Have you ever played...

stomp the hand or smack the foot?

Check it out.

Step one. Mom waits patiently outside of door.

Step two. Lil guy sticks hand out from UNDER the door, to either get stomped or be the smacker.

Step three. Everyone laughs.

PS. Don't mind my blue tape, Mr. Dunbar will be fixing that soon, won't you honey?

I play musical beds...

I played musical beds last night, more so than I usually do...
11:01pm Turn off light and snuggle under covers of MY bed.
12:01 am Bogie crying, go check on him in HIS bed.
12:30am Bogie crying again, check on him in HIS bed.
2:30am Bogie crying again, feed him in HIS room. (I couldn't climb into the crib.)
3:24 am I hear "Mommy, do you want to come lay with me?" Head over to Monkey's room, climb into HIS bed.
5:30 Bogie crying agin, go to his room, take him back to MY bed to feed him.
7:30am Another body climbing over me, Monkey tells me "I will snuggle in your bed."

Accepting what's best

I always liked the quote "Motherhood is learning to live with your heart outside your body."

Bogie is starting to crawl. Monkey is at the Pre-School age where he can do just about everything by himself, and that's the way he wants it to be. I just pray that they would know how much I love them, how much I plead with God to protect them from physical and emotional harm. I want them to appreciate my prayers for their souls, their brains, their hearts, their wallets, and their future wives. (Those wives will someday hold the power to almost all of the above.) I pray for their friendships and the souls of those friends. I pray for their time and how they spend it.

And then sometimes I pray that I would truly understand that they are not really mine and that someone bigger than I knows what's best for them. In my womanhood, I don't like this prayer very much, I want to control this, too. I want them to be mine always always. But I am raising men. Somehow, God knows what's best. I still don't like it, but I am accepting it.

We went to see Santa

Turkey Day Re-cap...

Several years ago my mom started the tradition of having Thanksgiving Breakfast to ease the travelling between families for my brothers and I. This year with all of the chaos of my Grandpa's passing my sister-in-laws and I put the meal together, which I think turned out fabulous. And with all of the work divided, nobody was super stressed. Amber made eggs, a fruit platter and cinnamon rolls. I made a ham, some of our traditional side dishes (yams and green beans.) Erica, ok Adam, made the potatoes and brought tortillas. Us Mexicans always have tortillas instead of rolls for breakfast. Anyhow, here are a few pictures of our day...

All of the V cousins, all six, even the G-Man who slept pretty much the whole time.

Trying to get a family picture... yeah right!

Bogie and I.

The kids table... Cinnabon cinnamon rolls, now that's Thanksgiving!

I made the ham, Monkey helped. Check out the recipe here.

Gerber

Doesn't my kid look like a Gerber baby?

Wordless Wednesday

Taking it Old School...

Yesterday we celebrated Monkey's 3rd birthday. For the past month Mr. Dunbar and I went back and forth of whether or not to have a party. I wasn't feeling very "theme-ish" and I am all "pirate-d" out, so I sent an evite to our closest family and friends inviting them to come over and play. The turn out was great and I think it was actually a whole lot of fun. It really reminded me of the birthday parties I had growing up: some pizza, cake, ice cream, lots of family, some friends, and maybe a some colored napkins. No theme. Just birthday.

Here are few of the pictures...

Notice how my kid chose a pink and yellow cake! I didn't even ask why.

Wordless Wednesday

Somehow I forgot to post yesterday... Anyhow here are the Wednesday pictures. Enjoy.

TJ's Freezer

I got to go into the freezer at Trader Joe's. My mom's group set up a field trip to tour our local store. It was pretty neat. We saw the box machine that crushes all of the cardboard boxes to be recycled (very earth friendly), the freezer, the refrigerator, and some of their products. At the end of our tour. Each child received a bag with a juice box, apple, and parrot cookies. All of this for FREE. If you have a Trader Joe's near you, and you belong to a group with kids, call them up, I'm sure they all give tours. And who can pass up a FREE field trip these days? Good times.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Even though its over...

Here are some of our Halloween pictures... They are out of order, but you get the idea.

Monkey refused to wear his pirate coat, so no my kid is not supposed to be a homeless child, he's supposed to look like Captain Braidbeard. Anybody know where that's from?

Trick or Treating at our neighbors houses. They didn't give us candy they gave us gifts; books, cars, coloring books, flashlights, sippy cups... insane. But so loving.

Palin/ McCain at our church's Trunk N Treat.

Going to the islands at church.

The fam in the street.

Bogie and I. Aargh!

Wordless Wednesday

This is how you read at 6 months.
He's showing me what he wants from the Fisher Price Catalog.
Aye yai yai.

You know...

My true life story.
You know you are a mom of boys when you go to get a bandaid and your choices are camoflauge bandages or Diego Bandaids.
You know you are a mom of boys when they poop, look at it, and say "Hey Mommy, its a triangle." And it is. Who can poop in a triangle???
You know you are a mom of boys when the game in the bathtub is throw the baby whale at the wall and try to make it bounce off of the baby brother's head.
You know you are a mom of boys when you let them wear new shoes to school and they come home after only 3 hours looking like this:

Chunk

Bogie wants to walk. He wants to do everything his big brother does. Does this mean he won't stay a baby for as long?? I guess so.

I am so sad.

Look at those chunkie legs!! I just love to squeeze them.

Will it continue?

He worked oh so very hard on this task. Nobody asked him to, I mean come on who makes their almost 3 year old pick up the dog poop?

Not I.

He just took it upon himself. Do you think it'll be this easy when he's almost 13?

Cleaning the house

Don't I wish I could take a waterhose to my house right now???

I'm off to clean the bathroom for like the 100th time this week. Monkey has decided to put his hand up and tell me "NO MOMMY!! I do it myself!!" Meaning, "I"m going to pee and get some of it in the toilet and the rest on the floor."

Why did God insist on creating a species that can't aim??? But I am thankful for a bathroom. (And for 800 mg Ibuprofen, my wrist is killing me.)

Anyhow, clorox, clorox, and more clorox will be poured into my bathroom this week until I come up with a better (more eco-friendly) way to kill the stench.

Thankful for...

My bloggy friend over at the Extraordinary Ordinary challenged us to write about things we are good at as a mom.
So here are my thoughts on thankfulness for things I think I am pretty good at:
(They are in no particular order...)

1. Wearing bandanas to Target as a pirate family.
2. The ability to draw all of the planets along with their moons.
3. Scheduling nail trimming on Sunday nights, toes first.
4. Looking my boys in thier eyes when I talk with them, they deserve that respect. (Mr. Dunbar brought this to my attention a few months ago and I have been working on this daily.)
5. Running around in the grass to play soccer, golf, baseball, football, and any other game that involves a ball.
6. Praying with my lil men daily.
7. Planning for their futures in their bank account (dollars), heaven account (prayers), and muscle mass account (semi-healthy meals.)
8. Trying to love their dad in a way that will show them what a wife truly looks like.
9. Encouraging intelligence, wit, bravery, honesty, and godliness.
10. Reading to them and striving to expand their vocabulary.

I am thankful for my boys daily. I am thankful that I get to share my life with them, and I'm thankful for someone challenging me to write these down.

Two Peas in A Pumpkin

Welcome to the Pumkin Patch.

We love to climb like Pirates.
Slide like slippery Nemo fish.
Drop down a Wall of fire.
and call it a night.

Happy Autumn!!!

Thoughtful Thursday

I'ts just been one of those days. Not a crazy can't wait till its over day and not a so super exciting kind of day. Just another day. One more day to cross off on the calendar. Until I had a moment. I seem to be living my life by moments right now, but I digress.
Monkey went to school this morning and when I went to go pick him up I was about 10 minutes early. So I was peeking in the blinds to check on my child in his own element. The element away from Mommy. He was doing well. He said "Please" and "Thank-you" to the teacher for his playdoh, without even having to be prompted. He dropped something and got down to pick it up. He shared with his neighbor friend. And I stood there with Bogie in my arms in awe.
I was in awe because he is my Little Man. And he's growing so fast. Not so long ago, it was Monkey that would have been in my arms and Bogie would have still been a dream. But my life has expanded. My heart has grown. And before I know it Bogie will be sitting in that same chair, (with the same teacher-hopefully) and I again will be looking in through that window. And then it will be a different window, the kindergarten window and then there will be no more peeking because it would just be SO embarassing to have your mom peeking in on you. Sigh. I know my days with my Little Men are numbered. Tear. They are only so little for such a short time. Another sigh.
From the deepest spot of my being I pray that I will raise good Godly gracious MEN.
Thank you Mr. Dunbar for sacrificing so much so that I can be here for them (and YOU!)

Wordless Wednesday