Words I never thought I'd speak: "Hey, who taped Jensyn's eyes shut?!"
The culprit was Alex. He didn't want Jensyn to play in the blanket tent with him & Max, so he figured she'd leave them alone if she couldn't see. Sigh.
It was quite a site, watching my 2 yr old wander into the room with just one slit of vision in one eye, saying, “Mama? Mama? Mama?”
Poor Baby girl…at least she wasn’t too traumatized by the event, and they DID allow her back in the tent!
Jensyn has a HUGE love for any sort of lip balm right now. She discovered Burts Bees in my nightstand about a month ago, and she claimed it as her own. She has also tried to steal her brother’s Chapstick on more than one occasion. He now keeps it on top of his dresser so that Jensyn can’t reach it.
(blurry, I know…sorry!)
Silly Little Girl is so obsessed with this stuff! She spends HOURS (no exaggeration) smearing “my chap-sick” across her lips & from ear to ear. I don’t mind too much when it’s Burts Bees smeared all over her face (for health reasons, but also because it’s clear).
But today it was sugar cookie scented Avon lip balm.
White.
Hilarious when viewed in person.
Jensyn was less than happy when I went to wipe it away.
I have no idea what brought on this obsession, but she is definitely a girly-girl!
And yes, her diaper IS coming unsnapped.
I wanted to catch her silly-ness in the moment. Her diaper is all fixed now!
There’s really no reason to give any of the pictures their own post, so here’s a random posting of our crazy, adorable kiddos this past week.
Our littlest monkey, Miss Jensyn, is getting a little…well…monkey-like! ;)
The big kids had the cushions off of the couch to play some sort of game. (This latest “game” is a great incentive for Mama to clean under the couch cushions more often!) Jensyn took advantage of the missing cushions to climb right up on the couch and look out the back window. I didn’t get a picture of it because I was lunging to pull her to safety, but Jensyn actually stood ON THE BACK of the couch. She just loved hanging here to get a better view of the world outside.
(Why yes, Grace is in most of our family pictures. I think we might just adopt her…if only her mom would let us! ;) Seriously, we usually watch her two days a week, and she’s like a member of the family around here.)
Jensyn is also climbing stairs independently, which means we have to be super-diligent about keeping the door leading to our bonus room CLOSED. Max isn’t always so good at that!
Jensyn will also climb up on our little indoor trampoline, sit on her bottom, and BOUNCE her little heart out. It’s so cute!
I have no idea what Alex was doing, but he insisted I take a picture of him…
Max. Laundry Basket. Bumbo. Toy Fishing Pole. Belt.
I can’t claim to understand WHY he was sitting in the kitchen singing songs in a laundry basket, but he was. And it was cute.
…you should never talk on the phone with your neighbor while your children are busy in the playroom...
If you’re wondering, this is scrapbook paper, stickers, (previously) sorted photographs, and some plastic play food. It took over an hour to clean & sort it all. Guess whose boys will not be allowed in the playroom for 24 hours?
The boys had been swimming in their wading pool before dinner on Sunday night.
Once again, they ate undressed because they were going from the pool to the table to bed. We had hamburgers, fresh veggies and ranch dip, fresh strawberries, and chocolate pudding.
Keith & I were sitting right there the whole time. Sneaky little boy was silently painting his belly button right in front of me, and I never even noticed. At least not until I helped him get down from his chair after dinner.
Yep. That’s life at our house.
Max’s crazy curls match his wild & crazy personality. Turns out cutting off the curls doesn’t cut off his mischief! ;)
Some days my boys go down for naps fairly easily. (Well, Alex does. Max usually needs a couple of reminders to lay down.)
Today is NOT one of these days. I read them stories, gave kisses, and shut the door at 2 PM. All seemed quiet, and I was very impressed…
…for 23 minutes.
That’s when I heard a whole bunch of shuffling and some giggles. Heading down the hallway, I opened their door and found Alex DIVING into his bed. Max was standing in the middle of the room with that “I’m caught” look on his face.
I noticed a strange glow coming from Alex’s bed. It was my camera. (This explains why I spent 23 minutes wondering where I’d left my camera, since it wasn’t on the desk…) Turns out the boys were using nap time to do their own little photo shoot.
I’m not a skilled photographer, but we may need a lesson in proper lighting…
Alex’s self-portrait
Max – who was obviously playing with trains
sometime after I shut the door
Alex’s feet
The oh-so-cheesy Maxwell 
Mama ended that little party, took the camera, and giggled at Alex’s photography skills. It took three more trips to the room to settle those mischievous little guys, but they are now sleeping peacefully…
…at least, I think they are.
Following in his big brother’s footsteps, Max doodled all over his face:
Alex did the same thing at around 1 year old:
Perhaps I should supervise my children’s pen usage!
We were in the middle of making pizza for dinner, and we’d left the dough to rise. The baby needed nursing, so I sat down at the computer to feed him. I guess that was the big mistake…
I left Alex playing with his trucks at the kitchen table, which can usually occupy him forever. A few minutes went by, though, and it got a little quiet. I called out, “Everything okay, Alex?” (As if he’s going to answer truthfully?!)
He ran into the office and said, “Mom, come see what I color!”
Wanna see his pretty picture?
I don’t keep crayons out, but I did leave the diaper bag within his reach…which had a few restaurant crayons in it.
Isn’t it pretty? Thank goodness for Oxy-Clean! We’re waiting for the covers to finish crying, but we think it all came out.
Thanks, Dad, for the suggestion to check Crayola’s website…and Mom for reminding me of the messes I made when I was Alex’s age ;)
I thought I’d squeeze in a quick phone call after dinner on Thursday night…when Keith wasn’t home. Uh, what was I thinking?!
Alex was in a MOOD, and I knew he’d scream if I stopped him. I didn’t really want to do that in the middle of a somewhat-important phone call, so I stood nearby and let it happen.
While I talked, Alex used the leftovers from dinner and a bowl of soapy water to concoct some sort of marvelous recipe which he then fed to the front of his shirt.
Then he proceeded to use the spatula like a baseball bat, flinging a wet brownie batter/ barbecue sauce/ mashed potato/ soap bubble concoction all around the kitchen. There are splatters on my refrigerator to prove this. He had a big grin on his face, and he said, “I base-ing, Mom!”. (“Base-ing” is Alex-speak for playing baseball.)
Notice the tails of his onesie hanging out of his shirt? I didn’t. And I wondered why everyone was doing a double-take and grinning at him in the grocery store before dinner. Now I know…
If you’d had any random thoughts of giving me the Mother of the Year award, take it back. ;)
Do you think that, if I call CVS corporate, I can convince them to print me a new $2 ECB?
I figure that, at the very least, I'll make someone at CVS corporate smile.
At least Alex is happy...and mama learned a good lesson!
The picture above is supposed to show Alex's 2 teeth. He didn't cooperate.
Comparing my regular fabric softener (yes, I'm cheap...) with the survey softener.
Odd looking, isn't it? You might have guessed it's an all-natural product made from recycled papers. It's the newest 7th Generation product. That company hasn't let me down yet. These do the job of softening & removing static, but they're unscented. I look forward to them introducing a scented variety. I'm waiting on my other free "green" product to arrive in the mail. I'm so curious to know what the thank-you gift will be!!!!
Do you think he's helping with the laundry? At least he's not bored or crying while I fold clothes!
Thanks for the corn, Angie! Alex held an ear very happily while I shucked the rest.
Look what happens when you give Alex a teething biscuit...
Most of you know that I don't let Alex watch TV. I think TV for babies is absolutely ridiculous. After 7.5 months of parenting, I still feel that way. Ask me again when he's a year old. Until then, no TV. 
...THIS is what happens when Jon & Kate Plus Eight is on. I usually watch it in the afternoon for a little humor while I'm making dinner, folding laundry, nursing Alex, etc. If he's not in my arms, Alex is on the floor with his toys facing the OPPOSITE direction so he can't see the TV. On this day, I was making dinner. I peeked in on Alex to find he had turned himself around to watch Jon & Kate. He loves to hear/see all the little kids on this show!
This is my little guy today. He has a cold, and he feels miserable. He's all stuffy, has a cough, and I think he has a sore throat because he keeps making funny throat-clearing sounds & whimpering. He really doesn't feel well. Poor kiddo! He just about fell asleep with his head back while I dried my hair today. Every time he falls asleep, though, he wakes up screaming a short time later. I feel for him. If only I could make it all better :(
That's all so far. Just a bunch of pictures for those of you who have asked when I might update the blog again. There you have it - an update *Ü*
