Successful Party!

For once since the boys were born, there wasn't rain the day before, day of, and day after their birthday.  I was shocked.  So they had a lovely birthday party! Yay!

Nice and sunny, not too warm and not too hot.  Just right for a party.  The kids were able to go outside and play and have a great time as well as having fun inside as well.

We had a good amount of guests come and help us celebrate the boys turning three.

They love their train table and all of the accessories, the squirt guns coloring books, books, bubbles, their really awesome cool train (we have to put it up till they are a bit older, but they can't wait to use it!), PJ's, socks, and an area rug for their room with roads all over it, and so so much more!

Keegan, ready to dino egg race!
Check out that dino birthday out fit!
Made by Stuffin' Fluffin' Boutique 
and check the boutique out on Facebook too 

Uncle Josh helping Keegan with the dino egg race!

Marshall sporting his birthday dino
 out fit made by Stuffin' Fluffin' Boutique,
 and ready to do
some serious dino egg racing!
 Look at that handsome smile!

Marshall and Keegan with their dino cakes!

Happy Birthday to you!

Make a wish Marshall!

Make a wish Keegan!



Tearing into those presents! Oh goody!

The boys got a special visit from The Blanket Fairy for their birthday!
Thanks Kim for making it to the party! Want to learn more about the
Blanket Fairy?  Who she is?  What she does?  How YOU can help? 
Then check out her website
The Blanekt Fairy
to learn more!
And check The Blanket Fairy out on
Facebook HERE

A wonderful birthday party spent with friends and family celebrating two amazing little boys.  Still can't believe they are 3 years old now!

Mae  

Rawr! Cupcakes and Gum Drops

I spent today hanging out with my two amazing little 3 year old sons as we celebrated their birthday at home today with family.  We played, watched TV, and I also worked on their birthday cakes with my friend.  SOOO glad I had a friend to help with the cakes this time! Made things a LOT easier. 

I had a mini frosting melt down when I couldn't get the darn cake and frosting to cooperate. I'm not a baker.  I enjoy baking.  I enjoy making cakes and decorating....but that does NOT mean I am GOOD at it.  However, I do my very best.  That's all that matters. Love, sweat and tears goes into making these cakes...but mainly love. 

I was planning on making some dino shaped cookies, but in hindsight I decided there was already enough sugar and sweets involved with the cakes.  Plus, I'm too pooped to go about making home made sugar cookies, and the ants are already trying to invade my kitchen.  Intruducing more sweet, sticky goodies for them to try and attack is probably not a very good idea.  I had really wanted to do the dino shaped cookies though, but just not feeling it.

I had mentioned in a previous post the cakes I was planning on making for the boys' party this weekend.  They were fairly simple to make, though I'm not sure how "good" you'd say mine came out, but I like them. Thus far the presentation is kind of lame, but I'm hoping I can spruce them up a bit tomorrow somehow.  We'll see.

Still have a few things I need to get done for the party....but I'm toooootally too tired to get it done.  So it might wait till early in the morning. That's ok though. I'll get it done.

Anyway, here are a few photos of the cakes that were made today! My friend and I had a lot of fun goofing around and making these cakes. 

Mae

Tomorrow is "THE DAY"

What day is that you ask?  Tomorrow is the day my precious little baby boys....turn 3.  They will NO LONGER be my "babies".  They will now be BIG BOYS (though in my heart they will always be my babies!!! I don't care if they are 3 or 30!)

I'm an emotional wreck.  Weepy.  Happy.  Sad.  Excited.  Sentimental.  Mushy.  Ooooh my babies.  I miss their tiny little bodies! They were the tiniest little boys (well they were both well over 5lbs at birth and darn near almost 20in long) so I guess they weren't all  THAT tiny, but compared to their 8lb 2.8oz 20in long sister....they were pretty small!

So at 8:11am Marshall Dean was brought into this world.  The first time I heard him cry, I bawled like a baby.  Oh my gosh.  I was so happy.  Elated.  The emotions I felt...undescribable.  He was the most beautiful little boy I had ever seen.  Until I laid eye on his twin brother! Then they were both the most beautiful little boys I had ever laid eyes on!

At 8:13am Keegan Ray was brought into this world.  Again, I was completely overwhelmed by the emotions that flooded through my body! I was also terrified, because he didn't cry right away.  Keegan gave them issues with his breathing.  He nearly gave me a heart attack.  I was on pins and needles, and he's pretty well kept me on pins and needles and the edge of my seat from day one! With Keegan...you never know what to expect, other than to expect the unexpected out of him!

They've made my world, AMAZING.

They are STRONG.

I never in a million years expected to have a child diagnosed with cancer.  That rocked our world.  We were shattered.  How could a baby so tiny, and new and innocent....have cancer?  By 9 months old he had already gone through more than most adults do! NUMEROUS scans, NUMEROUS sedations, 2 surgeries, 4 cycles of chemo, bone marrow testing, numerous pokes and prods and needle pokes.  The hospital was a way of life for him, and still is.  He doesn't know life without the hospital.  I think it'll come as a shock to him when he finally never has to go anymore.  That's how "normal" it is for us.

I never in a million years expected to have a child diagnosed with a seizure disorder either.  By the time he was diagnosed I was a wreck.  I felt such guilt and depression. I had no idea what I had done to cause this, it MUST have been something I did. 

We'll probably NEVER know (atleast not in our life time anyway) what caused the cancer and the seizures, but I no longer feel like I'm to blame (ok so occasionally that guilt creeps in but I squash it).  I did everything I was SUPPOSED to do when pregnant.  Everything I did was what my OB and Midwife suggested.  I had zero issues my entire pregnancy.  Healthy, healthy healthy!

It was just meant to be I guess.  Only God knows why these things happen.  I will never understand it.  It just is.

I know that I love those sons of mine with my ENTIRE heart and soul, not just the boys but their sister too.  It blows my mind to think that I am so blessed to have these children in my life.

I really don't know where my life would be if my children had never been in it. I would not be who I am today.  My children, help make me who I am. 

I've been busily preparing for the boys' party on Saturday.  We're having a dinosaur party.  I hung up some of the decorations today, less to do on Saturday! Tomorrow I will bake the cakes and hang up the rest of the decorations (will do that part before I go to bed).  I am really truly excited for their party.  I love love love looooove birthday's.  Your child only turns that age once, so whatever age it is...I feel you should celebrate it as big as you can afford to (ok well within reason I don't mean go broke doing it, or spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a child's party).  I want lots of family and friends gathered around my children.  Cheering them on in their accomplishments, and wishing them a happy birthday.  Birthday's are a beautiful  thing.  You are growing up, they are a right of passage through infancy, toddler hood, preschool, childhood, preteen, teen, young adult....adult....on and on....with each age you enter and leave behind, you enter a new phase of life! It brings new mile stones, new memories.  New experiences.  Birthday's bring you more year close to whatever goals you have in life. 

It's a day for Mommy's and Daddy's to look back...and remember.  Remember the day your child was born.  The way you felt the FIRST TIME you laid eyes on them.  How beautiful and wrinkley they looked, how tiny they were, how perfect.  The sound of their first cry....birthday's bring those memories back in a flood of emotion.  Birthday's aren't just for the child, they are always as much for the parent, as the child. 

Parents love their kids, feel pride in their accomplishments, feel their pain, do our best to do everything we can for them. 

Ack.  Here I am tearing up over here.  Hard to see the screen when it's all blurry!

I'll admit, I'm always a little disappointed when others aren't as "excited" about my children's birthday's as I am, but honestly....why should they be?  THEY didn't carry my children and give them life, and bring them into this world.  They haven't stayed up and lost many nights of sleep with my children.  They haven't watched my children fight through all they've been through, others haven't been there.  So, honestly?  Why SHOULD they be as excited about my children having a birthday as I am?  (Haha because I said so darn it!)

I think Moms just love to celebrate their amazing babies.  They want the world to know how much they love their kids, how proud of them they are!

So Saturday when we have the party, I don't think there are going to be too many that come, but I'm ok with that.  I know that those who come really care about the boys ( and even those that don't come I know they care too, they just have busy lives and that is totally understandable, you can't be everywhere at one time, I know that for a fact!)

Wouldn't matter if a single person showed up or a thousand.  My sons would STILL be surrounded with love!

Anyway, below are a few things we are doing for the party.

It may be a small party, but I know my kids will love it. Lots of love and thought going into it. 

Now off to bed since I have a TON of things still to do tomorrow. 

Mae 

The Good, The Bad...the Inlaws?

Have been pretty busy today! Am finally sitting down to have some quiet time and relax a little but realizing I am honestly more tired than anything else.  I don't really care to be up much longer and will soon find myself going to bed!

Had to take my daughter to see her pediatrician today, she's got allergy issues and has been battling them all spring like her Mommy.  Well she's recently started running a fever, and complaining of her ear and throat hurting, and lots of coughing.  She got sent home from school early on Monday due to fever, and hasn't been back since, though she's been fever free for 24 hours now so I'm thinking she is  good to go back to school.

The pediatrician says Kams has a sinus infection and has her on some antibiotics for it, so hoping she's back to herself again soon.  Hate to see my little girl not feeling well, though by watching her run around the house you'd never have a clue she's even BEEN sick at all. Lots of energy, but due to not being fever free for 24 hours she couldn't go to school.  Hopefully she is fever free in the morning. 

Today I rode with a friend who does animal rescue.  She needed someone to help her transport a couple of schnauzzer/terrier mix siblings that were in the shelter that someone adopted.  We drove nearly 2 hours to meet these people half way, and then 2 hours back. 

I think they will be great for these dogs! They are going to be spoiled and well taken care of.  I'm so happy for them, I wish all shelter dogs were as lucky. 

Thank you to this wonderful family for adopting in these two wonderful siblings who lived a life on the streets till they were picked up by the local animal shelter.  They spent 2 and a half weeks in the shelter and are now in their new fur ever home.  So happy for these two pups. 

This little lady is named Reba.  This was her photo I took of her at the shelter, she was so scared and dirty.  When she got delivered to her new family though she was all clean and pretty and happy and wiggly! Congrats Reba!

This is Eddie, he is a brother to Reba.  This is his photo I took of him at the shelter. He was dirty and wiggly and just wanted to be near his sister they hated being seperated.  Congrats Eddie on being adopted! You'll get to hang out with your sister forever and have a wonderful for ever family! Way to go!

I really enjoy photographing the shelter dogs and other little dogs that I'm asked to photograph.  I'm far from a professional that's for sure, but the photos are helping.  Their furry little faces are getting out there, people are seeing them, and falling in love with these adorable fur babies and adopting them, bringing them into their homes.  I'm helping, in a small way, to get these dogs out of the shelter.  I'm so happy I can help them! It isn't too easy getting photos of shelter dogs.  They are super wiggly, some are terrified, and getting them to stand still when most of them have lived on the streets and have had zero training can be frustrating, and time consuming but totally worth it! I'm glad I can help them.

When I got home I checked out my Facebook page and found a message from the staff that creates the "Imagine" Magazine for the Children's Hospital my sons  go to for their medical needs. They asked me if I would like to create a letter to send in to the magazine sharing our positive experiences with the hospital.  Of course I would love to share our positive experiences with the hospital! So I will be working on this letter tomorrow.

When I walked in the door after being gone for like nearly 5 hours today, I first was attacked by my 3 BEAUTIFUL babies who were so happy to see me.  They were telling me what they had for supper.  Daddy, made waffles.  Home made waffles non the less for supper! With strawberries and blue berries, and blue berry syrup and cream cheese.  Wow! Apparently, my kids ate a LOT of waffles too.  Did anyone save me any?  Ha, of course not.  Their Daddy even let them help cook the waffles which they totally loved.  I'm glad they had a good time with their Daddy while I was out of town this afternoon. 

However, when I got home my husband told me I need to call back his mom.  Which is fine.  Until I heard WHY I apparently needed to call.  Apparently, my husband's sisters husband (still with me?)  wants to live with us.  Uhm.  No.  Not happening.

My sister in law is pregnant, and having a stressful time so is living with her mom the last four months.  So now her husband needs a place to live as he apparently, cannot stay there with them. I don't particularly want him here.  They haven't exactly been a part of my children's lives.  My kids don't know them.  We have no where for him to sleep and I don't really want someone sleeping on my sofa.  We only have ONE friend who is ever allowed to sleep on our sofa when he is needing a place to stay and that's because he's literally like a brother to me and is my husband's best friend, and he's been my kids uncle since they were all born.  My sister in laws husband though?  Nope.  Not so much welcome to crash on my house.

First of all, my sister in law is having such drama issues right now it's not even funny.  I don't want dragged into it.  Her whole situation annoys me enough as is, don't even get me started.  I really do not have any sympathy.  Nor do I really care much to help them out (we've already bent over backwards and done a ton for them anyway which I don't mind because I don't want my future niece to go without, but at the same time she is not my responsibility to take care of.  I have my own 3 children to provide for).  I, personally, think her husband needs to stand up for his wife and take care of her, rather than expecting her to take care of him.  But hey, what do I know. I just know that if he were to come stay with us for ANY amount of time, it'd be bad.  I would NOT hold my tongue and I would rip into him and tell him EXACTLY what I thought about the ENTIRE situation.  They all know this.  So why ask us to let him live here??? Do they WANT me to ream him over the coals?

I hate family drama. 

When it comes to drama and chaos, my husbands sisters (love them, I do, I promise!) they wrote the book on it! Especially one (the not pregnant one).  I do love both of those girls dearly like they are sisters, but just sisters I'd like to smack around a little.  Sisters in need of a good big sister but whoopin'.  My husband, wow.  He REALLY goes balistic when it comes to his sisters. He totally blows his top over the crap they pull and tries to wish they weren't his sisters.  You can't choose who your family is and what they do! Heaven knows I have plenty of family members I can't stand.  PLENTY of them. 

My husband normally has issues with his sisters husband, so I'm having trouble understanding WHY he is actually ON BOARD with the man staying with us.  I'm a little confuzzled.  Of course I cannot ask my husband about it as it is "game night" with 4 of his friends (oh their "man drama" when it comes to game night is almost much worse than the family drama his sisters cause!) It's enough to drive a woman insane.

See why this blog is called dance of the animal cracker, and I call it an animal cracker circus?  Yeh.  It's crazy round here. 

I just want it calm.  Cool, and collected.  Peaceful.  Serene.

So tonight, and possibly tomorrow...and the rest of the weekend....I am avoiding my dear inlaws.  Just not wanting to deal with this drama and crap right before my sons turn 3 years old.  THIS is a time to celebrate MY SONS, not their crappy drama and mistake after mistake and things that do NOT concern me and should NOT concern me. That I don't want to be a part of. I'm celebrating the miracle, and awesomeness that are my twin sons.  All of the joy and love they bring to my world.  All of the amazing obstacles they've over come.  They deserve this time.  I'm not about to let my inlaws ruin that for my sons, and our family.  Call me stingy.  I don't do drama on my kids birthday, or anywhere close to their birthday's.  I have ENOUGH things to plan and for their party and take care of without worrying about everyone else. 


IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK!

Anyway.  To share some photos I've taken just becase.  Then off to bed!

Mae (that's me Mahala btw the mom with a camera, nothing fancy or professional)

LOVE flowers.  We were on a walk the other day and came across these in someones yard (near the side walk)

They've been remodeling this old old theater for as long as I've lived in this town, and that's been nearly 10 years now!

White camel from the petting zoo the other day



Tortoise from the petting the other day

Rail road.  I hate trains.  I don't care if I ever live in another town that has a train in it.  However, my sons LOVE trains.

I have fond memories of these flowers when I was growing up! My Mother had like a million of these flower bushes in our yard, I really loved them! They were so gorgeous and puffy, and I loved the big huge black ants that crawled all over these bushes.

Celebrating The Young Child

This week is the beginning of the "Week of the Young Child" and I don't just mean celebrating that little child inside each of us, though it probably wouldn't hurt to celebrate that inner child either! Bring that inner child out this week and do some silly and crazy things with your little one(s).

Our community got things rolling with a little parade in honor of small children.  They've had one every year for quite a long time, and we've only made it to one parade and that was shortly after my daughter was born.

So this year I finally got us to the darn parade.  Though at one point I thought we weren't going to make it because I had to pick my daughter up from school this morning because she didn't feel well.  After bringing her home and snuggling and giving her lots of extra attention this morning she felt good enough to go to the parade. 

I put together a Childhood Cancer Awareness banner for the parade, and we all dawned our Childhood Cancer gear and a couple of our friends and their kids came out to join our little group as we walked in the parade today.  It was really a lot of fun! After the little children's parade was over and all of the participants met down town, the Mayor read a proclomation announcing this week as the start of the "Week of the Young Child" week.  There were snacks for the families, a bounce house, balloons, free stuff from the Rail Road, the kids got to tour ambulances, Sherif car, State trooper car, and a fire truck.  Also cars that looked like the ones from the "Dukes of Hazard" were there for the kids to look at too.  They had a great time.

As we were leaving to attend the parade we saw the neighbor girl in her yard playing and we asked her mom if she could come along with us which the mom said sure fine and to have a fun time.  So that brought our little group of kids up to 6, and they had a fantastic time.

Next year I think we'll dress the dogs up in the their dino costumes and make them go to the parade too, they ought to loooove that! The kids will anyway....not so much the dogs though they will humor us. 

We love taking the oppurtunity to raise awareness about Childhood Cancer whenever/wherever we can.  You'd be surprised how many people do not have a clue.

Anyway, below are a few photos from today's fun! The rest of this week I will be busily getting things prepared for the boys' birthday party on Saturday.  At this rate?  I don't think I'll get it all done and the party will be a flop.  Ugh.

Mae

Dog Rescue and Dog Photography

I've always had a love of working with animals and helping them.  From the time I was super small I've always had animals.  Always had a dog or a cat or a bunny or something. 

When I was two my Mother and I briefly lived with my Grandmother who had a farm, she had a cow, and numerous sheep and goats and chickens, peacocks, geese, ducks, fish, etc etc on her farm.  I have fond memories of helping my Mother and Grandmother bottle feed the lambs every spring.  I loved it. I would carry those little babies around even though they were bigger than me.

My Grandmother had a blind goat Cocoa that I used to "lead" around the pasture (though she was the one leading me!) I loved that goat.  Her and I were best of buddies.  I also remember getting butted by a couple of naughty sheep when I was little too! And chased by peacocks and having chickens try to eat my toes.  That was not fun.  Been goosed by a goose too, again...not fun.

But through it all I've always throughly enjoyed being around animals.

I've bottle fed baby bunnies, and wrestled wild bunnies out of the mouths of dogs that were trying to kill them, I've tried to (unsuccesfully) hand feed baby birds, and I've hand fed many tiny kittens and little puppies too.  Most of the time I successfully saved the lives of these animals.  Occasionally one would die and I would be crushed for days. 

Being a vet was something I really really wanted to do for years.  The 3 top things I wanted to do as a child, were be a vet, or a teacher and which ever one I did, I was still going to be a writer. 

One spring as a teen I followed some farmers around helping them birth the cattle.  That.  Was not fun.  I decided that side of being a vet, was not for me.  So my dreams of being a vet flew out the window.  But I have never lost my love for caring for animals.

I still care very deeply about animals and want to do what I can to help them.

I have a couple of new found friends  that I met last summer (I had actually met them several times before that over the years, but we didn't actually get to talk until last summer).  They do dog rescue.  Not on a large scale but they do what they can for as many dogs as they can. 

Recently, (as in the beginning of March) if I could/would take some photos of these dogs that were being fostered at one of the woman's homes.  They had seen the photos I take of my kids, and of my own dogs and they liked them and wondered if I'd use my gifts to help these dogs (they knew I had a soft spot for dogs).  I  was unsure.  I'm no pro with a camera.  Infact I just have an old (nearly 5 years old) Kodak EasyShare ZD710 camera.  Absolutely nothing fancy about it.  It looks slightly fancier than what it really is.  But I get lucky from time to time and get some decent shots.  I use a simple free web basked editor.  My husband knows how to do photo shop and keeps  trying to pressure me into figuring it out, but I'm stubborn and won't "convert" to the world of photo shop until I freaking have to.  So I keep digging in my heels.  I ain't going to photo shop without a fight.  Why?  Because I don't like it.  It's hard.  It takes too much of my damn time. 

Whatever I'm doing with my pictures, apparently someone somewhere likes so I'm using these "talents" to help dogs in need of homes. 

SO many times I look at photos of dogs in shelters and the photos are awful.  Quickly taken, thoughtless, just a snap, lighting sucks, no thought put into it yadda yadda.  (Like I said I am no professional but I do *try* to put thought and love into each photo I take!)

So far I've actually helped quite a few dogs find homes, yay me! It feels nice to get to help these little guys find their furever homes. 

The nearby shelter gets little traffic, and they don't even have a website dedicated to finding these guys homes, so it's up to the rescue group to help them.  They work closely with the shelter coordinator and other workers to set up times to see these dogs so they can be photographed by me, and we can get their faces out there. 

If you'd like to look at some of these dogs you can check out an album HERE of the ones that are up for adoption from this location at the animal shelter.  Granted, taking photos of dogs in the shelter is not as easy as you might think.  These dogs spend most of their time in a kennel, they get taken out of the kennel for the photos and are soooooo hyper and wiggly.  They want to RUN they want to PLAY they don't want their picture taken and certainly do not want to sit infront of a "pretty" back drop.  Nope.  There is always a second or third person needed to help hold the dogs still, so there is always a cropped up person in all of the photos.  But the photos work.  The animals are slowly but surely getting adopted.  However, the shelter is VERY VERY full.  Animals will be getting gassed, and soon.  This, breaks my heart! Baxter, will be the first to go.  Which is so absolutely heart breaking.  It hit me the other day that I've been working so closely with these dogs, if any of them get gassed it's going to destroy me.  I'm going to feel like I failed them.  I've already shed many tears over this realization. 

There are also the dogs I've photographed that are up for adoption through the Rescue Group that takes in dogs too.  To see their photos please check out this album HERE.  Most of these guys were a little more cooperative to photograph.  They are in need of homes though.  They are currently being fostered by kind people. 

This is an album of dogs that I have photographed and helped them find their homes because the rescue group was able to get their cute little faces out there for people to see.  So glad I was able to help these guys HERE.

It's a learning process to photograph dogs, that's for sure! However, they do have a lot in common with trying to photograph toddlers.  Wiggly and never look the direction you would like for them too, and are very unpredictable, and can be a hazard around cameras.  You get a lot of photos of the back of their heads or their rears.  And a lot of their photos are blurry.  You take a bazillion photos to end up with like 1 or 2 that you can actually use.  Yep.  Dogs and toddlers have a lot in common when it comes to photography.  OH and they'd rather play with the back drop and photo props than look at you, and they try to take off any "costumes".  When they let you know they are done, they are DONE.  You cannot bribe a dog as easily as you can a toddler though.

And below are some photos of my spoiled rotten dog Molly who is turning 2 years old soon.  It's also time to take Karmen out and get her photos taken too as she has just officially turnerd a year old! We'll see how well she cooperates she's never had a "doggy photo shoot" before. 

It's really hard to go to the shelter and see all of those dogs and not end up coming home with all of them.  But I have 3 kids and 2 dogs, that is all  I need.  I'm good.  Eventually, when the kid are older, a lot older I'll THINK about getting a cat.  Think about it.  I'm not much of a cat person.  (Probably because growing up my Mother had like a bazillion of them)  I like them but can only handle one cat at a time and the have to be declawed and spayed/neutered to be in my home (like my dogs).  And I despise nasty litter boxes gross.  Plus I'm kind of allergic to cat dandruff.  Nuff said.

Anyway, I do what I can to help these pups find homes.  I'm not a professional, just a mom with a camera and a passion for helping animals.  I love doing volunteer work and this is something the kids can get involved with too, so it's fun for all of us. My daughter usually comes along and is my assistant, she's awesome.  She shares a huge love for dogs too, they've always been her favorite animals!

Hopefully all of the dogs at the shelter can find homes.  The shelter is getting super full and by Tuesday they stand a chance at being gassed.  I do not want to see that happen. 

If you can help, please call (660)833-7330 they are always looking for people who can foster dogs, people who want to adopt, or rescue groups that can help (there are atleast 2 pitts that need a rescue group or they will be gassed).  People can also donate too.  They are always needing money to be donated to build dog beds (the inmates at the local prison build the dog beds as well as work at training some of the dogs in the Puppies for Parole program).  Dog food is always needed, dog snacks, leashes, collars, volunteers to help clean out the pens, volunteers to help bathe and walk the dogs, money donated to cover vet costs so the dogs can be spayed/neutered and get up to date on all their shots, tested for kennel cough and treated, tested for ear mites and treated if needed.  There is so much you can do to help!

Mae (I'm Mahala BTW I just go by Mae cause it's easier for people to say and remember!)

We're Going To The Zoo...Petting Zoo That Is

Well, we have been attempting to get to the zoo for the past like, 3 summers now I think.  Every single year the plans unravel and we've yet to make it to the zoo with the boys.  Now Kams has been to the zoo, but she was still pretty young, almost 10 months so she doesn't remember anything so they all need a nice and fresh trip to the zoo!

So yet again we fear that our zoo trip has fallen flat on its face (still yet to be determined! I think the forces are working against us those on going to the zoo but we hope for the best that it will all work out, my husband really wants to see the penguin house and if I have to hear him whine about not getting to see it AGAIN I'm going to go insane.) 

This afternoon while the husband was running some errands and Kams had just gotten home from school, the kids and I went out and put together their new toy.  It is an early birthday gift from a couple of friends of ours.  One of those big plastic play houses, love it.  I'm not sure who loves it more, me or the kids!

Anyway between myself and the 3 kids we hauled each piece back to the back yard and proceeded to put it together.  Marshall and Kamilah helped hold the pieces up while Keegan handed me the screws to fasten it together.  Let it be known, that I am a mom who does not believe in much direction reading when it comes to building things.  So I'm sure the neighbors were laughing at me as I put this thing together.  I ended up stuck inside of the play house going "CRAP.  How am I gonna get out of here?"  I figured my fat arse was NOT going to fit through that scrawny door way.  Surprisingly enough, it did! However, now we have a new problem.  The kids now know that Mommy can fit inside the play house and sit down in it, so that means that Mommy now has to climb inside and play with them.  Oh heaven help me.  Good thing I do not  get claustraphobic!

I also rearranged our tiny little back yard today.  Moving the swing set around, and deciding exactly where I want that huge heavy awesome play house to sit and trying to find a place to put my raised flower beds where the dogs cannot reach them and the kids hopefully won't destroy them.  Plus the husband and discussed where we were wanting to put our pool this year.  It's not a big yard.  We have a small cement foundation area that is supposed to be for a little shed, but when we moved here there was no shed.  I would like to eventually GET a little storage shed.  But I won't be setting it on that foundation because it floods over when it rains! Nice.  So instead that little cement area has the kids basketball hoop, sand box, electric jeep, and wagon all smooshed onto it right now.  Planning on moving the sand box out into the yard after we get the sand bought and dumped in it (that is on next months to do list).  Then we'll leave the basketball hoop there, get rid of one of the battery operated jeeps, and charge the other one up good and see if it works, if not it'll have to go to. The wagon needs to be put away until we get the new axle and handle to repair it.  It's still useable but we don't want to push our luck and risk it breaking mid use. We keep all the bikes stored under the porch so they don't get stolen, people in this town are awful about stealing bikes! (And apparently your lawn mower gas out of your gas can too that happened to us this week, thanks a lot).

After the cement area is clear of children's toys, we plan on turning it into a little patio area.  Getting a nice patio table and chairs to set out there.  Nothing brand new or fancy right now.  Something 2nd hand but well taken care of is perfectly fine with me.  Not like we have a lot of company most of the time anyway (I'm not a real social person anymore, I used to be a people person, until people ruined it).  Came across that on Pinterest this evening and found it to be very fitting!


We have a very tiny front porch so sitting and visiting on it is kind of a no go.  So a nice little patio area for BBQing on would be nice.  My husband is a huge grill fan.  Too bad our grill busted when we moved and we just tossed it rather than hauling it's broken carcass across town.  Now we have to get a new one.  My husband is on the prowl for the grill he wants.  He wants a gas grill.  I do not like gas grills.  If I want to cook on gas I will come inside and cook, where there is A/C.  If I'm going to BBQ I want a charcoal grill with good ol' messy briquettes that never want to light and lighter fluid that almost explodes in your face and singes your arm hair and eye brows.  Gives that full BBQ experience.  Along with charred hot dogs and insecurities of "Is the fire still going?  Better  go check the grill!"  (seconds later hearing cursing as the fire is out and the griller has to do whatever they can to start it again)  Yep.  I'd rather have all that than a gas grill.

Get some tiki torches sat up around the patio area with our lawn furniture and a grill, and get a little pool sat up (when I say little, I do mean little, not a big ol 6ft pool, remember we have a small yard!). It'll be big enough for the kids to have a great time but the husband and I will just sit there....wet to our waste in water as the kids dump buckets of water on us.  Hey, it's better  than nothing, right? Beats hanging out at the over crowded pool that has zero security features keeping the small children out of the deep water, and where my nerves are totaly frazzled after only 20min at the pool because my 3 kids scatter at the pool and get sooo excited and leave me running in circles making sure no one drowns! I'd totally rather have a small back yard pool that is much calmer!

I can just picture our relaxing summer evenings.  Get one of those little ceramic fire pits (or make our own which seems cheaper and like a better idea) and light some sticks and have a little calm relaxing fire as we all relax outside.  Watching the kids catch fire flies in the back yard with stars twinkling above us.  Sounds peaceful.  But not realistic.  That is totally not how things will go down.  Instead I'll have to watch my husband struggle to get the fire going in said fire pit.  Then constantly yell at the kids to get away from the fire "Get away! Stop! It's hot do NOT touch! BIG OWIES!"    (This will be said probably every 3min with me jumping up from my comfy seat each time)  Or chasing a renegade child back into our yard.  And not being able to hear myself think over the barking of my two dogs, who would be on their leads in the back yard as they don't stay in the yard at all when off their leads, and I'm not about to chase them and the kids all around the place.  Why do terriers and toddlers have to be so much alike with their ADD/ADHD tendancies? 

Seems like a peaceful calming experience, but in reality?  I think it would end up being a pain in the butt.  It's still our goal.  Have a back patio with lawn furniture, grill, (some kind of little shelter/tent/awning thing would be nice too for during the day!)

Anyway.  Back to my regular scheduled point.  Which by this point has been utterly derailed. 

Putting together the plastic play house.  What an adventure.  It's together.  It's not falling apart anytime soon.  There were NOT extra pieces remaining once it was put together so that is a plus. And it has with stood my children climbing all over it. 

While I was inside said play house comptiplating how I was going to get my butt out the door I heard a voice behind me say "OH there you are!"  I about added a second sun roof to that play house! (Yes, yes it does have a cute little sky light!) 

It was one of my friends, she had stopped by to let me know that there was a little petting zoo in town this week and she was kidnapping the kids and I to go see it.  Who can argue with that?  So the kids and I changed out of our muddy clothes and piled into my friends van and we went to the petting zoo. 

$6 later we're checking the animals out, dumping a little food into each available feeding shovel to feed the animals and the kids were  thrilled.

I was the only one excited by the Kangaroo.  The kids could have cared less.  The Kangaroo could have cared less.  The Kangaroo just laid there.  I don't even think it blinked.  I think it was probably a robot.  (or really really bored). 

Yep.  He looked really enthused didn't he?  I kept trying to get his attention and he totally ignored me. 

The South African Porcipine had the kids a little more excited though! Especially when it heard a loud noise and puffed up it's quils and myself and about 2 other parents grabbed our kids and threw them behind us and flinched all in one motion waiting for quills to come shooting out at our faces.  Poor porcipine, had no throwing quills.  We were safe.  But took our brains awhile to register that. 

I think everyone would probably tense up a bit if this suddenly poofed up in front of you, aimed at you!

There was a Yak.  A pushy miniature horse that the kids loved, a mule, an alpaca that was shaved like a poodle (Keegan got up close and personal with said alpaca he was holding up the shovel and the alpaca was ignoring him so Keegan left the shovel held in the air and was looking around him ignoring the alpaca, when he turned back around the alpaca had it's head right next to his head and Keegan got a face full of poofy soft alpaca wool.  Not sure which one of them was more surprised. 

That's one big poodle.  I couldn't help but smile everytime I looked at this alpaca!

This wasn't when he got a face full of alpac wool, I wasn't quick enough with the camera to get that shot, but this one of Keegan and the alpaca is still pretty cute!

Marshall feeding the miniature horse

Kams feeding the pot belly pig

There was an emu that my kids thought was a dinosaur.  (That thing creeped me out, not a fan of the emu or anything ostritch like).  There was a type of African antelope, (LOTS of goats), and some other kind of horse/deer looking thing.  It was pretty though. 

They saw it's feet and legs and body shape and said "ROOOOAR" and thought it was a dinosaur.  I told them no, it's probably just a really close cousin!

There was a zebra that Kamilah asked if she could bring it home.  Had to say no on that one.  She was crushed. 

"Mommy, a zebra!"
"yes Kams that is a Zebra!"
"Can we have it?" 
"No, no dear we cannot" 
"Aww man..."

There was some African cows and Indonesian cows, more goats, some little lambs, and a BIG camel. 

They topped their whole petting zoo adventure off, with a big huge $3 bag of pink cotton candy.  Oh yes.  Perfect.  Then 3 angry kids who were told no you cannot eat any yet because you just were petting dirty animals.  (OK fine just a little that's all you get).  Either way someone will have an issue with that.  Some would say:  "Eww they could get so sick from those animals they were petting then eating the cotton candy"  others would say "OMG quit being a germaphobe and just give them some cotton candy, it won't kill them it'll make them stronger we ate worse when we were growing up"  Others yet would say "OMG I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU GAVE THEM COTTON CANDY! Their teeth are going to fall out and they are going to be fat fat fat and it's all your fault!"  Others might say "*gasp* You went to a PETTING zoo!? Where's PETA.  That's awful.  Teaching your kids to keep animals in cages.  HORRIBLE"  and others might say I was awful for letting the kids touch the animals.  Aye yi yi.  You can't win.  So at the end of the day, my 3 kids were happy, had just had a wonderful experience with animals they NEVER get to see on a regular basis, they learnerd about each of these animals, had a wonderful outting with Mommy, had a slight sugar high, got totally wore out and were all asleep by 6:30 tonight.  They all fell asleep with smiles on their faces, no doubt dreaming of  today's adventures.  I finished my day out cleaning up grimey little bodies, getting the most amazing snuggles from my babies.  That's all that counts at the end of the day.  I did what was best for us.  We had fun together as a family.  They know they are loved.  They know they are special.  They know mommy is obsessed with Kangaroos, and afraid of emu's and porcipines.

Easier said than done when you have small children.  When we first pulled up and I saw this sign, I laughed and rolled my eyes.  I was like "ooook so they have an issue with people trying to feed themselves to the animals?  Ha!"  And then we went in, and then I had 3 small children with 3 sets of hands to keep an eye on. There was a little finger nuzzling going on from the miniature horse the alpaca and a couple of goats, but no one bit.  The kids didn't freak out, and they got a valuable experience.  And NO ONE lost a finger. 

This sign, and little goat totally made me laugh. 

My kids really enjoyed their little spontaneous adventure to the petting zoo!

 Now to eat some of that pink cotton candy and then haul my self to bed. 

Mae

Personalized Birthday Wreath

My sweet little boys will be turning 3 years old in 11 more days, there party is in just 12 more days.  I still have a lot to do.  I'm a bit of a procrastinator this year! Normally I have everything done super early.  I'm totally dragging my feet about my babies turning three! Doesn't seem like three years have flown by so quickly but they certainly have.  The first year and a half was  complete upside down chaotic mess with Keegan's cancer and the uncertainty.  Now, things have calmed down pretty good.  For the most part. 

My sons have an obsession with all things dinosaur so I thought we would go with a dinosaur theme.  And since their bedroom colore are blue, green and a little bit of orange, and a whole lot of dino's I figured that was just the perfect birthday theme. 

I love to make the birthday decorations for the birthday parties.  I can personalize them the way I want, and it's cheaper. 

I made a HAPPY BIRTHDAY banner out of old paper sacks, coordinating scrapbook paper and my Cricut machine.  And I made a dino garland to hang above the kitchen table in the bay window area.  Unfortunately I didn't have a Cricut cartridge I liked for the dino's so I did things the hard way.  Tracing around a cookie cutter a bazillion times and then hand cutting out the dino shapes.  It actually didn't take as long as I thought it would. 

The kids and I made a huge batch of salt dough clay (you can find that recipe just about anywhere on the web, but this is the one I found that I really really like, it's a good salt dough clay).  Salt Dough Clay from the web site "Arts and Crafts Ideas" a really good site I stumbled onto one day and had to save it to my favorites for future references.

We prepared our salt clay and using our dino cookie cutter we made a bunch of dino's and baked them in the oven to make little clay dino's that the kids at the party could then paint and take home as a little birthday party craft. 

We also plan on having a dino egg walk as a party game that can be fun for kids of all ages.  You could make your own by using a few big spoons and maybe some plastic Easter eggs or even go ahead and use hard boiled egss and dye them fun colors.  However, my kids were given a really cute egg walk game, that comes with cute brightly colored spoons with color coordinating eggs, and inside those eggs are little bean bag yolks.  When the egg falls it pops open spilling your yolk and you are out of the game. 

For party favors I bought some large plastic Easter eggs during Easter, along with several bags of tiny plastic dino's and some chocolate Easter eggs, and a tiny "thank you for coming" note to go inside each egg.  I put 2 plastic dino's and a couple chocolate eggs and a thank you note in each plastic egg.  I have 16 eggs total I think.  I still need to make the little "dino" nest that these eggs will be nestled in and then placed on a end table near the front door, so when the kids go home they can take a dino egg with them. 

It is usually raining on the day of my sons' birthday party so outside activities are usually a no go.  So the one time I plan for an all inside party I'm sure it'll be all sunshine and butterflies out side (not that I'm complaining, I have a little back up plan incase it IS sunny out! We can take the dino egg walk outside, and play dino tag as well, or dino hide and seek). 

The reason for this post is to show you the birthday wreath I made today to hang on the front door to greet the guests that come to the party.  It was really easy and affordable to make, and can be made to fit any birthday theme.

I went to the Dollar Store (my favorite store for birthday party shopping to get all the decorations and what not).  I bought a small wooden wreath form, brought it home where I had everything else already purchased (I spent a whopping $1 on this project). 

I already had streamers left over  from previous birthday parties (I plan themes for parties and then go with solid colors for each party and then do the extra special things in the actual theme that way I can reuse color schemes and mix and match streamers and stuff years down the road and it saves money and still looks good)  No need to go broke planning an awesome birthday party!

I wrapped blue streamers around the wreath, then rolled the green streamers and to a thinner coil and wrapped it around the blue.  I painted the salt dough letters I had made previously, they were painted orange.  (Didn't have to buy paint either as I always have a nice collection of acrylic paint!) So once all the letters were painted and dried, and 1 little dino's were painted and dried, I used an unused pencil eraser to dab dots of paint onto the letters and dion's for extra decoration. I hot  glued all of the letters and dino's to the wreath and tied a ribbon onto the top middle part, and tada a simple, cheap (only $1 since I already had the other items!) birthday decoration to greet guests as they come in. 

Also while at the Dollar Store I stumbled upon some foam Dino hats, and I purchased several of those (at a dollar a piece, why not?). I had to also buy some more kid friendly paint and a few more paint brushes for the kids to use at the party to paint their dino's.

These are the hats I found at the Dollar Tree, only they were in the brown and green.  (This is not my photo, found via web search). 
The kids as they come in the door will be given a dino hat and directed to the table where the dino painting craft will be sat up.  As the kids get done painting their dino's they will be moved over to an area out of the way to dry.  And the kids can then proceed to either eat, or play the dino walk game.

I am certain I am forgetting something, I usually do!

There will also be a photo area sat up.  The boys got 2 enormous 3ftx2ft puzzles for Christmas.  Little did we realize our children really do not care for puzzles (something I think they inherited from their Mother as I am not a huge fan of them either).  So they have these two puzzles they aren't even remotely interested in.  So we're going to put them together and glue them together, and set them up for photo props and later hang them on their bedroom walls (which was originally what I had wanted to do but my husband said "noo no let's leave them as puzzles so the kids can put them together!"  Which has only happend a couple of times, after I pretty much forced them to.  They'll get more use as wall decorations.

To point people to the party I have saved a few card board boxes and will be cutting out giant dino prints and painting and hanging them up near our house with a few color coordinating balloons with "DINO PARTY THIS WAY" printed on the foot prints.

The cake.  Oh the cake.  Cannot  forget that. 

I am not a baker. I couldn't make a home made cake to save my life.  I also do not like Wal Mart bakery cakes.  The cute little bakery our town had that made amazing cakes also closed down a few months ago so there went that idea of having a beautifully hand made cake made for the boys' 3rd birthday.  So I will be yet again, making it myself. 

I usually get compliments on the kids cakes that I make every year, but I've often wondered if maybe people were just being nice because they didn't want to hurt my feelings because they knew the hard work I had put into the cakes....for them to look well...home made.

I always make 2 cakes, one for each son.  Vanilla for one child's cake chocolate for the other.  Basic.

I Googled how to make Dino shaped cakes.  My heart sank when I saw this awesome dino cakes I KNEW I would never be able to replicate even remotely close.  So I then found two cakes, and figured, "HEY! I could do that!"  So there will be 2 of those cakes made, plus a few cupcakes to place in the shape of a 3.  (And there will be dino shaped cookies, and M and K shaped cookies as well, may I add I'm also no good at decorating cookies either?)

So here is cake #1 that I will be making for Marshall.  A Stegosarus found over on the www.parenting.com website.  Step by step guide.  I make my own frosting so that will be made differently but I like the simple easy to understand concept.  I need that when making a cake...

And here is cake #2 I will be making for Keegan.  He'll be getting a Tyranosaurs Rex cake.  The lovely Betty Crocker website shows how to make this adorable T Rex cake. I can't wait to make these 2 adorable cakes.

For their birthday the boys got some new plastic dino's their dino shaped drinking glasses, a bunch of wooden train track, and a big floor rug with high ways all over it for all of their numerous Hot Wheels and other little cars. 

All in all I spent around $50 on all of the decorations and things for their party.  That's not including the food though, the cost to buy the cake mixes and stuff to decorate the cakes, punch, and other food.

Menu includes:
hamburgers and hot dogs (dino burgers) for those carnivores!
deviled dino eggs (Saw a nifty way to dye the hard boiled egg white to make them look all crackly so will be doing that in the party colors).
salad for those herbivores
some large pretzel rods for "trees"
tortilla chips and "lava" (not hot salsa just regular ol' non hot salsa)
and of course the dino/M/K shaped cookies

Simple parties, but full of friends and family and memories that's all that matters!

Yay for birthday parties!

Mae