The best breakfast date

Sunday morning, B got up and got the kids breakfast and allowed me to sleep in. When I finally woke {not by choice, by B almost literally dragging me out} Sissy was the only one left at the table.

"What is she eating?" I asked while I added cream and sugar to the cup of coffee that B thrust at me in an effort to ward off all grumpiness.
"Cereal"
"Well, I can see that...does she have milk in there?"
"Yeah. Cause she's eating cereal. With milk. All the kids had bowls of cereal for breakfast...she's on her third bowl." B said in a tone that read ''DUH".

Now Sissy eats cereal almost every morning, that's not what surprised me. What surprised me was several things: One, she was at the table in a booster seat and not in her high chair. Two, she had milk in the bowl...I always give her dry cereal in her bowl and sippy cup of milk because I just assumed it would be too messy and too easy for her to spill. Three, there was no mess and four, she was on her third bowl!

How did I not know that my 17 month old daughter could eat a bowl of cereal with milk, using her spoon? {Because I never even offered it to her is the reason}It hit me like a ton of bricks: she isn't a baby anymore. She is most definitely a toddler. A toddler who is capable of more things if I give her a chance to try. A toddler who is learning and discovering new things that she likes and new things that she can do, everyday.

I was suddenly immensely proud of her.

So, I poured a bowl of cereal myself. Grabbed my coffee and had breakfast with my big girl. As I sat there I was able to look at her, I mean really look at her and I realized that I cannot put into words just how much I love my kids. All of them. I didn't even know it was possible to love another person, as much as I love my children. And I don't know how to explain or why but the love you feel for a daughter is different than the love you feel for a son. It's not that you love one more than the other, that's certainly not the case as I love all my kids more than I can even express...it is just different. And I am glad that I was given an opportunity to experience it.

And I think the above two photos are my all time favorite photos of us together. B snapped them with an iphone but even with sleepy eyes and bedhead hair, I just love them.

Today was the kind of day where...

I wanted to drop my kids off at a drop in day care and pick them up, oh...next week. Maybe??

The rational side of me says ''Shannon, you've been traveling a lot. Things are changing, they're young, each going through new challenges and phases...you're going to have bad days''.

And the other side says: "Geez woman, your kids are nuts''.

I mean seriously. Today they were the whiniest, greediest, over the top complainers and we did FUN stuff today. You would have thought that I had locked them in their rooms, gave them only the crusts off of bread and then left them in the dark. (Don't worry, that may be on the agenda for tomorrow). Ahem.

But no, we went to SEA WORLD today. Granted it's not the "funnest place on earth" but it's Sea World. They got up, played, ate breakfast, got dressed, played and then hurriedly cleaned up. We loaded up the van, stopped and grabbed lunch. They complained about lunch and that we didn't let them play in the play place. I felt like screaming ''WE ARE GOING TO SEA WORLD. DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH COOLER THAT IS THAN CHICK-FIL-A???" Then I made them drink Gatorade instead of Root Beer. How the humanity? How could I possibly force them to drink something that wasn't full of carbonation and sugar!?

We finally get to Sea World, get through the gate and pick up the double stroller I had rented ahead of time. Pooks immediately starts saying he's too tired to walk. "Really, cause we can go back to the van?" and suddenly he's fine.

 We walk TEN feet and the ''I'm starving. I'm so hungry my tummy hurts. Can we get popcorn?" starts. Seriously!? I tell them that at the Sea Lion show I will get them popcorn if they stop asking for it. So I ride the Shamu express with Bubba while Ron takes the 3 littles on the carousel.

 By now we gotta hurry toward the Sea Lion show. Oh look the Count and no line? Totally need a picture...

would have been perfect if she hadn't blinked!

All of us wanted to see the sea lion show because it's the only show we had never caught...well, we saw the Christmas version and they loved that, so we were hoping they'd like the regular Clyde and Seymour show too. Which they did, once they finally had popcorn.

Sissy however, loved it without the popcorn. I think she stood on mine or B's lap the entire show.

After the Sea Lions we headed toward Shamu's show. While we have seen Shamu twice, I really wanted to see the new show ''One Ocean''. Yeah, that didn't happen. The boys didn't want Shamu, they wanted cotton candy. And Elmo. They wanted Churros and the playground.

Dude, I can buy you a freaking churro at Costco and we have a playground less than a block from our house. Sea World = Shamu.

Nevertheless on my way back from the bathrooms, I get them their damn cotton candy. And less than five minutes into One Ocean....''I don't like Shamu. I want Elmo.""Can we go play now?""I'm too tired.""I need Pepsi". "Can we just leave?"

So glad you asked because yes, yes we are. Sorry I'm the mom and we never get to actually do anything that I *want* to do. But I will not sit here and let you ruin the show for the people around us by your whining. So I grudgingly remind myself that they are just little kids. The newness has worn off and that I won't be seeing Shamu. I look at the map and the Elmo show starts in 10 minutes, so we head over there.

Sissy is immediately in LOVE with this. She's out of the stroller. She can walk around. She can dance!? Actually, Bubba, Peanut and Sissy were all in love with the Sesame Street show. Pooks however? Not so much. "Dey just fweak me out and I don't want to see Elmo!" Well, too bad kid. Too bad. I wanted to see Shamu but that didn't happen. Now you have to see Elmo (which keep in mind he was ASKING for 5 minutes earlier).

"But they just freak me out". 

And yes. My four and a half year old sat in that stroller for the entire 15 minutes show. Peanut was mesmerized but didn't want to get too close. Sissy and Bubba? Couldn't get enough.

Bubba, after he high-fived Elmo"

After the show the characters come out for pictures, high fives, hugs...that sort of thing. Sissy was over the moon excited for Abby Caddaby. When we went up near the stage during the song, she was grinning and trying to get her hair. When we went to her to get pictures she just had this permanent little smirk and couldn't stop staring at her. She just loved it and it was by far, the best part of the day.

After that, it all went down hill again. Pooks started saying he was hungry. Again. Conveniently just as we passed a dippin' dot stand. So not happening today. He was still riding in the stroller at this point. Bubba would not hold my hand so he kept getting 10 feet behind us (and we were sloooooow, peanut was walking!) then would come running up with tears in his eyes saying we were leaving him behind. At this point it looked like it was going to ran, B and I's patience were beyond thin and we called the whole thing done. Got to sea world a little after 12:30, gone by 4:00. I am so glad we have season passes and didn't forfeit the cost of a ticket for that little 3 hour jaunt!

Family portraits!

So you may have noticed from the new blog header, we had family portraits taken. It was a really great opportunity, he captured some amazing photos and just an example of a "well the worst they could say is 'no'."

I should interrupt myself here and mention that while I wanted professional family portraits for awhile, we are in the midst of moving, currently on vacation before that move and don't have the extra $200+. But we have a family friend who is a graphic designer and has started doing more photography. He does it commercially. Photo shoots of dance warm ups, coaches jackets, etc. Well I messaged him and asked if would be willing to take our photos while we were in town. I didn't care when or where, I didn't care if he used his Nikon and fancy lenses or my Canon Rebel and one of my two lenses. I just wanted one decent family photo. Oh, and I could only pay him in gratitude, compliments and food. He immediately messaged back and said sure. He'd never done family photography and would love to be able to experiment with us, see what to do and what not to do, etc.

So one Friday afternoon we met up, he let us do what we do (no posing or cheesiness) and captured some great shots of our family. He took all of the photos, processed and edited a few and left the editing up to me on the rest. (We were tight on time since we were leaving town; we're now into part/town 2 of our vacation). I love editing so it wasn't too hard for me to invest some time into our pictures. A couple I probably won't share as they will go on our Christmas cards but here are a few that I liked...

 

 

 

 

 And our outfits? Well not what I had envisioned but I had only packed the boys Converse All-Star shoes. I wasn't about to go buy three new pairs of shoes so instead I ran to Wal-Mart and found these thermals/t=shirts. I think it fits our family better than the Polos and long sleeve shirts/layers I had originally planned. I was pumped that Ron and I had packed clothes that coordinated, Miss Moo got her outfit for her birthday and it worked perfect. The boys' shirts were $5.50 each so it was win-win!

Tim if you're reading this, thanks bunches! We had a blast and love the photos!

Happy {belated} Birthday Nanaw!

Saturday was Nanaw's birthday but since she was out of town we celebrated on Sunday. As usual for her bday, she picked dinner and dessert. In this case: Chicken Fried Steak, mashed potatoes and green beans followed with...Red Velvet Cupcakes with homemade Cream Cheese frosting.

After dinner and dessert, we played outside for a bit. The bugs were awful but we managed to hang out for awhile.

Hope you had a great Birthday Nanaw!!

favorite and least favorite

my favorite part of the day...bedtime! not because they'll all be sleeping and i'll finally have peace and quiet (seriously, that's not it) but because all the boys are so snuggly. they settle down, they are cuddly, they smell like baby lotion and bubble gum toothpaste. they love to read books (3 is the limit) and even though i read aloud from one book, they all flip through a book on their own. it's just so relaxing and i know it won't be this way for ever so i'm cherishing it now.
that's my favorite part. it's clean, there is no fighting, and they are just so cute. flipping through their books, pretending to be reading.

my least favorite part? the next morning.

my boys, while they always wake up early, they are not morning people. they are crabby, they are territorial and they take a good 30 minutes to really wake up. they are messy, nothing can convince them to clean up. even when they trip over a toy that i suggested they move so they wouldn't trip over it, they still won't pick it up. i can't do anything right. they didn't want milk on their cereal, they wanted apple juice not orange juice. they wanted cocoa pebbles not lucky charms. honestly, now that i type it out i guess they are just normal men! ha! this was this morning---all 3 fighting over puzzles. even though we have at least 10 wooden puzzles, they still fight.
oh and notice peanut? see him standing there? yeah the boys are not happy about that!
peanut has been pulling himself up for about a week. for a week he's been pulling himself up to stand using the sofa's, the sliding glass doors, the baby gate--any piece of furniture will do. well today he realized that he can pull himself up using his brothers toy box...which gives him direct access to about a million hot wheels cars that they have been 'hiding' in the top bins. so you know what bubba did? he packed up every single one of his cars, put them in his backpack, then went upstairs and put the backpack in his bed.

i chose not to tell him that peanut can pull himself up using his bed too.

hey, i try not to shatter too many hopes and dreams in one day!

SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!

i ♥ sunday. it's our lazy day to hang around the house, do a little cleaning and a lot of relaxing. today was unseasonably cool; we're talking like 72 degrees in kansas. in august? hello global warming, welcome! it was hotter in june than august?! backwards but I'll take it! we spent a good chunk of the afternoon at the park near our house. the boys pretended they were monkeys in the zoo, played in a fort, practiced swinging, and ran wild.

bubba loved climbing to the top, pooks however is apparently afraid of heights

peanut enjoyed a (rather slow) merry-go-round

pooks enjoyed ''flying" with his leaf

peanut enjoyed the swing s for the first time (usually he could care less)

pooks living it up in the cool Kansas air

a quick family pic
(only bubba understood the concept of looking at the camera perched on the fort)

now we're at home, boys are playing outside, peanut is watching from his playyard and i am blogging from my new pink piece of dell love. (which by the way seems to no way be effected by the beer spill)!

Busy Busy Weekend!

whew, we had a very busy weekend! we went to nanaw and papa's house this weekend (well fri-mon). while there we visited with nanaw and papa (of course!), matt and rachel were there too. basically the boys were spoiled rotten the whole time...hmm, imagine that! we took them to the pumpkin patch on saturday. it was a gorgeous day and i think we all had fun. bubba was a little sleepy, so that translates to grumpy in the pics. pooks slept some of the time, but was awake for the most part. we were going to go on a hayrack ride and pick our own pumpkins, but it was going to be over 45mins, and with two babies, thats just too long to wait for a stinkin' pumpkin. anyways, here are the pics. some are from the pumpkin patch, some are from nanaws and papa's. enjoy!
pooks and mommy:

mommy and her boys:

rachel and nanaw helping bubba pick a pumpkin out: