Blue and Gold Carnival

Every year Taylor picks a different theme for our cub scout Blue and Gold Banquet.  This year he wanted to do a Carnival.  Several parents asked "Carnival like Brazil or New Orleans???" And Taylor was offended to have to say "no, like State Fair, cotton candy".  Cub Scout appropriate.  

He assigned eat of the 18 boys to make their own carnival game that they would run that evening.

And then we set up tables and balloons and called it good.  Easy peasy.

Ethan ran a Sprite bowling game.

The favorite game turned out to be the balloon stomp.

And then since it was a carnival we couldn't not have game prizes- in our case just a bowl of candy.  We gave all the kids tickets to pass out to their participants and then they would come trade in their tickets for candy.

And for dinner we decided to really just cater to kids- hot dogs, nachos, popcorn, soda, and ice cream.  Yuck! if you're an adult but very theme appropriate and as the other mom's kept telling me- it's fine I'll just go pick up dinner for myself afterwards.

Taylor helped set up and then disappeared to put on his clown suit.  He is crazy.  At least I think so.  But the kids loved it and he was happy to make them happy.

Isla was still mostly scared of him but the makeup Tuesday night was an improvement and a clown playing catch with you is a little less ominous apparently.

Thankfully he changed in time for the real event of the evening- the Arrow of Light awards.

Our 3, 11 year old Webelos all earned their awards and moved on to the real Boy Scouts.  And they got to lead their last favorite cheers.  A perfect night for the kids and amazingly the easiest Blue and Gold we've done yet.

Miles and his "bumps"

Poor Miles is our second child with allergies.  Really it's no fun.  You're eating or doing nothing unusual you think and then all the sudden you start itching and swelling and coughing and suddenly you have "THE BUMPS"- as Miles calls them.  And though he is allergic to fewer things than Isaac, his reactions are always more severe- usually covering his entire body in hives.

Big, itchy bumps everywhere.  This time we'd just gotten home from church and had absolutely no idea what he'd eaten or maybe even just touched.  Looks miserable, right?

And here's a different day when I put neosporin on a cut he got at soccer practice.  Who knew you could be allergic to something in neosporin???

Thankfully his reactions have never needed more than a big dose of benadryl and an inhaler.

The last time these two went to the allergist he was blown away that there are no food allergies on Taylor's side or mine.  And then he was blown away that Miles and Isaac are so different in what they're allergic to.  And finally he was completely blown away that a 3 year old would be allergic to shellfish.  So we went for their yearly checkup and really they're the same.

They were much more prepared for the poking and didn't scream or cry this time.  Yay!  And though they haven't outgrown any of the allergies yet, the doctor was able to narrow down some of the tree nuts.

No peanuts, pistachios, cashews, dogs, cats, or trees for Isaac.  And no shellfish, pistachios, or cashews for Miles.

No fun but at least they had suckers and stickers to reward them.

Lazy Sunday

It was just another lazy Sunday morning (we don't have church until 1pm) eating German pancakes and reading books in the sunshine...

... on our favorite couch spot...

...why are you taking pictures of us mom?...

(because mom can see what's walking this way).  It's Cub Master Chucky come by for a visit.

Everyone thinks that's so funny....

... except this little girl who is just sure the world has ended!  Go away scary guy!  And don't come back.

Silly girl

Isla is a never ending source of joy in our home.  She is just so irresistibly perfect.  

Lounging on the boy's reading couch.

Sticking things up her nose. (Side story:  Isla is our first chid to ever be obsessed with sticking things in her nose.  And she's obsessed.  Even her nursery teacher comments on how consistent it is.  So a few weeks ago, she started crying and saying "nose".  And when I touched it she cried more and explained in her way "Yaya- ya-on-nose".  In case you don't speak monkey that translates to "Isla-crayon-nose".  And yep, she'd bit a tip off a green crayon and shoved it up her nose.  I tried a couple time with tweezers to get it out and then just called my next door neighbor who has 5 boys for advice.  She said to just come on over since her surgeon husband was home.  How fabulously easy was that?  And he looked in her nose and said he could teach me how to get things out of her nose the exact way the ER would do it- for free no less.  Apparently you just have to pinch the nostril that's not clogged and then put your mouth over her mouth, and blow as hard as you can.  You end up with snot all over your cheek but sure enough that little green crayon chunk came right out.  Luckily I haven't had to use that wisdom again yet but thought I'd share it in case someone else needs it.)

Isla is about the best mother around.  Feeding and putting her babies to bed are her specialty.

And she's obsessed with duplo blocks.  My mom swore girls would never like legos so this makes me laugh a lot.

She's the sweetest little thing in our house and we wouldn't trade one minute of our time with her for anything.

Yep, this little girl was worth the wait.

Kisses

Isla is by far our most cuddly and loving child.  She is a joy to have around and so cute it's hard NOT to want to hug and kiss her all the time.  So what do you do when you're waiting to be seated at a restaurant and you need to entertain Isla?  Ask her for a kiss!

And make her repeat it over and over until you get the perfect little pucker complete with those chubby arms on dad's cheeks.

Adorable!  And just perfect with that little smile in her eyes!

Yaya and Mozer

These two are my morning buddies.  My older two went to morning preschools but since Isaac is still going to preschool as well as Kindergarten, I didn't want to be driving their twice a day so Miles gets to go in the afternoon.  Which means- bonus time for Isla with her brother each day.  They really are good little buddies and play nicely 95% of the time.

Miles really embraces his role as older brother (let's be honest- he thinks he's as big as his 2 older brothers and can do anything they can).  And Isla eats it up.  

Blanket ride anyone?

Those faces tell it all!

Building with blocks.

Miles is really good at teaching Isla how to do things and letting her have her turn.

And if you build it, you have to knock it down too.

And what little sister would pass up a ride around the house with the laundry basket someone stole from mom.  I'm so glad these two have each other!

She's officially a toddler!

It's too soon!  

Oh the torture!  Dad won't get me out of my chair so I'll just have to wiggle around and find my own way out.  Or die trying!!!

Weekend Fun with Grams

Grams gave my kids cupcake creature-makers for Christmas so 6 weeks later it was about time to use them.  So Saturday morning she came over to make breakfast and cupcakes together.  We may have gotten distracted by the amazing USA Hockey Olympic game.

And then we moved on to pancakes.  Grams specialty is sprinkles- or at least she's willing to let my kids add sprinkles to anything.  Usually this is just their Sunday night ice cream but once they were requested on pancakes they kind of became a tradition.

Luckily we swap sprinkles for syrup.

Less messy at least ;)

Then we moved on to baking and frosting cupcake creatures.

You squeeze batter into plastic molds and they come out looking like little oompa-loompas.  And then you can frost them to look like animals or people or whatever you like.  Ezi came to join the grandchild fun while his parents went skiing for the day.

Grams is pretty great at helping frost.

Isla was great at just walking around and just watching.

Until she discovered there was actual sweet stuff inside the cans her brothers were all trading.  Better than a bottle.

And these were the final product.  Some more messy that others.  Ethan's are the orange blobs on the left.  He's my child who has NEVER been interested in any form of art- coloring or painting or anything.  He didn't care to do more than just squeeze and be done. Funny to see their personalities in cupcakes.

And then there was time for one final game of cards before we had to say goodbye to our favorite next door neighbor.