Since I have had THREE Children...

People ask me all the time what it's like to have three kids. It's hard to summarize, but I decided that I should try! Since I had my third child (3 years ago now, wow)... I have LOST many things...

1. MY set of car keys. Yeah, the ones with my house key on them, my library card, cute key chain, etc. GONE. I am using my 'spare' key now for my car, no idea what I would do if I lost it...

2. The ability to have a laundry DAY. I do laundry constantly now. He's so tiny, yet somehow- he has pushed the household over the legal limit of laundry!

3. My sanity. My grip on reality. But that's a given, right?!

4. My last Fu*k. Not sure where it went, but I don't have time to judge- so don't judge me! I work- I barely see you, sorry, hi, I gotta go- we have water polo at 5...

5. My ability to know where every.single.thing is in our house. I used to. Really. I used to know where Jacob's other sandal was, and Zachary's glasses, and everyone's papers from school... Now I just can't. You wore the shoes, not me- go find them. I'll wait... for a minute... 

I mean, look at this kid- he steals the show!

I have also broken a few cell phones, but I thank Pokemon Go for that... and I haven't been to the salon in too long (hair could really use a cut/style/SOMETHING). I prefer to take the time I have at home to be there, with the boys. I have started having a couple close friends over to watch TV a couple times a month, because none of us can GET OUT anymore. It works for us! 

I have still managed to keep up on Christmas cards, family portraits, and feeding the boys vegetables fairly often. There are things I have had to let go. My house... is not clean. My car... is not clean. But my kids are happy, and clean (usually) and know they are loved. I'm doing my best to 'live in the moment'- we went to Disneyland spontaneously on Labor Day! And I hope the boys will remember the good times, and forget the dog hair tumbleweeds that roll through the dining room on occasion... 

I have lost many things... but most of all, I have GAINED a wonderful, intelligent, funny, strong-willed, wild child who makes everyone take notice of his presence. We wouldn't be the same family without him, and while he does drive his brothers crazy every once in a while - we couldn't love him any more! 

Who has time for zippers?!

I am a boy mom. I do not own a lamp. no, seriously. We have ceiling fans in basically every room. My bedroom is very dark, but I do not own a lamp. Why? It wouldn't survive in my house. My middle son had a Pottery Barn Batman night light. Did you notice that was in the past tense? Yeah, he broke it. How? Don't know, don't care. The boys are always hot anyways, so we do ceiling fans- no lamps. 

I never have enough food in the house. I shop for food almost every day, and I simply cannot keep up. They eat breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, snack snack, dinner, snack. It's unreal. I try to keep 'healthy snacks' stocked, but honestly- it's not possible. Even the two year old just helps himself to things in the pantry... I have had to rearrange what items are in his reach. I once found him eating a package of Oreos, at 6 am, in the pantry. Go ahead, judge me. Do you have three boys??? If you are judging me, you clearly do not. I took a video, posted it on Instagram... because that's what you're supposed to do in that situation.

I don't understand the families who look all put together, dressed in today's stylish clothing trends. My youngest walks around in hand me downs, circa 2008 from his older brother. Skinny pants weren't a 'thing' back then, so he rocks baggy pants. Name brands? No, I have no idea what brand they are. The free kind? Yeah, that's what he wears. My oldest basically just wears Minecraft t-shirts and 'comfy shorts', which is what he calls shorts that do not have a zipper or buttons on them. Who has time for zippers? He gets the new clothes, because he wouldn't fit in his dad's clothes :)

I am a boy mom. I love them fiercely. They drive me crazy, but I couldn't possibly love them any more!

Mayhem Turned 6!

Well, we got off to a rough start... 

He wanted a Sonic birthday party. Fine, I figured. I have a Cricut, I can do whatever theme he wants! We booked his party at the location he selected, and we chose 10 a.m. Unfortunately, this meant no pizza. But we had a plan! We would do a breakfast buffet, with a cereal bar! He was so excited.

I searched Pinterest for an 'easy' birthday cake to make for his party. I found one that looked relatively simple. But of course, he wanted to make a 'green Sonic' with chocolate AND vanilla. So we went to the store, found some marble cake mix and green icing. I mixed the vanilla icing with a little brown icing to make the tan color. I was ready! Then I put the green icing on our cake. You can see below that it didn't go well... The party was the next morning, I decided cupcakes were the way to go!  No problem. 

Hubs was sick (of course!), so the morning of the party I'm scrambling to get the three boys ready, myself ready, and pack the car with the goodie bags, cake, and all the food for the breakfast buffet. 

As I'm loading my youngest son into the car, I left a tray of muffins on the kitchen counter... Have I mentioned that I have the WORST DOG EVER?! She grabbed the tray, pulled it off the counter... BROKE THE TRAY.. and started eating my kid's birthday food. Couldn't she have eaten the green Sonic cake?! No.

Thankfully, the breakfast buffet turned out well. We had muffins, croissants, three different kinds of cereal, milk, Cuties, and donut holes. And of course, cupcakes! All that matters is that the Birthday Boy was happy.

Happy 6th Birthday, Mayhem! 

2016 Gift Guide ~ 5 gifts for around $20 each!

1. Cold brew pitcher~ A practical gift for any coffee lover! A cold brew pitcher, to make your very own cold brew coffee at home is available for less than $20 at www.amazon.com. Want to spend a little more? Add a package of coffee!

2. Need a hostess gift? Try one of Pottery Barn's wine bottle accessories to spruce up the bottle of wine you'll bring. The fur stole wine topper is my favorite! It's an adorable addition to a traditional hostess gift.

3. Cozy blanket~  For those cold nights, cuddled up on the couch with the hubs or the kids watching movies. Super soft blankets are the best!

4. Brookstone Wine Chilling Stick~ For your friend, who loves chilled wine from Bed Bath and Beyond www.bedbathandbeyond.com Want to spend a little more? Add wine glass markers! This is a great hostess gift.

5. Aromatherapy Diffuser~ Do you have someone on your list who loves essential oils? They will love this diffuser. We have one in our bedroom, and you can turn the light on or off and it's very quiet. Want to spend a little more? Add some essential oils!

I would love to hear any suggestions you have for gifts under $20! 

We got a Christmas tree!

This weekend, we celebrated Thanksgiving with my in-laws. For the first time, all three boys entertained themselves- a milestone! Once we were done enjoying that holiday, we were READY to decorate for Christmas. For some reason, this year I was ready earlier than usual. I'm not sure if it was the 2016 election, or that I wanted to feel mentally prepared for Christmas shopping... but either way, we went out and found our Christmas tree. When we got home, we obviously started decorating it... 

My middle son was trimming the tree with no shirt on (he's always warm), so my father decided to join him in that... and next thing I knew, my brother was also shirtless. It was so strange.. but we all needed a laugh. It's been a rough year, culminating recently in the loss of my mom's sister. So, shirtless tree trimming for the win! I'll never forget it!

The porcelain houses shown in the photos belonged to my grandmother. She left them to me, and there were so many boxes! I was overwhelmed last year when I tried to put them up by myself. This year, my family was there to help! My dad and brother stacked several of them in the dining room and the rest are on a long table in my living room. I was so happy to have the Christmas tree in my front window- just like I've been wanting for TEN YEARS!! Finally! 

We also got our copy of OC Family Magazine, which featured our boys in "The Power of Siblings". They were excited to see themselves in print, and I loved the pictures they took! 

My boys!

We also put up our outdoor decor, and I'll have to post a picture of our newest addition- a light up llama! It makes no sense, but I love him. He has Christmas socks, and he makes me smile! Have you decorated your home yet? 

DIY: How to Build a Corner Desk

I finally did it. I made myself a 'Command Center" to keep all of the school papers out of the kitchen, and have somewhere QUIET to work! I used a (previously) sad little corner in my small, master bedroom and made it into a very useful desk. What used to be in that corner? My dirty laundry. So I would open my eyes and see that every morning. Now, I wake up and see something I've made with my own two hands.

I still have things I want to do, like buy a beautiful new chair and decorate ABOVE the desk with shelves. I'll get there! In case you want to make something like this, I'll describe how I did it below! 

Before I stained the desktop

For the base of the desk, I used two cube organizers from Target. The basic outline of the desktop is shown below. I used 1 by 6's and just measured how long I wanted each leg of the desk to be. I laid out the pieces, cut them to size, and glued them onto plywood, which I cut into two long strips to backup the 1 by 6's. Then, I bought a 4-pack of braces and connected the plywood with those. I love how the corner looks woven! A little tip, I numbered the pieces after I cut them, so when I laid them out- it would be obvious where each one went! If you are going to try this, send me pictures of your end result- please! And good luck!

Spring Break Boredom Busters

Are your kids off school this week? Next week? It's SPRING BREAK SEASON, and most parents are trying to figure out how to entertain the kids for a whole week with no school. Our baseball teams are even on hiatus, leaving the boys without their usual activities. While it is a nice break for them, keeping them occupied is a challenge. Here are a few ideas for spring break boredom busters!

1. DIY Dinosaur Dig. I don't know about you, but I have zillions of those little plastic dinosaurs. Little J (now 7 years old) has always loved dinosaurs, so we have many of these plastic toys that aren't being use right now. And this would keep him busy for a while! Mayhem (5) would also enjoy this activity. You can make it as elaborate as you want, but the more elaborate- the more time it takes them to finish! You can also do Dinosaur Fossils, where you press the plastic dinosaurs into salt dough, and bake them. 

2. Make your own crayons. Another item that most parents have in their home is many, many random broken crayons. You can give them new life! Breaking up crayons and baking them in a silicone mold in your oven is fun! And when they cool, you can use them to make new artwork!

3. Bathtub Fishing. Use magnetic letters and a magnet on a string to fish in your bathtub! Make it more interesting for the older kids by having them spell a word! Spell their name! Or the toddler can just try to catch anything. I have not tried this yet, but it sounds so fun!

Image Source: http://www.redtedart.com/

4. Races. You can have races with ANYTHING. And my boys love to compete with each other. You can race things down the stairs with pool noodles, or planks of wood. This mom blogger made marble races with dollar store items, including a pool noodle cut in half! The marbles make me nervous, since we have a toddler in the house, but... maybe while he naps we can do this!

Image Source: http://www.homespun-threads.com/blog/marble-racetrack

5. Legos. My oldest loves to sit an build a Lego set uninterrupted, of course. If I can provide him the peace and quiet to do that, while I play with the younger two- I know I will have made his Spring Break dreams a reality! We are also looking into signing up with Pley.com, so we can trade in Lego sets and get new ones when he's done!

Since we are lucky enough to live in Southern California, our weather during Spring Break is lovely! I'm sure the boys will spend quite a bit of time at the park, with unscheduled activities- and that's great! What are your plans for Spring Break?