saturday

another saturday has come and gone.

another saturday where nothing got checked off of my imaginary

to-do list.  my list of things that consists of big and small to-do's around the house.

stuff i think about all week and put off until saturday.  then saturday comes

and a million other things pop up and by night i wonder where saturday went.

then i look around my house and kind of freak out as i realize

i am way too tired to wash these...

and way too tired to organize this...

and way too tired to clean this.

but then i see this...

and this...

and this.

AND then everything else seems so insignificant.

and i remember there's always next saturday.

**on a lighter note...just want to give a shoutout to the amazing AZ cardinals.

GO CARDS! super bowl baby. oh yeah.

everyone grab their kazoos and make some noise 'cause

its gonna be one heck of a party.

my bed

this is my bed.

the bed that isn't made.

the bed i was going to make before i took this photo but

decided not to, just to keep it real.

the bed i can't wait to crawl into at night and dream away for, cross

my fingers, 10 hours.  well that would be a dream.

the bed that they refer to on on cribs as "where the magic happens."

(take that how you want to.)

the bed that me and the husband share together.

the bed that my children love to climb into at 3am.

the bed that i would love to ornate with a bunch of overpriced 

but extremely desirable pillows from anthropologie.

the bed that my children love to jump on and have pillow fights.

my bed.

this, however, is

the bed next to my bed.

a bed designated for those children who love to climb into my bed at 3 am.

a bed that is always there for whenever a restless child

wanders upstairs in the wee hours of the morning.

a bed that is probably occupied 5 out of 7 days of the week.

a bed that gives me and especially jason a chance

to sleep almost child free when we are too stinkin' tired

to walk downstairs carrying a deadweight child 

to put them back in their bed.

a bed that my children hate but would rather sleep in 

if it means that don't have to go back to their bed.

a bed that will probably be next to my bed for a long time.

i think i want to eat her up

jason trying to get eden to laugh.

"heeeyy bugsy"

(bugsy is what he calls her because her eyes are so freakin big.)

"ahhhhh boo!"

"oh, there it is"

"ha ha ha,  he he he"

jack congratulates her with a pat on the head.

**check out the resemblance.  nose. check. cheeks. check.

simply delectable. check.

ava playing the piano...

in nothing but

 her elmo undies.

and singing 

"twinkle twinkle little star".

super heros+birthday party=hours of fun

*you never want to miss one of these birthday parties.

you see, my friend carolyn is a professional party planner.

( ok, not really, but she should be. i make her do all of mine and the compliments never stop flowing.)

all the kids wore super hero capes and had their faces painted of their favorite super hero.

probably a kids dream.

to get to be a super hero for a day.

little miss ava flaunted her pink cape.  she just thought she was special 

because she got to wear pink.  her most favorite color

in the whole world.

here ava hurt a toe and wanted me to take a picture of it.

she has to hurt herself at least five times at a single event.

i guess by taking a picture of it she felt better.

hmmm.  what should i do next?

a) make another little girl cry.

b) see who i can sneak up on and scare them.

or

c) go down the slide one more time.

*meet the future ava ann dike.  she is in love with sheamus.

just look at how excited she is.  she can hardly stand it.

who wouldn't want to be swept off their feet by a charming

spiderman/hulk/superman blond haired little boy?

this is elyott.  she is the birthday girl.  jack has known her his entire life.

she turned 6 years old.

Happy birthday Elyott! again.

we love you!

something about kids and presents.  its like they turn into little monsters 

and start pushing each other around just so they can say they were

closest to the present that was being open.  its actually quite

entertaining to watch.

ava devouring her cake.  probably because her parents forgot to

feed her lunch.  or because it's chocolate cake.

ava had missed nap time and so she was quite cranky by this point.

she insisted that i carry her around.  thank goodness jason

was around and i could hand her off when the arm got tired. which was about

5 seconds after this picture was taken.

jack kept putting off this moment until the end of the party.

he really wanted to be like the other kids and have his face painted 

but...

it is just so painful for him.

can you just sense the anguish on his face.

he hates anything near his eyes because, thanks to me, he has no eyelids

and therefore no protection for his eyes.

also, his cheeks are just so big that they too push into his eyes.  poor guy.

but he did it.  way to go jack.

this is the amazing carolyn.  i am sure she doesn't mind me posting this picture of her.

she is the master mind behind the party. what? you thought you were going

to get out of this without getting any credit.  not so fast.

*thanks again for another "super" party.  jack and ava had a blast.

(you really do give martha stewart a run for her money)

pop it

that is my husband.

yes.  he likes to "pop" his collar.

yes.  his friends make fun of him. 

yes.  he makes me laugh.  a lot.

yep.  it's still popped.

and yes.  i love him to death.

home sweet nyc

every  night seems to be somewhat eventful in our house. last night was no exception. i was downstairs cleaning up toys while the husband was watching me but keeping himself busy as he small chatted to me. jack and ava were upstairs watching one of their favorite movies, Home Alone, a definite classic-- they have been watching it since november now. jack has also been setting booby traps all over the house since november now. cars at the top of the stairs is one of his favorites. anyway, back to last night. it was pretty quiet upstairs and quiet is never good with kids.  so, the husband ran up to check on them only to find that they had devoured an entire symphony bar... my symphony bar. you know the ones with toffee and almonds. so yum. i actually kind of laughed about it until i remembered that they had already had ice cream with chocolate syrup. what were they thinking? i guess we are mean parents because we made them go to bed after that and it was right before the booby trap part. jack was pretty mad as he sat in his bed and screamed things like "your not my friend anymore" and "you make me so sad". hmmm.

after the tears and shouting had appeared to stop and it was just me and the husband and eden sitting around sort of watching tv, i asked jason if he could live in any state which one would he pick? at first, he said hawaii but then changed his mind because he said he would get claustrophobic being on an island.totally weird. i know. then he just kind of sat there and said he wasn't sure and he would have to think about it some more. then i said what about new york? would you want to live in new york city if you could? and without hesitation he said, "oh yeah. that is one of the places i still want to live." i just looked at him and smiled. then i told him that i was so glad that we think the same. and that he doesn't think i am totally crazy for wanting to live in a cool unrealistic place.

i love that after 6 1/2 years of marriage we still find pleasure in the same things and that he really is my bestest friend in the whole world.

body art

maybe 

this is why i don't like ava coloring with markers...

but then again how can i say no when she replies:

"mommy, pease i want to."

**who wouldn't want a smurf for a kid

who has chocolate chip cookie all over her face.

(i do.)

drive-in and stay awhile

i guess the one good thing about having three children home and not in school (besides that i get to spend every waking moment with them) is we don't ever have to rush home on a week night to get them to bed :)

last night the husband had a good idea. crazy, i know. but we packed up the truck with tons of cushions and blankets and went to the movies.  jack and ava had a blast. okay, so did the parents. maybe even eden too. we watched two movies and got all cozy together. we even had takeout from pei wei. that's right. dinner and two movies. with kids. all snuggled together. on a monday night. until 12 am. 

hearing aids anyone?

Jack:  mom can have a piece of chocolate?

mom:  just wait a second.

husband:  don't talk to him about his weight.

mom:  what did you just say.

husband:  you shouldn't talk to him about his weight.

mom:  all i said is you should just wait.

husband:  oh, i thought you were referring to his weight. 

c'mon.  do i really look like the type to be giving my 4 year old a lecture on watching his weight. he may have been the cutest chubby cheekster baby in the whole world but i would NEVER tell him to watch his weight (unless he was one of those freekishly obese children who show up on geraldo already weighing in  at 100 lbs by 2 years old) but he's not.  just look at that face. cute, i know. worse enough my own husband thought i was worried about him getting fat. don't worry i set him straight. and then we laughed about it.

strawberries+jam+kids

i recently realized that after trying to give jack and ava their usual favorite lunch, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, that they were only eating the peanut butter side. why? in jack's words: "mom, i only like that red kind." i thought for a second and then it hit me that he was talking about my delicious homemade strawberry jam. then it also hit me that he and ava will never again eat store bought jam. so it looks like i am stuck making strawberry jam for a long time. i am also stuck with two large jars of costco size knotsberry jam. anybody need some who don't have picky kids?

barefoot in the park

it was such a beautiful day and the kids were driving me crazy sooo... we packed our lunch and hopped on your bikes and spent the afternoon at the park. they had so much fun and i realized all over again that there is nothing better in life than to hear my kids genuinely laugh and i was lucky enough to hear it several times over. what an awesome unexpected gift. 

**we swung on swings tandem style:), climbed the rock wall, looked for leaves, went on a ball hunt, ate lunch, and played around, all while eden slept. what a beautiful day.