ahhh.. letting out some steam...

So I bought a hand held steamer (was that what you were thinking I was talking about??)..

And it is awesome!! My sister, Mishka, told me about all the stuff she was able to clean with hers, so I had to try it out.

It makes cleaning so much easier.

In order to show you, I have to be transparent. So, don't judge..

(I did forget to get a picture of the bigger job I tackled in my fridge). Something had spilled and gotten underneath the crisper's and it was there for a while. Had I tried to clean it with soap and water, I would have been there a while. But the steamer took care of it in under a minute. Loosened it right up.

But don't loose heart. I still had more disgusting ick inside the actual crisper's.

Apparently some onion peel got stuck in something very sticky. (i have no clue). It would take a lot of elbow grease to scrape that stuff off.

But after my steamer.. it was nice and clean. And it took about less than a minute to loosen the junk.. Nice and clean.

However, the main reason I bought it was to try it out on my hall bathroom. The one used by two boys (ages 5 & 4). It smells like a public bathroom in there because they have probably peed on every part of that toilet beside in the water. Sooo those hard to reach places are going to be easy targets with my new steamer. And with no chemicals because the heat of the water also disinfects. ;-)

So i'll try to remember to document that one. Im sure it will be a lovely sight.

adios.

Just a swingin'

Do you remember that song: "Just a swingin." When i saw these pictures that's what I started singing in my head. So of course I had to try and find the song. It only took me back about 20 years. Wow.

Anyway.. Eva really enjoys "pushing" Isaac (if you can call it that) in the swing. He seems to like it too...

trying to get him as high as she can go..

not quite realizing she has to get out of the way once she lets go..

and I simply adore both of their expressions in this.

and in case you aren't keeping up.. this cutie will turn ONE on May 12th. Wild. Just Wild.

Single Folks.. eat your heart out!

Singles think they have all the fun.. Well let me ask you, single friend:

What do you do on a Saturday night?

Go out to eat? pshhh.. boring.

Get a pedicure? hmm. typical.

Hang out with other adults? zzzzzzzzzzz.

Well, I'm here to tell ya: Parents have MORE FUN!
Yep! That's right. See, you could be washing out your son's bedding with a hose in your front yard after he's thrown up, what looks to be three days worth of food, at 9:30 at night.

Smashing good fun!

Then you could watch old episodes of The Office on Netflix while he sleeps on the couch while you are on "future throw up" ALERT.

Jealous yet?

If not, how does being home bound sound? Not having a car whilst trapped, er, umm.. at home with your four kids.
Yep. You may not be able to tell but there is HUGE black spot on my driveway under my van (notice the oil on the actual door of the car? don't ask me how that happened). Needless to say, my van is in the shop and I am trying to remain hopeful as to how much dinero it will cost and when I will actually escape, I mean, leave the house again.

Until then, my single friends..

don't hate.

in which we all get in the bathtub..

Last week we had some severe weather in Alabama. Everyone got out of school at 12 noon for storms that were coming at 4pm. (slightly irritated at that.. but I will move on).

Since this was the first time we've had an actual Tornado pass through our area.. ever, the kids were amazed at what they were seeing.

Here they are enjoying the massive downpour and occasional hail. Even Isaac is watching.

But as the sirens were blaring and James Spann (our local weatherman genius) was warning.. AND my five year old was begging.. we headed to "safety." I told them they could bring the Nilla Waffers and their pillows. Well, then it wasn't so scary anymore. Jorge brought his gun in case, you know, the tornado brought in some bad guys.

Eva took care of the food stockpile, eh hem.

and we stayed in there all of five minutes.

The Tornado decided to go further south and head on out of our county.

I did learn a valuable lesson that day: if you have a dramatic five year old, no matter how much you tell him that everything is going to be fine and you yourself remain as calm as a cucumber (even though you are a bit nervous because daddy is downtown still at work).. your dramatic child will still be a worrier. So take it easy on him. He is built differently than you. And that's okay. He will learn to trust over time.

And it's probably best to appease him when he is pulling you in to the bathroom so you won't get sucked up by the tornado.

Tornado Isaac..

To be so little.. he sure knows how to make a big mess.. in a very short amount of time.

Here is what i love. The time on this photo 3:15:15 (as in 15 seconds).. now look at the next one

3:15:20. yep.. five seconds, folks. that child is wishy washy. And Im sure I made a funny face to get him to laugh.

He is quite adorable. imo.

We had a "scare" with the nursing. He had started to bite me. So the nursing got down to a minimum. I was trying all the "tricks" to get him to stop and nothing was helping. Then he got a cold, which included a stuffy nose, and it was near impossible for him to suck and breathe at the same time.

I was sure our nursing time was coming to an end. But thankfully, he is breathing better AND has stopped biting me. Although, he does get an inkling to try and bite me every once in a while and I get a stern voice and say "OWW! NO BITE." And it seems to be registering now.

So hopefully I can actually make it to his first birthday (May 12th). Which would be a first for my kiddos. That's my prayer, anyway.

adios.

Run AWAY!!!

SICKNESS!!!

It has run through our house. Jorge threw up. Eva had diarrhea and now this is day two in the life of sick Alex. He was out because of a fever yesterday. And then today: fever AND he threw up. In my bed.

When i texted my husband to tell him that Alex threw up in our bed he replied: "which side? yours or mine. haha. sorry."

Well it was my side. But i forgive him.

I mean look at that pitiful face...

Crackers. Water bottle. And the big green throw up bowl.

Which has doubled as a popcorn bowl at times.

Sorry.

That is gross.

He likes frijoles!

(sorry for the picture quality)

But Isaac loves beans!!

(notice his hair??)

feeling a bit nostalgic..

I uploaded some old pictures onto my computer from my external hard drive so that I can make some memory books.
Looking through the baby pictures took me back. I hate to say it.. it goes so fast.

i look at these pictures and I can't help but feel incredibly blessed. With the man holding them and the babies themselves.

Jorge, 6/10/2005

Alex, 9/29/06

Eva, 8/26/08

Isaac, 5/12/10

Are all those your kids?

I have four. F.O.U.R kids. That is not a lot (in my mind). Especially considering that I have friends with 5, 6 or 7 kids.

But I do "get it" that them being so close in age, and all under 5, it looks like a circus when we go out..but I seriously don't get some people's reactions.

For instance, yesterday at Walmart. A man in his late sixties (my guess) was with his wife. She and I were both rummaging through the packaged meats when he decides to go for it.

him: "All those your kids?" (strong southern accent).
me: "Yup."
him: with a chuckle, "you guys aint figured out what causes that?"
me: never looking up from the meats, "Well, actually yes. And we like it very much."
him: an embarrassed chuckle, "well.. uh.. i guess you would."

(I should note that his wife, after I said that we liked it, gave him a death stare).

And I should forewarn everyone.. if you decide to ask me about my sex life.. I will answer you. Gone are the days of politely ignoring you. I will engage your desire to find out about my sex life and reproductive tendencies.

Galaxar out.

don't play with your food!

I mean, seriously.

Did you not LOVE to do this as a kid??

I have memories of doing this. It makes my heart smile that my kids love to do this too. Even if their mom had to show them it was even an option.

Next thing ya know, they'll be slinging pasta on the wall to see if its done.

What food fun do you remember doing when you were a kid??

(Mishka, do not say "using mom's attempt at homemade biscuits as weapons or as a tennis ball." Because, obviously, I got that baking gene passed down to me).

Wardrobe Malfunction..

Definitely.

This is what happens when you dress yourself... and you're two.

in which I stir the pot of controversy..parenting edition.

I haven't rocked the boat in a while. I've kept my posts very mellow and non-hot button issue-ish.

Until now.

I know I am going to get a debate going over here.. but I can no longer.hold.it.in.

What do you think of when you see this?:

There seems to be two types of momma's out there. The kind that sees this as an opportunity to teach your child conformity to rules and absolutes and the mom that could give a rip and just says, "have at it. Just don't destroy the equipment."

I betcha aren't sure which one I camp in.

Ya see, there is no sign on that equipment. Contrary to the ones at Chickfila that say "NO CLIMBING." the equipment above is meant to be climbed on. However, I'm sure not every child is like mine (or my sisters' since hers were doing it too) and will climb on the outside of that slide or traverse the outside of the bars on the walkway.

But I ran into a mom that was of the first mindset and yelled out in the direction of my child but supposedly to her child (who wasn't climbing on the outside), "yeah, and play on the equipment the way it's meant to be played on."

Please, dear mom, tell me what that looks like.

Here is my thing.. i understand the philosophy behind "up the stairs down the slide." I used to preach it all.the.time.. until my boys reached three years old. And I realized that they wanted the challenge of climbing up that slide. Heck, I realized i used to do that too.. remember these?:

I used to have a field day going up those things. And trying not to get burned, btw. But I don't allow my kids to do it when someone else wants a turn going down the slide. So there are some restrictions that apply. But I don't hold the overall philosophy that these things are NOT meant to be played on that way. Like it's some kind of kid code. Otherwise, as my sister so eloquently pointed out, "then no kid would ever climb a tree." Then I argued that those that hold the first opinion about the play equipment likely aren't too comfortable with their kids climbing a tree. But that may be too much of a generalization that isn't true. But if its not, then please tell me why the tree is okay but not the slide.

Anyway, here is my point. I think there is a whole parenting philosophy to be discussed here. I am all for rules. I don't let my children climb on the CFA equipment, well, because there is a sign saying not to.

But barring destroying property.. I allow my children to climb on playground equipment. And yes, I do intervene if they are about to hurt someone.

I don't know where you stand on the issue.. but I am fine with my children climbing. And if you are not comfortable with it, maybe you can adopt the motto we have in our family: "Others may, you may not."

that is all.

feel free to express your opinion. ;-P

It's life in survival mode..

Yes, that is my daughter sitting on our table. While "playing Uno" with her brother. As you can see, I was productive in folding laundry. It just sat there for half the day before it got put up. I love that I also made sure not to cover the part of the table where their seats are so that I could have more flexibility to leave the clothes there. Yes friends, that was premeditated procrastination. Score!

It's amazing what happens the more kids you throw in the mix. I could care less that Eva was playing cards while sitting on the table. It was cute. And I grabbed my camera to capture it. And i also cared less that my laundry sat on the table for most of the day. I was just impressed it got folded (nevermind, it sat in the laundry room for two days). Ahh.. being overwhelmed.. it's allows you to relax a bit on all your "rules."

It's amazing when I think about how stressed I used to get over little things. Now I know Im outnumbered and I've stopped trying to keep everything in order. There.is.no.way. So here is to just keeping my head above water. ;-P

they get their crazy.. from me..

I made a post about my kids being crazy. Well they come by it honestly. .

He is not that shocked. .

Like mother... yup.

My Crazy kids...

I think it's well documented on this blog that my kids are.. well.. different. Lots of energy and just a tad bit silly.

I heard Isaac cackling and immediately grabbed my camera before I even knew what I'd find.

Yes, that is my eldest licking the glass..

and that is my youngest.. going in for the kiss, because.. well he sees tongue. and that's baby gold.

and here comes Eva to bang a rock on the glass door.

while crazy.. they are very adorable.

so my boys don't feel left out...

My posts have been a little "Eva" heavy lately.. so just in case you forget that there are also three little boys in this house..

I came when I heard hysterical laughing.. they stayed like this for a while. .

this guy really likes oreo's and cream Ice cream.. but then again, who can blame him?

Alex playing while at my sister Mishka's house. (post to follow). He loves that transformer toy and finds it every.single.time he goes to her house. My sister said she would like for him to "lose it" anytime he can. (bc she is still willing to put the thing back together for those that get frustrated and can't do it.. me, I'm a meany. NOPE not gonna play that game. over and over). But he is still cute while playing with it..

She always gets into something..

It seems that life with a 2 year old (as if i haven't done this a few times to know by now) is more about keeping them busy, lest they destroy your house or themselves. But anything I give her to do.. well she pours herself into.. literally.

What started as a "clean the table" assignment (with soap)..

turned into.. a taste test (yes, it was a NEW sponge, thankfully).

Daddy came home just in time. She was happy to show him her handiwork.

Is there any more water left in the bucket not already on her?

And then there is that whole "doing school with her older brother" thing. She was supposed to be (and was when I last checked on her) "reading books" and playing with her baby doll. I came when i heard the rustling of some kind of paper.. turns out, it was the bag of Wipey's. And yes, she had pulled out what was left in the bag and laid them out perfectly on the couch.

(i love her "what" look)

Then this morning my sister in Montgomery, who we visited yesterday, sends me this message:

"Eva strikes again, couldn't figure out why the radio was making such a funny noise last night and when Mark turned it upside down water came out, I knew she looked a little guilty when she came out of Levi's room"

Oy.

As they say:

she better be glad she's cute!