Mariah's Letter to Santa...

The other day Rashauna was watching the kids while I went to an appointment. When I got back Mariah (with the help of Rashauna) had written the cutest letter to Santa. I thought I'd write it down before I 'send' it to the North Pole =)

Dear Santa,

I want a bunny that hops, a camel toy, a robot toy, a set of doctor toys, toy scissors to cut baby hair, a toy apple that pops out a worm when you want to eat it, and a toy chicken that can wake me up when it's morning. I really, really also wish that I could have a toy snake that slithers in my room to wake me up. You should get me these things because I've been very good and cleaned my room.

Thank you! Love,

Mariah

I guess after they finished the letter Rashauna asked Mariah if she really did clean her room, and I guess she hadn't because she ran in there and cleaned it all up! Now I have to start my search for all these extremely random Chrismtas requests... If anyone sees something on this list - let me know!! haha

the prayer of a child

So you were probably thinking this was going to be some sweet, spiritual post didn't you? Well don't get your hopes up. I had to share this story because I thought it was so funny and didn't want to forget it. I even went to the extent of writing it down right after it happened.

So today at lunch I was giving the kiddos their food when Mariah said, "Don't forget prayer Mom!" So she said the sweetest prayer for us. She thanked Jesus for all the things he created in the world, for the food he created, for always telling us what to do, for all the toys Santa brings, etc. I mean, really precious prayer. My eyes were a bit watery afterwards...

Then after about 1 minute she says, "I want to say my own prayer. That was a prayer I said for all of us and now I'm going to say one for me." Then she proceeded to pray:

"Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for creating Mariah Carey.
Thank you for making our whole world.
Thank you for creating our bones.
Thank you for all the police officers.
And thank you for everything else.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Oh! And thank you for the birds. Amen."

perfect timing

So we went to visit Josh this weekend... and there will be more pictures etc. from that. We went out on our second camping adventure ever since Robbie was born. The first was a complete and total disaster, so it's taken us over a year to recoop and try again. This time was a success, but more about that later.

The drive is a little over three hours from Cleveland to our house. First of all, Robbie was just about all the way better (he had been sick for over two weeks prior) and while we were camping got totally sick all over again. Total bummer. And you want to know the worst of it? (Confession coming...) I was more concerned about myself (mostly my mental well-being) than him! Anyways, so he's super sick and we're driving for what felt like all day long...

We finally FINALLY pull up to our house! I'm tired, trying to talk on the phone, carry in a ton of crap, get the kids inside and say hi to the neighbors all at the same time. Robbie takes off down the street and I have to throw down the groceries etc. to go get him. The story goes on... finally we get in the house.

Problem #1: It smells like crap. Problem/Explanation #2: Mariah tells me that there is in fact crap sitting in the toilet. (keep in mind, we've been gone six days) Problem #3 and #4: I didn't finish doing the dishes or take out the trash before we left... so the house smelt horrible and now I had all this stuff to do on top of bringing everything in from the car and unpacking it... to say the least, I wasn't in the best mood.

Mariah comes upstairs to 'check' on me (I think I had been yelling at the plunger which kept flipping inside out and getting NASTY POOP WATER ON ME!!!). "What's wrong mom?" I told her I was just tired and grumpy and sad that our house stunk. She gave me the best hug ever and told me I could hold the soft pillow she was had in her hands and her 'mana' (her special blanket she sleeps with). Then she wanted to open a package we had gotten from my mom.

She pulls out some fun goodies for her and Robbie and then something for me... magnets for the fridge! (I love magnets!) She pulls them out one at a time as I read them out loud - 'Hope' 'Peace' and 'Dream'.

I smiled and realized that everything will be okay. Talk about perfect timing... thanks Mom.

Crib Craziness + A Million Pictures

So I was talking on the phone to Monica, then my cousin Daniel, and then Rashauna (they were all together at the time) and I was in my room. The whole time I was talking I could hear Mariah and Robbie laughing and I could see Mariah running back and forth between her room and his carrying stuff, but didn't think much of it. Robbie was still in his crib from his 'nap' - ya know one those ones where they never actually go to sleep... anyways, so since no one was crying I thought I'd enjoy the time talking to my sisters and cousin.
But then I started hearing other noises. Mariah ran into my room and grabbed my bra and some other clothes... So at that point I decided I should get off my lazy butt and actually go check on them. And this is what I found: (see below) I call it crib craziness. I was laughing so hard and telling Rashuana about it - she said I should take some pictures and I'm so glad that I did because it somehow turned into a total photo shoot... and yes, that is a bra hanging out of the crib.

I was looking at all these pictures thining Robbie was being so good at letting me take his picture... but then I realized it's because he had his pacifier - or 'hAP HI er' as he calls it.

My Superhero

When we got back from our trip to Ashville, the kids were over at Tina's house. To our great surprise, Mariah wasn't there, but this amazing super awesome SUPER HERO was, who look scarily similar to Mariah!! She was nice enough to let me take her picture before she flew off to rescue someone in danger...

Everyone needs a

every once in a while.

Another surprise (well not really) was that poor Robbie is totally sick. I think Mariah caught some of it and I might be coming down with it too... I hate having sick kids and even more than that, I hate trying to take care of them when I'm sick too. No fun.

Mariah, The Dancing Queen Part. 1 of 3

Here's my crazy and entertaining Mariah, dancing the night away...

Part 1 of 3. This is what happens when I let her stay up late!

My Dancing Queen

We were at a friends' wedding this past weekend. Mariah is friends with some of the girls and she had so much fun playing and playing. I hardly even saw her for three days. During the music at the reception, I looked up to check on Mariah who was playing in the play house and this is what I saw... Luckily our friend was videotaping everything and was able to catch it on tape. Where did she learn to dance like that? I blame it on Kaniesha.

Practice Makes Perfect

We're leaving on Tuesday morning to fly out to Tennessee to visit Josh and his family for about two weeks - the kids are so excited! I know that the ONLY way for us to make it through the 7 hour flight is... MOVIES! So we went to Target and picked up some headphones for the kids. I learned so many lessons the first time around flying with them and I intend to not make ANY of them again. One of them was that they weren't able to hear the movie from just the speakers. So before church this morning I let the kids "practice" for the airplane. As you can see, things went pretty well and don't they look so cute with their headphones on? (The pink ones are Mariah's by the way). Now I just need to pack...

Mariah's New Haircut

Last night Mariah decided to give herself a haircut, along with several stuffed animals, a blanket and a nightlight - instead of sleeping. This morning when I really took a look at the damage it was obvious that we needed to cut the rest as well. When I asked her why she decided to cut her hair she said, "Well I just thought it would look pretty shorter." She was so sweet about it and really felt bad. I think she knew that she had done something she knew she shouldn't have. But it all turned out okay because look at those pictures! She loves her new hair and it's perfect timing for summer!

Poop or Chocolate?

Has everyone seen Baby Mama? If not, you should - it's a good one. Very entertaining... Anyways, there's this scene where a mom sees her little son running by with something brown on his arm and she asks him if it's poop or chocolate. He wont answer her, so she licks it! Fortunately, it was chocolate and not poop.

Well I had my own Baby Mama scene but in real life today. I noticed Robbie had some brown stuff on his shirt - the front and back - which was weird, but not too weird. Then a few mintues later I look a little closer and see it on his hand too. I asked him what it was, and of course he didn't answer so... being much more cautious than the chick from the movieI smelled the 'brownness' in question. Definitlely poop. Thank goodness I wasn't hungry...

I got the diaper off as fast as I could and tried not to let him touch anything while I got the bath going, then threw him in and lathered up as much soap as I could. Then (just to be safe) I let all the water drain out and filled it up again... Boys are so nasty! He's already taking after Uncle Seth. Oh no. That's a whole nother story in itself. =) ps: is 'nother' a word ?

Bathing Beauty

I don't know what got into Robbie the other night while he was taking a bath. He started dumping water on his face and then spitting and making the most HILARIOUS faces EVER. Here are a few:

This one here is the best - hahahah!

March Madness

The madness part I'm referring to in this situation is to describe the feelings that flooded into my brain when I walked into the bathroom and found this (for the second time in a week):
I guess maybe he's yelling at the toilet for getting him in trouble? Or maybe he was so embarrassed by his behavior that he was feeling nauseous? I guess I'll never know... That's my Robbie for ya. Gotta love him.

Robbie's 'Discovery'...

hmmm... cool magazine. whoa - what's that?
this is really cool...

i better get a closer look

yes, definitely liking what i see.

**disclaimer: this is a health magazine. you sickos. =)

Crazy Drivers

Sometimes I suddenly realize that I have a camera on my phone. It usually happens while I'm driving because that is one of the only times I seem to find a moment to talk on the phone (yes, I know it's illegal and NO I don't obey that law...). These are just some silly pictures we took the other day...