if you were the floor i'd wanna be the rug

My computer has owned me this week.

i have been eating out of its stupid plastic hand. But i've finally finished and uploaded my valentine project for my dear sweet husband...and its not even March! Take that old farty computer (just kidding apple i still love you)

*thanks to those who sent in your kids love quotes. It was fun reading them (and i wish there was space to include them all!) Thanks to the moms of Jack, Travis, Sadie, Adrian, Quinn and Gibson for letting me include their adorable thoughts on love with you here :) kids are so silly.


team Boo ♥'s you

Candyland finale

Behold the cardboard candy wonderland! Complete with "peppermint forest", "gumdrop mountains", "gingerbread village" and "chocolate swamp". My favorite part was the game pieces on the ground. Thanks to everyone who helped make it happen! Did i mention I never want to touch a piece of cardboard again in my life? well i don't.

team Boo ♥'s you

candy land (part 1)

this is what my backyard has looked like for two "shlong" months now (meaning the short/long time where crappy parts feel like forever, but you feel like you have to hurry to get it done and all the good stuff is passing you by. get your mind out of the gutter pervs). Giant props. tarps. paint cans and enough cardboard to make me want to set it all on fire and boycott paper products forever!! BUT, we pushed through, and with zero box cutter injuries! (but a couple close calls. sorry fingers.) and now most of it's in the dumpster where it belongs. Stay tuned for candy land part 2...the part where i pump fake and disappoint all the young children when there is no actual edible candy at the party (classic "bait and switch")...

p.s. just a heads up to those attempting to make a sparkly giant gumdrop mountain out of cardboard...abort...it will be the "red headed step child" of your party.

p.p.s. yes that is a working pepsi machine in my back yard. Adam accidentally mixed mothers day up with fathers day and bought it for ME three years ago (gritted teeth smile).

team Boo ♥'s you

gift in a jiff.

you know how a quilt is time consuming and may sit in squares for like two years before you finish it? this is my perfect solution. It's all the scraps from the cutting (of said squares) made into a mini quilt (that baby won't drag all over the ground and refuse to let you wash) that I can make in a couple hours! And I'm not a "sewer"...remember the pillow? 

It makes a great baby gift when you have no money (which is still most of us, right? RIGHT!?) The "lucky" recipient of my mediocre skills was Lucy, my new adorable sweet little niece (that's a lot of adjectives...and i haven't even met her yet! so you know she's cute ;)

team Boo ♥'s you


*p.s. head over and officially "meet the team" by clicking our family picture on the top left

it's beginning to look a lot like.....Christmas-ish?

I am in in charge of decorating another church party this Christmas (see others here here and here). So instead of making my house all cute and Christmas-y, all of my brain juice is going into life sized gingerbread houses and giant glittered lollipops. The theme is Candy Land (the board game theme is "SO hot right now" ;). Therefore if you happened to show up at my front door, I'd wish I could bring you inside to sit by the cozy fire and drink some hot cocoa with homemade whipped cream...

Unforch....something would likely fall and crush you...like a giant box of sparkly pine cones (those things are the devil) or the fifteen bags of fake snow I have been storing since last year's party. Its not safe. So for now, enjoy the tranquil facade of my front door (i'm such a faker)....and then pray for me. Pray for me hardcore.

team Boo ♥'s you

p.s. also please don't show up on my front door cause i'd probably worry that you wanted to wear my skin. But then I'd be like "meh" and then I'd just make you paint cardboard gumdrop mountains until your fingers bled :)


p.p.s What about a christmas decorating post made my content inspired ads to advertise "stool eating preventative!?" I am so offended. Your face is a stool eater, Google.

get a CLUE?

Elyott told me while we were painting in our backyard: 

"Mom I don't even think you understand how much i love to paint!...i think the decorating part of the party is way more fun than the actual party....Do you think they will put me in charge of this job when you are too old to do it?"

She knows just how to make a momma proud

(be careful what you wish for my love ;)

So as i said before our theme for this years halloween party was "Clue" (see last years circus freak theme here), so inspired by this artist we painted 6 foot portraits of each character to adorn the walls of our "mansion" (aka. basketball court) with some up lighting to make them extra spooky...

We constructed a giant pvc chandelier in the center of the room over a long dining table decorated with plenty of moss skulls and candles. And centerpieces of giant weapon cards (like in the board game) with green moss on silver chargers and #10 cans. I envisioned the chandelier to have WAY more lights strung on it but we had to pare it down based on "blown fuses"...stupid electricity is always interfering with my ideas ;) The perimeter of the room had carnival style games that represented each of the rooms of the mansion with the stage as the "scene of the crime." Unfortch i only have the capacity of my camera phone to capture the mood but hopefully you get the idea...

team Boo ♥'s you

"sonny" with a chance of meatballs.

I did this photo shoot after my older kids got home from school. i do NOT recommend this. I felt like a total monster as i was getting it all set up, handing out threats faster than i could wipe the sweat off my forehead. Totally defeats the purpose of a playful picture. I felt bad. I apologized a few minutes later to which Elyott replied:

 "aw, its okay mom. you just forgot that it's not something that's so important, and that it was just for fun." 

If that's not a sucker punch of wisdom, i don't know what is.

Kids always keep you in check :)

*Also never mind the shadows on the wrong side of the sun. I guess things just work a little differently in the town of Chew-and-Swallow!

team boo ♥'s you

phoenix "sonny"

This picture is especially for Adam (baby daddy) who is not only a huge basketball fan, but a Phoenix Suns fan ta-boot. Although since we didn't have a Steve Nash wig (sick), we used an afro (cause that's a normal thing to have lying around?? actually we have three :) as a tribute to old school basketball with the short shorts and the knee high socks. As you can see from this picture sonny got completely into character...

(see other defenseless baby shots like this here here here here here here and here.)

*also: don't forget that tomorrow is the last day to comment for a chance to win my super fabulous (not really) team boo pillow.


team boo ♥'s you
(and a kid in uniform ;)

the SUNdance kid

Sonny reminded me of the kid on Christmas Story when his mom gets him ready for a cold day at school with like 17 layers of clothing on. He just sat there like a dead fish. i was laughing so hard. 

 (only, i sounded like this....muhuhuwahh!)

He's so tough he can hold a cactus with his bare hand!

...eat your heart out Robert Redford.

(what a weird saying..."eat your heart out??")


*here's an example of how easy this kid makes these pictures. Also proof for CPS that I am not torturing him...

team boo ♥'s you

team building. {closed}

 "walking a thousand miles always begins with one step" 

(im so bad at remembering quotes or funny lines in movies, just ask Adam. he knows cause he watches me crash and burn all the time when i'm trying to tell a funny story, and then he saves me because he remembers EVERYTHING. except to throw his trash away) Anyway, this got me thinking instead of wishing i had a USB port in my head to download skillz, i actually have to start them...and be bad at it for a little while. I hate this cause I am SO lazy when i'm not good at something right away.  Remember i'm a half doer.


But persistence pays my friends. And i know, for me, having a tangible thing at the end makes me much more likely to follow through. For instance, I was never a runner before my adult life. I played sports, but never ran more than a mile. Then i signed up for a full marathon on a whim, and three months later I did it. I was a real bona-fide runner, with good shoes and running shorts and everything (instead of ugly pajamas shorts or something) And almost 4 years later i am still at it, the only difference is now i look forward to running instead of wanting to set the gym on fire every time i think of going.  See?...persistance guys. powerful stuff.


Which brings me to this: I'd like to be better at sewing. Not like start-my-own-craft-blog-and-give-all-my-stuff-away kind of sewer, but the kind where i think of something and it won't take me 3 years of it sitting on my living room coffee table before I look up how to sew a hidden zipper. So I went and bought some supplies with the idea in mind that i would give the fruits of my labor away as my "tangible end".  The project is relevant, but not so hard that I will throw up a little in my throat when I give it away. Behold the teamBoo pillow (angelic music plays):

...and here is where I bribe you: It is here for the taking! It's not a masterpiece, but it is freeee. To enter to win this bad boy you can do at least one of the following:

1. post my button (its in my sidebar) to your blog page and leave me a comment with a link to your page professing your blog love.

2. Join the team! become a follower and shout it from the ROOFTOPS!!...or, you can just tell me about it in a comment.

3. Post about the contest on your blog. Then leave a comment adding a link to your post.

Just in case you fell asleep a few paragraphs ago, thats 3 possible entries folks. (you'd think this pillow were stuffed with diamonds or something...don't get carried away)


If you are already have one or all of these things in your cyber life then just leave me a comment telling me so. Eeets so simple! Giveaway ends Friday September 10th.


Thanks for not losing respect for me for trying to force you to be my friend. It is the only logical way to do a giveaway though, is it not? This way I am taking the steps to hone in on my craftiness, and the secrets that you keep...when you're talking in your sleep will be about LOVE (what's cuter than that? nothing.) win: win.

team boo ♥'s you

happy working song.

"elyott, if you get your backpack, you can put it on my 'mustache hooker'" (sheamus)

Everyone should have some good music while they work, here are a few songs that kept me going this weekend...

team boo ♥'s you

i am a bike...thief.

inspired by freezepop

team boo ♥'s you

guess what??

We had a baby! ok...so you already knew that (front)

(back)

Make believe this isn't being mailed 6 months late, and be excited for the first baby announcement I have ever made*(third times a charm?)

Happy 6th month baby.

we love you sonny bear!!

Some sweet sonny facts:

*almost everytime you pick him up, he farts. He's basically a squeaky toy/whoopie cushion...a squoopie??

*he literally smiles at everything (ie. if i were to pick his nose mid sleep, he'd open his eyes, flash a gummy smile and then continue on with his dream of a mother who didn't like to pick things)

*he has curly flyaway "whoville" hair that gets little dingle berries. Each time I have to cut one out, I'm pretty sure a fairy falls from the sky.

team boo ♥'s you *(and sayRED for all your help)

adaptation (minus nicolas cage)

When I was about Elyott's age our family's video camera was the hot (not to mention giant) ticket. My sisters and i would record commercials and skits for hours on end. As Elyott recently watched one of those our old/super low tech movies (inspired by the cutting edge visual effects by Evie from the show "Out of this world"), she got it in her head that she too was destined for the small screen. So without further ado, here is Elyott's 7 year old directorial and acting debut...

(All audio and visual effects also chosen by Elyott)

I know i am biased...but Elyott, you are ridiculously awesome. 
(I'm so lucky to be your momma)


p.s. I may have been a teenage mother, but I promise to never force you to be a child actor. 

team boo ♥'s you

global warning.

Snowglobes: the most whimsical yet frustrating souvenir trick.

they are glass

you can't play with them

they are the biggest/weirdest mess when they break

they are a cheesy eyesore

kids always want them.

So instead of spending 15 dollars a pop on some nerdy teddy bear santa clause, we made our own. Free, custom, plastic (for the kids who manage to fall about every fifth step: sheamus) and come apart when the kids want their beloved McDonalds toy back.  

EETS parfect!

Your move hallmark.

team boo ♥'s you

(but not snowglobes)

before and after

It is indescribable the feelings I have when a new baby of mine arrives.

basically, how can I pass so much time sitting on a couch looking at this beautiful creation??

but i assure you i CAN 

{and have been}

hours before...

and after

...just one more reason my life will never be the same!

I am in la la LOVE!!!!

{with a little MacGruber }

team boo ♥'s you

in your face naysayer (Adam)

Adam always makes fun of me when I start a project

because I am, in his words, "odd jobs McGee"

(A title well deserved for all of my randomness)

but i am happy to say....I did it!

I finished my first quilt.

Since my most favorite childhood friend finally decided to have a baby, I thought the least i could do was make her a personal gift.  I never would have had the guts though without the very thorough tutorial by the crafting wonder....Kelly McCaleb (over at my happy little life ). She never fails to inspire and is overflowing with good old fashioned maternal talent. Don't be intimidated...you can do it too! I assure you my sewing abilities are very basic....like sewing-in-a-straight-line basic.

Here are the pics of the what i started with and the adorable little munch who now occupies it :) in all its imperfect glory....

Thanks Kelly!

team boo ♥'s you

sayRED.

Success! However the 10 minutes I had to get ready, with my dirty hat hair, resulted in me looking disturbingly like a giant baby! 

{oopsies }

I have a little love/hate with party planning...meaning I dread every minute until the actual day of setup (when adrenaline finally takes over). But of all mothers, there are few as deserving as Steph, due to the countless hours she's logged putting on parties for everyone else (she is the master of all party planners). 

Shout outs to Summer and Bert for being such willing helpers, and of course my sister Lisa who Co-planned and cleaned everything! {with her 3 monkeys in tow....making her the hero of the day in my book}  

Steph is going to make an amazing mommy....one that my kids already covet as their own in fact! And hooray for new babies that i don't have to give birth to...can't wait to meet you baby!!!