Craft Kitchen

Anyone else addicted to Pinterest??!!  Well, my mom found this cutie idea to turn an entertainment center into a kids kitchen.  When my mom gets an idea- it's going to happen.  She has this motivation that can stop a train!

We asked around for an old entertainment unit (everyone has one- and no one needs one, right?  Everyone has flat screens now and no need for bulky units like these.)

So, we found one... FOR FREE  **Jackpot!!**

Anyway- here's how it turned out.  It has a refrigerator, oven, stove, and pantry!  cute!

She decorated it with old country chickens.  Cute touch :)

All it took was:

-an entertainment unit
-silver paint (for the oven and refrigerator)
-white paint (for the inside of the refrigerator)
-junk CDs spray painted black for the stove burners
-turning the bottom doors sideways so they pull down like an oven.
-tension rod for the curtain in the back
-some cheap vinyl stick-on tiles from a hardware store for the "countertop"
-milk jug lids spray painted black for the stove knobs
-oven pull handle and refrigerator pull handle
-groceries and such to stock your new kitchen!

She's thinking of pulling it out away from the wall and putting a flower box outside the window.  Otherwise, she'll just put a picture to look like outside up behind the curtains.

Way to go Mom!

Half Cherokee and Choctaw

OK, so I think my boys may be part Indian with the way they name their stuffed animals.... it's hysterical :)  Let me give you a little glimpse:

I'm telling you, it's comical.  One time a cat showed up and our house and Wade named him "Open Doorie" because the garage door was open when he found the cat.  

Let me introduce you to some of their favorite stuffed animals...

Here's Henry's Chameleon

named:

MILLION.

Hippo named:

POTTOMUS

Sock Monkey named:

HERKULMUR  (pronounced Her-kul-mer)

My aunt named him that, and it stuck.  ha :)

A cow named

MOO

 

And my favorites:

 

Henry's o-o-o- ah-ah-ah (the sounds a monkey makes)

and

Wade's WakerUpper (because Wade's monkey wakes him up in the mornings...)

Henry also has Blue Puppy (do you even need a picture for that visual?!?!) and Wade has Bear-Bear (can you guess what kind of stuffed animal he is??!)

So, there you have it- my boys have embraced their Indian friends way of naming things... I just hope they outgrow it before I have grandkids named "Bald Head" or "Round Bottom"

Mommy loves you Wade and Henry!

Live Creatures... Open Immediately (but not before you refrigerate them)...

Wade and Henry got an ant farm for their birthday from my brother and sister-in-law.

(Don't worry... they asked if it was OK before subjecting me 

to this craziness that comes with having 2 boys.  *sigh*) <-- don't let me fool you, 

I love every minute of being the mommy to 2 boys.

So, being the mommy of 2 boys should have prepared me for what came in the mail the other day.

It sent chills up my spine.  weird.  

Although, I knew what was inside, it just really made me shiver.

But, it didn't even phase Wade.  Here he is holding the test tubed ants.

So, the directions say to place them in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to make them "calm."  Have you ever seen a calm ant??  me either.   And in this test tube, they looked pretty calm... so I decided (and I'm always right) to forego that direction and put them straight into the habitat.  Bad.Idea.  REALLY BAD.

I had ants all over my counter... and BIG ants no less.  

They are what I would call a perfect picnic ant- HUGE.

And no, I didn't pick up my camera to document that part of this story. Sorry.

But, I was relieved to know that it is illegal to send a QUEEN ant, so there is NO possible way these ants can reproduce in my house. (I'd like to know whose job it is to make sure there are no queens?!?!)

So, thankfully Wade came to my rescue and told me to "calm down mommy, I'll get them."

And "get them" he did.  He's a regular ant wrangler.

And here is their new home:

The booklet says the typical ant will live 2-3 months, but some can live up to 1 year.  Wade and Henry are curious and investigative with these little fellas.  They love looking at them, and they even found out that if you blow across their air holes the ants go CRAZY because they smell food on your breath.

All in all, it was a great gift for the boys to get.  They love it.  Me, not so much, but I'm loving the curiosity that has grown out of my boys because of it.

Let's Go Fly a Kite...

So, Wade loves kites.  Any time he sees our flag whipping in the wind on our flag post, he asks if he can fly his kite.  I love watching him fly his kite because the awe I see in his eyes is priceless.  It's innocent, inspiring, and joyful.  Ok, enough of the sappy-ness :)  Here's the story- in pictures :)

Daddy helps get the kite up in the sky.

Wade takes over control.  You can see the kite in the distance. This kite has some major string-length on it!

Henry woke up from his nap to join the fun.  I love how Wade is stooped down to help him like he's so much bigger than Henry.  I love that! :)

They are co-piloting the kite :)

Mommy had to be the runner when the kite fell.

I love how they can fly ONE kite between the 2 of them and not fight about it.

Henry saw Daddy pulling on the kite string like this to keep it in the sky... I love my little mockingbird :)

Not sure where the kite is in this picture- I just like the picture :)

Swimming

The last post reminded me of a post I forgot about!  Mom and I decided to take the boys to the Batesville pool this summer, and here's the fun:

Wade HATED the splash pad at first.  But, after running him through a couple of times, he warmed up to it :)

He's covering the water spout, and hollering for me to come over and then he'll aim it at me.  He was so funny :)

 Henry LOVED it!  He was pooped :)  He's such a mockingbird... he wanted to do EVERYTHING Wade did.

Ok- I promise- my next post will be more current! :)  Maybe pics of my finished house addition!

Park Playdate

I miss summer.  I miss playing board games with the boys in our PJs.  I miss watching cartoons with the boys while eating breakfast.  I miss laying the boys down for a nap and getting a good hour in of reading.  I miss summer!  So, it leads me to a post of a park playdate the boys and I had.  We got together with some of my high school friends and their kiddos.  Between the 3 of us, we have 6 boys.  Someone needs to throw a girl into the mix... QUICKLY!!! :)  Here's the day (My cousin Steph and her friend Natasha were in charge of the camera and here's what they came up with):

Henry and me :)

 Jack chillin in the stroller.  (He's Lindsay's boy)

 My Wader Bs

 Running around the merry-go-round.  I was convinced he was going too fast and would skin his knees... but he didn't.  :)

 Gabe digging under the jungle gym.

 Henry trying to swing like Wade was.

 Jack :)

 Wade sweats like CRAZY- and so when he got sweaty at the park, Steph (my cousin) decided to give him a fo-hawk.  He called it "Hair-cawk, mo-hair, hair-hawk"  everything except "mo-hawk" haha :)

Nance pushing Wade and Hunter on the merry-go-round.  

4th of July

Happy 4th of July!  We walked in a parade with the TJ and Greg and their kids Caleb and Carly.  Here's the picture:

We started out with 5 balloons, only 1 made it to the actual parade... they all popped on the way to the line.

It rained most of the time, but it was fun all the same! :)

summer fun

I watched 2 of my nephews for a few days last week, and here are some pics I took of the boys in the sandbox.  They all played well together, and made me think that I could handle a big family :) 

Handprints in the Cement

We recently added on to our house.  We used to have a small 2 bedroom house.  With the addition, we now have a  3 bedroom, and 3 bathroom home that more comfortably holds our growing family.  (No, I'm not preggos, but we are thinking about that 3rd little blessing coming soon)

Anyway, so 2 weeks ago, thanks to the help of my in-laws: Joe, Jessie, Colton and Ethan, we had our sidewalks poured, and I didn't miss the opportunity to set the boys prints forever in cement! :)  

Here, Joe is helping me put Henry's hand in the cement.  We had to do it twice, he kept wiggling those little digits of his, and smearing the print.

Wade was much more cooperative. 

And the finished product!  I love it :) 

(and will certainly make a scrapbook page for this event as well!!!)

Chuck E. Cheese

A few thoughts on Chuck E Cheese:

1.  It's overpriced... but what isn't these days???

2.  You spend $30 to play games with these tokens, and end up getting a crazy straw, rub on tattoo, and a pack of smarties.  You'd have to spend $300 in tokens just to get a cool $10 water gun.  

3.  It's like crack for kids.  Once they start, they are addicted- just keep reading and you'll see what I mean....

4.  It's safe!  I loved the fact that they stamped all 4 of our hands with a special ID number, and checked our hands to make sure we had our kids.  I was impressed :)

5.  Kids are scared of Chuck E Cheese, himself.  There is a robotic Chuck on stage.  If we got close to it, Henry would climb up my leg and hold on so tight, with fear for his life.  Wade and Alaina refused to get their pic taken with the real Chuck walking around the place.  Maybe when they get older :)

But, here's our story of our night out with CEC:

It all started out with great intentions!  Wade slept in his bed all night for 5 straight days, so we went to Chuck E. Cheese.  Here's how it happened:

My dad cut some Chuck E Cheese coupons off of a juice jug for us.  Thanks dad! (This place is EXPENSIVE, and if you know me, I'm a thrifty shopper, and was excited to see this place offered deals!)

We invited our friends, Chris and Mandy along with their 2 kids, to come along.  Here's Daddy and Wade walking in!!

We get there, order pizza, and sit down.  There are big screens with a blue background, so you can stand in front of the screen and be on TV!  Here's Mandy, Conner, and Alaina on the big screen.

After eating, the fun begins.  Here's Wade and Alaina climbing up the playzone.

Ben and Chris playing skeeball with Henry and Conner.

Wade loves playing Operation at home, so you can imagine the look on his face when he saw this beauty- a larger than life sized version of Operation!!!  The only thing better could have been Candyland.  :)

You pay a token and you can "talk" to Chuck on the phone.

Henry loving every minute of it!

The end of the night, the ticket muncher eats the tickets, and gives you a receipt of how many tickets you won. It actually sounds like someone eating.

And here's when it happened....

The.Biggest.Meltdown.Of.All.Time.

I'm not kidding you, I was EMBARRASSED, and if you know me, I don't get embarrassed easily.  He actually screamed at the top of his lungs.  really, it was bad.  I don't want to ever go back.... 

And Wade begs to go back.  Any takers? 

because it won't be me!