The Name is Mommy

Emmett has started calling me Mom.  Or, if he is feeling like it, Mama.  I have NEVER been Mom or Mama.  He says it with a straight face and ALL THE TIME.  I am not sure what he is testing out.  Limits?  My patience?  Whatever it is, it is weird and I don't like it. (insert foot stomp here)  I am really, really hoping it's just a phase.  I am not ready to be Mom yet cause....he's still a baby.  Right?

Happy Birthday 'Murica

Fourth of July was full of redneck fun this year.  We started our celebrations of America's Birthday by heading up to The Bowden's for some homemade slip-n-slide/pool combo fun.  It may have been a balmy 64 degrees (aka not hot) but that did not hold the kids back from jumping right in to Wes' homemade creation.  All you need in Arlington is a backhoe and some visqueen (sp?) and you too can have yourself a pool.  I tease, but I am secretly so jealous.  This pictures does it NO justice.  When we go back for more fun I will better document it's awesomeness.

While at The Bowden's we were also treated to explosions.  On the Bowden Family Calendar 4th of July is listed as Explosives Day.  Awesome.  Wes really pulled out all the stops for us with a sparkler bomb and a mysterious floating garbage bag bomb that had to be lit by a flaming trail of gasoline through the grass.  I'll tell you what, a floating garbage bag can rattle some windows, that's for sure.  Who knew?!?  Clearly not me.  Brooklyn thought Wes was some sort of genius while Jameson was really concerned that the lawn was on fire.  We finished out the morning with hot dogs followed by Peep s'mores around the campfire.

After a quick nap on the ride home we played out in the yard until Chanelle and Matt showed up for some more redneck fun.  Brett purchased a bag of delightful fireworks that were semi-Emmett friendly.  Did I forget to mention that Emmett HATES fireworks?  Yep, he's a big softy.  The week leading up to 4th of July and then the holiday itself were his worst nightmare.  He spent most of the time in my arms.  One big, forty pound, giant baby.  I secretly loved that he just wanted to hug on me all day and then fell asleep on my lap at 9:00 p.m.   I know this time is fading away so I try to enjoy every cuddly minute he gives me.

After we finished our fireworks we headed up to the deck to watch all of Monroe blow up their money.  It was amazing how far we could see down the valley.  It was a perfect, relaxing day for everyone...well, except Emmett.

Ridiculously Huge Party

Some of the boys getting ready for the show.

Emmett squeaking out a smile.

Jameson's Smirk.

Auntie Nelle and Bink.

Emmett testing out a sparkler.

Jameson taking it very seriously.

The Bink

Running with Sparklers, safety first!

Ninja sparkler warriors.

What Emmett's face looked like most of the time.

Ooooh, a smoke bomb!

Jameson was very happy that we got to eat candy!

Checking out the board for the big fireworks.

Multi-tasking.

Smile!

Handsome dude.

Brooklyn stole the camera.

Brooklyn the paparazzi on the loose!

Nice photobomb...Nelle.

Happy Birthday 'Murica!

Emmett's First Black Eye

I actually can't quite believe that this post is about Emmett's first black eye.  If you have been around him you would think he has had quite a few.  Alas, this is his first.  It has mysterious origins...all I heard was a thump, followed by silence, followed shortly by scream crying.  Emmett has perfected scream crying.  When he gets hurt he gets more mad than hurt so he ends up with a scream cry.  A loud one.  Anyhoo, when I went to address the scream crying I found Emmett holding his eye and Brooklyn and Jameson looking scared.  After many different stories it was determined that Jameson pushed Emmett's head into the side of Brooklyn's bed.  Oh, the joy of brothers.  As any good parent would, I wanted to snap a quick picture of this momentous occasion but instead of a quick pic, Emmett kept asking me to take more and more and more pictures.  Here are the many faces of Emmett...with a black eye.

The Eye...the nose cut is from another injury.  :)

I was trying to get him to make a sad face but he wouldn't stop laughing...figures.

Sad face.

And, back to happy face.

Extreme close-up.

He said this was his black eye...um, not so much.

I call this "derpy" face...he makes it all the time.

Working on a really sad face.

So stinkin' cute.

Gotta love the underbite.

True Life: I'm a Chicken Farmer

Look, it's another excuse post!  It's pretty much become the norm round the ol' Blue Eyed Bliss.  This time I am here to introduce you to our most recent time drain, The Flock!  We added a flock of chickens and two ducks to our lives because, well, why not?!?  They started out fuzzy, adorable and pretty irresistible and rapidly grew into not so fuzzy, loud, chickens and ducks.  Bring on the eggs!  So, my nightly routine has changed a bit.  I used to tuck the kids in and then "relax" i.e. do dishes, laundry, clean floors, blog, etc.  Now I tuck my human kids in and then tend the babies in the garage, the flock.  We were told we would have three months to build a coop but thanks to our love and food portions, our flock is HUGE.  Brett has been spending every spare minute of time building a giant coop and the flock is anxiously awaiting the grand opening of their new home.

The kids LOVE the flock.  As you can see from this video just "adopting" chickens brought Brooklyn to very literal tears of joy:

The kids find the chickens and ducks to be very fascinating.  They always want to help feed them or get them water and they love to hold them.  Well, except for Emmett.  He is still a bit to Lenny-ish to be handling fragile chickens and ducks.  :)  We have yet to name any of our new family members because we were (thankfully) warned that the mortality rate for chicks is pretty high and we learned that the hard way.  But I think we are almost in the clear to start naming our new family member!

The Flock as Babies

Very excited kiddos!

The boys.

Close-up of The Flock.

Bink and a Baby Duck.

Emmett, sans fowl.

J-Man and the Other Baby Duck.

Bink and a Chicken.

Loves.

Nervous smile and a chicken.

Time Flies...When You Buy a House

Our home!

Hello loyal blog readers...all two or three of you.  Contrary to popular belief, I, in fact, did not fall off the face of the earth.  Instead, we went on a very stressful journey that had (has) a very happy ending.  We purchased the above house...in December.  If I can stress anything to you it is this, NEVER move in December.  I am not ashamed to admit that I still feel 80% unpacked.  Yes, I am fully aware that it is almost May.  We moved our happy little family of five in one day.  Also not recommended.  Although the process was torturous, we really are so thankful that we found the house of our dreams and finally have land for our adorable, albeit feral, children to roam.  We are still waiting to really dig our heels in and make the house our home but have learned to be patient.  Trying to paint, organize, well, do anything with three rugrats around is not so easy.  I will be posting before and after pictures as we plug away on various projects.  Right now, it's a fence...oooh, exciting.

Waking up to this was worth all the stress.