Category Archives: husbands

Superheros

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I have blogged before about my love of Katie Moon’s art and today is the same but with a fun twist.

While Katie offers free downloads each week on her blog, she also has a business illustrating families.

Back in March I entered our family into a contest for her to draw our family. I had to give a little bio about each of us and hoped she would choose our entry.

Well, the good news was that Katie chose our family to illustrate!

I requested that we be drawn as superheros since that’s what the kids are often dressed up as and here’s the drawing…

Click here to see the post Katie did about us and our bios.

I especially love the way she was spot on in her depiction of my thighs 🙂

Thanks Katie, we love the illustration!

Intellectual Balancing Act

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Parenting can be a delicate balancing act.

Whether you are guiding your children in friendships, school, or at home, parents are always looking for this balance.

This past holiday weekend, my husband and I decided to take our family on a short “staycation” in town, visiting local attractions and spending one night in a hotel.

Our first stop was the Dallas Museum of Art – a fine institution in the art world.

There we contemplated. Observed. Pondered.

Found what the art meant to us.

We were one with the art.

At this point of our trip we were enlightened and philosophical.

And oh so bored.

We decided to change things up for our second stop.

Yes. We. Did.

We went to the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum!

Want to broaden your children’s horizons and redeem yourself in their eyes as a satisfactory trip planner?

Go here. Nothing like a few shrunkin’ heads to help with that.

As our day ended my husband and I reviewed our two museum stops and felt like we had done our job as parents and found some balance for our children.

Refined and freakish all in one afternoon, in terms of parenting, you really can’t beat that.

15 Years

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15 years ago today there was a wedding…

today there is a family…

I love you Derek – thank you for always being there when I need you. You are the best dad, husband, and technical consultant 🙂 a girl could ever ask for.

It happened again.

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It happened again.

But this time my husband was the victim.

If you ask me though, he was kind of asking for it.

Caroline was loose and there were consequences.

I’m thinking of possibly buying a cage to stick her in when I shower.

Or maybe I should just shower when she’s asleep.

 I left her watching TV on my bed so I could step in the shower – it’s roughly an eight foot walk.

I left the TV on and gave her some stickers with strict instructions to only put them on the paper I provided.

As I got out of the shower I saw she had moved from the bed to the floor.

She apparently listened because there were stickers on the paper.

But at some point while I was in the shower, she eyed my husbands Easter candy.

And ate it.

Notice the white chocolate flecks around her mouth?

Maybe I should be mad but frankly, who leaves Easter candy on their nightstand and expects it to be there in the morning? Plus, she didn’t put the stickers on the wall so I’m calling it a victory!

Master Bedroom Headboard

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Last time I wrote about our master bedroom headboard I left you with this picture…

Well, here’s the final product!

I haven’t bought the proper pillows for the white cases yet, but besides that I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

I went to the Habitat store and found this headboard for $45 but used a Habitat coupon and got it for $37.50. I kind of feel like scum using a coupon at the Habitat store?

The headboard didn’t have the lighter colored board in it so there was actually a large hole in the middle of it.

To say my husband was skeptical is an understatement. Though he pushed forward and inserted the board to fill in the empty space.

I only remembered to take a picture half way through painting it.

I used a black flat paint because I wanted to minimize the flowers and thought if I used a gloss they would stand out more.

When the board was all finished drying we brought it inside.

I knew there was going to be a height problem so my husband anchored the headboard to the wall using hooks.

So there you go, our master bedroom headboard.

Go here for the pillows post.

Packing Tip

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For our recent trip to Indiana I tried a new technique for packing.

You see, when packing for 5 people who are going on a 4 night trip with 3 hotel stays, things need to be as organized as possible.

Our clothing needs ran the gamut, from graduation clothes to traveling clothes to caving clothes so I decided to pack all of the kids clothes into gallon sized Ziploc bags.

I first wrote out a label for each bag with the name of the day/event the clothes inside the bag would be for.

The kids and I then chose the clothes and included a pair of socks and some underwear into each bag.

I ended up with 5 bags for each child and found this system perfect for all of our late nights. It was easy to just grab a bag, hand the kids their clothes, and yell, “Oh my God it’s 10:30! Hurry up and shower!”

Now if only I could get my husband into littler clothing all of our packing dilemmas would be solved

 

An Easter Synopsis

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9:00 – 10:00 pm Easter Eve – Momma & Poppa Bunny fill Easter eggs with candy, check to make sure the gifts (books, coloring books, card games, stickers are equal).

10:05 pm Easter Eve – Momma Bunny complains her stomach hurts from eating so much Easter candy already.

10:06 pm Easter Eve – Popppa Bunny is not sympathetic and says, “Well that candy was for the children.”

10: 15 pm Easter Eve – Momma & Poppa Bunny watch the news due to rain possibility.

5:30 am Easter morning – Alarm goes off in Momma & Poppa’s room

5:35 am – Momma & Poppa Bunny check the online weather report. Debate over next move due to lots of green on the radar.

5:37 am – Momma & Poppa Bunny go to the front of the house and put out eggs for littlest bunny.

5:40 am – Momma & Poppa Bunny proceed to the back yard where they lay out eggs for the boy bunnies.

5:46 am – Momma Bunny writes note to little bunnies explaining the layout of the hunt.

5:47 am – Poppa Bunny goes back to bed. Momma Bunny takes dog for a walk since the backyard is now a “No Pooping Zone.

5:59 am – Dog poops on lawn three blocks from home. Momma Bunny surveys the area for any witnesses. Debates about possibly leaving poop on the lawn due to the fact that’s it’s dark outside and no one will know. Momma Bunny begrudgeonly picks up poop.

6:10 am – Momma Bunny and dog return home. Momma Bunny turns on the tv and sits on the sofa.

6:15 am – Momma Bunny has to tell dog for millionth time that she cannot go outside until all the kids wake up.

6:20 am – Momma Bunny retrieves the newspaper and sits on the sofa again.

6:50 am – Middle bunny comes downstairs ready to begin Easter hunt. Eagerly looks out window yelling, “I see one!.” Momma Bunny bursts his bubble when she says he will have to wait another 20 minutes before waking up other bunnies.

6:51 am – Momma Bunny suggests he look for a note to see if the Bunny left instructions about how the yard has been divided.

6:52 am – Middle Bunny finds note. Reads it and notices one bunny has been left off the list while another bunny has been given two sections of the yard.

6:53 am – Momma Bunny curses to herself for writing the note in the dark and quickly explains that the Bunny must have meant something else.

6:54 am – Middle Bunny asks if the note was written by Momma Bunny since it’s on the back of a bingo card.

6:55 am – Momma curses again but says the Bunny must have used whatever paper was available. Vows to buy special paper next year.

7:15 am – Momma Bunny tells Poppa Bunny it’s time to get up. Poppa Bunny looks at the clock and gives Momma Bunny an ugly look.

7:15 and fifteen seconds am – Momma give Poppa a dirty look hoping to convey her wish that he enjoyed his extra hour and a half of sleep.

7:20 am – Littlest Bunny and Poppa Bunny stumble out of bedroom. Littlest Bunny was ready to hunt at 2 am but was persuaded to sleep in Momma & Poppas bed as a consolation prize until morning.

7:22 am – Oldest Bunny stumbles downstairs complaining of lost sleep.

7:23 am – Momma & Poppa explain to oldest bunny that he can go back to sleep and in doing so relinquishes all rights to his candy.

7:24 am – Oldest Bunny decides to have a better attitude.

Continued on Thursday 🙂

Art Project with Andrew

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My six year old has been asking for months to create a piece of wall art similar to this one.

source

I have stalled and stalled on it because 1) it would take a good amount of time to complete and 2) I couldn’t quite decide what the best way to make a frame for it would be.

But the since this project was on the list I was forced to make a decision and begin.

We looked around the garage and found this old Halloween decoration which was broken.

My husband add the ears which were previously the mummy arms while old metal coat hangers became the base for the antlers and the nose.

Using a mix of half Elmer’s glue and half water, Andrew and I paper mached strips of newspaper onto the structure.

Over the course of a week we put on four separate layers.

After a trip to the craft store to choose his colors, Andrew painted his gazelle with a combination of orange, coral, black, white, and blue colors.

There was a minor debate about where this piece of art should hang. Andrew suggested my bedroom which I quickly thanked him for but declined. My thought was for it to go in his bedroom room. He quickly declined that offer. We finally settled on an area in our playroom above a doorway.

Andrew’s already talking about making a water buffalo for the living room and an elephant for his sisters’ room.

I’m thinking I’m going to have to introduce him to the idea of small sculptures.

Tuesday To Do Party

Happy Mardi Gras

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Happy Mardi Gras!

I have so many wonderful memories of Mardi Gras from growing up in New Orleans. I remember some of the costumes I wore, the ladder seats we sat in, scavenging the ground for beads, watching the St. Aug band play, and eating Popeye’s chicken.

Those memories spurred me into having our own little Mardi Gras party despite the fact that we are 600 miles from the real event.

Like most parties I host, I was planning on decorating and cleaning right up to the minute when guests walk in the front door.

This time that plan backfired on me.

Our party was set for 4:00 on a Sunday afternoon. I thought…plenty of time to cook and work on things. That’s a great plan exept that I became sick at 6:00pm the night before the party. I mean, I went down quick and was in bed by 8:15.

In came my superhero husband. He cleaned and cooked up a storm. Without him there would have been no party. I was still in bed when it was only one hour until the party and went back to bed about an hour after the party.

So, our decorations were minimal. Not my best work but it is what it is. After all, I’m pretty sure everyone was there for the crawfish pasta and king cake, anyway.

My mom sent the adorable mask along with Mardi Gras plates, napkins, and shirts for the party. The mask was placed in a flower vase filled with purple beads. I added the gold signs which read, “Let the Good Times Roll,” and the same in french,”Laissez Le Bons Temps Rouler.”

The only other decoration I put up for the party was the “Parades” sign. I actually wasn’t able to finish the sign since I got sick so the last parade, Crescent City, has a lighter coat of paint than the others.

And no I haven’t gone back to complete the sign. I got things to do.

I remember getting up early on Mardi Gras day to get to our spot on the parade route. First came Zulu and the thrill of them throwing decorated coconuts, Rex with the huge cow float, and then the truck parades, Elks and Crescent City, which each had over 120 floats in a row.

Steps in creating the sign:

1) Paint large board purple

2) Print out the names of the parades and arrange on the board.

3) Take the slip of paper with the parade name on it and turn it over. Color the letters with a white crayon (you are coloring on the back of the paper).

4) Turn the paper over so that the crayon will make contact with the board.

5) Trace the letters with a pen onto the board.

6) Lift the paper up and you will see a faint outline of the parade name.

7) Color inside the letters with paint.

Go here to see our Mardi Gras wreath.

Do you have any favorite Mardi Gras memories?

My Son Said It

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What I thought was just being tired from visiting with a friend turned out to be pneumonia today for my 9 year old.

One trip to the doctor’s office, one trip to the lab for blood work, one trip to the hospital for x-rays, one drive thru trip to McDonald’s, a second trip back to the doctor, and finally a trip to the pharmacist resulted in two very cranky children.

Just like them, I was tired and a bit frustrated while trying to get dinner made.

Little did I know that right after dinner we would all be laughing uncontrollably.

My nine year old was recalling for my husband how he had blood taken from his finger earlier in the day. “I even had the finger prick. That’s the most painful way to give blood.”

My husband said, “Well, I think giving blood intravenously would be more painful.”

With a scrunched up face my son said, “Intrapenisly?”

We all started to chuckle.

“No, intravenously is usually through your arm.”

“Oh, because I was thinking intrapenisly would really hurt.”

We all lost it at that point.

Of course, things quickly went downhill when our six year old had to stand up and demonstrate what giving blood intrapenisly might look like (with his clothes still on, thank goodness).

What’s the worst part of this?

For the next twenty years we will never be able to go to the emergency room with each other for fear that we will burst out laughing while the doctor is giving orders.