greetings

from calvin the leprechaun.

doopty-doopty-doo

pretty sure this lil creeper will haunt my dreams at night.

(you can kinda see my new flooring)

we are still in the honeymoon phase where i enjoy cleaning it like 51432 times a day.

playing a dysfunctional game, wherein ollie's orange kitty chases and smashes the calvin leprechaun that twain is holding.

all i can say is that twain was overjoyed to find a little "talvin doll" to play with. i don't even know where he found it.


but i just thought you should know.

#afewthings

1. my friends are way cooler than i am because they use hashtags. i just learned emoji a year ago and i'm already behind the times. so i decided to text them in hashtags alldaylong yesterday. #notamused and #i'mabigfatdork and #prettysuretheywantedtokillme.


haha.


whatevs.


2. my cacti that i love{d}so much. well...they morphed into monsters.
before



after:

they are from the genus Graptopetalum. also called the ghost plant. #theyscareme and #whattheheck


tell me your favorite cactus genus/species, now. 
#goingbacktolowes


3. i'm obsessed with my new swiffer vac and will use it two times a day if possible. never mind the fact that it takes 12-18 hours to recharge. emptying the gunk from the filter is SO therapeutic and addicting. john is not a fan because the refill swiffer pads are 25 cents each; 50 cents a day if done twice; therefore $15 month. he prefers that i scrub on my hands and knees, because it's free.(#notgonnahappen #notcinderalla). He could SO be Dave Ramsey's son.


4. one of my darling dearests had a dr pepper the other day and so i was like "be a pepper, drink dr. pepper" and she had NO idea what i was singing about. neither did two of my other dear friends. when i told john, he kinda smirked at me as i said "i'm old?" and he nodded, "yahhhh".
so, this is dedicated to the young 'uns out there...the Dr. Pepper theme song of old:


or go here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvCTaccEkMI


do not report back here til you can sing the last stanza of the jingle, with style.
#mebeingbossy

So, I may not be able to hashtag to save my life, but at least i know the dr pepper song.
#i'mgettingold


5. my sister Jessica and her pipsqueaks came to visit yesterday and it made me soooo happy. we take a picture of our visits in the same spot each time.


4 years ago.

#beforetwain


3 years ago

#ilookfat


now. 2012.




i wonder what this living room will look like next time.


we ate vanilla cupcakes with lemon frosting and watched one of my favorite kid movies, how to train your dragon. it's about the closet thing to a romance movie my boys will watch.



i literally stop whatever i'm doing when the dragon ride scene appears.

swoon.


6. the bach is back on!yay!
#gojef

our little tradition.

Here are my 4th annual mother's day photos.



Finn had his little heart set on having his photos done with Peach this time, but she was hiding in a very obscure spot. So obscure in fact, that we never found her til we returned home. Finn and I looked under every bed and couch and chair and nook and cranny to no avail. This made us a bit late(that, and a late dinner) and literally the sun was going down as we got there. So it was a quick one.

























Um. These jeans are SUPPOSED to be skinny jeans. But my boys are apparently too slender for even the super skinnies. Twerps.


All of us together last year, as a comparison.



And here we are Mother's Day 2012. 

Not too much has changed outwardly, but our hair-- Calvin wins the 1st place prize for looking most different--he had a big hair cut this year. Twain comes in 2nd place because he grew more hair. And I'm in 3rd place because I have highlights.


Really though, Twain has probably changed the most. He has developed that 3-year old stubbornness, almost overnight. The two's were a snap in comparison to the three's, I predict.



Calvin's big change this year was going off to kindergarten.



Though these two appear the same as last year, don't let looks fool you.

Ollie is so much easier in every regard and for this I praise the Lord. We still have our days where he cries a lot(and fights a lot), but he seems to get over it more quickly. The crying fits are fewer and farther between. Hence I no longer feel the need to pull my hair out:) He adds quite the dynamic to our little band-o-brothers. Everything seems calm until he explodes upon the scene. I don't know how he rocks the boat so much, but he does. As challenging as that is at times, I think we all need to be shaken up a bit, to help us grow and become more patient and loving.


And Finn has definitely become more loving! So the Lord knew exactly what he was doing when he placed Ollie as the spirited 3rd born.  



Tweeds. You are crazy.







How I love these precious little boys that God gave me. I thank the Lord for them every single day and never ever take my title of "mom" for granted. Boys. You are loved with every ounce of my being!

why we need Peach.

The other day I was pulling into my garage. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something behind my van. On closer inspection, I realized it was a frog. Squirting red blood out of its leg, onto my driveway(For some reason I assumed frog blood would be grayish-greenish-black?). It was...nauseating.
"Sorry lil frog. I did not mean to amputate one of your appendages."


It seemed to have quite the will to live, as it gimped off into the driveway.


Later in the day, it was time to pick up Calvin from school and we could not tarry.


"Hurry up boys! Time to load into the van."


As I stepped into the driver's seat, I noticed a little "someone" JUST behind my front tire.


I felt a wee bit faint. Apparently Mr. Frog had limped and gimped his way back INTO my garage and parked itself right behind my wheel. Is he trying to commit suicide? Is he dead already?


I didn't know what to do. We were late.


So I did the obvious thing. I started screaming and making retching noises, til Ollie and Twain started crying.


"Mommy stop screaming," they cried. "You are scaring us."


So I pulled myself together, pulled the car into reverse and cringed a thousand times as I backed over Mr. Frog.


Thud.


Me, shrieking again.
Boys, crying again.


We picked up Calvin. "Hi Calvin! How was your day?" And we drove off on our merry way, back home.


I'm a creature of habit. John has a hanging tennis ball in the garage, to help me park my van in the exact right spot. When I pull up, my side mirror is supposed to graze the ball, otherwise John gets all crankypants on me. So, doing my duty, I drive in, to perfection, just hitting the tennis ball. And I hear that familiar "thud" once again. Except the thud is not from hitting the ball. 


I slap my forehead. Kill me. Now.


I had forgotten about Mr. Frog. I mean, seriously. I'm convinced this was his final revenge on me for amputating his leg. I silently gag and retch, so as not to scare the boys.


A few hours later, it's time to get Finn. I back over Mr. Frog for the umpteenth time, silently cursing myself. Well, not really cursing, but sternly lecturing myself, shall we say? As we drive home, I park in the driveway, and vow not to go back in the garage til John escorts Mr. Frog out.


The next day, I mustered up the nerve to examine the crime scene. I almost drew a chalk outline over Mr. Frog, as part of the investigation...

Finn ended up scraping the flattened frog off the garage for me. Boys. I tell you. I think that was exciting for him. I mean, this is type of work he's been turning in to his teacher lately.









Which brings me to the point of this post. With all this blood n' guts, we really do need a little bit of Peach in our lives.

Ahhhhh. That's better.


Last week, we took a final vote and officially named her Peach (Bribes may or may not have been involved to reach a consensus).


But she really is a peach of a kitty and her name is fitting.

She has gotten really feisty and playful. The boys are wild about her. 







Ollie tries to lock her up in the pet-taxi. Or the closet with him. Or the pantry, so she won't escape his clutches. He's gonna love her to death, holding her hostage with his love.


At night when the boys go to bed, she gets all crazy, and puts on quite the show for John and me. We just sit and laugh and chase her around til midnight. Well, I'm usually asleep waaaaay before then, but John stays up too late grading. Tsk, tsk.



Dr. W adjusted me the other day. And sent me home with kitten formula, LOL. 



I was driving to church the other day and I saw an orange dead kitty splattered all over the road. I shuddered and thought, "How am I ever going to let Peach outside?!" Look at this trusting lil face!








Snuggling up on my leg.


One night she hopped into bed with us. This is a big no-no. At least it was a preposterous notion a few weeks ago, before Peach entered our world. I would rather die than share my bed with an animal.


{{{shudder}}}


But she was so cute, I could not resist her charms(Don't unfriend me).



She was purring SO LOUD in her sleep, that she kept me up til 3 a.m, no lie. So I slept on the couch, LOL. My friends were mortified and asked me why I did not kick her out of my bed.


"I didn't want to hurt her feelings", I said sheepishly.

Pathetic, I know. Next time she gets the boot, scout's honor.

Do you think we should wear matching sweaters for our Christmas card next year?



I totally think Peach wants to. She is already practicing her silhouette pose.


p.s. Molly June. If you are reading this. This post was for you. Because I know how much you LOVE cats, hahaha. Kg showed me some of your comments from her blog post on kittens that one time...when she fed them milk. 


p.s.s I hope you all don't think I'm the cat lady now. Because I'm not. Please don't buy me cat shirts. HAHAHA.