Summertime Carnival

Today we celebrated with Miss M - Beads and Ballerina's (might as well be) cousin - for her 3rd birthday and we had a blast! Her mama put together the cutest carnival themed party. And with Aunt C being nearly 9 months pregnant, this was no small feat! There was a bouncy house, great games, lots of fun food (think popcorn and cotton candy machines), balloon animals, a dress-up area, and all kinds of adorable decorations. Three years ago we lived just a couple streets over from Aunt C and Uncle S. Now we live about an hour away so when we get a chance to see one another, it's the best!
Ballerina could have stayed and lived in that bouncy house if we had let her and Beads was all about the ball pit, balloons, and hugs from his Aunt C and Uncle S. He got a little anxious with all of the commotion going on but settled into a pretty good routine of rocking on Daddy's lap and playing with a balloon after a while. Whatever works! Another favorite at the party was the temporary tattoo station. Ballerina was already all tatted up before we got there but totally needed more ink when she discovered that table. Such a fun day! Feel free to share your birthday party posts with me. I'd love to see the fun ways you've celebrated with the littles in your life!

Warthogs in the Kitchen

I really have no idea what I'm doing.

When it comes to blogging, that is. Okay...life, too. But hey, who does?

I still have high hopes that this will one day revolve around our homeschool adventures but honestly, we haven't been doing much in the way of school lately. My kids have been demanding...bossy...defiant...stubborn...and really just not interested in any sit-down-and-focus-for-more-than-three-seconds kind of work. 

Today the hubby and I were working with them - playing with play-dough (fun, right?) and trying to help them make letters and spell out their names with it. Beads was super pissed that he had to sit for more than a few minutes so he was all, "Whatever, I'll just tear this dough into bits, Dad. Make a letter out of THOSE micro pieces!" and Ballerina all of a sudden forgot what letters look like. It was a real barrel of monkeys, I tell ya. Beads has taken up this attitude most days during therapy as well. I used to hear all about how hard he worked and what a good day he had. Now, for the most part, when he gets done his therapists tell me that he was flinging things, not listening, and not wanting to pay attention. WHERE HAVE MY SWEET BABIES GONE?

Okay, so they're still super sweet most of the time but man, 4 and 5 year olds can be rough! 

B & B have really been into baking with me recently, though. We count eggs and cups and learn about measuring so it's not like I'm totally failing at teaching them things. Not surprisingly, their favorite book this week is Warthogs in the Kitchen - A Sloppy Counting Book. It's so cute, even I like it. Plus it reinforces numbers and that's never a bad thing. There are two recipes in the back - one for regular, human cupcakes and one for sloppy Warthog cupcakes. We plan on making the treats for Warthogs soon. Basically you just let your kids go insane with ingredients and make a big mess. My nightmare (I'll do it anyway); their dream. My mom used to let me mix up whatever weird things I chose from the pantry/fridge in a big bowl for funsies when I was little and it was one of my favorite things to do.

Let's see...Daddy Jam turned 30 last week! Isn't that weird? Thirty. And I'll be 25 in a few days. Growing up is strange. Especially when you still feel awkward and 17 (and look it) but you're actually an adult who's been a parent for nearly 6 years. Wouldn't go back to being a teenager even if I could though! Blech. 

Anyone else have the desire to purge half the crap in your house here lately? I think we'll be having a yard sale in a few weeks, with everything marked super cheap so we are sure to get rid of it. Things just keep getting so cluttered and while part of it is because I hate to clean (but love having a clean house, go figure) the majority of it is because we have so much stuff we don't even need. I need a day that the kiddos are gone for a few hours so that I can go through their things and actually lighten their room load. They're getting better about passing toys on but even still, any box marked "give away" seems to hold magical powers that make every piece of kids meal plastic the absolute best toy in the whole. universe. 

I get it, though. Mama also has a hard time letting go of toys.  There are some things that you really should hold onto, especially educational whatnots - but every single piece of scribbled-on paper or stuffed animal? Nope. Watch an episode of Hoarders and move it along. 

Anyway, here's our past week in pictures.

We had the best time at Nana and Papa's for the 4th of July. Beads and Ballerina got to see their aunts, uncles, and cutie-pie baby cousin, M!

Happy Thursday!