“Lukie, Lukie, Lukie.  What have you done,” I thought to myself as they approached.

(Oh, how I would HATE to be a teacher during these last few weeks of school!)

Well, it turns out that my sweet Luke and a friend thought it would be fun to have a milk drinking contest during lunch.  While the teacher’s back was turned, they helped themselves to three more cartons of milk than they were alloted and started guzzling as fast as they could.

As Luke started on his fourth carton, the teacher became aware of what was happening and moved in to put a stop to it.  Luke wasn’t feeling so well by then and began to get up from his seat.  His teacher took one look at him and saw the future.  She grabbed a trashcan and thankfully, Luke hit the provided target.

Lovely lunchtime entertainment for the classroom, wouldn’t you say?  Thank goodness he didn’t cause a chain reaction!

Where does this kind of behavior come from?!?  Certainly, not MY side of the family!

I asked for pictures, and she provided them.  I drooled.  And then I spent every spare moment of my next day sorting Lego.  By color.

Awesome, isn’t it?  The one bin on the top left that isn’t sorted by color holds all the Lego guys and girls, their weapons and accessories.

The boys are thrilled, as it makes it much easier for them to find the pieces they’re looking for.  But… will they be able to keep it this way?  Or, will the “baby” be able to resist dumping and mixing?  I guess we’ll have to see…

**********

This morning was absolutely gorgeous.  Really.  It would have been tough to beat our weather no matter where you live.  So, after walking the kids to school, I decided that Andrew and I would take Cheerio to the park across the street.  After seeing our neighbor with one, I had recently bought a Chuckit! and was eager to try it out.  I wasn’t sure how it would go, though, as Cheerio loves to chase balls, but isn’t that great about giving them back.  Plus, she likes to run off.

I filled my pockets with treats, grabbed AP (who grabbed the new toy), and leashed up Cheerio.

Wow!  That Chuckit! can make the ball FLY and Cheerio was all about going after it.  And, she brought it back!  Andrew and I had a blast watching her run.  After just 4 or 5 throws, she was done and we headed home.

Not wanting to go indoors, we all hung out in the backyard and I finally finished a project I had had in the works for a little bit.

I had seen this on Pinterest, and while I didn’t think I wanted to do all of that, I knew I could do the slide.  Problem was, I didn’t want to spend a bunch of money on a slide (they’re not cheap).  Then… lo and behold, some neighbors put TWO slides (and what was left of their play system) out on the curb for trash pick up.  Whooo hooooo!  What a score!  I sent my boys down the street to collect the better looking of the two and then it sat in our garage (much to my husband’s annoyance) for several weeks.

Until today:

I did manage to make this the other day, and only for the cost of glue, as I had the other materials on hand:

Now Lukie can display his Lego creations securely.

When he saw his new shelf, he was THRILLED.  Until he found out I cut up his base plates to make it.  Then there were tears.

Story of my life.

I picked her up early from school so that she and a couple of friends could have their hair done up for the big night.  I wish I could do her hair like this!  (And that she’d sit as patiently for me – without screaming – as she did for the stylist.)

Back of hair

Top of hair

Ready to go!

We arrived at the venue in time to help with the set up.  Maria did a great job with her assigned tasks, and I think she enjoyed being around just women and girls for a while.  (Never once did she ask what the boys at home were doing without her there!)

While I sold raffle tickets, Maria was called to the stage for practice.  She and the other kids worked on their catwalk moves until it was time to eat.

Practicing and playing

Once the kids finished their meals, they headed downstairs to change into the clothes that they’d be modeling.  Then they just had to wait their turn while the rest of us enjoyed the show.

Here she comes!

Doing great!

So pretty!

After the show, we stuck around for the raffling of prizes (didn’t win that iPad, darn it!) and then headed home to the boys.

I let Jack have the honors this time*:

Success!

*No teeth were actually pulled in the creating of this post, so there’s no need to call CPS.  I grabbed the idea from this guy.

I had asked him a few weeks back what type of cake he’d like (when will I learn?!?) and he said he wanted a Captain Rex head.  Terrific.

It wasn’t too hard to find 3-D (’cause it HAS to be 3-D) Captain Rex cakes, but almost all of them used fondant.  No way am I going there.  I dug a little deeper and managed to find someone who made one with butter cream frosting.  It really looked pretty good, and not too hard, so I set out to copy it.

Jack, thankfully, was thrilled with my efforts:

He was equally thrilled with his gifts:

As were his siblings:

The fish’s name – a Betta – is aptly named… Captain Rex.

This says it all, no?

We celebrated Andrew’s two-ness with a rocket ship cake and some great presents.  Then a few days later, Gran took him to Build-A-BearDog where he made “‘Night’Night” and dressed him in overalls.  Once he got the hang of that animal-stuffing machine, it was hard to pull him away!

Andrew has been practicing his new age by throwing a couple of colossal fits, and he’s talking more and more.  But mostly he’s still my sweet baby boy… for a little bit longer, anyway.

#4 couldn’t find a good pair of pants.  And then couldn’t find the right socks.  Sister and Gran tried to help.  Not good enough.

#2 didn’t want to eat ANYthing

#1 put soap on #2′s toothbrush

#5 fed the dog his cereal (after eating all the marshmallows himself, of course)

#3 was obsessed with the human gastrointestinal tract

#1 couldn’t fit into his pants (which were the right pants and fit a week ago!!!)

Finally, on the verge of lateness, as I was buckling the baby into his car seat, the car alarm sounded.  BEEP!  BEEP! BEEP!  BEEP!  I scrambled around, putting the key into the door  (BEEP!  BEEP! BEEP!  BEEP! ), putting the key into the ignition (BEEP!  BEEP! BEEP!  BEEP! ), hitting the panic button on my key fob (BEEP!  BEEP! BEEP!  BEEP! ).  Nothing worked!!!  The kids went crazy (what great fun to wake the neighborhood this way!)

It dawned on me, finally, that it was the OTHER car whose alarm was sounding.  I hit the button and was rewarded with blessed silence (from the car, not the kids).

Down the street we sped.  I couldn’t get the kids out of the van fast enough.

As I drove home, Andrew tried to tell me something.  Louder and louder he got as he became more and more frustrated.  “Buuuhhhh,” he said.  “Buuuuhhhhh!!!” he wailed.  As I pulled into the driveway and looked at him over my shoulder, I realized what he was trying to tell me.  “Buckle.” I hadn’t finished buckling him!  I guess I had snapped the chest strap but was interrupted by the car alarm before completing the buckling process.  Thank goodness we only live a few blocks from school.

And thank goodness school is back in session.

As is typical, I tried to get a decent family photo and failed…  But, at least this year wasn’t as “colorful” as in years past.  (Sorry, Kristina, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention it.)

Here are some of the terrible takes, before I finally gave up (much to the delight of my husband and kids):

Notice Cheerio trying to get in on the action?

One's run off!

The best of the worst

Between Pintrest and talking often to my extremely talented project-oriented sister, I’ve caught the project bug.  And, in a house like this, with a family like ours, there is ALWAYS a project to be done.

This one, though, was easy and quick and (drum roll, please….) cheap!

Recently, we swapped beds between the kids.  Maria previously had a queen and Jack a twin.  But, as Maria has the smaller room, we figured it would give her more space to get the bigger bed out of there.  It was an easy swap, and Gran provided an awesome new quilt to adorn Jack’s (new to him) bed.  (Maria’s is very girly.)

The only thing that needed work was the headboard.  A few years ago, I made a padded headboard for Maria’s bed.  It turned out great and went well with her flowery quilt.  Being a light green, however, meant that it didn’t go well with Jack’s new quilt.  I put it in his room, anyway, thinking I’d get around to changing it soon enough.

Almost four months later, I did get around to it.  And, it looks great!

The best part?  The fabric was on SALE!!!!  This project cost me a whopping $12 and took (minus the four months) just 15 minutes!