More Laundry Fun and a New First!

So I have shared the fun I have in doing my family's laundry here.
I really don't mind doing laundry. It is one of the few household chores that I find very satisfying to do. It was my favorite chore for a short time while Hockey Player was 4 and 5. Clean laundry meant the world to the boy. Every time I did laundry, I received a very enthusiastic and sincere, "Thank you mommy for doing my laundry!" Just melts my heart.
Chances are I will never hear, "Thank you mommy for cleaning the bathroom!" or "Thank you mom for sweeping the floor, dusting the house and changing the light bulbs!" Nope, but laundry... it is the the one thing that thrills everyone in the house when it is done. There is nothing more disappointing than to go to the closet and your favorite "--" is not there.

But my latest suprise was courtesy of Flutter Nutter.
In an effort to bring a little more peace in the "boys' room," the one shared by Daddy's Buddy and Flutter Nutter, we purchase green totes and clear totes. Green for Flutter Nutter (his favorite color) and clear for Daddy's Buddy. They now had individuals totest for their own personal stuff. Now when we introduced the totes and the opportunity for them to "protect" their personal possessions in their own boxes we were pleasantly suprised by their willingness to clean and sort thier toys.
Cleaning their rooms is no longer a battle. They don't want the other one to get their stuff. Who knew that thought pattern could work to a mother's advantage. They even pick up their clothes off the floor.
This last little bit is a my lead in....
So off to sorting the laundry, I am pondering out loud how 2 little boys can generate so much laundry. The pile was huge...their hamper was overflowing after 2 days. I get towards the bottom and what do I find but a clean shirt STILL ON THE HANGER! On the hanger no less! Did it ever make it to the closet? Who knows? But score one for me, because at least I knew it was clean without asking. It could be put in the clean basket to be put away. :)

The many smiles of Mr. Smiley

Before Flutter Nutter was named Flutter Nutter he was known as Mr. Smiley.
He has many smiles, most of which I think are quite infectious. He is a ham, and many think he is adorable. This he knows and works it as much as he can. He is a character. In my efforts to capture just a simple, happy smile I ended up with a slide show that pretty much captures Flutter Nutter as himself.

In all this cuteness, he also has the preciousness that comes with his age. When shopping for birthday supplies he was asked how old he was going to be. His answer, "I'm gonna be Superman!" Totally, not getting the birthday concept. We have been training and quizzing him so he can answer this question now. What does a number have to do with birthdays? Birthdays are all about the cake, fun, friends and party!!

The 30 day countdown!

Someone is always having a birthday. It's true, every day it seems is someone's birthday.
As soon as you know it is someone's birthday, there must be an appropriate amount of excitement and jubiliant birthday wishes given to the birthday person. And then it is mandatory to ponder and dream what it must be like to have a birthday of your own. Because after all, it is always someone else's birthday and "never my birthday." Who was it that thought each person should have only one birthday? And that a birthday should only come once a year? Crazy!

The talk continues and it never stops. Even if the child just had a birthday it is now 363 days, 5 hours and 6 minutes away. They want to talk with you about their cake, what they want to do, possible gifts and who they want to invite!

For the really little ones they want you to know at any given moment how much longer till their next birthday. For a mom like me, it means my children are completely disappointed! I think I need to be that Mom of 18 and counting....cause I am just not super Mom and the Wizard of Oz. I have trouble remembering my children's names much less how old they are! I am a complete disappointment in the motherhood memory contest, because when it comes to remembering the birthday cake they talked to me about July 26th, 2004 and the birthday cake their best friend had when they were 6 on their birthday on Sept. 30, 1998, I completely frustrate them with my blank look and soft admission of, "I don't remember."

So my children would not spend the year disappointed and disillusioned by their memory challenged mother I invoked the 30 day rule! Each child can only discuss their birthday with me during the 30 days before their birthday. During this time, I faithfully take notes. I create a document on the computer. I try really hard to disguise the fact I lost a few memory cells with each pregnancy.

So with the pending arrival of birthday #40 since I became a mother, I grabbed my paper and pen and asked Flutter Nutter what he wanted for his 4th birthday.

Super Man Legos
Batman Legos
Indiana Jones ....(never quite understood...he was talking to fast for his momma)
1,no 2, no 4 parachutes (so he could jump out of an airplane)
Nintendo DS

and then we always discuss the cake,
Flutter Nutter was very descriptive, he knew what he wanted...
The cake had to be green and white striped... so with some food coloring and careful cutting of cakes we ended up with:

(of course when you are 3 turning 4 it is mandatory to reach out and pull pieces of cake off... Taste testing is critical at this age.)
to get a better perspective of the shade of green he chose (after two bottles of green food dye):
Inside look:

But they not only choose the cake, but the decorations...
After some intense shopping at the "Cake Store" and not being able to decide, I suggested we go buy a toy at the store to put on top. For the money he wanted to spend on cake decorations I thought an actual toy that could be played with would be the best option, so we ended up with a lego theme. I suprised the boys with my lego building skill and constructed Flutter Nutter's construction vehicle and placed it on top!
(I do get some of the final say about the icing decorating... )


Their smiles are worth everything!
Deep breathe, I now have 35 more days till I have to begin exercising my memory skills! Just long enough to get through the Christmas season!!

Flutter Nutter's Exciting Find!

So today, Flutter Nutter goes shopping with Mom to find the perfect cake decoration for his birthday cake!

Which will be a whole other post.

Shopping was going so well, we stopped into the Dollar Tree to find treasures for his gift bags.

What does Flutter Nutter find??

Blue Candy Canes! His first thought....
Big Brother, aka "Daddy's Buddy"

Daddy's Buddy does not get red dye.
It affects him emotionally, tremendously affects him.

Christmas was a little disappointing last year, I couldn't find any non-red dye candy canes.

I couldn't find the white ones we had bought him the year before.

But today....

Flutter Nutter is big brother's hero.

Best part is we can have candy canes in the house this year.

I was not going to buy candy canes again this year if we would leave out Daddy's Buddy!

No worries there.

This smile was perfect and a thrill for the whole family.

Merry Christmas to Daddy's Buddy!

One of my favorite things...

As strange as it may sound, one of my things is to grade English papers.

English papers allow the student a lot of room for creativity and expressing themselves. Today's paper is actually Fun Mom's test.
assignment: Think of a name for a female lion. (answer must be written in first-person, possessive case)
Her answer: "I would name my lioness Heather."
So my question, does she think of me as a lioness?
Does she, finally, believe me when I say, "...or I will eat you!"
Is she scared of me and what might happen if she is caught doing what she should not?
Something to think on.... As for her test grade, I won't share. But that may be a future post should she read this one and have some other remarks to make! ;)

Bedtime is at 7 tonight!

It was the safest and best thing to do tonight. They were hyper and nuts!
I let Hockey Player and Little Princess stay up till 8. But only cause they figured out really quick I was done. So with the two littlest in bed, where hopefully no harm can come to them, and the middle two wisely choosing their rooms. I decided I needed a little therapy. The best part is it might work as a really good deterant for the remainder of the holiday season. What crazy pictures can I post of them for my own personal humor and recovery!
Enjoy~
(NOTE: you might want to click pause on my music player down below)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Egyptians.....

Who says school has to be stuffy old books and frowny faces.
King Tutahkhamen
Queen Hatshepsut
Howard Carter
Nefertiti
Amenhotep IV
Cartouche
Temple of Tuthmosis III
Steve Martin
Hmmm, what do these all have in common. In an attempt to make Fun Mom smile I found this video, recommended in our book, Mystery of History, Volume 1
Special NOTE: You might want to pause my music down below before playing video :)