645am alarm and went back to sleep. Typical. Later, I became vaguely aware that there was someone in my bed, even though the hubs had left for work at 5am. Opening one eye, I saw the now 13-year-old J lying next to me reading.
"Why are you here?"
"Because you have a Tempurpedic* and it molds to my body. It's comfortable!"
"Hmm."
I'm thinking, "Whatever, at least he's quiet." Then I hear screams of delight. From outside. *sigh* They know they are NOT supposed to be outside if I am still in bed! So I send J outside to find the other children. Moments later three dripping wet, muddy, swimsuit-clad children arrive at my bedside.
"What do you want Mommy?" Smiling, while dirtying the carpet in a rental.
I'm sure you can imagine the rest of that conversation. And the consequences for breaking two rules. I made them all shower and get dressed. Later in the afternoon, I let them go back outside to play. I heard noises at the front door & opened it to find them playing in the mud beside the front door, yet again. My mouth opened & then I just shut the door.


*This was a fantastic deal at over 60% of retail price by buying a floor model at the clearance center! Our old mattress was 12 years old & had molded to our bodies in a totally different way! ;)

Crazy Conversations

The craziest convo at my house in ages!!!
K: Mommy! E says when we move out of the house you and daddy are going to be divorced!
Me: (to E) You don't even know what that word means.
E: Yes I do!
Me: No you don't. And we're not going to be divorced, we're going to party like rock stars when you move out!
K & E: What?
K: Can you really marry your brother or sister? Because Elliott wants to marry me.
Me: NO! Not ever!
K: See? You have to find your own woman!
E: But I want to!
K: No, you have to find your own woman!
E: I need to find a plain woman like mommy.
Me: What? Get out!

Halloween 2011

I would love to tell you that I have a a dozen beautiful pics of all my kiddos & their costumes, but there's only 3. Yup, just 3. It was freezing outside, the kids were so excited & just wanted to go trick or treating. As you can see, they barely held still for the ones I did get!

Here is Pinky Lee as "Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's" & Lil' C as the Queen of Hearts

 Believe it or not, I did not decide on or make these costumes early. On Thursday, I had convinced Lil' Coconut to reuse her pirate costume from last year, and Pinky Lee was going to wear an old cheerleading uniform. But I went to Hobby Lobby to get the stuff to make Bug & Boo Boo Bear's costumes & found myself staring at tulle, dreaming about the inspiration costumes I'd found on Pinterest. Suddenly not caring that I had less than 24 hours to complete all the costumes for Friday's Halloween parties/parade, I bought supplies & rushed home to get started. I had to make 2 additional trips to the store, but managed to bring them to the school just in time!

Personally, I think they turned out great, and my girls look fabulous in them (as always!). Not quite the same as the inspiration photos, but certainly cheaper and made with love from momma! :)

 Suprisingly, I actually had to explain what boys were dressed as to many people! On the other hand, these costumes got more compliments than the girls' did!

Bug as the Red Angry Bird & Boo Boo as an Evil Piggy.

Thanks to Pinterest (again) for the inspiration for my boys' costumes. Not quite as good as the originals, but I've never claimed to be good at drawing! Boo kept taking the darn thing off randomly & we'd tell him nobody would give him any candy if he wasn't wearing his costume. Occasionally he would put it back on and join the other trick or treaters. Bug on the other hand, thought it was the coolest costume ever & said all his classmates thought so too. Yea!

Focus on the Family

These are the last of our vacation photos. On our way home, we stopped in Colorado Springs to visit Focus on the Family. I always just thought it was a Christian publishing company, but they have a college, huge bookstore, and a very, very cool play place. We spent hours there! The big kids got to ride on a two story slide that goes OUTSIDE the building, while the little kids had their own little camp themed room to play in. There were themed areas for different scenes from "Adventures in Odyssey", and a special room for "The Chronicles of Narnia" where you actually got to walk through the wardrobe and into Narnia. How cool! They also had several different scavenger hunts and we decided to do all four of them. We walked around in circles looking for stuff forever, but finally found everything. I think. It was so fun though, and the kids had a great time. If you ever end up in Colorado Springs, go check it out. Did I mention it was free?

Snow Day

Other than Christmas Day, the only day it snowed was the day we were leaving. Can you believe that? The kids were so excited that they just ran right out without being properly dressed for the weather. Of course, they don’t really know that without hats and gloves they’ll freeze to death. Pinky Lee was happy to put hers on, but Boo Boo Bear had been opposed to his from the first time we tried to put them on. So he had a great time right up until he tried touching the snow with his bare hands. Lucky for him, Papa was right there to make everything all better!

Homeschool Christmas Party 2009

On Friday, we had our homeschool group Christmas party. The kids had fun making all kinds of crafts from hand painted sun catcher ornaments to chocolate covered cherry mice. (YUM!) Pinky Lee had fun making stuff, but Boo Boo Bear was only interested in playing with the glitter glue and eating cookies, so he played outside most of the time. Doesn't he look so cute trying to ride that bike? The adults brought cookies and had a cookie exchange. Then Bug and Lil' C played with the Uke-A-Doodlers again. Do you see all the chocolate on Lil' C's face? I told her twice to go wash her face, but apparently that chocolate was just stubborn! Oh well. It was fun and we all had a good time.

Thanksgiving 2009

Here are some pix of the kids playing with their cousins at Grandma S. and Grandpa T.'s house. Bug, Lil' C and Pinky Lee spend several days with them, and then DH and I drove up and picked them up on Thanksgiving Day. It was a short trip for us, but nice, and the kids had a great time. I'm sure Grandma and Grandpa were glad for the silence when we left though! LOL

Cheerleading Competition 2009

The day after Homecoming was Lil' C's Cheerleading Competition. Luckily, it was in town this year, so we didn't have to be up early & traveling. Interestingly enough, cheer competitions are a lot of hurry up and wait. The girls have to be there early to check in, get your hair fixed, practice, etc. The rest of the family....waiting. There's short breaks between teams, then long breaks between age groups, and then a super long wait for the awards ceremony. The good news is, when the girls are actually performing, it's good fun. All of the team's did a good job. Our girls really looked good, and I think if they received more than participation medals at this age, they would have taken first place. The older girls are especially fun to watch, because they throw in lots of gymnastics & lifts. Lil' C loves cheerleading, they performed really well, and we all had a great day!

Cheer Competition Pix

Homecoming 2009

Last Saturday was Homecoming for Bug & Lil' Coconut. The day started off chilly, but warmed up so much that we all got sunburned. It was a good game though. It started off rocky, with the other team scoring the first points, but we came back to beat them 42-19! As for the ceremonies, the cheerleaders escorted the football players by twos, and circled back around to escort more because there are only 10 cheerleaders, but 30 football players. They exchanged gifts with each other. Aren't they so cute? Bug & Lil' C had to walk together, and Bug asked one of the moms, "Do I have to touch her? She's my sister." :) Do you see the kid in the #1 jersey? When he makes the NFL in 10 years, I'll be back to shout out his name and say "See! My son played with him & my daughter escorted him at homecoming! See, see, SEE!" Seriously, though...he's that good. It's crazy. Of course, my son is also doing well. I think he deserves "Most Improved Player" because he's getting so much better. And my Lil' Coconut? She was "Cheer Diva" of the week! She got to wear the sash and be all cute. Anyway, the girls did their competition routine on the field at half time, and it was overall a very good day.

Homecoming 2009 Photos

The Field Trip That Almost Wasn't

A few weeks ago, our homeschool group took a trip 3 hours away to go to a pumpkin patch/apple orchard that had all sorts of fun things to do. Our day started out around 530am in the middle of a torrential downpour and thunderstorm. It rained for most of the trip, but just when got near the pumpkin patch, the sky cleared up a bit & the sun began to shine. We were highly disappointed to pull up and find it closed! :( We went to the little store owned by the same people & tried to sweet talk them into opening up for us since we had just driven three hours to see them, but it was a no go. I did get a couple pix of the kids playing games in the store's cafe while they waited. It was finally decided that we would drive back to San Antonio to visit the Witte Museum. Our family had never been there, although we'd gone by it on the zoo train before. The museum turned out to be great fun! There was something for everyone: dinosaurs, movies, art, live animals, and a science "treehouse" that was fun for everyone. I'd like to go back some day because we didn't get to see everything, and I think everyone would enjoy it again.

Museum Pictures

Family Pictures

A few weeks ago, we had our family pictures professionally taken for the first time in almost 3 1/2 years. Pinky Lee was 2 weeks old the last time. So it was certainly time for a new one. But seriously, why do my kids have to be so darn cute that I'm forced into buying ALL the pictures? Especially when I'm trying to spend less money? The good news is we only let the photographer take these three poses, so that cut down on the final cost. Still, we spent twice what I had budgeted for. Here they are!Aren't they adorable???
And only because the photographer forced us into it...

Rah! Rah! Rah!

As promised, here are the pics of Lil' Coconut from the cheerleading photo session. Once again, I took the photos. And I wasn't alone. Most of the parents had their cameras, and we ended up doing much more than the photographers did, and if I do say so myself, a much better job. In the slideshow below, the only pose the photographers arranged was the team picture with the megaphone. All the rest were arranged by me or the parents as a whole. I chose my favorites for this layout. Golly, my kids are cute!

Also for you enjoyment(if you're a grandparent!), I have included another slideshow of the last football games.

Are YOU ready for some football?

I LOVE fall. The cooler days, the changing color of the leaves, and football. Of course, here in Texas we only get one of the three, but it's a big one. Ever heard of Friday Night Lights? Yup, all about Texas and their obsession with football. Not being from Texas, we don't really have a college team here that we follow (Go Montana State Bobcats! Beat those Griz!!!), but both my parents attended Texas Tech, so that's usually who we root for. We don't know anybody who plays high school football, but we are always glad when they well. Professional football is a totally different story. We LOVE NFL football. I am a Dallas Cowboys fan through and through. Please do not think that I just jumped on the bandwagon when we moved to Texas. They've always been my team. I had pictures of Emmitt Smith hanging on my wall in college! DH is an Oakland Raiders fan. Please don't hold that against him. He always has been (even through the bad years), and he always will be. However, he enjoys watching the Cowboys do well, as long as its not against the Raiders and vice versa. Thanksgiving should be loads of fun at our house this year.

But for the past 2 years, we've experienced football of a different kind. Pop Warner Football. If you are unfamiliar with this, its full contact football for kids. Yes, we skipped right past nice safe flag football for our precious child and threw him right into giant shoulder pads and full-on contact. Bug loves it! We love watching him, and I'm learning more about football than I think I wanted to. LOL Last year, their team didn't do so well. This year, they've already won their first two games! Go Mitey-Mite Trojans!!

As for Lil' Coconut, she has joined the Pop Warner Cheerleading. She is, of course, really good at this. Usually the loudest, can remember cheers, and absolutely adores it. This year, she gets to be the lifted! This is both exciting & scary...for me. It's not very high, she just stands on people's legs, but still. This commitment is not for the faint of heart. The first two weeks of practice are 5 days a week, 2 hours a day. Then we switch to 3-4 days a week for 1 1/2 hours a day. Games are every Saturday. Some are at home. Some are 1 1/2 hours away. Still, they love it, and we enjoy it.

The first set of pictures is from our pep rallies and a scrimmage. Basically, the pep rallies are just for the girls to show the football players and parents new cheers and routines they've shared, and to award the cheerleaders with the spirit stick and "diva" award. The coaches decided to name the cheerleaders the "Trojan Divas" this year. As you can imagine, I am not impressed with this. There are some things I expect from letting my children participate in such secular activities, but am truly annoyed by this. Anyway, aren't they just so cute?

The next slideshow is of our first two games. Bug is #32. He usually plays nose guard. (NOT the defensive center, as I was calling him. DH corrected me. However, it IS the middle of the defensive line, so technically....) :P At both games it poured down rain. Luckily it was at the end of the first game, so the girls got to cheer, but they spent the whole time cheering down at the end of the crowd, so we didn't get any good pix. The second game it rained pretty much the whole first half, and then some. The girls didn't cheer at all, even they are supposed to, so at one point when it wasn't raining too much, Lil' C and Pinky Lee did a little cheer for us. Too cute!

The last slideshow is of Bug's "professional' pictures. I put it that way because I take them to the photo shoot, but I don't pay for their pictures. Even with my camera that is close to literally falling apart, I can take better pictures for free. FREE people! Who wants to fork out hundreds of dollars every year for pictures? Not me. So here's my version for this year. I plan on taking some of my favorites and touching them up in photoshop and then distributing them to those who want them. When we do Lil' C's I will post those.