Madie's beautiful artwork

Madie loves to draw. I mean loves to draw. She will draw on anything (even the couch cushions, but that's another story....) receipts, gum wrappers, backs of papers... anything. She is getting really really good for being only 4. She loves to draw things and give her pictures away to whoever is coming over, random older people at the base hospital, cashiers, mailmen, UPS drivers, you name it she wants to give them a picture. She is so generous and caring. i think she would give away her room to strangers if I would let her. There is always the exception though and that is where her brother comes in. Not very generous there :) Anyways.... she drew me this this morning. She said it was mommy and daddy on the day they got married.  Too sweet. She is so excited that I am putting this on my blog by the way. She's already coloring more pictures for me to post. Uh oh, I 've created a monster. 

$25 down the drain.......

Brand new bottle of eye makeup remover down the drain. I was just thinking to myself this morning of how I couldn't wait to use some of this later tonight as I just got it this weekend. Well...... a mischievious  little boy fixed that problem for me. He dumped it, all of it, right onto the floor. I cringed when I saw him running around the couch with the bottle. But it was too late. He had already dumped the whole thing and was out the back door to do who knows what with it. Probably looked like a good sand filling toy to him or something to hold water in. He didn't get too far before it was taken back though. Too bad for mommy, that's how the story usually goes though. 

New Bedroom Furniture!!!!

Finally!!! After 6 years of marriage and like almost twenty for me, we have new bedroom furniture!!! I am so excited. We ended up with a king size and it is great for all of those nights when we have like three extra little people sleep with us. We had bedroom furniture that was mine from growing up for a long time and then Ben bought a bed that was not the greatest. So we went over Memorial Day weekend and found this one. Isn't it pretty. They just came last week and installed it. I am so excited!!!

Look dude.....it's cloth!

Our first cloth diaper. I know, I know..... call me crazy, but they are so stinkin cute. I found a free pattern online and wanted a new project so I have made Hayden some cloth diapers. This one is camo (for his Daddy). They are super soft. So easy. A lot easier I think then when are parents did cloth. I going to make some more today as I already have a bunch of fabric I went and picked out at the store. So many cute things to choose from. We will see how it goes, Ben turned up his nose at first but I think he thinks it is cool because it will save us some money in the long run and he is glad I have something to do for myself. So far I am loving it. 

Pumpkin Pancakes

Mmmmmmm!!!! So Yummy. Any of you that really know me, know that I have a love for anything pumpkin. I just love the stuff. Well I thought I would share one of my favorite pumpkin foods, pancakes. They are super easy to make and the kids love them. (It's also a great way to hide some yummy stuff in their food :) ) So here is the recipe. Hope you guys love it as much as I do. 

Pumpkin Pancakes

2 cups all purpose flour

3 T brown sugar

2 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1 t allspice

1 t ground cinnamon

1/2 t ground ginger

1/2 t salt

1 c. canned pumpkin

1 1/2 c milk

1 egg

2 T vegetable oil

2 T vinegar

Directions:

1. In a separate bowl, mix together the pumpkin, milk, egg, oil, and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, and salt, stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine. 

2. Heat a slightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot with syrup. 

Enjoy!!!

Pics of Madie and Jack

Miss Thang! She loves having her picture taken!
This is one of my favorite shots from the other night. He is so wiped out. 
This is another of my fav's. He loves his Daddy!

Precious. Man, she is growing up so fast. 
They were playing Peter Pan in the backyard. Madie was Wendy, Daddy was Peter Pan, without the green tights :) , and of course, Jackson was Captain Hook.  Sorry for all the picture uploads. I knew I needed to get some of Hayden on here and felt like I should include Madie and Jack as well. I'm done posting for the night though. Hayden is finally asleep on my lap so I am going to try and lay him down, wish me luck!

Hayden pics 2

Big Brother
Look, I'm awake!!
Lil Mama
So Handsome
One of the few times he slept not on me. I think it lasted all of ten minutes.

Pics of Hayden

Leaving hospital
So Serious!
The kiddos
My photo shoot with Hayden

Just paint some spots on me......

 And call me a cow. Because right now that is exactly how I feel. I am solely here to be an udder. A milk machine. I think Hayden is having a growth spurt. All the boy wants to do is eat, and eat, and eat. I know, I know, he's a baby. And I love the fact that I am able to do this, but man, sometimes I get tired of sitting. I have fed him so much over the past two days that I am surprised I could get up from the couch. My back hurts, I barely have time to do anything, my poor other kids probably hate me because they have had to entertain themselves the past few days and I am tired of watching Scooby Doo. I think I have seen every episode of any Scooby ever made.  I can't remember when I showered last when I hopped in tonight real quick. I figured I had to when he went to sleep for all of 3 minutes tonight, that and Ben told me Hayden smelt like an armpit, how embarrassing. Man, I'm glad he loves me. Because I don't know if I would. So anyways, I got that taken care of real quick. But I still haven't gotten him to go down on his own yet tonight. So as I type I will continue to be an udder, a clean udder none the less. 

Opposites...

Well we started swimming lessons for the summer. And let me just start by saying my kids are polar opposites. Madie has taken swim lessons for three years in a row and still is very unsure of the water. Which I guess could be a good thing. She is in a class where it is just her and the instructor and some other kids. No parents in the pool with them this time around. She was so pumped on the way there, but as we go to the pool and walked up and she saw her Daddy wasn't gonna be in the pool with her you could feel her apprehension. I was going to stay by the side of the pool where she was until I was informed that they didn't want the parents there beside the pool. I guess this is because they feel like the kids will be distracted by the parents and not want to learn. I can kind of understand this. I just felt bad because I had told her I would be right there and I ended up having to go all the way to the other side of the pool with Ben and Jack. As I sat and watched her you could see that she just wasn't too sure of the idea of having to get in the water without one of us. She was on the end and you could see her unsureness (is that even a word? Well, it is now-a Jennaism  we will call it) as she watched all of the other kids jump off the side and swim to the instructor. Like she was thinking, "It's getting closer to me. I know he's not gonna make me do this too!" Well, he got to her and, as I type this I have to laugh, she shook her head and before he could even try to persuade her, she slipped into the pool. Not jumped, slid in, very gracefully I might add.  She was not going to jump. This was a picture of her after she got in but still very apprehensive. Now I don't even have to explain how Jack felt about the water, this one explains it all.

I just hope he continues to love the water. I just have to make sure he doesn't jump in on his own. The boy has NO FEAR!!!!