Crusty Boogers

I just found a stash of crusted boogers under the arm of the couch.

I have bananas in my hair.

:: Note to self; Find out what foods are good for conditioning hair masques, feed them to the babies. Two birds, one stone..::

I did the math the other day;
I make an average of 33 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches a week.
I am glamorous.

...This month marks 6 months that I have been working from home. I opened a childcare and am now able to stay home with my little monsters plus a handful of others. This month also starts the final year of my twenties... not that it's relevant to this blog entry... but... maybe it is.

What a whirlwind it has been.
I'm not going to lie... 6 months ago I was losing my mind a little, trying to adjust to this new lifestyle.

:: flashback to fetal position and psychotic laughter ::

I think I've got it down now. In fact... It's a little worrisome JUST how comfortable I actually am.  I live and breath tiny humans. Meals, learning, naps, HELL even diapers are on schedule.

It's all about perspective;
Cheerios spilt on the ground?... You just saved on dog food.
Everyone decides to climb out of bed for the first 30 minutes of nap?... Consider your cardio complete.
Refuse to the lunch I just made for you?... Time for nap, my meal is ready.

Perspective.
Is my baby screaming like a wild banshee?..... OR is he exercising his future vocal genius?
I choose to keep hope alive.

:: Side note; Do NOT be like me and now google what a "Wild Banshee" is. Terrifying. ::

 

:: Side note II; I know you will anyway... Rebel. ::

 

 

Parenting Style: Raising children with a sense of humor

I heard a quote today. It was something to the effect of raising your children to be functional enough to be funny. Obviously I don't have an award winning memory. Basically it was about giving them a bumpy enough life to be resilient and have some good stories to tell.

I love this so hard.

I find nothing beneficial in treating your children like they are royalty in your house. I love you, but I am the boss, shit happens, and you still have a lot to learn and everything is going to be ok. Again... I love you.

One day they will thank us for these lessons learned.

Sure... right now it seems entirely ridiculous that screaming and chasing each other through the hallways while your baby brother is asleep will grant you 20 push ups. That doesn't make sense, right? Well, it does to me. You are now too tired to continue with the wild animal behavior... Therefore, I don't need to pull my hair out repeating the rules over and over... And you are now just a tad bit stronger than you were 10 minutes ago. As an extra bonus, when you are older and your less fortunate friends say "My mom was so mean! She was always taking my video games away when she was mad."
You can reply with, "My mom never let me have a videogames because she was convinced I would grow up with zero life skills. Depending on Mom's mood, she might jump up and pretended she was a drill sergeant prepping me for battle."
You're welcome, son.

Fighting with your brother in the car on the way to school?
Why don't you both put your blankets over your head like a ghost until you can promise me you are going to get along? "Mom, no. That's insane."
"Insane?... you're right. Perrrrfect for insane behavior!....... Do it."
(blankets over heads)
BAM! Fighting has stopped. Annoyed children are now mad at me and not each other, therefore brother BONDING... And they can't see past the blankets to realize the pure hysterical joy I feel as I wave to the car stopped next to me... who is staring confused at the two ghosts on either side of the infant in the back seat. You're welcome.

Traditional? No. No, thank you.

Our kids think we are absolute weirdos.
They aren't too far off.

The majority of my cuddle time with the three year old consists of him done with the hug and me repeatedly hugging his head back to my shoulder saying "No don't go. We cuddle." (and again) "No don't go. We cuddle." He thinks I'm a crazy.... BUT... the minute I stop... he smirks back waiting for the next quick head hug. I'm on to him.

The seven year old stopped holding my hand about a year ago. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to stop trying to demand the action. "Hunny... my hand wont hold itself... HUNNY!... Hold Mommy's hand, dammit."
"Mom! Shhh! People can hear you!"
"That's the point, darling... Now, come here and cuddle."
He rolls his eyes and runs ahead of me... but I see the smirk. I live for that smirk.

And to think; One day the 4 month old will get to experience this privileged parenting experience.

Anything you need to do to make parenting just a little extra fun! :)

Capturing moments

I visited my grandma about a week ago. We sat at her dining room table sorting through old photos of all the grandkids and putting them in piles. She was determined every photo was the spitting image of Baby Johnny. Thank God she is blind as a bat. I was an extremely odd looking baby. Nevertheless, it was fun to pull together all these old memories of when I was the age of my boys.

So I came home all "inspired and crafty".

:: also known as "ready to make a big flippin' mess." ::

 

The first thing I did was get our wedding pictures developed after damn-near a year and put them into an album. That felt amazing. They are seriously beautiful. The weather was perfect. Somehow we managed to capture the rings, the family, the toasts, the food, the cake, the first dances...all before Mr. Harper broke his arm in the jumpy... Oh yeah, it happened. Never a dull moment. Kirk took off with the little guy and my beautiful sister stood in and pulled my garter like a champ before I headed their way too. A story for the books, for sure.

 

:: There is nothing cuter than little boys in wedding attire... There is also no one more anxious to take off their wedding attire. ::

 

 

Next project.... Kirk's childhood photos... I have a confession... I am entirely obsessed with my husband's baby pictures. He's like.... if you took the gerber baby... and just, like... smashed it with a box of puppies. BEAUTIFUL.

 

 

So yeah, I went through them all and made him a baby album. It went all the way up to his senior photos. He urged me to leave out the pre-teen years.

 

:: um... yeah right ::

 

You don't go from a gerber-puppy mash to GQ senior photos. Nope, sorry babe. I need at least a two page spread of the chubby, brace face, medallion necklace wearing, Kirk. That's just how this is going to work. You married me. Deal with it.

 

:: He was ok with this era, though... I am pretty partial to it myself. ::

 

 

And our boys... theirs will be worse. Every bad haircut... Every goofy outfit. Every time they let me braid their hair... In fact... I will intentionally plan the blackmail photos. Because I am the mom and one day I will be too tired or frail to make them do what I want.

 

...So I will wait... I will wait  until that first girlfriend is coming over.. and ever so subtly say "Son... does Sally like baby photos?"

 

:: and then I will slowly spin my chair to face them while I grin and pet the cat who is conveniently resting on my lap ::

 

 

Thank you, Grandma, for the inspiration!

Nerf guns and super heros

Lately the reality that I am the "lone ranger" woman of the house is incredibly apparent. As my husband would say, "The cheese stands alone."

This household is constant. Testosterone flies back and forth with nerf gun fights and super hero dolls being chucked across the room. Correction... Action figures. One kid has homework, one has a broken leg, and the baby is hungry. Ironically the broken legged three year old tends to need to poop at the same time the baby is hungry. What are the odds? It's insane. It's beautiful, but it's insane.

Little boys need constant entertainment... that is, if you want to keep them from tearing your house down to the bare studs. I grew up with a sister. We didn't tear the walls down! We merely tore your souls down with our words. Much easier...

** love you, mom. **

 

...So... Spring break was fun.

 

** for them.**

 

For the parents it's a little more like:

"Um... no... you absolutely may not drag your broken legged brother around the house by a costume boa."

"HOW did you two POSSIBLY empty every DAMN dresser drawer in the time it took me to grab the mail?!"

"Is that your brother's valentine's candy on your face?... Where have you even been hiding that?!"

"No. No you can not have any of mommy's ice cream. Daddy got that for her to keep her sane. It is strictly for after you are all in bed... Yes, I know I'm mean."

 

It was fun. It was fun and now it is done. Back to the normal routine.

 

And it's all a blur. Another annual spring break down from their speedy little childhoods. Another two month old moment that I will never have again with any more of my kids. It just keeps ticking away, moving louder and faster by the day. Louder and faster... and just as precious as any moment before. 

 

Crawdad feasts and rainy day drives

So, Kirk has decided we are putting on an annual "Corned Beef and Crawdad Feast."
A little oakie?... indeed.

I'm not a big fan of either, but I am certainly a fan of sunshine, friends, feasts and beer.

I had no idea that you could do this, but Kirk's buddies had crawdads shipped overnight from New Orleans.

:: Only the fanciest in the Coleman house. (pinkies up!) ::

 



All of this was just a tad barbaric for me to participate in, but I do see the beauty. I mean... these guys were straight-up high on excitement as they sorted threw the live little crustaceans. Betting on which crawdad could kick the others ass (none of which actually happened)... posing the food for me to make sure I documented... and finally cracking through their masterpieces late into the night, happy as all hell.

It was quite entertaining.

 

 

The weather was great and the sun came through the clouds just long enough to finish out the festivities.

The next day was cold and rainy and perfect for having zero plans. We drove away half a tank of gas with nowhere to be. I surely took advantage of that fact... "Stop here, babe! Stop here!" It felt so good to just slow life down for the day, side by side with my other half. Perfection.

:: stand by for the rainy day slideshow ::

 

:: the end ::

A little bit of sunshine: Featuring Little Puddletown

Spring is in the air. I feel it coming our way.
Winter has it's perks and all, but an enclosed house of testosterone filled boys, a dog and a cat, make Mama slowly lose little pieces of her soul... You ever notice how a lack of vitamin D has you leaning a little towards to dark side? It's a real thing! It can be a SATURDAY morning...your pillow is perfectly glowing in the white rays of the early sun... a lone bird softly chirping outside your bedroom window...

It doesn't matter. You are lacking vitamin D.

You shoot up like a bat out of hell... grab that pillow... and CHUCK it at your window yelling "Screw you bird, you sound like shit!"

Spring cant come soon enough.

And since we are lucky here in California, we are taking advantage of every beautiful, sunny, late winter day.

I'm loving this. The boys are loving this...

:: ...the birds are safer ::

 

 

 

 

 

These late winter days are perfect for my newfound Etsy love! Did you see that little beanie Johnny was wearing? Here is a close up.

 

 

 

I have a couple of these sweet Little Puddletown finds. They are too cute. A mama named Sara makes these in Portland, Oregon. Her Etsy store is filled with handmade beanies and pants for your adorable little ones. You MUST check them out.

 

PLUS, she has generously given 20% off to all of my readers through the end of March. All you have to do is use the promo code ALLDAYSON

 

:: ENJOY!! ::

 



Ode to Valentines Day

I am not super big on Valentines Day. I don't have anything against celebrating it, I just don't agree with waiting all year to show love on a single day. And then, any lack of effort that day gets you a one way ticket to the dog house.

No thanks. I'll pass on that. Skip the day and beat the crowds and escalated prices. Celebrate it a different day, or ALL OF THE DAYS!

...I just don't want to celebrate it on February 14th... because I'm a rebel.

:: ...and its my buddy Thomas' birthday. Holla! ::

Last night we were able to get out of the house for our first date night since Johnny was born. All three kids were in good hands and we ran out the door before Grandma Kim could change her mind. It was beautiful. We cleaned up nice and spent the evening not being "Mom" and "Dad." Instead we were husband and wife, reminiscing on our special moments, sneaking kisses and throwing back some much needed beers.

A little restless, I spent the night creepily staring at the back of Kirk's sleeping head.

I kept thinking how lucky we are. Everyone goes through life jumping from polaroid to polaroid of moments, experiences and encounters. We mark that time in our life, let go, and then jump to the next. Each leading us in a new direction.

Kirk and I found each other at exactly the right moment. What started out as a friendship quickly turned into so much more. Instead of jumping to the next polaroid we realized what we had and just held on to each other. We stayed in that moment. We still stay in that moment. And all of the sudden all of the polaroids before us just fade away. The ups and downs of the past don't matter anymore because they got us right here.

So, we celebrate all the time. Because we are SO damn lucky.

I stopped creepily staring at the back of Kirk's head and closed my eyes cuddled next to my other half. #TeamColeman

(Wedding photos by Weddings By Sunnyside)