Star Wars "egg"stravaganza

The boys were really excited about dying eggs this year, so we went ahead and let them do it a few days early. Daddy took video and mommy manned the digital camera to ensure that the moment was properly captured;).


"Look ma, green hands!"


Too little to join in on the fun.


"You don't know the power of the dark side".



"Look what we made!"

File this one under "things you never thought you'd say until you had kids"

Said by me to Ben today, "Well, if you wouldn't pick your butt, you wouldn't get poop on your hands".

Grabbing a few extra minutes of sleep...

I think I've mentioned before that Sam normally wakes up at 5a.m. At that point, our motto is "whatever works" in getting him to go back to sleep for a few blissful moments. I bring him into bed with us and 9 times out of 10 he will just nurse and then be up for the day, but today he surprised us by going back to sleep for a whole 2 hours! Brian caught the moment on film:).

The Importance of Being Benny

So last night at dinner we're all sitting around the table eating and talking about our day. I think I was complaining to Brian about the fact that Ben's preschool is going to charge us $100 for him to NOT attend in the summer to "hold our spot" when the fact of the matter is, attendance is so low in the summer that there is no way our spot would get filled anyway- grrr! Anyway, Ben keeps shouting, "GUYS! GUYS! Listen to ME" with a big scowl on his face. We made him wait his turn and when he finally got his chance, what does he have to say that is so important? "Mom. Dad. Devin and I are going to be FIVE on our next birthdays. We're BOTH going to be FIVE". Big dramatic pause. Big smile. "FIVE". Holds up five fingers. So funny how he takes everything he does and says so seriously at such a young age!

Mama, am I an artist?

This afternoon during we were all just relaxing, having a quiet Saturday. I was crocheting in the livingroom with my mom, periodically stopping to get Sam down off the train table which he kept climbing up on (or sending uncle Kevin to his rescue!), Brian was on the computer with Ben, and Will was in his room, the entire carpet littered with art supplies.

After 15 minutes or so, he came out, masterpiece in hand. This was the first collage he made He had written, "bi Will, love mama." After quite a lot more fanfare in his bedroom, he came out with three others.


He said, "Mama these are for you because I love you for thousands and thousands of seconds. Not just one second. The love just keeps on going. I love you best in the world and you love me. Mama, am I an artist?". Of course I told him that he was a wonderful artist and that I loved him too. Does life get any better than this?! It's moments like these that make it all worth it.

The boys basketball game and Grandma Kathi's visit

Today was the boys second basketball game of the season as well as picture day. Both Grandma Kathi and Uncle Kevin were there to see them in action! Will made his first basket EVER, during practice as opposed to the actual game, but hey, it's a start! Brian caught the moment on video, but mommy was too slow with the camera. We did get a few cute shots of them standing in line waiting for pictures, with grandma, and on the bench during the game.

Thinking about Halloween

If you have kids, you have probably experienced this in your home as well. The discussion began the day after last October 31. The discussion of course being what the boys want to be NEXT Halloween. Ben usually starts up first thing in the morning. First he wants to be Marth from a video game that they play (try finding THAT costume at Target!) then he wants to be a Jedi, then Anikan, then a power ranger (his costume from last Halloween). Will then chimes in, saying he will be Shrek, then Ben nixes that idea, saying that Shrek does not even have any superhero powers.

Any bets on how many times they will change their minds before Halloween actually rolls around?

The caffinated buoys!

A friend was just telling me about her recent trip to Japan and mentioned that in Tokyo they have vending machines out on the streets selling all kinds of fruity sodas, beer, and even caffinated gum. That reminded me of what happened in our house when I decided it would be a good idea to forgo the coffee in favor of the gum. I had gone to Target with Wendy and we noticed it up by the cash register. Me, being the highly caffinated mommy that I am, thought this was a GREAT invention and threw some in the basket. When I got home, I put it on top of the microwave, not really thinking too much about it. Later that afternoon, I noticed that the boys were totally bouncing off the walls (not unusual in our house, but this was a bit beyond their "normal" activity level). I looked on the ground in the kitchen and realized that they had chewed the entire package, except the one piece I'd had when I bought it. Yikes! Looks like caffinated gum wasn't all it was cracked up to be;).

Scrapbook photos

Here are a few of the scrapbook pages that I've been doing of the boys.

Been doing some crocheting lately...

The boys finally got to wear the hats that I made for them last year since it was cold and rainy today. I've been getting back into my hobbies now that Sam is pretty much sleeping through the night and I have a little more energy. I made Will and Ben these ones last year and Sam's I just made yesterday. I am thinking of adding a few cutesy buttons to it just to give it some flair, so maybe a trip to JoAnns is in order. And if I just *happen* to pass by the scrapbooking supplies while I am there I just might have to take a peek at those too.

I have been getting back into scrapbooking too lately and am all caught up on my album. Sam's first year one is done and I am currently working on 6 other albums (vacation, family, holidays, and then one for each boy with birthday, first day of school, and sports stuff in it). I met another mom in Ben's preschool class who is a Creative Memories consultant and she hosts crops in her house once a week so I have been going to those. I really don't get much done in my book since Sam is with me, but it's nice to get ideas and talk scrapbooking with other people who are into it too.

Oh that Sam I am!

He is one of the three most adorable kids I have ever seen, but boy is he a handful! His new thing is climbing. Climbing on the furniture, up steps, up on the kids' train table, anything and everything that his short little legs can get up on, he is there. The only drawback is that he cannot get down by himself. So he does this combination cry/whine until someone comes and rescues him. We'll hear him in another room making that sound and someone will say, "Well, it sounds like Sam's stuck" and sure enough, there he will be, waving his arms, looking for a hero to save him:-). If Will finds him there he'll heave a big sigh and say "Oh, Sammy. You aren't supposed to do that!" and then lift him down from wherever he's gotton to.

He is also REALLY into the bathroom. We keep the door shut, but the boys sometimes forget. This morning while I was attempting to do my hair before taking Will to school (yeah, right, I should have known better!) Sam comes in carrying the toilet brush- ewwww! The older boys didn't really do things like that, so now I am really learning what parents mean when they say their toddler is "into everything". That about sums it up! The boy will not eat a vegetable, but give him a dried up worm or a piece of cat poo from the litter box and it's chow time. I have to watch him every second!

Just a few random pictures of cuteness

These are some of my all time favorite pictures of Sam. His smile is absolutely irresistible!

And a few of Will- gotta love those dimples!




And now of Benny- it is so hard to get a picture of him just smiling at the camera!

And now for one about Ben

I just realized that I have talked about Sam and Will, but not Ben so now that they are all in bed and I've had a couple of martinis, I am ready to blog! Ben is such a little ham! He cracks us up constantly. The child just does not stop talking- gee, I wonder where he gets that from? He is also way dramatic lately. We affectionatly refer to him as our little drama queen. He can have big crocodile tears streaming down his face in a matter of seconds over the littlest thing- I am quite impressed really!


He absolutely LOVES preschool and his teachers. Everyday he asks if today is a school day and is dissappointed if it isn't.

Our bedtime ritual

Lately, instead of reading the boys books together before bed, daddy has been reading to Ben and I've been reading to Will. Will and I are trying to tackle some big kid literature instead of just sticking to picture books. We read Charlotte's Web which he loved, and are now working our way through The Wizard of Oz. He also reads his sight words and word family lists to me during this time. He is getting to be such a good reader!

The change in him is amazing between the beginning of the school year to now. It used to be like pulling teeth just to get him to read through one phonics word list, and now he will sit there with the whole box of them and read them to himself! I am actually having to stop him from reading more at bedtime so that we have time for our chapter book.

He is very motivated to get a "Grand Slam" in school. He brings home lists of sight words to memorize. There are about 20 words in each list, he learns them, tests on them at school, and then gets a ring pop and another list. There are 10 lists in all and he is currently on list 8. If he learns all 10, then tests on all 200 words together, he earns the "Grand Slam" award and TWO ring pops. Amazing what a kid will do just to get a piece of candy;).

I am also enjoying our special time together at night. With three of them, it's hard to get time alone with each and Will is so independant that he doesn't really ask for much time from me during the day, so this is good for both of us, I think. He really feels special getting to hear big boy books that his brothers are not ready for yet.

Last week in school, Will was the Star of the Week. We made him a special poster board with all of his pictures and family pictures on it and he got to be the special helper, line leader, and share different things each day. He also got to take home the class Mascot, Curious George. He was so excited about that! He slept with George all week and took him everywhere with us. Here is a picture of him with George:





Here is another picture of him taken that same week, dressed as a Leprechaun. They made these in Kindergarten and when the teacher walked the kids out of the class, they were all wearing these- too cute!

I just now, after over 5 years of posting on message boards, finally learned how to post pictures. Here are some pictures of Sam's shoe shopping experience. We took him to the Vans store at the Spectrum yesterday to get him his first real pair of shoes. He is so funny clomping around in them, picking his knees way up to compensate for what probably feel like bricks on his feet. We decided on the old skool skull velcro shoes after trying on several pairs. He looks like such a little man in them:-).

About the name

After much agonizing (okay, well after about 5 minutes of agonizing with Ice Age playing in the background and Will asking me for a slice of ham 10 minutes before dinner is going to be served, Sam nursing, and Ben asking why he can't have ham too) I decided on The Caffinated Mommy Blog because, well, I am one highly caffinated mommy. With three kids under the age of six and a 16 month old that thinks 5 a.m. qualifies as morning, trust me I need it. Hopefully I'll get 5 minutes here and there to throw together some thoughts on the kids, parenthood, and our nutso life in a house full of boys:-).