Valentines and Lots of Made up Words

I looooove Valentines Day. LOVE it. This is weird for several reasons...I hate stuff that's cheesy, and Valentines is the cheesiest. I don't like when things don't match, and Valentines is the unmatchiest. (I mean: pink and red? We all know those are not supposed to go together. Matchiest: the first of words I felt needed to be made up for this blog.) I don't particularly like awkward displays of emotion (unless it's of the competitive sort, then by all means scream/cry/hug) and Valentines is the lovey-doviest. It makes no sense, but maybe that suits me about right.

I even went so far as to dress the three kids in all red for church yesterday. (I typically wear anything but green on St. Patty's day, just because I can, if this tells you anything about my oddly undying love for this holiday.) They looked pretty cute if I do say so myself...but trying to take a picture of them was not cute. It was the ugliest. We tried at two different times today and someone always looked mad, emotionally disturbed and/or constipated, or was running out of the picture. I probably wouldn't try that again for all the chocolates in the Valentines section of Target. And goodness knows how I love those.

So as we get closer to the big day, I'll be overdosing on cheesy and colors that are the clashiest and awkward displays of emotion (ok probably not that last one), and hopefully hiding at least some of the chocolate from the most uncooperative photo subjects in the history of Valentines Day.

Just Dance

Their dance moves never cease to amaze me, and make me laugh till I cry. I hope that they have the same effect on you. Happy Saturday! ;)

Don't play with your food...

I've said this very phrase so many times I can't even count. I remember hearing it as a kid, and thinking it was a dumb thing to say. I mean, what good is something if you can't play with it? But as the big bad grumpy mom cleaning up the results of playing with food, I get it. I totally get it. I STILL don't get why it's not ok to jump on the bed, though. (I get if you have a bed frame/box springs, etc...but Merrick's bed is just stacked on the floor. So I decided "why not?")

Anyway, I have decided that playing with food is ok on occasion. That occasion being I want to Instagram you playing with your food. ;) I figured Valentine's candy corn fangs needed to be shared with the world. And the likelihood of these hitting the floor and someone not eating them anyway is very slim. (We adhere strictly to the "I will pretend did NOT see you actually eat that off the floor" rule...similar to a 5 second rule, but grosser, I suppose.)

So, maybe I'm not such a lame mom after all. Although I did just yell "because I said so". Lost major points there. But hey, it happens to the best of us.

Big Mac

So we took the plunge. We finally joined the ranks of those who sing the praises of Apple computers. Our old laptop (not an Apple) was seriously struggling. It was making grinding noises, wouldn't turn back on when turned off, the screen/lid was loose, and it won't stay on unless perpetually plugged into the wall...which is fun when your 1yo likes to unplug things. I've been anti-apple just because Apple fans can be, for lack of any other way to put it, a tad bit over-enthusiastic about their computers. It's kind of scary. While I was sure they were good computers (and so far it seems to be) every time I tried to use one I was always flinging stuff into corners of the desktop, pushing the wrong button, losing things, etc. But we decided it was time to learn when most Mac owners said their computers were still going strong at 4+ years, some even said up to 7. I can deal with 7 years of not buying a new computer.

I also realize that this above shot has been done a hundred times before by many an apple operator, but the hooligans decided that it needed to go on the blog. So on the blog it went. I'd much prefer the big-girl camera shots like the one from the last post featured below, but we all know who runs things around here. ;)

I'm still figuring all this out, and still thanking uncle Sam, and a sweet little gift called a "child tax credit", for this opportunity. Here's to many more Mac-produced blogs in the future. ;)

It Takes a Zoo...

...to snuggle on a  Saturday morning. The hooligans love to wake me up in the morning "snuggling", as they call it. They just typically bring an arsenal of plastic animals, toys, noisemakers, and some bedhead with them. I guess there are definitely worse alarm clocks out there.

There is still one member of this party of five who is stuck in a cage and needs help to find his way to the "snugglefest". He's pretty much one of the cutest wild animals I've ever seen. But watch out, he definitely bites. Snuggling is a dangerous activity around here.