No words needed.

I think this pic effectively illustrates a couple of the reasons why she is nicknamed 'Cheeks'. She is the only one of my four monkeys to have a nickname not based on his/her initials.

I've got a couple more cheeks to show you. Later.

This is also a picture from KJ's recent (and many) episodes with my snappy camera. I think there's some emerging talent. May I remind you KJ is 4.

Random blog farts

B-boy keeps talking about vampire bats. (I have NO IDEA where he learned about vampire bats, but it probably was some annoying cartoon like Word Girl.) Wednesday we were at a park, and he's going on and on about vampire bats, hunt and trapping vampire bats, and having a grand ole time. He was really amusing himself. Then I realized he was singing a song, and upon listening a little closer, realized it was to the tune to a Barbie and the Diamond Castle song. Then I was amused. Seriously, laugh-out-loud kind of amused. Well, kid, if you're singing a Barbie song, way to "boy it up." Makin' yer daddy proud. (Hopefully he didn't scare away the daddy-daughter duo who were also playing at the park, with all his talk of vampires and bats. On second thought, who cares. :D)

Disclaimer: We do hear an awful lot of Barbie songs around here. With 2 sisters, you can't blame the guy. Even daddy knows the words. It's one sing-y movie. (Can I do that, just add a -y to the end of any word I want to make an adjective?) We also have the Barbie's to match, and when you put their hands together, they sing duets. They're only mildly annoying.

He also got a tick yesterday. A real treasure from the auto parts heaven junk yard that he went to with Hubba Hubba. I didn't notice it til much later in the day. Then I had to figure out how to remove it. To note: nail polish remover and rubbing alcohol DO NOT WORK. After trying those two things I was not about to stick a smoldering match to his head. All reports online say the proper way is to use a pointy tweezers, get as close as you can to putting the tweezers between the scalp and the bug's head, and pull it off. Pull straight, no twisting. It's even best if you take a little skin with it. And keep the tick sealed in a jar. Just in case. I got it. Skin included. Now safely sealed in a jar. Thing is, now I've got the creepy crawlies, even today. Blech!

I still have a sore throat, but everyone else seems fine. And I've only missed 2 doses each (non-consecutively) of their antibiotics. That's pretty good, for me. Though we still have a few more days to go. Hopefully this will cure Lil'D's ear issues. Oh, and did I mention how in addition to the cold, ear infections, teething, and antibiotic-induced diaper "issues", Lil'D also got Pink Eye from his sister. He was one drool-y, boogery, oozy mess. And still, he's got a smile on his face, Frankenstein hair and all. (This picture was taken while in the real thick of it all. He doesn't look that pathetic now.)

Lil'D had his first serving of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese today. (After his steamed peas and carrots, of coarse.) When I asked him if he liked it, he smiled, then did this grunt/growl thing for a bit, and then laughed. I would say that means yes.

He has also started pulling himself up to stand. And yesterday and today has done some actual crawling. He still flops down to the army crawl position for long range and speed crawling. But it's coming.

KJ had a fun time with my camera the other day. She did ask permission, and she got a few great shots. Plus plenty of shots of the tv, my butt, and the ceiling fan. Her best one was of Hubba Hubba.

We had crazy-hot weather here Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday's temp set a record. At 6:30 pm the bank's sign read 99 degrees. Wednesday was "only" 91, but with 40 mile/hr winds, you hardly could tell. We got a pool out that day anyway.

Miss Cheeks favorite word is currently "almost." I had the pleasure of pushing her while she was "almost swinging," and she uses it as an answer to a lot of questions. Generally speaking, whatever she says is downright funny.

I've got more. That's enough for now.

ARrrg

I'm frustrated.

We're sick.

I'm sick. (Though, apparently I'm not. I'm the one who's had the sore throat for 5 days but the only one who doesn't "register" as sick.)

KJ and Cheeks now both have tonsilitis, plus a sinus infection for miss cheeky boo. And Lil'D STILL has a freakin' ear infection. He started off with amoxicillin, then moved to augmentin (which made is poor lil butt cheeks raw) and then Zithromax. He is still technically on Zithromax, but his ear is still red and infected looking. So now, the Urgent care doc has put him (them all) on Cefprozil. Never heard of it. BETTER FREAKIN WORK!

YUCK YUCK YUCK YUCK YUCK.

I'm just so frustrated that my baby is not getting better. I'm interested in trying anything at this point. Do I squeeze garlic juice/oil into his ears, I'm planning to make a chiropractor appt for him on Monday. Anyone have any ideas? I'm open to ALL suggestions (except ear candles, he's too little and WAY too squirmy).

Darn. I hear someone crying. Time to go.

Not THIS mother, Monday.

Oh, no. It's not THIS mom's Monday. And this is not the Mother's Day edition
of all things NOT done in this household.

Welcome. I hope you'll join the fun. Check out My Charming Kids' tales this blog carnival creator shares, as well as those of all her wolverines followers.

All in a good day's mothering.

I did not do not a single doggone thing all day Saturday, not claiming it as Mother's Day weekend, and did not sit on the computer all day, reading blogs, writing TWO blog posts, FB'ing, or checking email, and not feeling guilty knowing I wouldn't probably get to relax on Sunday. This did not include failing to make meals for my children, because that would be UTTERLY irresponsible, and just allow them to help themselves for most of their nutritional needs. I did not scramble at 8:30 at night thinking I had to feed them something (pb&j anyone?), and that did not put them in bed at 9:30.

My husband did not walk in the door Saturday night, upon returning home from work, with a dozen roses in hand. I was not surprised as he does this all. the. time. He did not also have a funny card. I did not get yet another card from him Sunday because he wanted one that was more sentimental. My husband is always SO sentimental.

I did not give my boy a mini-faux hawk. Nor did I torture him while trying to get a pic of it. He loves having his picture taken. It is not adorable.

I did not have these two girly-o's jump in and want their pic taken too. They are not in love with having their picture taken, are not given to posing, nor making funny faces.

I did not take a pic of the three eating popcorn in the living room. I did not just make a rule that there will be no more eating in the living room. It is not a choking hazard to the most miniscule mister. After taking this pic, I did not notice how I did not just show the world the embarassing state of my walls "artwork" my current most challenging child loves to decorate our walls with. (Actual "artwork" from school not included. I put that there.) (Though, that IS a temporary wall, and is bare sheetrock. Not that that makes it any better.)

Since I'm not baring it all to the world, I did not decide to show you just HOW MUCH "artwork we have around our house, and therefore photo and post it here. I did not just find these this morning. I have not spent a fair amount of time scrubbing other "artwork" off the walls recently.

The first 3 are not complements of Cheeks, the fourth not done out of anger when B-Boy was sent to his room and "stamped" his way there, all the way up the stairs. You also cannot see half finished projects nor color testing on these example.

I am not super excited to now finally have trim on the windows of a room that is not going to be our bedroom, that will not be for adults only. When finished, this will not be the first time in 5 1/2 years we will have slept without children in our bedroom.

My husband did not say that I was painting it a "whackbag" color, and had better have a nice bedspread picked out that would actually go with it. He did not suggest that white would be a nice color, given how much I LOVE white walls. He is SO "metro" in his design and decorating skills.

The end. Happy Monday!

Cakes

If you don't already know this about me, I have gotten into cake decorating, and got to take a class this winter. It was so much fun. I had a blast, and learned quite a bit. It's a good creative outlet for me, and a handy skill to have considering I'll have the opportunity to make lots of cakes for my 4 growing monkeys.

These are the cakes for which I have digital images. I'll have to look for more pics, before I made the digital switch, and scan them.

So, because I wouldn't have it any other way, in chronological order...

Kayla's 2nd birthday, Feb 2007

Andrew's 30th birthday, made from leftover frosting of Kayla's 2nd bday. 2007.
If you'll notice the similar color scheme.

Becca's 12th birthday, July 2007

Somewhere is Abby's 1st bday. But I don't know where. But I'll find it.

Kayla 3rd birthday, Feb 2008

This cake was all about flavor, and not so much about beauty. Trust me when I tell you no one cared what it looked like when they were eating it. It had a strawberry and cream layer in there. Oh, so yummy. So moist. Deliciiiiious!

Jan/Feb 2009 I took a cake decorating class.

Abby's 2nd birthday, Jan 2009

Kayla's 4th Birthday, Feb 2009.

This was a request. A Barbie cake. Just like that.
This is what happens when your daughter looks over your shoulder when browsing cake websites.

My "final" cake from cake decorating class. Feb 2009

I was just playing, and getting the instructors help in making little fun creatures and such. Since I was just having fun, and practicing, I didn't finish the edges. That would have taken this perfectionist an amazing amount of time. And I didn't want to bother with that.

Andrew's 32nd birthday, March 2009

He's a volunteer fireman. My mom decided she wants to throw all her kids and spouses themed birthday parties this year, just so she can say she did it once. So this was his. And it was probably the hardest one I've done to date. But fun.

Tim's 30th birthday, April 2009

This was probably the most appreciated of all birthday cakes. Love you, brother. Glad you liked it. (Guess the theme here is obvious too.)

I actually have made a cake or 2 for B-Boy, but those were pre-digital, and the last 2 yrs we have had his party elsewhere (Happy Joe's and WowZone) so you can't bring your own cake. But I know I at least made one for his 2nd birthday. Airplane theme. I'll find it and throw it in here later.

Next up, Hubba Hubba, my dad, then me, Lil'D, and my mom.

So there will be more cake posts to come.

Apparently I'm really old.

"I found these glasses in the park, mommy. They are for pilots. They're really old."

Yes, I guess they are.



Please nevermind the bed-head hair. We took care of it. More on that later.

Another conversation, a day or two later.

B-Boy: Mommy, these glasses are for pilots. Me: Yes, they are.
B-Boy: I found them in the park.
Me: How did they get there?
B-Boy: A pilot.
Me: Was the pilot in the park?
B-Boy: No, he dropped them.
Me: He dropped them? From where?
B-Boy: From his airplane. You know, like a biplane.
Me: Oh. A biplane, huh? That's entirely possible.

Squirt

This is Squirt. Squirt from Finding Nemo, that is. This is a movie that has been viewed in my home no less that 300 times, and I'm not kidding. We (or B-Boy, rather) watched this movie probably twice a day for the better part of a year. He was not interested in any other movies for a really long time. It really is a cute movie. Wanna see? Here's some clips: Short clip and Long clip (about 5:40 is a really cute part.) Watching it again has been nice, actually. I missed it, I think.

Fast forward 4 yrs. We now have 2 additional children. And we haven't watched Finding Nemo in a really long time. But a week and a half ago, Hubb Hubba (who is a truck driver) was in northern Wisconsin, at a Walmart, and saw something in the parking lot. Low and behold, it was a hatchling turtle. The size of a quarter. With no body of water in sight. Still not sure how it got there but a rescue mission had begun. Hubba Hubba called me with the news of this little turtle, who was now riding much more safely in the plastic container his partner had brought his lunch in. As he poorly explained the size, color and characteristics of this turtle to me on the phone, I made some attempts (with the help of my friend Google) at finding out what kind of turtle we had. I didn't do too bad. After seeing it the turtle we are pretty certain it is a Western Painted Turtle.

Introducing... Squirt

Now that we had a new pet he needed a name more than "turtle" or "frog" (given by co-worker which we thought too confusing for our 2yo). B-Boy said "Tuck." This is from my favorite NOT cartoon Wonderpets. But our turtle doesn't tuck much (unless he's really freaked, we found out, or if you drop him, which we try not to do but has happened. Sorry, buddy) so I mentioned Squirt. It fit. He's so little, and the name works well with my other Squirts. This of coarse called for getting out Finding Nemo. Apparently it has gotten a little scratched, so I had to order a new copy. :D

So this is our Squirt. He's fun.

And while fun, there's more to it than just putting him in some water. Much to be cautious about (see Salmonella) which freaks out the Hubba (he's not a good pet owner). Much to purchase (we got a 10 gal tank from a friend, plus I already had a filter from another fish tank, and we still spent $50 on food, which didn't work for him so had to buy more, a turtle dock, a heater, water conditioners, and we still have to buy the special lights he needs). Sheesh. Pets are expensive and a lot of work (kinda like kids!). Plus there's all the research on how to care for them. But it's still a lot of fun, and the kids have spent many hours already, watching our new friend Squirt. Hopefully he will be a happy turtle. We finally got him all situated in his new tank (he had many preliminary homes, not excluding a cigarette pack, a bowl, a bucket, a tin roasting pan, and a very small tank) and we look forward to watching him eat and grow. Hopefully he won't smell too much. In which case, it may be Bye-Bye Birdie, er, I mean, turtle. Except, daddy already tried that, and was met with a very concerned, and oh-so-sad face from his boy. I guess we're stuck with Squirt. :D

He has a really pretty plastron (belly) with an oak leaf pattern that characterises him as a Western Painted. He loves to bask, and it's really funny to see him stretch out, head up, legs back. (I'll try to get a pic.) I need to measure him to track his growth. It took him about a week before he was interested in eating, but then, man. I went outside to find some worms after it had rained, managed to find a small one, and boy, he wolfed that thing down. He attacks it. It's pretty exciting to watch. Sunday we finally went and bought some worms, but comically he got really freaked out when one touched his head. We have never seen the little guy swim so fast. He scuttled outta there like nobody's business, and went to hide under his rock. Then he was tucked! It took him quite a while to emerge. We got a good laugh, but had to make sure to leave him alone for the rest of the afternoon to recover.

I'm sure I'll have more turtle updates along the way.