Splish splash

Monday was hot. Well, maybe it wasn't actually that hot temperature wise, don't really know, but it was sunny, and muggy, and there was no breeze (a rarity for us here recently!). So this mamma was hot!! So after a morning sweating it out at the park with some friends, the kids and I went to wal-mart and picked up a cheap-o ten dollar plastic pool. We filled it up and went outside to play in it after naps. The water was freezing, of course. I don't know how our kids even managed to get into it, but they were happy in the freezing water. Well, let me specify....Kamdyn was happy standing in it...in the beginning....then she slipped and would have nothing to do with being in that pool. She was happy to splash around in the water, but she had to be on my lap. Eli started up standing in the water, then eventually was happy sitting in it. Again, I'm not sure how they manage to do this. I was having a hard enough time standing in it! I have a feeling this little pool will get plenty of use this summer. Maybe Kamdyn will even get brave enough to get back in it one of these days:)

What is it about kids and drinking water out of anything! The kids both love to drink bath water by the gallon full, the pool was no exception for Eli. He also discovered a love of making a "fountain" of water after he filled his mouth full. That pool water just kept getting better and better......a little bit of water, some grass, sand, dirt, and spit....fabulous!

Still unsure of the whole pool thing, but she did like splashing her hands in it.
Then she decided that she was over the water and just wanted to climb the deck stairs. Until I stopped her. She can go up fine, but she's not the best at going down yet, she can, but it makes me nervous when it's a bunch of wood steps and a concrete slab at the bottom; not a very soft landing for her!

Curb Appeal

We have officially lived in this house longer than our first house:) We only lived there for a year and half, and we will have been in this house for two years in a couple of weeks. So crazy that it's already been two years! We've done a lot to this house since we've been here. We've painted a ton (mostly me, but that's because Brian's always at work, and I'm the one who always wants the changes:)), and we've done a ton to the yard (this is mostly Brian, and my dad's work....all I do is weed....occasionally:)) If I had before and after shots for you, I would show them, but I don't, so I will just talk about our newest improvements. Ever since we moved in we had a HUGE bush up by the steps (again, wish I had a before shot). We've hated it since we moved in because it was just kind of ugly and would over-take the sidewalk if you didn't trim it on a weekly basis. I'm not even kidding, that thing was a monster. We just hadn't gotten around to it yet because 1) the outdoors is not my territory:), and 2)Brian just didn't feel like cutting it down and digging it out (can't blame him here at all!) My dad solved that problem for us last week. He had someone come and cut it up and dig it out for us. Problem solved!

Brian and I were sitting outside playing with the kids last weekend and I was just looking at our new front porch, minus the monster bush. It is so much more open now and you can actually see the whole porch. We've had a couple of plastic chairs up on the porch since we moved in. They were just a cream color, kind of boring, but it never really mattered because you could only see one and we just didn't sit in them ever. But looking at the porch without the massive bush taking up a whole side, it looked boring, since our house is a cream color too. It was just a lot of blah neutral colors and all kind of blended together. I commented that we needed to get some fun colored chairs. Brian came up with the genius idea to just spray paint the plastic ones we had. Brilliant! Not real sure why I didn't think of it....well, it's probably because I suck at spray painting and most of my stuff I have tried to paint in the past looks like crap. Brian totally doesn't have this problem, and he can even paint without getting it all over me which is not the case for me at all, my fingers have spray paint on them for days. Anyways, he picked out a fun bright blue and did some painting. I spray painted (you should have seen my finger. Seriously don't know how Brian managed to paint two whole chairs without getting any on him! All I had to paint was three pots) three clay pots. The end result is fabulous, and our front porch is no longer boring!

New view from the front yard. Amazing that you can actually see both chairs. With the old bush, it went up to the bottom of the window and covered half of the sidewalk if you didn't keep it trimmed.
Up close shot of the tiered flower pots I made that I'm super proud of. I saw this tutorial for this a year ago and have been wanting to do it ever since. Giving the porch some spice was the perfect excuse! I have fake flowers in here because I can't keep anything alive (except for a tiny bonsi (sp?) plant I got from a student my first year as a para). Whenever we have flowers in a pot, or I'm trying to grow something from a seed, it all just dies. I forget to water it, then I water it too much to make up for lack of water. It just makes me unsuccessful. Plus, I'm just lazy and don't want to have to plant things in these pots every year. So, I improvised and found some really fun fake flowers that will look fabulous all year long. So if you are in the need of some fun bright colors in the middle of winter, you know whose house to drive by!

Sandbox Play

We've had our sandbox in the backyard (under the deck...nice and shady, you just have to ignore the spiders. YUCK!) for quite a while. Eli loves the sandbox. I feel bad for him because we don't play in the backyard nearly as much as he would probably like because I don't want to deal with the dog poop. I could probably just leave it for Brian to pick up, but I don't want to have to worry about the kids plowing through it, so anytime we are out there, I feel compelled to pick up poop. Anyways, Kamdyn was never much of a fan. She would much rather be swinging. Until just recently that is. I put her in a couple of months ago and she was very unsure. Now, she's very sure about the fun of the sandbox. She LOVES that thing. When we go in the backyard that's the first place she wants to be. I just plop her down and as long as she has her sand tools, she is good to go:) She will play in there for herself for quite a while. Pretty cute, and gives me time to do poop detail. I think the poop has been picked up more in the last 6 months than it has been in the last 3 (almost 4) years we've had Jake. Finally got around to taking some pictures of her playing in the sandbox a couple of weekends ago. I gotta scrapbook it:)

Sidenote: the hat she is wearing in one of Eli's that he outgrew. She cracks me up. She pulls bows and handbands out of her hair instantly, but she gets ticked if I take her hat off. I was trying to get some pictures of her playing without it because she kind of looks like a boy since she doesn't have long hair yet (come on hair, grow!!), but she got so mad at me and was just crying, so I had to put it back on. Wish her brother kept his on as well....

Eli still enjoys the sandbox too. He (by "he" I mean mommy) likes to make castles. Too bad our sand is never wet enough to make any good ones. Doesn't hurt my feelings much, he just stomps on them the second I get them mad anyway.

Someone needs an attitude adjustment

And I'm not talking about the kids (however, they are often in need of some sort of attitude adjustment at least 3 times a day). I'm talking about this momma right here. The last several weeks have just been tough on me. I've just been one big rain cloud, and in a total funk. I will wake up everyday refreshed and renewed and ready for a new day, only to want to scream and run from the house by 7:30 am (our kids get up at 7 people!). Not real sure why I've been in such a bad mood, but I just can't seem to shake it. I'm tired and irritated (not to mention pregnant, which is no excuse, but I've discovered through the other two pregnancies that while I may have an actual great pregnancy, I have zero patience or tolerance for stuff....add in two toddlers, this = very bad combo), feel like I am never getting a break and just tired of everyday life. Satan has been putting lots and lots of demons in my life that I am NOT very good at getting rid of. I've just been one big sourpuss....there's no other way to put it. Our kids have been driving me crazy, and because of it, I have had bad mommy moment after bad mommy moment. I feel like all I do most days is yell at the kids and take my frustrations out on them. So unfair. It's gotta make me a horrible wife, because I know I'm failing in the mommy department (thankfully, so thankfully, our children are loving and very very forgiving of me. I'm so not deserving). Everyday I tell myself, I'm going to have a good day, I'm going to be patient with the kids and not yell at them. Yeah right! Then they wake up, and all I hear is whining or crying, and by 10 I'm ready to start searching for a day job, or start crying (might as well join the kids!). Something to get me out! But I'm thankful still. I'm thankful for an amazing family, an awesome husband who puts up with my mood day after day and helps when he can and isn't busy with soccer. I'm thankful for children who still want to cuddle and love me no matter how many times I yell at them. I think what annoys me the most about the times I get in these moods, is that I know I'm truly blessed. I don't want to be frustrated with the everyday mundane things of life, I want to be happy and love what I do...but like everyone else, sometimes it just gets to be too much, and you reach a breaking point. This drives me crazy. For those of you who don't know me well, I'm a "do it yourself" kind of woman. I want to figure things out on my own and rarely ask for help. I want to be able to handle it all and do it myself. I want to have it all together and be content. I don't want someone doing something for me that I'm perfectly capable of doing....it's just the way I am. Anyways, I've had a good day today (the first in several weeks, not that I haven't had lots of great moments amidst the bad) so I'm optimistic that maybe I'm starting to claw my way out of this colossal "funk" :)

Enough about that....on to a bit of randomness:

My belly is growing, however, this picture is actually several weeks old. I think this was taken about 22 weeks, I'm 25 now, but you get the idea. I'm getting big:) I put on my bathing suit for the first time last week, and the first thought that came to mind was "whale" Oh boy, it's going to be scary by the pool later this summer! Maybe if I can get out of my funk, I will stop eating so much junk too and that will help with the "girly" pregnant figure (if there is such a thing!) So far baby Hutton is looking good. He's a little mover and I'm thinking that he should be pretty used to abuse by the time he actually gets here because his older brother and sister definitely don't respect the personal bubble of mommy's belly. They just jump and push all over it.
Hello crack! This kid is going to be a nightmare to potty train. And I've decided that he will probably have to wear a night time diaper until he's 7. He wakes up SOOO wet. This day, he was actually about to lose his diaper because it was so full. Pretty gross! I've even started cutting him off of liquids and hour before bedtime. Seriously, I think he stores up everything for night time.
This little one LOVES the little rocker my mom brought over from my grandma's house. I remember sitting in this thing when I was a kid. It's just her size and she sits and reads and plays in it all the time. It's pretty cute. Eli likes it too, but not nearly as much as Kamdyn, she is always in this thing!

This boy loves his bath toys

I know I've said it before, but I'm not a huge fan on bath time. I do have to say, bath time is growing on me. It's a great way to waste 30 minutes in the evening when the kids are driving me bonkers. And the kids love them, and get along for the most of the time (hope I'm not cursing myself for a tear-filled bath time tonight!) Besides, since it's getting nicer outside, I feel like the kids get way dirtier and need baths more frequently:) So, we've been enjoying lots of time in the bath. Eli LOVES playing with his bath toys. He just cracks me up. He has so much fun, so I had to take some pictures of fun in the tub.This little one is usually just trying to stay away from her crazy brother and steer clear of all the spraying water. It is usually a lost cause!
What's better than your own personal fountain in the bath?!?!?

He freaks out when I dump water all over his head, but he doesn't care if he sprays himself in the face with water. Go figure.


Get me out of here please!!
Gotta love squeaky clean kids:)

Hi, I'm Krista.......and I'm afraid of bugs

There's a first for everything.....last night I discovered a tick on me when I was taking a shower. Seriously creeped me out! I am not a bug person at all. Bugs give me the heebie jeebies, and I pretty much steer clear of all kinds of creepy crawlers. I don't even like to kill bugs, it grosses me out, and part of the reason I hate weeding so much is because I always feel like there are bugs crawling all over me. Needless to say, when I saw that tick, I kind of freaked out. All day long I keep thinking I am feeling bugs crawling on me. That tick didn't ask permission to take up residence on my body, and I feel slightly violated (Brian informed me that more parasites don't care if I want them there or not).

Since I have such a "love" for bugs, and this was a first for me with the tick, I was probably being overdramatic about it:) I told Brian I felt like there were ticks hiding all over me and that he should probably do the "monkey thing" and check my hair for ticks too. I remember (or think this is what they told us) when I was in Brownies, they always told us to wear hats out in the woods to protect against ticks. Then Brian made fun of me and said that wasn't true (unless the ticks fell out of trees), and that we were supposed to wear hats to protect from sunburn:) I was a brownie drop-out, so what do I know, but I swear that's what they said......did anyone else ever hear that?

Here's to hoping I never find another tick on my body! And that the rest of you know how to handle yourselves if you do find a tick, I sure didn't.

On a side note.....Brian was teasing me again this morning(after I told him I saw a bug in the sink. I washed it down.....he asked if it was a tick. I wasn't sure, but I told him they were after me!), and I said the thing about him doing to the monkey picking thing in my hair....Eli heard me and said, "mommy, you have a monkey in your hair?" So funny