Allie's First Pony Tail

I've noticed that Allie's hair on top is getting a little long. She has no tolerance for bows, so I decided to buy some tiny pony tail holders and see what she thinks. I'm not sure what she thinks, but I think she looks adorable! You may have to click on the picture to get a better look.

First pony tail

Spence thinks she looks pretty adorable also

Imagine how cute it would've looked if I had brushed the rest of her hair! Ever since Allie was born, I've been a little nervous about being responsible for making her hair look cute. If you haven't noticed, I'm not the best at brushing and taming wild hairs for my boys. Is there any hope for Allie? I remember when I hit Jr. High age I was all about hairspray and "fixing my bangs." It took longer to fix my bangs than the rest of the getting dressed routine. And no one told me this: they needed to be fixed a little better! Well, most of us Texas girls in the late 80s and early 90s looked the same! I'm going to put aside all pride and show you a few pictures.

Freshman 1991

Sophomore 1992

OK, now erase those images from your brain! And let me promise Allie that I will never tease, poof, and spray her hair like that! Unless she's going to a '90s costume party. Then I'm her stylist!

One of My Favorite Shopping Seasons

I love the Mall!

School shopping has begun! Last week I bought Coleman a pair of Sketchers one size up from his last pair (which he had never complained were too small, but his toe broke through the end of about 2 weeks before Pre-K ended!). When he tried on the new ones, he said they felt tight, so I took his feet back to Kohl's with me and found that he bypassed two sizes and now wears a boy's size 2! Earlier this week I went through the boys' closet to get an idea of what they have and what they need. They of course do not need anything but shorts and T-shirts or polos for the next 3 months. That's nice, 'cause those things just happen to be on clearance now! I bribed them into the mall today with promises of the mall playground, food court McDonald's, and cinnamon sugar pretzels. OK, the pretzels were more my reward. Here's what we got!

I know it seems odd to buy new shorts for the beginning of school, but Coleman has been wearing most of his shorts for the past 2 years. They were beginning to look pretty small. He should be able to wear these until October or November, then again in the spring. The little red guy is the Iron Man toy from one of their Happy Meals. Spence insisted he be in the picture.


Children's Place had T-shirts for $5, and I love their clothes! The Star Wars shirt is not from C.P. and was not $5, but he begged me (politely) for it, so I couldn't say no. It came with a little Clone Trooper toy (it's on the bottom of his shirt in the picture). I'm pretty sure it was more about the toy than the shirt, but I know he'll wear the shirt a lot.

And I can't just let Spence have all hand-me-downs, so he got a $5 T-shirt also. He picked it out himself! Both the boys' flip-flops blew out a few weeks ago, so we took advantage of the clearance flip flops too! And Grandma, all the Children's Place items were bought with the Christmas gift card, and we've got money left. Thanks!

Here is Allie showing off Coleman's new shoes. Allie's first word, besides DaDa and MaMa, was shoes! She says, "Sooos!", and loves to carry around her shoes or any other shoes she can find.

Last month I started looking for back packs that I could get Coleman's name on, and found this Star Wars back pack and lunch box on Pottery Barn Kids. Coleman loved it!

The lunch box hooks on to the front of the back pack so it doesn't have to be stuffed in the back pack and take up lots of space. So cool!

I know everyone may not get excited about school shopping, but I love it! It brings back so many good memories for me. My mom and I used to go on a back-to-school shopping trip every year. We had the best times! Even though my kids aren't in to it yet, and the boys probably never will be, it is still a lot of fun for me! One day, Allie!

Different Kinds of Excitement

Every day of motherhood has its own excitement. Some days there is excitement over new milestones reached by one of your children. Other days you visit exciting places. Then there are days like today. Days where the most exciting thing that happens is that someone poops in his underwear and you have to make the decision to use the dunk and flush method* or just chunk 'em. Today was a chunk 'em day. Kind of a "someone pooped in his underwear day" all around. Then while making dinner I got a call from my sweet husband who told me he got a nice compliment about his family at work, to which he replied, "Yes, I married up." Awwwww. I needed that! Brian, you made my day!

And, no, I didn't just mope around and clean up poop all day. The boys and I played a few rounds of the memory game. They like to add rules that make the game a little more interesting. I'm so blessed to be called Mommy by these sweet little people. They make even the poopy days all worth it.


*If you don't know, the dunk and flush method is where you hold the soiled undies by the waistband and submerge into the toilet. Then flush and repeat as many times as needed until most of the poop has been removed. The problem is that you're left with soaking wet, stinky underwear that now has to be transported to the washer. I don't know about you, but I don't like wringing out skidded up underroos. If anyone has found a better method please let me know!

Watch Out, Michael Phelps!

Guess what we've been doing the past few weeks? Taking swimming lessons!

Coleman and Spence started swimming lessons on July5th and finished on July 23rd. They had 8 lessons with Miss Katie. She did an awesome job teaching them. Coleman learned the freestyle, the elementary back stroke, and began learning the breast stroke. He also did some diving. Spence had fun learning his arm motions by pretending to scoop ice cream! And he learned that his body goes into different positions that look like a chicken, an airplane, and a soldier when he does the back stroke!

Coleman using the kickboard to swim across the pool

Spence doing his scoops and kicks

Coleman diving in for a toy

Allie couldn't stay out of the pool either!

Coleman has always been a little fish, and now he's becoming a really good swimmer! And now Spence knows some of the basics and should be ready to learn a lot more next summer. I think Allie may be more like Coleman when it comes to the water. She seems to have no fear and enjoys being in the pool!

His Dilemma

More breaking career news! This morning on the way home from swim lessons, we saw a landscaper on a really cool mower. That got Coleman's wheels turning and had him scratching his head.

Coleman: (literally scratching his head) I can't decide if I want to be a construction worker, a mower, or a prairie dog shooter. They all sound good! How will I choose?!?!

He was quite distraught that he had so many choices that all seemed so good. I told him he had a while to make up his mind.

Spence: I can't decide if I want to be a conductor or a shark!
Coleman: You can't be an animal. You can only be a human.
Spence: I would wear a shark costume! (In his best "well duh" voice.)

So I could be raising future prairie dog shooters and sharks. I'm one proud momma.

The Piks Meet the Pecks

This past week I spent over 20 hours in the car with the kids and ate at too many McDonald's to count! But we had a great time on our trip, and it was all worth it to get to spend the week with Theresa and her girls!

Stretching our legs at a McDonald's for breakfast about 2 hours into our trip

After arriving in Oklahoma City and getting acquainted with the girls, the kids quickly formed a band

On our second day there, we put all the car seats into Theresa's mini van and headed to a children's museum

Callie, Emily, Coleman, Spence, and Allie ready for a day of fun at the museum

Ready for take off!

Spence showing off his mechanic skills

Emily seems to know her way around under the hood!

Grocery shopping! Spence said, "Yum, corn!" Like he would ever eat corn!

Allie picking only the best produce

Emily and Spence checking out

Spence and Callie ready to fight a fire

The children's museum was a lot of fun. The next day our fun activity was Chuck E. Cheese!

Allie riding on Clifford

Callie's turn on Clifford

I like to think Spence and Callie might get married one day. They'll either make a great couple, enjoying each day to its fullest, or they may both try to steal the show and be the dominant one. We'll have to wait and see!

Emily showed Coleman how to play the Wii. Now he knows our Nintendo 64 is not the top of the line in video games!

Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of Theresa and me. Of course, we probably would have looked a little frazzled since we were trying to keep up with, entertain, feed, discipline, and talk over five kids. We enjoyed our visit though. Hopefully we can get together again soon!

And There's the Difference

We made it to Oklahoma with no problems and we're having a great time! I can't wait to share some pictures later. Theresa's girls and my boys are enjoying playing together. Especially when it's lights out time! Here was a funny conversation I overheard between Emily and Spence that shows the difference between boys and girls:

Emily: You want to play Mommy and Daddy? You can be the Daddy, and I'll be the Mommy.
Spence: OK. But first I need to shoot something.

So he shot something, then I think Emily might have had second thoughts.

Hitting the Road

Tomorrow morning the kids and I will take our first big road trip! I'm not sure if that's an exclamation point of excitement or fear. I'm very excited to be going to Oklahoma to see my friend Theresa and her girls. I've tried to prepare for the 8 to 10 hour car ride without thinking too much about it! We've got a scavenger hunt planned, DVDs, and kid CDs. We'll also stop at fast food restaurants with playgrounds several times. I'm just hoping Allie isn't too upset about the long car ride. OK, enough talking about that. I'm getting nervous!

Yesterday on an animal show the boys were watching, they were talking about prairie dogs. Brian commented how people in Montana hated prairie dogs because they would dig holes which the horses would step in and break their legs. Then the horses would have to be put down. He said the farmers would sometimes put ads in the paper looking for people to come to their farms and shoot prairie dogs. So later that day Coleman and my mom were talking. Coleman said, "I used to want to be a construction worker when I grew up, but now I want to be a prairie dog shooter."

Sometimes I can follow his train of thought, like with his new career decision. But other times I have no clue what makes him say certain things. Today in church, Coleman leaned over and whispered to Brian, "When army guys go to battle, how do they go to church?" I guess little boys are just always thinking about army guys!

Trying to Turn My Yuck Around

If I had more energy I would do a good news/ bad news post. But I don't. Let me just share the good news that Coleman has learned how to puke in the trash can! Yes, he's our latest victim of the stomach bug that just keeps on giving around here. Three Piks down. Allie had it Wednesday. It was strange because she didn't seem to feel bad, but she went through about three times as many diapers as normal. I'm praying Brian and Spence will be spared. All the sickness around here combined with the rain that won't go away are threatening to send me into a deep, dark depression. Or maybe it's just causing me to be a drama queen. You decide. Seems like I need a good verse. Lucky for us I found some!

Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

² Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-

³ who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,

⁴ who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,

⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Psalm 103:1-5

Whew. That's better. He's got it under control and this too shall pass. Here's something else that made me smile on a gloomy day. It's a post on a blog that I have listed on my sidebar, but I wanted to point it out in case any of you were interested. It's some pretty simple and common sense advice on organizing, but I enjoyed it. And maybe between washing loads of sheets, blankets, and stuffed animals that got puked on, I can throw out a piece of junk or two!

Repeat After Me: Crazy!

Monday morning I woke up about 5 am feeling a little, well, let's not tell a lie, a lot gross. If there's anything I hate, it's being nauseated. I figured it might be a tummy ache from the 3/4 box of Crunch N Munch I ate while waiting for the fireworks to start the night before. But as the day wore on and I stayed one with the couch, except for the times I was lying on the bathroom floor, I decided I had some kind of stomach bug. Lucky for me, Brian had the day off. I'm not so sure that was lucky for him though. He would probably rather have been at work! But he did a great job! He informed me that the kids had two meals. And when I woke up this morning they were all accounted for. Success!

As for crazy item #2: Someone in this house (I'm guessing a little blonde girl with an irresistible smile) has set the phone to rotary dial. I can't believe we used to live like that! I can hardly stand to wait the extra 6 seconds when I make a call. Brian said he tried last night to fix it, but couldn't figure it out. Maybe we should take our chances and just give it back to Allie to fix.

Next crazy item on the agenda: We have been overtaken by ants. There must be some cracks by the front door where they come in. They especially like to call our house home when it's really rainy. And it has been rainy here lately! Alex didn't even come close to hitting us, but we got rain for several days straight. Coleman, who lives in a video game, has created a game where he and Spence annihilate the ants. They each take a side of the entry and slap their hands down, killing as many ants as they can. Then they have to reload (a.k.a. rest their hands) and start the next mission. Sometimes I sit there and help scout out the invaders. It's just too hilarious to miss!

And the ants' presence has come in handy for Spence. I was walking by the front door and noticed what looked like a puddle of pee pee. So I asked the party most likely to be guilty, "Spence, did you pee by the front door?" And he said, "No. Maybe tiny little ants did." Maybe they did, Spence.

Happy July 4th from The sun's in my eyes, I just got scratched on the nose, and It's way past my naptime!

At least in this picture you can see Allie's adorable patriotic dress

The boys and their friend ready for fireworks

How Spence stays dry in the rain

Upper and Lower Case Debate

One day this week we were in the car and Spence said something funny. This was our conversation:

Mommy: Spence, you're silly with a capital S!
Spence: What is capital S?
Coleman: It's upper case like your name starts with.
Mommy: That's right Coleman!
Coleman: Upper case is big and lower case is little.
Spence: Then I'm lower case 'cause I'm little.

I have to disagree with him. His personality is so big that we should use all caps to spell SPENCE!

Funny, Disgusting, Or a Little of Both

After eating some chocolate pudding, Coleman held up the spoon and said, "Look! It's as clean as new. So can I put it back in the drawer?" At least he asked!!!

If you aren't familiar with Texas in the summer, here are two words that just about sum it up: hot and mosquito. One day Coleman came in from outside and said, " I just had one swing, then, voila! I was itchin'!" (His voila was pronounced wah-la!)

Can anyone relate to that disgusting feeling you get when you sit down at the computer only to get up 5 minutes later and remember,"Oh yeah, my 3 year old just peed in that chair,"?

Trip To the Dentist

You don't have to brush your teeth - just the ones you want to keep. ~Author Unknown

Wednesday the boys went to the dentist. This was Spence's first visit! In the past I've tried to prepare them for big events such as this, but for some reason this time I didn't play it up at all. A few times in the days before the appointment Spence said, "I don't want to go to the dentist." And I would just say, "Oh, it'll be fine," and drop it. Cold, right? We arrived at the dentist and they walked in like it was no big deal, Coleman sat in the chair and wore the big lead apron to get his x-rays (now, he did make a face from the taste of the film in his mouth, but no exaggerated gaggings or anything), they both walked over to the chairs and sat where they were told and got their teeth cleaned. They each got a good report, were given new toothbrushes, and picked out some treasures from the treat box. (I have to say, we were in desperate need of more tiny cheap toys around our house.) I'm proud of my little guys for doing so well!

Around Here, You Might See...

Allie playing with a pair of underwear (I promise these are clean)

A sad look when she drops them
This is when she first repeated, "Uh oh!"

Kids sliding down a giant box

Spence teaching himself to play the piano by using a guitar book

Allie pushing her baby

A sweet girl wearing her new shoes

And a fun way to beat boredom on a hot summer afternoon? Get out the camera and act silly!

Everyone smile!

Now stick out your tongue!

Look scary!
We laughed so hard!