Family Time: Chapter 5-- The garden

I consoled E the day after the zoo by telling him we were going to the gardens. "Oh, a gardens" Grandma Tori took my brother, his "friend", the kids and I to the ABQ botanical gardens and aquarium. E's favorites were pretending to be a pirate ship captain (not shocking) The "g-scale" (garden scale) train (again not shocking)

chasing a poor innocent goose (still not shocking)

And the kid's fantasy garden.

Family Time: Chapter 6- The Main Event

We stuck around time just long enough for Miss A to almost get over a horrible cold she had, for me to catch said cold, and for Cousin P to turn 5. We had a great time at the party. Anyone who knows Cousin P knows he is really into sports so we went to a park and took along pretty much every piece of sporting equipment he owned. If you look closely at the cake you'll notice it spells out his name. Thanks Cousin P for turning 5 so we could have such a fun celebration!

Overall we had a really good trip. Sorry to everyone we didn't get to hook up with due to kid's snotty noses, unexpected floods and such. We'll hope to see ya next time.

Drip drip drop little April Showers

E is so funny. When it rains he either wants me to carry him through parking lots to avoid the "wa-ter" or I have to chase him down and beg him not to tromp through the puddles. I guess he has a love hate relationship. Recently during a particularly long rain event he stood at the front door and begged to puddle hop. I guess he was in a love mood. Secretly I wanted to do the same thing so I let him change into his swim suit and run wild.

Oklahoma is O.K.

Actually it's better than OK. I just thought that would make a snappier title. The end of this week marks our one year anniversary in Oklahoma. Despite my resistance to the move (in fact my pregnant and hormonal self cried nearly the entire 3 hr drive back to DFW after our first house hunting trip here) looking back on the past year the only thing that makes me a little sad is that I still have naked walls in my house. I'm slightly embarrassed that it took me ending up upside down in a ditch on the side of the highway for me to stop resisting the move and realize what is really important-- being with family. Br's job here has allowed for previously unimaginable family time. Something like that is priceless. It also didn't take all that for us to find out place in Oklahoma. We have a nice house, happy kids and a happy dog, lots of family time, and nice friends. Not really anything to complain about. I remember when we decided to take the job here Br tried to comfort me by saying, "Everyone I know that lives in OK absolutely LOVE it." My response was, "Yes, but have they ever lived anywhere else?" I mean when you think of Oklahoma what pops into your head? You can't deny that at least one or two lines from a song from the musical get stuck in your head. Or maybe you have images of the dust bowl due to books you read in high school. Whatever it is, I'm pretty sure very few of you would have selected Oklahoma as the answer to the question "If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?" But it turns out all those people who love it here weren't crazy, it IS a good place to live. For the most part we've met two groups of people here. About half the people are from OK and love it enough to stay here. The other half were like us, would never have ever thought of moving to Oklahoma but had some event that led them here and once they got here have enjoyed their experience.

So the moral of the story is if the opportunity to come to OK presents itself, just go with it!

A Happy Easter Weekend

(note-I was really excited this year to figure out how to make chocolate covered rice crispy rabbits)

For the holiday weekend we decided to head down to Dallas. We had an really enjoyable time. Friday night the boys (and Miss A) hung out while I got a girls night out. Saturday Br and his friend went golfing while my friend and I drug 5 kids (all 6 and under) through Ikea for 3 hours.

Sunday we headed to my mom's where we had a nice little egg hunt and picnic. Thanks mom.

E got really good at hunting this year.

He also got really possessive of his finds.

But don't worry about Miss A. She enjoyed herself.

We had a fantastic time but were spent by the time we got home.

Falling off the wagon and a determination to get back on

So 12 wks ago my friend Wendi challenged her friends and family to a biggest loser competition. The rules were these. You could earn one point a day for each of 8 categories: taking a vitamin, 40 minute workout, no sweets, no soda, 64 ounces of water, 7 hours of sleep, 5 servings of fruits and veggies, and no eating within 2 hours of bed. You could then earn bonus points based on how close you came to your weight loss goal. Other than skipping my workouts a few times and only getting 6 hours of sleep a couple nights, I got 100 percent of my daily points. Yes, that means this sugarholic went 90 days without sweets. I found it easier to just cut it off completely than to occasionally "cheat". I even limited intake of sugar substitutes to just a handful of times.

Sunday marked the first day of freedom and I broke my streak with a Reeses egg lovingly placed in my Easter basket by my husband, um I mean the Easter bunny. It was good and was followed by many more eggs and other candy. My bender continued into today. Halfway through my day I decided to get it all out of my system today and cut out sugar again starting tomorrow. I don't plan on doing away with it completely, but I have to tell you once I "detoxed" it just doesn't do that same things for me that it used to. There's a little part of me that is sad that chocolate doesn't bring me quite the enjoyment it used to, but overall I know my life (and figure) will be better off not filling my emotional voids with ooey, gooey sweets.

E-isms--Revised

On a beautiful day last week I opened the back door and let the kids roam free in the backyard while I worked on a cake. That all came to a screeching halt when I looked out the window to check on them and was horrified to find E walking towards the baby carrying a dead squirrel by the tail. I'm sure the entire neighborhood heard my screaming for him to drop it and come inside. I scooped up Miss A in one arm and directed E to go into the house and not touch anything until we could get his hands washed. After sanitizing him, E ran right for the back door. Apparently I didn't convey well enough that there was no way anyone was going outside until that squirrel was out of sight and out of mind. E was sad and tried to explain "a squirrel broken. a fix it." Like everything else that happens during the day that I don't want to deal with, I told him Daddy would fix it when he got home from work.

Sunday during church I was trying to keep E quiet. I broke out the Gospel Art book to look at. We were flipping through pictures of Jesus. E got super excited when we got to the one of Christ standing on a ship calming the storm. E exclaimed, "Oh, a Jesus a pirate!" Trying not to laugh I told him that Jesus wasn't a pirate and explained what was happening in the picture. He responded with "Oh, a Jesus a pirate." He did however sit and look at the picture for almost the entire meeting.

So my son thinks Jesus is a pirate. I'm guessing that may be why he thinks it is appropriate to sing "Yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me" while all the other kids in nursery are singing "Follow the Prophet".

E is really into watching me make cakes. It always makes me feel good when he correctly identifies the object I'm trying to recreate. He usually also says "Oh cute". That makes me smile. The last cake I worked on was a purse for our an activity about different "purse"onalities. E walked up to to it and said. "Oh cute, Tomey bag". "Tomey" is what he calls Mary Poppins. He is convinced that is what they sing in the overture "Tome, Tomey, Tome, Tomey" (really chim, chiminey). I've even told him, "you know her name is Mary Poppins". He says "Mary Poppins? Oh Tomey!".

-------------Added 4/9------------------

One more... for now... while I was finishing up the cake shown above I was interrupted by E carefully carrying something small between his pinchers. He was walking towards me saying "poison, a yucky poison". Turns out he was carrying around the licorice center of one of the good n' plentys I used to decorate the cupcakes. Apparently he doesn't like them.

Raise your hand if...

...your first impulse when looking at a chocolate bunny is to bite off its ears.
...you've eaten more Easter candy than your kids.
... you lick the cream out of the oreo before you eat the cookie.
... you eat the fortune cookie before reading the fortune.
...you've worn olives as little finger hats.
...you've eaten an entire sleeve of Thin Mints in one sitting.
...when you were a kid you told time in increments of Sesame Street or Mr. Rogers.
...you always refer to using the restroom as "going potty".
...you know just how much liquid a diaper can hold.
...you've bought more time at Target with a $1 bag of popcorn.
...the bag you carry around has more wet wipes in it than dollar bills.
...you've rationalized a big impulse purchase by saying "it was on sale".
...you've found yourself trying to convince a kid that they have to wear clothes when they go out in public.
...you've put yourself in time out just to have a little break.
...you've gone to dinner at the food court at Sam's club or Costco.
...you've taken over a child's art project just because it looked fun.
...you would rather your son pee his pants than discover he has the ability to pee outside.
...you have walked around a group of little kids sniffing rear ends to figure out who is poopy.
...you've recently used the term poopy.
...you've smelled clothes to figure out if it was clean enough to wear.
...you've found yourself trying to figure out if a mess is poop or chocolate.
...you've ever had the theme song of a kid's show stuck in your head all day long.
...you still like to swing.
...you've recently had the urge to climb a tree
...you have a child that will eat pretty much anything they find on the floor but won't eat anything you serve them for dinner.
...you are a believer in what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
...your kid(s) have no idea that apple dippers come with dip.
...you've given normal foods fancy names to get the family to eat them.
...you have ever caught yourself sounding just like your mother.
...your child has ever caused you to flash people.
...you have 1 or more bedtime stories memorized.
...you've summarized long bedtime stories just to get through them faster.
...when you were a kid you thought 20 was old, and 30 was SOOOOOOO old.
...you blog stalk people you've never met.

Spring Break

Late in the night/early morning, as the grease fumes from Fry-day Friday were clearing my older sister (J) and her family (C and P) arrived from ABQ. We were so glad they decided to come out and visit. It was recently my sister and her husband's birthdays and Saturday was their anniversary so I couldn't pass up the excuse to make cakes. The bag was for my brother-in-law. The book was for my sister (any book I've read in the last 5 years was because she suggested it--plus I was running short on time and realized just how fast you can make cake books after making the Harry Potter cake).

Later in the weekend we took a mini vacation in a little cabin down by Turner Falls and the Chickasaw Recreation Area. It was a nice relaxing break where we enjoyed nature,
roasted hot dogs and marshmallows (E wanted to make sure his marshmallow was cooked well so he stuck it directly in the coals),

hiked,
explored a rock "castle" and a cave,
and took lots of pictures, Back in the big city we spent the rest of the week staying up late and sleeping in, playing Monopoly Deal, Band Hero, and Beatles Rock Band, going to a movie, eating out, going to the mall, changing up the landscaping in the front yard, catching a few NCAA tournament games (Br and C), going to Chuck E. Cheese (Be, J, E, A, and P) and just enjoying the great company. Thank you Shepherds for spending you break with us!!!! Good Times!

Pre-Spring Break

Last week was spring break and any faithful readers or long time friends should know what has recently come and gone in the Melton home. Of course what I'm talking about is Fry-day Friday (always held on the Friday before spring break). This year actually marked the 10 anniversary and we had a handful of friends over to help us celebrate. We hung out, kids bounced in the bounce house, adults played band hero and of course we ate-- A LOT. This year's menu included: scones, fries, chicken, egg rolls, onion rings, cheese sticks, mushrooms, zucchini, beef, pineapple, Twinkies, oreos, and sugar free peanut butter cups and sandwich cookies (for a few of us who aren't eating sugar right now-- yes ,I realize that it is a little silly to worry about sugar intake when you are eating about a million calories worth of fried stuff). Don't worry, we rounded out the "meal" with some unfried fruits and veggies. Most of all I want to give Br a great big "THANK YOU" for being our chef and humoring me every year in my gluttonous tradition.

This week is brought to you by the letter S

S is for Shopping. E getS Stir crazy pretty easily So SometimeS we go "Shopping" to paSS the time. We ducked into Old Navy earlier this week. E waS a little concerned about the mannequinS that didn't have headS. (He got really excited later in the week when he located a few of the miSSing headS aS we walked paSt the beauty college.) Old Navy is having a Modelquin conteSt. They have a diSplay aS you enter the Store with a bunch of the mannequinS. You're SuppoSed to poSe with them and have Someone take your picture and Submit it. I didn't mention this to E but aS we were waiting in line he got up on the display, held one of the ladieS by the hand and froze for a while with a little Smirk on hiS face. I gueSS he'S ready to be diScovered. He crackeS me up.

We alSo Stopped in a Shoe Store where E picked out a new pair. I think he might let Br borrow them.

S is for ShearS. I decided that Since E doeSn't really like getting his hair combed it waS ready to be cut off. If you aSk him if he got hiS hair cut he'll tell you "no" becauSe She didn't uSe SciSSors.

Apparently hiS future is So bright he'S got to wear ShadeS.

S is for Sorcerer or Sugar. This week I worked on a Harry Potter cake (I know the deSign iSn't very original) for a one of Br'S coworker'S SonS. E waS faScinated with the whole thing. Of courSe he waS anxiouS to eat it. I thought I was being Sly by covering the cakeS while he waS aSSleep hoping that he wouldn't realize they were cakeS anymore. The next morning he walked into the kitchen. Pointed up to the counter and Said. "Oh, Cake bookS. Cute. I like it". I guess I couldn't pull one over on him.

S is for Swinging... a golf club that iS. We had an awesome day on the golf courSe Saturday aS a family. I attempted to play for the firSt time and E really enjoyed wacking the ball with hiS own little clubS. He helped my game out a little by alwayS making Sure my ball ended up in the hole when we got to the green. Good timeS.

Things I think about part II

How'd you get up there?
Apparently Br and my genes mix to make beautiful yet crazy kids.
Where are your shoes?
Please put some clothes on. At least pants.
You don't have to pop the bubbles in the toilet
It's gross to play in the potty (sadly this applied to both kids)
Hi pot (E). Meet kettle (A).
E is constantly biting off his nose to spite his face.
I would love to personally thank the person who came up with the technology that allows me to play Dr. Mario while soaking in a bubble bath.
AHHHHHHHH!
If you don't like listening to her scream, why are you always trying to make her cry?
Why is EVERYONE staring? Come on people, this couldn't possibly be the first screaming child you've seen in Sam's Club.
Seriously, where are your shoes?
Why is the dog the most obedient one in this house?
While I wasn't looking did someone put a sign on me that says "whatever you do, DON'T do what I say."
I love our kids, they are nuts, but fun.