Tuesday Letter

Today's letter was "B" for "Birds". I have been wondering how to teach Cooper about the letters so I decided to do a mystery bag and try to come up with a few things that start with that letter. It went really well so I think I'll do it that way. Then we cut out the letter "B" and dipped his thumb in brown paint. Then I added wings, legs, and a beak. He loved it! You should have seen how proud he was when he showed it off to Grandma--yes, thank heavens, Grandma's back!!

Lukey had fun just taking it all in--and he got to eat the Banana.

Monday Silhouettes

Today's craft was silhouettes. Please pardon my terrible, terrible, terrible art work. I traced the monkies bodies and then they colored them. It was really fun to do with both the kids--Lukey hated it at first and then he warmed up. Plus, Ethan could watch from the sidelines. Fun, Fun!

Valentine's: Naughty and Nice

We had such a fun Valentine's party--thanks to my sister-in-law Shalie's wonderful games!! We started the night out making calzones and then enjoying them and individual cookies cakes. We quizzed each other over candlelight about their courtships and funny marriage things. Then Claire put on a game with guessing love songs. Then we played a balloon game where you had to pop balloons in various compromising positions. It's better to see than to have it explained:

Then we played a game involving snipping a weiner. Jake won, of course--but Jason was a close second. What can I say? My man has the FULL package!

Then we played a game involving a plunger and toilet paper. If you need a verbal explanation, then I'm sorry, just use your imagination.

It was all really, really fun thanks to uninhibited friends and great ideas! My throat was killing me from laughing so much! Thanks to all who participated. Who's gonna plan the next fun party??

All Grown Up

The Hippo in Question:
Cooper brought this hippo magnet up to me and said inquisitively:
C: Sad?
M: Yes, he's sad, huh?

He then disappears into the next room and comes back empty handed?

M: Coop, where's the hippo?
C: Time out.
M: Why's he in time out?
C: Sad.
M: Go tell him he can come out now, he'll be happier. *laugh*

I thought it was so funny and a little sad that he put him in time out because he was sad. What does that say about my mothering??!

Ethan had his first non-screaming tubbies. That's always a big milestone for me because that means they're getting so much bigger! Then I put on an outfit today that was too big--how sad is that??? He's only 6 weeks old, okay 7 tomorrow! How cute is he?

If I Can Just Make it to 9...

My last 2 mornings have been rather humorous and I'm now living by the mantra: If I can just make it to 9 AM...I will survive!

Yesterday:
7 AM-wake up with Ethan and feed, play with him until 8 and he goes back to bed
8-get Cooper and Luke out of bed and feed cold cereal; we're all still happy
Between 8 and 9-Ethan keeps crying so I have to go back to "plug" him several times; Luke gets very angry every time I stop feeding him to help the baby; of course he screams each time; Cooper spills his cereal in his lap and is upset because he's wet all over and he's poopy so I decide to stop feeding Lukey again and change Cooper; very unhappy Luke so he screams some more; I try desperately to tune him out; almost done changing Cooper and I hear a crash; look up and Luke had somehow wiggled out of his booster seat and grabbed his bowl of cereal which was about 3 feet away; bowl of cereal is now everywhere but in the bowl--french doors, cupboards, Luke, booster seat, floor--all covered in Kix and milk; mommy is MAD!; clean it all up and am trying to restore peace to my life and calm myself down by doing my morning scripture study; Luke just want stop screaming and I've already changed 4 poopy diapers; oh wait, it's 9 and Luke is going to bed; ahhh!

Today:
4 AM: danget! I have to feed the baby.
7:30 AM: feed him again and go down to wait for Linc and Ella to come over
8 AM: get Coop and Luke out of bed and feed everyone breakfast
Between 8-9: fill up 7 bowls of cereal; all is well and mommy is still happy; get Luke down but can't hold him so he's upset and screaming; finally fix my own bowl of cereal and sit down to study scriptures; why is Ella crying--she's too old for that?; whoops! she pooed her underwear, danget!; surprisingly, kept my temper in check, she was upset enough with herself; Linc and Coop dump out a whole thing of pens, oh well, at least they didn't draw on the wall; make them clean them up; more poop? What!! my cereal is almost too soggy to eat; WAIT! it's 9 and Luke can go to bed...I ended up changing 5 poopy diapers and 1 poopy underwear all before lunch; life is STINKY!

This is my handy dandy stinky pail. Kid you not: I have to take this to the dump at least once a week. That is pathetic! So many stinky diapers....

Friday Crafts

Okay, on Friday's I babysit Claire's kids and in order to keep my sanity with 5 kids under 3 I try to plan a craft. This one was really cool! I found a Fingerpaint Recipe on another blog (by the way, all of the SUPER COOL blogs I've gotten ideas from are on the left under "My Favorite Links"):

Finger Paint Recipe

ingredients:
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
cold water
1/2 cup cornstarch
4 tablespoons dishwashing liquid
food coloring
4 to 6 wide mouth jars
directions:
1. Stir the gelatin into 1/3 cup cold water; set aside.
2. Measure the cornstarch into a saucepan and stir in 2 1/2 cups cold water until dissolved.
3.Bring the mixture to a simmer and stir until thickened.
4.Remove the pan from the heat and blend in the gelatin mixture and the dishwashing liquid.
5. Allow the mixture to cool and spoon it into jars.
6.Stir in a generous amount of food coloring.
7. Store at room temperature in airtight containers.

It was so easy and it turned out JUST like my Crayola finger paints that I paid $8 for. Never make that mistake again! Make sure they don't get it in their eyes, though, as it does have dishwasher detergent in it and according to Lincoln it really hurts! Then I turned the boys loose on it. They had a hard time actually painting with their fingers (they wanted paint brushes) but once they figured it out, they looked like this:

PRICELESS.

Tuesday Letter Day

Okay, Tuesdays are going to be letter days and then when we get through the whole alphabet we are going to put all of the papers together in a binder for a homemade alphabet book! Yeah for us! A is for Ants on Anthills. We dipped his thumb in paint and then made ants! He had a ton of fun doing it. When I asked Cooper what "A" said he said "ahh". I was so amazed he already knew the sound. Kids are so much smarter than we give them credit for! We also threw together some Valentine's cards to send out to loved ones. We cut out Cooper's handprint and then put a heart in and glued down the 2 fingers to make the "I love you" sign. Then I painted Cooper's fist and he put both fistprints down to make a heart--well, it was supposed to make a heart. I think they turned out pretty cute for homemade.

The New and Improved Emily

So...I've decided that I need to actually achieve a goal I set months ago-to do crafts with my kids. I am tired of being a slacker mom and sitting around all day. I need to get a life!! Argh! I keep looking on these amazing blogs and thinking, I can be that kind of mom. Instead of thinking about it I'm going to do it!! Yeah! I have organized my life into crafts and education of my kids (literally I have a huge calendar laid out through the end of April). Okay, actually only Cooper will participate since the other two are still too young. But I am SO excited! We started today with making Valentine mailboxes. Simple and basically free. You should have seen the lights and brain processing that I could see going on with Cooper. I'm g0ing to be posting about everything we do so that I stay motivated and maybe I'll motivate some of ya'll to do a few of the things we do. I already feel better about myself! I have taken ALL of my ideas from other blogs and websites so I don't want to take any undue credit. Enjoy!
We started with a fruit snack box and then covered it with paper:
Then we covered it in stickers and cut out hearts and put sayings on them with glitter glue:

Then we put it all together and wrote love notes to each other that we'll continue to do each night until Valentines:

This is How We Ride

Check us out. This is the only way all 5 of us can get around. Anyone heard of a stretch limo stroller we can buy??:) I love it!

Ice Cream With All Kinds of Cherries on Top

Isn't this what life is all about? These are our sweet moments captured on camera. I love it! I love watching my two older boys be so tender with Ethan. Cooper's voice goes up about 3 octaves every time he talks to the baby. He loves to just stroke his face and give him kisses all over. For some reason he's obsessed with his little hands. He is constantly handing him toys to play with. Luke has moved on from trying to hit the baby to giving him sweet loves whenever he sees him. It's a rather drastic improvement! I love it and my heart melts every time they're all together.