One of my New Year's resolutions this year was to write a children's book. Well it took me a while but I did it! It's just a basic, simple, silly story based on a game I play with my kids. I learned this from my parents and grandparents and now my own kids love it too. You probably even play a version of it with your little ones (or have in the past).
Here's my story:

I'm Gonna Getcha!

When I was little my grandma said to me
(slowly, slowly, slowly)
She said "I'm...gonna...getcha, getcha, getcha right there!"
And she'd tickle, tickle, tickle til I giggle, giggle, giggled.

Now you're my little one and I love to say to you
(slowly, slowly, slowly)
I say "I'm…gonna…getcha, getcha, getcha right there!
And I tickle, tickle, tickle til you giggle, giggle, giggle.

Now you've got a little sister and I love to say to her
(slowly, slowly, slowly)
I say " I'm…gonna…getcha, getcha, getcha right there!
And I tickle, tickle, tickle til she giggle, giggle, giggles.

One day you'll have a little one all your own and you'll love to say to them
(slowly, slowly, slowly)
You'll say " I'm…gonna…getcha, getcha, getcha right there!
And you'll tickle, tickle, tickle til they giggle, giggle, giggle.

I just submitted it to Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories contest. The winner gets $5,000 and their book will be published and inside Cheerio boxes in 2011. WOW! Wouldn't that be an honor! You can enter at http://promo.simonandschuster.com/spoonfulsofstories/. There's no limit to how many times you can enter so I'm definitely going to get busy writing and enter some more stories. This one was just hastily written in about 10 minutes while I was changing diapers this morning. Can't wait to get busy! You can enter until July 15th, 2010. Get busy writing! :)

I am finally getting a short time to blog. Let's start with a couple cute pictures of the rainbow rice project we did last week.






For instructions, check out Pink and Green Mama. For the link, scroll down a few posts. It's late and I'm being lazy. Will link up again when I get a chance.

We both loved this project. I think maybe I loved it more than he did but he did like it. :) Something about those rainbow cupcakes got me all rainbow-obsessed. Nothin' wrong with that, right? :)

My friend Katy and one of the rainbow cupcakes I made just for her. This picture makes me so happy. I love it for two reasons. One, Katy is of one of my favorite people. Katy is creative, fun, very smart and a great friend. She is a photographer in NYC. (Although she is modest and will tell you that she just works at a portrait studio and does not particularly love living there.)

And the other reason I love this picture? Rainbow cupcake!!! It was really fun to see everyone's reaction to the cupcakes. Even the waitresses commented on them. Maybe I'm a little bit vain for loving the attention but it sure was fun. :) That night Katy and I had a totally unplanned cupcake trade. She made the most delicious Snickerdoodle cupcakes! From scratch! From Bakerella's recipe I believe. I literally licked the cupcake wrapper when I finished eating one of them. They were THAT good!

And here is a link to the recipe for rainbow cupcakes

Linking this to Just for the JOY. Because Katy and rainbow cupcakes bring me joy. Especially Katy.

>

I really should make cupcakes more often. Because really who doesn't love a cupcake?

"I love you to the moon and back". Oh, I love the book Guess How Much I Love You! Easton tells me he love me two times (his way of saying a LOT) and I tell him I love him to the moon and back. Kristin at La Dolce Vita makes beautiful jewelery and is giving away a gorgeous necklace with this sweet quote from Guess How Much. I would love to win but if I don't, I hope someone I know wins! Go check it out!

La Dolce Vita

When my friend Mandy asked about the 2nd verse to You Are My Sunshine, I Googled it (cue Isla Fisher: "Yes, I Googled.") to make sure I was getting it exactly right. Boy, did I learn a lot about a song I thought I knew!

The first verse:
The other night dear, as I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms
When I awoke, dear, I was mistaken
So I hung my head and I cried.

The familiar part of the song (the chorus):
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are grey
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away

Verse 2:
I'll always love you and make you happy,
If you will only say the same.
But if you leave me to love another,
You'll regret it all some day

Repeat chorus

Verse 3:
You told me once, dear, you really loved me
and no one else could come between.
But now you've left me and love another
You have shattered all my dreams

Chorus

Lyrics found at WICN.org

Isn't that sad?! And apparently this song also carries quite a bit of controversy. Go to Rosemont Records to read an article called "The Theft of an American Classic".

Easton always asks me to sing "cried". He loves that verse for some reason. I love the sweet and happy sounding chorus but the sad part is his favorite.

If you have ever said something and then immediately thought "I never thought I'd have to say THAT!", you should go to Meanest Mommy.Com and read her rules. Hilarious! Here are some of my favorites:

Rule #256: Cereal found under the couch (or under the pew cushions at church, or your coat pocket, or the bottom of Mommy’s purse . . . fill in the blank) is not an appropriate snack.

Rule #250: If you make so much noise that you wake the baby, please do not ask me to turn up the tv so you can hear over his screaming.
Rule #242: No matter how good it smells, you may not stick the chocolate chips up your nose. And most certainly do not attempt to eat extracted chocolate chips afterwards.
Rule #237: Your effort to avoid puking on the clean sheets is admirable. Next time, try also not to puke over the side of the bed onto your sister’s upturned, smiling face.
Rule #231: When we spend 20 minutes searching everywhere for your brother’s mittens, it would be helpful for you to reveal that they are on your hands.
Rule #225: Once you have said “Mommy” (or any version of “Mommy”) 50,000 times in one day, please just stop talking.

Rule #213: No, you may not play the harmonica in the baby’s room while she is taking a nap.

Rule #198: No, you may not glue those googly-eyes on your penis and scare your brother and/or dad tonight when you’re changing into your pajamas at bedtime.

Rule #180: Do not go “check on” your baby brother when he’s sleeping. And if you do, don’t slam the door during your escape attempt.

Rule #29: Just because you don’t feel like taking a nap doesn’t mean that your little brother doesn’t need one. Quiet down, kid!

Rule #22: No, I will not give you more bath water. You had plenty until you dumped half of it on the bathroom floor.

Rule #19: Nothing good comes from you crawling around on the kitchen table.

Rule #8: Spitting in Daddy’s face is not funny. Ever.

Rule #4: No screaming loudly for more goldfish crackers when there’s a big pile of goldfish crackers right in front of you.

Rule #1: Toddlers & syrup do not mix.

Want to win a gorgeous piece of jewelry in time for Valentine's Day? Head on over to Tatertots and Jello for a chance to win. And while you're there, check out some of the fun craft tutorials you'll find there. Oh boy! I am definitely adding some of these to my "someday crafts list"!

Tatertots and Jello

Whew! I am worn out! Oh and by the way...Merry Christmas! It's been a busy 2 weeks since my last post. Audrey is sleeping better now, thank goodness! Easton is doing ok too. The past couple of weeks have been filled with writing several short papers and one 15 pager, finishing up a class (Child Development - I got an A!), shopping for Christmas, working on some craft projects, cleaning and getting ready for our Christmas company.

I wasn't sure if they'd be able to come or not due to the snow we had (TWO FEET!!!) but Jason's sister, Leslie, her husband Terry, their three kids and Jason's cousin came to visit on Monday. We had a really fun time. It was good to see the kids playing together and good visiting with everyone. We did some shopping to help Santa out with a few Christmas presents, went to D.C. to see the sights, played, cleaned, cooked, ate, played, cooked, cleaned some more. I decided that although I LOVE having people come visit us, our house is WAAYY too small for ten people! That and my kids have entirely too many toys. I think in the next month or so we'll be going through all of the toys and getting rid of some of the ones that don't get played with so much. We just simply do not have room for all of this stuff!

Christmas today was really fun. The kids woke up early and we opened presents and had our Christmas breakfast casserole. Then we cleaned up the kitchen just so we could start cooking Christmas dinner. We had apple butter ham, stuffing, green bean casserole, rolls and pumpkin pie. Whew! I'm so tired! Glad that Miss Audrey will be sleeping back in her own bed tonight and not in our room so I can finally get some sleep.

Some pictures of the big snow we got here last weekend:

Easton and Yellow Bear in the snow

Audrey all smiles and bundled up in her warm snow suit.

My hard working hubby taking a break from shoveling snow



I think we used to have a car under there

Is it a table or is it a big snow cone?

Here are a few pictures of our Christmas Eve trip to D.C.:

Riding the Metro

We're seasoned Metro riders by now. Well, OK. Not really. But we should be.

One of the dinosaurs at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

The Washington Monument

The White House

I can't take credit for this one. J's sweet cousin McKayla took this one. Great job!

Christmas pictures:

This is a lap full of cute right here. Easton and Alexa waiting for Santa.

Easton reads his new Thomas the Train ABC book.

Audrey loves her doll

Alexa, Mason, Addy, Audrey and Easton.

Audrey and Easton Christmas 2009

I finally got to do more today than clean and take care of my little ones. I've been wanting to finish some beanbags I started making months ago for Easton. All I had to do was finish the edges and I was finished! When the kids were sleeping today, I finally got the chance. It took me less than 10 minutes to do all 12. When he got up from nap he was really excited to play with them. He had fun putting them in and dumping them out of a big plastic see-through container. I'll try to get a picture of him and his new (cheap!) toys soon.

I also made a little something for Audrey. I am a regular reader of a site called "Dollar Store Crafts". Today I made a crinkly baby toy for Audrey and I'm really pleased with how it came out. I recycled a crinkly baby wipes wrapper and used up some fabric and ribbon I had in my craft stash. I can't sew a straight line for anything but I think that will get better with practice. And who better to practice on than my kiddos, right? My camera battery needs to be charged so I'll have to get a pic another day.

Click here for baby toy instructions. Hmmm...now that's an idea for a cheap and easy baby gift!

It felt so good to finally be able to work on something fun! This site is called "crafty" little devil for a reason but unfortunately this mama has had no time lately for anything other than diapers and cleaning and homework. Hooray for naptime for both babies at the same time!

I am too old for this stuff. Last night we stayed up WAAAY late playing games with our friends. Man, it was really fun but I sure paid for it today! I felt hungover all day long and the only thing I had to drink was water! I usually start feeling achy all over and like I'm coming down with the flu when I don't get enough sleep. And headache! Wow! I had a headache today. And tonight I've been on the computer checking my email and on facebook and I looked up and it's 1:15 am already. Seriously...I'm too old for this and the kids will probably be up with the sun. Oh my. Looks like I'm gonna need a LOT of coffee tomorrow! :) We sure are having a great weekend though! Game night yesterday, took a walk w/the entire family today, cooked steaks on the grill and watched a movie w/my sweetie after the kids were in bed. Jason's off work tomorrow and I'm really glad we have an extra day together to finish getting the house cleaned up, work out in the yard, rest and just hang out. Gotta love three day weekends! Happy Labor Day!
P.S. Gotta Google Labor Day now. Don't know why we celebrate it or how it got it's name but I love it because Jason is off work an extra day. :)

My mom, Bonnie, Ryan and Tyson came for a visit last week. Oh my goodness, we had fun! We went to the Discovery Museum in Winchester, had Italian ice at Rita's, met Jason for lunch at Backseat (YUM!), watched the kids play in shaving cream and then rinse off in the sprinkler, made homemade pizza and ice cream, played school with the pizza and ice cream lesson plans from when I taught the 3s, went to D.C. for an all-day capitol-museum-White House-monument-viewing adventure, got Ry and Ty some new school clothes and supplies at Target and took about 1,000 pictures.

Ryan sure is growing up. She watched Audrey and Easton for us so Jason and I could go on a date. We weren't a bit worried about leaving our kiddos with Ryan. She changed diapers like a pro, put Easton to bed without a hitch and really just did an excellent job. I was so proud!

Tyson and Easton had a blast playing together. Easton calls Ty "Ty-seen". It is pretty cute! By the end of the days, the boys had played so hard that Easton was just completely worn out. It makes me look forward to the time when Audrey is big enough to play with Easton. Well, I'm not in any real big hurry for that but it sure would be nice for him to have a buddy around (or a cousin) to play with.

All of us waiting to get on the Metro.

The Capitol building

The Washington Monument

Tyson at the Capitol

The White House. Or as Tyson calls it "Barrack Obama's house".

Audrey checking out the sights in D.C.

Ty and E at the Discovery Museum

Audrey and Aunt B at the Discovery Museum


Easton's favorite exhibit at the Discovery Museum.

I think he would have stayed here all day if he cold have.

Mama and E at the fountain in downtown Winchester.


Ryan playing w/E and Ty in the wading pool filled w/shaving cream.

Ryan and Tyson meet their newest cousin

National Night Out - Tuesday, August 4, 2009

We met some friends at the National Night Out on Tuesday. I wasn't sure if there would be anything for a little one like E to do but he had a blast! He got to meet McGruff the crime dog and get a stick-on sheriff's badge, throw a beanbag for a prize, pet the animals at the petting zoo, meet the Chick-fil-a cow and spin to win some free chicken, and play t-ball. He LOVED that and didn't want to give the bat back! Here are some pictures from that night. Thanks to my friend Jessica, who had her camera!!!

Easton's first snowcone. He said it was "ummy!"


Audrey along for the ride


Easton and the minature horse. He LOVED the petting zoo!