Circus Adventures. Video One. Catch The Bad Guy.

Cali's Growing Up. NOVA Rockets. SBO Election Posters. A Mess. MC Hammer's Pants.

Yesterday I got home from work and the house was full and busy.

I set myself up on the counter making dinner on the electric griddle (grilled tuna sandwiches with cheese and tomato).

Cali pulls up to the counter and tells me that, at school, she's been assigned to be the buddy of a little boy in our neighborhood.  The little brother of Tayler's best friend to be more exact, and Cali thinks that's pretty cool.  I look up in confusion.  I know the buddy system they have at school.  Big kids are assigned a younger kid to do crafts and projects with.  My confusion is when did my baby girl become big enough to be the buddy instead of the little kid?

She's still so little in my mind and in that moment I realize that I need to be thinking of her as becoming an older kid. It dawned on me that our family is facing a new transition of not just having toddlers, or not just having any preschoolers, but we're on the verge of not having any little kids anymore either.

The Man hauls in with sacks from Hobby Lobby and Tayler and Sean in tow and they start unloading their craft supplies onto the counter.

I pull various items of plates and food items out form under them so I can keep working.

They're making rockets for NOVA.

West is cutting and sanding in the garage, Tayler and Sean are designing and hot gluing on the counter, while I try to finish dinner up.

Cali set herself up with the extra wood pieces and made a rocket too.

As they're using the hot glue guns to put their rockets together we laugh about the time when Casidee was three years old and I made an entire mummy costume with nothing but an old sheet and a hot glue gun.  I had her put on a sweatshirt so I could test how loose/tight the ripped sheet needed to be so she could still move.  I wrapped the sheet around her arm and picked up the glue gun to glue it in place on the sweatshirt before taking it off of her when she panics and starts crying, "don't shoot me!"  I realized that all she knew was that I was holding a glue gun to her arm, and mom was about to pull the trigger on that gun.

It ended up well, I didn't even burn her, and she had a new fascination for crafts.

Brynn set herself up with posterboards and the makings for SBO election posters.

She's running for 6th grade President.

She passed the first round with her application and essay to be allowed to run.  Now it's on to hanging just two posters up in the cafeteria for her peers to see.

I finished grilling sandwiches and stationed myself at the laptop on the counter to print out the pictures she'd need.  Two of herself, and two of her school's logo with the mascot.

She came up with two ideas for what we hope are catchy posters that will help her name stick in people's minds.

Her mascot ends up declaring "Brynn for the Win!" on the second poster.

There's a mess in our TV room as it's under construction again.  This time we're putting in ceiling lights and surround sound in.

It turned out great, The Man does some pretty incredible work.

And a crowded feeling to the office as all the TV room furniture has been pushed into it, along with The Man's desk which is now pushed in a corner.

Last night I snuggled up on the couch with Jayme and Casidee and introduced them to the wonders that are MC Hammer (and his pants) and Milli Vanilli.  We watched a few videos together on my phone, squished in the corner of the couch together, and it occurred to me that as busy as we are, nights like this one show me we're doing just fine in taking care of our family and giving our kids the help and attention they need.  There's always room for improvement, but I think we're doing okay.


After a fumbled attempt at some of the verses and rhymes between The Man and me, the girls were interested in the actual thing.

And the pants, oh the pants.  Cas kept asking, "but why?"

I've been asking that question for over 20 years.(But just barely over 20).

Africa is a state, Toma Toes, and staying home for a day

Yesterday Tayler woke up with a headache.  Normally I question headache claims, especially in the morning.

But Tay's eyes were ringed with red and even before she told me about it I was asking her if she was okay.  She just seemed... not herself.

So I sent her to bed and called my boss.

I love my job because I don't get guilt trips handed to me when I need to stay home with a sick child anymore.

Some days I desperately miss being a stay at home mom.  I look forward to the days when I have an excuse to just be home.

I changed out of those pesky slacks and pulled on my jeans.  I sat down and made my to do list.  Half the fun of staying home when you're not the one who's sick, is making the home nice to come home to for everyone else.

I sent The Man a text letting him know I was staying home and that I planned and doing a lot of decluttering. 

He asked if I was decluttering between my ears?

I replied that if he weren't careful I was going to throw out all of his stuff.

I love to banter with that man.

It wasn't too far into the morning that Tayler woke up and decided that her headache was gone and she could go to school.  I walked her to school and she told me about how her class is studying geography and learning the continents and the states.

"I'm learning about Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Idaho... these are states, Mom... Colorado, Africa..."

"Tayler, Africa is a continent, not a state."

She giggles.

I got home from taking her to school and decided that I wasn't about to put those slacks back on so I decluttered my closet and dresser.  I tackled all the random papers in Tayler and Cali's room.  I cleaned the bathroom and the laundry room and rotated all the laundry that had been started by the kids that morning.  I did dishes and vacuumed that entire house.  I put dinner in the crockpot and it filled the house with a delicious aroma.

It just filled my soul to have the house clean and smelling like wonderful dinner for when everyone walked through the door.

And then I watched a lot of Vampire Diaries because season three is finally on Netflix.

I love staying home, but if I'm to be completely honest with myself, I think I would get bored with it really fast, especially now that all of my kids are in school all day.  I think my happy place, would be to have a part time work schedule.  Then I could keep up with my cleaning and projects at home, but still get the personal fulfillment outside of the home that I love. 

Though if I really look at it, my job is so flexible, that it's totally possible for me to take a day here or there as I need it so I guess I really did find the best of both worlds.  I'm going to have to add that to my list of why I love my job.

So that was yesterday.  And being that I was off my usual routine, I never sat down and blogged about The Man's discovery of Toma Toes.

Have you figured it out yet?

We were driving down the road when the man blurts out, "what in the world are Toma Toes?"
I was confused.  Toma Toes?  What is he talking about?
He points at the corner where they're setting up fruits and vegetables for sale and without even seeing the sign that had confused him I knew.

Toma Toes.
Do you mean tomatoes?

I watched the understanding of his mistake spread across his face.

He's special.

In his defense the sign was spelled out on two rows.

toma
toes

But it sure is fun to tease him about it.

He said he thought it was a type of tomato, like Roma tomatoes.  Which makes it even funnier that he was thinking of tomatoes, but didn't realize that it was just tomatoes.

Papa Mike stops by a time or two through out the week which makes us all happy because he plays games with the kids and talks about cars and four wheelers with The Man.

We like to feed him dinner when he stops by.  I love watching The Circus swarm him.  They sure love him.

And last but not least, Cali is was proud of this drawing from school.

I personally love the platypus.

love notes

I'm pretty sure that's the best looking made bed I've ever seen.
Thank you Tayler.

And after a long day, coming home to this:

Thank you Cali.
We have the best kids in the world.
Hands down.

Cali's drawings

Cali, first grade.

A picture she drew of herself with our two dogs, Milo and Strider.

 And her self portrait.