Noah has glasses!

My handsome little guy - this pic was taken to show daddy just how big the strainer was at Target :)

In addition to his glasses, Noah will be wearing a patch on his right eye 4-5 days a week for 3 hours a day. Turns out his left eye is 20/100! Because it's sooo farsighted, his brain doesn't even use it anymore. By patching the right eye his brain will have to start working those nerves and using his left eye. He has done pretty well with it so far! He has always loved glasses so those were no big deal.

He got right to work patching his stuffed animals

The patch on his glasses is called a patch pal and came with a matching Patch Power superhero cape and t-shirt. He hasn't really complained about wearing it so I'm thankful. The "krafty patches" kit that he's holding uses the adhesive patches and those were not a big hit :(

Oh, did I mention that I was patched as a kid because of astigmatism? Guess I'll be bumping up Faith's checkup to 3 years old instead of 5 years old, just in case :/

Insta-Friday

Following along with some of the blogs I read, I may start posting "Insta-Friday" posts, which are basically pics from my phone fancied up with Instagram :) I use my phone a lot to capture random things so I think it will be fun!

Noah chose this place on dad's truck to place his extra Transformers decal

"Faith, don't get wet because I don't have a towel or clothes for you"

Fun idea from my niece to add food coloring to shaving cream and have the kids paint in the bathtub. It was a HUGE hit and didn't seem to stain my children or tub! I just have to remember to wash their hair and bodies FIRST since I can't really do that once the water is gray with shaving cream paint...

Noah got to ride on "Bernie" at a children's fair - which also happens to be his grandpa's name

It takes two superheroes to help a stalled car - Supergirl and Patch'n Power guy (more on that in another post)

Faithy's first self portrait

Darren was in the right place at the right time to capture this awesome picture before it got erased...

Fun with grandpa

I love love love that my kids get to experience my dad the way I did when I was little. Tickling, wrestling, laughing... great memories being made. We love you grandpa!

I love this kid.

Can you blame him? It's U2. Do you also notice he is rocking something new on his face? Yep, Noah has glasses!

Why you shouldn't take your child into Party City.

Because you would basically be bringing them into a NIGHTMARE.

Skinned bodies hanging from their spines, heads on stakes, demons and red eyed skeletons moaning.

This is the kind of stuff hell is made of.

Noah ran out of Richard's crafts the other day because of the decorations at the front of the store. I love that my 5 year old is still APPROPRIATELY responding to gore and evil the way a 5 year old should. I never want him hardened and insensitive to this. It is dark and it bothers me how so many people "celebrate" with these things - along with their children much of the time.

That's my two cents - and it's my blog so I get to share it :)

One of my favorite new blogs

So I just found this website that makes me laugh until my eyes water. It's all about parenting and about the changing life of a mom, and it's all done in drawings. It has quickly become my go-to blog for a laugh and I am happy to send you over. But I want to do it right. So, without further ado, my nod to Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures.

The skinny jean, before and after kids.

BEFORE.

AFTER.

Notice that technically the jeans still fit, and may even elicit a "woohoo!" from the closet. However, the mom IN those jeans knows the truth. She knows that there is a muffin top worthy of a pillsbury award trying to escape out of the top of those jeans.

You go, girl.

I love my street!

Today was a day that almost every kid on the street was outside playing... riding bikes, running around, just having a great time. It was awesome. And if that wasn't enough, I looked across the street to see a table being set up with a sign that says "Free Face Painting". One of the sweet neighbor girls was setting up a stand with all of her paints and a book to choose pictures from!

Needless to say my kids were tickled pink. And they weren't the only ones. I'm sure there were little bodies taking turns in that chair for about an hour!

Noah went back for seconds and received a superhero band on his forehead :)

Stylin' Saturday

So fellow blogger and funny mom over at totally desperate mom always posts pics from the outfits and various accessories that her kids use on Saturday. I couldn't help but make my own post this morning after Noah wanted me to help him make a special sling over his shoulder and under his arm to hold all of his spy gear.

All of the fashion-forward spies will be sporting this look come spring:

- camouflage belt spy harness to hold the gear, to blend in with surroundings

- dark glasses from the optometrist so you can have shifty spy-eyes without being detected

- long grabber, hooked onto your harness with a set of arms from your little sister's popables

- a periscope, to look around corners slyly of course

- a green emergency light

- lastly, a really intimidating stance and an I-mean-business expression

Faith opted for something more understated. When I looked upstairs this is what I found - a pirate-dog-fairy-clown. I really appreciate the big white-out looking spot next to her, from the time Noah drew on the doors and wall with a sharpie... because a giant white spot is better than a black line, right?

Okay, so I've got a secret...

Many of you know that I started homeschooling Noah (and Faithy by her great passionate pleas). What you don't know is that I started a blog about my anxiety-ridden journey into the homeschool world. I tried to be all hip and "bloggy" and name my kids by different names, but that really didn't work out because their names are on their crafts and I keep slipping and writing their real names anyway.

Anyhow, I will now be posting all homeschool related stuff to this other blog - until I get overwhelmed by it - and will put it in my blogroll to the right so you will know when it's updated.

So without further ado...

HERE IT IS!

Camping with Michelle Obama

A few weeks ago Noah and Daddy decided to have a campout in the backyard. Using said campout as an excuse, daddy went and bought a 3 room tent! It will certainly make it nice when the four of us go together someday!

We started off the evening by roasting marshmallows of course. This is Noah's favorite thing to do. There were a few fire emergencies but we managed.

Mommy's vs. Noah - Yes, he asked if we could trade. And yes, we did :)

Noah super excited about his big tent room. He let us know that Michelle Obama was coming too and was bringing all of her sleeping stuff. We thought it was nice of the first lady to stop by! One day when Noah was talking on his pretend phone he said "Oh hello BarakObama... yes, uh-huh, okay, is Michelle there too? Okay, we'll be right over" Apparently all the lights at the White House went out and they called on Noah for help. He's handy that way.

Goodnight Noah!