Monday, October 29, 2012

Kids Say The Darndest Things....

How many times have you heard that saying? Better yet..how many times have you told someone else about kids saying the darnedest things when your child has said something? Said something that embarrassed you so much you wanted to just magically become an ostrich and hide your head in the sand?  So we mommies know that you NEVER know what is about to fly out of that tiny humans mouth!  There is no filtering system in children's heads, straight from brain to mouth!  What about a mommies mouth, is there a filter...sometimes, maybe, never?


Coming live from Momma Kat's 

Mama’s Losin’ It
Write a list of 10 things you have said to your kids that other moms might not say.



  1. Yes I know that you are playing house right now, but NO you can not marry your sister when you get older....no matter how much you love her!! (Bubby)
  2. Stop fighting with your older brother, he is right, you two are not twins, no matter how many people think you are, they are wrong too!! (Bubby, Babydoll)
  3. Santa's Elves didn't go to college I don't think they know how to make a Playstation 3....maybe you should ask for something else....(Monkey)
  4. Jerm the pots and pans cabinet is ringing, I think that I found your phone! (this one caused by baby Boogie)
  5. I am sure that you are not the only kid in your school or the world with only one mom and one dad, there has to be more out there! (Bubby) yes I know technically Bubby has a biological dad and a daddy,Jerm, but it's a long story, and he thinks he only has one dad! His biological never wanted children and was honest about that, he pays his child support and is signing adoption papers to allow Jerm to adopt Bubby as we speak. So biological dad is a pretty nice guy.
  6. Yes your panties are beautiful, but ladies don't show their panties, no they don't...not even if they are the prettiest panties in the world! (Babydoll)
  7. Why don't you have on matching socks?  What? No ones socks match?? It is the fashion for your socks not to match?!?!?....why didn't you tell me that before, this is great no more matching socks!!!! (Monkey)
  8. Why is it perfectly legal for our kids to hit me and abuse the crap out of me, but I can't abuse them back, we need to write to someone about that! (said this to Jerm after the kids accidentally abused me)
  9. You can have the black controller after I get done playing with the X-Box, you know you have to share with me too! ( Monkey)
  10. Don't eat the dog you little Zombie baby, if your that hungry I will feed you!! (Baby Boogie)
I am sure there are lots more where these come from, but hey I have four kiddos and my mind forgets to remind me to eat sometimes!  What have you heard yourself say that made you think that a white coat and a padded cell may be in your near future?

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Thursday, October 25, 2012

Ready For My Closeup......



When I was a little girl I used to sit at my mothers vanity table and pretend to be getting ready for some major events.  Balls, award shows, and my own wedding you never knew what each day had in store.  My mothers vanity was a beautiful piece of furniture that my dad had worked on (he is a carpenter by hobby) he had given her the vanity as an anniversary gift.  When I moved out of my mothers house, she gave me the vanity.  Now I sit at this beautiful vanity with all those fond memories getting ready for work, school functions, and trips to Wal Mart! Ok! I know that the picture above is soooo not my mother's and then later my vanity, but to be honest the master bedroom is a disaster and I wasn't taking a picture of that!!!

My oldest daughter Babydoll loves to play dress up, she likes to pretend she is a Princess, Barbie, or the female version of many different Super Hero's. 
 
Playing dress up! On the left with her favorite cousin, on the right with my younger brother the last time he babysat!



Each one of the kiddos rooms has a walk in closet and Babydoll's closet was falling apart.  The metal clothes racks were falling off the walls, and I was just waiting for the day that they would hang from them like little monkeys and everything would come tumbling down. 
The kiddos rooms aren't small but they really aren't big enough to hold all the stuff they have! For the past two days I have been getting rid of a lot of crap old toys.  Thinking a call to Hoarders may be needed about my kids, wow they had tons of crap stuff! After two trash bags of trash and three bags of donated toys, I had two (of the four) kids rooms spotless and that included their useless closets! Bubby's closet was having the same problem with the shelves! What was I going to do with this clean and unused space?  I have seen lots of pictures on (guess where) you guessed it, Pinterest! Parents have turned their kids closets to reading nooks, playrooms, bed spaces, you name it! If they can do it so can I!

Babydoll's New Dressing Room!

First thing first, I took the closet door off the hinges, the idea that she could be shut in there kinda unnerved me, and the door opened into her room which took up useable space!  Plus, I had a really cute idea and the door was in my way.

Curtained Door: ($ Free)  I simply took a bed sheet someone had given me, cut it the width and height of the door then cut the length in half.  I used the ready made top part of the sheet as a curtain rod slot by simply ripping the hem on each side.  My curtain rod is really just a wrapping paper tube that I had on hand.  I ran a long piece of ribbon through the tube and tied a bow on top, this allowed me to hang it from a nail in the wall. I didn't have any spare curtain rods this small. When the cardboard rod falls apart I will probably break down and buy an actual curtain rod.



Accessory Rack: ($ Free )  As soon as you walk in the closet dressing room you see this rack on your right.  I found this kids coat rack at a thrift store months ago and only paid $2.00 for it.  Until now it was on Babydoll's wall and we were using it to hold all her dress up clothes.  Now we have a place for all her little purses, headbands, aprons and fairy wings. :)



Accessory Shelf: ($ Free )  This shelf used to be used as a DVD shelf in Babydoll's room, then I put all our DVDs in CD books arranged by category (I got tired of having DVDs everywhere, and empty boxes)  When the shelf cleared of movies, it was then used to just hold some of Babydoll's toys.  I now have it in the corner of her closet dressing room and it has her wallets, tiaras, some play jewelry, her diary and a picture of Babydoll and her cousin.



Shoe Rack: ($Free) These cute little cardboard boxes used to keep Babydoll's dress up shoes and any overflow accessory out of the middle of the floor.  They have lids with the Disney Princess's on them.  I bought these boxes at TJ MAX a while ago, I don't even remember how much I paid.  I simply put the boxes on their side and lined up the dress shoes.  Jerm is going to make Babydoll a little shoe rack but for now this works.  I used the lids as decoration in Babydoll's room, I simply hung them on the wall and now they kind of look like canvas art! :)




Wall Art ($Free)  I got the idea for paper pin wheels HERE so I used some cardstock paper that I had on hand.  I love the look of this decorative wall art and think that I am going to make more of these maybe for around the house, in Babydoll's room or as party decor!



Clothes Rack: ($Free)  Two very stubborn metal shelf wall mounts would not come out of the wall! It was making me so frustrated!  They are kind of sharp, I could see the kids hanging from them, and they were in my way!  Then I came up with the idea to twist them towards each other, and with some zip ties and ribbon these annoying wall mounts became a clothes rack.  The rack is actually really sturdy and has enough room for more dress up clothes! 
 FYI: Dress up clothes are expensive, every year after Halloween I buy the costumes (they go on sale) and we give them to Bubby and Babydoll as Christmas presents!!! I simply take them out of the packages and put them in clothes wrapping boxes, I even insert the picture from the package.  I have, in the past, bought Super Hero costumes, Princess dresses and what not for as little as $1.00.



Princess Wall Art: ($Free)  These pictures I found on some boxes that used to hold puzzle pieces.  The boxes were pretty much destroyed and the puzzle pieces already had a new home.  I simply stapled some ribbon on to the back of the pictures and then hung them on the wall.  I think it looks kind of like pictures you would hang on the wall of your friends.  The pink one even looks like it is in a frame!  I think that sometime this week I may go to Dollar Tree and get some inexpensive frames (remove the glass) and frame these pictures.



Jewelry Organizer: ($Free)  I bought Babydoll and Baby Boogie these Jewelry organizers from Kirklands about two months ago.  They were originally $25.00 but I got them on sale for $5.00 each.  Baby Boogie's has a Peacock Feather print which works for her room because it is Teal and Chocolate Brown.  Babydoll's room is decorated in Black, White and Hot Pink.
FYI: I decorate the kiddos rooms in a color scheme then buy or make wall art that has their favorite characters, toys, or games on them.  I refuse to buy bedding and set a whole theme around a character that they may not be interested in within a year.  For example, Babydoll has a Black, White and Hot Pink flower comforter that was marketed for dorm rooms.  This will grow with her, and I can buy inexpensive Disney Princess, Tinkerbell, or Barbie posters and wall art that she is currently into.  My mom changed my bedrooms theme with what I was interested in for years till she finally realized how expensive it was getting!



Vanity: ($Free)  I bought this vanity for $20.00 at a local bi-yearly kids consignment sale almost two years ago.  When I came home and realized this crazy thing retails at about $100.00 I was super excited!!!  This is the Disney Sleeping Beauty vanity.  It lights up, talks to you and has hair accessories and doo da's.  I think Disney is currently selling the Cinderella Vanity, Babydoll likes Cinderella but I am not buying a whole new vanity, plus blue doesn't match her room. LOL

* I may be a bit biased Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) was always my favorite, so much so that Baby Boogie almost ended up with the name Aurora!  Luckily or unfortunately I struggled in speech therapy for the first 6 years of my life trying to produce the R sound. I sounded like I belonged in Jersey and I have always lived in the South!  I still have to concentrate on some words and if my emotions are running high you can catch me slip, apparently Bubby inherited this R problem so Aurora wouldn't have been a wise choice!


There you have it, Babydoll's new closet Dressing Room!  This transformation cost me nothing but time, I simply used things that we already had in Babydoll's room.  Even if I would have had to buy some of these things I don't think that it would have cost too much! Babydoll has been at her mom's house for the past three days, but she comes home today and I can't wait to see what she thinks of her new play area!!!  I may decide to paint the walls in there, and I need to buy a cute rug but for now it works.  When the kids get a little older I am going to put some functional and sturdy closet shelving and racks in their closets, but for now they are perfect play areas.

Jerm and I talked about making Bubby's closet a Video Game Room, both my boys are gamer, computer geeks (just like their daddy)!  We have to wait till after Christmas and see if Santa is bringing that X-Box 360 for Bubby though ;) We have the X-Box 360 Kinect in the living room, but I mostly hog use that one for my Netflix, and Vudu and the Kinect games.  Monkey has his own 360 so I think it is time for Santa to bring Bubby one!

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Friday, October 19, 2012

Pumpkin Patch Kids


Yes it is fall, and it sure felt like it today!  So in the nature of bundling up and bonding Jerm and I took the kiddos to a local pumpkin patch!  Now with a family of six it is sometimes pretty expensive to do things as a family.  You have to multiply the amount of tickets, food, and all entertainment by 3...normally baby Boogie is still free since she in under 2 years old.  The pumpkin patch is one of the few places that having a large family is actually a benefit!  The local patch we go to is called Crawford Farms, they have some great attractions for the kiddos and for the adults.  It is free to go to the pumpkin patch itself, but the attractions are $5.00 per kid, $2.00 per adult for the day, 2 and under are free.  So for our family it would cost us $19.00 per day.  It really isn't too bad but they also offer season passes for a family up to 6 members for only $28.00....yeah we got the season pass! The season pass is good from September 24th through October 31st. I know that it is only two weeks till Halloween but we plan on going back on the 27th  (possibly the 28th too) and figured the season pass was a better deal!

You are entering Crawford Farms...reason I started going to this pumpkin patch (before I ever even knew about the attractions) they have a better sign from the road!!! All the other pumpkin patch's signs are tiny, I was able to find this one easily! Put a little bit of money into advertising and it may just pay off!


(My kiddos showing one of those rare affectionate moments that bring tears to my eyes and make me remember that they grow up way too fast! I really really love this photo!)


Are you ready to have fun?!?!?!?

 
First thing you see walking in is the Pumpkin Palace. (this is free) You can pick out pumpkins, gourds, and other things that I have no idea what they are.  The pumpkins range from $1.00 to $25.00 with the Jack O Lantern worthy pumpkins ranging between $4.00 to $8.00 not too bad. They also sell wood pallets with 10-20 pumpkins for $25.00. Last year I bought a pallet used 6 of them and gave the rest to family and friends.

Our Jack O Lanterns from 2011, five of the pallet pumpkins! Also is you look at the bottom right corner of the picture with my kids walking into the patch you can see what a pallet of pumpkins looks like, pretty good deal if I say so myself.



After you look around the Pumpkin Palace you can move on the the attractions, now you do have to pay for these but the prices are pretty reasonable.

This is the Barrel Ride, you can be a cow, horse, piggy, donkey or a sheep. Wow that tractor moves super fast and the kids really seemed to enjoy it! It does cost $2.00 each, but a lot of carnival rides at my kids school cost more than that.  Plus, this is supporting a local farm and I am very pro buying locally!




Bubby feeding the goats.  There is a Petting Zoo that includes goats, chickens, rabbits, sheep, and a donkey...a freaking donkey.  Garrett loved the animals and was really the only one of my kiddos that kept going back to them.  Baby Boogie just called every animal baby...no matter how many times I told her it was a bunny or a donkey.



There are little Photo Props that the kids can play on or in, that make for great photos.  There was this stagecoach, some corn wigwams, hay bales, scarecrows and many more.



Monkey helping Baby Boogie through the baby maze!! Mazes! There are two children friendly (they can do them alone) mazes and two family mazes.  There was the smallest maze (I kept calling it the baby maze) that was just some hay bales laid flat on the ground.  A (school kids) maze that you couldn't see over but was very very simple to get through. (no dead ends)  Then there are the family mazes ( no unaccompanied children) one is one acre long and the other is five acres long.  They both have games that you can play to find your way out.  We didn't do these mazes it was getting late in the evening and the kids were getting hungry so we decided to save these for another day.



The Slide! My kids LOVED the slide, it was all they really wanted to do.  Every once in a while they would wander off to check something out, but they just kept coming back to this main attraction!  It is pretty cool looking!


Monkey running up the hay bales to slide!


Babydoll was having so much fun she actually smiled for a picture!


Bubby enjoyed the outing so much, he actually consented to take a picture!



Baby Boogie wasn't as impressed with the slide, Jerm had just gotten off work so she was more interested in daddy! She did start saying "Moo" on the way home, she has never said "Moo" before and it is a little weird considering there were No cows there, but ohwell that is Boogie for you!



We had a great day and NO meltdowns at all! That is an amazing feat with four (by the end of the day) tired, hungry, cold kiddos! Ironically we didn't buy any pumpkins!  We were tired, cold and hungry so we decided to come back to play and buy our Pallet O Pumpkins.  Honestly I think Jerm and I were just feeling too lazy today to load all those flipping pumpkins in the car then unload them at home!  Wait!!! I lied I did buy six teeny tiny pumpkins that were three for a dollar, just cause they were really cute and I have a plan for them!!

Has your family visited a pumpkin patch this year? Was it a good experience or a child meltdown moment that left you wondering if all the lessons in good behavior really only happened in you imagination?
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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Oklahoma...O K L A H O M A....Oklahoma yowl!



I sometimes participate in a writing prompt organized by Momma Kat a little while ago one of the prompts was to talk about your childhood house with diagram. I missed it thanks to the spat going on inside my computer, and was upset because the prompt made me think of home.  On top of that my car radio thinks that I should only listen to country music, I am not a big fan of country but I tolerate it.  A song came on the radio called Blown Away by Carrie Underwood, these things caused me to spend the past week reminiscing of my roots.




 I was born and raised in Lawton/ Ft Sill Oklahoma. I often joke that most people probably forget that Oklahoma is even a state, but to be honest with myself there isn't much to recommend the land of my roots....
 

Landlocked, prairies, a few mountain ranges, lots of man made lakes, Buffalo, and Tornado Ally, that is what I remember.  I lived in Oklahoma for the first 19 years of my life, before marriage and moving to Alabama, then I  eventually moved to Kentucky.  I have spent 10 years living away from Oklahoma (yeah I know you guys are doing the age math over there), and I haven't visited since Bubby was 2.  I told Jerm the other day that I need to go, I need to touch the red earth of Oklahoma soon.

I know that Oklahoma doesn't seem like much to some people, I mean come on there isn't really anything fancy about the place but Roger and Hammerstein  did make a musical about Oklahoma (well sort of)  and Hugh Jackman thought it is something to sing about.....


There may not be much to recomed the state but there are some interesting facts about Oklahoma:
 
Originally Indian Territory, the state of Oklahoma was opened to settlers in a "Land Rush" in 1889. On a given date, prospective settlers would be allowed into the territory to claim plots of land by grabbing the stakes marking each plot. A few of these settlers entered to claim land before the official start of the land run; these cheaters were called "Sooners". ( Boomer Sooner *football reference LOL*)

 The bread twist tie was invented in Maysville, OK.
The shopping cart was invented in Ardmore in 1936.
The first Girl Scout Cookie was sold in Muskogee in 1917.

So basically you can thank Oklahoma for bread staying in it's bag then giving you the ability to hold cords together with the twist ties, for not having to lug all those kiddos and shopping items around in your bare hands, and who isn't thankful for Girl Scout cookies!!

Plus there really are some very beautiful places in Oklahoma.....

Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge (in my hometown of Lawton)

   

The 77-foot waterfall at Natural Falls State Park
  


So the moral of this blog.....nothing....I was just reminiscing, and missing home.  I love Kentucky it is a gorgeous state, but every once in a while I still need to feel the Oklahoma wind blowing, and stand on a high spot and be able to see for miles around.

Friday, October 5, 2012

The Itsy Bitsy Spider....

My Kiddos love crafts...they know that on Friday nights I normally have some kind of craft project or game for us to do together.  Sometimes we don't get to them or sometimes the behavior the kids exhibit prevents us from having rewards.  With Halloween right around the corner, I started looking for crafts that we could do together, and found these fun little spiders at Micheal's.


 ( From left to right Monkey's, Babydoll's, and Bubby's spiders )



The little kit makes 12 little spiders and includes everything that you need to make them other than the glue.  I let the kids glue them together with regular Elmer's glue, but they weren't holding together really well.  After the kiddos went to sleep I just added a little hot glue to hold them better.

 
Monkey working hard!
(Pic Monkey has Halloween edits and yeah I was playing with my pictures)



Crafting requires focus, just look at Babydoll's face!

Bubby refused to let me take his picture.  My kiddos are a little camera shy sometimes!


Baby Boogie didn't get to participate with the craft due to small beads and other items that could have ended up in her ears, nose, mouth and any other body part.  She did have fun watching and was happy to take a picture!






Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Taco Soup

Mama’s Losin’ It
This Family Favorite Recipe is most likely our #1 favorite, not just among our little part of the family but many of my friends and other family members love this dinner.  I learned it from my ex-mother in law.  We still get a long great and always did, so here is a little shout out to that extended family in Mobile, Alabama.  Thanks for this recipe...although I did tweak it just a little :) They like their food spicy so they use the spicy versions, while we like our food a little more mild.

Taco Soup:



Ingredients:

  • Hamburger Meat:  1 LB (you can use ground chuck or lean whatever is your preference)
  • Powdered Ranch Dressing: 1 Package
  • Taco Seasoning: 2 Packages (Mild, Strong, whatever your family preference)
  • Black Beans: 2 Cans
  • Red Kidney Beans: 2 Cans
  • Great Northern Beans: 2 Cans (you can also use navy beans)
  • Shoepeg Corn: 1 Can
  • Diced Tomatoes: 2 Cans (you can also use Rotel tomatoes, to add a bit of a kick)
  • Shredded Cheddar Cheese: 1 Package
  • Sour Cream: 16 OZ (we really like sour cream)
  • Tortilla Chips: 1-2 Bags

Directions:

  1. Brown Hamburger meat adding the Taco Seasoning ass directed on package, and drain excess fat.
  2. Combine all Can goods (with Juices) and package of Ranch Dressing in large cooking pot or Crock Pot. 
  3. Add Hamburger meat to the other combined ingredients.
  4. If you use a cooking pot heat to a boil then allow to simmer for 30 minutes to an hour stirring occasionally.
  5. If you use a  Crock Pot either heat it on high for 1-2 hours or on low for 3-4 hours, stirring occasionally.

Eat It:

Every one in this house loves this soup/dip we all get our own bowl of soup topped with the cheese and the sour cream, and our own bowl of tortilla chips.  We like to use the Tostitos Scoops, and dip the soup out, then we finish the bowl with a spoon.  I sometimes double the amount I make and take it to friends or my dad, when I double I only increase all the canned goods by one can, but double everything else. ( My crock Pot is only so big lol ) I like to use this recipe any time that I go to a pot luck or anytime we are having people over to the house.  It really does make a lot and is very filling!  I hope that your family enjoys it as much as ours does!

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