"Art"

I can remember being young, maybe not even 10, and having art contests with my sister.  We would sit in our room and draw under a time limit we agreed upon. We would not put our names on the paper, and we would swap pages. We would take them to our parents and have them judge our creations. A time in particular I remember drawing a flower. Just a flower. No grass, no sun, clouds, bees buzzing around. I can only imagine it was the circle center flower with other circles around it for petals. My sister drew something similar to Andrew's drawing below. Lots of colors, balloons and a cloud in the sky. She said it was a parade. It was pretty abstract as far as I can remember, I mean she was only 6,7... But, we took our unnamed  artwork out to our parents (to insure there was no favoritism) and were immediately given an answer. A winner. Uuum!?! They didn't even want to think about it!? I mean, wow. I am sure you can guess who won. 

Haha. I remember being so upset.

 And while I was SO impressed by Eli's turtle and sun, (Truly, I had no idea he could draw something like that) Andrew was SO proud of his page. I asked a couple times what it was. He said fish one time, Lightning McQueen another, and puppy another. I'm so thankful for the little (big) brains in their heads and the way they see the world.  The thoughts that come out of their mouths and their ideas about the way things should be/are. While my life is so far from perfect, and my kids are naughty more than nice most days, I'm so happy for these little things that make the hard/bad/discouraging/lonely/sometimes ugly times as a stay-at-home mom  bearable. 

My most profound post...ever...

I can't be the only one who gets my left hand painted and then

bam...

all of a sudden everyone in the world needs something from me.

from my hands...

I carefully do each task required with my right hand...

the left slowly drying.

not one of the "dry in 30 second" colors appeal to me.

no, my heart loves the ones that take a half day to dry.

the colors that no pinterest magic trick can instantly dry... not for me anyway.

i smirk as i hand out one zippy cup, now two.

carefully change a diaper

 wipe a butt whose owner has been yelling from the bathroom 

on the other side of the house for 3 minutes.

still, left hand looking perfect.

ding dong

someone is at the door!

slip on a pair of jeans...yoga pants have pancake batter on them

crap, index finger smudged.

open the door

"oh thanks, we've found jesus. have a nice day"

(and thanks for ruining my nail...)

rush to bathroom/operating roon to repair nail.

there. 

perfect.

I dare to begin on the right hand, one stroke in...

''i'm ready for lunch'' one tiny voice proclaims.

chicken nuggets for one,

pb&j for another.

slide on a eye patch here!

tie a bandana there...

goodbye pinky, ring, and thumb.

I try to just wipe clean but enough has dried to leave goopy remnants of 

the rubies once shining on the end of my digits. 

cotton balls and acetone,

scrub, scrub...

"there is a hair on my tongue! get it"

"WHAT IS THAT ON YOU HANDS!? AGH, I AM DYING. YOU POISON ME!"

brush baby teeth, swish with kiddy mouthwash.

all better....

natural nails today.

Blogger app

Well, after saying that blogging from my phone wasn't appealing, I decided to check and see if there was a blogger app.  Last time I checked for one was well over a year ago.  It is so awesome and easy to use.  I am eating my words.  Mmm, tasty.  

well...

So much has changed since my last post.

 For instance... We now have a fish... and a dog.

The fish was from my parents. So thoughtful, I know. But actually, I have become very attached to it. Is that weird? I don't think it's weird that the boys love it, they're kids. Kids like fish.

 But I find myself talking to it when I am feeding it... 

 I think that might be weird. 

It's kind of therapeutic watching it swim around though. 

He is a very fancy looking little red and blue Beta fish. 

There was another one, but it died shortly after arriving at the Land abode. Drew was handed the container with his fish and it was shaken violently given lots of hugs and just couldn't handle the love Drew had to offer. 

Eli had named his fish Batman and Drew named his Nemo (such originality over here). 

After Drew's fish went to fishy heaven, he continued to call Eli's fish Nemo. Eli told me one day that he was just going to change his fish's name to Nemo since Drew wouldn't understand that his fish died and it was really Batman in the tank. 

Um, is he really 3?

Then about 2 days ago Eli told me that he would be calling his fish Batman again but Drew could still call it Nemo, even though it was not Nemo.

OK, I guess he is 3. 

The sweet little puppy is a rescue from the OKC shelter. We went looking for a medium size dog, and we came home with a little mutt that weighed about 3lbs and the biggest thing about him is his ears. Thanks to the suggestion of an aunt, we named him Spock. Andrew calls him "Pocks" or "Box"... We have a hard time telling which it is.

He has been pretty easy to potty train, hallelujah. And thankfully if he does pee, he does it on the tile waiting by the door for someone to let him out. Failure on our part. 

But back to Andrew's birthday... What fun.

This was the first time EVER that we have had both sets of grandparents (or any family, my sister was here too) with us to celebrate a birthday for one of the boys. It was so wonderful. It was even more wonderful that I didn't have to buy any decorations for the party.

 Eli's (and Drew's since I used the same one) nursery was decorated in pirate theme

 and not too long after he was born my MIL found a ton of pirate party stuff on sale at Hobby Lobby and sent it to us. Each year Eli was in to something different and when Drew turned 1 I wanted something a little "cuter" and not so "big boy".

 I don't even think that the boys realized there was a party theme. I think from now on I am just going to blow up some balloons and hand them their cake. That is all they cared about anyway.

Eli has taught himself his ABCs thanks to an iPad app... I tried to teach him...really,  I did. I would sing them going down the road, at lunch, while playing. I would have him repeat back to me after each letter. He would never say them by himself. He started playing a game where Elmo teaches you the alphabet and guess what... He knows them now. 

Although, he does forget that DEFG are in there but hey... progress. 

I have to start blogging more. The kids say and do such funny and ridiculous stuff every day. I hate that I make a Facebook status, a tweet or Instagram picture the way I  "share" when I really want to blog it.  I just hardly ever turn on the computer and blogging from an iPhone or tablet are not things that really interest me. There is usually a lot more behind the quick update that I will want (and probably forget) to remember later. 

Daniel and I could have slept until 10 (it's just 9am now) this morning. We stayed up late watching Netflix. After the boys were in bed we watched an episode of Breaking Bad--we are having a hard time getting into it. After that was over we were a little depressed so we watched an episode of Freaks and Geeks (Daniel has NEVER seen this show! If you haven't it is on Netflix, you will love seeing some of your favorite stars way back when).  Our precious little Andrew came into our room sometime after midnight and got into our bed. I don't remember it but at 2 when the dog was whining to go out to pee, there he was right in between us. Then at 6 am, this little doll face is yelling "Let's watch trucks!" He is obsessed with watching Monster Jam rallies on Youtube. He's such a little hillbilly. 

After breakfast and coffee the guys started building a monster truck track. 

Watching them laughing and playing in the floor put me in a much better mood.

Words of Praise

This morning we went to our first church service in hopes of finding a new place to worship. After it was over, everyone came and welcomed us and commented on how cute the boys were. I was talking to a girl whose 3 kids were all around the same age as the boys and she was really nice and just normal. Normal is hard when you move to a new place. It seems that all the wierdies sniff you out to begin with just to make you feel like you'll never have another friend EVER again.
Then, all of a sudden Eli runs up and rams his cement block of a head STRAIGHT into my pubic bone. Now, I get that we women will never know the pain of getting smacked in the balls,
 but so help me... That was the absolute
worst pain
 I have EVER felt. At least the absolute worst pain that I've ever felt in
public.
I can ONLY imagine the look on my face and hers (my vision quickly skipped from technicolor to black from the pain).  However, I am quite confident my "OH GOD!" was not vocal... but, had anyone read my lips, they would certainly known that these were not
 words of praise. 

Guess who's back! And it ain't Slim Shady

Well, after much deliberation... a couple pushes from family and friends... and the fact that the (little) boys aren't as curious about what I do on the computer, I am rejoining the blogging world! We are back in AMERICA and it feels so GOOD. Just to sum up, after 3 years of living in England we received orders to Tinker AFB in Oklahoma City. Somewhere around 800+ miles to Cragford, Alabama which comes to about a 14 to 16 hour drive with a 3 and almost 2 year old. I'm so blessed they don't mind riding. I guess that the Lord knew what he was doing placing these two into an ever changing environment. Eli, however, is incredibly confused. We've gone from my parents' home, to Daniels' to hotel, to hotel. I know he (and Drew who cares about very little) will be ecstatic to get all of their toys and things back. I think they are now under the impression they only own a few cars, action figures and crayons. This makes me happy that they are content with having very little. 

Daniel and I thought it was time to grow up. So we bought a house. Or, we are buying a house. We sign the closing papers tomorrow. I am so incredibly nervous because I never thought we would buy until we were out of the military life and staying in one place (which also gives me anxiety). But, the market here is great and we found a house that we are absolutely in love with. It's in a great area with the best schools in the OKC area. I was in complete denial to begin with that we would even have to consider schools. I have babies. But in 2 years Eli will be ready for that...it's a lifetime away so I'm finished talking about it.

 Anyway, the house was built in '07 so it has a few things to update or rather that just need upgrading and I am SUPER excited about that. Daniel, I don't think he is. Except that he will get to get new tools to do the things I want. 

So... I will close with a few pictures. Most everyone who reads this is on my FB so forgive me that they're the same ones you've probably already seen ;) 

Our new home!

These guys were so excited to hit the beach!

Dad was ordained as a Deacon last Sunday. 

Drew started napping on his own!

The boys' first trip to Chris'

I'm back...for now

Well, it seems as though my committed readers are aching for a post from yours truly. Here you go Mom and Lisa! ;) I won't go into the several months of blogging that I've missed...I'd rather just let you know where we are at now. England. In June. And I kid you not, it is fuh-reezing. Like, like literally took the kids out all bundled up in 50*, no sun, super windy weather. They'd been cooped up with me being sick and would tolerate the statusquo no mo...re. We hit up two different playgrounds and after I could no longer feel my fingers we went to the Bob Hope (an indoor play zone over at one of the other local bases). Comes in very handy on days like this.
This weekend we got Daniel his Father's Day present...a bike... so he could ride with us. I got mine 2 years ago... It was a balmy 60* and the sun was out so we decided to take advantage and appreciate Daniel a little early. Now let me get back to that 60 degree weather. Back in March/April we were in AL. Came home in winter clothes (it was still dead middle of winter here) and had to buy all new summer wardrobes. Came back here, winter again. Awesome. Anyway, apparently when the sun even peeks out and the temp is above 59, it's summer. I was in town one Saturday and every pasty, chubby Brit was sporting tank tops and cut offs. It was amazing. I was in my winter coat and scarf. I know most of my readers back home have commented on how brisk their day is and have piled on a layer or two when it drops below 85. It's so weird how quickly you acclimate to the weather. However, I will never get used to being cold. NEVER. I pray that our next base is in a location so hot that I have to apply deodorant 5 times a day and never be able to wear a color that shows sweat.
A couple weekends ago we took a trip to Paris for a few days. Paris was nice. I got to see things that I'd only read about or seen in books. I also inhaled more second hand smoke than I had in my whole life. Like, in Disney Land I am truly surprised that the characters weren't walking around with a smoke. Everyone, EVERYONE was smoking. I coughed and prayed that this would not be detrimental to my children's health. The boys had fun though so that is all that mattered. They were so good and everyone who took the tour bus with us congratulated us on how well behaved they were. It helped that another child on the bus screamed her little lungs off 10 hours down there and 10 hours back. If we ever decide to go back it will not be last minute and we will take the Chunnel!

 Eli dancing out in front of an old veterans hospital and I believe Sophia Loren's apartment?

I wish we could have just packed a picnic and spent the whole day here!

 River tour of the city. Eli was not impressed.

 The Louvre 

 She was a lot smaller than I thought she would be! 

 He just hung out in here for most of Disney. 

 We hung out here a while....

 Eli loved the statues, NOT the actual characters...

 His excitement was all we needed to make the trip a success

 The Radiator Springs was really cute...

 This was a little scrambler type ride. I reminded myself of my mom while I was holding his head in place, afraid that his tiny little neck would break from being whipped around. She and I are both idiots... haha

 I forgot to mention the boys got a trampoline. As soon as Eli wakes up he wants to "go bounce."

Sorry for the total mundane-ness of this post. Hopefully my bloggy itch will come back and I can post more for my adoring fans. :)