Please Don't Put Those Beans Up Your Nose!!

Kittens Inspired by Kittens

2009-02-20T11:37:00.002-05:00

Ok, so after being gone for so long, I know this is a really odd post, but it's for my sister, Jill. I promise I will write something real soon...

We've Got Our Eyes on You!

2009-01-23T13:23:00.004-05:00

We got a new camera for Christmas and we had an excellent time taking pictures of our eyes and examining the different colors they are. Just thought I would post 'em up here so you can talk about how weird we are.
Jason

Me

Mikaily

Kyle

Evan

Laney

I Blame My Booty

2009-01-15T20:31:00.003-05:00

When I was a teenager, I was into all kinds of sports. I played basketball and soccer. I dabbled in track and cross country. I even took a shot at volleyball once. I loved being active. I loved working out. I loved pushing myself until I could barely breathe, knowing that my muscles would be screaming at me 24 hours later.

I can remember when I was on the school basketball team they used to kill us during the first week of practice. By that second day, the muscles in my body hurt so bad I could barely move. I can also vividly remember smiling as I would run up and down the stairs in my house everyday after practice for that first horrific week. That feeling of my muscles screaming at me in agony was almost euphoric. IT made me feel alive.

Apparently, I was on CRACK!!!

I have started working out again. Mostly because I was sick of lying down with my family to watch a movie on our family movie night and having my children laugh at the fact that my butt jiggles when they smack it. I tried to tell them that their butts all jiggled too, but they didn't listen. In fact, when I grabbed Mikaily and pinned her down to show them, my boys took advantage of the fact that my hands were tied up holding Mikaily down and each of them picked a cheek and started smacking away at my butt. Little Punkers......

My. Body. Hurts. No, hurt isn't the right word. My body aches. No, my body is in ANGUISH! How could I ever have liked this feeling?? Could it possibly have felt like this back then?? Maybe it's worse because I am approaching 30...?? I doubt that, though. I am older now, but I worked like 17 times as hard when I was a teenager and on those various sports teams. It hurts when I stand. It hurts when I sit. IT HURTS WHEN I BREATHE!!! Our baby gate has become my nemesis. Do you have any idea how high those stupid things really are?? I am going to have to move a mini-fridge and a port-o-potty into our toy room so I don't have to attempt to scale that dang-blasted thing tomorrow. I can just imagine myself crashing to the floor after flinging my first leg over and then not quite clearing the toes on my second foot. I imagine I would probably knock out a tooth......or 3, on the hard, tile floor on the other side. Maybe I should just throw down one of the mattresses on the other side of the gate. Then I can just walk up to it and fling myself over with no worries of permanently maiming myself. This sucks.

Stupid jiggly butt. It's all your fault.

Is It Just Me, Or Are You Glad That It's January Too?!?

2009-01-06T15:28:00.005-05:00

The past couple of weeks have been so crazy. I know, it's that way for everyone during the holidays.

Remember when I posted about cutting Evan's hair?? I was completely distraught over the demise of his magnificent curls. Well, I have seen a new light. I now look at the whole experience in a different way. I feel as though it must have been inspired. Why, you ask.
Well, a few days ago I was sitting on my couch, reading. I suddenly realized it was quiet. It shouldn't be. All of my children were home from school for break. I pulled myself out of the book and cocked one ear, straining to hear something...anything. I did. It was a giggle.....well, actually, it was a lot of giggles. I immediately tossed my book onto the couch and jogged towards the chuckling...it seemed to be coming from my bathroom. (Never a good thing, is it??) I opened the door and there, standing in the middle of the bathroom floor, were Kyle and Evan. I noticed a small, purple teacup that belonged to my daughters tea set. Inside that cup was a small pile of dark brown hair. I immediately gasped and shouted "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!" Kyle placed a pair of safety scissors on the counter. "He wanted a haircut," was his genius reply. It was right then that I realized the impromptu cutting of the curls a few short weeks earlier had been divine intervention. Because, if that small pile of hair in the tea cup had been a small pile of curls, I think I would have been down one child. Evan now has a bald spot on the side of his head. I told him we would have to shave his head again and he fell to pieces. He had been studying his hair every morning for the last week, wondering if his curls had come back yet. I didn't end up buzzing him. I figure if I give it a week or two, his curls might be back enough to cover the small spot. When people ask what happened, I just tell them it was a confused seagull.
This all, of course, was after Kyle and Evan had decided to play "Vampire Baseball" in our kitchen, mowing their baby sister over as if she were the umpire, trying to stop the winning run. And that was after they had decided to rip a hole in the center of one of their mattresses. A hole that goes almost all the way to the springs (And stop rolling your eyes at me, I do actually supervise my children. I promise. You'd be amazed at how little time it takes to rip a gaping hole into the center of a mattress.)
I was glad when my older children headed back to school yesterday, because that meant I could get the younger ones back into some semblance of normal.
Needless to say, I need a vacation!! Although, oh....oh!! That reminds me. I am getting one! Not until April, but it will be well worth the wait. I am going to go meet Kellan Lutz (AKA Emmett Cullen)in Orlando at AccioCon with my sister. Are you jealous?? Yeah. You should be. So at least there is a light at the end of this super long, bald-headed, hole-filled tunnel!

Introducing Miles Carter......AKA 'Beautiful Renesmee'

2008-12-30T19:28:00.008-05:00

(Just keep reading and the title will be explained....oh, and notice his adorable dimple in his right cheek in this first picture. How cute is that?!?!!)

Last Friday night at about 5:30, I got a phone call form my brother, Drew. He said they were going to be inducing my SIL, Marquesas (who was overdue already), starting that night. Tracy and I decided to hop in the car and drive the 5 hours up there to be there when the baby was born.

We got there late Friday night. Well actually it was Saturday morning technically, and we went straight to the hospital. Marquesas was feeling fine. No real contractions yet. So, Tracy and I headed off to the house and figured we would come back at some point the next day, closer to when she would be delivering the baby.

My brother called us early Saturday morning and said her water broke. Tracy and I rushed over to the hospital and got there just in time for Marquesas to start pushing. She was obviously much more uncomfortable by this point. They had given her something to help take the edge off so she could get some sleep, but then things had progressed quickly. I learned something new about my SIL that day. Marquesas on drugs......is freaking hilarious!!! She was so out of it. She would push and then sleep. Then she would push and then sleep. In between her wake/sleep periods, she said some pretty funny stuff.

There was a nurse there who had pretty, red hair. At one point, she leaned over Marquesas to do some sort of nurse duty. Marquesas (in between sleep and awake, mind you) began stroking the nurses' pony tail and was like "I want my hair to be this color." (This actually happened before Tracy and I got there and my brother told us about it.)

When the time was close, the nurse had pushed the call button to call the baby nurse in. You heard the voice over the speaker say "Can I help you?" and then, in unison, Marquesas and her sister (who was also her Doula) Screamed "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" You could hear snickers through the intercom and from the nurse who had pushed the button. Apparently, Marquesas thought she had pushed it on accident, and wasn't in the mood for any sort of interruption.

Marquesas had been pushing for about 30 minutes. She would push and sleep and push and sleep. Her midwife had told her to stop pushing and breathe while she threw on all of her baby delivering gear. After about ten seconds, Marquesas picked her head up and looked around, confused. She then mumbled "Are we done now??? WHAT'S HAPPENING??"

One of my favorites came right after Miles had been delivered. It went something like this.
Marquesas: (who was holding Miles at the time) He's beautiful......He's....beautiful.
Nurse: Does he have a name yet?
Marquesas: *big sigh* Beautiful.

Then, shortly after that, they let Marquesas feed him for the first time. She got herself all exposed and situated and the nurse handed Miles to her. He immediately chomped down, which I'm sure from my own past experience with breastfeeding was not pleasant for Marquesas. She exclaimed "OUCH!! Renesmee!!!" Both Tracy and I laughed hard at this one. (For those of you who have read all four Twilight books, that is funny. To those who haven't, sorry. You don't get it.)

**This is why I now refer to my darling nephew as "Beautiful Renesmee."**

So, here is a picture of the happy new family.

Oh, and apparently, Drew couldn't be outdone by his wife, so the day after Miles entered the world, Drew threw in a few one-liners himself. My personal favorite was when they brought Miles back from his circumcision. Drew picked him up out of the bed and said something like, "Aww, he's a little lighter now. I guess he's only a Mile." Haha....he's such a goober.

So, here are just a few more of my favorite pics of Miles Carter, born December 27th at 9:42 AM. He weighed in at a whopping 7 pounds even and was 20 in.

Welcome to the world, Miles!!

I am so thankful that Marquesas let us be there and be part of such an awesome experience. She was absolutely unbelievable. If I didn't believe in superpowers before, I certainly do now. Even all doped up, she got down to business and did what needed to be done. Marquesas, I am so glad that you are a part of our family and that you have brought this incredible young man into our lives and our hearts.

Merry Twilight....er, I mean Christmas!

2008-12-22T11:29:00.009-05:00

Never fear, my fellow bloggy friends. I have not....at least literally....dropped off the face of the earth. Although, if you asked my husband, he would beg to differ. I have spent the last two weeks reading (and/or re-reading) through the Twilight books. I spent every extra minute I had reading. I was (and am) truly a woman obsessed. I am embarrassed to admit the number of times I have seen Twilight in the theatre. Don't bother to ask. I will lie through my teeth! Seriously...it's embarrassing. (And, just for the record, I absolutely think that Rob Pattinson plays the PERFECT Edward. And um, hello....he sings and plays the guitar and the piano in real life. How hot is that?? Yes, that's right. I said he's hot. I am a dirty old woman!)

I keep dreaming about the characters in the book. I don't dream that I am in the book or even anything that has to do WITH the actual story. Like, the other night in my dream I was out eating dinner with my family and Emmett Cullen was there, eating with us. He was a part of the family. (It was not surprising to me that it was Emmett, he is probably my favorite Cullen. Yes, that's right....he trumps Edward in my book!) I also had a dream where Alice was there and she was teaching me how to make pork chops. I'm not sure why. I don't eat pork chops (and neither does she)!

I have somehow managed to get myself all ready for Christmas while walking around in this Twilight haze. The tree is set up and the presents are all bought (although not all are wrapped yet). I even managed to pull myself away from the last book long enough to take pictures of my littles in their Christmas gear a couple days ago. Although, embarrassingly again, I did not take the time to go get copies made of said pictures and get a letter written and Christmas cards out. I'm a horrible daughter/sister/friend/whatever. So, sue me. So, to all of you who were expecting a Christmas card from me, ummm......

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! and a Happy New year. We are healthy and happy. We miss you and love you and all that other jazz.

Here are a few of the pics from our little photo shoot. Notice I am all into the whole matchy-matchy thing....

When I tried this outfit on Evan in the store, he took one look at himself in the mirror, spun around to face me and exclaimed "I look like a ROCK STAR!!!!" and immediately began playing the air guitar.

Here's Laney. I caught her mid-jump.

Awww, if only they actually WERE as sweet and innocent as they look....

Laney decided that Kyle's tie was crooked and wanted to help him fix it. Notice Mikaily never breaks her "photo pose."

Sugar and Spice.....

Laney also decided the photo shoot was a little bland and she added in some props.

Kyle, looking very handsome if I do say so myself.

The Fearsome Foursome.....

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas. Hopefully I will be back and writing again before the New Year. I do need to figure out my new years resolution. Although, I don't really see the point because, let's face it, I'm just gonna break it 3 weeks into the new year. Although, maybe I can make my resolution to read all of the Twilight books again. Something tells me I wouldn't have any problem keeping that one.

***A little addition here. My SIL pointed out to me that my children are dressed all Twilighty (red and black and all). It was absolutely a coincidence!! I promise!! Although, it is kind of cool. hehe**

Poor, Poor Buggy =(

2008-12-06T18:07:00.008-05:00

The other day while I was doing the dishes, Mikaily came up to me with a big grin on her face and little smudge marks all over her fingers.

She announced, "I'm gonna show you something I learned at school today!"

I smiled back, grabbed the towel, dried off my hands and turned and faced her. "Ok, let me have it!"

"I think you will want the camera," she stated. (She knows me well.)

So, I got it. (And was glad I did!)

The following is what my amazingly beautiful and brilliant daughter shared with me......

(The text over each pic is what she said as she held her hand up)

This....

Is.......

Buggy......

Buggy.......

says 'hi'........

This.......

Is.......

Buggy.......

As the car......

Goes by.......

We giggled together. She gave me a big hug and then ran off into her bedroom. I then I went back to doing the dishes. I guess it's good to know she is learning something from school, right??

(P.S. For those of you that know what trials my little Mikaily has faced, notice she is manipulating the fingers on her RIGHT hand to spell out the words, which would have been impossible for her to do a year ago!!)

My Super Fun Week-ish

2008-11-30T19:17:00.010-05:00

This past week-ish was definitely fun-filled for me! (Hopefully it was for all of you, too.)

We had an excellent Thanksgiving. My family does Thanksgiving slightly different than most (not a surprise...we are an odd bunch). Ok, actually it's not slightly different...we do it very different.

None of us are huge turkey lovers. I am not much of a meat eater. I don't eat it very often and when I do, it's pretty much chicken (because, let's face it...chicken tastes goooood). So I would definitely prefer not to have to cook one of the big, creepy looking turkeys in my beautiful kitchen. Instead, we have a really big breakfast. I make eggs and biscuits and gravy and potatoes and bacon (yes, I know bacon is a meat) and cinnamon rolls and pancakes and lots and lots of super yummy breakfast food. It's a tradition my husband and I started years ago. It works for us. My sisters and my niece came over and we ate and hung out and played video games on the Wii (which I am really, really BAD at! My 4 year old can beat me at bowling...and golf....and tennis...and cow racing....) and we just enjoyed being together.

Then, for those of you that know me well you know I LIVE for Black Friday. It is probably one of my favorite days of the entire year.

My sister, Tracy, and I got up at 2:45am on Friday morning.

By 3:30am, we were standing in line at Kohls with all of the other crazies (notice the temp. That is definitely a major perk of shopping at 4 in the morning in Florida!!).

Tracy and I always have the same game plan. On Thanksgiving day we sort through the ads together. We make our lists and decide what we will be on the hunt for. There is absolutely no shopping around.

We went to Kohls first because it opened at 4. We ran in, grabbed what was on our lists (because we are the fastest and can throw the best elbows. J/K!) We were in and out in 15 minutes!

Next, we headed over and got in line at Toys'R'Us, which opened at 5. Again, we grabbed what was on our list (except for one item that they had mistakenly "forgot" to put out that morning. Someone should be FIRED!) It took us slightly longer there due to the stocking error, but it was the "jackpot" store of the day.

Target opened at 6, so we headed over there next and got in line next. The woman behind us in line was so annoying. First she complained about how crazy the people had been at Wal-Mart (Umm, DUH! Wal-Mart shoppers are pretty psychotic on non-shopping frenzy days. What did you expect??). Then she complained about the fact that they weren't opening the doors early even though there were so many people in line (Umm, yeah. Duh again! Those workers inside would rather be visiting the proctologist than standing in there, waiting for the mobs to descend.) I was so thankful when the line started moving and we got away form her!

We then headed over to Wal-Mart (because we are glutton for punishment) and after we headed over to the mall. We ended up making a killing. By 8:30 we were back home in bed. The trunk was FULL of games and toys and other fun stuff by the end of the morning. We figured it out and although we ended up with more than $1000 (retail value) of crap, we paid less than half of that for it! SCORE!

My parents then came into town on Friday afternoon and we headed out with our mom for round two that evening.

Saturday morning I FINALLY got to see Twilight with my sisters and my mom. I loved it. Enough said.

Sunday we all decided to go to the Pier at the beach. They always have good entertainment and lots of cool vendors selling fun knick-knacks. We got to dance on a stage to some funky calypso music (I know, don't be jealous!) and my niece had her picture taken with Santa (who was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and bermuda shorts) and the picture was hilarious because although she didn't cry, she looks terrified!!) Then, my husband decided that he wanted to try this trampoline bungee thingy (after Tracy had paid for Evan to do it but he chickened out once he got onto the trampoline). They hook you up to a bunch of bungee cords and you jump on a trampoline and go flying way high into the air. Each time he jumped and went higher and higher, he would yell "weeeee" or "woohooo" or "whoopy" a little louder. At one point, when he was jumping so high he would fly up into the air and the bungee would actually have to pull him back down before he went flying off into the dark, night sky, he yelled "This....." then bounced..... "IS...." then bounced..... "FUN!!!!!!!" (See, this is why I tell everyone I have FIVE children.) He ended up gathering a crowd. Tracy said she thinks they should have given her a partial refund because of the business he brought in from his hootin' and hollerin'. Of course this is the ONE time I forget to bring my camera with me.

I spent today just hanging out with my family and, yet again, got my butt kicked by a little, bald 4 year old on the Wii.

It was a pretty great week-ish.

How was yours??

Don't Blame Me. It Wasn't My Idea!!

2008-11-24T13:23:00.004-05:00

As a mom, I am always trying to teach my children independence.

It seems to be a very fine line that I have to walk. For example....I will let them choose an outfit and dress themselves. However, they are not allowed to wear jeans and a raggedy old t-shirt to church. I will let them help me plan meals and then help make dinner. But dinner can not consist of jelly beans, potato chips and hot chocolate.

This brings me to Saturday afternoon. I was cutting Kyle's hair. Kyle has crazy hair. It is perfectly straight. There is no body to it. However, it it extremely thick and very coarse and tends to stick out in all different directions if we let it grow out even the slightest bit. So I just take the clippers and I buzz his head. It works best that way. He likes it that Mommy then spends the next week and a half rubbing his head because I love that "peach fuzz" feel.

So, I am almost done with his hair and I call Evan.

"Ev, your hair needs cut a little, too. So I am gonna do you next, ok?"

"Yup!" He replied, as he danced around to whatever music was playing in his head.

Evan's hair was looking pretty shaggy. I tend to let his grow for a LOOONG time in between cuts because his curls just make my heart melt. I always tell him his hair is curly because his brain is overloaded with "craziness" and so that crazy then spills out through the tiny holes on his head. We call them his "crazy curls." He prides himself on being wacky and, therefore, has always loved his crazy curls.

So, I was finishing Kyle and brushing off all of the hair that had fallen onto his neck and his shoulders when Evan comes, cart wheeling into the room.

"I want my hair just like Kyle's!" I started giggling a little because lately Evan has wanted to do EVERYTHING just like his big brother.

I opened my mouth to say "NO FREAKIN' WAY am I hacking off all those beautiful curls!!" When my wonderful husband blurted out "OK!"

I think my jaw hit the floor. "Wait. No. It's not ok. I am not cutting off all his hair!"

Evan came over and stood beside me. Tears started to well up in his eyes as he said "YES! I want to be just like Kyle!"

ACK! My heart was screaming out to tell him 'too bad so sad' and know that he would be over it by morning, but my head had to butt in and remind me that although he is still little, he is trying to find his place in this world as a big boy. He is only 4 years old, but I think that is definitely old enough to be voicing his opinions and for me to hear them.

I debated for a few minutes while I got him all ready and in the chair. I decided there was no way I was going to do it. I couldn't. I took the clippers in my hand. He looked up at me and smiled and said "Just like Kyle?" I took a deep breath, smiled back, nodded and said "Just like Kyle."

I then proceeded to chop all of his gorgeous, brown locks off. I teared up as I watched the hair falling to the floor, creating a big pile of soft, c-shaped curls. Evan noticed that I was upset and said, (with a very strong 'you are such a goober undertone') "Mom, they'll grow back."

So, here he is with his new "do." Which, by the way, he absolutely loves.

Doesn't he look like a totally different kid?? He is right. They will grow back (which apparently is a good thing because some of the women at church just about went into shock when they saw him yesterday).

In retrospect, I am glad I listened to him. He is growing up so fast and I want him to know that his opinions matter and that he should absolutely stick to his guns when he feels strongly about something.

However, get a close look at the picture above because I AM NEVER CUTTING HIS CURLS OFF AGAIN!!!!!!!

To All the 'Lurkers' in the Blogosphere (and my friends too!)

2008-11-14T12:58:00.004-05:00

I love me some comments!! I just wanted to let everyone know that.

I recently posted a comment on a blog where my opinion was different than that of the author and was all but stoned for it.

I love hearing different opinions about what I write (whether I know you or not). If you think I'm funny....let me know! If you think I'm boring.....let me know!! If you have had something similar happen or read something that you think is totally wack....let me know!! If you think I am the world's best mother and that I deserve a big trophy...well, then you probably haven't actually READ any of my posts. So, go ahead and read away and then...leave me a comment!!

All I ask is that you keep in mind that this blog is rated PG, so please KEEP IT CLEAN!!

This One's for Marquesas!!

2008-11-10T15:33:00.016-05:00

This weekend, my sisters and I are heading up to my brother's house. His beautiful wife is pregnant and we are all going up there for her shower. I can't wait!!

In honor of this special event, I have decided to dedicate this post to Marquesas (my SIL).

This is just a short list of some of the things that my children have taught me in the last 8 years. I look forward to the day when I can read your list, Marquesas!!

Ten Things I Have Learned From My Children:

1. If someone tries to take your picture, make a funny face. It's the law!

2. If all of your friends are doing it, it might not be the safest or smartest thing to do, but it sure as heck is gonna be fun!!

3. If the food is not smeared all over the place, you aren't really enjoying it.

4. Dance like no one's watching. It's more fun that way!!!

5. If you have 4 children uner the age of 8 and your house is quiet...be afraid. Be very, very afraid!

6. No matter how much the child enjoys being licked by their dog, he does not enjoy being licked back.

7. If you want to insult someone, all you have to do is follow up a with the word "butt" at the end.

8. Boys always have the longest, thickest eyelashes......and no, it isn't fair!!

9. You can lead a child to toilet, but you can't make him pee!

10. It is possible to remember more of a foreign language learned from watching children's TV than remember what was learned from the 2 years of a foreign language you took in high school.

DEGGAT

2008-11-06T19:16:00.006-05:00

That's TAGGED spelled backwards, in case you were confused.

I've been tagged (I know it was forever ago, but better late than never, right??) by Sugar Mommy

1. When I am walking along and hear music, I aboslutely, with no exceptions, HAVE to walk to the beat. So, if you are ever walking with me and are in a hurry, just whip out your IPOD and blast anything techno in my ear and we'll be there in no time!

2. You know those rides that spin you 'round and 'round so fast you stick to the wall?? Well, I don't.....stick, that is. I get in. It starts spinning. The floor drops out and everyone else is whirling around, laughing and stuck fast to the wall like glue.... as I slowly slide downward until my feet touch the bottom. Apparently, I am anti-anti-gravity. Go ahead. Laugh it up. Someday, when gravity decides it's tired and quits, I will smile and wave to you as I watch you float off aimlessly into space!!

3. My first job was working on a farm as a farmhand. I shoveled cow poop and sorted potatoes and picked pumpkins and I absolutely LOVED it!

4. I can't watch the movie "The Princess Bride." It scared me when I was little and I haven't been able to bring myself to watch it since!!

5. When I write, I like to use lots and lots of exclaimation marks!!!!!!!! If this is annoying to you, too bad!! I will never stop over-using them!!!!!

6. When I read a magazine, I can't start at the front. I have to open it up randomly (somewhere near the middle). I then read from the middle to the front. When I get to the beginning, I flip to the end and read from there, back up to the middle.

7. When I eat french fries, I have to eat them in pairs, according to size. If any don't match up, I either give them or throw them away. Oh, no...wait. That isn't me that does that. It's my friend Jude. It's a good thing too, because let's face it....that's just weird!! :)

Ok, so now I am going to tag:

Jenn at But It's a Dry Heat.....
Tracy at The Life of Tracy
Jenny at Buckeye Corner
Sarah at Our Beautiful Crazy Wonderful Life
Erynn at The Twice Fortnightly Dispatch
Sarah at Borup Bunch
and
Leah at Laughing Leah Loves Lillies

TrIcK-Or-tReAt, sMeLl mY fEeT!

2008-11-03T13:26:00.007-05:00

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, second only to Christmas. I love picking out costumes and carving pumpkins. I love getting my children all dressed up and watching how excited they are to go around, begging candy from perfect strangers.

This year was slightly different. Evan was still not fully recovered from whatever bug had knocked him out a few days earlier. Kaily and Kyle came home from school all excited, but by dinner time, Kyle was complaining that his tummy hurt. Poor little guy. We got them all dressed and ready and snapped just a few pics before Kyle had to start running to the bathroom every 15 minutes. Since he obviously couldn't come with us, we took his bucket around and the neighbors all made sure to give him a little extra for when he felt better.

We are planning on putting them all back in their costumes again next weekend to try and get a few more pics. But for now, here they are....in all their Superhero glory!

I Deserve a Freaking Award!!

2008-10-28T20:57:00.003-04:00

My husband was away on business the beginning of this week.

Last night, I got 4 small children fed, bathed, dressed, brushed, read to and in bed by myself...ON TIME. (although, is it just me, or does bedtime always seem to go much smoother when husbands are out of town..??)

I unloaded the dishwasher. Then I reloaded the dishwasher.

I folded and put away all of the laundry that was beginning to over run my couch (yet again).

I took the dog for a walk. Ok, so really I took the dog out in the front yard and yelled "Hurry up you slow poke. Do your business! I'm a very busy woman!" which then made me break out into song "and I haven't got all day! It won't cost much...just your voice!! Which, of course, needed some choreography as well. And then I waved to my neighbors who, I am pretty sure, refer to me as "the crazy lady." I fed and watered the dog.

After I came inside, I packed lunches for my children for school. I gathered up their clothes, including shoes and socks, and laid them out so they would be all ready in the morning when I had to drag all 4 children out to the bus stop that is a mile away from our house.

I decided to take a short break and check my email. I signed on to my Yahoo page and noticed the little box that has the weather in it. I looked at the numbers. I laughed a little and though to myself, "That's funny. Yahoo messed up the temperature. It says it's going to be 47 tomorrow. I'm sure it should be 74." I decided, just to be safe, to check a second weather website. Crap!! CRAP CRAP CRAP!! 47 degrees?!? I had laid out shorts for my children to wear. They can't wear shorts when it's 47 degrees outside. Well, they could, but then I wouldn't deserve my freaking award now, would I?? So, I went back and dug to the very bottom of their drawers where, luckily, they each had one pair of pants that I always keep, just in case......

I sat back down at my computer and started to blog surf. Big mistake when it is already 10:30 at night! I was good though, and I actually set a timer for 45 minutes and made myself get off the computer so I could go put the load of dishes away before finally heading off to bed.

I think it was about 12:15 when I looked at the clock before I drifted off to sleep.

Less than an hour later, at 1:07, I was woken up by a shrill scream. I run into the bedroom just in time to see Evan's dinner (for the second time if you get my drift) all over his bed.

I tell Kaily and Kyle to go sleep on the couches in our toy room. I figure it will be quieter and darker on that side of the house. I strip Evan and put him in the shower, where he throws up again. I get him out and redressed and put him on the floor in the hallway while I strip his bed and clean it off as best I can in the midst of my grogginess.

I spend the next 5 and a half hours on mommy duty. I will spare you all the lovely details. Trust me, you're very thankful.

Then, I have to wake up Kaily and Kyle and get them dressed and fed and ready for school while running back to Evan every 10 minutes or so to make sure he is getting to the toilet when needed. I get Alaina up and dressed and fed. I dress Evan (who was such a sweetie and, after much persuading, agreed to wear a pull-up out to the bus stop so if he had an accident, it would be contained).

I even managed to remember to pull the garbage cans out to the end of the driveway because it was trash day. (See, I am definitely award worthy!)

After I sent Kaily and Kyle off, I came back home where I waited for my sister to drop off my niece and then spent the next 9 hours playing with and caring for two psychotic toddlers and a cranky, crabby, stinky, exploding 4 year old.

Oh, and tonight was Kaily's school musical performance that she actually had a speaking part in. So, after I got the kids off the bus I had to oversee homework, make and feed dinner and then get everyone dressed so I could run over to my sister's where I dropped off my niece, Laney and Evan, and then took Kaily and Kyle and went over to watch Mikaily do a FABULOUS job in her musical. (Despite the fact that she yawned 3 different times due to lack of sleep from the night before.) I'm sure I will post more on her Emmy Award winning performance at a later date.

I then went back and picked up my children from my sister's and drove home only to find that three of my four littles were sound asleep and needed carried in. *sigh*

Now I am home and running on less than an hour of sleep and what am I doing?? BLOGGING!!

I am soooo going off duty this weekend!!!!!

I heart Evan! (and his big mouth)

2008-10-24T19:14:00.002-04:00

My sweet, adorably beautiful Evan. He is getting so big. He turned 4 last month, you know. I love everything about him. I love his curly hair. I love his big (make that HUGE) brown eyes. I love the fact that he has an imaginary friend named Aliena that he has recently started kissing. I even love that fact that he would rather give a high 5 than a kiss. I love everything about that crazy little boy.

Lately, he has been starting to notice differences in people. So, we will be walking through the store and he will blurt out something like "Woah! That is an old guy." Or we will be sitting in a restaurant and he will say "That person doesn't have any legs!" All of his observations are true. He never intends ot be mean or hurtful. However, I have started trying to explain to him that there are certain things that we keep to ourselves because saying them out loud could hurt someones feelings and make them feel sad.

He still isn't getting it. The other day, I was laying on the floor beside him, playing dinosaurs and he says "Mommy, you are huge!" Ouch! That one stung a little. So, I told him that Yes, mommy was much bigger than he is, but that the word "huge" is one of those words that could make someone feel bad. He said he was sorry and we went on playing. I have to admit it I let it bother me more than I should have. I started thinking about how I should be getting more exercise and about how I probably should be more careful about what I eat. (Because I haven't been good about that lately).

Later that day, we had piled into the van to go get Mikaily and Kyle from school. While we were waiting, I turned on Cinderella for him. It has become his favorite movie. We were watching the scene where Cinderella was getting Gus out of the trap. Evan let out this squeal and then exclaimed "WOAH!!!! Cinderella is huge!"

I didn't feel so bad after that.

This is just a little video I stuck in here for my mom. He sang this for you and told me to put it on my 'puter so you could see him. :)

My Weekend (in a nutshell)

2008-10-20T20:26:00.001-04:00

This past weekend we had some friends that came down to visit from Ohio. We went over to Orlando and went to Disney World and Sea World and hung out in the hotel and went swimming and just had a really, really good time. I can't wait to see you guys again!
Now, I am way too tired to type out any details. So, if you have any question or are wondering about any of the pictures, either ask me in a comment and I will answer after I catch up on my beauty rest or you can just make up a story and go with that. K??

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Kyle is a total and complete Dinosaur freak! Last week, they opened up a restaurant at Downtown Disney called T-Rex Cafe. We figured it would be the PERFECT Birthday present for him. It. was. awesome! The dinosaurs are life-size and they move and ROAR and the ceiling is made to look like you are sitting under a huge tree canopy. Then, every-so-often, the lights dim and they make it look like you are in a meteor shower (which Mikaily kept calling the "meat-eater" shower). The staff was impressed that Kyle knew the names of all of the dinosaurs (including pachycephalosaurus and parasaurolophus). The food was slightly overpriced (as is all of Disney) but really good. If you are ever in the area, I definitely recommend it.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I can't believe he is 6!!!

2008-10-20T20:00:00.003-04:00

Playing Wii Bowling. (This was HI-larious to watch!)

He asked for an underwater cake. I was so glad because this one was super easy!!

RaNdOm GaRbAgE

2008-10-10T13:39:00.000-04:00

Today has been one of those days.

I had to go to WalMart. WalMart is always an interesting place to go. It's always good for a laugh....or a cry...or a total and complete mental breakdown.
At one point when I was there, I was looking through the racks of clothes in the little boys section. Evan was looking at the shirts that had Spiderman on them that were folded and stacked on a shelf. A WalMart employee came walking past, took Evan by the shoulders, pulled him back away from the shelf and said "Don't mess those up by pulling them off of there kid." I karate chopped her in her wrinkly throat. Ok, not really. But I wanted to. I did in my mind. I grabbed Evan's shirt and pulled him over to me and told her I would appreciate if she didn't put her hands on my child. That'll teach her!

So then like 7 minutes later I was walking through the cereal aisle and just about got run over by an old man in his electric wheelchair. Then, that same old man just about made Evan road kill as we were getting in line. I had to yell at Evan to get out of the way. Evan saw the guy at the last minute and squealed like a girl and took off running. I threw an egg at the back of the old guys head...in my mind, of course.

You wanna know why I decided to go to WalMart instead of going to the little, local grocery store that I loved so much? Because I am a weirdo, that's why! This little store that I normally go to is awesome! The store is clean, the employees are genuinely nice (They still carry your groceries out to the car for you) and the shelves are always stocked!! Which is why I can't go there. You see, I used to stand at the end of the aisle and look down at all of the food, pulled out perfectly to the end of the shelf. Everything was always in it's place. Then one day, I thought to myself, "How is it that all of their products are pulled out to the end of the shelf?" I had seen people on a few occasions fixing them, but not that often. So then my next thought was, "I wonder if they have little product trolls that sit on the back of the shelves and, as people take whatever they want, the little trolls run up and shove the other items to end of the shelf, therefore making everything look perfect. Then, as I walked through the aisles to finish my shopping, I pictured these little, hairy trolls, covered in gloop, lying in wait.....

I can't go back there anymore......or at least not for awhile.

This afternoon, I found my 16 month old in my kitchen sink. She (aided by her big brother I am guessing) pushed the big bucket of Lego's over and climbed up on top of it. I would have snapped a picture but I was afraid while I was running to grab the camera she might A) try to climb out and fall and crack her head open on the tile floor B) grab a dirty knife and plunge it into her heart (Yes, I know, slightly dramatic) and C) the sink was full of dirty dishes and...how embarrassing for me to post my dirty dishes for all of my blogger buddies to see (because I am sure you all have pristine, sparkly clean sinks)!! So, you will just have to use your imagination on this one. I guess I am gonna have to find a safe place to hide the knives now, huh?

I actually encourage her to climb, though. I know you probably think that's weird. But here's my thinking: If I grab her and pull her down every time she climbs on anything, she won't get any better at climbing and the probability that she will fall and hurt herself is much greater. So, letting her climb and become an expert is a much better option than taking everything out of the house (which would include, but is not limited to, my kitchen table and chairs, our sofas, her crib, the toy box, the highchair, the side tables, the toy shelves, the bookshelves, the computer desk and chair, the TV stand, the drawers in the kitchen, the dressers and the treadmill and apparently every box of toys we own) that she could possibly hurt herself on. You can tell from the last post that trying to clear out one room and gating her into it is no longer an option. So, look out Mt. Everest! Here Laney comes. I think she can probably start her training by climbing the mountain of laundry we have accumulating in the hallway!

Ok, so there you have it. Just some random garbage I thought I would share. Hopefully you don't feel dumber now for reading it!

What Goes Up....Must Come Down

2008-10-05T20:02:00.010-04:00

Would it be weird if I just made her wear a helmet around all day, every day??

Evan is Cute, But He Sure is a Weirdo!

2008-10-02T21:06:00.002-04:00

Each day when it is time for Kaily and Kyle to get off the bus, Evan helps me round up the babies and herd them towards the door.
Today was no different.... except for the fact that I was running around, trying to find my other red flip flop. So that left Evan trying to herd the babies all by himself.
Somehow, he managed to do it (probably with a little more brute strength than either of the babies required). He was standing at the door, hand on the doorknob. I heard him sigh loudly a few times as he tried his hardest to keep the babies wrangled at the door, ready to go. I found my shoe (sitting on the mantle in front of the fireplace, of course) and headed for the door. Evan stuck his head around the corner, looked at me with his beautiful brown eyes and exclaimed "HURRY UP, YO!!!!!"
And if that isn't evidence enough for you, check out this short video. I bet you can guess which part is my favorite.

Busy Week (with lots of pictures!!)

2008-09-29T16:33:00.006-04:00

This past week I made a birthday cake for my baby boy (who turned 4.....how can that be possible?!?!)

The cake didn't end up being anything fancy. He loved it, though.
I had to take this child in for her 15 month check up....

Doesn't she just look so sweet??! Well, SHE ISN'T!!!! She just knows how to turn on the cuteness. I can tell you how to spell trouble....L-A-N-E-Y! She likes to give me little heart attacks. Today, she climbed up onto the TOP of our little play kitchen. THE TOP! (She then proceeded to fall off, head first, and bust her eyelid open.) When I took her in for her check up last week, she had to get shots. She got the Flu shot, the Chicken Pox shot, and the MMR. She then immediately (and I mean with in 60 seconds) broke out in hives on the leg she got the MMR shot in. We got to spend the next 30 minutes in the doctors office, with nurses buzzing around, making sure she was alright. She was. She just likes to be difficult.

My brother, Drew, and his wife came to visit this past weekend. You know that Laney cuteness mentioned in the above paragraph? Well, she turned it on for her Uncle Drew.

Drew, Marquesas, Tracy, and I all drove over to Orlando to try out for....
WHEEL
OF
FORTUNE
That's right!! The Wheelmobile came to Sea World and we decided "what the heck!" We might as well give it a shot!!

There were 3 separate hours of tryouts. You could fill out an application for each hour (we were there for about 7 hours total). They put all the applications into this big, gold drum, spun it 'round and 'round, and then drew out applications, at random, for people to come up on stage in groups of five. You then got to call out a letter and had 3 seconds to guess the puzzle.

And, I ACTUALLY GOT CALLED UP ON STAGE TO PLAY!!!!! It was fun, but holy crap was it scary! I didn't solve the puzzle (although I knew it by the time it was solved), but I was also the first person to guess a letter. I guessed "T" and there were 2 of them and then I guessed an "I" and there were 3 of them. Woo Hoo! They kept saying they wanted people who could "shine" onstage. If you could "shine" then they would ask you back for a final audition. I figured I would have to get called back for a second audition because I was REALLY shiny after standing in the Florida heat for 7 hours waiting for a chance to audition, but I guess that isn't the kind of shine they were referring to. I had no chance against the pyro-technician from Disney that used to be in the circus and the funny man who could juggle while surfing.
So, although I am apparently boring and didn't get asked back to go on the show and have a chance to win a million dollars, I did win.....

A HAT!!!!!!!!!! (and a key chain and a blinky pin) I know. I know....don't be jealous!!

Oh, and just FYI, this is what happens at my house when I go off and leave Daddy in charge for a day.....

(Yes, that is chest hair on Kyle)

Man, Am I Glad She's On MY Team!

2008-09-21T20:21:00.006-04:00

(Jude, I am giving you fair warning...this one might be slightly overwhleming for you!!)

I remember once, my oldest sister, Jill, and I were driving along on a dark road, late at night. We had a conversation about what we would do if our car were to break down along this dark road that we knew was lined with small, alligator filled ponds on both sides. We talked about how we would just be stranded, waiting in the dark in the car until someone came along to rescue us, because neither of us were brave enough to get out and walk. We discussed how we should put some sort of bike or scooter in the trunk. That way, in the future, if this were to happen, she could pedal and I could ride on the handle bars. That makes perfect sense, right??

So, then a few months later, Jill and I had told our other sister, Tracy, about our genius plan. Tracy laughed at us. She was surprised. She said:

"Don't you ever have those stray thoughts where you picture an alligator attack you?? (Which, by the way, is a very common "daydream" for those of us living in alligator infested territory.) What do you do?"

Jill and I both said we would do something like jump up on top of the closest car, cry like a baby and scream for help. Tracy laughed again and then proceeded to tell us that in those little daydreams, she kicks the alligator's butt.

Apparently, Tracy is much braver than either of us. She proved that this past week.....

Tracy and Jill live together.

A few days ago, Jill was outside smoking, late at night. Tracy came and tapped on the sliding glass door.

Tracy: There's a mouse, in a box, in my bedroom.
Jill: WHAT?!?!?!
Tracy: There's a mouse..... In a box...... In my bedroom.
Jill: WHAT?!?!?
Tracy: I caught a mouse. It's in a box in my bedroom.
Jill: How??
Tracy: What do you mean how?
Jill: How did you catch it??
Tracy: With a box, in my bedroom.
Jill: Didn't it run??
Tracy: Oh, it ran. I ran faster.....

You see, they have been having mice issues. The apartment people had laid traps. They had put out poison. They had laid more traps. Finally, they ended up having to call in the exterminators, who laid bait all over the place to try and get rid of them.

Apparently, Tracy was laying in her bedroom watching TV, when a small, grey mouse came scurrying in under her bedroom door. She flipped on the lights quickly and exclaimed "OH NO YOU DON'T!!"

She then proceeded to chase the mouse around in her room, but lost it. She heard it in the bathroom, so she went into the bathroom and chased it around. It ran back into her bedroom where she, you guessed it, chased it around until finally, she caught it under a clear, plastic, Rubbermaid container.

They had to put something on top of the box to weigh it down because the mouse was jumping and scampering all over the place. They knew they needed something stiff to slide underneath the box so they could move it, so they used my sister's CAT scans. Smart, huh??

They ended up sliding the entire contraption through the apartment, picking it up and tossing the mouse out close to the pond (although not so close to the pond that they made themselves easy gator bait!) They knew the little mouse would be doomed, since the Orkin man had baited the entire perimeter of the building the day before. Plus, Florida is home to an abundance of rather large birds. So, odds were definitely against the little guy. But, as Tracy pointed out, if they just stayed outside she woulnd't mind them. But once they cross that line and come into her home, they declare war!

Note to self: Don't make Tracy mad. She might chase you around and capture you in a little, plastic box.

Karma's a B.......Well, You Get the Idea (This Blog is Rated G, You Know!)

2008-09-16T20:51:00.005-04:00

On my latest trip to Ohio, I had a layover in Charlotte (aren't the clouds pretty in that picture??) My plane had arrived a little early and the airport was packed, so I decided I would sit in a busy section and people watch for awhile. I love to people watch. People are funny.

So I found a seat, sitting right on the edge of the main walkway. There was a young woman sitting two seats down from me. When I sat down, she looked over and smiled. She was very pretty. She was blond and had these piercing, green eyes. She was balancing her checkbook. What? You think that's weird?? Oh come on, like you haven't balanced your checkbook in a building full of strange people like a million times!

I sat my bag on the floor beside me (because my bag was too big to sit on the seat beside me because the stupid airlines have started charging a stupid fee to check a stupid bag so I had to pack everything I needed for my trip in a stupid carry on and then lug it around 4 stupid airports the whole stupid time!! But really, I'm ok with that). I started watching people as they passed. Most of them were men. Most likely business men. They were all dressed in the same Khaki pants and polo shirts.

It was pretty boring at first. Then, I noticed something. There was pattern emerging that went something like this.

Man comes walking along.
Man notices pretty blond woman sitting in seat.
Man begins to stare.
Man sucks in gut.
Man continues walking, but changes path to move slightly closer to edge of walkway where pretty blond woman is sitting.
Man continues to stare.
Man turns head as he passes.
Man continues to stare.
Occasionally man raises eyebrows.
Man smiles.
Pretty blond woman (completely oblivious) balances checkbook.

It did not matter if this man was young or old. It did not matter if this man was tall or short. It did not matter if this man was skinny or fat or if this man was alone or walking with his wife/girlfriend. In fact, I am pretty sure one of the guys that stared as he passed was with his boyfriend.

One man dropped his cell phone. One man tripped over a small child. One man tripped on the bag in front of him and almost ate walkway. One man almost stepped out in front of one of those beeping cars that carry disabled people (and speaking of them...umm, where do they find the drivers for those things?!?! Are they like Nascar drivers in training? Seriously...where's the fire, buddy??).

I wanted to stand up and yell "HAVE YOU NO SHAME, MAN?!?!" or "TAKE A PICTURE! IT'LL LAST LONGER!" I couldn't believe how obvious these men were being and how totally and completely preoccupied this woman was, just sitting there, balancing away. I found it extremely disrespectful to the woman they were drooling over and especially the women they were with!! What is wrong with men these days?? Ever heard of a little hing called R-E-S-P-E-C-T!!! Look it up! What ever happened to being discreet?? You catch a quick glimpse and then get over it! That's the polite thing to do, right?!?

After about 15 minutes I had had enough. I decided I would get up and go look for some place to buy a cookie or some frozen yogurt or something. As I was walking towards Terminal B, something caught my eye.

There was a young man, sitting in a seat off to the right of the walkway. He had dark hair. He was tall and thin (just how I like them!!). I felt my heart race a little. He was sooo cute (I'm married....not blind!). He looked up at me and had these amazingly blue eyes. It dawned on me that I was staring right at him!! I thought to myself "Eek!! Look away, woman! Look away!!!" He smiled a cordial smile. I smiled back. Then, I promptly ran smack dab into the back of the woman walking in front of me.

The Brand New Me

2008-09-10T20:56:00.003-04:00

Is anyone else stuck in a frump?? I am.....definitely.

I do the same things.....

At the same times.....

In the same order....

With the same people.....

Day after day.....after day.

And I am sick of it.

So, I decided that I was ready for a change.

I started searching though magazine articles and looking online at new hair styles and colors. I sat there, staring at celebrities and models, trying to figure out what would help to make ME look totally and completely FABULOUS! I enlisted the help of my daughter, Mikaily. She was not shy about putting her two cents in.

After HOURS of searching, we finally found it.

So, here it is. I would like to introduce the brand new me!

What do you think?? (Just FYI, Mikaily ended up being my stylist.)

See Ya Later, Alligator

2008-08-30T21:42:00.007-04:00

Evan has been having a hard time since his older brother and sister went back to school.

I can't tell you how many times a day I hear "Mom, I'm hungry!"

I keep telling him he isn't hungry, he's bored. He then, of course, falls to pieces and in the whiniest voice imaginable (that no one on this planet can decipher) tries to explain to me that he is STARVING and that if I don't feed him immediately, he will die.

I caught him yelling at his 15 month old sister because she wasn't playing dinosaur the right way (as in, she was grabbing the T-Rex and waddling over to the garbage and throwing it in instead of sitting down and making it eat the triceratops).

So last week, Tracy and I decided to take him over to the park to go "alligator hunting."

There is a really great park close by that, never fail, supplies an abundance of alligator sightings.

Now, it was Tracy's idea to go do this. I am not sure why I agreed to it, as I am a big scardy cat and constantly in fear that one of my children is going to be eaten by an alligator. And at this park, you don't stand on the edge of the lake and stare out at the water, hoping to catch a quick glimpse of a gator. You walk out on raised walkways OVER the water as the gators swim around you.

As you are walking along, there are little "piers" that you can go down that take you even farther out over the water. Each of these little piers are covered on the end and have a picnic table. You know, so you can sit and eat a last meal before being devoured by a gator.

As we walked down the walkway, this is what we saw:

A big blob of dried mud.,.....? That's odd, right? Well, it led to this....

Now, call me crazy, but that TOTALLY looks like a gator decided he was sick of swimming and wanted to go for a little walk, right?? (Oh, and I assume all alligators are men because they are ugly and mean)

It freaked me out. I looked over at Evan, who was standing about 5 feet from me. HE looked like gator bait, to me! I made him get up on the picnic table as I investigated the gator track. Tracy was at the end of the pier, looking out at the water.

"Ha! Someone lost s shoe." she said.

That's when the light bulb went off! I bet someone fell in the water (a genius I'm sure), lost their shoe (and probably peed their pants) and tracked the muddy print (probably intentionally making it look like an alligator had done it to scare fraidy cats like me) as they slithered back to their car, sans one shoe.

We stood there for a minute and, out of nowhere, up pops this gator. He was probably about 5 feet long or so. He just sat there at first. Floating about 20 feet away from us. Staring at us (probably trying to figure out which one of us he should eat as the appetizer).

He started swimming towards us. I made Evan get up on the picnic table again. He stopped, about 2 feet away from us. He just sat there (probably trying to decide which one of us he should eat for his entree). Evan kept saying "There it is! I see that al-e-gator! That's my first al-e-gator." It wasn't. He has seen like a million of them. He's weird sometimes. I let him get down as long as he promised to stand RIGHT beside me.

Then, the gator started moving. He swam under the wooden pier we were on. We could look through the slatted bottom and see him. He swam directly underneath us. If my arm could fit through the wooden planks, I could have touched him. I made Evan get back up on the picnic table. He kept saying "I can't see it! I can't SEEEE it!!" I ignored him. Evan was not on the menu!

Ok, so I did actually end up letting him down, but only after Tracy practically laid down on the walkway to peer through the little slats (and get a good picture)

And I figured she would, at the very least, slow the gator down long enough for me to throw Evan back up on the picnic table if he attacked. And YES I did actually think all of this while we were standing there.

We stayed there and watched him for about ten minutes. Then we left and headed back home. The whole way home, Evan talked about how he had just seen his first al-e-gator. It was "al-e-gator this and al-e-gator that."

I was so glad he had had a good time and had forgotten, at least for a short time, about being lonely. We walked through the door at home and he was still talking about the alligator. He climbed up onto the couch and he looked up at me with his adorable, green eyes and said "Mom! I'm hungry!"

Apparently Kyle is 5, going on 15

2008-08-27T19:50:00.004-04:00

While I was in Tallahassee, sitting in the dark, I called my husband on my cell phone.

We only talked for a couple of minutes. At one point, I said something to him (I don't remember exactly what) and this short conversation followed:

Me: (Something that I don't remember)
Jason: I didn't hear that. You broke up.
Kyle (in the background to his dad): WHAT?!?
Jason (to Kyle): It's mommy on the phone. She's with Drew and Marquesas.
Kyle (said with great concern in a high pitched voice): WHAT?!?!?! Drew and Marquesas broke up?!?!?!

Kyle is 5 (going on 15...because what 5 year old boy would ever come up with that??). Apparently, he watches too much iCarly.

Hey, Who Turned Out the Lights??

2008-08-26T12:35:00.010-04:00

I went to Tallahassee this past weekend to visit with my brother (Drew) and his pregnant wife (Marquesas). It was his birthday last Saturday.

For those of you who can't read Drew's shirt, it says "Marquesas is so freaking hot!" Cute, huh?

We had a very interesting visit. As most of you know, I was preparing the beginning of last week for Tropical Storm Fay that was headed my way. The kids first day of school was even cancelled due to the threat of the storm. Well, the middle of the night, right before it was supposed to hit us, it turned sharply to the right and ended up coming ashore a few hours south of us. We barely ended up getting any rain that day. In fact, it was pretty much hot and sunny all day. So weird. So, TS Fay went across the state of Florida, out into the Atlantic, turned sharply to the left and then hit Florida again, going straight West through the panhandle of Florida....which is right where Tallahassee is.

So, my sisters and I drove up through the storm. I bet you think that sounds insane, right?? Well, it wasn't so bad. Oh, except for the frogs who we think must have been displaced because of all of the rain/flooding who kept jumping into the middle of the road, waiting until the car was right above them and then trying to jump again. Not only could you hear the thud as the poor critters lept to their deaths, smashing into the bottom of the car, but you could actually feel the thud from when the frog was big enough. It was unpleasant. Although, that was slightly less unpleasant than when we drove through the small town of Perry, which apparently is located down wind from a trash dump. I swear, the smell was so pungent you could actually taste it when you breathed through your mouth. I grabbed my pillow and stuffed my face into it. I figured if I passed out form not being able to breathe, at least we would be out of the stinky little town by the time I came to.

So, we got to my Brother's house late on Friday night. It rained pretty hard all night. We got up and went out to lunch the next day, which was my brother's birthday, and it was still raining, as you can tell form this wonderful shot out the windshield.

The wind was never really bad. The only thing we were really concerned with was the rain. It did end up starting to flood.

We went out to eat and then we went bowling. The first bowling place we tried to go to didn't have power. I remember thinking "ohhh, those poor people," because I am sure it was really hot inside that building. So, we went to a second bowling place and it was open. I suck at bowling. I think I bowled a 65. My sister, Jill, said she sucked too. Then she bowled a 128. Apparently, her version of sucking and my version of sucking are completely different.

After bowling, we headed back to my brother's house. When we got there. There was no electricity. We played games for a while. It started getting pretty hot and sticky. My SIL called a friend of hers. They had power. So, we decided to head out to a little pizza place for dinner. That way we could be in the air conditioning and wouldn't be sitting around sweating, making the house smell like Perry and, hopefully, would have power by the time we got back. While we were eating, the power went out in the pizza place. We left and the power was still out at Drew's too. Needless to say, we didn't sleep a whole lot that night.

Apparently my niece, Devyn, discovered that the dog, who normally wouldn't let her get near, was getting distracted by looking out the window and would sneak up and get a good rub in and yell "YEAH!" before the dog would run off. Since it was dark inside and light outside, it made a cool picture.

We got up and left Tally the next morning. The power was out until later that afternoon.

I had a good time, even if we didn't get to eat the peanut butter pie that Marquesas had made for Drew because we couldn't open the fridge door and let out the cold air that was in there keeping all the food from spoiling until the power came back on, which was well after we left. I bet it was yummy!

I am guessing it will be a birthday that Drew will not forget any time soon. :)

First Day of Kindergarten (AKA: A Big, Fat Mess!!!)

2008-08-21T19:46:00.006-04:00

Yesterday was Kyle's first day of Kindergarten! I can't believe how big he is getting. *sniff sniff*

Kyle is a big chicken. I wouldn't even say he is shy. He is a chicken. He has been soooo anxious about this first day of school. He was scared he would get lost. He was scared his teacher would be mean. He was scared he might see his shadow and there would be six more weeks of winter.....I tried to do my best to get him calmed down about it. I wasn't very successful. However, there was a silver lining. He was SOOOOOOO excited about riding the bus. Last year, my daughter had THE BEST bus driver EVER. He let them sit in the back of the bus. He let them eat snacks. He dressed up like Winnie the Pooh on Halloween. He was awesome! Kyle couldn't wait to ride the bus!! I figured as long as I could get him on the bus, he would then be better at school and there would be no big scene where they were peeling him off my leg, screaming, as I walked away crying. It was the safest way. Or so I thought...

So, we got up yesterday and ate a delicious breakfast. We got dressed and headed out to the bus stop with our new backpacks, filled with all kinds of cool, new school supplies.

Seriously!! They are the cutest little elementary school kids EVER!!! (In my unbiased opinion, of course)

We saw the bus coming around the corner....

They were so freaking excited!! You would have thought we just told them they were going to Disney World!!! (Unless they were Evan, who, when asked the other day if he wanted to go to Disney for his Birthday replied, "Yea, sure," all nonchalantly.)

They grabbed their backpacks, swung them up and onto their backs and watched as the bus drove straight past us.......

I called the school and told them. They asked if I could just drive them to school and then come into the office to verify that I had the correct bus stop location. I said "ok." But I KNEW that this was going to make things much harder.

So, we drove to school and had to fight a MASSIVE crowd of people that all felt the need to drive their children to school on the first day. I decided I would drop Kaily and Kyle off in the drop off circle instead of trying to find a parking place. Plus, I figured it would be easier to get Kyle to separate from me this way. So, I did. They took Kyle out and I watched them walk him into his building. I then proceeded to drive around, looking for a place to park that was within a mile of the office since I had Laney and Evan with me.

I found a spot and then went and got in the line at the office. As I was standing there, I saw a woman walking towards me. Kyle was holding her hand, sobbing. I left the line to see what had happened. It was just another mom that had him. She had found him wandering around the 4th grade building, crying. That means not only did he get out of his classroom, but he then got all the way OUT of the Kindergarten building!! I couldn't believe it. I then spent the next 40 minutes trying to get him calmed down (while holding Laney on one hip and constantly having to tell Evan that he couldn't wander off as he was exclaiming "I'm going to school now! Where's my lunch box??" I didn't get Kyle calmed down. Eventually, they peeled him off of me and I left.

I went back to the office and they said I was at the correct bus stop (DUH! I knew that already) and that they would make sure the bus driver knew where he needed to drop them off.

Fast forward a few hours....

Here's Evan, waiting for the bus to come.

He's pretty darn cute, too....if I do say so myself.

We stood and waited. My phone rang. It was my husband. He says:

"The bus driver dropped them off at the wrong stop."

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?

Apparently, he had pulled up to the stop. Kaily told him he was in the wrong place and they weren't supposed to get off the bus if I wasn't there. His response:
"It's not my fault your mommy isn't here. This is your stop. You have to get off the bus now." And he left them there, standing on the corner. ALONE!!!!! (He's lucky he was a little, old man when I met him the next morning or I would have opened a can of you know what on his hiney!!!!)

A neighbor saw them wandering around and called one of the numbers (my husband's cell) that I had pinned to Kyle's backpack. I went and picked them up. They were fine. They were drinking Lemonade Capri-Sun's and were disappointed because the woman was going to get them a bag of chips, but I showed up. (Go figure!) I, however, was NOT fine. I completely flipped. I started shaking and I immediately called the school. When I confronted him about it this morning, he was SOO rude to me. This story is so long you have probably already fallen asleep, so I will spare you those details. I wish there was someway I could get his old, wrinkly butt fired, but apparently they are hard up for bus drivers, so chances of that happening are slim to none.

So, instead I will have to do the next best thing and give him a lump of coal for Christmas this year. Enjoy your smudgy, black fingers you crotchety old man!!!!!

Besides the whole being passed up by the bus and the whole escaping and getting lost in the morning thing and the whole kindergartner being dropped off on the side of the road, ALONE, fiasco.....Kyle really had a great time and was excited to go back today (ON THE BUS!!).

(Disclaimer: I DO NOT feel that ALL old people are crotchety. In fact, I love elderly folk!! They rock!! I would be just as upset if the driver were a crotchety young man (or woman).)

Finicky Fay

2008-08-18T23:15:00.003-04:00

I just got back from a weekend away (during which I turned 29! Woo Hoo!). I would love to blog about it, but I am currently trying to get ready for Tropical Storm Fay who can't decide if she wants to hit us or not. Wish me luck!! I'll be back asap!!

Play-Doh(n't)!!

2008-08-13T19:04:00.003-04:00

This past Tuesday was trash day. The trash truck tends to come pretty early in the morning. We can't take the garbage out the night before because of these guys (or girls or whatever):

Raccoons suck. I bet you all know that, though. And they are really smart. But, I bet you all know that, too. They come out of the woods behind our house and get into ALL of the garbage cans. It doesn't matter if you have a lid or even if that lid locks, they still get into it. They kind of remind me of a toddler in that way.....
So, we can't take our garbage out the night before because the darn raccoons rip it to pieces. Our stupid neighbors (who are obviously not as smart as raccoons) haven't figured that out yet and about once a week we end up with their garbage spread across our yard.

So, since we can't take the garbage out the night before, we have to get up early enough to get it out before the truck comes. My husband usually does this before he leaves for work, but this past week he was out of town. So, at about 7:30 I remember that it was trash day. I looked out the window to see if the truck had come yet. It hadn't!! Woo Hoo!! So, I took the garbage out. I figured the truck was coming soon, so I wouldn't bother actually putting the lid on the can. (I bet you are guessing where this story is headed, aren't you?? Well, keep reading because you are wrong!)

So, I went back inside and was getting my children dressed for a church activity we had later that morning. About 20 minutes had passed since I put the trash can out. I heard a strange noise outside.
"Oh crap!!!!" I thought. "I bet those freakin' raccoons are tearing up the garbage!"

I peaked out my front window. I couldn't see the garbage can because of where my van was parked. Something across the cul-de-sac caught my attention. It was something big.....sitting on the roof of the house across from us. In fact, it was four or five somethings big.....

Can you tell what they are?? Immediately after noticing these nasty, feathered beasts sitting on the roof, I saw something move in the neighbor's yard that is to the left of my house.

Eek!! Vultures!!!! I had seen them in other people's yards, but we had never had a problem with them before. I knew I needed to get the lid to my trash can and get it on before they had their way with it.

I slipped on my shoes, ran out the garage door, grabbed the lid and headed out and around my van. I noticed one of our bags of trash, sitting at the end of the driveway, ripped open.

"You stupid birds!!!" I yelled at the birds sitting in the neighbor's yard. "Don't you have an armadillo you should be fighting over somewhere??"

I rounded the van to head for the garbage can and, much to my surprise.......

I came face to face with more than 30 Vultures!! They. Were. Everywhere!!!!! They were in the road, on the rooftops, in my yard, in the neighbors yard. They were everywhere!! I ran towards them, full speed ahead, screaming (after I went in and got my camera, of course). The majority of them flew away and onto nearby rooftops and you'll never guess what happened.......They sat there, watching me. I cleaned up our garbage. They waited. I cleaned up neighbor number one's garbage and flipped their lid closed. They waited. I cleaned up neighbor number two's yard and flipped their lid closed, and they ALL flew away.

Oh, oh, and you want to know what it was that was sooo irresistible to them.....?? Was it the chicken bones?? Nope. The bacon grease soaked paper towels?? Negative. It was.....Play-doh!!!!! I'm sorry, but I see these nasty birds ripping apart dead rodents on a daily basis and they are going to rip into my garbage for.... PLAY-DOH?!?!?! Seriously?!?!?! I thought they were carnivores! Makes me wonder what exactly they are putting into play-doh these days. Hmmmmm, maybe I should reconsider letting my children play with that stuff.

Time to Refuel My Tank

2008-08-08T22:45:00.005-04:00

I had to go to the store today. As I was leaving, I glanced across the parking lot at the gas station. Gas was only $3.69 a gallon!!!!! (Down from more than $4 a gallon a few weeks ago)!!! I was so excited I think I might have actually peed my pants if it wasn't for the fact that I was still suffering from dehydration, thanks to the virus from H-E-Double hockey sticks!

The Aftermath

2008-08-07T17:08:00.003-04:00

So, this is what a couch looks like after 6 people have just been taken hostage by a nasty stomach bug. It totally kicked our butts!! I kept up with the washing (mostly blankets and towels), but the folding.....forget that!!

In The Last Week....

2008-08-05T20:38:00.000-04:00

I have been a really bad bloggy friend recently. I haven't done much reading and have done even less commenting. Although, I promise you I have good reason. In the last week, I have......

Talked on the phone with a nurse at the doctors office 3 times.
Woken up, on 2 separate occasions, to find 2 different children with their eyes crusted shut from the green ooze seeping out of them.
Taken about 197 temperatures.
Gone to the Doctor's office 3 times.
Cleaned vomit out of my van.
Given about 94 doses of assorted medications.
Cleaned vomit off the bathroom floor.
Held down a child, 2 times, for shots.
Worried about a psych evaluation my child was having (only to get a phone call the morning of, saying it needed to be rescheduled because the doctor was "called out of the office unexpectedly" and the appt. couldn't be rescheduled for before school started, so she would have to miss her 3rd day of school for it)
Washed my hands about a gazillion times.
Washed vomit out of my child's hair.
Washed my child's vomit out of my hair.
Done about 18 extra loads of laundry.
Gone to the grocery store ZERO times (hence the empty fridge).
Started changing an icky diaper, only to discover the poor baby had a yeast infection from all of the antibiotics she had been taking for the last week.
Gone to the pharmacy three times.
Slept a combined total of about 12 hours.
AND
Ate an entire bag of Peanut Butter M&Ms!

So, forgive me. I promise I will get back into the swing of things soon.

The (insert name of vegetable here) Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree!

2008-07-31T20:31:00.007-04:00

I know.....vegetables don't grow on trees. That title fits the post better, though....

I had to drag 5 children to 3 different doctors appointments this week. I used a bag of suckers to convince them to behave each time (because I am NOT above bribery.)

After one of the appointments, they were looking through the bag, trying to decide which delectable flavor to try.

Mikaily: "I want pink!"
Evan: "Me too!"
Kyle: "Mom, aren't these sugar?"
Me: "Yes, they are."
Kyle: "Daddy says sugar isn't good and it doesn't make you strong."
Me: "Sugar tastes good, but it isn't good for you."
Kyle: "Oh, ok. I think I want a green sucker. Green is like a vegetable and so it is better for me."

That's my boy! I have taught him well. :)

Here Sharky, Sharky, Sharky Sharky.......

2008-07-28T12:03:00.005-04:00

I. hate. Sharks.

I know hate is a strong word, but I do. I hate them. There are many things on this earth that are annoying, but I can find a reason for them to be here. A purpose to their existence. Bees are annoying, but they help to pollinate flowers and make honey, which is really yummy. See, they have a purpose. The only purpose I can find for sharks is to keep the surfer population under control..and to strike fear in the hearts of all those that are sensible enough to be scared of them.

There is no point in leaving me a comment trying to convince me of a sharks purpose or trying to explain to me that God created all animals for a reason. I won't believe you. I hate sharks.

Yesterday, my family went to the beach. The beach we go to is small. It is never very crowded. There are lifeguards on duty. It is a nice beach.

In the past, we have seen lots of different sea critters. We have seen crabs and clams. We have seen sea slugs and sting rays. There have been tiny fish and BIG fish and star fish and all sorts of fish. We have even seen dolphins swimming just off shore a few times.

Well, yesterday, my worst nightmare came true.

We had been walking along the edge of the water and came to this point where the seaweed was pretty scarce and the water was REALLY clear and decently shallow. I told Jason he should take the little ones out into the water and walk around to see what they could see. My husband was about 30 feet out in the water. He had Evan (my 3 yr old) and Kyle (my 5 year old) with him. My daughter Mikaily (8 yr old) was about halfway out to him. I was on the sand (where anyone with a brain stays), watching Alaina play with the shells. I heard Jason yell....
"HEY! There's a shark!" and he took a couple of quick steps forward.
"HAHA! Very funny!" I said back to him. Knowing full well that he was pulling my leg because I am petrified of sharks.
"No, I'm serious." he said, looking up at me.
I could tell by the look on his face he was serious.
"Well get out of the water. NOW!" I yelled back at him.
Kyle listened. So did Kaily. The two of them came running towards me as fast as they could through the water, yelling "SHARK!!!!!!" I told them to hush, as not to induce panic.
"It's tiny. It's only about this big." He said as he held up his two pointer fingers, about ten inches apart. At that point, Kyle turned around and headed back out. My heart started racing. If there was a shark out there, I didn't want my children in the water...no matter how tiny it was. A ten inch shark could bite off Kyle's toe. Then, that would attract a bigger shark, that would swoop in out of no where and swallow him whole, before we had a chance to do anything about it! I told Kyle and Evan to come to me. They didn't listen. I watched them, wading around in the water that was chest high on them. they were staring down into the water and taking a step this way...then that way...then back again. It was obvious they could see it and were following it around.

Some other guy and his wife came along. He apparently knew a lot about sharks and had heard Jason say he saw one. So, what does a strange man who knows a lot about sharks do when he comes across one on the beach. Well, he herds it up to the shore and then.....picks it up, of course! That's right, I said he picked it up.

So, yesterday at the beach, not only did my children SEE a shark.....they TOUCHED a shark's belly. Seriously creepy. My heart still thumps when I think about it. I was visibly shaking. I don't care how tiny it is. It still has teeth. Tiny, SHARP teeth that could easily slice through flesh if it really wanted to.

A small crowd gathered. The guy let the kids look and touch it until he could tell the baby shark had had enough and he tossed it back out into the water. I looked it up online today. It was a bonnethead shark...a member of the hammerhead family. ICK!!! Makes me nauseous just thinking about it. No wonder I avoid going to the beach! And OF COURSE it would be the one time I forgot to take my camera with me......so here is one I found on google images....

So then today my day didn't get any better. I was straining the noodles for dinner and I looked outside on the lanai and found this:

Geesh!! This was not nearly as scary to me as the baby shark was, though.

Then this evening, Laney's polka dots decided to make a comeback. I am guessing it's just another viral rash, since that is what they told us it was last time. Although, both times now she has also been on antibiotics, so I am slightly worried that she might be having a reaction to the antibiotic. Who knows?? (notice her left eye? It's all swollen from where the infection is now coming out through her eye....ewwww!!)

The spots haven't broken her spirit, though. This is her, "I am cute and I totally know it" face.

Now, I am going to bed and not waking up for at least 3 days.....ok, well at least 3 hours. *sigh*

My Little Fish

2008-07-22T11:20:00.004-04:00

This week is Laney's last week at swim lessons. She is doing really well. Yesterday's lesson was water safety. AKA.... "Today is the day we are going to show you that, even though you THINK your baby is doing really well, she will still die if she falls in a pool because you aren't watching her." They had us bring the babies in full clothes...shoes and all. It was interesting. I figured Laney would sink like a rock. She didn't, but she also seemed to forget everything she had learned and just kind of flopped around and bobbed up and down like a buoy.

At one point in the lesson the insructor was like "Ok, all the moms get out of the pool." We were all confused because we hadn't done anything previously that didn't involve us being IN the water with the babies. We all climbed out and then, one by one, watched as they dangled our babies over the water....and dropped them....

The whole time I was sitting on the edge of the pool, waiting for it to be Laney's turn, thinking "I can't believe I actually voluntarily signed up for this...AND PAID MONEY for them to drown my child." She didn't drown, of course. And it was definitely eye opening.

I think it is the closest I have ever come to having a heart attack. Laney couldn't get herself turned around and get a hold of the wall (like she was supposed to and could have if she had been in just a bathing suit) but she did keep kicking her feet and bobbing her head in and out of the water. Which was a step up from the little boy who went right before her who ended up with a big air bubble in the back of his shirt that tipped him forward, FACE DONW, in the water. Where he stayed.....until the instructor scooped him out. I guess we all still have a long ways to go.

My husband and I are planning on taking our older three and throwing them into the pool, fully dressed, to see what they do. You can look forward to those pictures. :)

I know you have already seen pictures of her swimming like this....

Look close and you can see the little, yellow flippers she's been wearing when we go. It's soo cute!

But last night we got back a picture of her and I figured I would share with you what she looks like from a different point of view...

She's a fish!! Tee Hee!

More Than Meets the Eye

2008-07-20T21:35:00.004-04:00

I met another celebrity this past week.

It's always so exciting. I hate the fact that I get start struck, though. I always try to play it cool, but I tend to end up looking like a big dork.

I had my children with me. In fact, this particular celebrity was someone that my 5 year old, Kyle, was soooooo excited to see. Of course, he apparently didn't inherit the freak-out gene from me. He was Mr. Cool.

It happened like this:

We pulled up into the parking lot at Target, just like we had every other time we have gone. I wasn't paying much attention to anything but the fact that there was a primo spot, right up front. I pulled in. Parked on the driver's side was a yellow car. I did notice, as I climbed out to open my side door to get my children out, that the car was very shiny and sporty looking.

As I opened the sliding door, Kyle climbed out of his seat and hopped out of the van. I heard him gasp a little. I felt a little tug on my shirt as I looked down at him.

"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Mom! Look!" He said as he pointed to the car.
"Ohhh, yeah. It's really coool, isn't it??" I said, because I am such a cool, hip mom.
He rolled his eyes at me. I continue to unload the other children.
"Nooooo. LOOK!" And he moved his pointed finger to with in an inch of the car.
I grabbed his hand and pulled it back. "Ky! Don't touch other people's cars."
"But mom! It's Bumblebee!!"
"Huh??" I said. I turned around and looked at where he was pointing on the car. I saw something, but it wasn't a bumblebee. What was it.....?? I looked closer. It was the autobot symbol, from Transformers.

DUH!!! It's BUMBLEBEE!!!

I looked closer and it did, in fact, look JUST like Bumblebee...black stripes and all. I was so bummed I didn't have my camera with me. Kyle would have LOVED having his picture taken with the car. I finally got Kyle to walk away by reminding him that Bumblebee was in hiding and probably didn't want anyone to know he was there.

As we walked away, Kyle said "Don't worry Bumblebee, I won't tell anyone it's you."

It was sooooo cute!!

Death By Snot

2008-07-16T09:44:00.000-04:00

Currently, I have 4...count them 1.....2.....3.....4....sick children. They all seem to have been struck with one of THOSE colds. The cold that grabs onto the inside of their little noses and never EVER seems to go away. The cold that produces an endless amount of thick, gooey, stick-all-over-everything-it-comes-into-contact-with, green snot......and it's JULY! JULY!!!! They aren't supposed to have these colds in JULY! This is a January cold. July colds are supposed to come and go in a day and a half...TOPS! There is snot ALL OVER THE PLACE. There is snot in hair and on the couch. It's smeared on toys and across walls. There are little dirty, snot-filled tissues spilling out of every garbage can. It's endless!!! If, for some reason, this is the last blog post I do, it's because I have died....drowned....after my house filled up with SNOT!

She'll Always Be My Baby

2008-07-16T09:36:00.003-04:00

We have this tiny, toy, baby stroller. Laney has decided it is not actually for baby dolls, but instead, is the perfect size for her cute, little, bottom!

Hazardous To Humans

2008-07-12T16:45:00.004-04:00

Hazardous to Humans......that's what I read on the back of the bottle of Scrubbing Bubbles after my baby shot a stream of the stinky, white foam into her mouth.

My husband was brushing my oldest daughter's teeth last night and let Laney into the bathroom with them. I guess he became so enthralled with the whole molar scrubbing ordeal that he forgot about Laney for a few seconds. That's all the longer she needed to open the cabinet door (one of only a couple in the house that haven't had a child lock put on them yet), get out the bottle, take off the cap, insert into mouth and PRESTO.....she looked like she had been bit by a rabid dog and was foaming at the mouth.

Jason hollered for me. I came running because I could tell by the sound of his voice that something was wrong. He had her hanging over the sink already, and I immediately started scooping out the foam that was in her mouth before I even knew exactly what it was. I rinsed her mouth out with water the best I could and grabbed the bottle of Scrubbing Bubbles. I flipped it over and it read:

"Hazardous to Humans. If swallowed, call poison control immediately."

UGH!

So, we did. I was holding Laney is my arms as my husband dialed the number. I kept imagining that she was going to start convulsing in my arms. The guy my husband talked to didn't seem so worried, though. In fact, they talked for a total of about 30 seconds. He told Jason since we got to her so quickly it wasn't anything we needed to worry about. And that we just needed to watch her for the next little while to make sure she didn't get blisters in or around her mouth, because that would mean she was blistering inside as well (I'm sorry, WHAT?!?! Blistering inside!?!! HOW is that something we don't need to worry about??) But.... she didn't. She was fine.

The crappy thing is that I HATE HATE HATE scrubbing bubbles. I don't use it. I can't stand the way it smells. It reminds me of vomit and, therefore, makes me feel the need to hurl every time I smell it. So why in the world do I even have it in my house?!?! I guess I should stop procrastinating and get around to doing my spring cleaning and throwing out all the crap in my house I don't ever use......and put the last baby locks on the doors. That shouldn't be too hard, right?? You know, in all the spare time I have......

Just Keep Swimming.....

2008-07-02T10:06:00.003-04:00

Ever wonder what a 12 month old looks like during swim lessons??

She has had 2 lessons so far. Pretty much it's just dunking her over and over and over and over.....getting her used to holding her breath when she goes underwater. I was skeptical, but it's actually working. She isn't swallowing water anymore. They use lots of different and unique ways of dunking her...like, singing songs then dunking her or sitting her on the edge of the pool and then dunking her or sitting her on a big, floating piece of foam and then, you guessed it....dunking her. Although, when I say "dunking her" that makes it sound so harsh and it's really not. This lady is REALLY good at what she does and Laney is actually having a really good time.

Would You Like Some Cheese With That Whine?!?

2008-06-27T16:08:00.007-04:00

What is it about the telephone ringing that makes children go totally and completely psychotic?? Do they teach some sort of prenatal class in utero to fetuses? Is there some sort of "it's time for me to go absolutely nuts and flip out on my parental unit" hormone that is released at the sound of a phone ringing?

After my last post, (which you should read if you haven't. It's short and you'll get a chuckle out of it) I was talking on the phone with my friend and laughing about the story.

Immediately after the phone rang, my children started in.

"I'm hungry!!!" No, you aren't. You finished eating less than twenty minutes ago. You're bored. Go find something to do!!

"I need to go potty!!" Well, unless you are expecting me to insert a catheter, I suggest you get your cute little butt into the bathroom.

"But I'm bored!" Well, if you can't find something to do, I can find you something. The toys need picked up, your bed needs made. What about scrubbing the toilets? Wanna do that?? You could fold the mountain of laundry that has taken up residence on the couch (although, I don't really suggest that to them because, first off, they are too young and I would just have to go behind them and clean up their "folding" and second, they would find my hidden candy stash. It's the perfect place to hide candy, really. No one EVER gets to the bottom of that pile!)

"She looked at me!" Well, I bet you are guilty of the same or you wouldn't know she was looking in the first place.

"He hit me!" Well, learn how to duck faster, pokey!

Once, I read an article about this. It said the solution was to make eye contact with the child when he begins to whine. Then, hold up one finger so he knows you have acknowledged him. Ummm, yeah. I bet the person that wrote that article doesn't have any children. If they did, they would know that sticking a finger up in the air when a small child is upset is NOT a good idea. You will end up with a bloody stump after the child bites your finger off.

Another suggestion was to wait until the evening to make the phone call when your spouse was home. First off, uhhhh, there are a BOOTY-load of single parents out there. That kinda shoots a big, fat hole through that suggestion. Second, I don't know about you, but I am sure my husband would love it if he came home from working hard all day and I was like, "Sweet!! Time for Mommy to get on the phone and chat it up with her friends. See ya! Wouldn't wanna be ya!" and shoved the baby in his arms as I ran into the bedroom and jumped on the bed, phone in hand.

At least I know I am not alone in this battle. I know this because when I am on the phone with my friends, I can hear their children in the background....

"Can I watch TV? I want some milk. He just flicked me! Where is my doll?? What day is it? Woah! Did you hear that burp??"

The worst, though, is when you are on the phone and the whiney one comes up to you and asks for something that is completely incoherent. Like the other day, Evan came up to me. Now, the majority of the time I can figure out what he is saying, but when he whines he tends to be really, REALLY nasally. I know that a good parent just wouldn't respond to the griping, but, I am weak. A majority of the time, I give in to stop the insufferable grumbling. So, Evan was whimpering and climbed into my lap, while I was trying to have a conversation, and said:

"Mooooooooomb! I wada sis do."

Now, I interpreted that as "Mom, I wanna kiss you." and I puckered up.

"NOOOOOOO! I....(pause)....wada sis do."

Oh, ok second guess......"I wanna sit with you?"

"NOOOOOOOOO!!!" He said with tears welling up in his eyes. "I....(pause)....wada......(pause).... sis do."

"I love my sis, too??" I know, REALLY bad guess....

"UGH! NOOOO!"

"Ummmm, I have no idea what you are saying. I want to assist you?"

At his point in the conversation, he clinched his teeth as he blew out three deep breaths as if to say "Hey! Moron! Do you NOT speak English??"

So, I called in reinforcements, because Mikaily can understand everything her younger brother says.

"I wada sis do." He said to Mikaily, calmly.

"He says he wants a tissue."

"OHHHhhhh! Is that what you are saying?? You want a tissue??"

"Uh-Huh!"

Apparently I don't speak English......and I went and got him a tissue. Of course, after I was up and in the kitchen getting a tissue, he asked me for a drink. Which he had been whining for and I had already told him he needed to wait for. My friend found this amusing. I was just glad I figured out what he was saying before his head exploded. That would have just been one more thing for me to clean up. Something tells me my swiffer wouldn't have been able to handle that mess...

So, has anyone come up with a good suggestion for dealing with "can't talk on the phone without hearing the moan" syndrome? Or, can someone tell me the exact does of Benadryl I need to give to my children to knock them out for, oh, say 30 minutes? I would easily be able to catch up with my friends then!! ;) Don't worry, I wouldn't really do that....probably. hehe

T.M.I.

2008-06-25T09:00:00.005-04:00

It is Sunday Morning.

I usually teach a class at church, but I am sick this particular Sunday. So, I decide to call my friend (who I know is a sucker and can't say no...hehe) and ask her if she will cover for me.

She has a little boy who is barely 4 (who I will call Charlie).

RING.......RING.......RING.......

Charlie: Hello!! (this was abnormal, because I know that normally, Charlie would not be allowed to answer the phone)
Me: Hi Charlie! Is your Mommy there?
Charlie: Who is this??
Me: This is your Mommy's friend. Can I talk to her, please?
Charlie: No. She is in the shower right now.
Me: Oh, ok. Well, can I talk to your Daddy? (I assumed he must be right there beside Charlie)
Charlie: No.
Me: No?! I bet if you call your Daddy he will come and get the phone from you.
Charlie: No he won't. He is in the shower, too.

I told my friend about this when I talked to her later in the week. She said they were NOT in the shower together and that Charlie must have been right by the phone and picked it up before they even heard it ring.

Yea, likely story!! ;)

One Small Step for Baby, One Giant Leap for Baby Kind

2008-06-22T20:00:00.010-04:00

Don't worry. That's just a working title.

I had mentioned previously that we were going to start looking for a place to take Laney for water survival classes. When I first stared looking around, I was really only interested in teaching her water survival. I know some of you watched that video (2 posts down) of the poor baby that they just left floating on his back in his adorable little footy pajamas for more than five minutes. I don't know about you guys, but I was screaming at the monitor by the time his dad finally came and "rescued" him.

I talked to a whole bunch of people here and got the scoop on the best places to go. Well, after careful consideration, we have decided we aren't going to do water survival classes after all. We are going to do SWIM LESSONS! That's right, hopefully a month from now my just barely 1 year old will be SWIMMING!! And when I say swimming, I mean gliding through the water with the greatest of ease. They don't just teach them how to float, they teach them how to kick their legs and move their arms and get from point A to point B and they actually teach them how to climb OUT of the pool. They say that if the baby is comfortable enough in the water and actually enjoys being in the pool (which Laney does) they will teach them how to dive for rings.

Now, I can't imagine watching my itty, bitty baby girl doing this for the first time. I imagine it will give me some sort of stroke. At first I was like, "Why in the world would you ever teach a baby to dive for a ring??" I mean, I don't know about you, but if I see a baby sinking towards the bottom of a pool, my inner voice screams "HELP!! The baby is drowning!! Save her! SAVE HER YOU FOOL!!!!" I mean, air is kind of vital to our survival, isn't it?? BUT THEN.....I saw a video. It was a little boy who is only slightly older than Laney. He dove down, grabbed a big ring, turned himself back over, swam up towards his mama and reached out to hand it to her. He was so proud. I could totally imagine Laney's face as I pulled her up to me, ring in hand. She. would. be. PROUD. She watches her siblings dive for them and claps when they come up victorious. So, if is possible to teach her how to do that safely, why wouldn't SHE love doing it too??

Alright, so, the more comfortable a baby is in the water when they start, the faster they will get through each lesson and the more they would be able to get out of the lessons as a whole. (Well, DUH! That's kind of a given.) So, we decided to try and get Laney a little more comfortable going UNDER the water (And get myself a little more comfortable watching her BE under the water). So, we sat our older children along the side of the pool and then, one at a time, we had them fall off and into the water. They would lean forward, fall in, their heads would go under and then we would scoop them out. Laney sat and watched for a while. Then, it was her turn......

We couldn't believe SHE ACTUALLY DID IT!! And then she did it again....and again...and again.....She got to the point where she would fall in, come up, spit the water off her lips and then squeal with glee!! (heehee...I just used the word "glee")

It sure would be adorable if she actually took to this whole swimming thing (especially because that way we wouldn't feel like it was a big waste of money...of course it wouldn't be a waste of money even if the only thing she gets from it is being able to float on her back and keep her face out of the water. I mean, it's worth the money to even TRY if it means it could save her life, right??)

I will keep you all posted!

Oh, and Kyle told me I had to post this video too because he "looks so cool" in it.

They have been trying to learn how to do flips. I think I have a heart attack every time they try this because I just know that one of these times one of them is going to crack their head open.

No wonder I have so many grey hairs!!

CCC#1: Heads

2008-06-20T09:07:00.002-04:00

OHMommy over at Classy Chaos is having a photo challenge. Click HERE for more details.

Soakin' Up Some Sun....Safely

2008-06-18T11:20:00.004-04:00

Summer is here. This means different things to different people. For some, it means no school. Staying out late and spending time with friends. For some, it means long days spent at the beach, sipping lemonade (or whatever) and soaking in some rays. And for others it means wild rides at amusement parks. For me, it means anxiety attacks and excessive worry as I supervise my children in the swimming pool.

This morning, I read this blog. A blog that belongs to a mom who recently lost her daughter, who was only slightly older than Alaina, in a horrific drowning accident. My heart aches for her. I can not even fathom the loss that they are feeling right now. It's so hard. I have never "met" this woman, but she has been a part of my life (almost daily) for the last year through the blogosphere. My thoughts and prayers go out to her and her family.

I haven't been able to stop thinking about this. After all, I have a pool and a hot tub in my backyard. I try to do all I can to keep my children safe, but I imagine this mom was doing the same. It only takes a second, as I imagine all accidents do. You turn your head for a second in the store and your child is gone. You let go of their hand for one second in a parking lot and disaster can strike.

I read somewhere that drowning is actually the number one cause of accidental death in children under 5 years. This applies not only to drowning accidents in pools, but also in hot tubs, buckets (such as mopping buckets), bath tubs, fish tanks and toilets. It takes only one inch of water for a small child to drown. ONE INCH!!!!

We get things in the mail or see things on tv all the time about how drowning has been dubbed "the silent killer." If your child goes underwater, you can't hear him/her scream. They can't cry. They may flap their arms and kick their legs, but if they have not been taught how to relax and float, they immediately sink when they go in the water and you can't hear any splashing sounds when they are completely submerged.

I live in a state where swimming is a part of everyday life. We go to pool parties and have BBQ's on the beach. I teach my children how to swim, in hopes that if something were to happen, that might give me a few seconds longer to get to them. This all has reminded me that I really need to brush up on my CPR. I learned infant/child CPR when I had my first child, and I have brushed up on it numerous times since then. My problem is that as I am going through the motions, my mind starts to wander and I begin to panic about actually having to USE what I am learning at some point and I think that tends to be somewhat distracting and everything I am trying to remember doesn't sink in as well as it should. Does that happen to anyone else??

So, I have decided (I have been thinking about doing this for a month or so, now, and after reading about the tragic death of such a beautiful little baby I have decided for sure) that I am going to do water survival lessons with Alaina. These lessons don't teach her how to swim, they will teach her how to float and keep her face out of the water in case she ever were to fall into the pool or hot tub. I found this video on YouTube that shows what I want her to be able to do. It makes your heart pump a little at first, but dont worry....just keep watching. My children gathered around and were very interested as to what was going on.

Now, I am going to go hug my babies and tell them each how much I love them.

Aren't Sisters Great??

2008-06-16T13:13:00.001-04:00

I can remember doing this kind of thing to my little brother. We used to dress him up and take him outside and introduce him to all the neighborhood kids as "Molly." Evan has an older sister that makes him put on a leotard here or a dress there. When my borther was Evan's age (3), he had 3 older sisters (5, 6, and 8 years old at the time). He was lucky to make it 2 hours without one of us trying to put his hair back into a clip or paint his nails or put a tutu on him. But, ya know, what else are little brothers for?? :)

Quote of the Week

2008-06-12T12:01:00.001-04:00

Evan: "HEY!!!! Somebody put grape juice in my peaches!!!!" he exclaimed as he bit into a pear.

This Years Must-Have Birthday Accessory: Polka Dots!!

2008-06-09T13:44:00.023-04:00

Last Thursday, my baby woke up looking like this...

COVERED IN SPOTS!!!!! I ran her to the doctor to get her checked out and it turns out it's hives. Although, these are not hives caused by any sort of allergic reaction, they are hives caused by a virus. Now, normally this wouldn't be such a huge deal to me, except for the fact that LANEY'S FIRST BIRTHDAY WAS LESS THAN 48 HOURS AWAY!! Go figure!! Thankfully, with a little Benadryl and a LOT or praying, by Saturday morning the hives were more of a light pink color and hardly noticeable.

I can't believe it has been an entire year! Does anyone have a tissue?? I still get all choked up thinking about what a big girl she is.

We had some family come into town and, since Laney loves the water so much, I threw her a little pool party.

To go along with the pool party theme, I decided to make cupcakes. In fact, I ended up making over 40 cupcakes!!!

We don't give our babies any kind of sweets before their first birthday, so the first real treat they get is their cake. Laney didn't really know what to make of it at first. She stared at it for a minute....then she kinda pushed it around with her finger. She got a little icing on her finger and licked it... and she absolutely LOVED it!! She smeared it all over herself and actually ended up eating almost the entire cupcake.

She had a blast opening her presents. Ok, well, so she didn't so much OPEN her presents as she did climb on and suck them.

Po-Tay-toe.......Pa-tah-toe!!
She got a cute little outfit from her Aunt Jello that, coincidentally, matched an outfit that her cousin has!! :)

I think they may be the two cutest babies, EVER!! (And that is a totally and completely unbiased opinion).

We went outside after dark and played with sparklers.....and by we, I mean the adults. :) The kids came outside with us, but they are all too chicken to hold a sparkler, so we frolicked around in the cul-de-sac skipping and twirling. It was fun.

Happy Birthday to the most beautiful, sweetest little psycho baby there ever was!! I love you, my little Laney.

The Little Punker!!

2008-05-30T13:24:00.002-04:00

Well, I had this massively long post that I had all ready to go, with like a million pictures from our weekend in Orlando. I was making one last change and switching around a chunk of it (as in half of the post) and I copied it....then I cut it.....and at that exact moment Blogger, of course, autosaved the changes. Then, my little PUNKER of a daughter who has decided that there is nothing better than pushing buttons hit the power button and turned off my computer BEFORE I pasted the chunk back in. Which means, I lost the entire first half of the post. Ugh! She is such a little punker!! So, I will get the first half written and up asap!

GOOGLE Photos

2008-05-22T10:08:00.015-04:00

I saw this on another blog. I didn't officially get tagged, but I am doing it anyways. The whole point is to answer the questions using pictures from GOOGLE images. It was lots of fun.

Age on my next Birthday:

Place I want to visit:

My Favorite thing:

Favorite Place:

Favorite Food:

Favorite Color:

Town I Live In:

Name of a Past/Present Pet:

Nickname I've had:

College Major:

First Job:

Goal for the next Year:

Ok, so I am going to tag a few girlies just because I can....
LISA
LEAH
MARQUESAS

My FABULOUS Bag

2008-05-19T15:32:00.003-04:00

I got tagged (via e-mail) for one of those purse memes where you show everyone what you drag around in your purse with you everyday. I wrote on my blog last November about my amazingly wonderful diaper bag, so I figured I would just repost it and count it as the meme. It probably is very similar to what is in the bag today,anyways. I am not going to officially tag anyone for this meme, if you haven't already done it and you want to, then TAG! You're it!

This is my diaper bag....

Isn't it pretty? I LOVE this bag. I want to marry this bag (That is if I wasn't already married to a wonderful man. Love you sweetie!!) It is red. It is shiny. It is youthful. It is eye-catching. It is, in a word, FABULOUS!!! It is everything I want to be. Ok, well I don't want to be red. That would probably mean I had a really bad sunburn. Been there, done that. Not going back, thank you very much. Well, and I guess I don't want to be shiny either. In fact, I pay good money for cleansers to keep me from being shiny. But you get my point. I hope.

So, this amazing bag of mine is impressive in more ways than one. It still looks marvelous from the outside after being carted around everywhere I go and it is big enough that it can hold all the crap that I needlessly cart around with me. See....

The contents of my bag consists of:
4 pens (1 that didn't work)
1 UNSHARPENED pencil (maybe I could poke someones eye out if they tried to mug me..??)
3 stickers (2 were transformers and one was veggie tales)
2 things of lip gloss
1 tube of chap stick...cherry flavored, of course.
1 coconut lip butter (from The Body Shop...best lip stuff EVER!! Only problem is it tastes so good I usually just lick it off as soon as I put it on!!)
1 watch (That never gets worn because it just becomes a toy for my baby and then my wrist ends up covered in baby slobber)
1 rattle (Sassy rocks!)
1 small, toy dog
61 cents (see, mugging me would be a mistake. You would end up with 61 cents and only one eye)
1 hair clip (the big claw kind. I am not sure why I have this. I don't even use this kind of hair clip!)
3 rubber bands (essential for the "baby likes to yank the hair out of your head" phase of you baby's life)
3 kids games
some cheese and peanut butter crackers
1 bottle nipple and a 2 oz bottle of premade formula (even though my baby drinks double that)
1 electronic 20 questions game (I LOVE this little thing. Very handy for waiting in the doctor's offices)
1(?????) plastic link (don't ask me what I was expecting a child to do with 1 link)
2 pacifiers (neither of which were in containers so they are both covered in "bottom of your diaper bag" crumbly stuff....kinda makes it pointless to have them)
a PLETHORA of old receipts (mostly from Target...can I get a hoot hoot??)
1 crinkly baby book
2 baggies stuffed full of wipes (Yup, 2. One for changing diapers and one because I am an experienced mom and know that in the course of 1 trip to the grocery store you can use wipes approx. 32 times... i.e. wiping shopping cart, wiping little hands after they run their fingers down the side of the dirty car in the parking lot, wiping off baby spit up, wiping faces after eating free samples of BBQ chicken, wiping off my hand after catching the BBQ chicken sample that was being spit out.....you get my drift.)
5 diapers (4 in my baby's size and one for my niece when I have her)
1 travel size bottle of lotion
1 small bottle of water...half empty...or shall I say, half full :)
an empty tic tac container *shrugging shoulders*
1 box of crayons (cause you never know when you are going to need to color something!!)
an old grocery list
1 bib (at least it was clean!!)
my wallet
1 old man finger puppet
1 thing of dinosaur flip cards (my 5 year old is wacky over dinos)
2 easy reader books
and last, but certainly not least, a bag of jumbo sized jet-puffed marshmallows (cause ya never know when you're gonna need something to bribe the kids with!!)

After carting all of this crap around, you'd think I would have better biceps. Oh well. C'est la vie.

Unidentified Flying Chickens

2008-05-16T21:58:00.008-04:00

We have had some serious trouble with bedtime lately... My daughter has this friend at school. We'll call her "Crazy Claire." Why crazy, do you ask? Well, first of all, Mikaily came home from school today talking about how Claire had seen a meteorite. But, it wasn't really a meteorite, it was just LIKE a meteorite. So, she saw it fall and hit the ground and she ran over and looked at it. It was an octopus but not really an octopus it was just LIKE an octopus. And inside the octopus there were little Pokemons running around............end of story.

Hence the name, "Crazy Claire."

Also, a couple of months ago Mikaily came home in a panic, talking about this story that her friend Claire had told her.

Claire was sleeping at a friend's house. She woke up in the middle of the night. It was dark. She heard a noise. A noise that she did not recognize. When she rolled over and looked up at the ceiling, she saw two, BIG, glowing, red eyes staring down at her. Are you freaked out yet??? Because this scared the CRAP out of my little girl.

She explained to Mikaily that it HAD to be a ghost. There was nothing else it could have been. Mikaily, of course, was then totally freaked out at night. She didn't want to go to bed. She would cry and say that when she closed her eyes, she would see the scary eyes. DARN THAT CLAIRE!!!!! She told Mikaily that she had seen the eyes two other times in her own house, and she was 100% sure it was ghosts that were coming to get her....or aliens. It could have been aliens, too. Because aliens can have red eyes. (CRAZY, I tell you, CRAZY!! Ok, so maybe saying crazy is a tad bit harsh. Let's give her the benefit of the doubt and say she just has a wildly crazy imagination.)

Well, tonight we all went out to dinner. Mikaily was eating her food and stopped and looked up at me.

Kaily: "Did I tell you that Claire told me she doesn't see ghosts?"
Me: "Hmmm, no, you didn't tell me that. Was she just dreaming?" (Like I had suggested previously)
Kaily: "No. She said she woke up and got a good look at what was in her bedroom and it wasn't a ghost at all."
Me: "What was it? Her cat?" (Like I had suggested previously)
Kaily: "No. She says it is flying chickens. They are fried, too. It was just flying, fried chicken. So I don't need to be scared anymore."
Me: "That's great, I guess." I said laughing hysterically. "If you wake up in middle of the night and find flying, fried chickens with big, red eyes in your room, can you wake me up? That way I can stick some in the fridge and I will have dinner all ready for tomorrow night...."

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....CHICKEN!!

Did You Miss Me???

2008-05-14T15:24:00.000-04:00

Wow! I have been a really bad blogger friend. I seem to be having a hard time finding time to not only write on my own, but to actually read others. I have been having a pretty bad day though, so I decided to sit down and write a little and then
browse through some blogs and see if I can find one that will make me laugh.

Today started out crappy. I guess I messed up my alarm somehow last night when I went to bed and I woke up 14 minutes before Mikaily had to be on the bus. I must say, I very much impressed myself when I actually got her up, dressed, somewhat fed and on the bus! I know!! I am sooo GOOOOOOOOD! I say "somewhat fed" because she only ate 2/3 of a frozen waffle that had been microwaved (which is how she likes it because she likes hers to be soggy. I think that may be even more disgusting than the way Evan likes his, which is straight out of the freezer. When he says he wants a frozen waffle, he means a FROZEN waffle.) I wasn't too worried, since it was an early release day I knew she would be home by lunch time.

When I sprung up and out of bed when I saw what time it was, I ran directly into the kitchen to finish packing Kaily's lunch. I didn't go pee first, which is what I normally do because otherwise I know that by the time it hits me that I have to pee, I will be doing the pee pee dance trying to get my pants pulled down. So, guess what? I ended up doing the pee pee dance while I was tyring to get my pants pulled down. I didn't take the time to even flip the light on when I ran into the bathroom. I had gone into the kids bathroom because that one is closer to the kitchen. Dumb move. I ran in, flung my pants down and plopped myself down on the toilet and.....SPLASH!!!! DANG EVAN!!! He has decided that he is a big boy and he pees standing up, but he still hasn't quite figured out that he is supposed to put the toilet seat DOWN when he is done. I haven't cleaned that toilet in more than a week. That'll teach me.

At least I got Mikaily onto the bus.

I decided that I wanted to bake something. When I am feeling icky baking always seems to help me feel better. So, I headed off to the store this morning because I didn't have any vanilla (Evan got ahold of the bottle the last time I was letting him help me and he "forgot" he had it in his hand and somehow managed to fling the entire contents of the bottle across the kitchen). Which reminds me. I don't think I blogged about Evan and his little imaginary friend. He has an imaginary friend named Alyssa. She came along about the time Kyle started school and Evan was home for a few hours without him. Apparently, Alyssa had a birthday and being the most amazing mom that I am, I made her an impromptu birthday cake.

It made Evan so happy. He wanted to hold the cake for a picture.

Unfortunately when you have one adult taking a picture and the other one making sure the 3 year old doesn't drop the cake, you don't keep a close enough eye on the baby (who hasn't had nay sugar yet since it is the house rule that babies don't get any sort of cake or cookies or sweets until their first birthday) and she sneaks up from behind..... (see the top, left corner of the cake in the first picture?)

So much for that rule.

Oh, and speaking of my cutie baby. I can't believe she is going to be one in a few weeks!!! She has started taking steps on her own.

She is still pretty wobbly. I don't know if I would really consider her walking yet, but she can take a couple of steps and then catch her balance and then take a few more. So, I guess that probably counts??

Another little trick she has picked up on recently is signing. I sign to all of my children. I think it helps to reduce fit throwing and all of that, but mostly I do it because it makes me looks like a great mom. :) Here she is signing "more."

Ok, so back to the strip to the grocery store now....

Florida needs rain.....badly. There are fires burning all over the place. Thankfully none of them are close to us yet. So as I was driving out of my neighborhood, there was a little old man.....sitting in a lawn chair....with a garden hose in his hand.....spraying his lawn. He was just sitting there in this chair on his driveway spraying his lawn. I wonder how long he had been there for. Now that is devotion.....or craziness. Take your pick. I guess I shouldn't really be talking about the weird things people are doing to help save their lawns considering the fact that mine looks like this....

Granted, most of that big, dead spot is in my neighbors yard, but it seems to be getting bigger and bigger by the day. We aren't sure exactly what is causing it. My theory is that that is where the neighbors' ~~rats~~ dogs pee everyday. All I know is that lawn is sooo far down on my 'to do' list..... I wonder if that little old man is for hire.

So I ended up going to Target today, too. I LOVE Target. I wish I could marry target. I ended up getting a whole new summer wardrobe for Alaina. Which she needed because she is growing like a weed.

I am one of those people that ends up putting like a gazillion things in my cart and then I kinda look through them as I wander around and then decide I don't like this or that so much anymore, so I just fling it on whatever shelf I am standing next to. I figure it is someone's job to walk around the store and pick up all those things so, really, it's like I am putting food on someone's plate when I do that, right??

This has turned out to be a totally and completely random post here. Ummmmmmm, yeah. Oh well. I guess I will go read a few blogs and then I have a dirty toilet that is calling my name.

Happy Birthday, Mikaily!!

2008-05-05T16:32:00.009-04:00

We are back from our weekend at Disney. We had so much fun!! Disney is definitely the most ~~expensive~~ magical place on earth!

We got there shortly before Epcot opened. We ran over to guest services to find out when the Princesses would be making their appearances and to get Mikaily her birthday button. We ended up being the first ones on the Nemo and friends ride. This ride is slow moving. You climb into this clam shell car and you move along a track....slower than the speed your Grandma can walk. Then Nemo and his friends are on these screens and they talk to each other and yada yada yada......pretty mellow, right? Well, at one point it got dark and this is what Kaily looked like......

My poor little wussy girl. She wasn't so much into riding rides. She just wanted to see princess.....

After Princess......

After Princess......

And....can you guess it......??? MORE Princess....

(Do you think that the princesses come out of the womb with their left toe slightly pointed, holding their umbilical cord slightly out and up with their left hand??)

Princess fever started to rub off on me, though. By the time we were to Belle, I had this big, goofy grin on my face and found myself fighting the urge to run up and hug her and tell her how pretty her yellow dress was. I figured it would make me look a little pervy though, so I didn't.

There is this one spot (The Coca-Cola store) where you can try different sodas that people drink all over the world.

(That's a Birthday kiss from Snow White on her cheek, just FYI)
There was this one from Italy that was N-A-S-T-Y!! It was super bitter. So, naturally, I called Mikaily over and was like "Ohhh, you should try this one!" She did....she spit it out. I laughed. Then, she turned around and was like "Tracy (that's my sister that went with us) you should try this one!!" and she tried to doop Tracy into to trying it. Ha! I was so proud. Tracy had tried it before, so she didn't fall for it. But, it was a GREAT try.

For those who don't know, they are doing something called the "Year of a million dreams" at Disney right now. They do things like give random people Mickey Mouse dolls all the way up to giving away a night at the suite in Cinderellas castle that was made for Walt Disney himself. So, at one point, the year of a million dreams guy came up to us while we were in the "It's a Small World" line and asked us if we were having fun. We all said "Yes." Then he says "Ok, well, come on!" He takes us out of line. He walks us into this building (At which point my sister leans forward to me and says "Is he taking us to the front of the line, or is he going to kill us??") He ended up taking us up to the little booth where the person sits that makes the boats go once everyone is seated and ready. They announced to everyone that Mikaily was there to help out. She got to stand up there and wave to all of the people in the boats as they went under the booth.

She LOVED it!

We ended up being there ALL day. We rode one of the boats and the Captain had everyone sing to Mikaily. We got to see two parades, ride lots of rides, eat some yummy treats and Goofy even called twice to wish/sing her Happy Birthday!

I threw together a slide show for those of you who want to look at more pictures. We had TONS of fun, but now I think I need a vacation!!

Dirty Old Man

2008-05-02T13:43:00.004-04:00

So, people in the South are weird. This is something that you can't fully understand unless you have lived somewhere else and then moved to the South. It's not something that can be explained either. And, old people can be somewhat strange as well. Although, usually they tend to be strange in a cute kinda way. So, when you are down south and you live in a state that is full of Southern elderly men, you can have some weird interactions. Case in point: My last trip to the grocery store.

I had to run in to just grab a couple of items, so I decided I could brave it with all four of my littles and my niece as well. I tend to avoid doing this, just because we get stopped so many times by onlookers, wanting to know if they are ALL mine, that it tends to take twice as long as it should. I was pushing my double stroller with the two babies in it and was herding my older three alongside of me down one of the frozen food aisles. There was a man...an elderly gentleman walking towards us. He was wearing thick glasses. His hair was that weird yellow gray color and he was wearing a red and yellow and white striped shirt with tan shorts pulled up to his boobs. He began pushing his cart across the aisle, directly towards me and saying in his scratchy old man voice"

"Stop stop stop stop STOP! What are these...like sextuplets or something?"

To which I replied very cheerfully, "Well, no. Sextuplets would be six and there are only five here and they are all different ages." (I realized I may have come off as being a tad bit rude...but that was not my intention). I pointed to Laney in the stroller and then my other three and said "These four are mine and this one (pointing to my niece) is my niece." I figured I would save him the trouble of asking that question.

He then said something to me that left me speechless.....

He tilted his head down slightly and looked up at me over the rim of his thick, dirty glasses and said "What are you? Some kind of sex fiend??"

I stood there for a fraction of a second and then said "Ok, well, have a nice day. Let's go kids!!" And I herded them all around his cart as he was mumbling something under his breath.

Trust me buddy. I have four small children...I don't have time for sex. I am no sex fiend...just ask my husband.

Ok, so I am now off to Disney for the weekend. My oldest is turning 8 on Sunday!!! I will be gone for a few days. Awww, it's ok. Don't cry. I promise I will post lots of pics when we get back.

Silly Daddy!

2008-04-27T20:38:00.003-04:00

Laney LOVES the swimming pool. Here she is in her adorable bathing suit that took me forever to find because apparently I am super picky when it comes to what bathing suit I am willing to put on my baby.

It was scary to see what some of these suits look like. Do people seriously put those on their little girls?!?! Ok, so anyways.....

Laney loves to swim. (yeah yeah, I know she can't really swim. You know what I mean though....don't be so picky.) The other day the boys wanted to get in the pool, but Mikaily was sick. So, my husband decided that he would go ahead and take the boys and Laney and get in the pool for a little while. So, the boys ran and got their suits and my hubby grabbed Alaina's suit and put it on her. I was standing in the kitchen and looked over and Laney was crawling across the floor. Ummmmmmmmm.....Excuse me, but are her boobies hanging out?!?

I started laughing. It took me a second to figure out how in the world he had managed to do that to her suit. It wasn't actually on backwards, he just made the straps cross in the front instead of in the back.

Silly Daddy!!

Watch Out, World!! Here Comes Laney!!

2008-04-27T20:29:00.002-04:00

I know it is dark and poor qulity and there is no sound, but, you get the point.

That Is Definitely NOT an Iguana

2008-04-24T20:31:00.004-04:00

Some of you may have seen this story on the news already. Don't worry, it's a short video......

The next time you find a mouse in your kitchen, count your lucky stars.....it could be much, much worse.

P.S. The condo this lady lives in is approx. 7 miles from my house. Why in the world do I live here?!?

Ropes and Fires and Monkeys, OH MY!

2008-04-22T21:39:00.005-04:00

Ahhh, Spring Break. Nothing like a bunch of crazy college kids gathering together on an overly crowded beach while consuming large amounts of alcohol and wearing practically nothing. So, what's a mom of 4 small children to do when this time of year comes around??
A. Stay inside and tightly close all of the blinds.
B. Take a two month vacation to a state that is not quite so popular...like Minnesota.
C. Join in on the fun

Well, we chose C. A couple weekends ago we decided to head over the the local beach/pier. It. was. packed. HOWEVER....large crowds bring large amounts of entertainment, mostly in the form of street performers.

We watched an escape artist. He was 16 years old. He was mildly entertaining. He had a couple of guys from the audience strap him into a straight jacket. The most exciting part of his show was that he called Kyle up out of the audience to hold the microphone for him while he was being tied up.

The next guy we saw did scary things like juggle swords and hatchets and things that were on fire. He called Kyle up too, but Kyle didn't want to go anywhere near this guy. I can't blame him, he was a little freaky. He did the whole fire spitting thingy. (Or whatever it's called.)

The whole time we watched this guy, I just kept thinking, "Holy crap! Didn't his mom ever teach him not to play with fire??" and more importantly "Why in the world am I letting my little psycho 3 year old watch this??" I could just see him coming home and trying to figure out how to blow fire out of his crazy little mouth. I could totally picture him running around the house with his curls ablaze, begging for money.

Evan's favorite part was actually the little monkey. It was a little capuchin monkey. They had him there on this little leash (I wonder if I could walk Evan around on one of those little leashes bumming money off of people. He's cute enough, don't ya think??) You could hold out some money (anything from a penny to whatever) and the monkey would come up, take the money, give it a kiss "for good luck" and then drop it in his little tip bucket. You could pay ten bucks or more and have the monkey actually sit on your lap and they would take a Polaroid for you. Ummm, no thanks. Knowing my luck the monkey would bite me and give me the plague. I would prefer my family to remain plague free, thank you very much.

Mikaily saw a little girl getting her face painted, so of course she HAD to get hers painted. Because, we all know that if she left the beach without having a flower painted on the side of her face, she would DIE!

That's kind of a scary picture of her. She looks a little possessed. Oh well, she fit right in with all the other crazies on the beach.

Laney enjoyed hanging out on Daddy's shoulders. She kept groovin' every time the music would play.

We headed down to the water after taking in all of the street performers. We had to herd the children around the bum that was sleeping in the sand. It was a great "stay in school" teaching moment. (No offense to those who are homeless.... I know that some are just in unfortunate circumstances...not that anyone that is homeless is going to be reading my blog....)

While the kids were splashing around, there was a guy that came along tring to strike it rish with his metal detector and offered the boys glow sticks (Mikaily was off somewhere, eating an ice cream cone with her Aunt). At first, I wasn't sure whether we should let the boys play with them or throw them into the ocean. Against my better judgement we let them take the glowing sticks from the stranger...they didn't end up being bombs or anything though...just plain old glow sticks. *shew*

Sorry that picture is so blurry.....

Crazy, drunk, college kids and crazies aside, it was pretty fun.

Snips and Snails and Puppy-dogs' Tails

2008-04-17T12:49:00.005-04:00

Kyle is 5 years old. He, obviously, is a boy. Any of you that have had a 5 year old boy know that they certainly know how to keep life...umm, well, interesting.

Kyle is in preschool. He absolutely loves it. In Florida, you can put your child into a qualified VPK (Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten) class for free if you want to. (So, it's kind of like the schools here go from Pre-K to 12th grade.) Any preschool can qualify to have a VPK class as long as they follow certain criteria set for them by the state. Then, in return, they get state funding. It's really a win-win.

So, every mom of a preschooler knows how hard it can be to get your child a spot in a good...no, make that excellent, preschool. There are waiting lists that are like 3miles long. By the time your child hits the top of the list, they are in 2nd grade already.

We got really lucky. When I went to enroll Kyle (way late, of course), one of the ladies in the office I went to told me about a spot that she knew of that was in an excellent VPK class (even though technically she wasn't supposed to have told me....I guess I'm just so pretty she couldn't resist helping). So, I rushed right over and got him into the class. It's a private school. It is expensive and ritzy and very much upscale. Definitely NOT the place we would have him if we had to be paying the bill ourselves. :) It goes from Pre-K - 8th grade. The older children in the school are always very polite and say "good morning" and "excuse me" and all that jazz. Kyle does well there. He gets in trouble some, but no more than the other little rowdy boys in his class.

Oh, and did I mention the fact that this school is Orthodox? Very much so, in fact. It's not uncommon for Kyle to come home from school talking about his "Lord and Savior Jesus" because of something they have talked about that day.

We were doing Kyle's homework last night. He was told to draw a picture of something that begins with the letter "f". He chose family. I know, how sweet is that?? He drew himself first. I watched him as he drew his head......then his eyes and nose and smile...so sweet. He drew spiky hair (which he doesn't have) and then his big, round body. He drew two arms and two legs, just as he should. Then...wait....what the......??? OH. MY. CRAP!!!

That's right, ladies and gentlemen. He decided he wanted to draw himself anatomically correct. I. was. mortified. There was NO way I was going to let him turn this paper into his teacher at his ritzy, Orthodox preschool. I thought that maybe I could just get another piece of paper and have him draw a new picture and tell his teacher that something had spilled on the original, but I figured he would end up ratting me out. I could just see that........

Me: "Sorry his homework isn't on the paper you sent home with him. I spilled a glass of milk on that one, so I just gave him a new one to draw on."

Kyle: "No. NO. No you didn't. You said I had to draw on a new one because I drew myself a ding dong on the other one."

That wouldn't be good. Plus, I didn't want to lie. So, I just told him he had to draw himself some pants. He did. Although, he drew himself, me, Kaily, Evan, Alaina and his dad and he was the only one wearing pants. He didn't have a shirt on either...just pants. He doesn't really like to color, so he didn't want to have to take the time to put clothes on everyone. His teacher is no dummy, so I am sure she put two and two together and figured out what happened. Oh well. There are only a few more weeks of school left. Think I can avoid eye contact for that long???

UGH!! BOYS!!!!

RaNdOm ThOuGhTs FrOm EvAn

2008-04-15T16:49:00.009-04:00

A few weeks ago, I dropped Kyle off at school and then I had to run to Target with Evan and Alaina. I was meandering around through the baby clothes section (only, like, my FAVORITE part of ANY store). Evan was kinda following a few steps behind. I don't really think he was awake yet. I picked up the most adorable little pink shirt I have ever seen when, all of a sudden, I heard Evan Gasp.

Evan: MOMMY!!!!!!! We HAVE to go back home!!!

I turned and looked at him to see what in the world could possibly have happened to elicit this outburst. He was standing about 6 inches away from one of the pillars coming up out of the floor. This particular pillar had a mirror on it. He took both hands and flung them up, on top of his head.

Evan: "MOMMY!!! We HAVE to go back home right now!"
Me: "Why? What's wrong??"
Evan: (as he moans and rolls his eyes at me) "You forgot to put in my curls!!"
Me: "Ummm, ok drama queen. Keep it movin'!!

Yesterday, I stepped on a frog in the driveway. I was in my bare feet, too. I don't think I killed it. At least not immediately. It kinda hobbled off into the grass. It wasn't my fault though. I couldn't see where I was going because I was carrying so much stuff in my arms...and by stuff, I mean my ten month old daughter and my 15 month old niece. I squealed a little. Then yelled at the frog for being "slow and stupid." Evan was standing a few feet away from me when the unfortunate encounter took place. He lectured me on how I had said a bad word and that wasn't a good thing to do (The word "stupid" is forbidden in our house). Then, he looked up at me with his big, brown eyes, and said "It's not a good thing to step on a frog either, I think. It might be some bad luck. So now you have to make sure you don't die."

This afternoon, I was baking cookies. I love baking. Baking relaxes me. Evan came in the kitchen just as I was starting to mix the ingredients together. He asked if he could help and I said "absolutely." He pulled up a chair and began helping me stir all of the gunk together. I pulled out an egg. He asked if he could do it. I said "absolutely."

After we finished cleaning the egg up off the floor, Evan decided he was bored and left the kitchen. 30 seconds later, he came sprinting back into the kitchen screaming "Mom! STOP STOP WAIT!!!!!" So, I did. I laughed at him and asked what in the world was wrong.
He said "Mom, did you put my egg in that bowl there??"
I said "Yes, I did. I'm sorry. I thought you didn't want to anymore."
"I didn't." He said back as he climbed up on the chair again and peered into the bowl. "But, did you put cheese on that egg? Because I don't want cheese on my egg today."

Florida + Spring = Swimming

2008-04-12T23:26:00.004-04:00

Total Cop Out

2008-04-11T22:35:00.004-04:00

I suck. I have been so busy lately and I haven't been writing as often as I should. I found this on You Tube awhile back along with a title that said "After 100 Times It's Still Funny." I have to tell you...I think I have watched it close to 50 times.....and it is still freaking funny! So, since I suck so much at writing and can't seem to be able to make my brain work enough to make you all laugh...hopefully this does. It's short.....really short. Watch it....but be forewarned - Don't take a sip of anything that you don't want shooting out of your nose.....

I know, it's a total cop out, but I bet it made you laugh.

If You Don't Mind, It Doesn't Matter

2008-04-08T16:01:00.000-04:00

I hate shopping at Walmart. It sucks. It's crowded and it's stinky and I'm pretty sure that 1 out of every 3 people there have some sort of communicable disease.

I prefer to shop at the local grocery store. However, it tends to put a pretty big dent in my checkbook. It's nice, though. They always have really good buy one, get one deals there. They also bag your groceries for you and offer to carry them out to your car for you....a rarity these days. I usually say no to that, but I went the other day and it was pretty much dead. So I said "what the heck" and had the nice, young man carry (well, push actually) my groceries out for me. As we were approaching the car, he said to me "I always like to guess what kind of car people drive. I figured you would have an SUV" as we opened the door to my minivan.

"An SUV......interesting. Why?" I asked.

"I dunno." He replied.

Well, I am a minivan driver and proud of it. I have said in the past, I am perfectly fine with being uncool. I do find, though, as the days wear on, that I seem to be having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that I am getting older. Now, don't get me wrong. I know I am, technically, still young...but I am getting older. Wanna know how I can tell? Well, I believe the dictionary refers to it as a small furrow, ridge, or crease on a normally smooth surface, caused by crumpling, folding, or shrinking. Only...mine aren't small. And I am pretty sure nothing on my body could be described as "shrinking" for at least the last 5 years. Each time I look in the mirror I see it staring back at me. A big, ugly wrinkle that has decided to take up residence on my forehead!

This darn blasted wrinkle has proven to become my nemesis. It does not matter how much beauty sleep I get. It does not matter what I smear on my face or what I put into my body. It. won't. vacate. I have thought about cutting me some bangs. That would at least hide it. That is, until I look back at the pictures of myself from the last time I had bangs and, trust me, the wrinkle is definitely a better option.

Wanna how else I know I am getting old??

I tried the low rise jeans. Keyword there being "tried." They seem to be pretty hip right now. All the cool, young ladies are wearing them. Unfortunately for me, hip huggers are not something that a woman who has had 4 babies in the last 7 years can pull off easily. Oh, and did I mention that my butt crack was showing constantly? It was not a pretty site. Oh well, who wants a cold butt crack, anyways??

Oh, and then, I was driving in my minivan the other day and a group of teenagers pulled up next to me. The driver was reclined WAY far back. I remember thinking to myself.... "Man, his abs must be tired from holding his head up to see over the steering wheel. I know mine would be." How pathetic is that?? OH, and not to mention the fact that they had their music playing so loudly that it just about made my ears bleed.

I won't even mention the fact that, to me, "staying up late" means I am up past 9.

Oh, and I have a friend who has a sister that is still a teenager. About two weeks ago, her sister went to "a 90's party." Ummm, since when were the 90's so long ago that you can use that as a party theme??

Wow. So this didn't really end up being at all about what I started writing about. In all honesty, I really don't mind getting older. Seriously!! I love my birthdays. Who doesn't like getting to eat your favorite kind of cake?? A cake that you didn't have to make yourself, I might add. And plus you get to blow out candles and make a wish. And we all know that, secretly, you make that wish hoping that birthday candles really are magic and it will totally come true.

I think that the best piece of evidence to support my theory that I am , in fact, getting older is that I don't really WANT to wear hip hugger jeans or play loud music or stay up past nine to go to a 90's party. I am perfectly content with sitting at home in my pajamas and dozing off on the couch while watching me some reality TV. :)

Ok, so anyways....after having said all of this, I will leave you a with one of my favorite quotes....

"Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter."
- Satchel Paige

Commit To Be Fit

2008-03-30T22:00:00.002-04:00

We were hanging out this afternoon, trying to think of something we could all do. Hmmmmmm, what would be fun??

We could go for a nature hike. It was a beautiful day out today.

Maybe we could take the sidewalk chalk and go out and do some funky drawings on the driveway outdoors.

We could go outside and do some gardening. The weeds need pulled. They are starting to take over the entire outside of the house.

Notice a theme? I was trying to think of something to get the kids OUT of the house. And everyone knows that what mama wants, mama gets, right?? Ha! If only.........So, what is it my darling children decided they wanted to do?? Ohhhhhh....let's walk on the treadmill in our church clothes!! That sounds like a great idea!!! So, they did.

And of course, they couldn't walk on the treadmill without wearing the head/sweatbands because, after all, they wouldn't want to look like little dorks or anything.

Mikaily figured out how to cool off quickly after her exhausting 4 and a half minute workout.

Evan opted out of trying the treadmill. He had already lost a battle with the floor earlier in the day. He was tring to hit a big ball with his elbow because everybody knows that is the cool way to hit a ball.....??? He swung hard, completely missed, and the intertia flung his body, full speed ahead, into the carpet. His face broke his fall. The result is a rug burn goatee (and a missing chunk of the inside of his lip).

Smooth move, Exlax!!

Don't Squeeze (Or Hide) The Charmin

2008-03-27T20:53:00.004-04:00

Today I decided to get a little bit of spring cleaning done.

I got both babies (my little girl and my niece) down for their naps and off I went. I started with the bathrooms. I wiped counters and mirrors and scrubbed toilets. I swept the floors and I scoured the tile. I went through the linen closet and threw out all the towels that had seen better days.

I moved on to the toy room. We have lots of toys. Lots and lots and lots of toys! We have girl toys and boy toys. We have toys that sing and toys that dance. We have toys that you build up and toys that you dress up. I think some of our toys may even have toys!!! But, I digress.......so I started cleaning. I was sitting on the floor in the midst of piles and piles of toys and realized my house was actually quiet. This. is. not. good!! I called out for Kyle. No answer. I called for Evan. No answer. I jumped up and ran to the back of the house to find them. The light was on in the bathroom. I peeked in. No boys. However, I did find this....

Need a closer look??

That is 5, count them 1-2-3-4-5, empty toilet paper rolls and one half empty (or is it half full...???) roll. I found the boys hiding in the corner of their bedroom. I asked what happened. They said they didn't know. I separated them and interrogated them and they stuck to their story. I still have no idea what happened to the toilet paper that was on the rolls. The toilet is still flushing fine, so if they did flush it at least they flushed it slow enough that they didn't clog anything. Maybe I will come across it stuffed somewhere during the course of my cleaning. I dunno.

I just hope they didn't eat it. *sigh*

** Just a little footnote. My blogging buddy over at Laughing Leah Loves Lilies is having a little contest. Go check it out HERE!

Hodge Podge

2008-03-25T14:54:00.002-04:00

Wow. It's been a full week since I have blogged. I dunno if it is because I have been so busy, or because I haven't had the brain power that it takes to come up with something interesting enough that all you lovely people would actually enjoy reading.

Mikaily has been sick......again. It's her asthma this time. She is now all hopped up on meds. Geez-laweez. That child is a handful when she is her normal self, let alone when you pump her full of steroids and albuterol. It's kinda like living with the energizer bunny on crack. I believe she is currently the perfect example of why some animals eat their young.

Since Mikaily has been home all week, that left me dragging all four of mine, plus my niece, out every time we had to go anywhere. I noticed people staring at us when we would all pile out of the van in the parking lot. I imagine it looks a little like the plethora of clowns that come flopping out of their tiny car at the circus.

Kyle gave me a lecture today. He says we need to be using "green bags." Yup, he informed me that if we use these special green bags to put our fruits and vegetables in, they would last for 18 days. That means they won't go rotten in the fridge like the do now. Something tells me that child is watching a little bit too much TV. I suggested we actually EAT the fruits and veggies, and that would solve that problem.

We have no food in our kitchen right now. I need to go to the grocery store or else tonight for dinner we are going to end up having tortilla chips with mustard, squishy grapes (that would be nice and firm if we had some green bags), and I think we may have a couple of fortune cookies that we could do paper-rock-scissors for if we had to. Think that will work? Yeah, me either.

Remember when I wrote HERE about getting myself into shape. Well, I am happy to say that my body is, indeed, in shape.........round is a shape, isn't it??

Mind Your Manners

2008-03-18T09:08:00.002-04:00

I try to teach my children good manners.

I try to teach them that their actions speak louder than their words. (That is, unless they are trying to smack each others heads off and then I confuse them and tell them to use their words.)

I try to teach them to be polite.

When we were leaving church this past Sunday, I asked my son Kyle to scoot on ahead of me and open the door since I had my hands full of baby and bag and all other sorts of crap. He did. I expect this of him. I walked out and he began to follow. He looked back and noticed that there was another women with her two small children coming behind him. He ran back, grabbed the door, flung it open and then held it for them to walk out before letting the door swing back closed. I smiled.

We were at the doctors office yesterday. Mikaily and Evan were playing in the playhouse that is there. There are two small chairs in this house. There was another little girl that came in who was maybe 3. She walked into the playhouse and immediately my daughter stood up and asked her if she wanted one of the little chairs to sit on. I smiled.

This morning Evan got up and said "Mommy!!!!!! I am hungry. I want a waffle." I gently reminded him that he needed to ask the proper way. His response was "Mommy, will you just me the waffle. NOW!"

Well, 2 out of 3 isn't bad.

The Case of the Missing X-Rays

2008-03-12T23:00:00.002-04:00

My cell phone rings. (Well, actually my cell phone didn't "ring" so much as "sing." Because, cell phones don't really "ring" anymore. If you asked my children what sound a phone makes, they would probably start singing "I'm bringing sexy back" and do some sort of little dance to go along with it. But back to the point)

"Hi!" I answer.
"Did I put Laney's X-ray on the table?" I hear my husband's voice ask.(Yes, my baby had to have an X-ray because her soft spot is closing early...but we got it looked at and everything is fine)
"Ummm, no. It's not on the table."
"What about the island? The couch? The bedroom? By the dog's dish? (Seriously??? By the dog's dish?!?!)
"No. No. Not there. Ummm, no. They have to be in your car. Did you ever bring them in last night?"
"I can't remember bringing them in. But they are not in my car."
"They have to be. They aren't in the house anywhere."
"Well, I guess I left them in the car last night and my doors were unlocked....."
"Jason, no one got into your car and stole Laney's x-rays and nothing else. They have to be somewhere and I don't have time to deal with this right now."

On Monday night, I had asked my husband to go pick up the films after work so I didn't have to drag all the kids into the office for 30 seconds to get the X-Rays and then drag them all back out and into the van. I figured that should be doable for him. She had already had the actual x-rays taken, so he was just picking them up and driving home with them. Not too hard, right? Well, apparently it is.
I had a thousand other things I was doing that morning (like fighting with the insurance company to get the visit to the neurosurgeon covered while taking care of 4 children) so eventually Jason said he would come home from work to look for the illusive x-rays.

Fast forward an hour and a half. The front door opens and I can hear the sound of the garbage truck driving away. Jason walks in, with a large blue and white envelope in his hands.

"You found it! I told you it had to be in your car."
"Uhhhhhhh, it wasn't in my car."
"It wasn't in your car? Well then where was it?"
"Well, it was sitting int he middle of the road."
"WHAT?!?!"

I ran over and grabbed the envelope out of his hands and started laughing. Look closely at the picture.

Can ya see all the small bumps and tears? Apparently, he had gotten out of his car the night before and set the envelope on the roof while he got something else out and forgot about it. When he drove off that morning, it had fallen off and landed in the middle of the road, where I am sure numerous cars (including mine and his) had run over it.........oh, and the garbage truck as well. I told him he was coming to the doctors appointment with me, because I was not going to be the one that looked like a dork trying to explain that story. He agreed to come with me, but was conveniently in the bathroom with Evan when they asked for the films. Coincidence? I think not! They said they were still in good enough shape to look at.

Oh well. I think I'll still keep him around. After all, he's the one that does the dishes every night.

One Amazing Little Girl

2008-03-10T14:36:00.005-04:00

I know that most of you have probably heard this story already at this point, but it is so amazing I had to write a little something about it. There is an adorable little girl, who is 17 months old now, who can read. That's right....read. She doesn't do the words by sight or memorization, she can actually read them. Sheesh!! I was happy when my children were 17 months old and actually listen to the books I read TO them rather than eat them. Go HERE and check it out for yourself. I would normally just post the video on my blog, but I don't feel like braking any copyright laws today.

Lord, Grant Me Patience

2008-03-07T09:39:00.001-05:00

Well, I am glad to say that Mikaily is feeling much better. Wanna know how I know this?? Yesterday, she would. not. SHUT. UP. (ahhhhhhwww, I said "the S" woooord!)

"Mommy, why is it raining? My friend at school said the clouds are crying. But I don't think clouds can cry. Do you think clouds can cry? Clouds can't cry because they aren't people. Unless there are people on them. But I don't think you can stand on a cloud. If you standed on a cloud you would fall through. Plus, how could you get on the cloud anyways? What if you could get on a cloud. Would that be fun? I think I would be scared and not do that. Do you think a bird would be up there? What if it hit you because it didn't see you because you shouldn't be on a cloud."

Good gravy! Breathe child, BREATHE!!!! She has been having some problems with her asthma and we have been using her inhaler. I don't know about the rest of you who have a child with asthma, but when I give her that inhaler she goes PSYCHO!

We went out to eat for dinner last night. She started looking through the kids menu and went on another tirade.

"There is only one thing I can eat here. Just the chicken. I can't eat the Macaroni because it has real cheese on it. I can't eat the turkey because it has gooey stuff in it. I can't eat the eggs and toast because eggs are gross and they won't let me get anything instead of them and I don't like toast either because it is too crunchy. I can't get this because they might burn it. I can't get that because it is stringy. Blah blah blah......"

She went on and on. She probably told us about 20 or 30 foods on the menu she wouldn't eat and why.

Then, last night, Kyle was saying his prayer before he went to bed and it went a little something like this:
"Heavenly Father. Thank you for today. Thank you for my family. Thank you for dinosaurs. Thank you that Evan can stop talking when I am saying my prayer. Bless that the bad guys can't get me tonight. Bless that mommy and daddy can't be mean to me when I am bad. Amen."

This morning, I took Kyle to school. I had to take Alaina and Evan with me. Since he is in preschool, I have to walk him to the classroom. Evan decided half way up the sidewalk that his legs were broken and he couldn't walk anymore. I didn't want to cause a big scene by screaming at him, so I shifted Alaina to one hip and picked Evan up and plopped him on the other and carried both of them back to the car (which is a pretty LONG walk).

I said my own little prayer this morning as I was driving home...it went a little something like this.........

"Lord, grant me patience.......BUT HURRY!"

UPDATE

2008-03-04T22:11:00.001-05:00

Quick update.....Mikaily is doing better today. She has started eating again and was up and playing today. She is still complaining of some pain in her stomach, but it is not nearly as bad as it was. Thanks for all the well-wishes!

You Know What I LOVE????

2008-03-04T19:03:00.006-05:00

You know what I LOVE....???

I LOVE it when you go to the grocery store for milk, and you end up with ice cream, NyQuil, some light bulbs, yogurt, pretzels, air freshener and a bag of oreos as well. Oh, and I LOVE it even more when you buy all that crap and you get home and realize you FORGOT the milk.

I LOVE it when you drag your butt out of bed when the alarm goes off and hop in a not-so-hot shower in hopes it will wake you up quickly and after it has done it's job and you are wide awake you look at the clock on the microwave and realize your toddler had been playing with your clock in the bedroom and you are up an hour early.

I LOVE it when you are flipping through channels on the radio and hear your favorite song, only to find out it is a commercial, so you only get to hear two thirds of a line of that song.

I LOVE it when you are sitting at home and enjoying the quiet, only to realize it is quiet because your 5 year old and your 3 year old have decided to get the spaghetti noodles down out of the pantry and make spaghetti in the bathroom sink.

I LOVE it when you notice your 8 month old has something in her mouth and you dig it out, and learn she has been sucking on the dog's food.

I LOVE it when you spend an hour slaving over a hot stove to make a deliciously healthy meal to help your family grow up big and strong, only to have 3 quarters of them gag at the thought of putting it anywhere near their lips.

I LOVE it when you are at the store and the salesclerk who is maybe 2 years younger than you are calls you "Ma'am."

I LOVE it when you are walking across the wood floor and your bare foot slips on something and you look down and realize you are sliding through a puddle of baby vomit.

I LOVE it when you open the refrigerator door and are knocked back by some pungent odor that is coming from who knows what that has been in there for who knows how long.

And.....I LOVE it even more when all of this happens in a 24 hours period!!!!!!!

Man, I Hate Vomit!

2008-03-03T15:23:00.007-05:00

It's 2 am on Thursday morning.

"Mommy. MOMMY!" I hear Mikaily say. "Mommy, my tummy hurts."

That was the beginning....

I spent the next 9 hours sitting by my daughter. I rubbed her back and held her hair out of the way as she proceeded to throw up over and over and over again. She kept saying that her tummy hurt. It got worse and worse until it was so bad she was curled up in a ball screaming in pain.

For those who don't know, Mikaily was a preemie. She was 8 weeks early and has had numerous medical problems. When she was born, she had something called a brain bleed. The bleed (which happens when those tiny blood vessels burst) caused some scarring that closed off the tiny tube in her head that would normally drain fluid out of her brain. Her brain began to swell. They had to put in a small tube, called a shunt, that goes from her brain, down the back of her head, around the side of her neck, down the center of her breastbone and into her stomach, where it drains all that extra fluid. (Isn't modern medicine AMAZING?!?) She had this shunt placed when she was 3 weeks old. She weighed barely 3 pounds at the time and was only 16 inches long.

So, when Mikaily was in so much pain and was throwing up so much, I decided I needed to call the doctor. We took her in. They told us we needed to immediately take her to the Children's hospital here. They told us it was one of three things....
1. A nasty virus
2. Appendicitis
3. Her shunt

We were so scared. I took her over to the ER. I looked at my beautiful baby girl as we were waiting in the ER. She looked so weak. Her skin was pale. Her lips barely had any color and were so dry they looked like they were cracking already. She was not in good shape. They decided they needed to start an IV right away. They stuck her once.....her vain blew immediately. They tried a second time in the other arm....same thing. They called someone else.....someone with more experience. She tried and was, for a third time, unsuccessful. They decided we would have to try and give her fluids by mouth, very slowly. I spent 5 hours that night, waking her up every 10 minutes, trying to get a teaspoon at a time into her. They had given her some medicine to stop the vomiting. Thank God it worked.

They ran a bunch of tests. They did X-rays and CT Scans and ultrasounds and bloodwork. After all that, they decided they couldn't really tell us exactly what was causing the pain, but they decided it wasn't her shunt or appendicitis. They did tell us that they think she might be outgrowing her shunt, which means brainsurgery to replace it is most likely in her near future. They said it sounded like food poisoning, but she hadn't eaten anything that the rest of the family hadn't. Their best guess was that it was a nasty virus that hit her harder because she has a weakened immune system. I didn't care, as long as they could make her better.

We spent two days in the hospital. She is doing better now. She is still not eating well and is still not really back to being properly hydrated yet. I am thinking we still have a long couple days ahead of us. I am tired, I am hungry, my house looks like a tornado hit it and I don't care. I am going to go snuggle my baby girl and be thankful that she is home.

And like a true mommy blogger, I had my camera with me.....

Just FYI....My husband came to keep me company on Saturday after I had stayed up all night long with Kaily in the super uncomfy hospital chair waking her up every ten minutes to help her feel better while he was at home sleeping in our BED..... Isn't he a sweetheart?

After two days of eating absolutely nothing they gave her this big menu to choose from and out of everything she chose....a corndog??!

Here she is leaving the hospital looking MUCH perkier...

Unsolicited Advice

2008-02-28T22:06:00.003-05:00

I have a friend who is pregnant with her first child right now. She is going to make an amazing mom. As a pregnant women, she has been getting lots and lots of advice.....mostly unsolicited and probably mostly...ok, totally and completely, incorrect. Of course, since she is so smart she will listen to everything I say and do exactly as I tell her, because, after all, I am a FABULOUS mom and I totally deserve a mother of the year award. :) Love you E!! Can't wait for you to join the ranks of vomit-filled, poo-smeared, sleepless nights motherhood.

So, she sent this email out and I found it amusing...

Ok, so this one is pretty clear. No making baby spit wads.

Does anyone else find this baby really creepy??????

Well, obviously everyone knows not to give their baby a big, dirty shoe to chew on. Baby shoes fit in their mouths MUCH better!

Crap, I guess no more lapping up the breastmilk from the bottle like a dog. I guess I'll just have to make my husband take a vitamin to get his calcium from here on out.

Yes, please make sure all arms and legs are tucked safely inside the drawer before closing it...

The little guy sure does look cute chillin' in the bottom of the fish tank, though.

Well, DUH!! Everyone knows the baby is supposed to face BACKWARDS!

So, I'm confused. Are babies not supposed to go in dog cages?? I mean, she gave him water, right?

HA!!! If only.......

*** DISCLAIMER: All comments in this blog are meant to be comical and not intended for use in everyday life. Please do not put your baby in a dog cage and give him a dirty shoe to chew on!!

This Place Is Really Freaking Me Out!

2008-02-24T20:11:00.005-05:00

We decided to take all the kiddos (because we're crazy like that) and head over to Sea World yesterday. My sister Tracy came, too. Sea World is fun, but not my favorite place. I am deathly afraid of all things fishy. I knew the kids would love it, though.....and they did. I threw together a bunch of pics. Look if you want...don't if you don't. But if you don't, then don't bother coming back here. I didn't really like you anyways. :) Kidding!!

It rained the whole first half of the day. We didn't really care. We were planning on getting drenched at the Shamu show anyway. Plus, apparently lots of people melt in the rain, so rainy days = short lines.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Here are a few examples of the hilarious things my kids said to me while we were out and about. they sure do keep life interesting....

Mikaily, my 7 year old, said to me: "Uuuuuugh!! You are being so mean! Why are you so mean?? When I grow up and have my own kids, I am going to be mean to them just like you are to me and then they are going to hurt me." Ummmmm, was that supposed to be a threat? I believe that is what they call being passive-aggressive. She is a little odd sometimes.

I took my 5 year old, Kyle, on the Journey to Atlantis ride. He was barely tall enough. It is the water coaster at Sea World. The first hill is pretty big and very steep. I am guessing it would scare the crap out of most adults. He loved it. And by loved it, I mean hated it. Before the wave settled at the bottom of the first hill, he shouted "I don't want to do that again!!" We didn't. We went to the kiddie section and they had a little Shamu kiddie coaster. He wanted to ride it. We did. When it pulled to a stop, I looked over and said "So, did you like that one?" He thought for a minute and said "Only a little bit. I think I will try it again when I am 6."

"Bye guys! See ya later" This is what Evan, my 3 year old, yelled as he ran off into the crowd.

"Come on guys. Lets get out of here. This place is really freaking me out!" Kyle said this as he was walking through the "glass" tube that goes straight through the middle of the shark tank. Can't blame him for being freaked out. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree....

"WOW! Are you going to go do that next??" Evan said to me, pointing to the trainer riding on the killer whale's back.

*** A little add on here! I forgot to list the comment that takes the prize for comment of the day....
We were watching the Shamu show and I was sitting beside Kyle. Shamu swims out (underwater, obviously, so you don't know he's coming unless you KNOW he's coming) and dramatically jumps up and out of the water. Kyle says "WOOOOAH!!! Mom! He's bigger than you are!!!" Thanks kid, I love you too!

Not An Easy Task!!!

2008-02-20T15:43:00.008-05:00

My friend LEAH over at Laughing Leah Loves Lilies challenged me to come up with a new profile pic that included me and at least one of my children. I figured my best bet was to try and get a few pics of me with all 4 separately and then I went nuts for a minute and decided to try and get me AND all four in the same pic. This was not an easy task considering I was the one holding all four children AND trying to snap the photos myself. It was fun....for like a minute. :) So anyhoo.....here are the results....

It was definitely not easy to get a pic of an 8 month old with no one else to get her to look in the right direction!

I zoomed in a little too far on this one....
(we are in different clothes because I took this pic a day earlier than the others)

Evan didn't want to have his picture taken.....

Until I stuck him on the bathroom counter and showed him he was taller than I am....

Kyle is always in the mood for a photo...

I was getting bored by this point, so Kaily and I decided to goof off....

and then Kyle joined in.....

And here is my moment of insanity, captured for all time....

I am gonna go ahead and challenge a couple people to do this too! It was kinda fun and it's nice to actually get some pictures that include ME (and get to see pics of any of you that choose to do this) instead of just the kids. So, I am gonna go ahead and pass this along to the ladies at
The Cochran Clan
The Red Door and
One Scrappy Gal
and also to anyone else who thinks it sounds like it might be fun. Just leave me a comment and let me know you did it so I can come check it out!!

Lunar Eclipse

2008-02-20T13:38:00.002-05:00

Hey all!! Don't forget there is a total lunar eclipse tonight! The chart here tells exactly what is happening when. But remember, the times are EST. If you live in California and you go outside at 10 pm, you will be waiting for a REALLY long time to see the next eclipse.......

I Love Lists!

2008-02-19T08:47:00.003-05:00

I love doing lists and I haven't done one for awhile. However, I have been deathly ill (ok, well maybe that is a slight exaggeration) and so I am recycling part of a list I did a while back that I think most of you haven't read, but adding a few new things to it for those of you that have. Enjoy!

Things I Have Learned Since Becoming A Mom:

1. No matter how insignificant the trip, always pack a barf bucket.

2. If worrying was truely wasted energy.... I should be wasted away!

3. Clothing is optional.

4. "An object in motion tends to stay in motion" is a law written by a parent with toddlers.

5. I've learned to quickly tell the difference between a good disposable diaper and a bad one.

6. They say the only way to sing along to the radio is loudly. In fact, the only way to do anything in a house full of children is LOUDLY!

7. An Emmy is never more deserved than by a 4 year old just asked to clean up her toys.

8. Feather Boas look good on me.

9. I have a child that is medically needy. It didn't take me long to figure out why they call it "practicing" medicine.

10. Snot is never ending.

11. McDonalds Playplaces smell like urine.

12. Cough syrup doesn't work.

13. There really IS a sock monster who eats random socks just for the heck of it.

14. You do NOT need 8 hours of sleep to be able to function.

15. You no longer have to lock up your favorite candy stash. Just put it on the couch under the pile of laundry and no one will be able to find it.

So Fabulous!

2008-02-14T20:58:00.004-05:00

So I happened to come across this blog called Ohmystinkinheck ....or OMSH for short....and that's a link by the way....even though you can't tell because the links show up blue and that is what color my background is and I am sure I could change the color of the link but I am way too lazy to try and figure that out) and she is having a contest. The gift for the winner is FABULOUS! So, go check it out. But don't try too hard, because that then decreases my chances of winning. hehe:)

We're BAAAAAA-AAAAACK!!

2008-02-13T09:37:00.003-05:00

We didn't get to see any snow. That was alright. It got SOOOOO cold I just wanted to hightail it outta there as fast as we could. We got out the night before they got slammed with a snowstorm. Oh well. My friend sent me some pictures.
We had a great visit. Alaina did amazing on the plane. Well, except for the blowout she had on the way there. And by blowout, I mean slimy, stinky poop leaking out both leg holes of the diaper. Oh, and up and out the back too. In fact, it was all the way up her back..... almost in her hair. I just calmly pressed the flight attendant button and asked for a bag. I then proceeded to strip my daughter naked and wipe her down as best I could. I am sure the other passengers appreciated it. I just threw the clothes away. I was not about to be opening up a bag full of poo-covered clothes that were 6 hours old. Bleck! Oh, and did I mention she did the same thing on the plane on the way home?? I guess maybe the pressure change on the plane caused a pressure build up and it was just too much and so she "exploded."
So here are a few pics of us hanging out in the airport on the way back home. My poor baby was introduced to what COLD really means. Her little mouth got all chapped. I kept smearing her up with cherry chapstick (becuase that is all I had on me), but it just made her look like she had been making out after applying some cheap, red lipstick. So, I had some A&D that I had been putting on her for a diaper rash and guess what.....?? It worked GREAT! I didn't even care that the smell of her face reminded me of the smell of her butt. A mom's gotta do, what a mom's gotta do!!

Can you tell that Laney has little pigtails in?? At one point I was standing outside of the bathroom in the airport waiting for my husband to come out and I was holding Alaina. This old lady comes up to me and says
"Awww, well aren't you a cute one??" She was talking ot Alaina, of course. :)
"Thank you" I replied.
"Look at your hair. You should tell you mom that she is really mean to be doing your hair like that."
I was taken aback. I wasn't exactly sure what was so mean, so I looked at Alaina and said "Well, why don't you tell this lady that if I don't pull your hair back, it sticks straight up all over the place."
"Well, you should tell your mom that if she cuts all your hair off it will grow back in nice and full and thick." Because, as you know, it is every mom's dream to have an adorable 8 month old little girl that is totally and completely BALD......?!?!
At this point, I wanted to reach out and smack this women. Seriously?!?! You are going to walk up to a complete stranger holding a baby and then begin insulting her?? Why can't people just mind their OWN business. I didn't say to her "Well, you should be shot by the fashion police for wearing that outfit" or "Ever heard of whitening strips? You might wanna give them a try!" I could have. But I didn't. Luckily my husband came out and I just started walking away. Oh, and did I mention that she TOUCHED my baby. People! DON'T TOUCH THE BABY IF YOU DON'T KNOW THE MAMA!!!!!! I have no idea where your nasty old fingers have been. Keep them off my child. Ok, so anyways.....this is what her hair looks like if I don't pull it back.
Need I say more?!?
We got to spend lots of time with friends. We hung out and ate yummy food and laughed and all that jazz. We went bowling. I suck at bowling. I think the thing I enjoy most about bowling is getting to pick which ball to use. I picked red this time. I think it weighed like 10 pounds. Maybe....? After only 2 games it was obvious I was a total and complete wuss. I did, however, bowl a 109, which is my all time high score!! Sad, I know. And, although it looks great when everyone's shoes match, it totally grosses me out thinking about how many other sweaty feet have been in those nasty shoes. They TOTALLY would have looked hot with a shiny, black jumpsuit, though!!
I missed my kids a lot. I was glad to see that everyone was alive when we got back. The kids had all of their limbs still attached and no bones were broken. My sisters seemed to fair pretty decently. I do think they were probably a tad exhausted, but that's nothing that a nice, oh....say....week long nap can't cure! :) So, thanks to the best sisters in the world!!!

I Don't Have Time to Spell Check!!

2008-02-05T15:10:00.000-05:00

Today has been a crazy day. I have been so incredibly busy. So, I thought to myself, "self.....what could possibly make this day even harder on you and help you to procrastinate your packing and cleaning even more??" So, I sat my butt down and decided to BLOG about how I am so busy I have absolutely no time to do anything extra.

I am going on vacation. I know, I know. I live in Florida....every day is like a vacation, right? So, you might be wondering exactly where a person who lives in a "vacation hot spot" permanantly GOES on vacation. Well, I am headed to the great state of OHIO!! That is where we moved here from. It has been a year since I have been back there to visit and I can't wait to see my friends!!! My husband and I are taking our baby and heading out day after tomorrow. My sisters will be here with my three older littles. I hope everyone is alive when we get back......

So, I have been packing. Ugh! PACKING! Packing for yourself isn't so bad, but when there is a baby involved.....I totally understand the expression "everything but the kitchen sink" now. I love clothes. I love to shop for clothes for myself and for my husband and for my children, but I do not like having to pick which clothes to pack! WHO IN THE WORLD CAME UP WITH THE WHOLE "EVERYONE HAS A STYLE AND HAVE FUN EXPRESSING YOURSELF THROUGH CLOTHING" anyway???? Wouldn't it be easier if we all just wore black, shiny jumpsuits??? If there was nothing else, then no one would think that was weird. Black looks good on everyone, right?? I'm not sure why shiny. Probably just because it is funny to picture my husband (and probably this goes for you and your significant other as well) in a tight, shiny jumpsuit. hehe. I giggle when I think about that. If that is all we wore it would sure make choosing an outfit for the day easier......"Let's see. Should I wear the black jumpsuit with, or without, a baby vomit stain on the shoulder?" It sure as heck would make packing easier. And think about how great it would be for family photos. Everyone would always match!!

I took my boys outside to play for a while earlier. It is soooooo beautiful outside. The high here today was supposed to be 84. I think it might be a little warmer even. So, we were out there and I was sitting in my chair, enjoying the feeling of the warm sun hitting my face and I hear Kyle yell "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! It's a snake!!!!! R-U-N!!!!!!!" I hop up and I am like "Where?? Where is the snake?? Get away from it!" Kyle started laughing. "Mommy! It isn't a REAL snake. We are just pretending. I very calmly explained to him that he had scared me and why he shouldn't be screaming "SNAKE" out. A few moments later, he came running past me again, with Evan hot on his heels. Evan yells "AHHHHHHHH!!! There is a T-REX!!! RUN!!!!!!!" Kyle stopped. I could tell by the look on his face that he was concerned that this would scare me as well, and said "Don't worry mommy, it isn't a real T-REX. We are pretending again. Dinosaurs are all dead." Good thing he cleared that up. I guess it wasn't a velociraptor chasing me down on my run the other night (see post below).

Oh, and in follow up to the last post since a few asked....I have absolutely no idea what really made the noise. We have all kinds of weird, scary critters running around here. I think I would prefer not knowing.

So, farewell for now, my bloggy friends!! I will be gone until middle of next week and I am thinking I will be enjoying playing in the snow way too much to take the time to blog. Either that or my fingers will have fallen off from frostbite, making it difficult to type.

"I'll be back" (Do you like my Arnold Schwarzenegger impression?!?)

I Had A Big Decision To Make

2008-02-01T15:39:00.000-05:00

Running stinks.

I hate to run. Well, really I guess I don't hate to run. I used to love to run. I used to run all the time when I was in high school. I played baskteball and soccer and ran track. Nowadays, when I run, things are all jiggly and I am lucky I don't give myself two black eyes from my boobs flopping all over. I am SOOO out of shape.

I decided that I needed to lose some weight and get myself back into shape. So, I started walking my dog, Taz, at night. My dog is old and out of shape, so I was hopeful he would make me look good. Haha....yeah right. I started walking Taz and after a little while of that I decided I could try running some as well. There was just one problem. The jiggly. Do I really want my neighbors to see all my jiggliness?? No WAY! Ok, well, no problem. I could just go out after dark. So, that's what I started doing. I would walk Taz when we were under a street light in a well lit area, and then run when I was in a darker area. That way no one could see me very well. I bet that wouldn't look weird or anything, huh? :) I am sure that anyone watching me figured I was a big fraidy cat since I would only run where it was dark. But I figure if anyone is watching me that closely they probably lead a pretty sad and boring life and it could be my good deed for the day to let them get a good laugh while watching me run (Right, OneSrappyGal? :)).

So, on to the point.....last night I was walking/running with him. I had decided to try and run a little more than normal. I got to the place where we were probably about a half mile away from my home. I was pretty tired by then. I heard this weird noise. It sounded like it might be some sort of bird....? Maybe. It was familiar. I heard it again. No, I don't think it's a bird. Where have I heard that sound before?? I heard it a third time. Definitely not a bird. My heart started to pump harder. Taz even reacted to the sound. His ears perked up a little. He turned his head in the direction of the sound and started sniffing the air. I picked up the pace some, but like I said before, I am REALLY out of shape. So, I was pretty tired by this point. Again, I heard the weird sound. I gasped. I knew, without a doubt, where I had heard it from!! It was the sound a velociraptor makes in the Jurassic Park movies!! I took off running. I saw a street light coming up. OH geez. I had a big decision to make. Do I risk slowing my pace to a walk and getting eaten by a velociraptor? Or do I dare continue running and make my jiggly self visible to the whole world under this street light??

I chose gory death by velociraptor.

Serves Me Right For Asking

2008-01-29T08:58:00.000-05:00

**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

2008-01-28T13:17:00.000-05:00

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......

2008-01-24T22:04:00.000-05:00

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!

2008-01-23T13:41:00.000-05:00

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??

2008-01-21T16:17:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-19T10:45:00.000-05:00

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!

2008-01-15T11:56:00.000-05:00

**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??

2008-01-14T12:55:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-11T20:21:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-11T12:20:00.000-05:00

'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

2008-01-09T13:38:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-08T18:27:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-07T13:50:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-04T15:26:00.000-05:00

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!!!

2008-01-03T10:35:00.000-05:00

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!!"