The jungle room

So a few months ago Tate informed me that she really doesn't like princesses and would like a snake/jungle room. Unfortunately, she shares a room with Kinley who likes all things pink, princess, and girlie. There was now way she wanted anything jungle let alone a snake in her palace. After trying to get them to reach some sort of compromise. A crazy thought came to my head about putting Ella the elephant lover and Tate the snake lover in the same room, and giving Kinley her own room. It was a great idea ,but it involved A LOT of talking about, and of course for my girls planning.

So once the first step of moving every one's stuff was complete, then came the decorating part. Kinley's room was easy, other than all of the sewing and searching craigslist for shelves and a desk. The challenge was an elephant and snake themed jungle room. I spent many hours at various fabric stores looking for any cute snake material, let me say it does not exist. In the end I had to settle for a cute jungle panel that had a snake in the top corner. After a few alterations we finally had a duvet cover.

Next came the task of searching the Internet for some cute Elephant decals(super easy to find) and friendly snake decals (impossible to find). After many unsuccessful searches on the later, and too expensive of finds on the first, I decided I needed a new plan. Then came the crazy idea of painting them on the walls. Let me remind you I have a hard time drawing a straight line so what possessed me to think about this brilliant plan was beyond me. So unbeknown to the kids or Cord one day while the boys were napping and the girls were watching a movie I went into the room and started with pencil drawing a snake and a few elephants on the wall. You can imagine the surprise on Cord's face when he walked in and I was painting a huge elephant on the wall, let alone the snake. Oh I forgot to mention this room is in the basement that we finished. So every coat of drywall, mud, primer, and paint was an event and here I was defiling it with blue elephants and a green snake. Luckily for me Cord is very easy going.

So here is the jungle room.


Tate's Duvet
Herman Tate's old halloween costume is now hanging above her on the canopy.

Dotty the snake.
Tate's side of the room (the chandelier is from the princess room it still needs to be moved).
Tate's bookshelf with Evil Eye coiled on top.
The snake lamp. The white snakes are actually glow in the dark so it is a cool little effect.
The jungle A.K.A. the closet doors.
Christie and Zuri. Ella's elaphants.
The mirror.
Monty the mounted elephant head.
Ella's side of the room. Note that half of her elephants are not pictured they are in a bucket under her bed.
Part of Ella's elephant collection.

A long spring/summers nap

So it appears that my blogging skills have been napping for the last oh I don't know 6 or so months. So over the next few weeks, I am going to try and catch up. So bear with me as we have some crazy and completely out of order blogs. I am hoping to be caught up in time for all of the fun fall festivities begin. So now to sum up a busy 6 months in a few weeks....

Best Friends

Reese and Riley are best friends. It has been fun to watch these two and the special bond that they share as identical twins. They will fight like cats and dog and even sometimes utter the phrase, "I wish I wasn't a twin." But in the end there is an amazing bond and love they share that is indescribable. This picture says it all.

The breakables

This had been the week for things to break at our house.

1. My camera was dropped, stopped working


2. Door lock on Suburban wouldn't go up and down


3. Baby monitor was fixed, but then stopped working


4. My wheat grinder died in the middle of grinding wheat for bread

Luckily, a few of the things were still under warranty. So for now it is store bought bread or white bread, while my wheat grinder is being fixed or replaced. No blogs with pictures until my new camera comes. Using my phones as a baby monitor. Fortunately, the Suburban already went to the dealership and was fixed, so I can lock my car again (more importantly use the remote start to warm up the car). Yeah!!! Luckily, the breaking at our house was just stuff and no bones (:

Guest Reader

In January Cord's brother Derek came to visit for a few days. While he was here they went and did Guest Reader at the school for the girls classes. Instead of just reading a book they decided to do it "Reader's Theatre" style. The teacher thought it was so funny he recorded it and put it on the school website. Keep in mind as you watch this that these are two highly educated men.

Cord/Derek from Doug Sayles on Vimeo.

DADDDDDDYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!

February 1, 2010

This morning Cole was up when Daddy left for work. He was heart broken. He cried for nearly 10 minutes. This was at the very end. I was sitting in the office feeding Porter and I was trying to get Cole to come to me so I could snuggle him. Instead he shut the door on me and continued the drama. Luckily, the camera was on the table next to me.

Sugar anyone....

February 6, 2010

Here it is again yet another picture of one of Cole's latest disasters. If you wonder why I take pictures of his messes. I figure it is better to laugh at it then to kill him. Luckily he didn't get any sugar in my wheat grinder, or else there might not have been any pictures.

Computer time

January 30, 2010

Computer time at our house is a spectator sport. Whenever one of the girls is on the computer, the other gather around and watch.

Ella's haircut

January 23, 2010

This morning Ella got her first Salon haircut. She has been begging to get her hair cut since all the girls got their haircuts last fall. Finally today we took her in. She looks adorable.

Coexisting

Over the past few months Serafina has gone through stages with the new kitten Shiver:

• At first it was hiss and run,
• then slowly it became just hiss,
• then it became ignore
• next came swat at the kitten but not hurt it
• then she would allow the kitten to sleep by her, but not with her as seen in the first photo.
• today this is what I found (see photo 2 and 3). I think they have learned to not only coexist, but be friends.
  

New pictures of Porter

January 22, 2010



Porter eating his first cracker. He thoroughly enjoyed it and wore it.

Tired of waiting for mom to snuggle him he just fell alseep in his bouncy seat.

Porter's first real banana

A tight squeeze

January 19, 2010

Today was Cord's day for carpool so he drove the Suburban. I didn't have anywhere to be today so I didn't mind. At least that is what I thought. It turns out that I forgotten that Cole and Ella both had their annual checkup. Fortunately,the appointment was while the older 4 girls were in school. So the three youngest would fit nicely in the back of the truck. It was a perfect plan: the kids ride the bus home to my friends house after school and she would watch them until I got done. I called the bus company, sent emails to the teachers about the bus change, and I informed the twins of the situation and sent them off to school.

Well, it was less than perfect in execution. The emails I sent to the teachers informing them of the bus change never got out due to a new email system, the older girls knew nothing of the plan so when the twins' teacher asked them about it, they said that they were to go home. The bus left without the girls, great teacher called me, (right as the Dr. was walking in ) and we discovered the error, bus was called back to get the girls. Cord was called to follow up and make sure that the girls got to our friends house. I was stuck at the Doctor's office, unable to leave and get the girls, because I didn't have room in the truck to take them home. Luckily, after a few dozen phone calls the girls ended up at our friends house, Cole and Ella both got a clean bill of health, Cole got 2 shots, oh and to top it off Porter had a stinky diaper and while I was changing him he peed all over me, himself and the exam table (and of course he did it right as the nurse was coming in to give Cole his shots. So she had to wait for me to clean up the mess and then she had to disinfect the table). After the mayhem we loaded in the truck and went to my friends house to get the older girls. As we pulled into her driveway I suddenly realized that somehow all 8 of us plus their snow clothes and backpacks had to fit into the truck. It was too cold outside for them to walk home so we had to put Ella's car seat and all of their stuff in the truck bed and pile in. We only had to drive a few blocks, but it was quite the adventure.

Kinley and Reese in the front seat.


Tate with Ella on her lap, Riley, Porter in his car seat, and Cole.

The whole gang.

Playing in the snow with Dad

January 18, 2010


Today Cord and the kids went outside to try and clear the snow off of the trampoline. After many different theories and taking the trampoline half apart the tramp was saved and the kids had a blast. They spent more time playing in the snow than helping dad. It was a great day!



Cole trying to walk in the snow.

Kinley wrote I Love mom and dad in the snow.

Tate

Reese enjoying an icicle.

Riley eating her icicle.

Ella eating a huge chunk of snow.

Kinley, Reese, and Riley playing penguin on the trap after we got the snow off.

Kinley just hangin out.

Cole being rescued by Dad.

Simple Math

January 15, 2010

6 clementines

1 Cole

+ 1 nursing mom

________________

very sticky boy with a full tummy and lots of poopy diapers the next day

Princess Shiver... oops we mean Prince

Shiver is a very loved kitten. We gave Shiver to Kinley for her Birthday. Shiver's life began as a farm kitten. After looking all over the area I couldn't find a kitten for less than $100 dollars so I was elated to find free kittens at a farm. The lady told me that Shiver was a girl when we picked her out. The girls love to dress Shiver up as a little princess. She is a very loved Kitten who probably gets more love and snuggles than most cats. A pretty comfy life for a cat. Last week I picked up the kitten and I noticed that Shiver is not a little girl. The girls were devastated for a few minutes. Shiver is now the best dressed Prince in town