Serves Me Right For Asking

**WARNING! This story contains graphic information that may be inappropriate for readers with weak stomachs** (Don't say I didn't warn ya!!)

UGH!!

Today has been a rough day. Yesterday was too. Evan is sick. AGAIN! I can't believe it. I swear he has been sick more often the past couple months than he has been healthy! Give me a freakin break!

He has been running a fever now for a few days. He's had a little bit of a runny nose. The snot hasn't really been all that bad though....except when he sneezes. Every time he sneezes a huge rocket of snot comes shooting out of his nose and, never fail, seems to splat in a big wad all over the jeans I am wearing. Ick.

I took him to the doctor. He has a sinus infection. Poor kid. I hate sinus infections. They put him on an antibiotic. I know antibiotics are good and all, but I HATE it when any of my littles have to go on them. Not just because I think they tend to over medicate children and give them antibiotics (among other drugs)that aren't needed and so there are now these super germs that have become resistant to antibiotics, either. It's because every time...and I mean EVERY time....not most of the time or every once in a while but EVERY SINGLE TIME one of my children get put on an antibiotic they get the runs!! You know.... the trots, flux, dysentery, hershey quirts, diarrhea...whatever you call it.

So, I have now spent the last 24 hours listening for Evan to make that noise. The high pitched "you had better come running, scoop me up, sprint me into the bathroom, fling off anything I have on the bottom half of my body and throw me onto the toilet OR you are gonna be cleaning up one big, nasty mess" squeal. I think my thigh muscles have gotten more of a workout int he past 24 hours than they have in the last 2 years.

Earlier I heard him call for me. I asked if he had to go to the bathroom.
"Yes mama. I gotta go" he said as he pointed in the general direction of the bathroom. I scooped him up and ran him in, tossing him in the general direction of the toilet.
Once I had him in position I asked "So, are you just going peepee? Or are you going poopy?"
"Just poopy" he said happily.
Wheh! I was so relieved. So, I left the bathroom and went on with whatever it was I was doing. Something extremely important, I am sure. About 3 minutes later I heard him calling me. I went in.
"What's up?" I asked.
"I need you to wipe me" he said.
"I thought you were just going pee." Once I had taken two steps into the bathroom the smell alerted me to the fact that indeed, he would need wiped.
"I did just pee! I just peed out my butt!!"

Serves me right for asking.

So, here he is, super cute as always. I wish I still looked this cute when I was sick and still in my Buzz Lightyear pajamas at 3 in the afternoon.

Gordon B. Hinckley

Gordon B. Hinckely, the President and Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was an amazing man.

He was a humble man.

He was funny.

He was kindhearted.

He was warm.

He was witty.

He was the epitome of genuine.

He was someone that everyone, no matter what religion, should strive to be like. He was a good, good person. I can only imagine how happy he must have been to be reunited with his sweet wife.

You will be greatly missed....

If Cars Lasted Forever......

Oh. My. Gosh. Why can't cars just last forever?

Why can't you just pick one and have it last for as long as you are alive?

If ya pick the wrong one? Too bad. You're stuck with it. Don't like the color? Well, too bad. Paint it yourself. Have another baby? Well, strap her on the hood. (Ok, not really. Please don't go strap your baby to the hood of your car. She'll have bug goo all over her before you get to Wal-Mart.)

We bought our van. You know, the one that I didn't really want but settled for because my husband wanted it even though I am the one that has to drive it all the time. That van. When we bought it, there was a tiny chip in the windshield (and a few other minor issues) that the dealer gave us a "we owe" for. So, we took the van in last week. An hour away. With all 4 kids in the backseat. That is 2 hours round trip (just in case you suck at math). We took it in on Thursday. They called us on Friday and said it was ready. We drove back an hour to get it and when we got there the windshield had not been replaced. The chip was still there. They had done nothing.

The manager apologized profusely and said it was his fault for not checking it out before he had called us. Well, DUH, of course it is your fault. This was the same manager that I had gotten into a heated discussion with when buying this van.

"Why don't you come on out here and we can show you this new Ford Freestar."
"Umm, no thanks. I don't like Fords."
"It has leather interior."
"Ummmmmmm, NO thanks. I don't like leather.?
"What?!? You don't like leather? Everyone likes leather. What do you have against leather?"
"Well, first off I have 5 car seats in my car and they tend to leave indentations in the leather that ruin it."
"Yeah, that is why you should take the car seats out and let the seat 'breathe' every once in a while."
"Did you hear me say I put 5 car seats in?? Have you ever strapped FIVE car seats into a van before?? There is no way I am messing with taking FIVE car seats out of the car to let my seats 'breathe' and then breakin gmy finger (yes, that has happened) straping them all back in. Thank you very much. Plus, I am not particularly in love with the smell of burning flesh. Which is what the interior of your car smells like if you have leather seats and live in Florida in July and August."
(Not that I have anything against other people having leather interior...It is cool looking....to each his own) But anyways....

So my husband called on Tuesday and talked to the salesman who had sold us the car. He told him that their glass man had looked at it and said there was nothing he could do about it...hat they were a dealership and not a glass shop and he pretty much said we were SOL. So, I said that was fine. If they didn't want to fix the window like they had promised (and put in writing), we would be returning the van to them the following day.

They replaced the window yesterday.

Then, today, I was out and about and realized......my freaking passenger side window won't roll down. Those morons had to have done something to it. It worked fine before and now it doesn't. The van is under warranty, so I think we won't even bother calling this dealer back. We will just take it somewhere else and have it fixed.

But, if cars lasted forever I wouldn't have this problem.

We wouldn't have to deal with idiot car sales guys.

We wouldn't have to argue about the make and model and worry about how many miles it had on it.

We would just buy a car....and have it last forever. Wouldn't that just be easier?!?

Thanks A Bunch!

Leah gave me this lovely award. I would love to come up with something funny to say....but today is my husband's birthday and I am WAY too busy to make the effort to be funny. So, I'll just say, thanks Leah. You're kids are pretty adorable, too. :)


I am going to go ahead and pass this on to One Scrappy Gal. We seem to have a good amount in common and I love reading about her family and seeing all the fun pics that she posts.

Can I Get a Spellcheck, Please??

Last week, I was driving to the mall. I passed a sign that was out in front of a local church. It was one of those signs where they can slide the letters in and write whatever they want to on it. Well, this is what it read:

Has Jesus touched your soul?
Special Massage
Sunday 10am

Hmmmm..Now what kind of church is this exactly?!? I laughed.

I was then driving past the same sign 2 days ago. It read:

Has Jesus touched your soul?
Special Message
Sunday 10am

Ohhhhhh, ok. They just forgot to use spellcheck.

***UPDATE: I have had a couple people email me and tell me they didn't get it, so for those who are getting confused let me help ya out a little. On the drive past the sign the first time the word is spelled "massage," as in a rub down with hot oil. The second time it was spelled "message" as in something important I need to relay to you.***

These Are a Few of My NOT Favorite Things

My friend, Jude, recently blogged about children's TV characters that she found annoying. I had a good laugh when reading hers and decided to steal her idea and write a little about a few that are my NOT favorites as well.


1) Jetta from Clifford, the Big Red Dog. She seems sweet enough. However, she opens her mouth....and she lies. She brags. Then she cheats....EVERY FREAKIN' EPISODE she's on. She acts horrible, has some sort of defining moment (or simply gets caught red handed) and then regrets whatever it was she did. BUT, inevitably, by the following episode she is back to her lying, cheating ways. Bragging about how wonderful she is. I don't think she ever REALLY learns her lesson.

2) Remember when we were kids and Sesame Street was good? It might as well be called Elmo's World now. Once that little punker got one little, hairy toe in the door, he spread like a nasty virus!

3) Zoe, also from Elmo's World...errrr, I mean Sesame Street. That furry little monster never wants to share anything. And what's up with the rock?? The rock that everyone has to pretend is alive...? If you ask me, I think she is having some sort of a psychotic break.

4) The Man in the Yellow Hat on Curious George. Can you say SPCA?? He is a totally negligent pet owner.

5) And yet another Sesame Street Character.....Ernie. I can't blame Bert for being in a grumpy mood all the time. I sympathize with him. Ernie constantly keeps him awake at night!! I KNOW how it feels to be completely sleep deprived and if I were Bert, I would have kicked Ernie's obnoxious, orange butt to the curb LONG ago.

6) Then there is Caillou. He is a B.R.A.T. He is whiny and self-absorbed and is such a meany to his little sister!! Although, I have to say that I don't think we should place all the blame on Caillou. After all, it is his parents that are the enablers, right?? Not once have I seen them put that child in time out!

7) TeleTubbies. Does anyone else hear obscenities when they watch this show?? I swear, once I heard them say "Ohhhh, no no. You naughty noo noo. Mo noogie." Seriously?!? I bet that's some dirty inside joke between one of the writers and his dominatrix mistress.

8) And what's up with Diego? I actually don't mind watching this show, but I hope that his parents have some decent health/life insurance on that kid. Why? Come on, Baby Jaguar is cute and fuzzy now, but we all know that Jaguars just don't make good pets!

9) Yo Gabba Gabba. Umm, just look at the picture. Really. Need I say more??

(When I read the blog on Jude's page, she mentioned something about Clifford and about how he is as big as a house, which means his poop would have to be huge. They live on a tiny island, so why isn't there a mountain of humongo dog poo around? No one is ever complaining of the poo smell and you never see Emily Elizabeth carrying around a pooper scooper the size of a snow shovel. I am still cracking up about reading that.)

The sad thing is, if I were a better mom I wouldn't even be writing this post because I would be spending time playing with and reading to my children all day long instead of parking them in front of the TV for entertainment. Oh, well. They'll survive.

Ok, so now it is your turn. Do you agree or disagree or do you have any others to add??

She Should TOTALLY Be On Fear Factor!

**WARNING!! Those who are eating may want to finish first! Those who have a weak stomach or who have eaten recently and have a sensitive gag reflex may want to grab a barf bucket for this one!**

My sister called me the other day.

"What is the grossest thing one of your babies put in their mouth?" she asked.

"Ummmmm, well...I can't really think of anything off the top of my head. Why?? What happened? Did Devyn (my barely 12 month old niece) eat something??"

She then proceeded to tell me that she had been talking on the phone. Devyn was crawling around playing with toys and books and the buttons on the TV...per her usual. My sister noticed she had something in her mouth. She ran over and began the "finger sweep" to see what Devyn had gotten her hands on this time. That child gets ahold of EVERYTHING she shouldn't! She felt something. It was squishy and wet. What in the world was it?? She scooped it out and began to examine it. She was horrified. (You got that barf bucket ready??) It was a teeny (as in smaller than the size of your pinky fingernail).....black (as in the opposite of white)....shrivled up (as in all wrinkly and gross).....DEAD (as in NOT living)....frog!!! (I think I threw up a little in my mouth when my sister told me that)

This comes only a few weeks (or maybe a month or so) after my other sister was sitting at home while Devyn was playing around. She looked over and saw a small bug climbing up the front of Devyn's shirt (and yes, it is normal to have all sorts of little bugs and frogs and other critters crawling around your house here...it is impossible to completely rid your house of them).

Devyn noticed the bug. She began to pinch at it with her tiny fingers and after a time or two, she pinched that nasty little buggy and popped it in her mouth in one fell swoop!! MMMmmmmmmm!! Protein!! My sister did get it out of her mouth before she swallowed it, but I imagine Devyn crunched it a time or two first.

Those Fear Factor contestants ain't got nothin' on this beautiful baby girl!


Oh, and just in case you were wondering. After thinking about it for a minute...The grossest thing any of my littles got into their mouths was a toss up....Both times it was Kyle. He also put EVERYTHING in his mouth. Once, he had stuck his hand down the back of his dirty diaper and before I noticed, he had poo smeared all over his lips. The other time I was walking in the Wal-Mart parking lot, holding Kyle's hand (he was probably about 2), and he reached down, scooped up a nasty cigarette butt and popped it into his mouth. I just about barfed all over my cart full of groceries. COME ON PEOPLE!!!!!! PUT YOUR FREAKIN' BUTTS IN THE PROPER TRASH RECEPTACLES!!

Do I Really Need Another Reason??

I gots lots of comments (on the last post) on how wonderful our backyard is. It is a really nice backyard.....to look at. You can't go back there. For a couple of reasons.

Reason #1- We live in Florida. Anyone who lives or has lived here knows that kids pretty much don't play outside a whole lot (and not simply because the grass here feels like shards of glass stabbing into your skin when you touch it...they avoid that by playing in the street..nice, huh?). They especially stay out of the woods. Why? Because of the Florida wildlife. We have fire ants. Never head of 'em? Consider yourself VERY lucky. Ever been stung by a bee? Ok, well maybe that's not a good example because I haven't...at least not that I can remember. Have you ever used your finger nails to pinch a really, tiny amount of your skin really, really hard? YES? Hmmm, maybe you should be spending some time getting some fresh air rather than sitting at your computer reading blogs all day long. Anyways....so the ground is COVERED with these fire ant hills. You are strolling along, minding your own business, when all of a sudden you feel a slight stinging sensation. The stinging begins to get worse. You look down and these little pests are crawling ALL over you. You start to squish and flick them and swat them off, but that just makes them angry and you end up with bites all over your hands as well. It's not abnormal for you to end up with 50 bites in a ten second period when they start to swarm. And they HURT!! The bites turn into these little welts that resemble pimples and itch like 5 times more than a mosquito bite. I didn't have a pic of myself when I was viciously attacked, but I found this pic on another site... Not pretty, huh?? Plus, we have snakes. Big, ugly, "hiding under the brush so you have no idea I am here until you step on me" snakes. Like this guy who decided to take up residence on my lanai. At least I know enough about snakes to know that he was big and black and scary but NOT poisonous. Know what to do if you end up with a non-poisonous snake on your lanai?? Use the hose. My mom taught me that. I just propped the door open and gently sprayed in his direction until he retreated out the door. Know what to do if you have a poisonous snake on your lanai?? Scream and never, EVER go out there again. That's what I would do. And don't even get me started on the alligators here. Oh, and did I mention there are black panthers around as well??

Reason #2- The second reason for not going back into those woods (as if you really need another reason) is that you would be taken out in handcuffs. It's actually a nature preserve back there and, by law, we aren't allowed to step foot in it. And I have to say I have never been tempted to be a rebel and venture back there (refer to reason # 1).

So, yes, it is wonderful to look back there and see the interesting wildlife it brings...such as deer and armadillo and frogs that "sing" (ask one of my children what a frog says and the answer isn't "ribbit." The first few times I heard them singing after a rainfall I thought it was some kind of bird).
I just went and found this on youtube....

They get so loud it keeps you up at night until you get used to it. It's actually really neat for the first 15 minutes or so.....then it tends to get a little old. But anyways...So I wanna know what sort of critters you all have to deal with in your back yards!!

Photohunt: SKINNY

When you look out my back window, you can see lots and lots of super tall, super SKINNY trees. I figured these skinny trees would be perfect for the theme this week.

Happy Hunting all!!

My Rules of Dieting

'Tis the season.....for dieting. Is it just me, or have you read a lot of blogs recently that have started focusing on weight loss. January should be renamed "Diet-uary." So, for your reading pleasure, I have compiled a little list that is comprised of MY RULES OF DIETING.

1.If you eat the food off someone else's plate, it doesn't count.

2.If no one sees you eat it, it has no calories.

3.Cookie pieces contain no calories because the process of breaking the piece off causes calorie leakage.

4.If you fatten everyone else around you, then you look thinner.

5.Most of the calories in bread are in the crust, so just feed it to your dog.

6.If you eat standing up the calories all go to your feet and get walked off.

7.If you drink a diet soda with a candy bar, the calories in the candy bar are canceled out by the diet soda.

8.Your bathroom mirror adds ten pounds, and your bathroom scale is in on the conspiracy.

9.When you eat with someone else, calories don’t count as long as you don’t eat more than they do.

10.Foods that have the same color have the same number of calories. (i.e vanilla ice cream and cauliflower)


Maybe this explains why one of my New Year's Resolutions is always pertaining to losing weight. Oh well. Wouldn't it be easier if we just all decided to be fat and happy??

The I-4 Pile-Up

I am not sure how many of you have heard about the horrific accident that took place this morning, just before dawn here in Florida. A couple days ago, they started a "controlled" burn just outside of Orlando. I don't understand why they do this. Especially in the dry season here. I am sure there is good reason, but....
So anyways. The people were driving along, at 65 mph, when all of a sudden they were hit instantly by a wall of smog. Smoke from the "controlled" burn (that had become an uncontrolled burn yesterday) had mixed with fog and they said visibility went down to zero instantly. I read that someone said you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

Cars began to smash into each other. (There ended up being more than 50 cars involved) Those that had crashed and were sitting in a burning car had to decide if they should get out of the burning car into complete darkness, when they could still hear cars smashing into each other all around them, or if they should risk staying in the burning car a little longer. I can't even imagine. We have been seeing video and pictures of this all day long here. It must have been so horrifying.

I will be praying for all of those who were involved or who have a loved one that was. So far 3 are dead and more than 80 have been taken to the hospital. If you read this and are the praying type, please remember them all in your prayers as well.

OOOOooooohhhhh....Look At My Shiny New Award

I'd like to thank Girlymom over at The Red Door for this lovely award. I really didn't expect this, so I don't have a speech prepared. I am so excited I can hardly breathe. Even in my wildest hallucinations I never would have dreamt of such an honor. I'd like to thank all the little people.....oh wait...I am one of the little people, so scratch that. I'd like to thank my children, for being completely out of control and psychotic...you give me lots of good stuff to blog about. I'd like to thank my husband who goes off to work each and every day to make money to support my spending habits while I sit at home on my booty eating bon-bons and playing on the computer all day long (ok, so the latter of that is true....) And finally, I'd like to thank all of you for helping me to embrace my mediocrity and helping me to spread the word throughout the entire world (ok, or at least the 20 people who read this blog)that being a frumpy, uncool housewife isn't so bad. Thank you. Thank you very much *said as a BAD Elvis impersonation*

I am gonna go ahead and pass this on to My 5 Little Monkeys. I love to read all about her and all of her little primates.

***A little add on here. I have had a few people comment on how they have no idea what this award means, and I didn't explain that anywhere. The <3 (less than 3) is a sideways hearts...So the award means "I 'love' your blog." See it now...? Clever, huh??"***

Boys Will Be Boys

Judging by the look on his face, I don't think Boots saw it coming!!



I have a sneaking suspicion this would leave a "bibbity bobbity" boo boo!! (that was a seriously LAME attempt at humor)



I came into the toy room and found my boys engulfed in playing with the MEGA T-REX (when I say that in my head it is this big, deep, booming voice that echos.... MEGA T-REX.....T-Rex....T-rex....t-rex) and the MEGA SPINE-O-SAURUS (nothing spectacular happens for me with this one....). I just keep telling myself they are BOYS and it is NORMAL for them to do this kinda thing. They are just BOYS......being BOYS....I hope!

Birthday Meme

LEAH tagged me for a birth month meme. I know you have all probably read a bunch of these by now, so I will try to make this as entertaining as possible.

So I guess the rules are that you list the characteristics that correspond with your birth month and then comment after each on how that characteristic applies..or doesn't...to you. Then, you are supposed to tag 12 (twelve?!? seriously??) others.

So, here goes....I was born in August

Loves to joke Who, me, no...never. I am serious...all the time. I am not sarcastic at all either...not at all...not in the slightest.

Attractive Darn Skippy!!

Suave and caring That's me....Rico Suave....errr, Rico Suave'ette I guess it would be...

Brave and fearless Well, I won't swim in the ocean because a fish might touch me...or a shark might eat me. I won't call the pizza guy on the phone. I won't drive across a bridge because it might collapse and send me spiralling towards the water below (refer to beginning of answer). I check under my van each time I go outside just to make sure there isn't an alligator hiding underneath ready to bite my foot off and I have to RUN up basement steps for fear that, if I move too slow, some sort of boogie man hiding in the creepy basement might come running out and get me. What do you think? Pretty fearless, huh??

Firm and has leadership qualities Ummm, well I am definitely not so firm...especially after have 4 babies...I am actually pretty squishy. Oh, wait...you mean the other kind of firm....

Knows how to console others Yup, my shoulders are constantly soaked with the tears of those I love.

Too generous and egotistic Umm can someone please explain to me why in the world anyone would lump these two words together???

Takes high pride in oneself Well, you would too if you were the most amazing person you had ever met.

Thirsty for praise I dunno. What do you think? Does this blog make my butt look big?

Extraordinary spirit Rah Rah sis boom bah! Go team GO and all that jazz!! *said extraordinarily*

Easily angered What, like you aren't? That's right, I bet you are sooo perfect. Why don't you just..just..just..oh, whatever!

Angry when provoked Especially when people are repetitive and ask me to comment about the SAME character trait twice in a row...

Easily jealous You would be too if your husband was a sexy stud like mine is! :) (Love you babe!!)

Observant Wait, what was the question?

Careful and cautious Uhhhh... Didn't it just say I was brave and fearless?? Sheesh! Make up your mind!

Thinks quickly Then why did it take me like 4 hours to finish this thing??

Independent thoughts I dunno, what do you think?

Loves to lead and to be led That's right....I will lead my children into their bedrooms for nap time and you lead me to the hidden chocolate!! (come on....we all know you have some!)

Loves to dream Heck yeah...because that means I am sleeping!!

Talented in the arts, music and defense Lah Lah Lah! *sang in the most beautiful voice* "To be, or not to be...." *said meaningfully* HHIIIIIyah!!! *yelled as I karate chop the keyboard*

Sensitive but not petty I feel as though I am being repetitive...but how in the heck do these things go together???

Poor resistance against illness and memes alike.....

Learns to relax Ummm, well, the big knot I have in my neck muscles at the end of each day tends to lead me to believe I still need to work on this one.

Hasty and trusty and pasty and busty

Romantic Romantic, scromantic. I have 4 small kids...

Loving and caring I am not so sure my children would agree after the day we just had.....

Loves to make friends especially ones that are rich and like to buy me things. :)

Ok, so I am going to leave the tag open. I know, I know. That is a cop out. But I really don't know of many that would do this that haven't already. So, do it if you want to...or don't. IF you do, you can get the list of birthday month traits from LEAH's site (that's a link). You should check her blog out anyway, if you haven't already. She's pretty funny. :)

Heater Overload!!!

When I woke up this morning I was confused. My nose felt funny. It was......cold!! I grabbed my blankets and pulled them up over my face. I knew it was supposed to get cold out last night. My husband and I had spent a good amount of time yesterday evening moving large, potted plants from out by our pool to inside the garage. When I had checked the weather yesterday morning I did a double take. It was supposed to get down to 22 degrees!! That must be a mistake. We are in FLORIDA!!!! Florida...where there are palm trees and beaches and WARM WEATHER!! I guess they were predicting lower temps than they had had in more than a decade.

So I laid in my bed, covers up over my head, for a few minutes. I was still freezing. I flung the blankets off and scurried towards the thermostat. I was gonna crank that sucker up as far as it could go!!! I glanced at the clock on the microwave on my way past. It was blank. Hmmm.....that's odd. I looked over at the clock on the DVR. Nope, no clock there either. I flipped the light switch in the kitchen. No lights. You have got to be kidding me. The stupid power was out! I went back into my bedroom and grabbed my big sweatshirt and my slippers. I don't think I have worn this sweatshirt in almost 2 years!!

I heard Alaina starting to wake up. I went and scooped her up, blanket and all, out of bed. Evan woke up shortly after and then Mikaily. My husband called the power company. Turns out everyone else in the neighborhood had the same "crank that sucker up" idea and the system had been overloaded. Too many heaters turn on too high....in FLORIDA.....ironic, isn't it? So, we bundled up (there were gloves and hats involved) and hunkered down on the couch under some blankets. You'd think we lived in an igloo.

The power was out for a few hours. At one point Kyle had to go to the bathroom. He came running back in the toy room, very upset, and was like "Awwwww, Mmoooomm!! The power is out in the bathroom too!!"

New Van, New Year

It seems like the last week has passed by in a blur.

I wrote in the last quickie post that we did end up buying a van this past weekend. We bought a 2006 Chrysler Town and Country. It's silver. To be perfectly honest, it was not my first choice. We had driven a beautiful ice blue Nissan Quest that I had fallen in love with. The car salesidiot wasn't willing to come down much in price though. We wanted them to bring it down $300 more. I can understand why they would say no if we had been asking them to cut the price in half...but when you are talking about spending that amount of money.....seriously... we are asking for $300........they said they were willing to come down $50. We laughed and we walked away from the pretty blue Quest.

So we went to the next dealer and looked at the Town and Country. It doesn't have power sliding doors, which I really wanted...but obviously is something I can live without. It has a DVD player and plenty of room for all 5 car seats. (That's right, we have to be able to fit 5 car seats in.....well, 4 car seats and a booster seat. All four of mine are still in them and then since I watch my niece we have a seat for her....it's a pretty tight squeeze. I actually broke my finger once trying to get them all strapped in....hehe) So after having it for a few days now I do like it...a lot. So here it is.....



We had a great New Years. We decided to go ahead and let the kids try to stay up if they wanted to. We stuck them all in a dark room at like 5:00 on New Years Eve and told them they had to try to take a nap. They did...all 3 of my older ones slept. Even my 7 year old!! My sisters and my husband and I all stayed up super late playing games. It's always better to play board games at 2 in the morning when you are sleep deprived because things seem so much funnier than they really are. Like the word "cow"for example. Say it at noon...not so funny....but say it after you have been awake for 18 hours...F-U-N-N-Y!!

I love laughing. Who doesn't, right?? My siblings and I have all been cursed with the "silent mode" laugh. You know...when you start to giggle....then you laugh....that turns into a belly laugh....then into a howl...then, everything goes silent...you can't breathe....tears begin to well up in your eyes... you have to work to keep from falling over...your stomach muscles begin to burn...you worry you might pee your pants....the laugh that has then been building inside you finally comes bursting out and sounds almost non-human. It's not pretty, but it sure does feel soooo good. We all do it. All of our significant others find it a little odd. We don't care. We can't help it.

My New Years resolution this year was to actually set a REAL resolution. I failed. No resolution set. I will think about it at some point when I have some time....which will probably be in, oh, I'd say May.