Birthday at Carino's

All the family went to Carino's a couple of weekends ago to celebrate Mimi's "39th" birthday.

Joshua entertains Gran and D

John David helped take care of Aulora

One of those rare pictures of me with one of the kids!
(That's Julia's arm grabbing Joshua)

Our family with Mimi
(it was past bedtime - that should explain this picture)

Julia and Mimi

Julia helped cut the cake and serve it

Aulora LOVES cake. That's my girl!

Aunt Kara and Uncle Maka with Aulora

Blogging is a Pain in the....

....ankle. Really. Long story as to why, but currently my computer is on a bench in the corner of our bedroom. It's too low to use a chair and so I sit on the floor whenever I'm on the computer. Almost exactly one year ago, I sprained my ankle and then I sprained it twice more in the last couple of months. It finally dawned on my yesterday why my ankle has been hurting me again lately. It's all that sitting on it while on the computer!

I'm wondering if John got any sleep last night. I tossed and turned and whimpered for hours because my ankle was throbbing. I finally took some Tylenol but even that didn't really help.

This is quite a problem I have now - blogging with a very soar ankle or no blogging with a healthy ankle. I think we all know what the answer must be. ;)

Our Hearts Are Sad

We love you, Patrick and Misty. Erin Grace was blessed to have you as Mommy and Daddy while she was here. Our prayers are for you and your family today. Hugs......

My Martha-ish Side Rethinks Things

I was raised to always, and I do mean always, make my bed. A clean house revolves around a made bed, right? This philosophy has always made sense to me and I'm a firm believer. Well, I was a firm believer. But like the title of this post says, my Martha-wanna-be-self is rethinking things.

I do love the way a made bed looks, no doubt about it. My day is much more productive and I'm generally in a better mood. And I used to think a made bed feels so much better to get into at night. And that's where the problem lies. I now think an already-slept-in bed is oh so much more comfortable to get in.

So do I:

• not ever make my bed again (unless company is coming!) and enjoy the comfy feel of falling into it at night?
• make my bed every morning as usual and then thrash about in the covers and with the pillows to simulate that slept in feel?
• go with a weekday/weekend thing where I make the bed Monday-Friday and on Saturday-Sunday go all sloth like?

I found a list of 10 reasons to make your bed on another blog. Not really anything I didn't already know though.

Here are some stats for you:

• 45% of people make their bed everyday
• 50% of people make their bed occasionally
• 5% of people never do

This is not a laziness thing for me, because seriously, you can make your bed in 2 minutes or less right? It's purely a comfort thing. But the experts seem to disagree with me. Those Zen and Feng Shui people say you will sleep much more restfully if you get into a neatly made bed.

I'm pretty certain that my neatness lovin' self will win out and the bed will continue to be made every day, but.......maybe I should sleep on it. ;)

What do you think?

Some Links for your Sunday Afternoon Web Surfing Pleasure

"First Time and With a Cheerful Attitude, a Thought for Mothers" is from a blog that I have started reading. The author of this blog is quite conservative, so you may not agree with everything (though I find myself convicted many times!), but this post is, I believe, right on the money.

"Helping Hands and Tying Heartstrings" is a wonderful post about raising our children to be helpful. I think we expect too little of our kids many times and they need us to expect more!

Tip Junkie is a fun blog to check out! It's always full of ideas, craft, tips, and demos. I would definitely spend more time there if I had more time to spend!

I was looking for a teriyaki chicken recipe the other day and came across this one. I didn't follow it exactly - I used teriyaki sauce instead of soy sauce and I cooked it on our little George Foreman grill instead of the outside grill. I was concerned that I did something wrong when I saw the color and consistency of the marinade (it was a very light coffee color and it was sort of lumpy), but it turned out so good! VERY moist and tasty. I served it with rice (from my new rice cooker that I love!) stir fry vegetables. I think the whole idea of using mayo as part of a marinade has opened up a whole new cooking world for me! =)

I'm considering signing up for this online meal plan site. It's $5 a month and many blogger moms swear it has cut their grocery bill in half. What do you think?

And because all of our children need more toys, have fun drooling over this list of toys worth buying. I've had this bookmarked for awhile and used it before Christmas.

Murphy's Law is Alive and Well

My whole day has been an exercise in proving the existence of Murphy's Law. I was most definitely not a willing participant. The day was filled with things like:

• furious mopping immediately followed by one large bowl of Fruity Pebbles spilled by one 5 year old.....as soon as that was cleaned up there was a very leaky sippy cup that spewed lemonade everywhere
• two freshly bathed babies that both decided to poo as soon as their bath was done - one was wearing a diaper and one was wearing panties. The one wearing panties actually pooed her pants twice tonight.
• trying really hard to get dinner made but the 2 year old kept crawling in the fridge to get juice (even though I already gave her some) - I moved away from dinner to pull her out of the fridge and in the process burned the food and filled the house with smoke.
  
• also in the process more juice spilled on the floor
• during dinner we were serenaded with "heart and soul" on the piano by a visiting family member. i really don't like that song.
  
• the baby was down in bed for the night but the girls decided to go in and turn on the light and get in the bed with him. he didn't go down again for quite a while
• I opened the dryer door to take out the clothes and a little brown perfectly shaped ball fell out to the floor. I picked it up to see what it was - it was poo. Why? How? Who? What? When? I have no answers.
• I desperately need and want a shower, but I think all the hot water is going to be gone. Everyone else in the family bathed tonight and the washer and the dishwasher have been going too.
• The 2 year old just knocked down the ironing board and iron. It's 10:08. WHY are there children awake in my house???
• watching American Idol and the dvr recording ended right before they announced the third wild card winner
• it's 11:20 and there are STILL two little girls wide awake on their beds. they are also methodically stripping down layer by layer. (it's hot here!)
  

I told you. Murphy is mean, mean, mean.

On a better note:

• John found the American Idol result online (they took four? crazy!)
• brownies are in the oven (don't judge me - I earned it today - and yes, there will be ice cream and strawberries and hot fudge with my brownies)
• there is enough hot water left for a shower
• my 8 year old son is going to school in the morning. We need a break from each other. (have I mentioned that he has had strep throat this week? I waited in a community health clinic with all 4 kids for 2 hours to find that out yesterday)
• I'm going to watch CSI while I eat my healthy late night snack (snicker, snicker) after I take a good hot shower.

Take that, Murphy!

Oh How I Missed Her

We just got the girls back from John's parents. They were with them for two weeks and let me tell you, you can forget a lot in two weeks.

For instance, you can forget that it takes only a moment for a little monkus to make some serious mischief. Aulora was happily playing in my room last night while I did some work (okay, I was on the computer but I consider that work). I walked around my bed to check on her and found this:

Wait a minute - what do you have???

She wasn't sure if she was in trouble or not.

I think she figured she was okay since I was taking pictures.

I really heart that girl, messes and all.

My "Moost" Favoritist Place

It's a really good thing I'm not loaded, because if I were I would also be SOOOO stinkin' fat right now. A month or so ago we got a coupon flyer in the mail for a place called Maggie Moo's. I hadn't heard of it before but it had pictures of ice cream and cows. I like cows pretty good and I'm always down for some ice cream so I saved the coupons until they made good on their "opening soon" promise.

We tried to go there for Joshua's birthday, but it was so crowded we couldn't even all get in the doors.

We tried to go after lunch the next day, but there wasn't enough time before all our parents had to leave. So that night we ventured out there again. It was still really crowded but we were staying this time. I wanted some Maggie Moo's ice cream!

So first of all, if you had a choice between a sandwich at Subway or ice cream from Maggie Moo's, well, I think we all know the clear winner here. In my opinion, Subway wasn't too smart to open up right beside ice cream heaven.

Here it is - the spectacular Maggie Moo's sign and the words "open now". If you ever see those purplish pink letters you should STOP YOUR CAR IMMEDIATELY!!!

We've yet to see the place not filled with people.

John and I have a hard time deciding on just one flavor so we get two and share. This first one is dark chocolate ice cream with strawberries, fudge chunks, almonds, and hot fudge all in a waffle bowl.

This next one is banana pudding ice cream with banana chunks, caramel, and hot fudge.

John David got some kind of strawberry ice cream with fudge chunks in it and I don't know what else (I was too busy staring at mine to care what was in his).

I think Joshua knew he was getting the boof. He ate all his yogurt, but I definitely saw some resentment in his eyes.

It was all super delicious (refer to picture below) and I'm pretty sure I would eat there every day if I could afford it!

Are You Sure It's Not Monday

'Cause if it were Monday, the kind of day I had would make way more sense.

Do you know what I did? Do you KNOW what I did???

I ran into our garage door.

With our van.

Our brand new garage door.

I'm feeling very, very stupid today.

No, I was not drunk. And no I was not on my phone - that was John's first guess.

I just thought I had already put it in park and then took my foot off the brake. I reached down to get the windex - I had just washed the car - and quickly realized I was moving. I hit the brake as fast as I could, but it was too late. I had hit the garage door. Two ladies were walking by at the time and I think they were laughing at me. How rude.

John was in the house and heard the crashing sound and came running out. He was so sweet and calm. I think it might have been easier if he had yelled. Well, maybe not.

The end result is a van that looks the same as before and a garage door that looks dented in a couple spots. I suppose it could have been way worse. But seriously, how annoying. We just paid for them and now we have to pay again, or at least pay to get it fixed.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.....

I'm Raising a Monkey

Joshua has learned a new trick. It requires that we now put up the bunk bed ladder during the day when he's awake. I'm glad I saw him doing this and didn't find out the hard way!

Mimi's House is the Best!

This morning we went back over to Mimi's house for blueberry waffles and homemade syrup - "popo syrup" the family calls it. I think when John's mom was little, she couldn't say "maple" and it came out as "popo".

We've had the waffles many times before, but today was Joshua's first time to have them! He loved it and when I put him down for his nap he smelled like waffles and syrup. So sweet - literally!

Joshua's First Birthday

Joshua, you were a surprise but what a gift you have been. My favorite part of the day is going in your room when you first wake up. Your happiness is so contagious. I love the way you study my face and when I'm holding you close you put your chubby hands on my cheeks. I love your little body and your red hair. The way you get excited and say my name when I get you out of the car is so wonderful. You, my precious boy, make me a very happy mommy. Happy Birthday!!!

The birthday party wasn't quite what I had planned it to be, but it was a celebration of my baby boy's first year of life so it was great!

We were supposed to eat at Chili's at 2:00 and then go to Maggie Moo's for his cake afterwards. The people at Chili's told me wrong on the phone and we ended up not getting a table for close to an hour (not a good thing with little children in the mix) and Maggie Moo's was WAY too crowded afterward. Gran saved the day by running into the store and getting a cake and Blue Bell ice cream and we went back home instead. All our family was in town and we were all together so in the end, it was all okay. My Martha Stewart-ish wanna-be-self got over it!

Here's the birthday boy eating some pizza at Chili's.

I thought he should have ordered some baby back ribs. Oh well....

He was quite entertained and happy for awhile.....

....but we did have to break out his present from Uncle Maka and Aunt Kara. It was a bag full of yummy snacks! They know their nephew well - he loves to eat!!!

Back at the house, he was not at all impressed with the party hat.

We had to talk him into not crying during his birthday song too. (We actually sang it a couple of times so he wouldn't be screaming when it was time to blow out the candle.)

He didn't know what to think at first.

He soon realized the chocolatey goodness.

The piece of cake didn't stand a chance! He squished it to smithereens.

I have to admit, it looked fun. Kind of like squishing your feet into mud.

Here he is licking the plate. Yeah, that was good cake.

Gran and D bought him his very own rocking horse. He loves it - as do his siblings.

Thanks Gran and D!

Aunt Kara and Joshua

Uncle Maka and Joshua

Mommy and Daddy with their boy!

My parents got him a new high chair too. He so needed that! Thank you Granmamma and Dodie!

Trapped

The other day I heard Aulora calling out to me in a panicked voice. I started my way down the long hall, poking my head into every room trying to find her. Finally I got to our bathroom and this is what I found:


She had gone in there and closed the door and couldn't get back out. She was quite distressed. I told her to wait there while I got the camera though. Poor girl.

(What's up with that dirty looking shower floor? It doesn't look like that in person. Really it doesn't.)

I'm Losing Myself in the Black Hole of Internet

Holy cow, I've found facebook. Seriously, there's just not enough time in my day for all the things I want to laze around and do! Tv, blogging (reading others lately, not updating my own obviously), eating, reading, searching craigslist, etsy, and ebay, and now facebook. How absurd. I can't even keep up with that on it's own, let alone the stuff I'm supposed to be doing.

So if you're wondering where I've been, I've been tending sick kids, enjoying company over the weekend, housewife-ish duties, settling in more, and learning the ropes of facebook. John has advised me to forget facebook and tend to my blogs. I think he's irritated with my lack of posting and rightly so, I'm sure. I'm annoyed with myself at my lack of posting.

I know I shouldn't put it off until tomorrow, but I've already used up my computer time with those things mentioned above. So here's to tomorrow (or the next day....hahaha) - a new day in blogworld.

Coming Up For Air

I think we may finally be getting past all this sick stuff! We were almost done the other night and then Joshua got the virus. I won't bother to post all the beautiful details I'm sure everyone is dying to hear about. (I don't have the time anyway.)

Pedialyte is wonderful.

A clean house is impossible with constantly sick kids.

Finishing laundry is also impossible.

Valentines are being done today. We already made the box and the girls' cards.

Company is coming in tomorrow evening. (Ahhhh!!!!)

Joshua's belated birthday celebration is on Saturday.

I have a sore back.

Aulora just came into the room naked. This post is done!

In case you were wondering....

I've been cleaning up throw up, horrible runny poo diapers, pee off the bathroom floor (because one child didn't flush a job and the other couldn't bear to go on top and didn't have time to get to a different potty), battling huge carpenter ants (that should be leaving anytime now, according to the "bug man"), doing laundry, ironing for Ebay, holding babies, wiping snotty noses, giving baths, giving medicine (and having that medicine immediately thrown up on me), and watching endless episodes of Dora and Backyardigans.

Motherhood at it's finest, I'm telling you.....

Poor Babies

Both my babies have ear infections - terrible ear infections. I feel so sad and so very, very bad! Their little ears were apparently about to rupture it was so bad, but I had no idea. Well, I had an idea and that's why I was trying to get them into a doctor, but I had no idea it was this bad. =( They are both so sweet and easy going and I never dreamed they felt so bad. How can anyone act so sweet when they feel so bad???

I wasn't able to get them into a doctor (offices closed due to ice, busy office anyway that's almost impossible to get into, coverage ended January 31st), but a wonderful nurse practitioner from our church who is also a dear friend of Sandy's, came to our house last night with her equipment. She immediately called in a prescription and now those babies are on the road to recovery. What a HUGE blessing she was!

Now I have two kid-free hours to get some things done since all are in school except Joshua who is napping. Better get busy!

A Look Inside

Yesterday I did something I've been wanting to do for quite some time. I'm not saying I invented this idea or anything, but I'm proud I did it. I took some pictures because I was so pleased about it!

Behold, the beautiful produce drawer:


I bought lots of different fruits (and some vegetables too, just not as many! baby steps, baby steps) and washed them all up, then bagged them all in little snack size baggies. There's watermelon, strawberries, grapes, blueberries, broccoli, carrots and cucumbers. (There's also apples, bananas, and pears on the counter but I didn't think they would fare too well being cut and bagged.)

The whole idea was for the kids (well, me too) to eat more fresh stuff. It's working for all of us except one and I'll let you guess who the hold out is. If you don't know then you obviously haven't been reading my blog for very long. It feels so great to munch on a bag of blueberries rather than cheetos. And it feels even better to see my kids eating things from that drawer rather than junk. I'll definitely keep doing this!

I'm wondering though, do you think the Dr Pepper and the container of cookie dough right above the produce drawer hinders my effort at all?

Nah, I didn't think so either.


See that thing covered in foil in the picture below? Do you know what that is? I can only tell you because you don't know where my house is now, otherwise I fear people would be breaking into our house to get to it.

That, my friends, is a homemade blueberry waffle. There was a whole stack of them, but John David and I both LOVE them so you do the math. Mimi makes these heavenly treats and wraps them individually and brings us a batch at a time. Normally we freeze them, but I got smart. They cook faster in the toaster when they're not frozen and since there's no way they last long enough to go bad anyway, they now reside in the fridge. Everyone should be so lucky to have a Mimi!

And while we're looking at this picture, take note of the gargantuan bottle of parmesan cheese in the back left corner. I inherited it from Sandy who I believe inherited it from a big spaghetti dinner. At any rate, how in the world will I ever use all of that? My conscious won't allow me to throw it away, but we don't even use it. Not ever. Should I host a big spaghetti dinner myself in the hopes of using it all up? Or I could stand at the doors of Walmart handing out cupfuls to shoppers as they exit. I could try to sell it on Craiglist. How much would I ask for it?

Do you see the package of croissant rolls there on the right? I bought those the other day because I was planning on making chicken salad. I took these pictures last night before I made it so I can't show it to you. It's a thing of beauty, my chicken salad. I've been making it for a number of years now, and I have to say that it's getting better and better. Tonight's might have been the best ever and since I'm in a generous mood I thought I would share. I don't use exact measurements because you just kind of do it to your own liking, but I can give an approximation.

• 2 cans of chicken ground up in a food processer (not to a pulp but just until it's not in huge chunks)
• 2 large apples chopped up very well in food processer
• About 2 cups red grapes (you guessed it) chopped up in a food proceser
• Chopped pecans or almonds (or not, if you don't like nuts - but nuts give it a nice little crunch and add to the flavor)
• salt and pepper
• mayo or miracle whip (a few globs)

Mix all of the ingrediants really well and put it on your croissant roll and you're ready to go! It's also pretty good to add some romaine lettuce and a slice of tomato if you want.


The drawer on the left is where all the juice boxes, yogurts, apple sauces, jellos and puddings go. It's so much easier to just reach in and grab one. Underneath is the long cheese and meat drawer, but there's just not anything interesting there. Just some cheese and meat. Maybe I'll add it later when I have nothing else to post. That would probably really boost my blog's ratings - a picture of meat and cheese. Please don't steal my idea....

I'd love to see what all of you have in your refridgerators too! Be sure to leave a comment telling us you're playing along. Pretty please with chicken salad on top???

The Time Has Come

I was burned pretty badly the last time I had to do this. Really badly. Oh, the stories I could tell. And I would, but trust me, you don't want to hear them! Suffice it to say, thank God we had bleachable berber carpet in our last house!

But little sister Aulora is now nearly 2 1/2 and she's been showing great interest in the whole potty thing for some time now, so potty training for #3 has officially started.

I wish I could say that we're making some great progress, but so far we're not. I bought her Dora panties and we already had the Dora potty seat. She loves sitting on the seat and wearing her new panties, but so far nothing has happened other than a few tee-tee accidents. She doesn't like the way that feels, so that should help speed things along (I hope).

One other thing I think we'll have to work on. She enjoys taking off her panties and admiring them and them putting them back on. Problem is, she can't quite do it. Please see Exhibit A:


Yes, we'll definitely be working on this.....

Oh No You Didn't Girlfriend! (to be said with attitude and snaps)

Last night I was enjoying a luxurious scratching and rubbing session from Julia - according to her, she went to "scratching school and rubbing school". It's not so unbelievable if you've ever been on the receiving end of one of these sessions! She's pretty good!

On to the story. She decided at one point to scratch my legs. She pulled up the bottoms of my pant legs, yet stopped scratching as soon as she started. She leaned in for a closer look and said, "Wow girl, you need to get rid of all these hairies on your legs! These look like boy legs! Daddy's legs look like this, but yours aren't supposed to."

The sad thing is, you'd think I would have shaved last night.

Do keep in mind that 1) it's the dead of winter here so my legs haven't' seen the light of day in quite some time, and 2) my husband has been gone for four weeks now so who really cares?

The Best Job

The other day Julia was sitting in my lap stroking my face. For a child who is so strong willed, she is also so tenderhearted and loving.

She asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I smiled and told her I was already grown up. She seemed quite amazed that I was an adult. (What does that mean???)

She wanted to know what my job was. I told her I was a mommy.

"What??? That's your job? No it's not! Really, what's your job?"

I insisted that I was just a mommy. She insisted that just couldn't be.

"What do you do all day? What's your job?"

I resisted reviewing all the many things I do all day, every day and just told her again that I was her mommy. And John David's and Aulora's and Joshua's. And I told her that it was the best job in the whole world.

She smiled and nuzzled against me.

I smiled too because moments like that are exactly what make my job the best there is.

Potluck Post

I'm too tired to separate the different thoughts that are jumbling through my head. So I give to you a late night potluck post:

School was canceled today. The roads here are all very icy, and I have no doubt that is true since I watched people (who for some reason or another felt they had to get out) slide all around in their cars today. I heard the distinct sound of two cars smashing into each other too. I've learned that sound since living near a street.

(On that note I will take a moment to say that although I wasn't sure how I would feel about it beforehand, I kind of like living right off a main road. The front of our house doesn't face it, so I can look out those windows and just see pretty neighboring houses. But our kitchen sink window is on the side of the house so you can watch the intersection if you look to the right. I like it. I feel connected and safe. I don't feel as alone as I think I would feel otherwise with John being gone so much. It's soothing to watch the cars go by.)

Anyway, I was alone in the house with four children all day long. I was with all four of them by myself, with nobody else, the whole day. (Was that redundant? Sorry.) It was not a short day! In all honesty though, they really were pretty good. They played and played and then played some more. We made dinner and read a book and watched American Idol. Julia is a pretty good judge of who can sing and who can not. If my five year old can recognize bad singing, why can't these other people? Amazing.

I checked online tonight and much to my, uhm, delight, school is canceled again tomorrow! So we're going to make the most of it and learn a new game we got for Christmas, make popcorn and watch a movie, bake some blueberry muffins, and I don't know what else. The main goal is just to keep everyone occupied enough that they don't try to eat each other!

I've been listing and selling some things on craigslist. Man I love that site! I started listing my maternity clothes on there, but I think I'm going to bite the bullet and sell them on ebay. It's such a hassle to mess with that, but the money will be so much better I think. I've also got tubs and tubs of baby clothes to start listing. Such a love hate thing I've got going on with ebay.

I bought a different detergent and I keep smelling myself, or rather my clothes. Every so often I catch myself sniffing my shoulder or my arm. I'm glad nobody else is here to see this odd behavior. It's just weird to not smell like my normal self. Please don't think I'm a weirdo now.

I think I was poisoned yesterday with a peanut butter granola bar. No, seriously. I ate one and within an hour I was sooo sick feeling. The worst part was that I took the kids to Walmart right after eating it so I was sick the whole time we were grocery shopping. We had to finish though because I knew the icy weather was coming. As soon as we got home I brought in the bags, put away the stuff that couldn't wait, put Joshua down for a nap, changed Aulora's poopy diaper, gave the girls some lunch, and then, THEN, was able to lay on my bed with a bowl. Isn't it amazing that even when moms are sick, they still have to take care of everyone else first. I couldn't even throw-up in peace. The girls were asking for things (Polly Pocket needs her dress on, Can I have a juice box?, I wanna watch cartoons, whah, whah, whah!) even as I was in the midst of being sick (and I mean that as an action verb). After that and then a nap (while the babies napped too), I felt mostly all better. So strange. I think I'm going to throw out the rest of those granola bars.

Shhhh.....Joshua turned one on Sunday, but we're not telling him that! We're waiting until Daddy gets home next week to celebrate. Such a big, excuse me, BIG guy he is!

I can't figure out when to vacuum. I can't do it when kids are sleeping because it will wake them up. I can't do it when they are awake because their toys are everywhere. This has become a dilemma in my house. My temporary solution has been to not vacuum. Problem solved.

Aulora is finally weened off of a bottle. Please keep all negative comments to yourself. I know she's two and it's bad for her teeth and all that other stuff. I've just had a busy year! ;) When she was with Clay and Sandy, they just told her they didn't have any bottles there and that was that. It wasn't quite that easy once she got home and saw Joshua with his, but we're making it. It's getting easier every night. Thanks, Gran! (now if I can just send her there to get potty trained!)

I going to go to bed now and sniff my pajamas some more. At least I don't have to get up super early in the morning! Yea!

Strange New Addiction

I had to get a google map today and in the process I discovered a new feature they have. I can't quit using it! When you enter an address and the map comes up, click where it says "street view". You will be shown a picture of that address! Sometimes the pictures starts down the street a little, but you just move the little person icon down in the lower right hand corner closer to the desired address. You can pan all around and zoom in. The picture of our house in SA had John's old car in front of it. That was just too funny. Try it out! Look at your current house, the house you grew up in, your friends' houses, your workplace, everything! So, so cool!!!

Here's the house we moved into when I was in the 9th grade. My family lived there until a few years ago when they moved to Colorado. See that tree on the right? It should be the same as the one on the left, but when I was in high school somebody (it wasn't me - really) drove through our yard and ran down that poor tree. It never has recovered!

These are the apartments John and I lived in when we first got married. We were there for about 14 months before moving to SA.

I can't show any other place just because of safety reasons, but it's just so stinking cool!

Lazy La Learns Her Lesson

Yesterday, when it was time to register for my defensive driving online, I had to enter my license plate number. I didn't want to go outside and look and I thought I remembered it. I entered it in and went on. Everything has been going great, even the validation questions where they ask you personal things about your car and driver's license, until this morning. My answers were all wrong for the validation part! They locked me out until I called support.

I entered the wrong plate number when I registered! By mere coincidence, someone else with the last name Sullivan has the number I entered so it didn't raise any red flags. Dumb, lazy me.

Now I have to go to Mimi's house to print a form, go to the bank and get it notarized, and then go to Office Max to have it faxed to them - all to verify that I am indeed the La.

Always go look at your plate number. Better yet, memorize it.

Lesson learned.

Redemption

Well, somewhat anyway. I just finished another section of torture, but I found a new favorite snack in the meantime. (My ticket might get dismissed but I'm going to gain 20 pounds in the process!) Chex chocolate and peanut butter mix is soooo good! I easily could have eaten the whole bag (no, it was not snack size either!), but I practiced self-control. I only ate half of the bag. Next time I should probably pour some in a bowl and then hide the bag from myself. Seriously, am I the only person who will buy or make something super delicious and then, in order to control myself, I will store the food in the some ridiculous to get to place? Somewhere I will have to go to great lengths to get to it? How dumb is that! You'd think I just wouldn't buy the stuff in the first place. Nope, not me.

I wonder if Chuck E. Cheese will give me free tokens because of all the perfect scores I'm getting on my quizzes? They should.

Primetime Thursday Night

Guess what I'm doing. The best night for tv and I'm watching a defensive driving dvd course. (wimper, wimper) I got a ticket a couple of months ago for not coming to a full and complete stop at a stop sign in a parking lot. Yes, I said a parking lot. It was not a happy day for me.

And this is not a happy night for me. I'm only blogging because the course makes you take breaks. The quizzes are so easy that I might take a nap during the next segment. Or maybe I'll put it on and then come to my bedroom and watch some of that great Thursday night tv! Yea!

Just kidding. I'm a good girl. I will go suffer some more on my couch. Think of me......

Piece Pictures are Finally Here....

some of them are anyway. I'll keep adding more as I get them in. On a side note, do you know that I can't figure out for the life of me where all of the before pictures went?!? So crazy. They've just disappeared! I did a couple of computer searches and everything. I guess I'm glad we posted most of them on the blog.

Picture Tag From Stacia

I was tagged for a picture post from my friend Stacia. This is the 5th picture from the 5th folder of my pictures. We started a birthday tradition of eating at Ihop for John David when he was little. He LOVES Ihop! This was on his 4th birthday and I was sure to have Daddy take a picture of me with my boy so he would know I was there! Love that little man.....

A Picture, A Picture!

Do you know what this one picture means??? Several things:

• first off, I have cute kids (am I allowed to say that?!? well, i did anyway.)
• second, Christmas is all over :(
• third, my bedroom is now somewhat ugly because I had to move our big computer into the corner so I could upload pictures......which means.....
• I can now upload pictures!!!
  

I'm going to be a blog picture posting and craigslist listing fool! More to come later today once Joshua is in bed.....

My Weirdo Boy

My son has always been on the peculiar side - we know this, our extended family knows this, and many of you probably know it too. His peculiarity has made our job as parents more difficult at times, but also way more interesting and entertaining!

A battle we've had lately has been toothpaste. For some reason, over the past few months, his taste buds can no longer accommodate any flavor of toothpaste on the market. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

Obviously, the child has to brush his teeth, so I've just been making him endure the torture of bubble gum, fruity bubble, or the worst ever, berry blast. Can you imagine? Such an evil mommy I am!

When the girls left with Clay and Sandy I sent the only tube of kid toothpaste we had with them. I meant to buy some more at the store, but we forgot. So when bedtime came and he had just eaten a fruit roll up, I knew we had to improvise something.

Enter baking soda. I expected an all out fit of ridiculous proportions. I prepared myself for an onslaught of reasons why he could just wait until the next time we went to the store. I braced myself for any and all methods of refusal he might try. I was ready to hold him down if I had to!

Do you know that my weirdo child was happy at the idea of using baking soda? He cheerfully went to the bathroom and he brushed more thoroughly than he ever has. He liked it. He wants to continue to use it!?!?!

I knew it was okay to use baking soda sometimes, but all the time? I wasn't sure. I googled it and came across this insightful blog post.

And then there's all the sites that say how harmful baking soda can be because it's so abrasive. So it looks like he'll have a mouth full of enamel-less teeth that smells like poo if he continues to brush with baking soda.

Would that really be too awful?

Won't You (not) Be....My Neighbor?

I always loved watching Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood when I was little. His little song timed perfectly with the removing of his sweater and shoe change. How did he do that every time? So talented, I tell you.

Anyway, I don't think Mr. Rogers would have been singing happily about neighbors if he was blessed with one of ours. My first encounter with her was before we ever moved in. She came over one day to complain (without even introducing herself first) about where we were parking. I was as friendly as could be and tried to smooth things over, but I think we have the right to park a car in the street in front of our house, do we not? It seems that she is not a good backer-upper though, and so she doesn't want any cars parked where she might hit them as she leaves her driveway. Fair enough.

Well, this lovely lady also has a boyfriend who is a horrible backer-upper. He's hit several parked cars already. (I know this because he admitted it AND because he ran into our carpenter's truck one day. Our carpenter actually sped after him to talk to him - the man didn't even know he had hit someone!) I can't prove who did it, but someone has backed into our yard and broken one of our new sprinkler heads off. If I were a bettin' girl, my money would be on the boyfriend.

John wanted to know if I was going to go over there and talk to the lady. I told him I couldn't prove anything so it wouldn't do much good. I think we should just get those spikey things to line our curb with so if they back up too far again they will get a flat tire. What do you think?

Jessica Simpson Uses Pro-active

For some reason, I've been blessed lately with more than my fair share of pimples. I've always had pretty clear skin, even as a teenager, so this is weird for me. I'm still washing my face every night with the same soap and I haven't switched make-up. So I'm just kind of sticking it out, hoping it goes away before my husband comes home!

In the meantime, my precious son tells me every day that I should get Pro-active. Thanks, Buddy! He's like my daily shot of self-confidence!

Sunday Afternoon Summary

So John is apparently rubbing shoulders with Tom Hanks and Steve Carrell as he listens to Josh Groban at the opening inaugural celebration right now.

I've been outside raking leaves.

That's all.

Closet Smoker and Giant Bobos here

I miss my man! He's been gone for a little more than two weeks now and he's not due back for three more! He's in Washington D.C. for work and for working at the National Cherokee Indian office. If ever he was going to be there, this is a pretty great time. He's at an inauguration kick-off party tonight and will be going to some more parties next week. There were all kinds of big name people at his thing tonight so he was excited about going.

I can't imagine how couples are separated for long periods of time. I cant tell you how much I just crave a hug so bad!!! At least I have been able to hug and love on our babies. He's there all by himself. :( That's makes me sad for him.

Last night John's parents had John David and Julia (they were in town for a couple of days for Clay's birthday) and there was apparently someone on TV who smoked. They began discussing how that wasn't healthy for that lady.

Julia: My mommy doesn't smoke.
Gran: That's right and she's healthy because she doesn't smoke.
Julia: Yeah, but my daddy smokes. Only on Fridays and Sundays though. And he spits out those ciggy things too.

Everyone in the car was just rolling laughing, except John David who was horrified that his little sister was saying such things about his dad. He was very sure to correct her. And John's grandma, Mimi, was in the car and I hear that the look on her face was quite priceless!

We have no idea where she got this idea, but it sure made for a great laugh! Apparently, spitting out the ciggy things mean using tobacco. Again, I don't know where this came from!

I guess she didn't want to leave me out, because last night she commented that we both had bobos (our word for our behind) and so did Aunt Kara. We all had bobos. "But you have the biggest one. You have the bobo of a giant."

Isn't she a doll? Would anyone like to borrow her?

My giant bobo needs to get up now......

Back on Board!

Wow, that was probably my longest blogging break to date. Is anyone still out there?

I was finally able to come up for air from underneath all the boxes. We're mostly unpacked (the stuff that we plan to unpack anyway) and settled pretty well for only being here for 2 weeks. It was a really happy day when the internet man came and then an even happier day when the Dish network man came! I will say that my work ethic was a lot better before all this happiness started. hehehe. Enjoy life, I say! At first I was staying up super late every night after the kids were in bed, but then I concluded that there would always be MORE to do. So that's when I started going to bed pretty soon after they did. Or on some nights I would watch a movie and make myself a treat! ("Some" is probably not very honest - it's more like "most".) I'm think I'm going to totally sabotage my "house flipping weight loss plan", but it just feels so great to relax!

Pictures. I know. Due to my ignorance regarding 1) my desktop not having a wireless card, and 2) transfering pictures from my camera to my mac laptop (or even putting them on here via a flashdrive), pictures are on hold. Right now the only way I can figure out how to do it is to actually move my desktop into the corner of my bedroom so I can hook it up to the cable modem. I wonder if I could find a super long cord at the store to avoid actually moving the whole thing. Hmmmm.....I really do want to show you pictures!

That's it for now since Joshua's nap time is quickly fading and I'm doing nothing except sit here in the silence. It's so nice though. I love my children, but seriously, can someone not invent a mute button???