Shoes or Diapers?

When I was a single gal I had a love-hate relationship with shoes.

Loved looking at them, dreamed of wearing outrageously high heels, couldn't pass up the sale rack at a department store.  The colors, the styles.  Such fabulous eye candy.

Wedges, heels, bright turquoise flats and summery espradilles.  I'm a sucker for a red shoe or a bowed peep toe heel.  Or ruffles.  I could go on.

But, oh, I hated the price tag of the really fabulous ones and the serious lack of cute wide width shoes in my size.  I sadly had to opt for practical more often because of all the trekking across campus I did at ASU. The practicality of wearing flats instead of heels, while working with kids, often won out .

As a newly married woman, I finally fixed my tootsies (bunion surgeries are not cool...).  Fun shoes, here I come!  Suddenly, before I could hit the mall in a shoe-buying frenzy with my newly narrowed feet, we got some wonderful news:  Baby number One was on his way.

I traded shoes for diapers.  Lots of diapers.

If I could buy shoes instead of diapers, I feel like I could give Imelda Marcos a run for her money...

Some days I look down at my Croc-clad feet and sigh.  I wish I was fancier (although Crocs are a lot more stylish now.  Seriously.).  Then I think, those diapers, as stinky and dreadful as they can be, contain the sweetest little baby bodies. 

And then I remember...

Shoes don't grab your legs and say, "I wuv you!".
Shoes don't have infectious giggles and they don't hug you back. 
Shoes don't sigh and melt into your arms as they fall into a blissful sleep.

Furthermore...

Babies don't give you blisters if you hold them too much.
Babies are kissable.  (I don't recommend kissing your shoes, even if they are adorable.)
Babies don't wear out, they just get better with time.


I realize, even if the diapers are smelly and costly, I'll take them over shoes any day.  Any day.

So I'll don my practical Crocs and bounce my little ones and chase the slightly older ones. 
I'll relish the occasional date with my handsome husband, when I can put on a fun heel.

And I will be grateful.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

 It was time for a haircut.

I didn't want to, but it was time.

Good bye crazy curly locks.

  

Hello short and spiky.  Either way, Mr. Three is adorable just the same.

Letters to Zach

Lately, Mr. One has really been into writing. Yesterday, he wrote this letter to his Uncle who is in Brazil on a mission. I had to post it before we mailed it off.

I'll translate for those of you who don't read "kindergarten". The first page is a joke:
knock
knock
who's there
owls
owls who
you're right
yes yes

(Get it, owls whoo...)

The second page says:
I love you uncle zach

How precious is this?

The next writing is a recipe. Earlier this summer, I was in the kitchen making something and Mr. One was interested in the recipes. I gave him an index card and encouraged him to write his own recipe.

It says "clown pie" (he spelled it claown piy) then a bunch of writing-like scribbles.

When I asked him what the rest of the recipe said, he told me that you can't read it because it's written in Italian!

Bat Bunting

I love Halloween.  Not the gruesome and dark Halloween, but the kid friendly, fun Halloween.  Bring on the pumpkins and bats.  Bring on the spiders and glitter and costumes.  That's my kind of Halloween.  I have been seeing all kinds of buntings and banners around blogland.  This is my Halloween interpretation.  A Bat Bunting.

I didn't take pictures as I went along, but it is a simple project, even without the pics.

You will need:

black felt
Halloween ribbon (I used about 3 yards)
cardstock bat patterns
pins
scissors
sewing machine

My handsome husband came up with the bat outlines (he's creative and helpful like that).  The two larger bats are approximately 2" by 5" and the smaller outlines are about 1.5" by 4".

I pinned the bat outlines on my felt and cut (and cut and cut...), ending up with 26 bats.  I made sure to cut an even number of each kind so that I could double them up when I sewed my bunting.  This made 13 bat pairs.  (Isn't that a perfect Halloween-ish number?)

Next, I paired up the bats and sandwiched them between my length of ribbon.  I scattered them randomly and angled them on the ribbon to give the banner a more organic feel.  When I was happy with the arrangement, I pinned the bat sandwiches in between the ribbon and sewed around the bats.
Don't worry about perfect sewing here, that's the beauty of using black felt and thread. 

 

Now, the only thing I have to worry about is where to hang these cute bats...

Labor Day Weekend

For Labor Day weekend, we packed up the minivan and drove down to Thatcher Friday night to spend time with family.  But first, we had to stop in Globe for some Mexican food at El Rey.  (Yum...)

We stayed with my Grandma and her two little dogs.

Love Grandma.  Don't love the dogs as much.

I think my little boys scared her poor dogs more than the pooches scared the kids.  My boys have a serious fear of animals, especially bugs and dogs.  Nevertheless, it was so good to stay there and to spend time with her and the rest of our Thatcher family.  We had the back room to ourselves at night, with doors to keep the dogs out, and thick walls to contain a fussy baby's cries.  Add in a very cold air conditioner and a large screen TV, and things were pretty good.

Saturday was filled with some early morning bird hunting for the men, and a trip to Wal-Mart for the rest of us.  Sadly, no trip to the Gila Valley is complete without at least one trip to Wally World.  Note to self:  Do not pack in 30 minutes with rowdy children underfoot and expect to remember everything you are supposed to bring, like wet wipes.  And pajamas.

We were lucky to get to the Gila Valley Temple while the kiddos played with cousins.  What a beautiful and peaceful place.

Later that night, we bbq'ed, bathed kiddos and hit Sonic for some ice cream.  With cream slushes and ice cream cones in hand, we drove down Main Street (that took a whole two minutes...) in the hopes that the little ones might fall asleep (and two of them did...Hooray!).  We had the second rough night in a row with Mr. Three who was fussy and didn't want to sleep.  We later discovered that he was, in fact, teething. 

Sunday brought early morning church with the family and a traditional dinner of roast beef and pork, with mashed potatoes and summer fruits and veggies.  After-dinner naps were on the agenda for some lucky adults, and a showing of Babe was on the schedule for the kids and the less lucky adults who had to go nap-free. 

We had fun playing games with family that night, with an especially fun round of Buzz Word with the adults and a round of Blokus (in which I lost badly to my husband, aunt and cousin).  Playing games together is one of my favorite family traditions (besides eating good food...).

Monday was all about picking apples.  The trees were overloaded with fruit, and the orchard in full bloom after lots of previous rain.  We saw many flowers and even a few huge mushrooms amidst the trees this year. The foliage was so thick, Mr. One exclaimed, "They really need to mow their lawn here!"

I kept looking at the setting and admiring the beauty.

Handsome Husband had a grand time taking photos and picking apples alongside us.

The boys couldn't wait to bite into some freshly picked apples.

Unfortunately, all of this blooming attracted lots of bugs and made the trails hard to navigate.  After a short time, involving several dropped apples, a plethora of mosquito bites, light rain, lots of tears and much tripping over rocks, Mr. One, Two and Three were DONE.  I hiked up to the car with the Three Grumpies for a seat in a bug free zone and we let the pro's finish the apple picking.

Daddy, Grammy and Grandpa got a lot more picking done without us, I'm sure. 

After filling the car with apples and filling our stomachs with one last good meal at Grandma's house, we headed home.  Happy for us, we had grilled pizza and corn for our return dinner.  (Thank you Seth, Grammy and Grandpa).  We went to bed tired and full and grateful for a chance to be together for the weekend.

You Know You're a Mom When...

This one is a first.

You know you are a mom when you have to put an outfit in the laundry basket BEFORE you even get to put it on.

Thank you Mr. Three for spitting up all over the dress I was carrying to the ironing board.  At least you got it before I actually ironed it...

Nice.

Five Months

Mr. Three,

You are five months old today.  How fast time flies.  We love your giggles, your crazy hair, your funny little noises.  We especially love watching you eat. 

Bring on the food!  What a happy boy you are, especially if you are being fed...

So far, rice cereal and bananas are a big thumbs up.

Ahh, the bliss of a full tummy!