Smokey Man

Giggles. That is pretty much all that I heard for a solid hour coming from the basement today. I did not think much about it until D came up the stairs with his typical "HI MOMMY!". His face and hands were covered in black ink and I thought to myself...this is not going to be good. The boys had taken the typewriter ribbon and wiped it all over their bodies. Thankfully, other than the stair railing and the carpet nothing else seemed to catch the wrath of the ribbon. I wanted to be mad and scream and yell, but when I asked Wip what he was thinking when he wiped the ribbon all over him and his brother, his response was "we wanted to look like the smokey man from Mary Poppins". Seriously, how can I be mad at that?

Confession

I have a confession to make. I hate doing art projects with my children. I know, I know...I absolutely should. I am blessed beyond belief to get to spend afternoons with the wild and crazy guys. We have so much time together and we do a lot of fun stuff. But, I gotta be honest...art projects (other than the typical sidewalk chalk or drawing a picture) just do not do it for me. When we do get around to doing an art project, I want it to be perfect...Pinterest-esk. I have a vision in my head that I got from a blog or magazine and I want it to be perfectly executed. That. Never. Happens.

Here is my example...it was a cold, windy day. I decided we would paint some pumpkins that were left over from Halloween to get us ready for the perfect tablescape to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday.
This was my vision:

Source: Sweet Paul Magazine

This was my reality:

Prepping for disaster

Really nothing at all like my vision...

D, what happened to you? 

 I think they are better off running off energy like here:)

In other Arts and Craft news...Wip brought the pictures found below home from school and his daddy keeps putting his "art" in the trash can in our bedroom. Each day (this has happened twice) when we get home from school and go upstairs, Wip will pull the "art" out of the trash and say "that silly Daddy, he thinks that this is trash, but it is not" while he promptly pulls it out of the garbage and sets it on the bed. You go my little Picasso.

Easy Like Sunday Morning

This is how I found Wip today:

The boys did get outside (I promise!), but most of the afternoon was spent vegging out. It was needed after a busy weekend. We had friends over to play, birthday parties to celebrate, a visit with Grams and Poppy, and I got hang with my bestie in Lexington. All and all a pretty darn good weekend.

Happy Birthday Ben!  He said it was "the bestest day of his life"

My little man waiting for some cake

BFF

I almost spit out my coffee this morning when I caught D saying "what did you say, I can't hear you" while cupping his hand over his ear...this is the EXACT same thing his Granddaddy does...like granddaddy like grandson, I guess.

I made a "thankful" tree for the month of November...Wip's first item that he wanted to put on the tree was that he was thankful for "animals" (no kidding, kid).

Duncanisms

D has been cracking us up lately with his "Duncanisms".

Here is what I mean:

As Duncan was jumping off of the bed, Patrick said "Be careful" and he said "No, I'll be Spiderman"

When Duncan is doing something he should not be doing, say hitting his brother, I will tell him to stop and explain that we do not hit. He will look up at me and say "but I did not say poop or penis."

Duncan can spot a bad mood from a mile away (maybe because he can get in some pretty foul moods himself). When Wip is having a bad mood moment and then later is back to normal, Duncan will look at him and say "you happy now?" (insert your favorite reggae song voice as you say it:)

Finally, if you ask him what kind of toothpaste he has...click here for the answer (it is Ninja Turtles in case you are struggling to understand:)

Fairy Godmother

I am pretty lucky. I have a fairy godmother. She is a friend who owns a children's boutique and also happens to have three boys. One morning I got a text that she had left some of the boys clothes on my front porch. It was two full bags with some really nice clothes, and I am pretty sure that Wip and Duncan will receive best dressed at least through the second grade:)

The other day I had to bring Duncan to my 6th grade class that I teach on Tuesday and Thursday. Duncan came into the class and introduced himself and told everyone his age. One of my students (who also happens to be one of the sweet boys of my friend) raised his hand. When I called on him he said "is that my old belt?"....and in fact it was his old belt getting put to good use!  It was hilarious.

Hello November!

Wip's class project

November has started with a bang! From hanging with cousins at the Alumni BBQ to celebrating sweet Anna's birthday to the surprise birth of baby Ellis to helping to make sure an elementary school has a playground...it was a busy weekend.

Sadly, my phone battery died so I did not get a "cousin" picture. But I piled all four boys in the car and headed to KCD for some BBQ and bouncy fun. Duncan was not being very cooperative with getting dressed, so I just gave up...he literally put every piece of clothing on himself in the photo above.

We also got to celebrate "sweet" Anna's 2nd birthday. Duncan literally thinks that her name is "sweet" Anna and I have no intentions of correcting him. She is in fact sweet and minus Duncan being asleep on my shoulder for pretty much the entire party, it could not have been more precious. 

Not waiting anymore!

Me and Kristen so excited for the Lenihan family:)

Saturday was busy and thankfully Grams and Poppy came to hang out with the boys so that I could go to my dear friends baby shower and Patrick could go to the Homecoming dance at KCD. I was a little bummed to be going to the "couples" shower without my other half. As I was walking in, I saw one of the hosts on his cell phone. I overheard him say "so it is a healthy baby boy?!?". Being extremely nosy, I asked "who just had a healthy baby boy?" to which he replied "Kathryn!". Well this just happenend to be who the shower was for...Ellis decided he wanted to come a little early. She went to the hospital at 4:30 and he was born at 6:30 (she pushed for 15 minutes). I am SO excited for this sweet couple and simply can't wait to meet the little man:)

Wip was happy

My little monkeys

Little bird fun before heading home

D wanted to "ride" all of the birds

When my friend Emily asked me if I was interested in running a 5K to help raise money needed for playground equipment at Engelhard Elementary I was all about it. I packed up the boys and we headed downtown on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I might not have run the entire time, but the boys sure did get excited to run to the finish line. Click here to see what I mean. It was a great event for a great cause that also made me realize just how lucky I am to work at a school with such amazing resources. #blessed.

Goodbye October

Getting everyone ready for the annual shot

D decided to stay on the playground

Parading around the neighborhood

The Speiden's used to live near Hillcrest (a.k.a. the Halloween street in Louisville). Beth was brave enough to host a very large playdate that included a parade down Hillcrest to see all of the decorations. Fast forward to a new home/neighborhood, and many new additions (brothers and sisters), the Speiden's are still carrying on the fun tradition. It is crazy, chaotic, and I look forward to every year.

Having a little halloween snack

Story time

This mother really outdid herself on the snack (I brought cheeseballs for Wip's class)

Instead of peeling the orange...D just sunk his teeth in

When Ms. Charlene explained that the class would be having a snack and reading a story, Wip raised his hand in excitement and said "my mommy brought my favorite book...Hoodwinked!". My face turned a shade of red and I had to explain to Wip that I forgot the book. I told him I was sure that Ms. Charlene had a equally fun Halloween story to read. Then, Ms. Charlene asked about the snack (which I was in charge of bringing) it was nowhere to be found and I thought that Patrick might have forgotten to bring it in that morning. After a quick text exchange it was found in D's classroom. I was really feeling like 'mother of the year' so I stepped it up and read the story and helped with the Halloween Bingo game. Everything turned out great and Wip showed me all around his classroom and introduced me to all of his friends. At the end of the party he tugged at my shirt and said "mommy, I really liked the snack that you brought". It was almost his little way of telling me not to feel so bad because he really appreciated me. Soon after the party I came across this video. Maybe I should not be so hard on myself?

On Halloween night the Amin family came over. Mother nature was not very kind to all of the little ghosts and goblins. The neighborhood canceled trick or treating on Halloween night and moved it to the next day. We already had plans for Friday, so we braved it and went to the two lonely homes with lights on. The kids did not seem to mind and the couple of "trick or treat!" that they got to shout out seemed to work out just fine (and this means that I do not have to look at a bag full of candy which also means that it is less candy to steal from my children). Win, win. Speaking of candy, the boys LOVE Dum Dum lollipops which is why I loved learning about the mystery flavor, click here to see what I mean.