Melissa and Doug Get it Right

We all know that with little kids,

a good craft can keep them busy and happy for a while.

Melissa and Doug make a lot of fun stuff that my kids love.

That's why I picked this up,

on deep discount, of course.

As you are well aware, each of

my children have different skin tones so I LOVED

that this pad of paper has four different shades.

I think that the girls loved it too.

After they made one of themselves, they chose a

different skin tone and made more for friends.

Way to go Melissa and Doug!

What are some of the things that you do 

to keep your kids out of your hair,

creative and happy?

I'm Not Raising a King

I have been thinking about a conversation I recently had with an elderly woman.

I was commenting about how nice it was

to come home from working on a Saturday to find my husband

cleaning the house with the kids.

I feel very lucky that when he sees something needs to get done,

he does it.

Never is it "women's work" or "my job" 

because he works outside the home more than me.

We have pretty good teamwork.

This woman, followed up with a story of her own.

It basically went like this...

Her daughter-in-law made a beautiful meal.

After enjoying the meal, her son proceeded to help clear the table.

She saw him pull up to the sink and begin to wash some dishes.

Upon seeing this, she moved him aside and told him,

"I raised you to be a king and kings don't do dishes."

Then she proceeded to take over at the sink.

I didn't comment or argue at that point.

It just became very clear how times have changed and how 

thankful I am for some of the changes.

Expectations for this woman and for her children were much different than

the expectations I have for myself, my husband, and our kids...

especially my son.

One thought came quickly to my mind.

I am only concerned with one true King, and

he was known to wash feet and served the sinners.

So I guess she and I

are raising our boys to be different types of kings.

Does your family help with the housework?

(Disclaimer:  Porter is 8, and seriously, I am just working on having
him do a his chores, be kind and helpful to others,
 keep up with homework,
and put his pants on forward and right-side-out...
for now.

Valentine's Day 2013 Recap

Sorry I fell of the grid a bit.

I am back and feel the need to capture some of the Valentine's Day 

memories that were made.

I hope that you all had a good one too.

Oh, and I couldn't forget the Father Daughter Dance!

 I traced the hubby's hand to make his mom a homemade Valentine.

Who said grown ups shouldn't make something for their mom?

I cut it out and opened it up, which left a heart shape open 

 and,

I wrote on it, "Hands Down, You are the Best!!"

 We started the day with a pun, of course!

 Loot for my little ones.

Who doesn't love Pez dispensers?

Don't worry (I got everything on sale)!

 This shirt was so perfect for Porter that I couldn't resist!

 Julia carried her little bug-eyed turtle everywhere with her. 

 The kids chose "brunch for lunch" at dinner time.

I made hash brown casserole.

Find the recipe HERE.

(Note: I doubled it.)

 Blueberry breakfast cake (a fan favorite) was also on the menu, which
I dyed red.  Looks a little gross uncooked, huh?

Find the recipe HERE.

I also doubled this recipe for our crew to have for several mornings.

Then Leah gave us this great letter.

She is such a "sweet heart."

I also got sweet artwork from my kiddos and...

DVR in my bedroom from my hubby!

Oh yeah, we are breaking all the good marriage rules and we now have 

DVR in our bedroom.

Now he is a Valentine who knows his woman.

Not to mention, that poor man got a card with cash in it from me, 

because I misplaced his gift cards!

Don't worry, I later found them. 

He didn't seem to mind my tackiness.

It was overall a good day.

The weekend continued with Dad, Grandpa, and all four of the

girls going to the Father Daughter dance at church. 

 I hear that they had a great time,

and

these girls love their daddy!

And their Grandpa too!

They are one fine looking bunch.

Do you celebrate Valentine's Day at your house?

Any traditions?

Quick Funnies: Maryn

Maryn Funny #1

I was being silly and yelled up for one of kids by saying,

"Come here POOKIE!"

Well Maryn thought that was so funny, so she tried it.

"Come here PUKE-Y!"

I grinned and told her it was pookie not pukey.

"Oh ok.  Come here POOPIE!"

Maryn Funny #2

Many of you knew that I had 

to take Maryn for some 

Botox injections her leg and arm

as a part of her therapy to 

stretch and strengthen her right side.

Because this is painful, they gave her a little

"happy juice"

to relax her, and she chased it with a juice box.

It made her balance off and she was a bit funny I must admit.

After the procedure, I got her calm and she was back to 

charming the staff.  

I felt so relieved.  I told her that we could go home now and

that I needed to carry her

as to protect her from falling over like a 3 year old drunk.

Instead of being thrilled that she got to leave,

she turned into a holy trashing and screaming terror!

She wanted to walk (aka fall on her face) and stay with the recreational therapist.

I scooped her up and tried not to drop her and the 40 pounds of snacks and electronics that I brought to entertain and calm the sweet 3 year old, gone terror, in my arms.

The worst part is that as I carried her out of the office, 

through the hospital hallway,

outside, 

down the elevator,

and finally to the car

people could stare and hear her screaming these great words...

I WANT MORE HAPPY JUICE!! 

GIVE ME HAPPY JUICE!!

Great, now I have people thinking my preschooler has a sedative addiction.

Good times.

As Valentine's Day Approaches

Hi!  My name is Krista and I am
a Valentine's hoarder!

I was looking through boxes for a glue gun and found this...

Yep!  That whole tub is filled with Valentine cards.
I buy them cheap and save them for next year...then I forget where they were
and do the whole thing over again the next year.
When we moved, I put them all together.

Yes, there are OVER 150 Fun Dips in that box!!

So guess what the little ones did this morning?

As Valentine's Day approaches,

I am having some trouble thinking of something to do for my family.

I am sure that Pinterest would be happy to help me, you think?

Until then, I wanted to share with you a post

I wrote last year,

detailing the pun-tastic treats I gave my loved ones.

Check it out and don't forget to give me some ideas too, 

would you please??

Leave Taylor Swift Alone

I saw a segment on the Today show stating that Taylor Swift

signing with Diet Coke has upset many.

The lady in this video states that she "was horrified" to find out

that she was working with the company because of the

message that it sends to her young fans, during

an obesity epidemic.

Give me a break people!

We are not raising idiots.

Kids can handle the truth and we can help teach them that commercials are meant

to entice us to desire a product or to feel it is something we need.

That's the advertiser's job.
I wrote a little about it in a post called
Informed Consumers: Starting Young.
Check it out if you missed it.

My job, as a parent, is to teach them the difference 

between marketing ploys and reality.

I asked my daughter and 8 of her friends what they knew about soda,

and they stated a clear knowledge that pop has no nutritional value.

Most people, I dare say, know by now that soda is not in a healthy food group.

The youngest group of fans, like my 10 year old,

is most likely to drink Diet Coke...

when and if their own parent buys it.
So let's leave Taylor Swift out of this argument for now.

Don't get me wrong, advertising is powerful, and I am weary of it's affects on my kids.
This is why I try to discuss these things with them now,
and pray for the times when I am not as nearly as present of a force in their
decision making.
I hope that they are prepared.

The hits just keep coming for Taylor.
On Fox News online, they are discussing her
"serial celebrity dating."
Again, let's leave her alone.
She's a young woman that is not in and out of jail,
doesn't appear to have a drug problem,
doesn't hold her child over a balcony,
hasn't run off and gotten married and divorced in the same year,
and
isn't photographed daily being drunk or stoned.

For now, she is just a 23 year old who dates, A LOT,
and, to several young man's misfortune,
writes about many of the breakup details.

Actually, a lot of song writers write about their own life experience.
Heck, some write horrible things about cops, gang violence,
and sex in great detail.


Now, I am not saying I would want to risk dating her but it doesn't seem
like a big shocker.
Girls her age tend to date.
This isn't such a big deal in my opinion.

So, in full disclosure, I must tell you...
I find myself often listening to Taylor Swift's old albums and her new one, "Red",
by choice...
even when I am in the car alone.
I like her easy to sing-with pop songs.
I like that she is a song writer too.
I like that she wrote an awesome one about her parents called, The Best Day.
Check out the sweet lyrics HERE.
I like that all of my girls and I know the words and sing together
while Porter and Howie roll their eyes.
I think that I have a motherly crush on that crazy girl.

Anyone else out there think the headlines are a little too much?
Or maybe I'm a bit crazy?

Finally! Family Pictures

This weekend, we
rallied these troops and made it ON TIME to a 9 am appointment

to have our family pictures taken at

Portrait Innovations.
We've used them before, but it has been a long time.
We had a great photographer, but I noticed that
you get a lot fewer sheets of pictures in their packages since the last time I went.

This was made possible by some dear friends who gave us a 

gift card at our Forever Family party.
Thank you so much! What a perfect gift for us!

It has taken us a long time to take advantage of this opportunity because
someone always seemed to need a haircut, or in my case,
a dye job,
or had a big scab on their face.

All of the stars aligned and this weekend was perfect.
We were the 1st appointment so NO waiting!
AMEN!
Plus, we purchased our pictures and had them in our
hands and still had time get the kids some donuts and make it to church at 11.
I wanted to share them with you with
this photo dump!

 Enjoy.

If you are a local, where do you like to get your family photos done?

Breaking News...

This child, finally, peed in the potty!

Can I get a hooray??

(P.S. Never tell Maryn that I posted this picture.)

Now getting her to re-pee-t it will be another story.

Happy Friday everyone.

Did your kids have a delay and did it wake up the whole house?

Mine luckily slept through the 5 am call.