a new year

Hello!  Happy New Year! I'm excited to be at the beginning of a new year.  Last year was hard in some ways and wonderful in others.  I'm excited to see what new adventures this new year will bring!   To start with, here are two exciting events from this year already!

Mr. Happy turned 8!

I have gotten to see me three kiddos quite a bit recently and I am so thankful for the time I've gotten to spend with them!  They are such a joy to be around!  Sadly, Little Miss Giggles was in the hospital for a couple days, which is why I got to have Little Miss Sunshine and Mr. Happy stay at my house, but LMG is fine and back to her happy, silly self, thank the Lord! :) 

The other fun thing that happened the other day is this popped up on facebook! This music video was done by the band the Monday Movement, which is a group of high schoolers.  It is so well done - the music and the video!  Why is this so important?  Well...if you watch closely you may recognize one scene in it...(*hint*...my header picture)...and the guy in it just so happens to be my best friend (and the history teacher of those in the band!).  :)  I've known for a long time that Michael is a great actor (and dude, he can sing!!)...I'm just excited to get to share him with the world now! :)  So watch and enjoy!

Mr Happy is 7 today!!

mr. happy is six!

polar bear club

The other day I got a picture in an email from my kids' mom (for those of you who may have just found my blog, I used to be a nanny for three kiddos...thus I call them "my" kids.  Now I'm a nanny for a new family.)  that said...

{Mr. Happy} decided back in February that he had waited long enough for summer!!

And had this picture attached...

Now, yes, my kids do have a pool in their back yard and I cracked up at this picture because ohmyheavens I have felt that water just with my hand in the winter before and it is FREEEEEZING!!  lol!  Wendy had a yearly habit of offering me $5 if I'd jump in.  I never did.  I think I told her one time to add a couple zeros and I'd think about it...!  :)

Well, I emailed her back that day and asked if she had offered Mr. Happy the same money and how long had he stayed in the water??

This is the story I got back:

 "Didn't pay anything. He and {Little Miss Giggles} walk in and announced that they were going swimming. I'm sure they thought I would say no way but instead I said, "Hold on, let me get the camera". {LMG} wised up at ankle depth while {Mr. H} insisted on jumping in. Lasted about 1/2 second before he catapulted himself out, crying and blaming ME. I am confident that he and {LMG} will NEVER try to go swimming in the winter again!" 

Hahahaha!!!!!  Sorry, buddy, I love you a lot but this story and this picture just completely cracks me up!  

I have heard these goofy kiddos ask before if they could go swimming before it was really warm enough and I LOVE the fact that Wendy's response this year was "Let me grab my camera!" Lol!  

I dare say she's right - lesson learned!

And don't worry buddy...just a couple more months and it will again be warm enough to be out in your pool every day!  See you this weekend!!  :)

five

Why do all these kiddos keep growing up??  :}  Five years ago my heart was completely stolen when my Mr. Happy was born.  I had the privilege of being with him all day almost every day for his first four and a half years and I loved every minute of being with him and his sisters. 

Those of you with older children know the feeling of looking at pictures like these - and those of you in the middle of toddlerhood...well, I promise you that one day you will actually miss that silly little toddler and wonder how he got so stinkin' big!!  :)

Mr. Happy, you are such a joy to be around.  You really are happy almost all the time.  You are so in to pirates right now - and you have made your bedroom the perfect pirate room! Including all the ocean animals you drew and cut out for your walls.  You are ALL BOY all the way and love to be rough and wrestle and be crazy sometimes but your main love language is most definitely physical touch.  You have always always been a snugglebug and when I get to be with you now you like to stay as close to me as possible.  I still miss you and your sisters every single day and I pray for you often - that God will call your heart to Him and will grow up to love and serve Him in everything you do.  :)

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY, MR. HAPPY!!!

I LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!! 

aarrrrr!

Mr. Happy is in to pirates these days. He always has been really... see? :)

I have called him my little captain for a long time. His bedroom used to have a firetruck theme...but is now being turned into an awesome pirate room. So when Laura mentioned she had a big box that she could bring over to make a pirate ship out of...Jack's mouth dropped open and he was VERY excited! (Not to mention that making something out of a cardboard box was on our summer list!)

Leah is into pirates right now too - so it was a perfect match! Laura and I worked on the general design...and Mr. H. drew everything he wanted on it.

Terrible cell phone pic... but after Laura and Leah left, he even fell asleep in it for a little while!

Then we took it up to his room where it fits in just perfectly!

Ha! He and his sisters figured out that this little stuffed animal fit perfectly through the porthole and was also used as a cannon ball. :}

I promise we feed him really well!! lol The boy just has so much energy he runs it all off in a heartbeat!

Aw! He almost has a baby six-pack! Lol

Thanks for bringing the box, Laura! It was a huuge hit!! :)

bloggy friends :)

I see that someone from Chattanooga, TN has discovered that I updated my blog list! ;) I have my guess as to who you are....

But, anyways, yes, I have a list of blogs that I follow regularly and while I keep up with most of them through Google Reader, I know a few of you use the links on the side of my blog sometimes so I thought I'd share some more of my favorites with you. :)

And if you have never discovered Google Reader, and you read a list of blogs regularly, oh my. You need to check it out! I had heard it mentioned off and on for a while but never really knew what it was and didn't think much about it until Rebekah told me I would love it and to check it out. She was right. And if you already have a gmail account, then you have google reader already, you just need to add the links of the blogs you read! Then it tells you each time you check it which blogs have a new post and you can read it right there! Sounds kind of confusing. It's really not. :)

Anyways, I could tell you lots about the blogs on my list over there but I don't want to bore you too much. So I'll just mention one. Pleasantburg. This sweet little blog is written by a friend of mine, Mrs. T., who used to live close by and is now a few hours away. She has a little boy who is just a couple weeks younger than Mr. Happy and she also home schools her older kiddos. Her last few posts have talked about ideas for what to do with your littlest ones when you need to focus on the older ones' schoolwork. I love how she stresses that our little ones are just as important too and that we don't want to just push them aside but use their time wisely while working with older siblings.

So go check out her blog - she also has great organizational ideas too! Mrs. T. - will you just come organize my house for me?? :) Oh, and we tried out one of your ideas this week....

He thought it was a brilliant idea!! :)

(sorry...really bad cell phone pic...!)

just sayin' hi :)

Lauren hung out with us for the day yesterday and played for a while in the kids tree house and took this crazy cute picture of Mr. Happy. :)

I am now on my way to stay at her house for a couple days while her parents go out of town. What are you up to this weekend?

Whatever it is, enjoy! :)

how did that happen?!

So, yet again, I am behind in blogging! Sheesh! But I definitely had to get this post written while it's still January! (so, you know...by midnight! lol)

Five years ago today was my first day with my kiddos. At that time it was just us girlies all day every day. I was just looking back at some of the first pics I took of them and I can't believe how little they were! Maybe I'll do another post on that soon.

It wasn't until almost an entire year later, on January 15th, that "my" baby was born. :}

This was the first glimpse I got of him in the text pic Wendy sent from the hospital.

A couple weeks ago, my Mr. Happy turned 4! How that happened, I am not sure!! I miss the baby he was...but I am loving the little boy he is growing in to!

This year he ended up choosing a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party.

Let me clarify that:

Chuck E. Cheese.

On a Saturday.

At noon.

Yup. Now you have the whole picture. It was crazy! But he had a blast and that was all that mattered. :)

At 4 years old, Mr. Happy...

~ still loves to snuggle and gives great hugs.

~ MUST give me approximately 5 eskimo kisses every evening before I leave.

(Seriously, if he thinks I have left without them, panic sets in and he comes running and sometimes crying saying, "Kiki!! Kiki!!! I didn't give you your eskimo kisses!!!")

~ is way into MJ music and thinks he must have been a very cool dude.

~ still loves most every kind of music in general and will dance to whatever is playing...when no one is looking. except maybe his sisters. :)

~ has learned to love our Bible time every morning in school.

(The only reason it used to not be his favorite part was that he had to sit still! lol Now he has discovered stories like David and Goliath (his fav right now) and realizes how awesome and amazing God's stories tend to be and will be the first to eagerly run and get out our Bible book.)

~ still does not like loud noises. never has.

~ is totally into super heroes and would love to save the day himself sometime! :)

~ is a pro on our itouches (when mommy and I aren't losing ours...! ha!) and daddy's ipad.

~ likes to do school pages like his sisters

~ but does not really like to color. He has no patience for that.

~ loves play dough!

For the most part, he was just like this at his party...very happy...but pretty calm, just taking it all in. Little Miss Giggles had her 5th bday party here a year and a half ago...and the difference in their reactions cracked me up! She was smiling so big we thought her cheeks were going to explode from the excitement! I had to dig up a couple pics just to see the difference myself....

LOL!! The one on the left of her and LMS is my absolute favorite! Seriously, she couldn't have possibly smiled any bigger!

And she still had a blast with her brother at his party. :) These two are getting to be great friends. Several times lately I have found them running around playing together while LMS does her own thing.

This was the long awaited moment! He got to stand in this thing for one minute (? I think?) and catch as many CEC tickets as he could. There were bigger, colorful tickets that were worth more than just one ticket too. I half way wondered if it would freak him out since it was kind of loud and crazy in there. But he did great and stuffed some down his shirt like we told him to. He got one ticket that was worth 50 and one that was worth 100 + the random single ones so that was a success! :)

Granddaddy was at his party too. Mr. Happy was born on Granddaddy's birthday so they had to have a picture together with Chuck E. :)

Wolf mountain (on the left) was something he had sort of hoped to get for Christmas...and I clued his aunt on to that so she gave it to him for his bday and oh boy was he excited!

And for those of you with little boys...have you discovered Trio blocks yet?? Oh my goodness we loove Trio blocks at our house!! I got just a small starter tub of them at the beginning of school this year - and they are his "during school time only" toys for while his sisters are working. That keeps them fresh and he will sit there happily playing for 45 minutes easily! There are so many cute sets of them - and there is even one tub of girl Trios that are pink and green!

Happy Birthday Mr. Happy!! I am loving watching the little boy God is growing you to be. You have a sweet heart and I am praying that God will call you to be His child and will guide you to be a great warrior for Him as you grow up! I love you!!

madman :)

So I spent the weekend with him...but I don't get to do all that much for him since his big sister is completely capable of doing everything herself! (she just doesn't like the waking up early thing...) ...but yesterday, I got him all to myself for the day. :) Well, I did have to share him with my three kiddos, who were beyond excited to have him and Reegan spend the day with us!

But towards the end of Mr. Happy's nap time, the girls wanted to go upstairs to play with Reegan in their room so Maddox and I got to hang out in the playroom for a bit.

He tried out Mr. Happy's rocket ship for quite a while, chattering to me most of the time.

Then he checked out the mirrors on our school cabinet. He kept looking at me in the mirror...and then turning around to look at the "real" me trying to figure out how there were two of me. :) That was in between talking to the other baby in the mirror. :)

Mr. Happy sleeps on the couch for his nap these days. The girls have a "quiet book time" on the couches during the first part of his nap and he has always known this and thinks it is waay cool to get to have his nap time on the couch now. He almost always goes right to sleep after reading a story with me. Anyways, it was time for him to wake up so I pulled Maddox up on my lap and started talking to Mr. Happy. He squinted his eyes open, saw Maddox sitting in front of him, and was immediately awake! (Sometimes it takes a little convincing to wake him up...he loves his nap. Always has.) I'm telling you, it's THE BEST way to wake up! With a baby right there. :) Maddox took some time pointing out Mr. H's nose and generally being cute as usual while Mr. H. was waking up. :)

Just hangin' out.

Then they had to explore the toys behind the couch. They discussed them for a while and Maddox patted on Mr. H's head...I think he likes him. :)

And I think the feeling is mutual. :)

to infinity...and beyond!!

With two little girls and one little boy, the ratio of pink girly toys to cool boy toys tends to be somewhat uneven at times around here, so when mommy had a package arrive in the mail last week in a cardboard box, I asked permission to use the box. Mr. Happy is into super heroes lately. I have a playlist of super hero music on my itouch that he looves to listen to. It includes theme songs that we all know (Superman, Spiderman, the Hulk) and some that we'd never heard of (Capitaine F'laim...or something like that!). However, Buzz Lightyear is one of his very favorites (and one that I don't have the theme song for! hmm...) so we took the box, a roll of aluminum foil, and some colored duck tape and turned it into...

...a rocket ship! (ok, so it's not exactly like Buzz's spaceship...but he didn't care...) It came complete with a US flag that LMS made, and an alien that I drew for Mr. H. to color in. :)

Oh yeah, and LMS also made a sun and a moon and LMG made stars and we hung them up in the "sky".

Of course his Buzz costume from last Halloween was a must. Here he is getting ready to take off into space! :) (I'm pretty sure we had the super hero music on in the background by this point...)

One Ziplock back cut in half and taped on the inside made for two windows.

Every rocket ship needs a control panel...including at least one big red button!

Then LMG found something that gave us an idea. So Mr. Buzz was zooming along through outer space when he looked out his window and saw....

...a real, live green alien!!!

He thought this alien was pretty darn funny...wish I could put his giggles on here! :)

After this, it was time to return safely to earth to get out of his hot buzz costume and let his alien sisters have a turn flying through space! :)

I'm glad you had fun with your rocket ship, my little super hero!

What should we make with the next big box we get?? Any ideas?? :)

Ok, camp post coming soon, I promise!

root'n'est toot'n'est cowboy in the wild, wild west!

Yeah. Not at all sure if that's how those words should be spelled...! Oh well. :-p

Today was my baby's birthday. I suppose I should come up with better names for my kids since he really isn't a baby anymore. But he's my baby. So I'll call him that for a while longer while I can get away with it!

He is in to Toy Story right now...well, he's in to lots of things...but Toy Story tends to come up at some point during the day most days right now. :) One day last week is became a necessity all of a sudden to be a cowboy. Right then. He had little gun holsters but we couldn't find the belt...so I tied them on with string. He could only find one of his little guns...so he put his play cell phone in the other holster. At first he said, "But Kiki, cowboys don't have cell phones!" I told him that cowboys these days do! Then he needed a hat...which we happened to have upstairs. Anyways, all that gave me an idea of what to get for his "birthday outfit"...so I found pj's for the shirt...and cool boots...and so today we had...

Our very own Woody! :) I know this one is a bit fuzzy. I don't care. :) He took his cowboy-ing very seriously.

(And Woody actually does have his jeans inside his boots...)

**Lauren and Rebekah...for some reason his face in this picture reminds me of Meg's little girl, Annie. :)

But we decided jeans outside was easier. Here is he pretending to shoot a gun. Funny, we never bothered to find his holsters today...there was a picture of one on his shirt and that was enough. :)

Practicing a good, solid, "YeeeeHaaaww!!!"

Then it was time to make cupcakes!

And icing. They thought the beater was fabulous.

Big sis helping little bro. :)

When I asked him earlier this week what kind of cupcakes he wanted to make, he thought for just a minute and said he wanted pigs! Ha! Then, so all his birthday cupcakes wouldn't be just completely pink, I used Toy Story as inspiration and we had...

Pigs and Aliens! The pigs looked more "piggish" in person...in this pic they kind of look like bears... oh well. I should have taken a pic of the inside of the alien. In the movie, their clothes are blue...and so is the actual cake part of these cupcakes. :)

I hope you had a great third birthday, buddy! I love you so much and miss you when I'm not with you. You are so much fun and are learning so many things all the time! I wish I had been there to tuck you in bed and give you a goodnight kiss tonight.

YYYHAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!YYY