Mom of Boys

About a month ago I took Bean to Target to get a gift and card for Marcus and a few of his friends who had upcoming birthdays.  We were in the card section reading cards and laughing at the funny pictures.  I was reading a card and Bean was standing right next to me and got really quiet.  I set the card back and Bean says, “Uh… mommy?”  I look down and he was staring at a Card that from my point of view, looked like this:

He pointed at the picture and said…  “Does that lady have monkey feet??”  HUH?!?!?!  I kneeled down next to him and couldn’t help laughing because from his height, this is what he saw: 

It was one of those cards that when you moved it up and down it went from lady to monkey:




When I showed Bean what the card did, he laughed and wanted to get THAT one for Daddy! I told him it wasn’t a daddy birthday card, However, I had to buy the card for the sole purpose of this blog!  I’ve forgotten about it until the other day when I was cleaning up the shelf.

Caleb Jordan Stone:  I decided one Saturday to work hard all day, cleaning and organizing… Then I went to my Aunt’s house and we all helped each others cars (4 total).  We had a large meal and before leading home I went to use the bathroom.  My water broke (actually more like a leak…) while I was sitting there.  No one believed that my water had broken and I was almost on my way out the door, but I decided to call my doctor just to check.  Well, she didn’t believe me either, but she told me to go intot he hospital just in case.  As I was dressing into my hospital gown (almost an hour and a half later) and I stepped out of my jeans, is when my water gushed.  Caleb was born a little over 9 hours later.  I remember the Redskins winning that day!

~Water Broke around Midnight, Caleb was born on a Sunday.

Alec Jordan Sattler:  I decided one Saturday that I was done being pregnant and I walked around the mall for almost 2 hours.  When I got home, I walked to the shopping center and into each store until I got to Walmart.  I was in so much pain from walking that I called Marcus for a ride home.  That night I layed down to go to bed and I felt that my pants were a little wet.  I was leaking a little and again was not sure if it was my water or not.  Again, the doctor did not belive me and told me to wait at home until contractions started.  I waited 6 hours and no contractions came, but a whole lot of water did!  I went to the hospital where the nurses were surprised to see me.  We started Pitocin and Alec was born a little over 3 hours after starting pitocin.  I remember the Redskins lost that day.

~Water Broke around Midnight, Alec was born on a Sunday.

 

I realize that I am over a week late in posting this…  But the past couple of weeks have been busy and I have a few more blogs to post AFTER this as well….

We had Caleb’s 4th birthday Party the Saturday after his party.  Everyone who I invited came, and we had a lot of fun!  I didn’t do everything that I had planned on doing, but it was such a good party anyways!  After everyone showed up, we had the kids put on the sorting hat and they were sorted into 4 houses.  Then we decorated party hats and the kids got thier wands.  We had Caleb show the rest of the kids the spell to use when you see a dementor.  That’s when we dropped the dementor pinata from the deck.  Unfortunatly, the pinata was too tough for the kids… and the stick broke!  So, we dumped the prizes out and we had cake.  The cake turned out to be pretty good…  I really though I had gotten in way over my head until it was done.  Everyone loved it and everyone was really impressed, which mad me feel better about it.  Anyways… I was happy witht he party. 

 

One part I forgot. We opened gifts after most of the party had left. We still had family and a few of our close friends around. It wasn’t so crazy and he got TONS of stuff!!! I got him a radio flyer scooter, which he loves! We go out to ride it all the time and it’s easy for us to take along with us to the park or to grandma’s house.

I love to do artsy crafty things and I’m always looking up projects to do with the kids or projects to do by myself.  When I was younger, my step mom taught us how to make all sorts of things, including a our own piñata, which is why when the challenge came up to make Caleb’s Dementor piñata, I had no problem.  Well, Marcus decided to get in on the action and put on the last layers of paper mache for me.  When we were done he was axious to get started on something else.  He started drawing out plans to make a castle piñata!  LOL!  So cute!  I started working on other things and suggested that he try to make a sorting hat out of paper mache.  He didn’t waste any time getting into the kitchen and asking how I made the paste!  Ha ha!  I’m glad I can share my passion for arts and crafts with Marcus.  He told me, “It’s fun… almost like being a kid again!” 

Anyways…  I have been thinkign about making the cake this weekend and freezing.  Although, I have no clue how I’m going to freeze the cake and have it taste just as good?  I thought at first that I would use fondant, but I really don’t like the taste so maybe I will try to work just with the frosting and do all of the details and such by hand?  Maybe I’m in over my head witht he cake…  Crystal, we may be up till 2:00 in the am again on Friday night.  LOL!

Today was kind of a gloomy day with the weather.  It was overcast all day long and it was kind of cool too.  We had plans today to meet up with my family for my birthday.  We started out at my grandmothers to go swimming and then we were all going to go out to eat at the Olive Garden.  Well, we made it over to ‘gamma elaine’s’ and we did take Caleb over to the pool.  Alec and I sat on pool steps and dipped our feet in.  Caleb loves the water so much!  He had a blast!  He was diving in head first which scared me at first, because I didn’t know he could!  Alec of course loves the water too and tried several times to get in!  He did manage to sit on the top step, WITH his clothes on!  Ha ha!

 

We met the rest of the family at Olive Garden and once we got there it started POURING rain!  We got Caleb a new spiderman umbrella yesterday at Walmart and he was able to use it for the first time.  He was so cute… offering to walk my grandma inside with it!  Like they could both fit under that little thing. 

Caleb was so well behaved at dinner.  He kept everyone laughing and we all just had a great time.  The waitress came over to take out drink order.  Caleb looked up at her and with a totally straight face said, “excuse me ma’am, I think I would like some tea please.”  Everyone kind of just stared at him for a moment.  He went back to his coloring and everyone busted out laughing.    We also order the sampler which had mushrooms, fried cheese and calamari.  Aunt Gayl asked Caleb if he wanted some Calamari.  It was a little loud int his place, so I understand that he couldn’t hear too well and he thought she said, Cala-mario and asked, “Cala-mario?  Like what aunt Carrie has?”  I think I was the only one at the table who understood that he thought she was talking about the Super Mario Brothers.  He followed up by saying, “Of course I want some Cala-mario!”  Well, they gave him some and he LOVED it!  He munched on it till his mac n cheese got there.  He didn’t actually EAT his mac n cheese though…  He ate off of everyone elses plates, which he often ends up doing.  Alec had french fries and chicken fingers, and a little of my mashed potatos too.  We ended dinner with Cake and I got away with not having the staff sing their birthday song!  Woo hoo!!! 

Anyways, it was a good night!  I had fun with my family and my little man made me laugh!  I’m so proud of him. 

I NEED to write all of my ideas out, because I think I have too many!  Caleb really wants a Harry Potter Party, and I’m pretty sure I can pull it off…  I just need to think it through.  A Harry Potter party seemed like a pretty easy thing to do, and I have plenty of ideas! I may need to make a lot of these things myself though, like the invites and I had an idea for the piniata, but… looks like I will have to make the piniata myself too!  Anyways… 

Invites will be printed on “parchment” and sent in the mail with the hogwarts seal to look like an acceptance letter. 
I have to buy the paper and print the letters…

Dear ,  We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for Caleb’s 4th Birthday Party. We look forward to seeing you on Saturday, September 29, 2007 and remember, the train leaves King’s Cross Station (located at , Ashburn) at Eleven O’clock AM sharp and the journey will last 3 hours. Please RSVP by sending an OWL to rdunbaugh@gmail.com or by using the FLEW Network to by Saturday, September 22nd. Note that students may wish to wear their casual robes, as the journey may entail physical activity as well as working with messy potion ingredients.  We look forward to your arrival at Hogwarts.

Respectfully, Deputy Headmistress Robyn L. Dunbaugh.

Class List for First-Year Students: Orientation & Matriculation- History of Magic, Herbology, Potions, Defense against the Dark Arts, Quidditch Practice & Flying Lessons, Care of Magical Creatures, Excursion to Hogsmead, Divination 

The Party:
Orientation & Matriculation- History of Magic:  So… I’m thinking that I will put 2 signs on either side of our walkway to our house…  1 saying Platform 9 and one saying Platform 10.  (our door will be 9 3/4 and the sign for that will be inside.)  Have to make these signs…  Once inside, the kids will get sorted.  I havn’t decided if they should pick what house to be in, or if they should choose a house at random.  Once they are sorted they will get a badge with their house crest on it.  Have to make the badges.  I’ll have them decorate their own wizard hats with glitter, glue, feathers, pompoms & foam stars & moons.  I have to find black party hats, or else spray paint some cheap ones.  For wands, (Olivander’s ?) I can get some dowel sticks, cut them off and paint them…  I’m also thinking about some kind of loot bad, and not some cheesy plastic ones either, cause there’s a lot of ‘goodies’ that these kids will accumulate….  - keeping this in mind.

Herbology:  Kids can plant some seeds into little cups, so that they can take them home and watch them grow.  Maybe soem parsley or soemthing?

Potions:  I’m getting all sorts of sand art bottles from the craft store and I will put in a bunch of different things… oil, vinegar, spices, and we can pour over a cold pasta salad with in bowls.  Then we will do the same with Popcorn.  I will have Popcorn in bags with unicorn dust(cinnamon sugar), dragon scale(taco seasoning), swamp grass(italian seasoning), ghost whispers(parmesan cheese), for the kids to shake over their popcorn.

Care of Magical Creatures:  Kids can go look at bugs, snakes, lizards… (Led by Uncle Norman maybe?)

Excursion to Hogsmead:  (each kid gets 4 galleons to spend) - (Gringots?) Taking place outside…
Lunch at the Three Broomsticks:  need to make a sign  for three broomsticks.  will serve ButterBeer”(rootbeer floats) or “Polyjuice Potion”(lime soda with lime sherbet), pizza and fruit. 
Honeyduke’s Sweet Shop:  They will get to choose from Bartie Bott’s Everyflavor Bean(jellybeans), Liquorish Wands(twizzlers), Chocolate Frogs(chocolate molds & melted chocolate), and Fizzleing Whizbees(pop rocks), Worms (Gummy Worms).

Back to the Great Hall (dining room) for Cake:  I can hang stars from the ceiling just like in the Great Hall.  I found a Harry Potter Birthday Quidditch Cake Decorating Kit.  I still have to bake the cake, and use fondant to make the playing field and all… but I think Caleb will really like it! The cake will take most of my time to prepare, so I need to think about preparing the rest of this in advance, or pulling some major help from my family!

Defense against the Dark Arts:  Dimentor Pinata!!!  The one thing that will actually take longer then the cake, but I can make this weeks in advance.  YES, I’m making a pinata!  It’s pretty easy to do actually… I just need to design it and get it done! 

Quidditch Practice & Flying Lessons:  I’ve had a few ideas on this, but non that are too great.  One being that we could have a sort of relay race, with two teams and two brooms where they put the broom between their legs and ‘fly’ to a hoola hoop.  Go through and then find the GOLDEN snitch in the ball pit (I will have several in there) and then ‘fly’ back.  We could also play ‘Pass the Snitch’ which would sort of be like playing Hot Potato. 

Divination: A glimpse into the future, presents revealed.

 

 

Ok… So I’m super excited about this party!  I think I might have more fun with it then the kids!  Ha!  I’m crazy…

Well, it’s Tuesday and we are still trying to relax from the weekend.  Jayden went home this weekend.  Crystal met us about half way at my dads house.  He had his big birthday celebration which was a lot of fun!  We camped out on his property and had a great time!  Everyone was there, even Rachele.  I paid for her ticket coming down because I knew that the one thing dad really wanted was for everyone to be there with him.  It was a nice weekend for it too!  The weather was nice… not too hot and not too cold.  Of course the traffic was horrible!  It took us 3 and a half hours to get from my house to his house, and it’s normally a 2 hour drive.  I guess we managed the ride alright…  But I can’t wait to get a new van!  One with working AC!!! 

 

Anyways, we got down there and the kids were all playing with each other… I think there were 7 kids under 4 and they were all having fun… getting dirty!  Crystal got stuck in traffic also, so we were there a while before she showed up.  Jayden was so happy to see her!  She cried and hugged her…  I almost cried myself!  It was short lived though, because she wanted to get down to go play again.  She did come to tell her mommy that she loved her every 10-15 minutes…. and when she did she almost always called her Robyn first.  It was too funny!  Before they left to go home, they joined us for dinner and fun.  Crystal rode with the kids on the tire swing which they both loved!  I wouldn’t dare let them ride alone, because it swings out over this steep hill and you could probably go as high up as maybe 15 feet out there with branches and tree stumps under you. 

After dinner and of course after s’mores, we walked Crystal and Jayden up to the car.  Jayden was excited to get home to see her new room, and told us she was going to stay awake for the drive home, but I knew she would pass out before even getting to 95.  She had a long day.  The kids hugged each other and after Jayden got into her seat, Caleb went over and said, “I Love You Jayden!”  It was so sweet… 

So…  Caleb and I began to walk back down to the party…  The trail down was covered in little frogs that hopped out of our way as we approached.  Caleb got to hold one too!  I didn’t think he would do it, but he wasn’t scared at all!

 

 We got back down to the rest of the crowd and my dad opened gifts.  Rachele and I got her a really funny card that made everyone laugh.  It really fit him too, which was what made it funny!

After the gifts, I tried taking some group pictures of some people.  I got Rachele, Gayl, Dad, and Johnathan together for 1 picture which ended up being several, because someone said soemthing about the pose, and my dad just started workin it!  LOL!  It was so funny and everyone was bustin out laughing!  Just take a look and see….

 

 

Hehe… Such a goof!  49 years young!  It was a great weekend!  When I woke up Sunday, I had to pack up and head home early so that we could try and beat the beach traffic.  I didn’t want to have another 3 hour ride home again.  We stopped by my moms house on the way and stayed until a MUCH needed storm passed over.  Got to see my niece Daina, who is 6 months old!  She’s such a little girl… still in 0-3 month clothes. 

 

From moms we dropped Rachele off, picked up Marcus to visit the new Ashburn Target and to eat out at some overpriced, not so good mexican grill and then got home and got to bed!  I was so tired by the end of the night!  I was lazy all day yesterday… Just hung out with my boys and did some laundry.  Today is pretty much the same…  It’s only been 2 days since Hayden has gone home and we’ve fallen back into our regular schedule.  Caleb has even started asking us to sleep with him for a little bit at night again.  When Jayden was here, he didn’t asked us one time!  And… Alec is back to his regular nap schedule too.  It was just too hard to do when Jayden was here…  Too much going on for him to lay down and nap!  **sigh**  Back to normal!

Here are some pictures that I took at the pool party yesterday.

My little water Bug! Swimming under the water here…

Caleb with the birthday boy

Caleb and Jayden went swimming in the BIG pool. These pictures were taken in 4-5 ft deep waters. They were swimming around all over the pool all by themselves. Jayden did GREAT and didn’t cry at all when I let go of her. She laughed! Caleb of course was paddleing out and telling Jayden to swim with him, which… once she realized she wasn’t going to go under, was happy to follow!

And… look who is upfront… Helping unwrap the gifts!

So, we went to a birthday part today that was at the community pool.  The kids had a BLAST!  THese guys will be swimming on their own by the end of the summer. 

Caleb was all over as usual and even went under water a few times, which was awesome!  Jayden had a different vest on thsi time around and she did 10 times better with this one!  She was swimming all over the place on her own.  I even had to tell them both that they couldn’t go down the slide, because they were not big enough and then were both upset!  LOL!  Alec was also loving the water… plashing and kicking and just loving every second of it! 

After the pool we went back to their house for cake, ice cream and a piniata.  The kids played and we socialized…  Marcus finally got to meet DJ!  Heidi and I have been trying to get these two men together forever now.  When we were trying to leave, Heidi said, “We’ve been saying for a long time that we need to get them together, we need to get them together…. now we need to get them apart!”  LOL!  They stood there and chatted for a long while before we actually said goodbye! 

Anyways, we had a great time and I got a ton of pictures that I need to make copys of for Heidi and DJ.  I’ll post a few here…  The kids aren’t in bed yet, but I know they are tired.  Maybe it will be another late morning tomorrow! 

Slept pretty well last night.  We sll slept in till 9ish…  Well… Marcus is still sleeping.

Anyways, I took the kids to Walmart last night.  I had one of the carts with the big blue seat in the front.  The kids actually did really well.  We were there to get birthday gifts for the party we are going to this afternoon.  Jayden got DJ a Thomas the Train Lunch Box and an engine… And Caleb got him 2 Spiderman Figurines.  Alec is getting Desiree 2 books. 

Other then the party… we have nothing going on today.  It’s a pool party, so I’m sure that once we are finished, we will all be tired!  Early bedtime maybe??  Time to read my new HP Book!!!  Yay!

 

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