Happy Birthday, Eliot! 1/31

My big boy celebrated his 9th birthday!! Blair & I are still not sure how time has flown by so fast that we now have a 9yr old!

We had a little celebration at home, just us, his party will be in couple of weeks b/c he couldn't quite make up his mind what he wanted, he finally decided to have a laser tag party. We did take him out for birthday dinner at his favorite restaurant, Genghis Grill(yum!!), then went home for cake & presents.

The cake... so we went to the grocery store to pick out a little cake but all they had were Valentine's Day cakes! (people really buy V-day cakes 2 wks before V-day??) There was no way that E was going for a pink/hearts cake, I told him no to worry that we would make a cake, so he picked out the flavor (strawberry... his favorite!), the icing & the decorations. I baked the cake & the boys had a good time decorating it, in fact, Eliot said that it was the best cake he's ever had!

Blair took over the candles... E actually thought the huge candle was pretty funny. Silly boys!

Catching up!!!

Yep, I'm way behind again. I meant to catch up yesterday & my internet was down all day... talk about going into panic mode! LOL!

The Egg Factor

Since my boys were little I've never gotten them to eat eggs unless is in french toast & they didn't even know they involved eggs until a few months ago. Anyway, last week I was making myself an egg and Eliot mentioned how he should taste eggs again just to see if he likes them now... Ian agreed.
So on Saturday morning we did a little experiment. Ian gave scramble eggs a thumbs up, Eliot a sideways one with a score of a 3 or a 4 (notice his face). Then I decided to put the egg in a some toast and as you can see in the last picture, they both gave it a big thumbs up!

I really like it when my kids try new things, it gives me choices too.

Boys & Baseball Caps

My boys have so many baseball caps it's crazy! They have NASCAR ones, some from their favorite baseball teams, some that they have decorated, some from the teams that they have belong to, etc. And they love them all so they won't let me get rid of any of them.

Last year I was trying to figure out what to do with all of them and decided that I really needed to find some way to hang them. Their playroom window ended up being the perfect place & it has worked pretty good.

(btw, the ones on this pic are not all of them!).

Western Day

Yesterday it was Western Day at Ian's school.

They encourage kids to wear their western wear, I'm a bit embarrassed to say that even though we live in Texas we don't own much western wear, so I scrambled around collecting a few "cowboyish" things for him to wear.

We had an awesome homemade horse that our friend Dawn gave the boys for him to take as show & tell (she made them as favors for her daughter's bday party!) but unfortunately we weren't able to find some cowboy boots in time... oh well, he looked cute & was very happy about his denim jacket & bandana :o)

I had to post the 2nd pic b/c I thought it was so funny how both of them are posing... hee, hee. Oh, and the look on Ian's face, a classic Ian look for sure.

Dishes... yuck!

There are two housework chores that I really don't like doing, one is putting laundry away, I deal with that one okay. The other one is dishes... ugh!

I know that I should be thankful for dirty dishes b/c that means we have food on our table but man, it's so hard to keep my mind on that thought when I'm scrubbing pots & pans. Yeah I do use a dishwasher but that doesn't help much since I don't like emptying the dishwasher either, must be b/c it's still part of doing the dishes... LOL! Hubby does help me with that sometimes & I'm very grateful he does and I also get the boys to help me sometimes.

Hmmh, maybe I should start using paper plates... yep, a Mom can dream.

Where the Wild Wheels Are

My boys wheels, boy do they have a ball riding them!

We had to find a place to put them in the garage that they would be out of the way & accessible to the boys so I suggested to my hubby that hooks might work, he bought them, stuck them to the (unfinished) garage wall & ta-da!! They work great!

You might be able to see the word "Cubsy" above the black scooter (above the blue one it says "Bugsy"). Ian (my youngest one) gave each of us a name that ends on "sy"... Daddy is Hugsy, Eliot is Cubsy (b/c he likes the Chicago Cubs), I'm Momsy & he is Bugsy. Not sure where he came up with the idea but we think is pretty dang cute.

Milk bubbles!

Ian has been asking me for awhile to take a pic of him blowing milk bubbles, finally I remembered to do that yesterday. He loves doing that, I know he's not suppose to play with his food but this one I know he'll grow out of it one day and I'm gonna miss the big smile he gets when he sees all those bubbles coming out of his cup.

Can you believe those eyelashes?!?

Weekend Craft

I totally ran out of time yesterday & didn't get a pic but there is a good reason for it!

This is what we spent most of our weekend on. I did most of the big pieces and the boys did a lot of the little ones, they had a good time and there are plans to make our town a whole lot bigger! The boys have it all planned out... ha! Oh yeah, they divided the town in 3 different counties; Craft Town, Central City & Down Town.

I'll keep on taking pics of the progress as we add new pieces to it. If you want to see where we got these paper crafts click here. I do have to warn you that some of them take a good amount of time & a lot of patience.

I almost forgot! My sweet hubby gave me a tripod, it's little & super cute :o) I used it for the first 3 pics, it sure makes a big difference... no more trying to hold my hand steady!

The Playroom... Part 2

Well, I wasn't fast enough and they got to it before I could take a pic of the empty clean playroom... but I do have to say that it looks tons better even with 4 boys in it :o)

I put the ugly trampoline outside & got rid of the old computer that nobody was using anyway, that gave them a lot more room on their desk.

I ended up cleaning it by myself while Blair & Ian went out, the good thing about that is that I was able to get rid of a bunch of stuff without having to argue with 2 little monsteroos!

The Playroom

Our playroom, source of creative fun & irritation! I'm a bit embarrassed to post this pic but oh well, it's part of our family life right now & that's what this blog is about, capturing our daily life.

I took this pic last night when I was trying to think of what I needed to do today. Added to the list: clean & organize playroom. I will have my great little helper Ian with me today, he does such a good job picking up. Eliot, not so much but I'll find something for him to do to later this weekend for sure ;o)

Maybe today I will snap a pic of the nicely clean & organized playroom before they get to it again... I gotta be fast though b/c it doesn't last very long!

Foggy Morning

Here is another "it pays to carry your camera in your purse" moment. This morning we woke up to fog, I drove Eliot to school b/c I didn't want him to ride his bike in the fog. On the way back home I was looking at the fog, remembered that I had my camera & decided to stop & take some pics.

I like fog, I like how it makes everything look mystical except if it's really dense & you're driving in it then it's just plain scary... ha! I couldn't decide on one pic so I'm sharing 3 pics today. Two of them are of the green belt at the end of our street and the other one I took it while I was waiting for the school bus to put his stop sign down, I really liked how the sky looks on that one.

Baby Fever?

No, not really. Just making gifts for friends who had babies recently.

I took this pic last night when I finally finished the blanket I've been working on for awhile. The lighting was blah! Oh well, I tried!

This is for Fin, my friend Gina's baby, I hope she likes it. Just thought I would add that that's a little ear attached to the little hat... it's a baby bear hat!

I'm on the mist of finishing a baby girl hat with a big flower for my neighbor's baby girl, I will post a pic when it's done.

Mexican Chicken Corn Chowder and Digiscrapping

Unlike the rest of my family I like soups & chowders. It doesn't really matter what the weather is like outside, a good bowl of soup or chowder warms my heart & my tummy.

Every once in awhile I try a new recipe, today I made Mexican chicken corn chowder and I have to say that it was delish!!

You can find the recipe here if you want to try it. It made a good amount so I have lots of leftovers in my fridge... yumm!


Abruptly changing the subject here. Digital Scrapbooking is one of my favorite crafts. When I started this 365 pictures challenge I decided that I was gonna push myself a little more by challenging myself to make a layout of the pics I took each week... I'm really hoping to keep up with it!

Here is the layout for week 1. I will add credits of what I used on the layouts to give recognition to the designers whose talent create such wonderful digital goodness.

Template: Chrissy W - A Photo A Day Set 3
Kit: ChrissyW - Sew Cute Mini Kit
Fonts: Frosty for title and Arial Narrow for journaling

They ought to be in the circus

I took a few pics on Sunday but I had to post this one. We were watching the Golden Globe Awards, or I guess I should say, I was watching it!

My boys were being wild & crazy, bouncing off the walls, I guess is safe to say that they were not at all interested in the program on tv. So what to do when you're bored? Well, how about climb on Daddy, especially if Daddy is helping & you love rough housing, climbing, diving, etc.

Of course don't mind Mom's heart which is skipping a beat while watching her kid being thrust up in the air... yeah, being a Mom of boys is never boring.

Weekend Challenge - Pink

I was on my search for something pink when I got sidetracked by the gorgeous weather outside. We've had some pretty cold weather for our neck of the woods so the sunny, mid 60's weather we're having today it's very much appreciated.

So, I shaved my legs, pulled out my capri pants & flip flops, then it hit me, my toenails were not painted pretty as they usually are in the summer. I found some pretty pink nail polish (as pink as I get anyway) and decided to pay tribute to this wonderful weather God has blessed us with today by sporting some pretty pink toenails :o)

P.S. don't look too close b/c I'm in dire need of a pedicure!!

Saturday's Pics

Last night the boys wanted me to take a pic of the toys they were playing with and post them as my pics of the day. It got late & I had to deal with 2 very cranky boys so I didn't have a chance to post them last night... but here they are now!


Eliot played pretty much all day with his Army men, here they are protecting one of E's most priced possesion... his globe.

He uses that globe all the time, he loves geography and he definitely knows more about geography than I do! He does not get that from me, it wasn't ever one of my favorite subjects at school. He gets it from Blair, he & Eliot are often found searching for all kinds of stuff on google earth.




Ian spent most of the day playing with a Wacky Wigglers set that Aunt Ronnie & Uncle Rex gave them a few Christmas ago. They can build all kind of wacky robots, it's really fun & creative and if they connect the gears the right way there is a lot of action going on on those robots.

I believe Ian at one time had 6 robots built & got way freaked out when Eliot & their friend Colton asked him to share some pieces so they could build their own robots... who said boys are not dramatic?

I was playing with my p&s camera on that last one & I wanted to try focusing on the back robot to make it a little different, I was glad to see that it worked. I'm trying to learn the different settings my little Canon PowerShot A720 has since I've mostly just used the auto setting.

Today I need to go out & look for something pink (to do the weekend challenge) since with 3 boys around & me not being a pink person we don't have much pink in this house... ha!

Capes & Mighty Minds

So yeah, I'm a day late & a dollar short... story of my life, ha! I took my picture yesterday but was too sleepy last night to post.

Anywho, yesterday Eliot had his 3rd grade play called Mighty Minds. It was a really fun play & I know he & his fellow 3rd graders had a great time! It was all about being strong & not scared about tests & learning new things. Blair & I are thinking that is to get them ready for TAKS test which is #1 thing in schools now days... but that's a whole other post!

Eliot's Mighty Cape has things that he likes on it. A rocket, numbers b/c he likes math (I know, weird kid!) and of course a baseball field! Here is Eliot flying away with his mighty cape.

P.S. I was gonna add a video of my favorite song on the play but it was too long. I was really surprised to see E sing & dance b/c he's always been a bit shy, I'm glad to see that he might be getting over it. I uploaded the video to YouTube, if you want to watch it click here

The tortillas take a ride

It pays to carry your camera in your purse!

Today I wasn't sure what my picture was gonna be until we went out to eat & my boys were watching fresh tortillas being made. They love standing there watching the tortillas "take a ride" round & round the tortilla making machine.

Actually, I should thank my husband, Blair, who pointed at our boys & said... "there is your picture of the day, Mary". He was so right! To think that I almost missed it b/c I was too busy shoveling Mexican food in my mouth... ha!

I thought I would go ahead and post a close up picture of what they were looking at.

Spice it up

Tabasco sauce. I can't begin to tell you how much I like this stuff. I put it in a lot of the food I eat.

Blair says that if pancakes tasted good with Tabasco I would probably eat them that way. To tell you the truth, I haven't tried them that way yet but who knows, maybe one day I will. Just kidding!!

When I took this picture I realized how low it is, time to go get some more!

For the love of crafts

I love to do crafts! Crocheting, knitting, sewing, digital scrapbooking, gluing stuff onto other stuff... etc!! If I could have hours & hours to do crafts I would be a very happy lady.

Unfortunately I don't have that luxury often enough but this morning after getting the boys to school I actually had some time by myself.

What's a Mom to do with some free time? Well, I ditched all Mommy/Wifey responsibilities and decided to work on a project I've been thinking about for a few days... after all, that folded laundry needing to be put away is not going anywhere and as long as the kids were picked up from school & fed all was good.

I can't post a picture of my project yet b/c the person receiving it might peek in here but after I hand it over I will definitely post one.

I've always heard that boys are for outside

Since Santa brought my boys their Razor scooters there is nothing that they enjoy more than scottin' around up & down our street.

Of course the weather hasn't cooperated much lately but today is different because today is a beautiful day, a day that they could go out & play without fear of frostbite!

Ian has been (impatiently) waiting all morning for Eliot to get out of school so they can go out & play. So as soon as Eliot finished his homework & they ate a snack they were out the door to enjoy the weather... and of course their scooters.

With hair blown by the wind & their little shadows following them, off they go down driveways and up & down the street, their little joyous shrieks filling the air.

Let's play ball!!

Okay, it's not about playing baseball but about starting a blog but I have to incorporate baseball in here somehow! I made a header but I most definitely need to redo it but since Ian is bugging me now to get off MY computer I must come back later.

I'm looking forward to this project & I'm gonna try my best to keep up with it... pinky promise!