THC

Yes, I am now aware that THC is a drug. I grew up in Utah people.

My friend had her baby a few days ago and I had made her a pamphlet to give her when I went to meet her little guy. After I had made the whole thing Rob informed me that THC is a drug. The best part? My friend's hubby is a cop! He's never gonna let me live this one down.

And let me point out that after I was woken up by a 2:45 am phone call telling me her water broke... I was at her house exactly 3 minutes later. I so should be a fireman!

Anyways... This is her 4th baby so she's set on all things baby so I had to come up with something fun and different for a gift. When I gave it to her I told her that I got her into a very exclusive club because the owner owed me some favors.

So here's the pamphlet. I had a some good laughs making it. I cut out the pics and the stuff I wrote and glued it all to some construction paper folded into thirds. Enjoy!

The Hartshorn Club

-Have you recently had a baby?

-Have your mother and mother-in-law had to say goodbye to go back to their regular lives leaving you to jump back into motherhood before you feel ready?

-Do you have a husband that works graves and is in need of sleep during the day leaving you to manage your own recovery, taking care of a demanding newborn, and wrestling with three other children?

If you answered yes to any of these questions then The Hartshorn Club (THC) is the right place for you! Here at THC we believe in helping mothers transition to regular life when all of their help has left.

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Sprawling over a massive 1300 sq. feet THC is an impressive estate. We will watch your children closely so as to not lose them in our enormous facility. Equipped with a toy area, lunchroom, art area, Library, Movie Theater, and outside play area your kids are sure to have a blast with our FC, Boston.

So what does being a member of THC entail? It entitles the recipient of this pamphlet to AT A MINIMUM 3 days of dropping her kids off at THC. She can bring the younger ones in the morning and drop off the older one when he gets out of school. Her children will be played with, read to, entertained, fed lunch and dinner.

Unfortunately a clause in our FC, Boston’s, contract requires us to have utter and complete silence in our facility while he naps (such a pre-madonna!) so the THC member’s children will be dropped off at her house for naps then picked back up after.

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Fun Counselor (FC)

Boston R. Hartshorn

Boston graduated from TWU (The Womb University) in October of 2008 and has been working at THC ever since. He has a passion for little kids and toys. An upbeat ball of energy he will keep your kids busy and having fun. But beware.. if this counselor doesn’t get his nap he can be scary!

While Boston has accomplished much in his extremely long life so far, he plans on soon mastering going potty on the big boy potty, doing a somersault, and coloring within the lines.

The Toy area. We like to refer to this area as the toy explosion area. Each and every toy here at THC has been hand (and most likely mouth) tested and approved by our FC himself.

The outside play area is beautifully landscaped with dying patches of grass here and there while others are growing out of control. Random rocks add to the exotic feel of this play area.

The lunchroom is situated smack-dab in the middle of the kitchen so you are sure to get a very fresh lunch and dinner. ( Yes I realize me house is totally bare. When we moved back in after the fire I didn't want to unpack all the decor and curtains just to repack it in 6 months)

The Art Area. Look familiar? At THC we like to multipurpose our rooms.

Our luxury sedan will shuttle your sweet children to and from our facility.

Our movie theater. All we can say is WOW! Our grand 42 inch projection screen is sure to have your kids slack-jawed with amazement. We also offer complimentary popcorn with each movie.

And last but not least the library. Fully stocked with any book a 1-3 year old could want.

Fine Print:

· The recipient MUST use our service and not try to be superwoman and do it all by herself.

· I guess that’s all the fine print that we have

Iron Stomach

One of Boston's favorite things is to have Rob wind up the swing and let him spin.

I get sick just watching!

He'd do it for hours if we let him. I think it's safe to say he got Aunt Coco's iron stomach

Safety is his priority!!

Rob is very concerned about safety.. almost to the point of being a little crazy. As parents we all have something that we are overly concerned about. Mine is germs :)

So last night as we were laying in bed about to fall asleep Rob started laughing and told me he had a funny idea. We have been talking about buying a house for law school depending on where we go. So he said, "If we buy a 2 story house that has wood stairs we could put velcro on each stair and then have our baby wear a shirt that has velcro on it so if he/she falls down the stairs it'll catch the baby!"

Oh my Gosh!!! I could not stop laughing! I wish I could peek inside Rob's mind sometimes to see where he comes up with this funny stuff. And if you think that he was kidding... he really would do it!

Can't you see it now.. You're down in the kitchen preparing lunch when you hear your baby at the top of the stairs. You call up to your baby to not move until Mommy gets there but then you hear her start to tumble down the stairs.

You're too late!

You start running as fast as you can while your mind races with the horrific possibilities. And then you hear it..."Qwoysh!" (I have no idea how to spell out the sound velcro makes) At this point you are at the bottom of the stairs with your catchers mitt in hand only to look up to see that thanks to stair number 2 your baby has been saved! Thank you velcro ha ha ha

FHE

Boston is at a fun age for FHE where he is really starting to grasp the concepts we teach him. A few months ago I did the lesson on being a good boy and listening to Mommy and Daddy. It worked so well!! His tantrums have gotten better and he is quicker to do what we ask.

We started a Good Boy Chart at that FHE and every time that he listens and does what we ask, or can pull himself out of a tantrum quickly, or is just plain being precious he gets a sticker. (he gets a lot of stickers for that last one!) We try hard not to say, "If you... you get a good boy sticker." cuz we don't want this to turn into a bribery chart :)

When his chart is filled up he gets a treat or toy (his choice). We take the chart to the store and use it to pay for his treat/toy. I get some weird looks from the cashiers when my little guy hands them a paper with stickers on it for payment but he is so proud to be able to buy his toy with his good stickers.

So last night I had the lesson again. Five Guys burgers just opened in town so of course we had to go!! I love Five guys!!!

Getting the last of the french fries in the bottom of the bag

Then we headed to the park and talked about how Jesus made the grass, the sky, the birdies, the trees... you get the idea... for us because he loves us. It was a very quick lesson since the little guy couldn't wait to get playing

They had the BEST hill at this park!! We played on it for two hours. It was a great workout and I really regretted eating so many french fries!

Boston is a very fast runner and boy he did NOT hold back on the hill! He's super coordinated too and just as we thought he was doomed for a wipeout he would manage to work it out and not wipeout. It was hilariously impressive

Boston kept asking Rob to crisscross him as he ran

Then we discovered some ants. Perfect for another FHE plug.. "Jesus made ants too!"

Then we found a tunnel to go yell really loud into

In the middle of the tunnel Boston turned around with his scared face on and gasped and said "Mommy. Shhh. Ghosts!!!"

I just love the spring :) We'll definitely be doing plenty more things outside so if you wanna come along call us!!

Cookie night with Dad

Friday night I went out to dinner with my friends and left the boys to fend for themselves. While I was gone they made a giant sugar cookie. Before baking it they grabbed various toy animals and made tracks in the dough and Rob taught Boston about tracks. What a cute Dad! I love him :)

Unfortunately the giant cookie didn't come off the pan in one piece but Boston didn't mind!

Rob told me that Boston kept squeezing the frosting while screaming out, "BLUE WATERFALL!!!"

Thanks for letting me go out sweetie and for making it a fun night with the boy! And thanks for putting him in a black shirt turned inside out while he played with blue frosting. You know me so well ;)

Gone Fishin'

On Thursday after a week of this..

..and this..

..And basically not leaving the house (there were 2 days this week that I did not take one step out of my house and 1 day that i went outside to get the mail and that was it) I was going stir crazy!!!

So, Rob came home and told us we were going fishing! We've never gone with Boston and he was starting to feel better so we packed up and headed down to Lake Mead.

Luckily I packed a few snacks so we were able to use those to feed the birds. We'll have to go back again with a few loaves of bread cuz Boston had a blast! We started out with 4 ducks and by the end had over 30 birds flying around us

That bird behind B's head looks like it's coming in for the kill

Then the bird chase began! I was so happy to see my energizer bunny back

After we ran out of snacks for the birds it was time to fish! Our first attempt was on the marine dock but we got busted. Note to self: You aren't allowed to fish there

So we moved to the shore. I love Boston in this picture! He stood like this for a good 3 or 4 minutes (forever in Boston time).

It didn't take him long to realize fishing isn't super exciting so we went off to explore the shore while Daddy tried to catch us something

We threw rocks into the lake and had fun watching the big splashes. (you can see the rock he just threw in the top left)

And let his crocodiles swim

And just had fun exploring and playing in the sand!

Boston found a stick and got excited that he had a fishing pole like Daddy. Here's the two boys fishing

Our last stop was the fishing pier. No luck there either but we did have fun running up and down the pier :)