Milestones

Calen filled up his Good Job Jar for the second time today and we celebrated by having Happy Meals at McDonald's for dinner.

Is there any kid on this planet that doesn't like Happy Meals? Seriously....

(though mine is one of the few that chooses cheeseburgers over McNuggets. That kid and his cheeseburgers.)

I like the age when the kids don't eat enough to have to buy them actual meals at restaurants. At Red Robin, the boys (at Cam's age and younger) would just have some of our french fries and lemon slices (baby Calen was weird). At McDonald's, a side of fries or apple slices. That was good enough to satisfy them. And it was nice on our wallet too. 

Camden just hit the milestone of where we have to buy him his own meal. That kid can out-eat Calen on some days. So today, we bought Camden his first restaurant meal. Which was fittingly a Happy Meal. And he ate the entire thing except maybe 1/3rd of his cheeseburger (kid likes cheeseburgers too). AND stole some of my Arby's curly fries (hey, if you're going to feed your kids shit, you might as well eat shit too. And Arby's is a block away from McDonald's. God Bless America). 

Also, I'm excited to show this totally awesome thing that came in the mail today!

I went to my friend April's house quite a while ago and saw the coolest thing ever in her house, a neat wooden sign board with "Home is Where the Coast Guard Sends Us" on top and then several boards hung below with the duty stations they've lived at throughout their career. And when I saw it I said I want one and went onto Etsy and found this website where I special ordered one for Brad for Valentine's Day. 

It showed up today and exceeded my expectations. The wood is wonderfully hand painted and distressed by a US Navy wife (and I do love me some things that are made in the US of A, especially by a fellow military wife!). So each board has our duty stations (in chronological order), and then certain boards have different details (rings for where we got married, and blue footprints for where the boys were born in Seattle and Cape May). And best of all, plenty of room to add boards on the bottom for wherever we may transfer next if we stay in. It really couldn't have been crafted more professionally and I totally recommend her business.   

    

Spring? Is That You?

Something awesome happened today. 

We went outside. Without jackets. Or hats, or mittens. 

And we survived. And we were even comfortable. 

Spring? Is that you?

You can stay awhile. No really, sit down, stay. Take a load off. 

Please?  

 

  

Plague Vultures and Pizza

OHMYGOD you guys I was only gone a day! Stop scolding me and sending me hate mail. 

The kids are sick. Again. Eff this state and it's airborne diseases. I'm pretty convinced that a cloud of horrific plague vultures just circles our house waiting for us to step outside or open a window. Then BAM! It strikes. 

Another helpless victim. 

Calen woke up happy enough so he got the green light to go to school. Me and Cam hung out and watched Nemo while he munched on sore throat lollipops (sold at Walgreens, best thing ever) which are apparently laced with crack because he was acting wild this morning. Like shoving raisins in between his toes and then eating the raisins with his foot. 

Calen came home not feeling too well so he went down for a nap and actually slept. And actually did not want to get up to go to Speech today (but I bribed him with a movie in the car). 

After Speech we came home and I had the boys make "little pizzas", as Calen calls them (pasta sauce and cheese on top of a toasted english muffin, then thrown in the oven). Calen was excited to make them again and this time little brother got to make some too. 

Actually, Camden had more fun taking the cheese OFF the pizzas and putting it back in the bowl. Kid beats to his own drum. 

We popped them in the oven for five minutes, and they were ready. But the kids were tired and sick. Camden had a sub-nuclear meltdown and went to bed without eating. Calen took two bites and then asked if he could go to bed too. And we let him. It was 5:30pm. 

And we haven't heard a peep since. 

      

 

Glow Stick Party

I don't think I've gotten the point across enough times that from November through about March we are trapped. Indoors. All the time. Every day. 

And when you keep small children in small houses for months at a time, things (and people) start going a little crazy. 

Yesterday it was dark and rainy and yucky. As I was moping about in the evening I was wondering just how we were going to make it one more day without doing something to switch things up and give the kids something to do other than fighting over Matchbox cars. So, I texted my neighbor friend. 

Glow stick party. Tomorrow night. My house. 

Done. 

This is so simple and cheap it's stupid. Glow sticks are a buck for 5 at the dollar store, or a buck for 15 at Target. Buy a bunch. Crack them and make them glow. Stick them into things. Turn off the lights. Done and done. 

We blew up balloons and shoved glow sticks into them. We made bracelets and necklaces. We did a ring toss game with larger glow stick rings. We hid them in bowls of cotton candy to make the cotton glow. We Shoved them into drink cups. 

And that was pretty much it. But DISTURBINGLY entertaining to the five kids under seven in my house tonight. Especially when you add pizza. Everything is better with pizza. And glow sticks. 

Ring toss

cotton candy

beverages

       

Commercial Break

Hey look, I'm blogging past 365 days! This one is for free. 

So a friend of mine had the nerve to put up a picture of her adorable munchkin sucking on an applesauce to go pouch. Except it wasn't those ordinary store bought applesauce pouches. It was a cooler, bigger reusable pouch. 

Did someone say reusable and applesauce pouch in the same sentence? Do you have any idea how money I blow on disposable applesauce pouches for Camden? I'm in. How do I buy one? Who cares how much they cost! They will save in the long run.

So I ordered these little gems and they arrived yesterday. You fill them up with whatever you want. Applesauce, yogurt, you name it. They come with screw on caps (much like the bigger applesauce pouches you can buy. In fact, you can use those store bought caps for the reusable ones in case you lose one). Fill, seal, throw in the fridge, use when necessary. Rinse when finished. Refill. Done. 

My official unpaid review (come on guys, not even just a little check?) says that these things are awesome. Easy to fill up, seal doesn't leak, and can withstand Cam chucking it across the room without spilling everywhere. And it will save us uber moolah from buying 7593 applesauces a week. 

And because I'm nice and am endorsing them even though they aren't compensating me, here's the link:

http://www.littlegreenpouch.com/

Camden approved

    

Three Hundred and Sixty Five (Mission Complete)

It's official. I have blogged every single day, without missing one day, for an entire year. 

Confetti! Party horns! Symbols! Parades! Red Carpet!

And also, big breath of relief. 

The original challenge of blogging every day for 365 days sounded easy but was in reality extremely challenging. Some days, okay a lot of days, I was tired, or had nothing to write about, or was generally uninterested. 

But the challenge was in hopes of keeping family and friends (especially those across the country) feel connected with our little life (for better or worse) in this little shit hole dump state called New Jersey. And it seems that I succeeded in that aspect. And it seems that some people even actually enjoyed reading this silly little blog. 

And now, the challenge is OVER! Say your goodbyes sweetheart, I am outta here!

::sigh::. No, I'm not leaving. I wish I was. I am still here in this stupid state and thus the blog continues. And I'll bet that the blog will continue even if and when we move back to Seattle. If nothing else, it still keeps the family and friends and whatever other possibly important audience connected and amused. 

HOWEVER. 

This is no longer an every-day-without-fail-or-I-will-be-fed-to-panthers blog. I will post MOST days. I might even post every day. IF and only if I actually have something to write about. Ahhhh, you see? Your warranty just expired. Now I'm like your printer. I'll only work properly every other day or so. 

I say that, but I'm a creature of habit, and after a full year of blogging in the evening, chances are I won't know what to do with myself until I blog. In the end all I've done is given myself a nasty habit. 

------
So now for today's actual post. 

We played pirates today. We made a pirate ship out of the kids' sofas, dressed up as pirates, and colored a birthday card for "Jake" (from the Neverland Pirates on Disney Jr. Apparently his "birthday" is coming up) and made a happy birthday video for "Jake". And it was cute and pirate like. 

the boat

      

 

The Big Leagues

Camden's officially part of the family. 

Not that he wasn't for the past 22 months, but he really officially is. 

He gets to sit at the dining room table. 

We got rid of the big high chair months ago but we kept him in a portable high chair with tray well away from the table's reach so that he didn't smear his meal/snack/boogers/life all over it. 

But now that he's over flipping plates full of food upside down, we removed the tray and scooted him into the table. 

Welcome to the Big Leagues kid. 

note: he's as far away from Calen as possible. This prevents fighting/food in each other's hair/other such calamities.

     

Baby S's Photo Shoot Preview

I had the pleasure of doing my first newborn shoot this morning with a Coastie friend's one month old little man. Of course we planned on him sleeping the whole time. Of course baby S decided that our magnificent plan for him to sleep through it was a terrible idea. So he stayed awake. The whole time. And we just rolled with it. 

I also happily got to squeeze in some baby boy fix that I've been missing lately. 

As we speak I'm up to my eyeballs in editing while eating leftover sushi and watching Hoarders (is there any better way to spend an evening?), so I'm not able to post all the photos of him that I wanted to. But here's a sneak preview with two of my favorites. Tomorrow I'll show you the rest of the best of the shoot. Be sure to click on the photos to see them full screen.

the newest recruit

Love that his feet are in focus and the rest is blurry

Presidents Are Monkeys

I picked up Calen from school today and asked him what they talked about at school. 

Calen: "George Washington!" 

Me: "Oh neat! And who was George Washington?"

Calen: "A monkey."

Me: "...............What??"

awkward silence while I process monkeys and Presidents.

Me: "So, George Washington is...a monkey?"
 
Calen: "Yeah."

You know, I PAY for this school....

Me: "Are you talking about Curious George?"

Calen: "Yeah. Curious George is a monkey and gets mischief."

Me:  "Curious George is a monkey. We're talking about George Washington. Who is George Washington?"

Calen: "A President"

Well NOW we're getting somewhere at least. 

But that was the end of it and that's pretty much how much you would expect a three year old to know about Presidents. That Presidents are named George Washington and are monkeys. 

Good enough for me.  

At least the school isn't teaching them that Presidents are monkeys. Well, that ALL Presidents are monkeys....

Here's another monkey.

 

Five Hours of Freedom

It was a Mommy Needs A Day Out Or Mommy's Brain Is Going To Splatter All Over the Floor kind of day. 

It was apparently the same kind of day for my neighbor friend Marina. We needed to get out of the house. Away from the kids. Fast. Now. 

So Marina and I abandoned our families gave the Daddy's some quality time with the kids and spent the next five hours doing what mommy's without their kids do best: shopping for their kids of course. And also for themselves. 

It also happened to be a major retail holiday (because no one actually cares that it's some dead Presidents' birthdays, they just want a reason to go spend some money) so a lot of things were on awesome sale. So I got the boys (and me) some new Chucks. Which I intend to use for spring/Easter/birthday pics. And shorts and swim trunks and sandals and other spring like things. 

Maybe if I buy enough spring type items, spring will actually arrive. 

And we even got to have lunch alone without some tiny human begging for more juice, or needing 221 napkins, or knocking over my overflowing soda all over the table. 

Who needs the day spa when you can have a kid-free stress-free lunch and shopping trip, AND new shoes? 

My day in a nutshell. Delicious lunch and new shoes. And not a kid in sight.