Granny is SOOOO much fun!

As parents, we all know how much fun our children have at Grandma's house. Often we find our children being allowed to do things that we were never allowed to do as a child. Last week, my children were at Granny's house. Our four Siberian Huskies reside at Granny's house because the pet deposit where we live is outrageous. We made a dog run so our children could also still have a yard without dog poop to play in. The kids like to go in the dog run sometimes and spend time with their dogs. The dogs love it too. We have a kiddie pool for the dogs so they can cool off when they get hot. Granny Joyce had just put fresh water in it. It had rained a day or so before that. My children decided they were going to play in the mud. As you can see, after they had mud on them, they decided to get in the dogs nice clean water. Obviously, it did not stay clean. I think this picture is really cool because Piper was jumping in the mud and Granny captured it just as Piper was in the air.

The end result after Finn decided he was done playing in the mud.
Piper's end result after she was done playing in the mud. Notice the dogs in the background wanted nothing to do with the mud or muddy children!
The kids decided to clean each other off with the sprinkler. How fun!


I guess one time playing in the mud was not enough fun for my children. We were invited by some good friends, the Blasingames, to go out for Raymond's birthday. We do so much with them that we call each other our "other family." We had left the children at Granny Joyce's house earlier that day since we were still moving. When it was time to go to eat for the birthday, we couldn't take our children because they had taken advantage of the mud that the rain had made. They were literally living mud puddles! While Jeremy and I were over at Joyce's, Seven had decided that he was done playing in the mud. Granny Joyce sprayed him off with the hose, but he was stained because it is red dirt. She said they'd get in the pool and then in the bath and hope it comes off!

Look how much fun Finn is having. Don't you wish you could join him?

It had rained alot that week! There were alot of mud puddles to have fun in because our dogs like to dig holes. They didn't mind the kids playing in them. In fact, they didn't really want anything to do with our muddy children.
I don't know if Piper was making handprints here or if she had fallen and caught herself. She really doesn't like to get her hands dirty, so look at her hand that is in the air. Her fingers are all spread apart.
There's Seven coming to join the other two in the mucky muck.

Ewww! I am glad that I am not the one that was cleaning them off!




Piper and Finn had been throwing mud on Seven. Granny told them to stop. But he sure looks proud!
Mud monster Finn!

For some reason Piper decided she didn't want to wear the top of her swimsuit. It's a good thing she has a mud shirt on!
Piper was being sprayed off with the hose. This is the first step in the cleaning process.

The End! They all came clean! Seven has a bubble bum! Granny said the kids had dumped out all the soap in the bathtub. It was a brand new container. Sorry Granny!

Funny is as Funny Does

Seven has done and said some pretty funny things the last few days. But then Seven is a little ham. I really think he is going to be the class clown when he starts school.

He likes to go in the dog run with the dogs, but he climbs up the ladder to get away from them. One of our dogs, Tymbre, is a lickaholic! She licks and licks and licks and licks....you get the picture. She just can't lick you enough, or so she thinks. Seven really doesn't like when she licks him. His solution...climb to the top of the ladder so Tymbre won't lick him. Smart kid! I guess if a dog was as tall as me, I probably wouldn't want it to lick me in the face either!
We are in the process of moving to a different house. One night Jeremy and I stayed over there really late to do some cleaning. Our children were at Granny Joyce's house and she said they could just spend the night since it was getting so late. Jeremy decided he would spend the night over there with them and then bring them home in the morning. Granny and Dadabe were leaving early in the morning so someone had to be there with the children. I had to be home because I watch a little boy during the week and he usually comes around 8:15am. So we decided it would be easiest for Jeremy to spend the night at his parents house. When he got there around midnight, Piper and Finn were still awake. They were laying on a pallet on the floor watching a movie. Seven was asleep on the couch behind them. So when Seven woke up in the morning he did not know that Jeremy was there. He did not see Jeremy sleeping on the bed nearby. Lately when our kids have gone over to Granny's house, they immediately start putting on their swimsuits and go get in the pool. Jeremy woke up to Piper saying, "Seven's gone!" Jeremy looked and Seven was not on the couch where he had been sleeping when Jeremy got there. Jeremy starts looking around the house for him. Seven had woken up and decided he was going to go swimming first thing in the morning. He was walking around the house with his swimsuit looking for someone to help him put it on. How funny! He couldn't find anyone because Granny and Dadabe had already left for the day. Poor Seven.

Last week, during naptime, I was sitting in the top bunk with Finn rubbing his back to help him go to sleep. Finn really likes this and is usually asleep within a few minutes when I do this. Seven is good and will fall asleep on his own in the bottom bunk. So nice! Well, this day Seven decided he was going to talk and make noises instead of going to sleep like the good little boy he is. I had told him a few times to be quiet. I noticed he got quiet and thought ok, he's asleep now. I kept hearing noises that sounded like someone was playing with paper. I thought it was Piper. When Finn was asleep, I climbed down the ladder of the bunk beds. As I got to the floor I saw that the reason Seven got quiet was because he wasn't there. That little sneak! He had snuck out of his bed and out of his room. Seven went to the playroom and got his trains. He brought them to the living room and decided he was going to play with them instead of take a nap. The noise I kept hearing was not Piper, it was Seven! Needless to say, Seven did make it back to his bed and took a nap!

Seven has recently started to enjoy jumping off of things. He's such a boy! The other day, he decided he was going to jump off our fireplace. I told him that he couldn't jump off right there because Rilian was laying on the floor near where he was going to land. I told him he couldn't jump near Rilian because he would hurt Rilian. Seven, being the strong-willed child that he is, kept saying he was going to jump. I kept telling him no. Finally, I told him if he jumped near Rilian he would get a spanking. Seven replied, "I can sit down." And he sat. Jeremy and I both laughed!

Yesterday I had woken Rilian up to feed him. I often wonder how late he would sleep in the morning if I didn't wake him around 9:30am! Seven insisted that he was going to feed Rilian. Hmm...don't think that it is possible for a 2 year old brother to nurse his baby brother. Seven had already sat down on the couch and put the Boppy on his lap. He had assumed the position. Seven got really upset when I took the Boppy from his lap and put it on mine. He stated, "No! I feed Rilian!" I looked at Seven and as I patted his chest, I asked him if he had milk in his chest. Seven replied, "No. I have water."

Soooo funny!!!! Do you agree he might be a future class clown? In a few years his school might be taking nominations. This folks, is why I have a blog! So you too, can enjoy the funny things that my children say and do!

Piper's 5th Birthday

Piper had decided she wanted to have her 5th Birthday party at the zoo, just like she had her 3rd and 4th Birthday parties. Piper had invited all the girls from her class to her party, plus four girls from her Sunday school class. With all the invitations there was a potential of having 16 girls at Piper's Birthday party, plus her three brothers. Wow! That's alot of little kids! I was a little nervous about the amount of children that could possibly be at Piper's Birthday party. What if all their parents decided to leave them at the party and come back to pick them up when it was over? This could be a disaster!

The weather man had been forecasting rain for Saturday, the day of Piper's Birthday party. I had three people ask me if I had a backup plan if it rained. I told them I did not. I thought "How many times has the weatherman forecast rain for the past week or so and it didn't actually rain? Surely it won't rain." I woke up that morning around 6:30 to the sound of pouring rain and loud thunder. Oh no!!!! I thought, "Maybe it will stop by 10:00 when Piper's party is supposed to start." I knew that also at the zoo that day was Zoolute Day. This is the day when all the military and their family can get into the zoo for free. I thought that if it was raining at least the zoo wouldn't be crowded. I looked at the weather radar and there was no sign of it letting up. I thought, "GREAT! Now what do I do? Where are we going to have Piper's Birthday party?" My friend, Lauren, texted me and asked if I was going to move the party indoors. She asked if I was going to move it to the church. Ding! Ding! I hadn't thought of having it at the church! Great suggestion Lauren! Ok. I have a location, now what about entertainment? I have to think of some kind of entertainment because before when we were going to have it at the zoo, I didn't need entertainment. We had the zoo! Lauren said she had a Disney Princess Sing-a-Long that I could use. She also suggested a pinata. Lauren saved my day and Piper's party with her suggestions. Thanks so much Lauren! Now I had to call all the parents of the girls who had called with their RSVP. I started looking at the incoming calls on my cell phone. I was able to figure out the numbers, but didn't know which number belonged to which girl. It all worked out and everyone was notified of the change of location. I was still stressing out because Jeremy had been up all night making the cake. He went over to his parent's house because their oven was bigger than ours. I was by myself with my four children and still needed to get a pinata to the church within an hour and a half. I had to also get my four children dressed and feed Rilian. I knew I was not going to go out with my four children to purchase a pinata for the party. So I called Jeremy's mom and asked her if she could do it. I felt really bad that I had woken her up and almost didn't ask her to get it for me, but I knew it would make the party better if we had one. Joyce was great and was able to find one. Thanks Joyce! Jeremy came home just in time to fix Finn and Seven's hair for the party and then we left. I am not very good at fixing their hair. I am not able to put enough product in to make it stay and look right. We all got loaded into the van and arrived at the church five minutes after 10:00, when the party was supposed to start. Whew! I could start to breathe a little now. Birthday parties should not be this stressful!

Here the girls and Seven were watching the Disney Princess Sing-a-Long. It was a big hit! They all enjoyed singing and dancing with it.
Piper had decided she wanted an Ariel Birthday party. She is really into Ariel, the Little Mermaid, right now. Jeremy is a wonderful dad and a wonderful cake maker. Look at what a wonderful job he did making her cake! He stayed up all night to make it. One of the moms asked where we got Piper's Birthday cake. I told her Jeremy made it. She was very impressed as well as the other mothers who heard me say that.Piper is getting ready to blow out the candle after we finish singing to her. Looking at the picture, Addison is on the left. She is Piper's best friend from school. Lindsey is on the right. Lindsey and Piper go to church together. They say they are sisters. They are BFFs. It helps that Jeremy and I are such good friends with Lindsey's parents, Robert and Lauren.
Piper is eating the icing off her cake. She really only cares about the icing. We make a great team, because I really don't care for icing, so I eat the cake. Lindsey is waiting on her piece of cake.
Finn was a pretty lucky boy that day. He was the only boy sitting at a table full of girls eating cake. Rilian is in the background.
There wasn't enough room at the table for Seven so he sat at a table with Papa Bud and Dadabe.
I think Papa Bud's job at Birthday parties is to hold the baby. Here he is holding Rilian. I also have a picture of him holding Seven when he was six months old at Mabrie's 3rd Birthday party. Mabrie is my neice.
All of Piper's friends crowded around her as she started opening her presents. It's kind of funny that Lindsey is on one side of her and Addison is on the other side. Her two best friends.
We decided to put Piper in a chair and let everyone sit on the floor around her so EVERYONE could see. It wasn't working so well at the table.
This was Piper's favorite gift. It was a dress Nannie got her. She was so excited to wear it to church the next day. Piper loves dresses! She picked out the dress she is wearing. She wanted to wear that one to her Birthday party.
Now it was time for the pinata! Everyone was sitting on the pew waiting for their turn. Addison had her feet on Piper's head. Everyone got to hit the pinata three times and then go sit back down.
Piper's turn at hitting the pinata. Granny Joyce said the store said it was a shark. I didn't know sharks had legs! Granny Joyce thought a shark would be good since it was a Little Mermaid party.
Finn swinging at the pinata.
Seven's turn to hit the pinata. He was so cute because he really tried!
After all the kids got two turns, the pinata was still intact. There was a gash, but it wasn't dropping any candy yet. So Jeremy gave it a try.
Jeremy went a little easy so Robert could also have a turn. Robert was the one who got to bust it open. Look at all the candy fall!
I was very thankful for the rain, but did it really have to rain during the party? It caused a little unneeded stress. I was so glad when the party was over. It turned out to be a good party. Now my little baby girl is five-years-old! It is really hard to believe how fast time has gone by. She will be in kindergarten in the fall. This week is her last week of preschool. Sniff...Sniff...

Straight "A" Pre-Schooler

Last Friday, Jeremy and I had our end of the year parent/teacher conference with Piper's Pre-school teacher, Mrs. Findley. Mrs. Findley started off our conference by telling us she wanted to let us know that Piper is the perfect student. She is the kind of student that every teacher wants to have in class. She gets along with everyone and doesn't cause any problems. Mrs. Findley said she has really enjoyed having Piper in her class this year. I almost had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. My Piper? The Piper that does not really sit still at home? The Piper who likes to argue with Finn just for the sake of arguing? For those of you who know Piper, you know the Piper I am talking about. I told Mrs. Findley that it was good to know that she is so good at school. Why can't she act like that for me? I don't want you to get the wrong view of Piper, she is a good girl; just really active!

Mrs. Findley said Piper did a self-portrait at the beginning of the school year and then she did one last month, which is close to the end of the school year. This is the picture she drew at the beginning of the year. I'm not sure why it is blurry. I guess the camera didn't focus on it very well. But you can see there is a head with no body and long legs. It is purple.Here is Piper's self-portrait she drew last month. What an improvement! The colors are more realistic. She is brown, which is a skin tone color. You probably can't tell but she even colored in her face, the color of her skin. She has drawn a neck, a body, arms, hands, legs, and shoes. It really looks like a person, unlike the first picture.

Mrs. Findley showed Jeremy and I the writing strokes Piper has been working on since the beginning of the year. Piper has been working on the vertical line, horizontal line, diagonal line, a dot, a spiral, and circle. It was neat to see Piper's work and how she has progressed since the beginning of the year.

Mrs. Findley shared with us the Kindergarten Readiness Test. Mrs. Findley took Piper to the side and the test was done one on one. Piper had to identify different pictures. She had to circle the letter that Mrs. Findley spoke aloud. Piper was to circle the picture that looked exactly like the first picture. The pictures were a variety of shapes, number sequences, and letter sequences. Another part of the test was to look at the first picture and find a picture that started with the same letter. For example, there was a picture of a rake. Piper was to find a picture that started with the letter "r". She circled a picture of rain. Next Piper was to look at the first picture and circle the picture that rhymed with it. For example, there was a picture of a jar. Piper circled a picture of a car. The next part of the test, Piper had to know locations such as inside, under, and following. She was asked to find the picture where the cat was inside the box. There was a row of pictures with cats and boxes and the cat was in different locations. She was asked to find the picture where the dog is under the chair. There was a row of pictures with a dog in different places near a chair. Piper was then to find the picture where the duck is following the girl. There was a row of pictures with a girl and ducks. They were in different positions in reference to each other. There were a few more questions like this. I was very impressed that Piper knew them all. Some of them I thought might have been difficult for someone of Piper's age. Piper also had to count different things on the test and find a picture with a certain number of dogs and a certain number of cats together. I will repeat myself and say I was very impressed. These pictures were not simple. She had to really look closely and pay attention in order to find the right one.

Mrs. Findley stated that Piper is the only one in her class to get all of the 36 questions correct. She made a 100% on the Kindergarten Readiness Test! Wow! My Piper, the youngest student in her class, is the ONLY one who answered all of the questions correctly!!

We shared with Mrs. Findley that Piper was premature. She was born 4 weeks early. This did not matter to Piper. Right from birth she showed the world that just because she was born early and statistics said she would be behind, she wasn't. Piper attended a Daycare her first year of life. Her teacher knew she was born 4 weeks early and would often tell me that the things she was doing developmentally, she should not be doing yet since she was born that early. Piper was never behind. She was advanced. She walked at 10 months old.

Piper is a "Straight A Pre-Schooler!" I am so proud of my daughter!! Do we have a valedictorian on our hands? She sure is off to a good start and headed in the right direction! Check back in 2022 to find out the answer.

Mother's Day

I had a good Mother's Day! I hope all of you motha's did too! Last Monday at MOPS my children made me cards. Piper's is the green one. Finn's is in the middle. Seven's is the purple one with his blue hand print on it. Finn's was supposed to have his hand print on it, but his teacher said he didn't want to get his hand messy, so he didn't make a hand print for me. I told his teacher I guess that's what happens when a child has two parents who don't like to get their hands messy. Neither Jeremy nor I like to get our hands messy. I thought it was funny that Finn's doesn't have a hand print because of that. Piper also made me a card at school. This is the outside of the card.
This is the inside of the card. She was so proud to give it to me. She is still learning how to write some of the letters the correct way.
This is the picture that Piper colored for me at school. I guess she ran out of room for her last name. It's funny because when she runs out of room for letters, she will put them on top of the word, or below the word.
Her teacher also asked her some questions and she answered them. I tried to take a picture of the sheet of paper with the questions and answers on it, but it was kind of hard to read. I wanted to share it with you because some of them I think are pretty funny. The paper was titled, "My mom is the most wonderful mom in the world!" Here are the questions and answers... Her name is: Amy. She always says: "Don't get out of your bed." My mom likes to eat: sandwiches. The best thing she cooks is: sausage. My mom's favorite clothes to wear are: dresses. On television, she likes to watch: commercials. My mom doesn't like to: feed my brothers. When she was little she: played with babies. She likes to help me: clean up my room. I think my mom is funny when she: gives me funny kisses at bedtime. I know my mom is smart because she: knows lots of rhyming words.

I kind of think Piper didn't know the answers to some of these questions or she just answered what her answer would have been instead of mine. I am not a big fan of sandwiches. I don't think she has ever seen me in a dress, unless she can remember me wearing a dress when I was pregnant with Finn. I doubt it, though, since she was 13 months old when he was born. Don't know that I really like to watch commercials on tv. But maybe some of the few shows that I watch look like commercials to her, like the Today Show. I watch the news too. Maybe she thinks that is commercials. Not quite sure. The last question, I know my mom is smart because she knows lots of rhyming words, that one cracked me up! She had been learning about rhyming words in school and I was helping her with it. I guess she thought I knew alot of words that rhymed.

Jeremy and the kids got me a few gifts too. I got two different scents of lotion from Bath & Body Works. Black Rasberry Vanilla and Sweet Pea. Mmmm! And a Black Rasberry Vanilla body wash. Jeremy also got me (or rather us) a set of 450 thread count cotton sheets. Aahhhh! They feel sooooo good! I took a picture of them so you could see the color. It is a little darker than the picture. I guess the flash made it a little brighter.
For lunch we went to Chili's. My choice. I had just gone to the Olive Garden a few nights before or I would have chosen that for lunch. I love the Olive Garden. But an Old Timer with cheese sounded good for lunch on Mother's Day. I really like cheeseburgers too! And to top off Mother's Day, I got to take a nap! I don't get to nap very often, but I was very glad I got to take one on Mother's Day!

Photogenic Finn

Every parent has some pictures of their child that are just GREAT! You know the ones that I am talking about...the ones that will come in handy when your child is older, say high school...the pictures that are cute and funny now, but your child will find embarrassing later. Well, Finn has quite a few of those!

For Finn's third birthday, we got him a soccer ball with two goals. The white thing he has on his head came with the goals. I think it is supposed to be used to put the ball on. As you can see, Finn has found a different use for it. He decided it would make a good hat.

Not quite sure what Finn is doing in this picture. Quite the pose if you ask me! If I remember correctly, (I'm not sure how good my memory is since I was drugged up after just having Rilian) Finn had his fingers in his mouth and I told him to take them out of his mouth. I'm not sure how his hand ended up in the air. Those were some good drugs :) Great outfit, huh? Finn is one funny kid. This day he decided he wanted to wear this nice pink and yellow hat with a rainbow on it. There are matching gloves, but I guess he wanted to wear his black and red mittens. Poor kid, I tell him to smile so I can take his picture and he does. Little does he know what the future might hold for this and the other pictures!
Finn likes to play dress up with Piper. Unfortunately, Piper only has princess dresses to dress up in. So we finally found a knight costume for Finn to play dress up in. It is hard to find dress up clothes for boys. What's funny is Piper has some black boots and Finn will sometimes wear them with his knight costume. It looks hilarious!
Finn was jammin' to an mp3 player. What a cool kid!
There have been times when Piper will get our camera and take some pictures without us knowing until we go to download the pictures to our computers. This was one of those instances. It looks like Piper woke up Finn and then decided to take his picture. Thanks for the great picture, Piper! I'm sure Finn will thank Piper later when the picture goes public.
One Sunday we decided to take pictures of the kids after church in their nice clothes. Finn decided to stick his head through one of the holes on our cube that they can climb on.
Finn, Finn, Finn. Wow! What goes on in his mind? I really wonder sometimes. I was putting them in the truck to go somewhere and his goggles happened to be in there. He saw them and decided to wear them. Really funny! He wore them all the way to our travel destination. He kept saying that everything was blue. I wonder why!
This was a fourth of July picture. Jeremy was in Alabama on a mission trip with the youth group. Once again, Finn decided he wanted to wear goggles. And a bead necklace. I thought he looked pretty funny so I took a picture and sent it to Jeremy. Jeremy labeled this picture "Alien Finn."
We have a dress up box in the playroom. It contains many different things that the kids can use to "dress up." Finn raided the dress up box and found all the necklaces and bracelets. He smiled nicely for the camera, unknowingly where the picture might reappear in his future. Am I mean?
Before Finn had his knight suit this is one of the dresses he chose to wear while playing dress up with Piper. It is a Cinderella dress. I think he favors this one over the others. Even now, with a knight suit, he still wears this dress sometimes.
Here is Finn in the Barbie dress. He was wearing Piper's black dress shoes with it. Look how proud he looks! I just laugh.
I like to call this one "Bubble Monster." This is a really great picture! Jeremy just happened to snap the picture at the perfect moment and capture the bubbles streaming down.
I really debated about putting this picture on. I just wasn't sure if I should put a picture of my three-year-old in his underwear on the internet. I talked to Jeremy and he thought it would be okay. We agreed since Finn is three, it would be okay. So if you have a problem with it, take it up with Jeremy. Piper and Finn were running back and forth in the kitchen. They had both decided to be in just their underwear. Finn put his hands up in the air and made this wonderful face. HILARIOUS!!!
Have any of you ever seen the movie "Martian Child?" It's about a widowed man who decided to adopt a little boy, who thinks he is a martian from another planet. I think it is a really good movie. I would recommend you watch it. At one point in the movie, the man and little boy are in the car driving somewhere and the little boy is doing something weird because he thinks he is from another planet. The man looks at the boy and says, "You're just a freaky little kid." Jeremy likes to say that about Finn because he does some really "freaky" things at times. One day we were out in the yard and Piper had put some flowers behind her ears. Finn decided he would do the same. Then he looks at me and asks, "Am I pretty Mommy?" I replied, "Yes, Finn. You look pretty."
Last but not least...Finn's mohawk is back for another summer. Right after Jeremy gave it to him, he said, "Finn let me take your picture." This is how Finn chose to pose all on his own. Freaky little kid!