Pretty Party Dress

Before Brett's grandparent's left for Arizona to escape the impending rain, they were able to come for a visit and brought Brooklyn the most adorable dress.  She quickly named it her "Party Dress."  Because, and I quote, "When I wear this purple dress, I just want to party!"  The things she comes up with.  Geesh.  I wanted to take a few pics of her in the infamous party dress but the boys just didn't want to stay out of the picture so it became an impromptu sibling photoshoot.  I thought, heck, if they all want to be in the picture maybe I can get a good Christmas picture.  Yeah, right.  

Bink and J and their almost smiles.

Nice smile J.

Super Cheese E!

It's getting worse...

Hilarious!

Hey, over here, Emmett!

I really should just give up.

But they are so funny!

The super happy boys.

E was clearly tired.

Tired enough to rest his head.

Finally just kicked the boys out.

And her inner model took over.

Eat your heart out Tyra Banks.

And, J is sad/mad that I kicked him out of the photoshoot.

Three Hours

Cleaning supplies?!?  Days, weeks, months with no pictures and I dare to post this one?  Don't worry there is a great explanation.  Today I spent three hours cleaning an angry crayon mural off of Jameson's wall.  We've (I) have been having some trouble getting Jameson to go to bed at night.  When Brett is gone Jameson knows, knows, he is gone and really pulls out all the stops at bedtime.  Screaming?  Check.  Kicking the wall?  Check.  And now, angry crayon mural.  Angry, jumping, crayon mural.  No pretty picture.  Just heavy handed scribbles in all directions, everywhere.  Out of his reach everywhere.  Jumping up and down on his bed with a crayon everywhere.  When I went up Tuesday night to ask him to stop kicking his wall, again, I was greeted with the lovely angry crayon mural.  I was so angry I had to pull my first, "We'll talk about this in the morning."  And we did talk about it and then I gave him a sponge to clean it up with.  Well, news to me, crayon doesn't just come off the wall.  Drywall does, but not crayon.  After several different attempts I had to fire Jameson and Google "how to remove crayon from a matte paint wall."  Well, Google solved my problems again.  Like always.  If you ever need to remove crayon from a matte paint wall grab your hairdryer, some magic erasers, dish soap and a towel.  You have to remove it in sections the circumference of the end of your hairdryer.  Small circles they are.  Turn your hair dryer on high, heat the wall for 10 seconds.  Use water soaked magic eraser in a smooth, one directional motion.  Do not scrub.  Remove any smudging with the towel and dish soap.  Ta-Da!  Clean wall.

Three hours.  THREE hours.  My only regret is not taking a before and after picture for when it becomes a funny story...which it has not...yet.

Boyfriend

It's happened.  One of Brooklyn's classmates has asked Brooklyn to be his girlfriend.  Lucky for us she responded, "My Dad won't let me have a boyfriend for a long, long time."  When he told her that he was in love with her today and pleaded to be her boyfriend she replied, "No thank you.  I am not interested."  While telling me this story she paused to look at me and said, "Don't worry Mom, I used my manners."  We've taught her well.  :)

Owie

Decorating for Halloween is always a bit of double-edged sword around here.  The kids are always SO excited but as soon as I open the box they decide that half of the decorations are too scary.  Way too scary. Talking Skeleton?  Too scary.  Fake spiders?  Too scary.  So, needless to say, we have a whole lot of not scary jack-o-lanterns around our house.  The big kids think it's great.  Emmett, well, he seems to be a bit more sensitive.  You'll have to bear with me here because this is about to get confusing.

Let's go back to summer.  We were able to visit Brett's parents quite a bit over the summer and they live right on the water.  Salt water.  When the tide is out the kids love to look for treasure on the beach.  Treasure as in starfish, clams, eels, and tiny crabs.  These tiny crabs are pretty harmless but if you are Emmett, you pick them up entirely wrong and they pinch you...and don't let go.  It would go a little like this.  Emmett would turn over a rock, dozens of crabs run for their lives, Emmett finds the biggest of the little crabs, picks it up, BOOM the crab latches on to Emmett's hand.  Owie.  Emmett would say owie in a very low, husky voice.  No panic.  Just low, husky, monotone, owie.  And, repeat.  All day.  So.  Many.  Owies.

What on earth do crabs have to do with Halloween?  Well, apparently anything "scary" is now an owie. The same low, husky, monotone, owie.  Spiders = owie.  Witches = owie.  Bats = owie.  Yes, even jack-o-lanterns = owie.  As you can imagine, Emmett is primarily saying owie these days.

Poor sensitive, gigantic Emmett.

Deoder

Ever since Jameson turned four he has made random, bold announcements throughout the day.  A few days ago he burst out of his room and while still rubbing the sleep from his eyes, declared, "I am four.  I have hair in my armpits and I need deoder."  In shock, I simply replied, "Ok."  He went on to say that no one likes stinky pits and it was a deoder (his word for deodorant) emergency.  Let the boy have deodorant.  I figure if we start early there won't be a fit TO wear it when he actually is stinky.

Oh, he also knows karate now that he is four.  He like to yell this randomly as well...I'M FOUR, I KNOW KARATE!  All while his hands are on his hips and his chest is puffed out.

That's our Jameson, keepin' it goofy.