strawberries. chocolate. underwear.

Today I was craving Chocolate covered strawberries! YUM! I saw that strawberries were on sale and they are so tasty right now, so I thought it might be a fun, but very messy, Sunday activity to do with the kids. They really got into it and ate more chocolate than strawberry, but oh well. Now, we have so many chocolate covered strawberries and not enough people to eat them. I think we might try to package them up and give them to neighbors!

Gray was in on the action too!

She did her best!

Who wouldn't want to join in on this? Daddy even helped!

They might not look too yummy, but trust me, they were!

Bath time followed for this little guy!

Onto an entirely new topic...underwear! Just recently I have noticed that I am not washing near the amount of boys underwear that I usually do. I did about 4 loads of laundry (about 3-4 days worth) and did not fold one single pair for the boys! This got me thinking that, either they are throwing their underwear away or just not wearing any! Well, the answer is the latter.
My boys have decided that they don't like underwear and do not need to wear it anymore. The other day I flat out asked them, "Do you boys have any underwear on?" and they both just stared at me, like what's the big deal and said "No".
Now, because I am not a guy, I don't know if this is a normal thing for boys to do. It would seem uncomfortable to me to be running around outside, jumping on the trampoline, or riding a bike with just silky sports shorts on!
I asked Matt what he thought about it, and he didn't seem to think it was that big of deal, but for some reason (call me crazy), I would like my boys to be underwear boys!
What is a concerned mommy to do? I went to the store and bought some boxers. I explained that the great thing about boxers is that it is just like wearing shorts. They are not tight or constricting. I must say they were pretty excited, and since 3:00 this afternoon, have gone through 2 pairs each...hmmmm....maybe I should have enjoyed the few weeks of not washing or folding underwear!!!

Bye Bye Blankie!

The white one is Wills, and the Zebra one is Owens'

My 2 boys are growing up!
You see, I am a big believer in the "lovey", "Blankie", "BB", "silky"...whatever you call it. My kids never wanted a pacifier (none of them) and I remember being almost in tears because I wanted them to like them. But, one thing that I have found worked for me, was the "blankie". From the time they were around 4 months, I began to put them to sleep with a small square blanket. Soft on one side, silky on the other. I would lay the blankie on my shoulder when rocking them at night time and before naptime. I would put them in their beds, right on top of their little blankie and they would bury their little faces in it. I guess I wanted them to have something comforting in their cribs and something that would be special, so they would be more likely to go to sleep. Well, I am 4 for 4 with this strategy. It has worked so well with my kids. All I have to do is show Gray his blanket and he wants to go to bed! I love it.
The difficult thing over the years is trying to keep the blanket in their beds. I have learned that if it is not just at bed time that they get to have their blanket, it is not as special. I have gotten better with this as the kids get older, as I do not like to see my 3, 5, or 6 year old walking around the house with their blankie.
That brings me to what has happened over this past week. One day, Wills came downstairs, after we had already tucked him in for the night, and said "I don't want to sleep with my blankie anymore". Matt or I did not make a big deal about it because we knew he would probably come back downstairs in 10 minutes having changed his mind. But the next few nights were the same, he did not want to sleep with it anymore! One night, he asked if I still had it and I told him yes.
He asked if he could just smell it! I let him have a few sniffs (ha) and he gave it back to me to put away. As most know, Owen and Wills share a room, so one night when Owen realized that Wills was not sleeping with his blankie, he decided not to either...just like that. My boys are growing up! The blankie thing has been harder on me than I thought it would, which sounds so silly. I guess, I have memories of the last 6 years with my little ones and their blankets. Wills has the original one he got when he was months old, Owen has gone through about 3 now, Kate changes hers constantly and Gray will not accept anything but the one he has had since birth--all these attributes are very in line with their personalities--pretty cool.
We are going on 10 days with no blankies and about 5 days of no mention of them. I guess it is official, that they do not need them anymore. Matt is thrilled...he thinks it is well past time for them to give it up. But, me...I am a softie, a sentimentalist, a person who loves consistency and it makes me realize that before I know it my "big" boys will be all grown up.
Lord, please help me to savor every moment and make it seem to go by slow!

Things we don't think about...

here are a few things, over the last few days, i have found you really needs 2 arms to do....

fold clothes

write checks, or anything for that matter...i am VERY right-handed!

Give Spankings...yes, we spank! Here is the tool of choice...a pampered chef wooden spoon-ha!
Kate informed me, yesterday after i spanked her, that it did not hurt! Again, i am very Right-handed!

Change diapers...especially dirty ones! I now give candy to sedate the subject!

Tie Shoes...kids or mine~

Use a knife to spread anything. Wills helped me "butter" the bread last night. our family's cholesterol just went up a few points!

Fix hair. the boys are fine--they are boys, but poor kate! i sent her to school and asked the teacher to do it! Don't worry-mine looks worse!

Any personal grooming. It is miserable to not be able to get a good shave...that is all i will say about that.

And last, it is very hard to type with one hand!

Hanging out

Today we did a lot of just hanging out! Gray was so excited to hop into Kate's bed and get under the covers with her! It was so funny.
Someone else in our family, who is loving to just lay around is our dog, Samson. Ever since our Disney trip, he has loved his new tent. We took Kate's disney princess tent and put it on the porch because it was only thing we could think of that would keep him warm. We put blankets inside and he loves it.
He only ventures out to eat or go to the bathroom and then it is right back in to relax like a princess some more!

The Cast

here is a picture of what my arm looks like. i go back to the Dr. on monday, so i hope to hear that it is healing quickly. right now i am relying on help to do most things! Trying to stay positive...i DO have an arm still, just broken!

Down to One Arm

well, I broke it! my right elbow is broken. Therefore, I cannot move my entire right arm.
Rode my brand new road bike for the first time on Saturday and look where it got me! Ouch!!!!
I will post some pictures as soon as I am feeling up to it. Things will no doubt be very interesting around here with a one armed mama!
Off to take a pain killer and go to bed! More drama and (some pictures) to come I'm sure!

When He Grows up....

This little guy is one day going to be....

THIS GUY!

He is obsessed. It is official...he is positively, absolutely, 100% obsessed with balls. Any ball will do! He is not picky. Basketball, football, baseball, bouncy ball, plastic ball! He has no preference.
I am not exaggerating when I say, that all he says all day is.."Ball" "Shoot" and "Fall down".
Yes, it is cute. Tonight he slept with a small basketball, but, he cannot think about anything else. When trying to put everyone to bed tonight, Matt was reading the 3 older kids a book and Gray was trying to get his attention because he wanted Daddy to play ball. In the morning, when I hear him in the monitor, I hear "Ball, Ball, Ball".
We are banking on this kid to pay his own way through college on some sort of "Ball" scholarship. If any child is going to pull through for us, it has got to be Gray!

Have a Magical Day

We did it! We survived a week long trip to Disney. Oh, it was wonderful, or as they like to say..."Magical". The trip started off a little difficult. Our flight was scheduled to fly out on Friday at 3:15 p.m. We were ready to go, so excited to take the kids on their first airplane ride, and then the snow came in.....our flight was delayed, then canceled!!! We could not get on a flight out until Sunday late afternoon!! I was devastated. Nothing was going to get in the way of MY DISNEY TRIP!!! I mean, I have planned this trip for so long. We have paid for this trip with money that we have saved! NO NO NO--we were getting to Disney! I looked at Matt after we saw that our flight was canceled and said, "Let's drive". So off we went. We drove to Disney! I know people do it all the time, but not in a snow storm, and they usually don't leave at 2:00 in the afternoon.
But, we got the atlas out, and we were off. We drove, very very slowly through Atlanta traffic and it snowed the whole way until we crossed the Florida line. We stopped in Gainesville Florida for the night and got up the next day and made it to Disney by noon!
I will spare all the details of the trip, but it was great. I am ready to plan our next trip back in a few (or maybe more) years. The kids had a blast and so did Matt and I. We missed Gray Gray! We talked about him lots and couldn't wait to get our hands on him when we got home, we will be taking him with us next time, for sure!

All Packed Up....check!

We are packed. We are ready to go.
Clothes. check
shoes. check
underwear. check
socks. check
umbrella. check
ponchos. check
backpacks. check
brush. check
toothbrushes. check
toiletries. check
EVERY ITEM YOU COULD POSSIBLY THINK OF THAT WE MIGHT NEED.....check!

It is hard to believe that we are leaving tomorrow. We have had this trip planned for so long and it is finally here. There have been plenty of times that I have almost exploded with excitement. It has been a challenge these last few weeks to not fill the kids in on our plans.
We will be picking the kids up from school tomorrow around noon, dropping sweet Gray off with Nana (poor guy is a little too young for Disney World), and heading to the airport for a 3:15 flight.
So, for now....Bon Voyage!
I will post a video in the next few days of us telling the kids where we are going! I cannot wait to get this on video.

The B word!

It always bugs me a little when people talk about how busy their life is...so much busier and hectic that yours, so much more going on, so much blah blah blah blah blah....you get the picture!
I think we can all agree, we are all busy! Maybe busy doing different things, maybe busy with 1 child or 2 or 3 or 4 or more....but in the end we are all in this life that is jammed packed with "stuff" that keeps us busy! I have tried to steer away from posts about how busy our life is, but I don't do a good job not posting about how crazy it is in our house. Don't get me wrong, I love the fast paced life. On days when we just don't have much going on, I get bored. But, we all have different tolerances to what we can handle and different definitions of "busy".
Lately, I have tried to quiet my life and LISTEN! I realize I don't listen very well. Sure, I listen to my friends, my kids, my husband, but am I listening for the one who really matters? Am I listening to God whispering to me. Can God really speak to me , plain ole ordinary Mallory, when I go about being so "busy"?
Yes, I believe God is speaking to me all the time, I just need to listen! Now, I have had God speak to me before during my quiet times of devotion, but more often He whispers to me in the middle of my life experiences. In the car, when the kids are screaming, through a friend, through a book, while watching the beautiful cardinal that visits my feeder every morning. One thing I am sure of is, that when God whispers from His heart to mine, something changes. I feel more energized, I feel transformed, I am infused with hope! I know God is speaking all the time, but sometimes this crazy culture around me drowns Him out.
I want to pay attention when I am doing the mundane things of life. When I am on my computer, exercising, making dinner, bathing the kids. I read somewhere that "God doesn't waste words. He can change my life with but a few!" I pray I can be still long enough to hear Him.

Be still and know that I am God. Psalms 46:10a

Just call us "Fancy"

Kate and I went to a Fancy Nancy party at the Bookstore today. I am always looking for fun, FREE things to do and I saw this advertised a few weeks ago and had put it on my calendar. Well, it worked out that I could take Kate alone....just the girls. Matt had to go drop off all our crepe myrtle branches at the dump, and the boys were begging to go with him so they could see the vultures-gross! So, once I convinced Kate that she would not like the trip to the smelly dump, we got her all dressed up to attend the party. It was nothing really fancy, just a story time, but lots of little girls were dressed up and Kate and I treated ourselves to big chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate. I love having a girl!

She took her princess job very seriously!

Once she got crowned, her smile came out!

The best part of the day!

Keeping it interesting!

I found these pictures of the kids. Santa brought Owen a pack of mustaches in his stocking and here are a few candid shots of my little "stached" men. I could not get Gray to come near one, so no pictures of him here! I think the boys kinda look like Sherlock Holmes...what do you think?

Gray is all over the place! He is busy busy and showing his personality a lot more lately. I guess you could say that he is asserting himself and trying to be heard in this crazy house of ours. This morning he found his bath seat, and after throwing it down the stairs, decides to sit in it in the middle of the kitchen. I was happy because he was stuck in it, but that didn't mean he couldn't cause some trouble. Kate got a little too close to him and he hit her in the face. This hitting thing is another phase he is going through. It is always so hard to teach little ones "no hitting". I don't want to spank his hand and say "no hitting" because this seems wrong in so many ways, but I HAVE GOT to teach him that we do not hit. In the past, with the other kids, I have grabbed their hand firmly and said..."Gray Gray no hitting, be sweet". It takes repeating over and over and over, but eventually it has worked in my favor. Anyway, Gray has started to hit himself after I say "No hitting". Immediately, he slaps himself in the head. I cannot help but laugh at him because it is just funny. The kids think it is hilarious that he does this and they laugh and laugh and laugh at him...therefore, encouraging him to do this ALL THE TIME! It is alright (kinda) at home, but when we are out in public and he pops me in the face, and I say, "No hitting" , and then he starts saying "No" and hitting himself, we get a few stares. It would be weird telling everyone the whole above story in order to explain why my child hits himself, so being the stellar parent that I am, I just laugh at him therefore encouraging him to continue to self harm! I am praying the Lord pours out some extra grace on our family!

I caught a picture of Gray right before he is about to hit himself. That look is pretty scary!

Dress Code

I will start this post out saying that I have long given up what my boys wear. They dress themselves. Some days I attempt to allow them to let me dress them once again, because to be honest their style just isn't so stylish...if you know what I mean. But, I have learned what battles to fight and have long given up this one! In the big picture...it really shouldn't matter , right?
I would love to say right, but it is just wrong! It doesn't matter what my kids are wearing...it matters what they are NOT wearing! Even though it is February and pretty darn cold out, my boys insist on short sleeves and a shorts (if they can find them). They also love to wear things that just don't match in any color scheme whatsoever. For example, a pair of red windpants with their bright orange Auburn shirt/jersey. Most mornings, I pull the..."please try to match at least ONE color and it is Winter today" talk.
I do try to stay on top of matching shoes. Not sure how the picture below went under the radar, but I thought it was very good problem solving on his part.
We had to run out to do a few things and when we pulled to our first stop I notice, as Wills is exiting the car, that this is what he has chosen to wear:
Mom: Wills, why do you have on 2 different pairs of shoes?
Wills: I couldn't find a match!
Mom: well.....okay, then!

On another note, this is what Kate wanted to wear to school. Sweet girl, beginning of February and she is still pulling for those Auburn Tigers.
This is what Gray would like to wear most days and when we are at home, more power to him. The problem is...I have to hunt him down when I do finally need to get some clothes on the boy. He sees me coming with clothes in hand and he takes off like a race horse.
Had to get a picture of Owen in here, because in all actuality, this post is for him! Thank you Owen for always making sure I am on my toes!