A day in Atchinson

Whenever Aunt Andi has a home game on the weekend, we do our best to go up and support our team! Go Ravens!! It just so happened that this week was also the same week Jim's folks, Nana and Papa, were in town for a visit. The kids, especially Thing 1 and Thing 2, had not stopped talking about their visit. So we planned for them to make the trip up to Atchinson with us.

On our way!!

 

That is definitely a more accurate shot. Nice nose picking Thing 3!
We got up to the game, the kids were spoiled with popcorn and soda. Now you know there is a grandparent in town when they are allowed to have soda. And unfortunately, Belle can keep no secrets! Right after Nana gives her the sip of soda I heard, "Nana gave me soda." Way to keep a low profile huh ;).

The game was AWESOME to say the least and afterwards we headed to a local joint called Willies to have dinner.

 Daphne and Aunt Andi are discussing politics. Along with some serious conversation from Papa and Uncle Gregg.

While Thing 1 seemed to con Grandpa Gregg into a stuffed animal... SHOCKER!

Holy cow he's eating!!!
The best part of my night however was that Aunt Andi, who seems to enjoy this "Mother of the Things" disciplinary style, was being totally man-handled by Thing 3.

 At one point the conversation went something like this, "Daphne, you either need to sit on my lap, or get back in your chair. I'm serious, you can't get down. Ok, you're going back in your seat."

Daphne sticks out lower lip, starts to pout and TA DAH!

Yep... stone cold this Aunti is... stone cold.

Can't Touch This...

So sometimes a child is brought into your life and from a very early age you can tell, the light of their personality will far exceed your own. For me, fortunately I have three of them. In different ways, each of my little "Things" sometimes has more personality than I can handle, with little Ms. Daphne the party never stops.




 Can't touch this... dun, nah, nah, nah! (sing along my MCHammer friends)
Posing ever so eloquently in her brothers hats, this is just one of Daphne's many wardrobe changes, from pots and pans, to mommy shoes, she has an accessory for all occasions. 

Oh My  Goodness, I am sooo cute! Don't you agree?












I also have no shortness of "teenage" looks to throw her way. She's lucky she's still little and cute, that's not going to fly at 16 Ms. Peepers!

Dear Lord,
Please do not let table dancing be in her future.

Love,
Meg aka Mother of Thing 3.

Neat Freak Mania!

So, as I have stated in our first post, I am a total neat friend. People think I like to clean, that is not true. Who likes to clean? Seriously!? However, I love to organize and decorate, and even more so, I love it when I can do it on a budget and do it myself. Almost, a how cheap can I be challenge. So first let us take a look at a table. I got this table from Ikea about 3 years ago.

Red was the only color, it worked because we had a cute little kids red kitchen that Killian (Thing 2) eventually destroyed. Long story short, I had a reading center sitting on this table and Thing 1 and Thing 2 were constantly arguing over the amount of space they had.









One 10 dollar shelf, a set of 2 command hooks and  2 organizing caddies (which I already had) later. What's up!!!

 So then I moved onto the darn ugly little red table. What was a girl to do?
Hello spray paint!

It was 2.99, it says NO DRIP, don't believe it! LOL, well that, or obviously I am not very good at spray painting.

Here are a couple clues for you.
1. Do not do it outside, especially in Kansas where it is almost always windy. I might suggest a clean ventilated garage in the winter time ;). Unless you live in Az, then go ahead and spray paint at 9 o'clock at night in the middle of Feb, really wouldn't make a difference.




2. Flip it over and do the legs first. I am not taking this bad boy apart to spray paint it. But, I had to do like 6 coats because I kept missing spots underneath. You would think common sense would have stepped in, but not until I was almost finished did that lovely little light bulb come on. SEE!!!

3. Do not bring it into the house before dry or Thing 3 WILL climb on it.

As always, it doesn't have to be perfect. The crazy little monkeys are just going to ruin it anyways. I never understood people who bought Pottery Barn furniture. I agree it's pretty darn cute! But they do know they are going to spend all that money and it WILL get broken, colored on, jumped off of and a plethora of other things. Heck yeah I said plethora! Just take what you have and give it a makeover!

So here is the after complete with a new spot for the princess castle, now off the floor. Let's see how long it takes KING KONG To be scaring all the villagers that live in there.




On a little side note into my OCD organizational mind, closets for organizing toys are your best friend!!! Also, shop clearance, especially if you are just putting the organizer in the closer. I got these two shelves, one for 20 and one for 30 @ Target. They were originally almost twice that but had been returned. Can you tell, nope, know one can :). However, as you can see they are a awesome way to help hide kiddos stuff, especially if one of them is just trying to throw every possible toy on the floor at once. She sha'll remain nameless.

Next project... what to do to hide this ugly panel... just wait and see ;)

Well, it's Sunday! Another beautiful day and the day I have always thought of as the most relaxing day of the week. For some reason the husband disagrees. He finds Saturdays far more relaxing. Who couldn't love Sundays? You get your cleaning done, hang out with the family, watch football, many go to church and the husband is home so you might even get to go to the bathroom by yourself.

Oh wait, what's that? SOOO glad she learned to open doors. And don't tell me to baby proof the door knobs because seriously I cannot get them open with those things on them.

Is she going to turn around and leave, I might get lucky! Don't worry, maybe daddy will save the day and come get her.

Oh, but she closed the door behind her, so "We" could have some privacy. Isn't she sweet folks ;).

The first Blog Post... dun, dun daaaaahhhh! First, I'm not even going to mention how long it has taken me to even figure out the layout or how to add pictures, text, etc. So if things get changed around, again and maybe again, and probably again, just get used to it. I like change and I'm kind of perfectionist and maybe a slight, almost, a little bit OCD. So, just roll with it and if you say anything, I'll block your email, no just kidding I won't. Or will I?? ;)

On that note, it took me awhile to think of the title for our blog, "Mother of the THINGS". Some might call it insensitive, some (like myself) might believe it is COMPLETELY AWESOME. Yet, when one of my most favorite people got me a Christmas mug with the title on it, it was only suitable. So thank you Andi Wilder, you have contributed to the awesomeness.

Furthermore, I personally could not be more excited to have a platform for my tirades, I mean to share our life, hobbies and pictures. This is not a place to share your opinion on politics, religion, how the world is coming to an end, or what you think of my slightly above average parenting style. By the way, it's completely awesome too ;).  No, this is a place for lots of laughs, lots of fun and lots of real life. This is only the beginning, so here comes the fun!

Oh, and I guess I'll include a picture of my brew.

They look like the calmest, shyest kids ever, right???!!