Art ala McDaniel Family

So, a cousin of mine blogged about how her girls painted with pudding. I thought it was genius -even though I think pudding is gross. (Thanks for the idea Lindsay!) So this afternoon we mixed up a batch of vanilla instant pudding. Then food colored some in different bowls. The boys loved it. I loved that both of them got to do an art project, and I didn't have to worry about when Kieran would inevitably put the medium in his mouth. As you can tell it was a huge hit.

This is braxton's masterpiece. It took him an entire hour to get this done. Mostly because he was trying to get every last bit of pudding off of the paper rather than painting. These are kieran's. My favorite is the top one. Cuz it has orange. Duh.

Great great fun. Even bigger mess. Good times.

Super Fabulous!

Yesterday the boys and I went up to visit our cousins Jill and Joey. We had an awesome time. Braxton and Joey get along so well, they play it up - big time. Last night after we got home, when we were getting the B-rox ready for bed he told me "mom, I need to go to sleep because JoJo played with me so hard." He woke up this morning if we could go back and play with them again today. Sorry kid. Today is a jammie day. Anyway, Jill and I have a good time together. Or at least I have a good time with Jill. It's awesome to go shopping with someone who loves just being in the mall as much as I do. Well, yesterday our trip to the mall (to let the kids play on the indoor play ground) netted me a fabulous pair of shoes. Yes, I know I'm crazy for blogging about shoes. But these shoes were just meant to be mine. They were the last pair in the store, marked down like a bajillion dollars, and are polka dots. My favorite pattern ever. Here they are:

Fabulous right?

Thanks for such a great day Jill and Joey!

Silly...

I'm not going to go into what we were doing. But here's my oldest - goofy as usual.
excuse the red eyes. I wasn't much up to dealing with any editing... sick mommy and a long day.

I want that...

Braxton, like most other children in this world has become fascinated with toy advertisements. Anything he sees that he thinks is remotely cool becomes "I want that birthday present." Today's birthday present is a baby sister. My guess is that it came from a barbie advertisement. Regardless of where it came from, I had to break his little heart when I told him no baby sisters. None.

Pumpkins are Orange...

A couple of weeks ago we went to the pumpkin patch. The pumpkin that B-rox chose was one of those funky ones that are white with green and yellow on them. Well, instead of carving the pumpkins (anybody who has met Braxton should agree that he shouldn't be in the vincinity of sharp stuff until he's 21...) we paint them. Yesterday, (yes I know its not halloween anymore - but he doesn't care) Braxton got to paint his pumpkin. Guess what color he chose? Orange. This is what he told me.

B: "Mom, this just isn't workin'"

Me: "what isn't working?"

B: "the pumpkin is supposed to be orange! Not white!"

Me: "oh, well maybe this one is a new kind of pumpkin?"

B: "no, its not workin' . Don't worry, I'll make it better."

Such a good little pumpkin samaritan...

Our new library...

Something that I have learned in my relatively short life is that men find the bathroom a great place to read. Honestly, I don't see how sitting around in your own stench lends itself to a good book - but I'm not a guy. Anyway, I'm pretty sure this is genetic. I think it might be an effect of the missing leg on the Y chromosome. Whatever. Genetics aren't my thing either. What is my thing - or at least has been lately, is getting Braxton to use the potty. I was SO not ready to start this process yet. But Braxton decided he didn't like diapers anymore and Mark was more than happy to oblige him. Its not going so well. Braxton loves wearing his roos, but for the most part - doesn't like to take the time to go potty while he's playing. Its maddening. But I digress...
I told you - it's gotta be a genetic thing.

Our election evening...

So, today was the big day. The new prez will be announced sometime after I've gone to bed. At this point, I don't even know who is in the lead. I'm not paying attention. I figure the decision has been made by all those who went out there and voted (Don't worry, I voted a week ago!) and I can find out in the morning. So, the boys built a fort this afternoon. Mark had to take the afternoon off to deal with the water heater repair guy. (I have no voice due to my tendency to lose my voice whenever I get the sniffles - so Mark had to do the talking.) Anyway, it was a perfect day for fort building. Nothing but election coverage on TV - no three year old wants to watch that - lots of wind and rain outside and a sick mommy. Perfect time for the boys to have at it.
Its a pretty kickin' fort eh? Private Kenny on his recon mission to "stop the monkey from taking pictures". "Sgt. Army" was played by Braxton and "Army Daddy" was played by Mark. It looks like we need to teach him a lesson in the military services. I think we'll start with "Go Navy - Beat Army".