Mo-dacious

A couple weekends ago, we had our family reunion. My parents, sisters, and their kids all came. It's the first time we've had EVERYONE come in several years. 

This is the way Jack crawls when he doesn't like the texture of the ground.

 Isaac is an incredible swimmer.

The pool was extremely cold after all that rain we had. I wouldn't get in.

Necklaces & Cleanouts

For Mother's Day, my family was on a family reunion with my parents, sisters, and their families. So much fun. While there, my sisters and I had a craft night for our pre-mother's day activity. We made bird nest necklaces. The beads are the colors of the kids birthstones. I have 2 in March, so I just chose 2 different aqua colors. Ben knows who is who. We made a mega one for my mom with 3 nests (grandchildren) and beads in between of us, our hubbies, and her and dad. I couldn't be happier with mine. Goes with everything.

Back in January, I vowed to reorganize my house - a closet a month or so. I have been doing it - some. I've got a little sidetracked, but so far I've done the hall closet, schoolroom closet, file cabinet, and most of the pantry. Last night, I worked on my medicine cabinet. One shelf anyway. Hey, it's a start. I have tons of medicine b/c of all the couponing. Anyone need a heat patch?

I found these boxes on clearance at Target for $0.30 each last week. I cleaned them out. I had been looking for some, but didn't want to spend the money. I pulled out all the medicine and organized them and labeled each box. I'm going with the theory that I'll keep it nice if it's labeled and it looks pretty.

The Rest of This Wild Bunch

I realized I never posted the rest of my "in the wild" pictures.

Granny's pretty funny, but not to Mr. Poker Face.

So hard to say who's the ham of the bunch. Any guesses?

HOOOOO - cake

For Jack's birthday, the boys and I made owl cupcakes. He's had an owl nursery along with all owl decor, owl hat, and owl pictures. I thought it was appropriate to have owl cupcakes on his first birthday. I am not taking credit for this idea. Found it on, you guessed it, pinterest.

The night before, I made these eyes out of fondant left over from my CARS 2 train cake. I cut the circles with a hair mousse cap (washed first, of course) and a water bottle cap. I also made/iced the cupcakes.

On Jack's bday, I showed the boys how to add the eyes, nose, and feathers and after that, they needed little help. I can't believe it! A craft project I've done with my kids that didn't make me pull my hair out.

Even Ben's turned out super cute!!

And yummmm! The whole flock. I let them make them until they got bored. I only made about 5 myself.

Jack loved it when we sang "Happy Birthday!" 

I think he enjoyed the cupcake once he figured out what to do with it.

Today, we had a birthday party with grandparents. I made my puppy dog cake. This is the 3rd time I've made this cake. It's really fun and I love the way it turns out.

Jack First Birthday!!

Today is Jack's first birthday. My last baby is growing up. Hallelujah!!

A couple weeks ago, all the boys had had haircuts and I wanted some pictures with all of them and some of Jack for his birthday, too. Mom went with me and we went back to where Jenny took my maternity pics and I took Jack's newborn pics. 

Matching shirts. I'm seeing the benefits of having all boys.

 He had just smiled big and was waving his arms - then this face.

The boys all love him. It's really the first time I've had a baby with BIG brothers. Other times it's been a baby and "big" brothers. (Zane was only 3 1/2 when Ben was born).

They really do spoil him. I'm sure he'll expect to be the center of attention for the rest of his life. Lately, he'll crawl out to the toy car outside, get in, and scream until one of them pushes him around.

• crawls with his left foot & right knee - if he doesn't like the texture of the ground, he uses both feet & hands.
• Momma's boy, but getting better for other people and his grandmothers
• always has a smile for PaPa
• Strangers say he's so serious, but we know the real Jack at home
• is huge  - we don't know the current stats, but I'm guessing over 80% in height
• wears 18m clothes
• screams if he doesn't get his way
• pretty content being held by mom
• not cruising yet
• loves to play ball

Sugar Scrub

I have been so grateful to the volunteers at my CBS group. Every week, they faithfully volunteer their time to watch my boys (and everyone else's kids). I wanted to get them an end of the year gift, but knew I had to find something inexpensive aka homemade. A friend mentioned that her sister gave homemade body scrubs for Christmas. I went on Pinterest and found a few ideas and made some. I didn't follow any recipe, but it's basically equal parts brown and white sugar, then olive and coconut oil, vanilla, cinnamon, and maple syrup (this makes it smell yummy). I didn't measure anything; just kept adding until it smelled/looked good. It totally works, too. I tried some out and my heels are so much smoother.

I found some mason jars at a garage sale and added my own labels and ribbon. I thought they turned out so cute.