Flash Month

October is now known as flash month in our house.  "Busy" doesn't even begin to cut it!  With minimal sleep, lots of chocolate, help from my sweet husband, sister in law and mother (who we ended up flying out for a week), we managed to survive what was one of the busiest months of the year for my shop!  Chances are, if you came by for a visit, you couldn't reach our front door.. sorry about that..

We managed to make a few fun memories in between the madness, with a trip to a pumpkin patch (okay so I stayed home with the boys, but that was an end-of-the-line consequence for them, not because I didn't desperately need the day out!),

our ward trunk-or-treat and chili cook off,

(Please note my kids' terribly last minute, thrown together costumes.. I was SO busy getting everyone else in the world theirs that I didn't have time to complete the image in my head for us.. oh well, there's always this year right??  Thankfully, people give out candy to all cute kids and not just the best dressed ones!)

and of course, a fun family night of pumpkin carving! :)

But if you ask one little boy in the family which day trumps the month, it won't be Halloween.. even though in a kids' mind, the one day of the year where parents give the thumbs up to take candy from strangers is pretty awesome (if not slightly misguided..)!  Sir L turned 5 on the 29th and was looking quite grown up indeed!

Yeah.. I'm pretty sure he had a fairly decent day!  I spent the most of it in awe, trying to etch into memory all the little quirks he has, knowing that all too soon they will be faded memories :(  This boy has brought so much joy into our family!  He can be goofy, and incredibly sincere, charming & wild, helpful, sensitive & eager to please.. he has the softest ears that I swear can fold 10 ways, a smile that'll knock your socks off, and a melt your heart tender side that only the lucky ones closest to him get to see.  I am SO thankful for this sweet boy!

Happy 5th birthday bud! :)

September wasn't SO long ago..

Prior to our furniture arriving, we had some home improvement & demo projects we wanted to take care of first.. from a fence outside, to new carpets, paint, and the like, we gave most every room in the house a makeover to turn back the clock a bit.. but lets face it, before and afters and SO much fun and need a post of their own!  *Stay tuned, coming soon!! :)

Sir L started pre-K just after the others headed off, and boy was he READY!  After such a successful year of school in Brazil, it was hard for him to cope with the fact that he just barely missed the Kindergarten cut off and would no longer be attending the same campus as his older brother and sis..  Thankfully he has an awesome teacher who quickly changed his disappointed tune! :)

Princess P, not being one to be left out of the excitement, kept life interesting by taking a trip down memory lane and chopping off her locks (again!) with the enlisted help of her big brother to "get the back"..

L tried desperately to keep from laughing, and getting in more trouble, after I "fixed" P's hair and shaved his for lasting impression (and slight comic relief of mom!).. but it really is hard to keep a straight face when a certain someone clearly got EXACTLY what she wanted.. AGAIN. :P

"Look mom!  Don't I look so super cute now?!"
"Wow!  I am TOTALLY awesome!"
"I look so super cool!  Right mom?" ..these taunting comments came daily for weeks after.. good thing she's cute!

Then finally, the day we had been waiting for finally arrived!  I didn't even care how much work was ahead of us when I saw this beauty pull up!  I just wanted a couch to sit on, and toys (other than scissors!) for my kids to play with! :)  This lovely day in late September, we FINALLY felt "home"!

Excuses vs REASONS

So I can throw out a number of cards here to make my disturbingly long absence seem like less of my fault.. or at least help to ease the pain of having dropped the ball so terribly!  From the relaunch of baileysblossoms.com to the renovations on our home, our furniture arriving, school starting, holidays raining in without proper warning, countless family visits, and (GASP!) another baby on the way!, I've kind of let my photo organization, and therefore blogging, completely slide!  I made some wonderful New Years Resolutions to help get back on track, but who knew January and February would speed by faster than I could catch my breath?!  New Years resolutions still count if started in March right?  *Feel free to say yes.  You're SO sweet! :D

Well, with little Marshall Scott arriving in just over 8 weeks now, I figure I have 8 weeks to get everything back in line before I lose my mind.  Again.  That's doable right?  So, without further adieu, it's time to rehash the past a bit in order to keep future teenage conversations of, "See, you DO love _____ more, because you ALWAYS blogged about their _____'s!", at a minimum..

AUGUST.  It came.  It went.  We were in an empty house.  And it was HOT!  But alas, in between the bubble blowing, water gun fights, eating on camp chairs and family sleepovers on the floor, the older kids started school, I relaunched my site, and we had TWO birthdays to celebrate!  Our sweet Handsome H turned the big 6, and my handsome hubby forgot how old he was..  The true mark of age ;)

Just because we were living on borrowed camp chairs and a coveted lazy boy doesn't mean we skimped either!  Breakfast in a box-bed can be quite an adventure too!  By the time we brought it up to him (at 6:45am!), he was already dressed and ready for the day.  Aka - just a smidgen excited ;)

We started the day off with some high flying fun..

Then headed on over to Chik-Fil-A for lunch out with mom,

AND dad!  (A first time daddy-showing which made a few siblings rather jealous might I add!)

 

The kids and I brainstormed long and hard over what to give this sweet boy this year.  He is a MAJOR hoarder, I mean collector, finding value in all sorts of garbage treasure!  In order to cut down on the empty bottles, scraps of paper, and the like, we gave him some healthy alternatives:  Exibit A - KEYS!  They're SO cool and he was ecstatic!

Exibit B - Seashells.  Because I miss Brazil terribly! :(

He also got rocks & coins from grandparents. :)  We switched it  up a bit with what has become the boys' all time favorite movie: The 3 Ninjas,

and some legit water guns that made the girls a tad jealous, and VERY wet! 

Last but not least was a treasure box to sort all of his goodies :)

Have you ever seen a more happy and handsome kid?!  I mean really..

But the icing on the cake is definitely having cousins 15minutes down the road!  Cupcakes anyone?

All in all it was a great day!  This sweet boy has blessed our lives more than I can say.  He has a heart of gold and is growing up so fast.. it's truly amazing to watch him become quite the little man! :)

Speaking of men, my main man celebrated his big day too!  By that time I had gotten my Silhouette Cameo and was able to try it out to make a quick banner..  

But as cool as my banner was, the surprise grill definitely outshone it!  ..And the awesomely massive steaks to go on it.. ;)  Looks like we are officially Texans now!

Happy (belated) birthday to my two handsome men!.. even if this is a bit late getting up, the intention to do so was always there.  It's the thought that counts right??..

And last but not least in the August brigade was the first day of school!  Orientation was quite the ordeal with the entry ways to the elementary lined with perky teens in all their cheer-leading glory.  Miss B was in awe.  Handsome H was in love.  I thought of the future, and was thoroughly terrified.

Once again we have been blessed to get two AMAZING teachers!  Miss B entered 2nd and Handsome H started 1st grade.. I cried.  A LOT.

Thanks to my handy Cameo, teacher gifts for the 1st day were a breeze!  And addictively fun! :)

Then the beasts starting showing up.  Pallets of product for my Bailey's Blossoms site relaunch.  My neighbors congratulated me on our furniture arriving.  I sheepishly admitted that it wasn't the furniture, and that I have severe shopaholic tendencies..

This was about when I started to really lose my mind..  Like wearing two different earrings all day (hair up!) and not noticing until your 4yr old points it out to you kind of crazy.  Yeah.  Good times.

Grandparents came to visit and we took them to their first baseball game!  On the way there, they asked what baseball was.  I then realized that I am a pitiful American parent.  The horror!

Baby C won the heart of Grandma.  Again. :)

And just in case that isn't enough to squeeze into 31 days, we whipped up this "responsibility rock" jar for the kiddos to earn their very own PUPPY!  I mentioned that I have certifiably lost my mind right?

The good news is..

We officially moved into our house the 1st of June.  It has been a crazy 3 months since that finally happened! When you're in the midst of those transitional moments, they seem to drag on FOREVER, but when you look back, it's much easier to say, "huh, that wasn't so bad!".. I'm assuming it'll be the same for when our belongings finally arrive from Brazil.  The good news is, they're FINALLY on their way!!  The bad news?  It didn't quite make it in time for my parents' 13 day stay with us this past week and a half.  The good news?  It was pretty cute seeing my dad work in a borrowed camp chair, with his laptop propped up on an empty moving box.  The bad news?  My dad worked in a borrowed camp chair, with his laptop propped up on an empty moving box!  Oh, and they slept on an air mattress on the floor.. some host I turned out to be! :P

For having "nothing", it really is amazing how dirty a house can get!  I mean, before the Texas heat turned up, it was fine being empty handed - we were outside playing ALL DAY every day, and LOVED it!!

We've met some awesomely authentic neighbor friends too!  Okay, so my real neighbors are MUCH prettier, but isn't that little baby cow just adorable?!  Nothing says Texas quite like a sweet and happy baby cow.. well, happy until his mom ends up on your plate anyways..

It's AMAZING how much "stuff" there is to do in the States!  I didn't realize how incredibly spoiled we were!  I swear there are probably 1000+ museums, theme and water parks, zoos, libraries, recreational facilities, and SO much more within a 20 mile radius of us (I'd be more dramatic and say 5, but we kind of live in the middle of nowhere..)!  Now that we are stuck inside due to the heat, you would think that would stop us from enjoying nature, but no!  We Hooley's just bring nature on inside..

Impromptu Roly Poly Farm anyone??  Good news is, I have a pretty decent sense of humor.  Bad news?  This carpet was installed literally DAYS before this happened..  Good news is just days before, I also received a lovely new vacuum courtesy of Amazon (and my husbands check book..).  Bad news?  Watching mom "kill nature" may have permanently scarred my tender hearted son.. oops..

"Creative" is a word that I like to think I can identify with, but 3 months with limited toys (blocks, barbies & cars) are enough to test any creative mom's skills!  Thank goodness for boxes!!  Proceeding the relaunch of my online boutique (http://www.baileysblossoms.com/), we had many a shipment arrive.

Would you believe me if I told you I had this all unpacked and cleaned up before my husband got home so he could park his car??  Good times..

But what did we do with all those boxes??  What did we NOT to do is an easier question..  We've played in them, colored them, slept in them, stacked them, smashed them, gone sledding on them, and when their life has run out (or a new shipment of nice "new" ones arrives), we recycle them.  Ahh, a box has never seen such love..

And a box has never seen such.. uhh, shall we say drama??  *My work office sits midway up the stairs, underneath it there is a "secret room" - the coolest, biggest "kid room" you've ever seen!  With ceilings at 4.5-5 feet high, it is the perfect playroom escape for all of our little Hooligans!  The following video is a clip Miss B shot (unbenownst to me) after the attempted set up of a box party fort, complete with 31 boxes! :) Every time I watch it I swear it makes me laugh harder.. but perhaps that's just because I'm their mom and I understand how well this personifies the two of them right now! #kidsmakemelaugh #bigsistersyndrome #NOideawhereshegetsitfrom ;)

I guess now would be the time to wrap it up with some witty moral of the story type thing, but the moral of the story is, there's no moral!  Because this journey to attempted normalcy is FAR from over!  Good news is, I'm pretty patient! :)