Painting painting, oh the fun we shall have.

My kids love to paint.
Mostly Maddie.
She's a little artist.
The girl loves to color, create and get messy.
So we often run out of actual paints.
Then I get creative and make my own.

You'll need:
Water, koolaid packets, bowls and a super excited kiddo.


Just add the koolaid packets to the bowls and water until you reach the color you prefer.

Keep an eye on the painting though, remember it's koolaid and it stains.
I actually had to bust out the carpet shampooer after this go around.

photo an hour.

I'm jumping on the bandwagon and doing the whole photo an hour thing...
Except I kind of suck at it and stopped after dinner time because I got distracted cleaning up dinner, bathing babies and putting babies to bed and then watching television with the hubster.

But I also think mine is pretty awesome cuz well... it's mine and cuz well.... it's kind of collage like.
Okay, it's totally a collage but it took me forever and gave me a headache.
Mostly cuz I'm SUPER exhausted today.

Also, I think that is the most I've ever said the word, "cuz" on the blog.




Oh 4 pm consisted of cooking dinner.
and the 2-3pm annoys me because of the color. I tried EVERY color imaginable and none looked right because I did it over 2 different pictures. Deal with it, K?! Thanks.

Oh and I just noticed the cheese pic is weirdly colored too.... it says "dog is weird and won't eat his food if there is no shredded cheese on it" or something along those lines.
Did I mention that I'm tired?
Cuz I am.

Sometimes you have to fake the happy.

This was my facebook status the other day.

Happy, peppy, optimistic.

What I didn't tell you was that Baby O has an MRI scheduled for next Thursday.
Or that I'm flipping out.

Let me back track a bit....

A while back we noticed that Baby O had an odd spot on the back of his head.

See it?! It's little. Nothing too major.

At a checkup for handsome man and my baby lady, I asked their pediatrician about it. She told me to keep an eye on it and to make an appointment for him. I called, got an appointment FOR A MONTH LATER and we noticed it grew some....

So Hubs took him to the ER to get it checked out.

It didn't seem to bother Owen. But the size of it freaked us out a bit. (and by bit, I mean enough for Hubs to rush him to the ER which we RARELY do).

just hanging out.

So the doctors at the ER basically say it's normal, all babies get it and it's just a little fat deposit under his skin. They get a dermatologist to come look at it and she says the same thing but wants us to bring him back to her office in a few days.

standing by himself!!

So at his dermatologist appointment, she basically says the same thing. But says she wants to schedule an MRI just to be on the safe side.

Hubs tells her that we're PCSing (moving) soon so she puts a rush on it.

The next day his pediatrician called and wasn't surprised that I was shocked to hear from her. She called to try to reassure me that it was nothing to worry about (but by doing so, she kind of only worried me more! I've NEVER gotten a call from their pediatrician! Ever! IF anyone calls, it's a nurse line or something....) She then tells me to call in a few days to check on the referral and then to call FMH (the local hospital) to schedule it. Well, a few days later, I check on it and it's still being looked at for approval. A couple days later the local hospital calls me.

I take him in Monday to preregister and to get our check in time for Thursday.

She tells me it's going to be an all day process and that he'll be sedated.

My baby will be 7 months old Thursday.

My little 7 month old will be sedated for an MRI "just to make sure"....

In my head, I know it'll be fine. I know it's just a little fat deposit like they said it was and I know that they're just double checking just to be on the safe side.

But the mom part of me.... well, she's flipping out.

Point being.... sometimes I post happy stuff because it's easier to fake the happy than to worry.
Remember that folks.
Happy trumps worry.

I have a brand new tattoo all the colors in it remind me of you

The pink in the tree needs some touch ups but other than that, I've got a brand new tattoo....
I'm completely in love with it.
It's so bright and girlie and colorful.

I had my last appointment with the Good Reverend today. Bittersweet let me tell you.
I'm almost excited for my touch up appointment next month ... because he's a cool guy and because it'll complete my very lovely arm.
Yes and yes.

So, if you're ever in Alaska and hankering for a new tattoo, check out Reverend Mikey.  He's kinda badass.

Backyards are for....

Pizza and margaritas.

Spraying the hose at the kids

Soaking only Fin because Miss Maddie didn't want to get wet.

She did love laughing though.

Poor kiddo was soaked from head to toe

But he had a good time as well as the rest of us.

Love summer days that are actually not too terribly cold or rainy.

On my heart....

Way too often I take my life for granted.

Not just my life, but the lives of my babies.

I too often come across blogs that have suffered so much heartbreak that I end up crying myself to sleep just reading about their sorrow.

Some people try and try for babies and just can not.

Some people only get to spend a short time with their babies, some a really short time.

It breaks my heart.

It breaks my heart for those families, for those moms, for those women aching to be mothers...

then it breaks my heart for taking my kids for granted.

We've all done it.

We all have those moments of grumpiness or over tiredness or just busyness that we've brushed off our kid or let them whine for a minute longer or told them to "wait a minute!".

It's part of being a mom honestly. It's not always a picnic. Parenting is hard work.

But sometimes we just need a little reminder.

So here's mine and hopefully yours.

Go hug your baby!

Go listen to what they have to say.

Play "just one more, mom?" game with them for the 5th time.

Because some people don't get to hug or listen or game.

Some people have broken hearts.

I am eternally blessed.

And grateful for the random blogs/stories I come across that remind me so.

Poor poor pitiful gnome.

Our weather has been completely gloom and doom.
It's quite frustrating.
We even had an actual thunder storm the other day.
I'm talking thunder and lightening kind of storm.
It was crazy.
Even gnomy was a bit frightened.

Sometimes.... (park edition)

Some days we like to just go to the park. 



We swing a bit.



We ride the train and get a bit unsure of it.



Even Bo rides with us.



Sometimes we try to eat Daddy



Sometimes we like to jump in puddles.


We're wild ones, we are.

Did you know?!

I read on pinterest (follow me HERE) the other day that you could shred chicken in a kitchen aid mixer, with the paddles attached. It annoyed me! You see, I've been eyeballing kitchenaids for a long time now but REFUSE to spend that kind of money when really I want it for the breakmaker attachment and because according to a lot of people, you simply can not cook without a kitchen aid.
I jump for joy when I find blogs that DO NOT OWN a kitchen aid mixer!
So anyway, I decided to try this in my normal stand up mixer and it worked wonderfully!
I didn't have to wait for the chicken to cool to shred it, I didn't have to stand there forever shredding it, I just dumped it in and turned it up to a medium and helped spin the bowl.
I'm quite content.
So, next time you go to shred yourself some chicken, keep in mind that you can totally use your mixer.
Next time, I'm going to try to use a handheld and see if that has the same end result.

Hubs' 27th.

The hubster turned 27 the other day.
The kids insisted we decorate so Hubs ran to walmart to get some power rangers decor only to realize that's nearly impossible to find in Fairbanks, Alaska so he setlled for some red and black.
They had a blast helping me decorate.
I let them decide what should go where.
It was a success.
Oh and his cake.... he picked it himself. And told me specifically how to decorate it--just throwing that out there.