The Proof is in the Paint

I had a rather eventful evening on Thursday. Fiona had a friend come over after school. About 6pm her friend's father was on his way to come get her. I was on the phone just finishing up with directions when Kennedy screamed, "I just stepped in wet paint". I hung up the phone and remembered that about 5 minutes prior to Kennedy's scream, Porter came running upstairs and headed to his room. I went downstairs to find a huge puddle of white paint on the dark green carpet. Granted, this is just a carpet scrap that keeps their feet from freezing, but still. Three paint cans lay on their side and one's cap was cracked open just enough to leak.

I got Fiona's friend off with her dad and set off to find the truth. All fingers pointed to Porter so I made him come downstairs and talk to me while I tried to clean the mess. I asked him why he was playing with the paint cans and he replied, "I build a tall tower, it fall down." I then told him he had boxes of blocks, why paint cans. "They're bigger." Now, I knew he didn't mean to spill the paint, but the bottome line is that the paint cans are Daddy's and he's not allowed to play with Daddy's stuff.

3 hours, 4 buckets full of water, 2 1/2 rolls of paper towels, and one full shop vac the mess was pretty much gone. I didn't yell at Porter but grounded him from checking out movies and books from the library. (trust me, this is a big deal for him; sidenote - I made a point to go the library the next day so he couldn't check anything out - does that make me mean?)

I sat down at 9pm to finally eat my salad. The frustration wore off and I started giggling. I hope his inquistive mind can be put to good use one day.

Another bit about my Porterman is that he has been asking for a shirt and tie to wear to church. I finally remembered to get him one. He looked so handsome today, I thought I'd share.



See...it's kinda hard to be mad at that face for too long!

Patting myself on the back...

Awhile ago at Stake Conference one of the speakers read a quote, "Fix it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." I'm usually pretty good at pinching pennies but with school too many things got pushed aside. Now with some time on my hands, I decided to put those words into action.

The past couple of days, I have patched my favorite jeans and broke out the sewing machine. I love the brand Silver jeans but as some of you know they are very expensive. Between rummage sales and Goodwill I've come across some nice namebrand pants including Silvers and Guess. (...the most expensive being $4...and I don't think the pants have ever been worn...) The one problem I always run into is the length. I'm short. (...sorry to state the obvious...) Now that schools out, I brought out all of the mending and hemming. I have 4 new (to me) pairs of jeans and a pair of shorts.

Some of you are scratching your heads not realizing that I had aquired the talent of sewing. I thank my Grandmother's Cope and Larson who forced me to listen and watch them sew.

The hemming and mending isn't the coolest part. My boys needed some curtains for their rooms. They keep waking up at the crack of dawn. I wanted to get them some good insulated/thick curtains to help with the sunshine in the summer and the cold air in the winter. When I priced them out, it would cost me close to $40. No way.

Today, I went to Wal-Mart and found some nice thick fabric on sale (a nice boyish maroon, dark olive green, light olive green striped) and commenced to make curtains. They work great and make it nice and dark in their room . The true test will be how early they wake up tomorrow morning.

Sorry about tooting my own horn but I am pretty pleased with myself and thought I'd share.

Graduation

Well, I did it. Yesterday (Saturday) was my graduation from UW Green Bay. I was intially very upset because I was told I was uneligible to graduate with honors. UWGB policy states that you must attain 60 credits from UW the semester before graduation. I only had about 58. So I was told that not only would I not recieve my honor cords but that it would not say with honors on my transcript. I whined and complained to my counselor and eventually just sucked it up and moved on.

I recieved a very pleasant surprise as I was thumbing through the program booklet at graduation. In the honors section, under Magna Cum Laude was "Rebecca Phillips Hoffman". I quickly hunted down my counselor before everything started and showed it to her. She tried to explain to me that I would have honors listed on my transcript but no cords. Whatever, all I know is I worked hard and am glad I got some recognition. However, I must admit I cringed everytime they said a graduates name and their honors knowing they wouldn't be saying anything about me. It's an ego thing, I know.

Speaking of ego...could they make graduation gowns anymore unflattering. I was so close to breaking out my sewing machine and doing some serious alterations...little black dress anyone? ...and the hat...I have no suggestions....

Thank you to everyone who has helped and encouraged me while working on this endeavor. Thank you to my wonderful sister-in-law Jill who accompanied Jake so he didn't have to sit alone during then entire 2 1/2 graduation (yep, that's how long it was). Most especially, thank you to my wonderful husband who has supported and encouraged me these past couple of years. I smiled as all of us graduates were entering into the Kress center and I caught Jake's eye. I'm not positive but I think I saw tears in his eyes and I had to remind him to take a picture of me. :)

Here are a few pics from Graduation.

Jake also got a clip of me getting my diploma. Notice the awesome catcall when they say my name. (Thanks Jill!)

Will Porter & Gryffin survive to 16? Stay tuned to find out...

I absolutely adore my children. That being said, I feel my boys are really going to give me a run for my money.

In the past week, I've caught them drawing on the walls (AGAIN!!!), unfolding the newly folded clothes (2 minutes prior) and Gryffin taking permenant marker to himself. Oh, and Gryffin climbed on top of my washing machine and got stuck. Later that day I had no cold water for the washer. He had shut if off while stuck on said washing machine.

JUST TODAY, both of them on my countertop trying to get candy (7:30 am - caught them after I got out of the shower), shortly after they completely stripped their beds of all linens, the time it took to make my lunch Gryffin was screaming downstairs - he was stuck on top of the deep freezer, 30 min later I had no water running in my house - Gryffin flipped the breaker downstairs while on top of the freezer (thank you Uncle Jerod for figuring that out..), while I was at piano with Fiona both boys climbed up to the key hooks and took both sets of keys for the lawnmower - Jake didn't notice until he heard a strange clicking noise outside.

I'm sure there is more that I'll discover later but I'm too tired to check. So I ask...any of you who have boys...is this what the rest of my life will be like? I'm going to need a lot more Coke and chocolate........................................

More Mother's Day

I had to share this...it's too cute. Fiona woke up on Sunday AM with really bad allergies, so she stayed home from church. When I got home, she literally ran at me and shoved a card in my hands. She wrote some very sweet words but the icing was the quarter she taped inside the card. You have to understand that she is a tightwad like her mother so for her to give up money for something other than tithing - it's a big deal. I'm typing her wonderful phonetic spelling:

"Happy Muthrs Day - I love you mom
this qarter is for you all for doing the stufh you did
I love you mom
Happy muthris day
I rele love you mom."

I tried to give her the quarter back but she wouldn't hear of it.

Happy Mother's Day

First, I just wanted to wish all of you fabulous mom's a Happy Mother's Day! I thought I'd share a poem with you that Kennedy wrote at school. She brought it home for me on Friday. It made my day.

Happy Mother's Day

May 2009

Name: Becky

Mother of: Gryffin, Porter, Fiona and Kennedy

She loves: Flowers, Family and Kisses

She feels: Happy, Sad and Mad

She needs: Dad, Mom and Sister

She fears: Snakes, Snowstorms and Tornados

She would like to see: Sisters, Brothers, Moms and Dads

Resident of: Maple Road, Gresham

I like to call her Mommy.

I love you Mommy!

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Dance Recital

Today was recital. It was a crazy day because I had to leave at 7:30am to head to Green Bay for class and drop my boys off with Uncle Jerod because Daddy was at work. Aunt Jilli took my girls overnight and graciously agreed to get Kennedy to dress rehearsal that morning and then get her ready for the recital as well as get her to recital. My professor let me leave class an hour early. I got to the recital at 12:30 and it started promptly at 1pm.

I'm so proud of my Kennedy. I love to watch her dance. I know this is me being biased, but I think she's pretty dang good. She likes to "shake it". (...those are her words)

It was an awesome show. Not only did I get to watch Kennedy, but my neices - Taylor, Mackenzie and Brookie, my sister-in-law Jasmine, and a whole slew of cousins were in the recital.

Wish you were there Jen. We needed someone to start the catcalling. :) Here's a few pics for you instead.



1st pic:Brookie, Kennedy, Mackenzie & Taylor
2nd pic: Kennedy & Aunt Jasmine