Muffin Tin Monday

It's Muffin Tin Monday again! The theme today is Circus. I really didn't think I was going to be able to think of anything for this, but I was able to come up with some close enough circus stuff! Scotty was so excited- I love it!

We had circus food- hot dogs and popcorn. Circus animal crackers. A bread clown (which was actually a Santa Claus cookie cutter) with a raspberry nose. (Fresh from my mother-in-law's raspberry bush. Yum!) A cheese Circus train- because we have a book that has a circus train in it. Then I even found some fun Circus cups.

Scotty wore his Circus hat and it was perfect for our Circus lunch! I sang some circus music and did some crazy dancing which made Grant laugh and Scotty tell me to stop and that he doesn't like that. I guess I won't be running off to join the circus anytime soon!

Be sure to check out Her Cup Overfloweth to see more Circus Muffin Tin Mondays.

Cheeky Monkey

Scotty came up to me and said "Grant needs to speak Simon language. That's what language I speak." I giggled and imagined them in the bathtub together saying "Hi, my name is Simon. I like to do drawrings. Are you trying to see my bum? Cheeky Monkey!"

Adult conversation

The kids and I went out to dinner tonight with my friend and her little boy. Both of our hubbies were gone for the evening so we decided to let the kids run and play in the play area while we had some nice adult conversation. And can I say that it was so nice! I love my kids, I really do, but it does get old having non-stop conversation with a 4yr old and listening to a 1yr old that only says ahhhh all day long. I felt human again. I do get to talk to Miles every night but I'm not sure how much of our conversation can be classified as more intelligent than kids! I'm grateful for my friend!

We are leaving tomorrow for a little family vacation and I'm so excited! We're just going up to a place at The Canyons but it is going to be fun. We're going to relax, swim, go to the Alpine Slide, do a little shopping at the outlet stores and enjoy being together. We don't ever go anywhere without other family members along so it will be nice that it is just us. We haven't had a family vacation like this since Scotty was 2 and our only child! This is a time share presentation thing. We have done this a couple times before and we love it. We get a free or really cheap stay and we don't have any problem saying no to the pushy sales people, so it's great. This time it will be interesting with all 3 kids in tow. Hopefully that will work to our advantage as they will want to get rid of us faster! Maybe if they get too pushy I'll start breastfeeding Collin! That should do the trick. Oh- or maybe a big, blowout poopy diaper! Yeah, that would be a good one too. I hope they're ready for us!!

Muffin Tin Monday

I found this fun idea at Her Cup Overfloweth called Muffin Tin Monday. You serve a meal or snack in a muffin tin and the kids go crazy about it! I've done this a couple of times now but this is the first time I'm posting about it. Scotty especially gets excited to eat lunch from a muffin tin. Grant loves it too and I like that he doesn't make much mess with it! The theme this week was people and faces. Scotty and I worked together to think of food that could make faces. We came up with cut up ham, olives, Goldfish crackers, pretzels and shredded cheese.

I helped Grant make a face, he added some things and then promptly ate it all.

Here's Scotty carefully constructing his guy.

His finished product. We have cheese feet, pretzel legs, a ham belly and face, olive eyes, Goldfish ears and cheese hair. He loved it! I love that he can be creative and use his imagination. The next guy he made was anatomically correct with clever use of Goldfish crackers! It gave me a chuckle!

Be sure to check out Her Cup Overfloweth for more info about Muffin Tin Monday and to see lots of other posts.

If this doesn't make you smile, nothing will!

This cheesy smile is what we get whenever Grant even sees the camera! We love this little guy!!

Denny's blood

On the sign at our local Denny's it says: Blood drive Aug 18th at Denny's. Is it bad for me to hope that the blood I received after Collin was born was not donated from somebody at a Denny's????

Our new normal

Those of you who know me well know that I don't like change. Even when change comes from something really good- like having a new baby. I have had longer than normal adjustment periods after each baby has come getting used to all the changes. With Collin's arrival it seems to be taking longer because our family dynamic has changed so much going from 2 to 3 and also having two babies 15 months apart. I came upon a great blog called Baby Bunching that is all about having 2 babies under 2. (And if anyone else has 2 under 2 I recommend visiting this blog. I have learned lots of good tips and can read about how things will get easier someday!) Since joining the baby bunching crowd our life has been busy. Just having 2 under 2 is hard enough but then add on our wonderful, but...hmm...I'll say "high maintenance" preschooler, and we rarely have a moments rest! There is always somebody wanting or needing something that keeps us running. We have found that a sense of humor is the saving grace as we adjust. There have been numerous times when both babies are crying and Scotty is talking non-stop that Miles and I have looked at each other, laughed and said "Can you believe that this is our life now?" We have lots of moments when we just stop and laugh because it's better than crying! Things are getting easier, especially now that Collin is getting out of the newborn stage and his sleep is starting to become a little more predictable. I feel like I can venture out to select places by myself with all 3 kids. And taking all 3 places with Miles around is no big deal anymore. I'm still waiting for the day for Collin to start sleeping through the night and then I'm sure I'll feel like a new woman and will be able to tackle so much more! So even though our house is filled with chaos, noise, toys, diapers, sleep deprivation, spit up, fighting and crying, it's also filled with laughter and plenty of love to go around. And I've come to the conclusion that some change is good!