Got milk?

Matthew and Jonathan do not yet "get" how to drink from a sippy cup.  We own just about every kind of cup on the market.  We have the kind with handles.  We have the kind with stoppers.  We have the kind without stoppers.  We have the kind that you're supposed to "take and toss."  We have the kind with straws.  We even have the Nubys. This is a really, really funny video of Matthew "drinking" from the highly acclaimed Nuby.

Five Things I Never Thought I Would Say to My Kids

This is a totally random post of five crazy things I have said to my children.  I hope they give you a chuckle:)

1. Please color on the paper, not on your brother!
2. No, you do not need to change your underwear so that it matches your pajamas.
3. If you don't _____, then you will not be allowed to read for the rest of the day.
4. Please do not lick me! (GROSS!)
5. Wait for your sister to get back up before you whack her again! (in the context of a pillow fight)

Is This Over the Top???

Eggs were on sale this past week at Walgreen's: 2 dozen for $2.  I also had four coupons for 55 cents off two dozen eggs, making each dozen 72.5 cents.  David went early in the week and bought four dozen.  I went yesterday and bought another four dozen.  I still had three eggs left over from last week's trip to Save-a-Lot.  So,  I now have 99 eggs in my refrigerator!  Is that over the top???

Happy Easter

One of my goals for this year was to implement some family traditions to celebrate Easter. Well, I kept thinking Easter was a long way off and then suddenly it wasn't anymore. I made an attempt at Resurrection Eggs, but I didn't have eggs and wasn't really prepared, so it didn't go over very well. I don't know if I will try it again...We did read everything in The Children's Illustrated Bible from the time when Jesus enters Jerusalem until his ascension into heaven. Then, I made this summary poster with symbols.  I have visions of doing something like I did with the Advent Jesse Tree for Easter (maybe a Passion Tree?).  Unfortunately, I just could not pull that off for this year.






We made resurrection rolls for the first time, lots of fun.  Having read about these Friday night, I went out on Saturday to buy crescent rolls (yes, I bought whomp 'ems!) and marshmallows.  You also need cinnamon and sugar and melted butter.  There are tons of posts out there about these.  To make them, follow these steps:
1. Roll the marshmallow in butter.
2. Roll the marshmallow in cinnamon-sugar mixture.  I think I used 1 T sugar and 1 t cinnamon.
3. Place the marshmallow on the crescent roll.
4. Wrap the crescent roll around the marshmallow and pinch the seams well.
5. Bake according to the directions on the package.

The idea behind these is that the crescent roll represents the tomb and the marshmallow represents Jesus.  The butter and cinnamon-sugar mixture represent the oil and spices that Jesus' body was anointed with.  During baking the marshmallow melts, so that when you open up the roll, the marshmallow (a.k.a. Jesus) is no longer inside just as Jesus was no longer in the tomb when the women arrived.

I thought there would be an amazing, wow! how did you do that??? moment for the kids.  There was none.  Mary caught on right away and knew that the marshmallow just melted.  Everyone loved the rolls, though, and I will definitely do this activity again! 

Here are the supplies: crescent rolls, marshmallows, melted butter and cinnamon sugar.

Maggie is rolling!

Mary is sealing!

The rolls are baking!

Matthew and Jonathan were really fussy, so I gave them each a marshmallow!  Needless to say, they liked them a LOT!

The finished product.

The girls decided all on their own to celebrate Easter morning by running around the house playing pot lids, commonly referred to as cymbals, and shakers, commonly referred to as maracas. They sang, "Everyone Ought to Know Jesus." I love these kids.

Maggie on the shakers!

Mary on the pot lids!

In the afternoon, we had some time to plant the marigolds!

The Mobley Facelift Part 10--The End

We didn't make as many changes to the outside of the house as we did to the inside, thank goodness!

This is a picture of the front of our house.  It may be a little hard to see the wooden bench on the porch.  The girls had a lot of fun building benches with the wood David used to make the swing set, so David made the bench for them with some of the scrap wood.

This is a picture of the landscape to the right of the stairs.  David did some research about a year ago about plants that do well in Louisiana and we selected several for this landscape.  There is hibiscus, abelia, firecracker, liriope, phlox.  I added a few annuals in the front to add a little more color also.

This is the view to the left of the stairs.  The plants in this picture are the same as above except there is also a Norfolk Island pine to the left of the stairs.

The year before last I started looking into playground equipment for the kids.  I had big plans to get a great deal on Black Friday, but David thought they were too flimsy.  He knows a lot more than I do about such things, so we continued to look.  We looked around on Craig's List but couldn't find one for sale nearby.  David figured he could build one and so he found plans for this one on the Internet and built it in a flash!  I don't think there is anything he cannot do!  The girls love, love, love the swing set.  Matthew and Jonathan enjoy having their big sisters push them in the baby swing also!

We divided the cannas in the back and added a few red grasses in between.

This is a picture of the rearranged porch.  Previously, it was pretty bare with just the aloe vera plant and the sand table.  We thought it would be nice to have a few chairs and a table and pretend that we can actually sit outside without being eaten alive, ha, ha!  I looked around at a few thrift stores (with all four kids) but couldn't find anything suitable.  I also looked around online and came pretty close to ordering one, but then I found these chairs and side table at Lowes for less:)  The girls enjoy having their lunch on the porch now!  I also moved the kids' picnic table from the front room to the porch.  I also picked up a hanging basket of impatiens and planted them in a pot.  They are so bright and cheery.  They make me happy..

I organized all the outdoor toys and put them on this cart, which previously held the baby toys, which are now hidden away in the coffee table drawers! 

We also have a small area for a flower bed directly in front of the porch.  This wonderful flower bed had no flowers!  We picked up some petunias (pink and purple) and planted them.  Oddly enough, only the purple ones have survived...twice.  This is a picture of the healthiest of the bunch.  Today, I picked up some marigolds, which are supposed to be super-duper-bug-resistant.  We'll see...maybe I'll post a new picture in a week or so.

The Mobley Facelift Part 9

While David was away in San Diego, I reorganized the garage. We had moved a bookshelf from upstairs and the hutch from the desk into the garage, which really helped. By the way, some men probably feel territorial about their garage space and don't want others to mess with their "organization." I'll admit I feel that way about my kitchen. My husband does not feel that way about the garage, so I surprised him with the reorganization when he came back from a trip to San Diego. Here are the results:

We had scrap wood in many places, so I put a big bin in the garage for the miscellaneous pieces and stacked the others according to size.  The girls love playing with the wood, though, so it didn't stay neat for long!  I moved the bike trailer from the center of the garage up against the wall and stacked some other things.  More room...ahhh.

The hutch and bookshelf made nice parking places for the bikes and scooters.  It almost even looks like someone could park a compact car in here!

Most of the reorganization happened over here on the tall shelves.

A few bins and some metal stackers.  Now, even I can find things!

The bookshelf was the perfect size for gardening and auto supplies and a few other miscellaneous items.

This is just a picture of my reorganized laundry room.  Is it weird that I have two filing cabinets in my laundry room???

This is a picture of the kids bathroom.  It's pretty small, although it is a full bath, so it was hard to get a good picture.  I didn't really change much in here, but I did reorganize the closet, where I keep my stock-up purchases!

The Mobley Facelift Part 8

And now for a trip up the stairs where the most amazing transformation has taken place! First stop is the landing, the new home of the little Legos. That's the only spot I could think to put them to allow the girls to play with them and prevent the boys from choking on them!

When we moved to New Orleans, David said he wanted to pick up some Legos from his parents' house.  Well, some Legos translates into a LOT of Legos.  He had three completed sets, which he tore apart and put into bins.  They sat in Mary's closet for a long time and now she really enjoys playing with them.  The only time I would let her, though, was when the boys were sleeping.  But, she also made a lot of noise shuffling through the bins looking for a particular piece, so I bought this organizer for them.  I wasn't sure how well this was going to go over, but Mary got really into organizing them and is delighted that she can find the pieces more easily.  The first night of organizing I set out just to organize the gray pieces, but David thought it was so much fun that we moved on to black also!

This is just a picture of one of the small drawers so nicely organized.

This is what was previously a guest room transformed into a school/playroom!  Would you believe most of this stuff was downstairs in our living area???  This is the view as you enter the room.  The next few shots will just pan the room, then I'll show some close-ups.

Mary sits at this desk and loves having her own space.  Maggie and I sit at the table to do all sorts of things, like read and color and cut and glue.  It may be hard to see in this picture, but years ago my aunt gave me a basket to hold jelly jars.  It has four compartments.  It is the perfect organizer for our markers.  Skinny markers go in one compartment, fat markers in another, smelly markers in another and pipsqueaks in another.

This is the view of the front of the classroom.  I honestly don't use the white board that much, but the girls really enjoy drawing on it!

This is just a view to the left as you enter the room.  I used to keep the dresser drawers empty for guests, but they are now filled with card games, puzzles, math manipulatives, and musical instruments.

I discovered this dress when I was unloading things from my chest to move it to the girls' room.  My grandfather brought this back from Europe for me.  I never thought of actually hanging it on the wall before, but I think it looks cute.

Nana and Papa gave the girls this puppet theater for Christmas.  Before it sat on the floor and was awkward for the girls to use.  I found this cube shelf at Home Depot to set it on and sewed the white curtain in a flash, after a challenge from my dear husband who said it would take me hours.  The cubes are great for storing the puppets and now I have been honored to attend many delightful performances!

A perfect reading area.  There's a similar one on the other side.

Welcome to the Mobley Cafe and Grocery!

This is where all the yummy food is prepared.

Every cook needs a pretty apron!

The checkout!

Afternoon tea?

And now for a trip into the humungous walk-in closet.  The girls like to call this the castle treasury!

A wardrobe fit for a princess (or two!)

More dress-ups.

I moved the games and puzzles from the downstairs linen closet up here.

This is one view of the upstairs bathroom.  I found this stool on clearance at Target (after striking out at the thrift stores) and even put it together myself:)

This is a view of the rest of the bathroom.  That's our cat, Sarah, with the crazy eyes! 

The Mobley Facelift Part 7

Moving on to the girls' room...I didn't really have to change too much, but I did remove the clutter from the tops of the dressers and add a few accents.

We found the furniture for the girls' room on Craig's List last year and bought it for them for Christmas with the gift money from relatives.  Mary sleeps on top and Maggie sleeps on bottom and sometimes they snuggle together on Maggie's bed.  Our avid reader, Mary, asked for a shelf for her books, so we relocated the shelf from the front room to above her bed.  I also moved the chest that my grandfather made for me when I was a little girl from upstairs to keep their balls and other miscellaneous toys that didn't have a home.

This is the wall to the right of the doorway and opposite the beds.  One of Maggie's drawer slides is broken and awaiting repair.  The small set of drawers is for all the doll clothes and accessories.  We keep the point sheet on the bulletin board along with a pencil.  I enlarged and framed each child's birth announcement and put it in a frame, purple for Mary and pink for Maggie, on the corner shelves.

I couldn't get a good picture of the wall with the closets, but there are two closets and each girl has a flowery sign above her closet.  This, obviously, is Mary's sign.

This is Maggie's sign.

This is the view between the closets.  I spotted this cute wall decoration at Target recently and thought it would go nicely with the flower theme.

This is a close-up of the decorations to the right of the window by the bunkbed.  The ABC cross stitch used to be above the pegs, but I moved that to the boys' room, so I hung up this cute flowery dress that each of the girls wore when they were teeny.

I placed the dollhouse on this shoe shelf to keep the pieces off the floor.  I am so glad Aunt Alicia sent us this dollhouse when her girls outgrew it.  Mary and Maggie love playing with it.