Discipline

I must say that I'm terrible when it comes to reliable discipline. Things will go great for a while and then something will happen with the kids and I'll snap. I just to punishment without even thinking. That, of course, makes things even worse in then end...

So I've been wracking my brain for a way to figure out how to gauge all while maintaining my composure.

So I took to Pinterest...

Yes...

Again...

It seems that Pinterest holds all the answers anymore- how to decorate; how to dress; how to do my hair; what to make for dinner;

It seemed only natural to venture there again about child behavior.

And I found it!

On Oh My Gluestick. :)

[SOURCE]

So, naturally, I made my own!

What do you think? I don't have a fancy holder, and I had to put it on the fridge, but so far it's working!

I just put it up last night and Ethnie is already obsessed with getting to AWESOME.

Only time will tell if it'll be long-term.

Catching up

I just thought I'd post some pictures for all to see. It's been a while since I've done anything NOT from my phone. 

 We took the kids to go see Iron Man 3 at the Drive-in on Friday. They had a blast! Especially since we met our good friends, the Coopers, there. :)

 Always, always a funny face. :)

 I got Leo a new suit for church and he is such a dapper looking kid! He was so happy to be like his daddy. :)

Ida just being adorable...

And Ethnie always posing...

Look at my adorable kids! I couldn't be luckier!

New Blog

Yeah...I started another blog. But it's something a little more special. 

This blog is called 

Letters To My Children.

This one is specially made to write letters to my kids based on experiences we have and thoughts, queries, and advice for them in the future. 

Sometimes something will happen during the day or week or throughout any given amount of time that makes me want to write notes to explain things to them.

Feel free to check it from time to time. :)

6 Months!

Time flies!!! I can't believe that six months ago (today) we brought little Ida Elizabeth home from that hospital. When did this time pass?! I'm really at a loss for words.

So what is Ida like these days?  Well, she loves music. :) She eats a little bit of rice cereal, but you can tell she really wants real food. She loves to bounce in her jumper. She can sit up all by herself and will do it for ages. She hasn't rolled over yet, which I attribute to too much baby girth. ;) She weighs around 18 pounds now. I'll get the real weight on Wednesday at her 6 month check-up. She loves her older siblings so much, they make her smile all the time no matter what. :)

Oh, and she's the HAPPIEST baby ever! Can't you tell?!

Avengers Birthday Party!

As many of you know, Leo is a HUGE superheroes fan. 

We went back and forth on a theme for his 4th birthday party, but once he saw the Avengers table cloth, it was all over. Nothing would make him more happy than that.

So I scrounged all around Pinterest, Google, and even picked my friends' brains for ideas.

I think it all came out fabulously!

Unfortunately, we don't have much space, so one table of food was our limit.

 We had goody bags filled with Avengers pop rocks, superhero stickers, other candies and a mini action figure all loaded into a green basket I got at the the dollar store. :)

I did a dual-tone "Iron Man" Jell-o with red and, what was supposed to be yellow, orange. It turned out awesome!

 I found this one on Pinterest. I can't give you a specific link, because there was more than just one "claiming" the idea.
Thor's Hammer!! Pretzels in squares of cheese

 I had grandiose plans for a circular platter of red white and blue fruit for Captain America's shield, but the stores were out of strawberries and such.
*Note to self- don't go grocery shopping for a arty on the day of...
Instead I got a pack of cookies and ran with that.

 Now this was one of my favorites!
Hulk's Punch!
It works on multiple levels. All it is is Sprite and green sherbet. Voila!

 The kids had a great time eating their Avengers goodies.

 And then we had Superhero Training!
They had to crawl under the "lasers,"
(Which they did over, and over again.)

 And they did a Hulk Smash.
Boys are notorious for just wanting to knock things over.
And at 4, easy is best.

 A real crowd-pleaser was Target Practice like Hawkeye.
We taped a target to the other side of the window and the kids took turns standing behind the line taking shots.
Look at that excited face!

Happy birthday, Buddy!
I hope you thoroughly enjoyed it all!