Not Me Monday - Driving, Dress-Up and Angry Birds

We are really responsible parents. We would NEVER allow our two year old child to drive.

We would NOT allow our older children to play with our baby like a doll and dress him in all kinds of outfits...

Kyle dressed in a Royal Ranger outfit.

Josiah used a pair of Kyle's pants

to pretend he had a beard.

And we would NOT allow Joshua to play "Angry Birds" before naptime because that would be unconstructive play time.

No we would NEVER allow our kids to do such things ;)

Not Me Monday - Full Diapers and Housework

Saturday when I wasn't in the house taking care of Kyle and Joshua, I tried to be outside helping the rest of the family clean out our detached carport. I did NOT neglect my housework and allow my kitchen to look like a disaster area by bedtime.

So, later that night after supper when Kyle fell asleep in my arms I did NOT lay him down knowing his diaper was very full. I figured he'd only sleep for a little while so in the meantime I would get some neglected housework done. I got the other kids to bed and settled in then began working on my very messy kitchen.

I did NOT continue working for hours while Kyle kept sleeping. I did NOT end up finishing the kitchen and mopping the floor around 2:00 in the morning. I did NOT then go take a shower and come back to find Kyle still sleeping. I did NOT have to wake him up, change his diaper and then nurse him, all the while wondering how long he would have slept had I only changed him earlier. Thankfully, he went back to sleep quickly and we were both able to get a good night's rest.

Not Me Monday - Baby Cakes

Remember a week or so back when I posted about the wonderful cake Christiana made for the baby? Well, I did NOT drop it and ruin it and have to go buy a small one to use instead. After the baby was born my kids did NOT "decorate" it with a multitude of icing and color like the pictures below.

Everyone grab some icing and go for it!

It always taste better straight from the can.

Finished product. Very colorful :)

Not Me Monday - Sleeping Soundly

Our son was NOT sleeping on the couch at nap time only to slide right off and continue sleeping soundly. I did NOT see him there and laugh and then decide to take a picture of him and my husband did NOT decide to have a little fun and take some other shots while we were there. No, we are good parents. We would NEVER laugh at our sweet children sleeping soundly and then take pictures. NOT us ;)

Sleeping soundly even after sliding off

the couch (for some reason he likes to take

his shirt off when he sleeps. I assure you

he is wearing pants).

Everyone, except me and Joshua,

gathered around for a family shot.

Not Me Monday - Face paint, Pugs and Lost at the Zoo

Jim and I did NOT come home from running a quick errand when we decided to surprise the kids and take them out for supper only to find this when we walked in the door.

I did NOT come home after eating out with the homeschool Mom's from church only to find that we had ANOTHER pet to take care of. I mean we only live a 2 BR house(with an office as a 3rd bedroom) with 2 adults and 7 children, a black lab, and a rabbit, we don't have room for more pets.

Cute huh? Well, this is NOT how I saw her for the first time.

We did NOT name her Pugly because she's a pug and she's so ugly she's cute.

We did NOT take our kids to the zoo the Sunday before we started back to school and lose Matthew while we were there. I mean we have a buddy system in place that keeps things like this from happening in our family.

Our little guy once returned to us.

Not Me Monday - Old Teeth, and Snow Angels

I am the proud mother of an adorable, 1.5 year old who is perfect in every way and never manages to get into anything he's not suppose to. So the other day Kaitlyn did NOT come running down stairs with Joshua calling to Jim and I in a frantic voice, only to inform us that he had a mouth full of her old baby teeth, (we keep the kids baby teeth in 35mm canisters labeled with their names so when they are older they can see their baby teeth, weird, I know, but it's what we've always done). Some how he did NOT manage to open the canister and proceed to put them in his mouth like candy. (Don't worry though, we were able to empty his mouth without him swallowing any of them, so all is well.)

My perfect little Sweetheart :)

Since we lived in Vermont for four years our children do NOT miss having a lot of snow. So Jonathan did NOT adorn himself in full winter attire in the middle of summer and pretend to make snow angels on the living room carpet. I did NOT allow him to keep playing while pictures were being taken and Christmas music was playing in the background. It is way too early for Christmas music and dreaming of a white Christmas so I would NEVER let them do that.

Jonathan getting ready to make a snow (carpet) angel

Zucchini Bread in the Oven - Not Me Monday

Not Me Monday

Josiah, my oldest son, has taken over the job of baking zucchini bread when our family wants some. He loves to bake and has become quite efficient at it, enough that I trust him without supervision. Since he has made zucchini bread many times before, I had no hesitation in asking him to make some so we could have it for breakfast the next day.

I did NOT decide to let him make the zucchini bread while I went to take a nap. I was NOT awaken from my nap to smell something burning and the kids getting me to show me the oven in the picture below.Fortunately, everything turned out alright. I was able to clean it up easily and save the bread.

As an added note, Josiah is a very good cook and I trust him when he needs to cook. He still needs some instruction from time to time, but overall I am very proud of him and his talent.

For more "Not Me Monday - Being brutally honest and living to tell about it!" visit www.mycharmingkids.net

VBS - Not Me Monday

I did Not wait until yesterday to make posters for my VBS class that starts today. I did Not go to Walmart after midnight because I was told that was the best time to get cardboard boxes. I did Not come home and stay up with my husband and three oldest kids until after 3 am. Once in bed I did Not bring my one year old to bed with me (because he woke up and I wanted everyone else to be able to sleep). He did Not keep me awake until 4:30 am and then get me up and 8:12 am. I am Not tired and praying for the energy to get through today :) (However, I know that God is my strength and He will help me make it with plenty of energy until I can get home and crash.) VBS is going to be great and believe it or not I'm really looking forward to tonight and meeting all those precious faces I get to spend the week with.

Christiana helping Jim with one of his posters

Jim showing how he wants it done

Me helping with one of Jim's posters

Josiah tracing

Kaitlyn and Jonathan helping

Push ups, and Flower Boxes - Not Me Monday

As most of you know my family and I were in NC this past week due to the death of my brother-in-law. While at the visitation my three year old son, Matthew, saw a four year old girl speaking to his one year old cousin and quickly informed the little girl that she shouldn't be talking to his cousin. A few moments later we, my sister and I, looked over to see Matthew talking sweetly to the little girl, we figured he must have wanted her attention to himself. A moment later I did NOT look again to see Matthew doing push ups for the little girl in the middle of the floor of the family visitation room. He did NOT draw the attention of most people in the room. My children know how to behave in public places and would NEVER think of doing push ups in public, let alone at a funeral home.

A couple of days later we were staying at my Dad's house. My Dad loves to garden and enjoys planting flower beds. So my Dad and I did NOT look out on the porch and see my wonderful children digging tunnels through his flower box on the front porch. My children did NOT look like deer caught in headlights when we found them. And we did NOT all enjoy a good laugh after my Dad jokingly got onto them and then admitted that that box was empty and no seeds were planted there.

We did enjoy our visit home with family even though the circumstances for our visit were regrettable. We are now glad to be home and ready to get back on track so we can finish out this school year. I would like to thank everyone for your prayers and condolences during this time for my sister and her family. She is doing well and I ask that when she comes to mind that you will continue to lift her up in prayer. Thank you.

Thirsty - Not Me Monday

Not Me – Being brutally honest and living to tell about it.

Yesterday, after being out in the sun for four hours helping sign up kids for our Gigantic VBS, we were all quite tired, thirsty and glad to be home. Once we were home everyone got their fill of water and re-hydrated themselves. I did Not assume that since Joshua had been carried on my back in the Ergo that he didn't need much water. And while fixing supper that night I did Not look over and see this...

I definitely did Not grab the camera first instead of removing my son from drinking water from the dog's bowl, I am much more responsible than that. I also would Not even think of posting it in my blog, that would be way too embarrassing. No Not me :)

Face Paint and All Tied Up

Not Me Monday's are humorous true stories of real life that I experience on a daily basis. It's true, but of course "not me" who would allow that to happen (although I did). It's just me being brutally honest, knowing I'm not the only one :) So here's my first "Not Me" post.

I did not allow my 1 year olds face to get painted by his sister, because I know how difficult it can be to get face paint off of a 1 year old. No, not me. I am way too responsible for that, surly I would wash it off right away. I mean, after all, I have six other children and I know better than that.

I did not look downstairs this morning only to find this scene.

My children were working together nicely removing all the birthday streamers from this weekend. And they would never tie their younger brothers up just for fun because my children always treat others the way they want to be treated.