Craft #1

It seems I get bit by the crafting bug every January. I churn stuff out through March, and then it seems to get out of my system. 3 kids is not conducive to a "craft bug." I only was able to finish this fun project because my mom was in town. I had these boards sitting in my craft stuff, applied Modge Podge (the best stuff ever) and scrapbook paper, and there was something pretty to hang on the wall. Hopefully I can get some more stuff finished before the summer hits.

Called the Waambulance today?

We are all about positive and negative reinforcement of behavior in this house. Whining is probably the most annoying behavior of small children. That, and peeing on the floor, which was Jilly's unfortunate regressive habit last week.

My kids whine most when they're hungry, which is understandable, but still annoying. Ben doesn't put up with it as much as I do. We do lots of counting, ignoring until they can ask nicely, and a new strategy employed today at lunchtime.

Jilly and Evelyn: Whiiiiinnnne, we don't want that for lunch! I wanna tortilla! I want a chocolate tortilla! Waaah!

Ben: Alright, I'm going to call the Waambulance. You guys are whining too much.

At this point, Evelyn immediately stops whining and starts saying, "No, Daddy! I'll be nice! I'll be nice Daddy! Don't call the waambulance!" Jilly is just staring at Ben. He gets all official on the phone, pushing some buttons and talking to no one. He clears things up with the fake Waambulance officer, after Evelyn promises to stop whining for a while.

And it worked. Better than anything else has lately.

Hopefully the girls don't figure out for a while we are just mean parents getting a good laugh out of our kid's fear of "the Waambulance."

P.S. Totally unrelated content, Evelyn's been making up new games lately. Most recent? "Simon Says Hide and Seek Magicful Bunny Please Come Out" game.

Project: Get my bedroom back

I think out of the last 4 years, we've had a kid sleeping in our room for nearly 3 of them. And we were okay with it, until recently. Three kids will do strange this to you. Like wanting your own, private space. Besides the bathroom.

So we have begun debating how we are going to put three kids in one bedroom. Thankfully, it is on the large side. It will definitely be a process involving sleep training for the Gordo (I've been hoping for way too long that he would just start sleeping through the night, but no luck), making light-blocking shades, and another tent-sort of object (light-blocking) for the top of his crib so he'll sleep in until 7 am.

My question to all of you is this: Did putting babies with older children cause one to wake up more? Regress in bedtime habits? Did crying disturb the other child?

Two bedrooms and five bodies makes for interesting living, I tell you.

These pictures are from House Beautiful. I love these two bedrooms, not necessarily the coloring, but the light and space. And a place to read. That bookcase in the background? And the armchairs/couch? Totally going to be in my bedroom someday.

Blue jammies and red nails

"What's that you say? I'm wearing my sister's pajamas?"

I know the laundry situation is in bad shape when I have to dig through the girl's hand-me-downs to find something for the poor boy to wear to bed. No clean pants. No clean onesies. No clean pajamas. At least what I found was blue.

Jilly was ecstatic to be wearing the same pajamas as Gordon.

Evelyn, despondent and crying. "I can't play with them and have fun with them because I don't have the same pajamas! I remember we had three pairs of penguin pajamas(nope)! Waaaahhhh! "

I cheered her up by painting her nails. Red. "Wow," she breathed. "Mommy, I don't like light paint colors any more, only dark ones! Wow!"

The power of red nail polish.

Simplicity

If you are striving for simplicity and organization in your life, this piece is for you. It's off one of my favorite blogs. It's not very long, enjoy!

Simple pleasure.

Rain, Rain

Enter unseasonable wetness. Inches and inches of rain. Tornado warnings. High winds. Snapped trees. Street flooding. Canceled flights. Grandma and Grandpa get to stay two extra days. Yay!

The babushkas ready to head down to peek at the high surf and beach erosion. We went to the fabric store and they both picked out some fabric they liked, hence the head scarves.

This is the beach we frequent and the high surf and erosion morphed it into something that only slightly resembled the beach we knew. This was before another rain deluge set upon us.

Playing hopscotch with the laundry. Such imagination.

Orange County has a "Great Park" being built. The only completed portion is the events staging area and the free hot air balloon ride.

They take you up 500 feet and you can see most everywhere in Orange County. Pretty neat.

This bike bike-rack. Free fun.

The three-seater.

The nine-month old expert stair climber. He's safe to go up there, as long as the toilet lid is down in the bathroom.

Brothers are yummy.

Intense coloring session. They've made a lot of use out of this little table. I love it!

Before the Rain

We are finally entering the rainy season here, and boy, is it rainy. I've never lived in a place where so much water falls in a short amount of time. Before that though, we enjoyed some fun with Grandma and Grandpa Cows who were taking a hiatus from the frozen deserts of Washington. Here are some pictures we caught one afternoon:

After lots of Evelyn pictures like the one above, Daddy caught the one below:

This boy is always happy at the beach.

Evelyn loves playing in the waves. Jilly, not so much.

We went to look at the tide pools, but sadly couldn't find any starfish. These "nenamies" were pretty cool though.

The south end of Corona del Mar.

The sun sinking into Catalina.