There are Super Heroes Living in my House

I am a little late to this bandwagon but I recently discovered the goodness that is Esty.
Esty, for those of you that don't know, if a site where people can set up a store for goods that they make.
There are some really, really cool homemade things on this site.
You can find everything from really cool jewelry to furniture and clothes.
I am really liking this site.
It is so cool to find unique, one of a kind gifts.

Recently, I found some really cool gifts for my kids.
I was surfing along and stumbled on the store named
Dogwood Creations.

She makes the cutest kids stuff, especially the capes.
As soon as I saw them, I knew that my kids would love them.
I quickly emailed her and she got to work right away on my order.

And now, I have four Super Heroes!


I just love them in their capes and the kids love them too.
In fact the first time I put them on, they didn't take them off.
They even had to sleep in their capes.

So if you want to make your kids super heroes, go and check out Dogwood Creations.
You won't be sorry.

Super Kids!

How Much is that Doggie in the Window?

I want something.
But I know that I am never going to get it.

I want to get a dog.
I think it would be really, really fun to have a dog around the house.
But this is never going to happen.
Jeff is a cat person through and through.

No exceptions.
End of Story.
Done.

But that doesn't change the fact that I still would like to have a dog.
I think it would be fun.
You know, for the kids.

Well, the other day when we were at the store, Jeff agreed to us getting a dog.
I was floored.
Completely blown away.
Especially when he added that each kid could get a dog.

I about fell over in shock.
But then the reality hit me.
How in the world were we(I) going to be able to care for four dogs?

Then Jeff showed me what he had in mind.

Four balloon animal dogs.
"Perfect", he said,
"They make the kids happy.
No having to walk them or clean up their poop
and in a couple of hours, they will all be gone."

Yeah, perfect.
Not exactly what I had in mind.
But the kids loved this idea.

They all loved and played with their doggies until each one popped.
Tears where shed by them all when the doggies were no more.
But thankfully, these dogs can be easily and cheaply recreated.

This post has been part of Wordful Wednesday

Ready. Set. Go!

This is the chosen entertainment while I make dinner in the evenings.
Its just too much fun!

There's not a lot of words here but there sure are a lot of giggle.
Wordful Wednesday

Past and Present Pumpkin Processes

We don't usually do much in the way of Halloween preparations or decorations, much to Hayden's chagrin.

He really thinks that we should decorate the house, top to bottom in all things scary and spooky.
Me, on the other hand, I am not so convinced.

But when though, we don't decorate or even make fun Halloween crafts,
we do do
PUMPKINS!

And I thought it would be fun to take a trip down memory lane and look at
Pumpkins of year's past.

Here they are, our little pumpkin family of three.

I thought they were cute but Hayden well, he wasn't quiet convinced.

Then again, maybe he was crying because the next year brought these guys.

But not to worry, there were still pumpkins.
Just a lot more pumpkins.

But we carved them all the same, expect for the tiny ones.
Jeff and I deemed them too small to carve.
So the next year, we bought six good size pumpkins and the plan was to have a whole
Jack 'O Lantern Family.

But even with the kids help, there were just too make to clean and carve.
So the 'mommy and daddy' pumpkin, well they were just 'shy' and had no face.

Now that brings us to this year.
We learned our lesson and got just enough pumpkins to cover the kids.
And Jeff and I were excited because we thought the kids would be gun-hoe about helping us clean them out, like last year.

I mean what kid doesn't want to get all dirty and make a mess.

Hayden, he jumped right in, almost literally.

Jake was all to happy to help.

Quinn, well, he really couldn't be bothered to help with the pumpkins.
The dinosaur stickers were just too much fun.

And Claire, she was all about helping clean out the pumpkins.
She took her shirt off so that it wouldn't get dirty.
She got up on her chair and was so ready to jump in until she saw the inside of a pumpkin.

Then I couldn't get her to touch it with a ten foot pole.

But who can really blame her, pumpkin guts are really slimy.

But not to worry, once I gave her a spoon she dug right in.

And we were able to successfully carve pretty awesome pumpkins.

If I do say so myself.

Wordful Wednesday is host by

Halloween Treats

I do a monthly feature over at Multiples and More about cooking with your kids. For this months feature, the kids and I made a Halloween treat and we had so much fun that I just had to share it with you too.


Since Halloween is right around the corner, the kids and I made this ghoulish snack to celebrate the upcoming holiday. Now this snack doesn't really involve cooking-----you don't have to turn on the stove or touch a pot. But it is fast, fun and produces lots of giggles and good times.

So gather your ghouligans, and let's get started.

You will only need a few things: Oreo cookies, gummy worms, wooden spoon, baggies and bowls.

Put some Oreo cookies into the bags.

I used 5 cookies for each bag and honestly, I don't know what I was thinking. Two or three cookies would be plenty.

Once the cookies are in the bags,

take the wooden spoons and smash them until you get a dirt like texture.

Just make sure that you only smash the cookies and not a sibling.
The latter results are not pretty.
(Trust me on this. I tried to capture this but I had to be the parent and stop the sibling smashing.)

Here is what it looks like when all the smashing is done.

Next pour the dirt into a bowl.


Now get ready to put the worms in.....

Careful, don't let them escape. Those worms can be tricky.

All that is left is to eat!


Enjoy and Happy Halloween!

The Lesson of Reponsibility

There once was a boy who's parents decided to teach him about responsibility.

For his birthday, they approve of him getting a new fish for a pet.
The boy was very happy, for he loved animals so.

The family as a whole took the pilgrimage to the store to help the boy pick out just the right ones to bring home.

Each tank was studied with care.
And after many, many, many minutes the boy finally chose, three fish to be his.

He loving named them Treasure Chest, Coral and Goldie

With the new pets in tow, the family head for home.
The first order of business in being responsible for pets is to build them a home.
So with the help of this father, the boy did.

The boy was proud of his work and his new pets.

Beaming from ear to ear, he introduced his little sister and brothers to his new friends.
It was a match made in heaven.

The boy took great care of his new pet fish. Each morning upon waking he would feed his fish and each evening before bed he would feed them again.

His parents were proud of responsibility he was learning.
They smiled and congratulated each other for this good parenting move.

But there was one lesson that they did not plan on the boy learning so soon.
For you see, fish are finicky creatures and sometimes, well most of the time, they die.

Death is said and a hard lesson to learn.
The boy's mother expected tears and much sadness when the boy learned of the terrible news.
But instead the boy just looked at her and said,
"Tomorrow can we get new fish? I was kinda sick of those ones anyway."

A Fairy Tale

This week in the blogosphere is a special week. This summer Moxie Media Girls has sent their mascot Mona around the country on a special trip to visit bloggers all over the country. She hit over 40 states on this trip. And this week, all the bloggers have been showing off what Mona has been doing on these visits.

Well, Mona came to Michigan and she happened to stop in out neck of the woods. She got kind of lost while trying to pay us a visit so she got here after all of our summer trips were over. And to be honest, we are really not a traveling kind of family (for obvious reasons).

So to tell you about Mona's adventures while visiting us, I have come up with this little story. Sit back, relax and get ready to hear the tale of

'Mona's and the Buried Kingdom'.

Once upon a time, there was a Mommy.
She was a very busy and over worked Mommy who very much need a break.
For her house contained four children under the age of 4, including two year old triplets.

Each night she dreamed of a night out with true one true love, Prince Jeff.

What was this poor Mommy to do?
Never fear!
It's Mona to the Rescue.
She can handle anything, she's got Moxie!
Mona sensed this Mommy's needs and swooped in to help her.
"You will go out with your Prince tonight," she said.
When these words were shared, something magical happened.
The Mommy turned into a beautiful Princess.

And off the Mommy Princess went for a night on the town with Prince Jeff
and other Prince and Princesses of the land.

Now the children of the house were thrilled that Mona was going to stay with them
They loved her so, especially the little princess-in-training.

But Mona even is all her wisdom, really didn't know what to do with the children.
She was feeling greatly out numbered.
So she did what the Princess Mommy would do when feeling over whelmed and stressed.
She loaded the children in the van and drove.

The children screamed for chicken nuggets so it was off to the Kingdom of the Golden Arches.

But something happened there that Mona was not prepared for, she began to loose control. Her Moxie powers were no match for the energy and activeness of the triplets.

Her control of the children weakened even more when the returned to the Buried Castle.
During a game of hide and seek, the children imprisoned her in a small castle.
But Mona is used what little Moxie she had left and easily escaped.

Mona feared all was lost when the children tossed her in a toy volcano which threatened to erupt at any moment.

Mona knew she needed help so she went to her oldest and most trust advisor.

But when told him of the children, especially the triplet at the age of two, she could not make out his words through his laughter.
So Mona returned to the castle fearing all was lost. But thing were much, much worse. Because while Mona was away, the Prince and the Princess Mommy had returned.
The Princess Mommy was angry for Mona had left the children to run a muck in the castle.

Mona felt bad that she had let the Princess Mommy down.
So she retreated to the pile of unloved toys to hide.
For the wrath of the Princess Mommy was not something to mess with.

Mona sat and wallowed in her troubles. She wondered what she could she do to get back in the good graces of the Princess Mommy?
Then she remember she had Moxie!

Mona made all things right with the Princess Mommy. She let her care for the children (something the Mommy did best) while she took care of the shopping,

the laundry,

and the changing of the diapers.

Well, all this pleased the Princess Mommy so much that she gave Mona the one thing she couldn't resist, the thing that she needed to refuel and continue on her journey.


With her strength renewed, Mona spent one last night in the Buried Castle.

She read the children stories and then sent them off to bed.
She kissed them Good Night and took to the sky.
Off to hopefully a more relaxing next stop.
(Curious where she is going, go visit Mama Kat, one of her official tour guides.)

And they all lived happily ever after.
Then End.