Best Shot Monday

i actually took no photos this past week...... what is up with THAT?!?! but i dug around and found a few taken at the end of the previous week to share with y'all.

this is the outfit that sprout will wear in his christmas portraits.... probably. i saw something at another store the other day that i LOVE but i don't think it will coordinate well with the fancy dress that bean picked out. what is a mom to do?? i might buy it and bring it home and see. because maybe it will be perfect. how will i know unless i try?!?! ahhh!
i know buying them dressy clothes is entirely unnecessary BUT i so adore it! i will dress them up in ridiculous yet adorable clothes and everyone else will love it. so what if they will never wear these outfits again! i'm totally crazy, i know. but i only do it for christmas........ and sometimes easter. :)

so here is sprout trying on dressy clothes.....

ooooooh, what kind of pants are these?!?

he he he! mom left the tags on!!

oh yeah, i'm a stud!
i'm totally rockin' these threads!

so that's what i got this week. stop by tracey's and check out what everyone else is sharing this week!

For those who were wondering

the book i quoted in the previous post is "pinkalicious" (by victoria and elizabeth kann). it has nothing to do with babies and everything to do with pink cupcakes. it is a really cute book. (we liked it so much that bean's birthday party was based on it.)

i do find the quote works for most situations you and your disagreeable preschooler will encounter. :)

Hooray!

bean and sprout have a new cousin! she was born less than an hour ago. she is 8 pounds 9 ounces and 19 1/2 inches. this is girl number three for my sister.

bean is excited but wants to know why they didn't get a boy baby because "they don't have a boy baby yet."
and i quoted one of her favorite books, "you get what you get and you don't get upset." ;)

congratulations sis!

Buried Alive

my son napped for a grand total of 20 minutes this morning and 20 minutes this evening. he then went to bed an hour later than normal. i had to go in to his room 4 times and lay him down because he kept standing up and "talking" before he finally settled down and went to sleep.

my daughter spent 90% of the day whining, crying or yelling at me. none of the things were worth whining, crying, or yelling about- what bowl her apple slices were in, what she was (and was not) going to eat for dinner, that it wasn't fair that i would put her brother's pajamas on but she had to put her's on herself. (honestly, if he was old enough to dress himself i would make him do it! but seeing as he is only 7 months old i'm going to have to give him a hand!) she even screamed at me as i was putting her to bed. nothing like some bed time love....... sigh.

i'm so tired. i feel like i'm about to lose my mind. i would give anything for a couple hours of peace. anything.

i so wish we had family near by that could take one or both of them for just a few hours.

of course, i still wouldn't get any "me" time. i'm so far behind on housework that i'd need someone to babysit the kids for a week to catch up. why am i so far behind? because i can't do anything while they are both awake. and since sprout seems to think that naps over 30 minutes aren't necessary, 90% of my day sees them both awake. what do i do? i have to watch to make sure bean doesn't "love" her brother too hard. (you have no idea how many times i had to say don't crush your brother today. and how many time-outs bean had for not listening to those very words.) i have to watch to make sure sprout doesn't do anything to hurt himself since he gets into everything. by the time bedtime rolls around i've been doing this for over 12 hours straight. don't forget the dog who wants more love and attention and the husband who wants me do to things for him too. i'm so tired i can barely move. so the dishes aren't done. the laundry isn't done. i haven't vacuumed in almost 2 weeks. (the house is so bad that i would need at least 3 days notice before i could have company- and that would just give me time to clean the worst parts) its not just the house though, i forgot to pay some of the bills the other day- yay, late fees that we can't afford!
oh yeah, i live here too don't i? well, i only get the opportunity to shower about 2 times a week. my laundry is always the last to be done. i am the bottom of the totem pole here. the least important thing in the house.

i feel like a complete failure. obviously no one is getting what they want and probably not even what they need either. i have no idea how i'm supposed to do everything and keep everyone happy. i look at all these other people and they seem happy, they look relatively sane, and while their house might not be spotless, i bet there isn't mold growing in their kitchen. i want to be one of those people. why can't i be one of those people......

Dude!

you know when you have to go to the bathroom and you think, "the baby will be perfectly fine in this room while i'm gone. it is baby proofed. and his big sister is here with him and will let me know if he does anything too crazy." so you just go ahead and go.

then you hear the big sister in her bedroom. she isn't with the baby anymore. and you think, "no biggie, i'm almost done. i'm sure he's just fine. after all, what can he get into?"

then you notice that it is really quiet in the living room where the baby is. really quiet. and your mommy alarm goes, "uh oh!"

and you hightail it out of the bathroom to find this:
this is when you realize that there was one portion of the living room that you did not baby proof. ooops! (damn plants!)
and you (grab the camera) say, "no-no-no! don't eat dirt buddy!! yucky!"

and he looks at you like, "huh? wha???" (apparently dirt isn't all that bad?)

and you say, "dude! you can't be trying to tell me we don't feed you enough! because i'm pretty sure we do!" in an oh so sarcastic mommy voice.

and that's when you realize he's too little to get sarcasm......
awwwww, man! don't cry buddy.....
i'd kiss you but dude, you got potting soil all over your face!

just kidding!! i would so still kiss that cute little mug, but he wanted none of that. i took his plant and dirt away and broke his seven month old heart. he thinks i suck right now.

yeah, i'm good like that. i'm just rockin' the good mommy skills! ;)

Best Shot Monday

monday again? already?? how is it that the days go SO slow but the weeks go by SO fast?!?

anyways, today i will share a few of my favorite shots from halloween. we had fun despite the fact that we were all sick.... ok, we all would have had a lot more fun had we been healthy BUT we still had a good time.

daddy took bean out for her first round of trick or treating. i really wish i would have gone with them because daddy said that bean's flamingo costume was a huge hit. everyone was asking where we got it. (one woman was very impressed when she learned i made the costume and told hubby that i should do that for a living- ha, if she only knew it was the first time i'd sewn anything!) sprout and i did go around to a few houses with them later. someone thought that bean was a duck. i was a good mommy and kept my mouth shut. ;)

daddy trying to adjust her head.... er, hat. it was a tad bit big!

after some help from mommy they are off!

bean went up and said "trick or treat!" and usually the people got a thank you as well. on the way back to us she would check her bag carefully to see what she got. they she would shout to us, "i got a kit kat mommy! i love kit kats!" or "daddy! i got m&m's!!", or something else along those lines. thankfully she was excited about everything she got- especially the toothbrush. oh yeah, my kid was nuts for the sparkling pink toothbrush. crazy but true!

here she had just scored a candy bracelet!

and i don't want to leave out sprout! everyone was gushing over his cuteness. of course, most of them thought he was a cat. sigh. i'll let it slide though because while sitting in the stroller they could not see his bat wings. but, i will say that if he was a cat i probably would NOT have given him fangs.... just sayin'. ;)

here's sprout hanging out outside our friend's house
(bean was too busy helping hand out candy to be in a picture! did you know that giving away candy is almost as much fun as getting candy??)

now don't forget to stop over to tracey's and check out what everyone else is sharing this week!

p.s. happy 3rd birthday adam!! :)

Yeah.....

i suppose this means you don't want to take a nap right now?
(i really wish this was a video because i'm sure you'd all would have really enjoyed his bouncing up and down and little squeal of joy as i walked into the room.)

Happy Halloween!

bean and sprout want to wish everyone out there

a happy and fun filled halloween!

with LOTS of candy. (the good kind!)

kinda looks like the boy already had plenty of the good kind- check out that buda belly!

Happy Halloween Everyone!!!

Good Grief

sprout has pulled himself up to stand three times today. i guess we get to lower the crib mattress again tonight. i'm not sure i'm ready for this......

on a completely different note, i've got the cold from h-e-double hockey sticks. our trick or treat party is tonight. i so want to see my cuties in their costumes and see people's reactions to what i made for them to wear but i'd pay any amount of money to just stay home and sleep. i don't know what to do. sprout obviously doesn't care but bean does- oh boy does bean care. this is all she has talked about for weeks. she has even practiced trick or treating. i suppose i'll have to suck it up and take them out..... sigh.

Cookin' Cookies

don't got a lot to say today. sprout was feverish (ooooh, 102.8) all day yesterday and was up most of the night last night (even though his fever was gone then.... grrrr!) so i'm dead tired. just thought i'd share some holiday baking pictures.
what??? you don't consider halloween a baking holiday?! all holidays are baking holidays- duh!

cutting the shapes and showing mommy that the dough is in fact sticking to your fingers.

putting on sprinkles..... lots of sprinkles.
(bean has never heard of too many sprinkles)

posing with her "artistic" (and hopefully edible) creations.

and yes, there are orange pumpkins, green ghosts, and purple cats. why? we had an educational decorating session- we learned about mixing colors. bean guessed that red and yellow would make orange (yay!) but thought that red and blue would make green (oops!). educational and yummy- you can't go wrong!
yeah, yeah, some days i'm an "overachiever" but then other days i can't get it together and we are all still in our jammies at dinner time. the latter happens more than i'd like to admit.... ;)

The Return of Crafty Me

so, saturday i was a little panic-y. i had no costume for the sprout-man. eeek! so i ran around. i bought a black turtleneck onesie here and 5 squares of felt there. i came home and that evening i created this....

bat wings on back of black onesie

bat head "hood" (sitting on a blue ball)

once again sorry for the less than stellar photos on the poker table! ;) but i think i did a decent job for less than $6 and one nights work. ok, little lie. i had to wait for the glue to dry on the ears before i attached them, so technically they weren't attached until the next evening. but hey, close enough!
i learned something that evening- i stink at hand stitching. oooooh boy i'm i BAD. we'll be lucky if this thing holds together! he he! i guess i need some practice before my next crafty project. :)

so now what you've all been waiting for. what the kids look like in these get ups! here's sprout as the littlest bat.....

and bean as his side-kick, the pinkest flamingo!

and here is the ONLY shot i got of them anywhere near each other.neither child really wanted their picture taken. sprout alternated between screaming his fool head off and smiling his sweet little grin. bean just couldn't stand still. so my photo shoot plans went all to heck. (plus it snowed the morning i took these and was gray and icky outside the whole rest of the day which led to horrible lighting for taking pictures.) luckily there is still several days before halloween and i may have a second chance at my desired photo shoot.... maybe. you never know with a three year old and a 7 month old!

so that is may trip into the world of craftiness. i actually really want to make something else. it was so satisfying. i have no ideas on what else to make but if i come up with something i'll be sure to let you know! ;)

Best Shot Monday

this monday i don't have beautifully artistic shots or anything like that. but i have something i find quite lovely- my children playing together. there really isn't anything more satisfying that watching your children play together, is there? sweet, adorable, heartwarming... that is until the bigger one "hugs" the smaller one too hard. seems it is hard to know your own strength when you are three.
unfortunately bean was not at all pleased about having her picture taken on this particular day. i only have one shot that shows her face! ok, lie. i have 3 more where she is making absurd faces. oh well, what can you do? like i mentioned before she is three. (does anyone else find the age of three, um, "challenging"??? because, good grief! but that is a whole nother story....)
ahhh, enough chatter! on with the photos!

bean and sprout playing "tea party".

sprout likes his with extra sugar.... he stole the bowl and spoon!

mmmmmm, tea and cookies!

and as an extra bonus i'm giving you this shot, which i find rather amusing. sprout with the pretend ice cream cone!

he seems rather confused, don't you think? ;)

i promise tomorrow will bring cutie cute shots of the kids in the halloween costumes i made. promise! :) in the mean time, go visit tracey and see everyone elses best shots.

Help!

everyone wants to know what sprout wants for christmas. first of all sprout doesn't know he is supposed to want anything and second we have TONS of toys in our house already. and they aren't just "girl" toys- we have trucks and cars too. i have no idea what to get him myself, what am i to tell other people?
do you know of any great thing that a little one sprouts age (he will be 9 months old on christmas day) would just love? com'on help a mommy out! ;)

She gets what she wants

when mommy says "no finger painting today. let's just use regular paints, ok?" it doesn't mean you can't paint with your hands......
yeah, sometimes she manages to get her own way without me giving in. i really don't think that's fair.
;)

Observation

while lying in bed this morning, sprout offered me his binky. practically crammed it in my mouth!

i suppose i should feel grateful that he wanted to share something that is so precious to him. hmmmmm, let's call it a sign that he really loves me best! ;)

Big Day for Sprout

so, it was a big day of firsts for the sprout. ya see i woke up this morning to the sounds of his delightful babble. i just stayed in bed. i figured if he's not crying there is no urgency, right? so, now it is babbling with random vocals by the glow worm. it sounds happy and it was warm in the bed. i stay put. then bean wakes and demands her breakfast so we go in to collect sprout. this is what we see when we get in there....
who told him he was allowed to sit up all by himself?? honestly!

(and please ignore the fact that his sheets clash terribly with his crib bumper- the sheets were too cute to pass up. oh, and ignore that i have a bumper on the crib. i guess that is supposed to be a no-no. oh and the pile of stuffed animals too. i never said i was a good mom, did i??)

then we had a wonderful day with some friends. yay for friends!! when we got home i made dinner and we all sat down to eat. sprout finished his food so i gave him some puffs. would you check out that pincer grasp he has going on here?!?he has never done that before! it was always smashed up in his fist. he managed to get all kinds of them in his mouth tonight. :)

(please ignore the total gross mess of his highchair tray. my son is a super messy eater and often steals the spoon and bangs it on the table allowing food to splatter every where. what can i say- i like him to enjoy his meal!)

so after dinner we are playing in the living room when sprout just starts clapping. we have no idea what made him decide to do it but there he was clapping away. bean was SO excited! she was even more excited when she realized that she could get him to clap by clapping herself. it was adorable. i wish i would have had the video camera.

you know, as much as i love to see him succeed at all these milestones i really wish he would spread things out a little more! let's give mama a break bud! ;)

Crafty Me!

so, let's say you have a three year old little girl. she adores the color pink. she decides that she simply must be a flamingo for halloween.
yes, that is right- a flamingo!

ok, this is not a costume that you can just drive down to the local costume shop and buy. you can't even find much on the internet. (well, you can IF you want to pay $40 or more)

i seriously considered trying to change her mind. but i really didn't want to crush her little halloween dreams. so i sucked it up and decided to make her costume.
i had lots of ideas swimming around in my head but nothing concrete. so i went to the store and saw a little pink jumper. it was dar-ling! and suddenly i thought, "i could use that to make her costume!" so i bought it and brought it home. then i sat and thought about what to do next. as i stared at that jumper i started to get this crazy idea. something in my head was saying, "you could make that jumper and it would be cheaper!"

make a jumper???? had i gone mad! i've never sewn an article of clothing in my life. how was i going to make a jumper? sure, i thought. just use the one you bought as a pattern. hmmmmmm.
i decided i better go to the fabric store before i talked myself out of it.

i went uber cheap- i bought felt. baby pink and hot pink felt for $2.99 a yard. i bought more than i thought i would need, just in case i messed up and had to start over. i also bought some black and white felt squares and a pink baseball hat for the head. i was suddenly quite inspired. i actually believed i could make an adorable costume. who took pessimistic blueberry and left this optimist in her place?????

i had a few false starts. i was near tears a few times. i very nearly made the jumper too narrow to fit bean! i managed to work through all of it. i also managed to make a cutie pie flamingo costume for less than $10. no joke.

presenting blueberry's first ever sewing success and bean's 2008 halloween costume.....

front view

back view

head*

she is wearing a pink turtle neck and black tights with it. the wings are sleaves that slide over her arms- i wanted to make sure she could still wear the turtleneck as regular clothes. i also made black felt feet that go over her shoes.
you have NO idea how proud i am of this. NO IDEA. :)

you will have to wait a little longer to see bean in it though.... mommy is a little afraid that something might happen to it so there is no playing around with it yet. don't worry, there will be a full photo shoot and you will have a front row seat!! promise!


*sorry about the crappy quality of these photos- my basement is not photo friendly. and yes, the costume is sitting on a poker table. what can i say, it was the perfect size to piece together my project!

Best Shot Monday

we went to the pumpkin farm this weekend! it was a lovely fall day- sunny but still a bit chilly. a perfect afternoon for picking out your jack-o-lantern to be. i took tons of pictures, of course! here are some of the highlights....

first the hayride out to the pumpkin field! and bean LOVED that hayride! who knew that a wagon filled with hay pulled by a tractor could be so fun and exciting? :)

she found the perfect pumpkin.
she was a little disappointed that she couldn't pick it up!

daddy helps her carry it back to the spot where the hayride will pick us up.
(i love this shot!)


here comes the tractor!! hooray!


sprout was very serious the whole day.

even when he was standing amongst all those pumpkins


maybe it was all that hay he ate!
blech!

we came home with 2 pumpkins, 6 pumpkin donuts, 1 caramel apple (with m&m's on it- YUM!) and a very happy family. hooray for great weekends! hooray for fall! :)

stop by tracey's and check out what everyone else has been up to this past week!

Sprout Makes Friends

bean and adam are best friends. maybe matthew and sprout are going to be too...
i suppose it is too early to tell. :)

Crawling- Ahhhhhh!

so, in the course of about 4 days we went from a barely moving army type crawl to a full on army crawl. he can really get going and it is freaking me and bean out. see bean likes to play near sprout but not necessarily with sprout. now sprout decides, "hey those markers look good" and he just takes off. bean starts shrieking of course because - OMG sprout can't have her markers!!! sigh. this is so much fun. ;)

here is a video of sprout crawling. it is a very, very dark video but i think that you should be able to tell what is going on. (this is the fist time i tried to tape him that he didn't immediately stop crawling! little turkey!) enjoy!