Early Spring

There is something in the air today. The sun is shining, the ice has melted, it almost feels like spring. I took advantage of the warm weather and decided to wear flip flops while I can. The weather people say it's going to be this way until Sunday. I'll enjoy it while I can.

Tchotchkes

First of all, I couldn't spell this blasted word. Second, I'm usually not one to acquire them.

I was in a spendthrift mood today. By spendthrift, I mean I wanted to spend money in a thrifty way. I hit three consignment/thrift store and didn't find a thing. At the fourth I hit payday.

I have an affinity for clocks. I don't mind if they don't work, I tend to like ones that are quiet. I am going out on a limb and actually starting a collection. Yes, I've said it. I figure Debbie has her globes (which I think are way cool), Keira has her paint-by-numbers, I'm ready to commit to a collection of my own.

Easy Peasy

I called Sherri late afternoon yesterday for a dessert idea to take to the Blue and Gold Scout dinner. I wanted something easy and quick, something I wouldn't have to go to the grocery store for. She suggested making a pan cookie with chocolate chip cookie dough in the shape of a pizza. She went all out and actually frosted hers. I went ahead and made the cookie in my deep dish pizza pans (Bake @ 350* for 20-25 minutes) with parchment paper on the bottom for easy removal.

Jack won the award for "most delicious" dessert. Isn't that the one that matters the most? So, we'd like to dedicate the award to Aunt Sherri.

Overscheduled

Wake up. Get kids ready for school. Go to gym to blow off steam. Come home and shower for 5 minutes. Go to visiting teaching appointments. There are only two this month, but we squeezed the third in.

Come home and get Emma ready for school. Drop Emma off and meet Michael for a quickie...quick lunch. What were you thinking?! Run to a Relief Society appointment at 1pm. Hold newborn. Come home and take a walk to the mailbox. Half hour to kill time until I have to get kids at school. I just got another load of laundry started.

I'll pick up the kids and then start homework. We have the Blue and Gold Dinner tonight. We need to bring a dessert. Have we started it?

Whew. It's just one of those days. I'm glad this is not a typical day. I'd go nuts.

Oscar Buzz

Admittedly I like the red carpet walk and all the dish concerning who's wearing what rather then who won what. I completely missed the red carpet walk last night, but I did catch the last 40 minutes of the show. Isn't that when they hand out the "big" awards?

So, one of the presenters was Helen Mirren. Michael makes the comment; "Wow, do you think that you'll....." I think that I want to look like her now.

Bleckfast

To quote a niece; "I had bleckfast this morning." Literally. I should have examined my yogurt more closely. I thought it tasted a little funny. I'll leave it at that.

Nevermind. On with the day.

Lazy Day

I went to the first hour of church, but ducked out of Sunday School and Relief Society. The kids were feeling much better, but I did not want to risk spreading germs or having the kids catch something. My sanity cannot afford any "sick days" this week.

I would make a list of things that I'd like to get done this week, but that would be testing fate. I am going to totally wing it and see what I am able to accomplish without a plan. Who knows, maybe that will work better.

So, I am going to spend the rest of the day reading..in my lounge pants.

Another One Barps Again

It's the middle of the night and I've been woken up by Lily for her early early sippy cup of juice. I was kinda in a haze when I went to the frig, I just stood there with the door open staring into the black hole. When I finally got the juice back to Lily, I had woken up just enough to have to read for a few minutes to try and fall back asleep. While I'm reading, I'm wondering to myself; "Why am I awake at 1:30 in the morning?"

Then I hear the cough. You know the cough. The one when a child is in bed and is throwing up. That's why I was awake. Emma got sick in her bed and on the floor. Of course I get her to the bathroom where she no longer has to throw up, but she does need to clean up. After I get her bedding changed and attempt to clean the carpet, Emma goes back to sleep.

Fast forward an hour and a half. Lily walks in my room and says, "Momma, I barped on my legs."

This is the house of barp today. I think that I have four loads of laundry to do just to be able to get Emma and Lily back in their beds tonight. Oh boy.

Pizza Night

We've started a Friday night tradition of having pizza with two or three other families. There is a family style pizza joint on Main street that has board games at each of the tables. Sure, a checker game might end up on the floor, but we don't mind. Kids are at one table while the "adults" sit at the next table. There are generally about eight kids between the ages of 2 1/2 to 8 (oddly enough I have the oldest and the youngest). Inevitably a kid cries or ends up on the floor along with a drink or two.

It's nice to hang out with adults and have funny conversations. Whenever a move occurs (which I've done plenty of) it seems to take a while to find people that I want my children hanging out with. Then if I actually want to hang out with the parents...that's a bonus. I know this might sound funny, but I feel like I'm back in grade school and I just met someone on the playground who said "want to be friends?"

Thumbsucker

Keira, I don't know where she gets this from. I will need lots of tips, advice, therapy, etc, when it is time to wean the munchkin from the thumb. For now...how can I resist those big brown eyes?

Book Review

I have been reading 1776 for about two months. That's not to say that it's a bad or boring book, I just took a long time reading it. It is not a "bedtime" book. I really liked following the birth of our nation and that it was compacted in this single year. That being said, it's a LOT of information condensed into 300 pages.

I've heard good things about Truman by the same author...has anyone read this?

Jokes 101

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Nobody.
Nobody who?
Nobody's home.

Lily told this joke to herself and it cracked me up.

Jack told me a riddle yesterday;

An astronaut went into space on Thursday and came back on Thursday. How is that possible?
(No, the astronaut did not land on the other side of the International Date line)


Highlight text below for answer.
The space ship's name is Thursday.

Guitar Hero

Lily wanted to be like the big kids. She was just trying to play the guitar but then she went all "rock star."

It's a Jolly Holiday

I didn't realize that the kids didn't have school until Saturday afternoon. Opps. At least I found out before I dropped Jack off at school Monday morning.

So, in honor of President's Day I ran around town all morning entertaining the kiddos. The best part was coming home to a mostly clean house. Second best; Lily had just fallen asleep for a long afternoon's nap. Yipee!

Part of the morning was spent at Bounce Town. I had never been, but a few friends were going and I thought that anything with bounce in the name has the potential of wearing out my kids. I overpaid for the pleasure of watching too many kids run around and jockey between five glorified jump houses. The kids laughed, cried, and nearly fainted from hunger. I nearly took them to McDonald's just for the playground. But I didn't.

Sesame Street

I'm usually not one to be suckered in
by the pleadings of my child in a store.
Usually.















Lily saw these and "had" to
have them.





I couldn't resist the cuteness. Could you?!

Smucker's

"Well, good morning to you," the jam said with a smirk.

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Impressive Clergyman: Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam...
[cut to Westley, Inigo, and Fezzik]
The Impressive Clergyman: And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva...
[cut to the trio again]
The Impressive Clergyman: So tweasure your wuv.
Prince Humperdinck: Skip to the end.
The Impressive Clergyman: Have you the wing?
[cut to the trio once more]
The Impressive Clergyman: ...and do you,Pwincess Buwwercup...
Prince Humperdinck: Man and wife. Say man and wife.
The Impressive Clergyman: Man an' wife.

What better way to find out who we are and find true love on this holiday of hearts.

Knit 1 Perl 2

For Relief Society we are starting a year long project called "Warm Up America." The blankets are made by piecing together knitted and crocheted squares. I'd like to say that I remembered how to knit like I was climbing right back on the horse. Well, that was not the case.

I know how to cast on the needle, in fact a little too good. I got excited and put on WAY too many stitches. Then I had to start over. Once again I put on too many, but I figured that I would practice for a little while and then turn in a much better finished product. As you can see, I figured out how to knit..and then perl...but I can't say that I'm good at remembering how to switch between the two.

Say Uncle

I'd like to thank Jim for cleaning my house yesterday. (Ok, I did the cleaning, but he was the motivation) In spite of a RUPTURED eardrum he made his way to our house last night and entertained the kids by playing Guess Who and letting the kids dance on his feet. I would say, "Isn't that what uncles are for?," but this was above and beyond in the condition Jim was in.

Earlier in the day when I picked up the kids from school, Emma was overjoyed that Uncle Jim was coming over. Jack, on the other hand, was a might disappointed that I was being a "mean mom" and not letting his friend come over for a playdate. Once he got over that, Jack asked how long he was staying, to which I replied, just for dinner. Jack gave me a funny look and said, "That's pretty expensive. Why would Uncle Jim pay for a ticket to fly here just for dinner?" I said next time he'll stay longer.

Whirlwind Weekend

I'm trying to remember what I did Friday night, but it seems so long ago. I know that Michael went to work at 5 pm on Friday and didn't make it home until 10 am on Saturday. Knowing that he was going to need a few hours of uninterrupted sleep I decided to tackle this head on.

1. Go to the Rec center. Free
2. Use Child Care for an hour. Free
3. Go Swimming with kids for 1 hour. Free
3. Take kids to McDonalds. $11.29
4. Drive to Loveland and get Jack's new scout shirt. $39.48
5. Go to Costco for essentials. $93.00
6. Michael gets to sleep for 5 hours. Priceless.

Ok, some of the details are a little fuzzy. Technically the Rec center isn't free, but it feels like it because we paid for the passes in August. The best investment since we moved!

When we went swimming we were in the pool for about fifteen minutes before we heard the lifeguard sound the "out of the pool" warning. It was not my child that left a brown floatie in the wading pool. Luckily the pool has different areas to swim in and I was able to eek out a little more entertainment time from the pool.

McDonalds. I never take my kids there, I can't say that I care to eat anything there. I did end up getting a cheeseburger and it tasted exactly like I remembered it.

The drive to the scout store took me by the only Goodwill in the area. I wanted to stop, but I was treading a thin ice with three kids. At least I know where it is and I can go back. I had vague directions to the scout store and luckily found it. It was in a Outlet Shopping Mall that looks like it's starting to go downhill. As I passed a few stores that were closed I was beginning to fear that the scout store was one of them. Luckily, using my keen tracking skills, I was able to locate the store. Question; How do I sew on the patches?

Ahh, Costco. I would have walking about Costco for much longer, but I had a bum cart that was squeaking horribly. It wasn't bad when I started pushing it, but I guess if you add a couple hundred pounds it will exacerbate the squeak. Lily was taking a much needed nap, she was priority #1 to put in the cart. Emma asked to get in the kid's seat, no problem, it keeps her contained. Jack was whining that he was tired and at that point I was too tired to put up much of a fight. I don't know how I managed to fit cat litter, toilet paper, paper towels, trail mix, muffins, and laundry soap in the cart.

On the way home from Costco, Michael called and let me know that he was awake. If he hadn't called, my trip might have gotten a lot more expensive, I was driving by a furniture store.

24 Hours Later

Well, I think that I just had one of those "24 hour" things. I woke up yesterday around 5AM (way too early) and didn't feel right. Then I barped, as Lily would say. I was reminded why I don't want to be pregnant again; I don't like hanging my head over a toilet. So, after a long a crazy day yesterday, I feel much better.

Cub Scouts

So, this is the second time that I've taken Jack to Cub Scouts. He went once the week of his birthday and has been asking every week; "Is there scouts this week?" I need to get the gear to make him look more official, but I'm very excited that he loves scouts, so far.

I had to laugh when I dropped him off at the church. All the boys were playing basketball and it looked like a mass of boys surrounding the ball. Mob mentality.

Bravo to all the leaders of scouts.

Things to look forward to...

Star Trek
Toy Story 3

Oh, and the new Indiana Jones movie as well.

Stupid Caucus Rules

Ok, it's my own fault for being registered as "unaffiliated." I've always registered as a Republican, but I must have had a moment of weakness when I marked the box at the DMV. So, to make a long story short, I will be unable to caucus tonight.

I think that we need to start a grassroots effort to overhaul the voting procedures. We need to all vote on the same day and the same hours whether you're on the east or west coast. No "early primaries." No exit polls to tell other states how they should be voting. No media announcement until the votes have all been counted.

Whew. I never knew that I felt so strongly about voting, but when I'm "not allowed" to vote because I'm not affiliated with a party, that my friend, is bupkiss!

Monday Morning

Against my better judgment I'm going to try and start a random post this morning. I should know better, posts that start out in the morning usually end up like this.

Let's see. What did I get done this weekend? I'd like to say that got everything done that I intended to....but I planned poorly. I didn't prepare myself. I didn't write a list. Starting this morning, I will write my list of "to-dos."

I never thought that I was one that would need and like lists, but I am. Something so satisfactory about checking things off when they are done. I don't like long lists because it takes too long to get through them.

The start of my list;

1. Take Jack to school
2. Get Emma ready for school
3. Do a happy dance (cause it's Monday)

Tooth Fairy

At 9:30 last night, Jack came downstairs to inform me that he finally got out the loose tooth that has been hanging for weeks. I think that he was motivated to pull it out last night because he's trying to save money for yet another Lego set. He put the tooth in a plastic bag and let me know that it would be REALLY nice if the Tooth Fairy brought $4.00, because that's how much he needs for the Legos.

Fast Forward ten hours.

I woke up in a blur with my head a little fuzzy. I somehow came out of the fog and realized that the Tooth Fairy had not visited!!!! Well, apparently at our house the Tooth Fairy arrived at 6:45 am with two dollars.

Jack told me at breakfast that he felt the Tooth Fairy take the tooth. I asked if the Tooth Fairy looked like Mommy, but he denied that he saw said Tooth Fairy. I think that he's holding out for the next two dollars and then we'll see if the magic still exists.