moving on up...

Well we finally did it! We have rid ourselves & the tribe of their highchairs! They needed this about as much as we did! Not only did our little ones grow up but our dining room actually looks like a dining room again. YAY! I have NO idea how the eight chair arrangement will fit around our table yet. Hopefully we will be cozying up for a meal soon! The more the merrier! Congrats to the tribe for...

moving on up...

Where's my bee?...

One night while at Grandma's house Brendan came up to me & asked me "Where's my bee mommy?". I was not sure what he exactly meant. I kept having him repeat himself so I could maybe figure it out. Did someone give him a stuffed bee or better yet did he find a dead one some place. Trust me stranger things have happened in out household! Finally I asked him to show me what he meant. He walks me over to my mom's piano to where we "house" their shopping carts. There were two carts there & his was missing. Then it hit me, he wanted to know where "his" shopping cart was.You see Daddy was tired of them fighting over the four IDENTICAL play shopping carts so he wrote their initials on each of them. Well Brendan knows that his name begins with a B so that's why he asked me...

Where's my bee?...

I'm calling Grandma...

The other night, okay last week, Camryn came up to me saying she wanted to call Grandma. I said OK & went on with whatever I was doing. You see she usually will walk around the house with her fake phone & call all kinds of people so I never gave it much thought. The next think I know I see her talking into MY cell phone! It happens to be an i Phone & you know how warranties are on those things so I freaked! {Do NOT need to pay for a new one if she breaks it!} As I take the phone from her I hear my mom's voice. My mom is an hour away! I look into the phone & she actually made a call! She called Grandma just like she said! Now I know she could not feasibly do this so I ask Michael is he dialed the number for her. He had NO idea what I was talking about. I told him what happened & he tried helping me come up with how she could have called her. I did not recently call her so it was not on a recently dialed list. I even asked her to show me how she did it! Of course she could not "recreate" it! I am stumped! I think I will pay closer attention the next time she tells me...

I'm calling Grandma...

What do you do when you are full of the snot monster?...

Over the past few weeks I have encountered way TOO many boogers! When you have four toddlers there are MANY a nose to wipe! It got me thinking, what all do I do to battle the snot monster? I mean this slimy stuff seems to come out of all crevices when you're sick! YUK! We definitely make a trip to the pharmacy to get the necessities or better yet to Costco & to buy in bulk. LOL!
We also go see the doctor to make sure the "icky" bug does not spread if we have way TOO many days of ickiness! Nothing like a runny nose to turn into something much BIGGER when you least expect it to! Our defenses were down & we had to bring in reinforcements. Enter a BIG bottle of saline spray.
then the blue nose aspirator. I LOVE this thing! It gets anything & everything out of a nostril! If there is a booger in there this thing will find it!

I however LOVE my Neti Pot! The BEST thing ever made for the sinuses! If you don't have one of these things you should get one! On a side note they even make them for children! Not that you will be able to get a small child to put salt water up there nose but the option exists! LOL!& then I get a MANY boxes of tissue & place them all over the house. We LOVE Puffs PLUS brand with lotion added. Gotta keep that nose happy or it will come back to bite you! Nothing worse than having a raw, red, sore nose from TOO much blowing!

So now that you know what I do during these times...


What do you do when you are full of the snot monster?...

taking a break...

Things here have been VERY hectic these past ten days or so. Not only have all FOUR children been sick but so is their mommy! In fact I am still hurting as we speak. Just when I thought we were over the hump I came down with yet another cold! Well I am hoping it is just a cold! One major UGH! The sad thing is that my colds usually turn into something worse & before long I'll probably end up with laryngitis! Sigh... So PLEASE pray for me. I cannot take care of the tribe & myself when I'm feeling like this! Being sick I did not feel up to blogging so there has been a hiatus on the blog. I am beat but I felt I better post something so people would not get frustrated with no new posts! So please bear with me for the next few days since I will be...
taking a break...

my ear hurts mommy...

These are the words that have spread like wild fire across this house the past two weeks. It seems that just when we get a child well another one gets sick. sigh... Yes two of them had ear infections at different times but are they really getting each other sick? I mean an ear infection is not contagious. One child said their ear hurt & after being checked it was A OK. SO what is this mommy to think? The minute they said "I want to go to the Doctor Mommy", I got suspicious. You see most children do NOT like going to the Doctor even if they are under the weather. I started thinking of what they LOVED about their Pediatricians office. Here's the list I compiled...

1. She is one of the nicest Doctors we know. She's always explaining what she is doing so not freak them out.

2. She has a HUGE chalkboard painted on the wall in the waiting room for them to draw on. VERY cool! Check out the person Cam drew!



3. They give out stickers & lollipops after each appointment. Who wouldn't LOVE that!



That's it!! It has to be the lollipops! No child can pass up a goody! (= Not that they don't love Dr Mahoney but I really do think they like getting the treat! Hmm... I think I am going to pay closer attention the next time they say...

my ear hurts mommy...

Will you be one of the 5 winners of a FREE photo session?...

I have something totally FREE to share with each of my S Florida friends! How would you like to get some beautiful shots of you, your family or friends for FREE? A dear friend of mine, April, owner of CoConut CirCle photography is having a fabulous giveaway! She is giving away 5 FREE photo sessions! Yes, FIVE totally FREE photo sessions! I cannot say enough wonderful things about April & her talented eye for details! She is AMAZING! I do not know how she does it but she just has this way of capturing that "perfect" shot, the one you would never expect but want and end up framing to put up on your wall! I have MANY amazing shots of our family just like that! Her portfolio is quite the collection & hopefully it will include some of "MY" people in it soon! (= I am really psyched about the possibility of someone I know winning one of these photo sessions! So without further ado here is a few words from April regarding her BIG giveaway...

CoConut CirCle is thrilled to announce the 1st Annual Photo Session Give Away Contest!

Inspired by the generosity of others, and anxious to spread the word about my all new blog page and redesigned web site, I have decided to create a raffle....a random drawing, designed to give away 5, yes FIVE, individual Basic Package photo sessions with me, April, owner and photographer of CoConut CirCle. These sessions are TOTALLY FREE to each of the 5 winners with nothing to buy and NO CATCH! Each winner will get a CD with the high resolution professionally edited images from their winning session to keep and duplicate! NOTHING to buy and NO CATCH. Just help me spread the word about CoConut CirCle Photography and you will be entered to win. Here is how is works:

TO ENTER: make a "comment" to this blog post including your FIRST name and LAST initial, CITY, and the TYPE of photo session you would like to have, ie maternity, infant, engagement, newborn, senior photos, etc. A sample comment entry:
"April M, West Palm Beach, Engagement"
You may only enter one time this way.

To increase your chances of winning, you may enter additional times using the following alternate methods (one time for each):

1) "FAN" CoConut CirCle on FaceBook and you will receive an entry (if you are already a FAN of CoConut CirCle, you will automatically receive this entry)

2) Create a Status entry about this contest blog entry on YOUR FaceBook page, then go to CoConut CirCle's FB page and post "I entered!" so that your entry can be verified and counted.

3) create a POST of this blog entry on YOUR blog or web site. Then come back to THIS blog post and enter a comment including YOUR blog or web address so that your entry can be verified and counted. Sample entry comment:
"I entered: visit me at www.CoConutCirCle.com"

4) become a "follower" of CoConut Circle's "April's Inner Circle" Blog page. This will generate yet another entry for you.

5) send an EMAIL to your friends whom you think might be interested in winning a photo session, inviting them to visit this blog (http://www.coconutcircle.blogspot.com/) and enter. When you do, "CC " me in your email at CoConutCirCle@hotmail.com so that your entry can be verified and counted.

These methods allow you to enter this drawing up to 6 times! The more you enter, the better your chances of winning and the more people you help me tell about CoConut CirCle!

This raffle is open to everyone, including clients of CoConut CirCle. Each entered can only win 1 of the 5 sessions, and in the event a name is drawn twice, another name will be drawn and declared the winner. The five individual winning names will be drawn and posted on this blog on Monday, Feb 15th at noon. You have 2 weeks! The winners will be listed exactly as they were originally entered: first name, last initial, city, and session type for example:
"April M, West Palm Beach, wins an Engagement Session"
The winners will have 48 hours to contact me to confirm their prize. In the event that a winner does not come forward in that time, another name will be drawn. All winning photo shoots must be shot in Broward or Palm Beach counties, so basically, "you must be present to win!"

By the way April happens to be the talented photographer that took our beautiful Christmas pictures as well as captured the tribe's third birthday! She captured shots that I would never have thought of or had been able to get. Here are a few of the beautiful shots she took of our family. There were so many great shots we had a hard time choosing which ones to send out! Just take a look at her handy work!

















So again I ask you?...

Will you be one of the FIVE winners of a FREE photo session?...

a hint of something FUN to come!...

I have a SUPER fun "thing" coming up soon for the tribe! It involves the following items & of course the tribe! When all is said & done we will have something awesome to share with everyone! Here's...



a hint of something FUN to come!...