Family of Five

No words, just a picture that says it all.  (Ok....one small comment.  Yes, she IS in the dirty clothes hamper....and yes, her brother is trying to get her out.)

And I'll eat what I want to!

As any good hunter (or hunting widow) knows, September 18 falls during the PRIME week for elk hunting out west.  In other words....for this family of five, September 18th means two things: For Barrett (and somewhat Bennett) it means elk-huntin' time.  For the rest of us (well...me at least) it's my birthday. 

 I don't really mind loosing my hubby to the elk on that day though...because the kids and I can celebrate JUST the way I want.  I take the kids to the store, pick out a few things I really want, give them Daddy's credit card, and tell the salesperson to let them pick out which purse/belt/shoes/outfit they like best and let them charge it.  Then we move onto CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE. 

This year was a little bit different though. This year I lost my sweet Bennett to the call of the wild.  He drove out with his grandfather to meet his daddy.  This year I also had to break my rule of NO EXERCISING ON MY BIRTHDAY because my training schedule told me that I had to run 20 miles.  Uggh.

Well....20 miles later, I realized that now I can eat more CAKE.  And.....I did.

My dear friend Louise made this incredible from scratch cocnut lemon curd cake and had it waiting for me in my fridge when I came home from the run.

That night my nephews and niece stayed over, and after we had all 5 of the kids in bed (because you KNOW they would have wanted the cake and you KNOW they wouldn't have eaten it and you KNOW that it would have been wasted) my mom and I got out our forks.

Please.  Just LOOK at the layers of lemony unbelievableness....... It was good.  And we ate alot.  Like....a whole lot.

Then my mom left and I rolled myself onto the couch.  It was almost ten o'clock. I was tired, and full, and ready to pass out. 

Then I heard a tap tap tap on my front door.  After I got my heart put back into my chest I peeked around the dining room to see what scary person was knocking on my door when I was husbandless and it was dark and stormy out (ok...not stormy....but that sounded cool for a minute).

At first I saw nothing....then, into the window, came a cake box. 

I figured that had to be ok.

It was my dear friend Beth.  She'd heard I was alone and brought over a cake and a bottle of wine.

Seriously.....how could I say no?

So we grabbed two forks and chatted and ate.

Good stuff.  Then I literally ROLLED myself into bed.

Next morning up BRIGHT and early with my 5 babes and off to IHOP for pancakes.  Then home for more cake.  Hey....it's still the birthday weekend and surely I'm still in a caloric deficit, right?

 Louise and her girls showed up at the perfect moment....we passed out forks, and let the kids dig in.

And dig they did. 

Oh yeah....nothing like purple and yellow flowers to smash all over your face and hair add to your culinary delight!

At this point Louise and I decided it would be safer to stand at the counter and use our forks to dig into the lemon-coconut cake and let the savages children do their own thing.

 And they did.  And they did some more.  And a little more.

 Happy birthday to me!!!

 I love cake.

Witty.  That's a good word to describe my children.  Witty.  I've also described them as funny and silly and loud and chaos-causing and smart and crazy and annoying (only occasionally!) and nuts and tired and tiring....but right now I'm going with WITTY.

This week they have each individually made me laugh out loud.

After leaving the sporting goods store this week where Carolyn had gotten some new camoflauge slip-ons (which were packed in the way back under tons of other junk) my darling daughter informed me that she wanted to wear her new shoes NOW.

"Well...when we get home you can take off your crocs and put the new ones one!" I responded.

"NO!!!!!"  she answered.

"Well.....when we get home you can leave your crocs on then." I offered.

"NO!!!!!!!!" she answered.

"Well....when we get home you can go barefoot," I suggested.

"NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she answered.

"Well.....I am not sure what you're aiming for here, Carolyn.  What DO you want to do with your new shoes?"  I queried.

"I no wear new shoes, I no wear crocs, I no go barefoot......I CAR-LO-LYN!!!!"

Yes my dear.....yes you are.

Bennett came home tonight at 8:00 from a two hour tackle football practice.  He is STARVING.  Being the incredibly health conscious mom that I am (oh give me a break....I fed the kid FISH last week!) I had a bacon cheeseburger from Wendy's staying warm in the oven for him.

When he came out from his shower he told me that something smelled really good and asked me what was for dinner.

"A double bacon cheesburger from Wendy's," I answered.

"OOOOOHHHHHHHH! Mom.  That is so SINFUL!"

Ummmmm.....sinful?  Seriously??  Well well....you never can tell.....grab me some bacon and I'll meet you in-------um, nevermind.

Ethan stood up from his sick bed couch this week and told me that if he could do 100 push-ups then he would officially be as strong as the Incredible Hulk.

I told him that while that was probably true.....he should probably lay down and rest until he felt better.

He told me that he was FINE and proceeed to drop to the floor and begin this crazy workout.

My nutty kid started doing pushups as fast as his little body could go.  Seriously.

I was in awe. 

He got to 10.  Then 20.  Then 40.

Then 50.  Then 55.  Then he told me had to rest for a minute.

After laying there for a minute or two he KEPT GOING. 

Up to 60, 70, 80....  

Then......at 84..............he stopped.

"That's all.  That's all I can do.  Eighty four.  That's all," said my little hero.

And he stood up smiling.

"Ummmm, are you sure you can't do a few more?  You're ALMOST there!" I said.

"Nope.  I'm sure!"

"Well....who are you as strong as if you do 84 pushups?"  I asked him.

He thought for a minute.....

"If I can do 84 pushups....I'm as strong as the Penguins of Madagascar!" he proudly replied after a moment of silent reflection.

Huh?  Ok. 

"Um.....what kind of hero stuff do they Penguins of Madagascar do?" I asked.

"MOM................  they do the slippery dancing moves!  Like this!"

Well ok then.  I did not know that.

Witty.  Great word for these three.  At least their mama thinks so.

Violet Jewel! 

I think "Violet" came from the girl in The Incredibles, and "Jewel" came from somewhere in Ethan's mind.  While Carolyn's preference for "Red" was a notable contribution....it received very few votes.

She's still awfully cute, don't 'cha think?

I am thrilled to announce that we have added about a pound and a quarter to our family!

Meet our sweet little chinchilla!

'Aint' she cute?

She was an early birthday gift from my hubby and  boys and the answer is  YES....I really DID ask for one. I love these little guys.

I had one when I was in high school who was fabulous.  His name was Humphrey.

This little girl doen't yet have a name....and I need some suggestions. 

I thought it might be fun to kind of continue along the "Humphrey" line.  Barrett suggested "Bogart"....but I didn't think that was quite right for a girl.

My sister reccommended Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, or Vivian/Elsie who were characters in Bogart movies. 

So far the vote goes like this:

Vivian:2

Violet:1

Ingrid:1

Red:1 (that's from Carolyn)

PLEASE help me name my little birthday baby!!!!

(And seriously?  Any name involving "fur coat" is NOT an option!)