olds ninety-eight

on the seventh: kindergarten

2012-02-07T15:46:00.003-07:00

I registered my little boy for kindergarten today.

I'll be approaching my 52nd birthday when he graduates from high school.

Let's hope time passes slowly because I'm feeling like quite an old lady today.

* * *

I'm thankful for a mom who saved my kindergarten picture.

That Holly Hobby shirt used to make me so happy. I wore it all the time.

on the sixth: sitting and swinging and coughing

2012-02-06T21:55:00.005-07:00

Aunt Judy picked up this Sit 'n Spin for Cate at the DI on Saturday. $1.50!

Cate sat on it and said, "Look! People sit on it and they spin!" Looks like Sit 'n Spin was the perfect name for that thing.

A little friend came over to play this morning. Those girls are too cute together. They immediately started pushing doll strollers around the house, like they're just drawn to them. Cute little mommies taking care of their babies.

Ray Ray, Cate and I made a little stop at the park this afternoon. It was chilly and extremely sunny and not the least bit windy so I figured we'd be ok. It was all Cate's idea anyway. Ray Ray was pretty happy about it too.

The park. IN FEBRUARY. I'm still not used to this weird winter stuff we're experiencing. I guess I should stop worrying about the no snow situation and just be happy about a half hour at the park on a brisk February afternoon. It could be a lot worse.

And bonus points to me for having a spare cup in the car (the big 44 ounce refillable soda kind). The park bathrooms are locked from October until April and a certain little someone needed to empty her bladder shortly after arrival. Don't worry. I carry anti-bacterial wipes. Everybody's clean.

I even had an hour of quiet time this afternoon (while both kids were awake in their bedrooms!) to work on Danny's Valentine's. He's got to take some to class on Friday so I wanted to get a head start. I only ruined 2 glow sticks when I tried to insert them into the light saber handle. You've got to be very careful with those things. No bending at all or CRACK and then they start glowing.

And then Cate started coughing.

Coughing and coughing and coughing. So much that she'd puked twice by the time Dan came home from work. It has nothing to do with playing at the park in the cold either. I googled it. Bill Nye even said so. You don't catch a cold from being in the cold. If Ray Ray gets sick too then maybe I'm wrong. Or maybe it's because he spent most of the day around Cate inside the house and he caught her germs that way.

While Dan bathed the little ones I went to Target to get some cough medicine. Looks like it's not recommended for kids under 4. Even for ages 4-6 the label says to ask the doctor first. Sheesh. While I was there I passed a guy talking to his whiny kid. I swear this is what I heard him say. "If you cry I'm not gonna let you take your inner child to bed with you." Weird right? I'm thinking he said something else but that's really what it sounded like to me. I think I need my ears checked.

* * *

I'm thankful for my cute little girl and her enthusiasm for the swings and going down the slide head first (although that one makes me extremely uneasy).

Making her happy (even if it means sitting on a cold park bench instead of folding laundry from the warmth of my own bedroom) makes me happy.

Here's hoping we all get a good night's sleep and she feels much better in the morning (or else I'm going to feel really badly about taking her to the park...even if it was all her idea).

on the fifth: wedding preparations

2012-02-05T18:39:00.000-07:00

Cate likes to talk. To herself, to anyone who will listen, to anyone who won't listen. Talktalktalktalktalktalktalk. She's always got something to say...unless you put a cute little puppy on her lap. Then she's speechless.

Yesterday she was talking a lot about her wedding. I don't know where this came from. I don't think I've talked about my wedding recently (or any other wedding for that matter). She told Dan that she was going to her wedding and then going to her honeymoon. I have no idea where that one came from either. I'm sure she has no idea what honeymoon even means.

Last night she brought her plastic table into the front room. She flipped it over and then proceeded to balance herself on top. I asked her why she was doing that.

Her reply, "I'm getting ready for my wedding."

Oh, heaven help us. Looks like we need to have a talk about what "wedding" means because it looks like she has no idea...or does she?

I'm thankful for that silly kid.

Her imagination (and all the other crazy stuff she thinks up) makes me happy...and giggle sometimes.

* * *

And since I've spent most of the day in bed feeling cruddy, I'm thankful for a good husband who let me lay in bed most of the day.

Watching E.T. tonight made me happy. I don't understand why some people think that movie is creepy. I love it.

on the fourth: piggies and a princess

2012-02-04T17:44:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I just don't want to get out of bed in the morning. The house is darkish and coldish and most days I'd rather stay put.

I remember one day recently when I didn't know if I could get up and do it all over again. You know the drill. All the getting of things for the little people. All the helping with stuff. All the listening to too much bickering and not enough kind, loving words.

I might have even said out loud, "Ug. I can't do this again." And then as quickly as I'd said that, a word popped into my head.

READ.

Read what? I'm sure there's lots of stuff I read throughout the day that I don't need to be reading (all those stupid blogs that just make me feel like I'm not doing a good enough job, written by those moms who pop out of bed, ready for the day!).

Read more with my kids.

That's it. We read every day. Mostly it's at bedtime or in the afternoon when our tanks seem to be running on empty and I'm just watching the clock tick-tocking away. And the kids seem to be done being around each other. And I seem to be done being around every living thing. When's dinner? When will Daddy be home? Is it bath time yet? Is it time for bed?

So when the kids woke up I told them that if I said "STORY TIME" that meant they had to stop what they were doing, run to their rooms and pick out a book to read together. Cate was thrilled. Oh, goody goody goody! She might have even hugged my leg. You'd think the poor kid is deprived or something.

We read lots of books that day. Piggies is a book that Dan and I bought when we were on a little trip to Santa Cruz the summer before Danny was born. I told him I picked out that book for him when he was still in my tummy. He smiled. And then we moved on so that I wouldn't receive any follow up questions (about the baby in my tummy stuff, not about the book)

The Paper Bag Princess is one of my favorites. It's even got a page missing. It's been loved.

Princess Elizabeth is going to marry Prince Ronald but he gets kidnapped by the dragon (after the dragon burned down the kingdom and left Elizabeth with only a paper bag to wear). Elizabeth manages to trick the dragon and get Prince Ronald freed.

He's not very nice to her though, since he's shallow and she's wearing a paper bag and all. Danny's favorite part is when Princess Elizabeth tells Ronald at the end, "You are a bum!" He deserved it. He was acting like a total bum. I think that's just the clean version of what the adult Elizabeth would have called the adult Ronald...if you know what I mean.

And then Cate climbed on the counter and kissed the book after I took a picture of it.

She's crazy.

I'm thankful that my kids like books and that we have oodles of them to read.

Reading books instead of bickering makes me happy. Pretty sure it makes my kids happy too.

on the third: talking time

2012-02-03T18:06:00.001-07:00

Back in the quiet olden days (the ones before we had kids), I used to tell Dan that we'd end up with kids in special ed since we were both special ed teachers.

One down, one to go.

Remember how Danny had a speech evaluation done before Christmas?

Well, he qualified for services. He has his very own sparkly new IEP. Since he's not in kindergarten yet, we opted for the 60 minutes a week plan called Talking Time (instead of the 20 minutes a week plan that he'll probably do if he still needs help when school starts).

We go to class on Friday mornings. Today was his fourth time. He doesn't like to sing, which isn't good since they do a lot of the sounds and review stuff through singing.

He got picked to hold the baton and conduct the closing song today. It's a goodbye song and he's been ok to sing that one most of the times. The teacher has a bucket full of different sticks to choose from. He picked the one that looks like a big feather duster. And then the singing started.

He stood there in front of everyone (which was just 2 other kids and a mom and a dad) and turned bright red. His face was down. He didn't move. Just stood there with his feather duster up in front of him.

Man, I felt so bad for him...until the song was over and he turned around and tickled the teacher with that feather duster right on her nose! Then he started giggling. Honestly, I can't figure him out.

He's passed off his s sound (he usually has a pretty good lisp) and we've moved on to s blends. sc, st, sw, sm, sn. Those are tricky for him. Usually when he yells at Cate to stop crying or making noise or tackling him he says, "Chop it!"

Wish us luck.

Today's craft was a moose hat because the teacher read a story about moose tracks (and both those words end with s and that was the sound of the day). Look at that kid. Adorable.

I'm thankful that my boy can get the help he needs.

Bendy ears under a moose hat make me happy.

on the second: eggs and a diamond

2012-02-02T21:48:00.004-07:00

A few weeks ago, my neighbor friend gave me a dozen eggs. Cute little brown ones. She has her very own chickens in her backyard.

I'm not sure how long eggs can last in the fridge so I figured I should do something with them...or else.

So I tried out a little something I found whilst wasting time on the computer a while back. Making perfect hard boiled eggs. You know, like the kind that don't have that gray film on the yolk. Honestly, that's the kind I'm really good at making and I didn't really know that wasn't ok.

I followed the directions and they were perfect. No gray stuff. I ate one. It was eggy. I'm not a fan of hard boiled eggs but I do enjoy trying new things (like correctly hard boiling eggs for the first time in my life).

Now I'm not sure what to do with the other 11 hard boiled eggs in my fridge. Maybe I'll devil them up.

I'm thankful for eggs (especially when I want to make brownies or cookies).

Learning new skills in the kitchen (even though at 38 I really should've already known how to make a perfect hard boiled egg) makes me happy.

Dan showed Danny a clip of Neil Diamond singing "Sweet Caroline" on his iPad yesterday. Why? I don't really know. I was away at a church meeting. I try not to question a lot of things that go on when I'm away at my meetings.

Apparently Danny enjoyed it, especially the trumpets.

Tonight the music was played again. Danny sat and watched and even tried to sing along. To Neil Diamond! He got a big smile when the trumpets came in.

Dan picked up the kids and "danced" along to the music.

I'm thankful that at least one of my children appreciates Mr. Diamond as much as the grown ups in this house do.

Taking blurry pictures of my favorite people rocking out to "Sweet Caroline" makes me happy.

on the first: sorting legos

2012-02-01T12:56:00.002-07:00

I sat in Danny's room last night for at least and hour sorting Legos with him. I'm sad to say that I can't remember the last time I sat with him for an hour doing anything, much less something that I actually enjoyed.

You know how sometimes you sit and watch a kid show with your kids because you're trying to be a good little mommy and "bond" with them but you're actually not even "bonding" because you're just sitting there while they watch the show and you play that silly Jewels game on your phone? No? Just me? Oh, well.

Anyway, those Legos just sucked me in. I can't resist a good sort. I know they're not going to stay neatly compartmentalized for long. I get that. I couldn't help myself. I kept telling Danny how great it will be to have all the pieces separated, trying to show him all the advantages of my wicked neat freak skillz.

I think it worked. He seemed pretty excited to help me. OR maybe he was just excited that his normally negligent mother was actually sitting down with him and doing something with him and listening to him. It could be that.

He just jabbered on and on about Star Wars and this guy and that guy and which episode they're from and what this weapon is used for and isn't this cool? and wow! look at this! And I wished right then that he could just be this pleasant and happy around other people. You know, instead of the grouchy, grumpy, hangs his head and won't look at you and refuses to participate kid that he turns into. I know that's not who he is. I just wish you could see it too.

Maybe some day. I ask him why he does that and he says it's because he's shy. I can't blame him because I'm pretty much the same way (except for the head hanging). Looks like we've got some social skills to work on before kindergarten starts. The thought of my sweet little boy being the shy kid at recess that just wanders around alone makes me want to turn into the homeschooling mom. Eeeek.

My favorite compartment is that one on the bottom right. Hair and alien heads. I don't know why but that's just funny to me. And right beside it, guns. Next to that one, weapons that aren't guns. Above that one, horns, feathers and flames. See? This is fun stuff. We've got another container just like that one (saved from the Lego advent calendars) that's almost filled too. The big bin that fits under his bed now contains all the other stuff, big stuff and space ship parts and wheels and rectangular pieces and odds and ends.

I'm thankful for my Lego loving boy.

Sorting stuff makes me happy.

can't put you down

2012-01-30T08:17:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I like to tell my son stories of how he tortured me when he was a wee little babe.

Not the stories about how he was squishing my ribs for the last month of his stay inside me and it hurt to sit and breathe and how I pushed for an hour on his birth day to get him out and how I'm pretty sure I felt every last bit of it and how then I almost bled to death when he was just minutes old. I'll save that for later so that I don't have to answer any "how do babies get out of your tummy?" questions. Because we all know that the "how do babies get out of your tummy?" questions are soon followed by the "hey, how do the babies get IN your tummy?" questions and I'm not interested in answering any of those right now.

I was holding him a few days ago (because I wanted him to get off my bed and he wasn't listening so I picked him up and removed him) and I reminded him of how I used to hold him all the time when he was a new baby.

I reminded him that I used to vacuum, wash the dishes, fold laundry and sweep the floor with only one hand because all he did when I put him down was cry.

Cry cry cry cry cry.

For 3 months I held that kid. Through all his naps. Through all my household cleaning duties. Through all the Lifetime movies and reruns of Martha. All day long. I really think he would have loved to be worn in one of those baby wrap thingamabobs but I didn't have one and honestly, I didn't even know people did that.

He smiles at me now when I tell him this stuff.

I wasn't smiling back then.

I asked him if he remembers how I held him so much.

He said no.

Then I asked him why he made me hold him so much.

You know what he said?

"Because I just loved you too much!"

Oh. Now you tell me.

Here I was all these years thinking it was because he liked to torture his poor mother.

Glad I was wrong.

beauty and the beast

2012-01-28T16:42:00.011-07:00

{wearing my 3D glasses}

Cate and I went on a little date this afternoon.

A little 3D movie date.

I tried to not sing any of the songs out loud. If I'd wanted to, I could've sung almost every single word to every single song. I'm not even kidding.

Instead I hummed quietly and sang the words extra loudly in my head. Not nearly as much fun as singing along. I tried to respect the other movie goers though.

I loved the movie...even though I've seen it too many times to count.

I used to have the soundtrack on cassette. I wore that thing out.

I was thinking the movie first came out when I was a young teenager, maybe a freshman in high school. I did a little internet search just now. Supposedly it came out in November of 1991. I was a freshman in college! How is that possible? I think it must be wrong. No college freshman should watch Beauty and the Beast as many times as I did. What a weirdo.

{wearing her kid size 3D glasses}

Cate did great for the whole movie, unless you count the fact that we made 5 trips to the bathroom. FIVE! One of them was for me. One of them was for her and was a false alarm. The other three were very much warranted (seems like she's in the midst of some kind of lovely stomach bug).

My favorite part of the movie was the scene near the end where we first see Belle in the yellow gown. She and Beast meet at the top of the stairs. When they took each others hands Cate said,

"Oh! They're best friends!"

It was adorable. I wish I had it on tape so I could rewind and hear her say it again. So cute.

{the curse of the wrinkles and double chin}

We had fun eating the bucket of popcorn that was bigger than both our heads combined. It helped that I spilled about a third of it on the floor the first time we got up to use the ladies' room.

Oh, well. It was a fun day with my favorite girl.

finally

2012-01-27T05:46:00.002-07:00

It wasn't much but it was enough for Cate to scoop into a big bite and shove into her mouth without getting a pile of dirt and dead leaves in it too.

That was all I was hoping for anyway.

It's mostly melted now.

I'll just sit here and look at that picture of my stinkin' adorable kids while I patiently await the next storm.

Do you love their rain boots in the snow as much as I do?

Good.

jack and the beanstalk and the ponies

2012-01-26T10:36:00.000-07:00

I dragged the kids to story time at The Farm yesterday morning.

It was our first time. Not sure why we haven't gone before. It's a free way to fill up a chunk of morning. Please tell me I'm not the only mom who tries to fill up chunks of the morning with free stuff. It beats watching kids running around the house making messes right?

I figured Danny and Ray Ray wouldn't pay attention to the story. Cate probably would.

That's exactly what happened.

The lady read Jack and the Beanstalk (which I figured my kids would like since we took them to see Puss in Boots last weekend and there's a giant beanstalk in that movie).

Then the kids (which really ended up being me all by myself) planted beans in gloves.

The gloves are hanging in the front room window (which could really use a good cleaning) for all the south going traffic on our street to see.

After the story and bean planting, we headed outside (since it was sunny and only slightly chilly). Cate rode the ponies twice. Ray Ray kept shaking his head and saying Uh-uh when I asked him if he wanted to ride. Then when I helped Cate onto her pony he ran over to me screaming in fear. I was a little worried he'd spook the ponies but they remained calm.

Danny had no interest in riding either.

We took a little wagon ride around the block and then off to Ray Ray's house for his nap.

I wonder sometimes when I go on little outings with these adorable little people if they realize that I'm doing this all for them.

Do they know that?

Am I happy enough?

Do I look like I'm trying to enjoy myself so that they can enjoy themselves?

Or does it even matter to them?

I don't know.

We'll just keep on doing stuff until all the chunks of time are filled up.

Or until I don't care about kids running around my house making messes.

p.s. That picture at the top on the end. Danny looking like he's crying. He's not. He was in the middle of a laugh.

p.p.s. And the one at the end with the sun rays. Danny looking like he's sleeping. He's not. He was in the middle of a blink.

national peanut butter day

2012-01-24T04:17:00.000-07:00

I like peanut butter.

I like that it gets its own little day.

It's today.

National Peanut Butter Day.

Based on my research, it's also National Eskimo Pie Patent Day, Lobster Thermidor Day, Belly Laugh Day and National Compliment Day.

Allow me to introduce you to my latest favorite peanut buttery treat.

Peanut butter pretzel bites

Red, white and pink sprinkles for neighbor Valentine's treats (if they make it out of my kitchen)

Red, white and blue sprinkles for President's Day (if you're into bringing around treats to the neighbors on that day).

Or wait until July. That works too.

Or Memorial Day if you can't wait until July.

I halved the recipe. It made 20.

Those missing two were camera shy (and quite tasty).

For the chocolate, I mixed a little peanut butter in with the chocolate chips (got the idea from Marisa's chocolate graham cookies). Made it creamier and less cracky when you bite in. Not that I mind cracky chocolate when it's covering my peanut butter and pretzels.

Wouldn't you know it. On National Peanut Butter Day I'm all out of peanut butter.

Poor planning on my part.

I'll be buying a jar this morning and stuffing my face with these little yummies by nightfall.

Yum.

not funny

2012-01-20T22:26:00.006-07:00

A certain someone is still not asleep. His mother would like to go to sleep.

I sat in the bathroom with him as he washed his hands after emptying his bladder for the 3rd time since putting him to bed tonight.

I asked him why he still wasn't asleep. He said it was because of the funny day.

Apparently today was a funny day and the lingering after effects are just keeping him awake. All that funny residue is just floating around in his body and he can't find the time to just go to sleep.

I asked him what was so funny about today, mostly because I was with him for almost the whole thing and I don't remember a lot of funny stuff. Speech class, picking up Cate at Judy's house, the dinosaur museum, playing with Jarrett, picking up pizza for dinner, iPad games with Daddy, bed. Am I missing something? Some fun stuff but funny? Maybe he's just confused.

According to him, it was Jarrett, Ray Ray, Cate, and Daddy that made today so funny. Oh, all those people who spent so much time with him today. Hey, um, I think you forgot someone.

So I said, "Hey, what about me? I'm funny right?"

He told me no. I'm crushed. I'm not funny.

"I'm not funny? What am I then?"

"You're Mommy!"

"But I'm a funny mommy, right?"

"No! You're just Mommy!" He says this with a smile on his face and a little giggle at the end.

Ouch.

And then one last thing as I walked him back to his room.

"Don't forget the 5-year-old. Me! I'm totally 5!"

I guess he's totally funny too.

Then he blahblahblahed about some game he played with Jarrett today and I put the blankets on him again and walked out of the room, not quite sure who I am anymore.

I always knew I wasn't the fun mom. I'm no dummy. It's painfully clear.

Now I'm not the funny mom either.

ha. ha ha.

meeting a movie star

2012-01-19T15:24:00.003-07:00

That's me.

With my arm around a movie star.

And lookee there.

He's got his arm around me too. (I'm never going to wash that shoulder again.)

I apologize for the cruddy cell phone picture. I don't have an iPhone.

His name (in case you don't recognize him) is Jasen Wade.

I got his autograph too.

He plays Levi Savage in the movie 17 Miracles.

The movie is very touching. It's about the Willie Handcart Company of Mormon pioneers and their journey to the Salt Lake Valley.

My grandma was a card carrying member of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. I guess that makes me one too (although I don't have a membership card).

I've always been interested in hearing and reading stories of the pioneers. I'm grateful that they made the sacrifices they did so that I can have what I do today.

(And they make yummy cookies and candy too. I've already got my Pioneer Day recipe picked out for this summer. It's a good one.)

If you haven't seen the movie yet, you should.

And try not to be too jealous that I got to meet a movie star.

kids at play

2012-01-18T13:46:00.000-07:00

* tea party *

No actual tea involved.
This one's a tea party picnic.
The conversation goes a little something like this:

her: What would you like?
me: tacos
her: We don't have tacos.
How about watermelon meat berry cake?
me: Ok. Watermelon meat berry cake.
her: What would you like?
me: Corn on the cob.
her: We don't have corn on the cob.
How about pepperoni cookie pie?
me: Ok. Pepperoni cookie pie.
her: What would you like?

Get the idea?
It goes on and on and on.

* babies in a line *

This one's easy:

Spread them all out.
Count them.
Don't clean up.

* ride the horsey *

Getting some good use out of that Halloween costume.

* Chutes and Ladders *

He'll play this one all night if you let him.
He's learning to not be utterly disappointed if he has to go down the chute.
It's a good lesson to learn.
Also learning that all he needs is a 1 on the first spin to take a big lead.

* movie time *

That turned over table is the movie screen.
Enjoying tea and popcorn with Big Baby during the show.

* the little people *

Stick the people in.
Spin it.
Laugh when they fall out.
Repeat.

cloud dough

2012-01-17T13:06:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen (probably mostly ladies though),

I proudly present part 3 in the series How We're Going to Survive Being Cooped up Inside All Winter.

(Part 1 and Part 2 for your review)

Funny thing though. We haven't had snow yet. It's the middle of January and no snow. We went to the park a week after Christmas and didn't freeze our bippies off so who knows? Maybe we'll just have to save all these and do them again next year when we really are cooped up all winter.

Whatever.

Cloud Dough

Here's what you need:

8 cups of plain flour

1 cup of baby oil

Lots of patience and a disregard for messes

I had plenty of the first 2 ingredients so I doubled the recipe. Turns out I had a bottle of baby oil under the bathroom sink. I think it was my grandma's. I never used baby oil on my babies so the bottle was full. I sure love the way that stuff smells.

I for sure had way less than enough of that last ingredient. I try. I honestly do. I don't want to be the mom whose kids go into therapy later in life and find out that the root of all their problems is a mother who didn't let them make messes. So here I am exposing them to potentially messy situations.

I spread out the spare shower curtain and let them have at it.

Cate donated some bowls and spoons from her kitchen for scooping and molding.

It's pretty cool stuff. You can shape it and then crumble it. And it smells good.

I guess you should be careful if your kid is small enough to possibly eat the stuff. Not sure baby oil is good for your innards.

You can even mix it up. It makes an excellent cake batter. Or cookie dough.

It vacuums up quite nicely should any huge amount make it off the spare shower curtain and all over the floor.

Did I mention that it smells good?

Our tub of cloud dough is currently in the back garage. It's been a few months. I think I'm ready to tackle it again.

The kids haven't asked to play with it again so maybe it's not as awesome as I thought it would be.

Or maybe they're just good at forgetting things.

Looks like there's actual snow in the forecast for this week so maybe we'll give it another try.

Wish me luck.

p.s. If you're concerned that baby oil is made from a non-renewable resource (as was somebody in the comments in that link above), looks like you can use olive oil. Sure, it won't smell as good but looks like we've only got one planet and we don't want to destroy it, one batch of cloud dough at a time.

thankful for cousins

2012-01-14T17:57:00.004-07:00

Barring some unforeseen miracle, Danny's not going to have a brother.

I'm glad he's got cousins who love him.

They are his best friends.

And this picture makes me cry.

Look at my bald baby.

Just as sweet today as he was then.

Except now he's a way better sleeper.

six

2012-01-13T15:02:00.008-07:00

1. Yesterday was pajama day at preschool. I could get used to that kind of arrangement. All I had to do to get ready for school was brush Cate's hair. Piece of cake.

The kids had to bring a sleeping bag and pillow to class. That means there's still a mountain of blankets in my front room because Cate's sleeping bag was at the bottom of the closet. They're having fun jumping on Blanket Mountain so maybe it'll stay there all weekend.

I hate to be the one to spoil their fun.

2. I had this great idea to hang my measuring cups to the inside of the cupboard. I figured that would free up some space and make them feel more organized. (See that strip of wood colored wood down the outside edge? That's because we took the cupboard doors off 11 years ago to paint them. We bought new hinges. Then the doors didn't fit anymore. Uncle Tony cut off a tiny bit from every single cupboard door so they'd close. We never got around to doing the touch-up painting. Maybe in anther 11 years when we paint them again.)

The problem with the measuring cups hanging on the cupboard door is that as soon as I close the door, I forget that they are there...until the next time I open the door and they clang around wildly and a few fall off. I had no idea I opened cupboard doors so forcefully.

3. I took the kids to Costco this afternoon. No way I'm going on Saturday and we needed stuff so I took my chances. They were pretty good. When we got home I was pooped so I told the kids I was going to rest. Cate closed my bedroom door. When I opened it a few minutes later, this is what I saw:

Serves me right for resting. That's the neatest little mess I've seen in a long time though.

4. My morning exercise grade for the week: F+

Monday: 6:00 am
Tuesday: Alarm didn't go off. Went during preschool. Wasted precious quiet time.
Wednesday: Didn't even bother to set the alarm.
Thursday: Nothing.
Friday: Remains to be seen.

This week Dan has been going to swim class at 9:00 each night. I've been sleeping in and not exercising. So he's turning into Michael Phelps and I'm turning into Jabba the Hutt. I think I'm getting the better end of the deal. Clearly.

5. Cate fell asleep at 8:00 last night. Then she woke up at 9:00. For the next three hours she was thirsty and hungry and not sleeping. She even asked me at one point if she could turn on her light and dance. And this is why I can't get up early to exercise every morning. Just because I need a better excuse than laziness.

6. I ate lunch with a new friend yesterday. Kind of like internet dating except we're both ladies and it wasn't a date. We paid for ourselves. I've been reading Evonne's blog for a while. She's funny and nice and not cheesy. I don't like cheesy. Fun fact about her: she used to work with Dan's sister. Small world. I had fun but was really nervous due to the fact that I'm a social weirdo. Go on over to her blog to see a picture of the three of us (Evonne, me and my extra chin).

* * *

Have a nice weekend! I'm sure I will. Cleaning toilets, vacuuming, folding laundry and making these. Guess which one I'm looking forward to the most.

the greatest snow on earth

2012-01-11T06:43:00.004-07:00

It's January and I'm still waiting for our first snow storm of winter.

What's the hold up?

I hate driving in the stuff but I love to shovel it. It's a good workout, especially if the snow is wet.

Danny and Cate love to eat it. Especially if it's been on the ground. These kids are hungry.

Just the other day, Danny was singing a song about eating icicles. Something about how the best ones are hanging off the house.

These kids are anxious for some snow.

* * *

That's my favorite picture of Grandma's house.

The house we live in.

I'm wishing things looked like this outside right now. Or soon at least.

* * *

And just for fun, here's the picture of the same house now. Well, the tree has lost its leaves but everything else is pretty much where it belongs.

Candis painted this picture for me.

I love it.

Home sweet home.

I just wish there were 3 inches of snow on the roof right now.

And about the same amount covering up all the dead leaves of fall that I didn't rake up.

* * *

p.s. Click on Candis up there. It's a link to her free printable LOVE banner for Valentine's Day! Cute stuff!

p.p.s. Happy birthday to Uncle Tim! Danny was shocked to find out yesterday that Uncle Tim is Dan's big brother. Totally shocked. I promise I've told him before.

sleep tight

2012-01-10T07:52:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I came across these sleeping bags for the three little bears and I knew I just had to have some. Mostly because just a few nights earlier Danny had asked me for a tiny sleeping bag for Hard Puppy. Talk about perfect timing.

I can't sew. Well, I can sew buttons onto shirts and back in the day I could do a mean cross stitch. I could probably stitch up the holes in our socks if I really tried. But the sewing machine and I are not besties. One day we will be.

I posted the link to those cute little sleeping bags on facebook along with something like, "Hey, these are cute. Somebody make some for me." And what do you know? Somebody made some for me!

It's nice to be nice to the nice. This proves it.

It's not Debra's first time to whip up something for me on her sewing machine. Remember the baby diapers she made for Cate? And the light saber popsicle holders last summer? Maybe I don't need to learn how to sew after all. Debra's taking care of us.

She made three little sleeping bags for Danny's stuffed friends and three for Cate's (which are used mainly for babies, not stuffed friends).

I love them.

Cate did too.

And Danny?

He was thrilled. More excited than I expected him to be about a sleeping bag for Hard Puppy.

And Deeda (or is it Didda? I can't keep track) has been nice and cozy too.

p.s. In case any of my sewing friends want to make other stuff for me, I've got plenty of projects saved under When I Learn How to Sew on my pinterest page.

nine on the ninth

2012-01-09T18:57:00.005-07:00

I don't have 9 pictures for today.
Monday is not my finest day.
I've got 9 thoughts instead.
Those are hard to come by sometimes.
Consider yourself lucky.

one
I tended the nephews today.
I got Cate and Ray Ray settled to watch a movie.
Charlie Brown Christmas.
I walked away to get a drink.
I came back to peek on them.
That's how they looked.
Adorable.
It lasted a whole 30 seconds at least.
Ray Ray can't sit still.
And Cate can't seem to be quiet.
They are a lovely combination.
I'm tired.

two
Dan starts swimming lessons tonight.
I usually go to the gym at night.
Not tonight.
I'm going in the morning this week instead.
Early in the morning.
I haven't gone anywhere in the cold,
dark morning for a very long time.
I'm not the only person with the bright idea
to go to the gym in the cold, dark morning.
The parking lot was full.
My StairMaster was taken.
So were almost all the elliptical machines.
All except my favorite one.
Yes, I have a favorite.

three
I was thinking about my grandma today.
It's been 10 years since the Olympics came to Utah.
10 years.
It seems like a long time.
Grandma passed away a year and a half earlier.
I remember laying on the front room floor
watching the opening ceremonies and crying
because of how much I knew Grandma would have
loved it that the Olympics were in Utah.
She would have sat in her special chair
in the kitchen watching every single event
on the little t.v.
She might even have moved into the front room
in the evenings to watch the ice skating.
That was her favorite.
I remember just wishing she could have been
there to watch with us.

four
I think about chocolate every day.
If I don't have some, I want some.
If I do have some, I want some more.
That's why I go to the gym.
See, I'm thinking about chocolate again.

five
We played chutes and ladders after dinner tonight.
And candy land.
Danny is very competitive.
Cate is observant and quiet.
I think we need to play more games with her.
It's the quietest she's been all day.
Either that or get a puppy.
Those seem to make her quiet too.

six
I made breakfast for dinner tonight.
Pancakes.
Scrambled eggs.
Bacon.
Pears.
I call it pretend dinner.
That's what my mom used to call dinner
that she didn't put much thought into.
Not that we cared.
Pretend dinner tasted just as good as the real stuff.
Other pretend dinners that are my specialties:
grilled cheese sandwiches and soup
any other variation of breakfast for dinner
dinner involving meat that I didn't have to remember to thaw
(because it probably didn't involve meat at all)

seven
It's cold today.
I let the two little ones play outside this afternoon.
They didn't seem to mind.
I sat bundled up in a blanket on the front bench to watch them.
I wondered if all the cars that drove by
thought I was a horrible mom for letting
the kids play outside in the cold.
At least they had coats on.

eight
It's Kaycee's birthday today.
She's one of the young women at church.
She's 17.
And she has a blog.
I wish I had a blog when I was 17.
Wouldn't that be fun to look back and read 20 years later?
Sure, I had journals and I took pictures.
That's like a blog.
But not quite the same.
I didn't even have a computer when I was 17.
I know Kaycee looks at this blog sometimes so
Happy birthday, Kaycee!
I hope you made yourself a cute little
balloon bouquet at work.

nine
Today in my perusing the internet time
(while Ray Ray was napping and Cate was
confined to the downstairs bedroom for quiet time)
I learned
how to avoid ruining hard boiled eggs.
That's a good one for me.
I usually end up with that gray stuff around the yolk.
Yuck.
(The trick is heat slowly, cool quickly! Who knew?)

That is all.
Good night.

stating the obvious

2012-01-08T16:43:00.004-07:00

A few weeks ago in church Cate was talking quite loudly to herself. She likes to "read" stories while flipping through the pages in the hymn book.

On this particular Sabbath day, the hymn story was about a monster and ogre berry pie.

I did my motherly duty and leaned over to tell her to quiet down.

"You have to whisper," I said. It would have been better to just tell her to stop talking all together but I knew that wasn't going to happen.

Her reply (which made me softly giggle), in a not very quiet voice:

"Then I can't hear my voice!"

Well, duh.

Sometimes she must think I'm such a dingbat.

p.s. I really miss my Christmas tree. Really.

for comparison

2012-01-07T22:07:00.010-07:00

You know how sometimes moms take pictures of their babies laying next to some kind of stuffed animal once a month for the first year of their lives?

Just to get a good visual of how much their baby changes and grows whilst the stuffed animal just stays the same.

I never did that.

But now we've got Big Baby (or Idda, Kicka, Poopa, Megdula, Doola...her name changes a lot) sitting around all day wearing the preemie outfit Cate wore when she came home from her 3 week hospital stay as a newborn.

It makes me stop and think every time she comes over to me to ask me to help get Big Baby dressed. She was tiny. And I'm glad she made it home with us. I just sometimes wish she had figured out how to eat, regulate her body temperature and keep her oxygen levels high enough a little sooner, but I forgive her.

I tell Cate that those are the jammies she wore when she was a tiny baby. Then I ask her if she remembers when she was a tiny baby in the hospital. Every time she says yes. I obviously don't think she really remembers that but I think it's funny that she says she does.

It's kind of like I've got my own little reminder of how sweet and tiny my big girl used to be.

not nothing

2012-01-06T20:44:00.006-07:00

Dan comes home from work lots of days and asks Cate what we did all day.

"So, Cate, tell me what you did today."

Lots of days her reply is, "Nuh-fing." Nothing! Nothing? Where has that kid been all day when we were busy doing everything except for nuh-fing?

So here's all the nothing we did today. Just so that some day (when my kids are big and all I want is for us to sit around at home together and do nothing instead of running all over town to basketball practice and dance lessons and who knows what else) I can look back at all this and remember that we did stuff together. And they can remember that they liked me and actually wanted to be around me. Not that I'm expecting my kids to grow up and not want to be around me, but I've heard it could happen.

☀ heart cookies (from one of those bag mixes, not scratch mind you) because I've got Valentine's on the brain. Cate only wanted to eat the dough, not the end result. I let her even though there was a warning on the package to not eat the raw dough. Livin' on the edge.

☀ kids helped themselves to a little peanut butter for breakfast (I need to remember to put the lid on tighter)

☀ making decorations for the party (my birthday party because it's been my birthday for the past 3 days, according to her)

☀ finally opened his last Christmas present (from Aunt Nancy). Darth!

☀ making messes

☀ finally using the sprinkles Grama Bama gave me last year (I think she bought them on clearance at Target). I like sprinkles.

☀ helping. Pinch and sprinkle! Pinch and sprinkle! No dumping! Pinch and sprinkle! (I just about had a heart attack.)

☀ taught Danny that X means kisses and O means hugs.

☀ sitting down in front of the boob tube. Say what you will about it. I love Peppa Pig. She taught Cate about toe-mah-toes and biscuits. And muddy puddles.

☀ watching the end of Peppa together (since I had to get up to answer the phone). Sitting together nicely!

☀ watching Psych and auditioning a treat for the neighbors for Valentine's Day. It's a winner (with peanut butter, pretzels and chocolate how could it not be?). When Danny tasted them he said, "Mmmmmm! Mmmm! Mmmm! Mmmmmmmm!" That's my boy.

☀ working on the tractor from the Lego set Grandma gave Danny for Christmas (and remembering why I make Dan help Danny with Lego construction)

☀ Danny playing with pink Legos! Never thought I'd see the day.

☀ another mess

☀ reading dinosaur books (after she asked me at least 5 times to read to her...the tractor took longer than I thought)

☀ took a trip to Target because it was 4:30 and I was dying to get out of the house and just go somewhere. Anywhere. I chose Target because my grays are poking through and something's got to be done about that.

☀ salad for dinner. Blah.

☀ Danny came over to sit on my lap while I was eating my blah dinner just because he wanted to snuggle. I especially want to remember this one when he's 16. And I want him to remember it too.

And then Dan came home. And he said, "So, Cate. Tell me what you did today." And I punched my time card (since I'd been with these awake kids for 12 hours today). Danny wanted to wrestle and Cate sat at the table cutting her glue stick with the kid scissors.

☀ I went to my room and made freaky neck pictures.

☀ And saw what I'd look like with freaky hair and droopy boobs.

Not pictured but slightly worth mentioning:

☀ the fact that I had showered, gotten dressed and applied make-up all before 9:00.

☀ finally realizing what I'm going to do with those big old windows in the garage (and hoping that maybe I'll get it done at some point this year...I'm dreaming big)

☀ listening to Danny tell me that this is a "no fun day" several times this morning when I told him he couldn't go play video games at Aunt Judy's house

☀ attempting to enforce a little quiet time this afternoon (lasted 45 minutes because for some reason, Cate thought she had to use the bathroom twice and I finally just gave up)

☀ washing, drying, folding and putting away 3 loads of laundry (boring)

☀ watching Despicable Me after non-existent quiet time (Danny's favorite part: when the geeky guy on the moon says, "Oh, poop.")

☀ attempting to escape to my room for a few moments of quiet after the Target trip and Cate asked where I was going. I told her I was going to go sit by myself for a few minutes. Her reply, "I'll go where you go." Yep. You sure will. Every time.

And just for funzies...

Cate.

One year ago today.

Her first attempt at stuffing socks down her shirt.

Given her genetics, it probably won't be her last.

countdown to kisses

2012-01-05T17:46:00.000-07:00

I like Valentine's Day.

Any holiday that celebrates and encourages love, chocolate and kisses is a holiday I support 100%.

My kids like countdowns.

I made this paper chain for them today while they were at preschool (their first day back since being off for 3 weeks and let me tell you it was heaven!).

Best part about me pretending to be crafty: it's free. I just used the paper I already had in my stash. Can't beat that.

Pick your paper and cut strips for the links.

Cut out hearts (I just did this freestyle because I'm crazy like that). Make a slit on either side. I used my scissors because I'm not a craft pro. They probably use exacto knives.

Slide the strips through the heart. Repeat until you have as many as you need (or until it's time to pick up the kidlets from preschool).

I used a smallish pink loop in between the big loops so that my hearts wouldn't be all wonky.

After everything was stapled in place, I wrote the names of our loved ones on the hearts. I kept families together. That's how they're supposed to be right? (Plus, if everyone got their own heart we would've had to start this before Christmas.)

The kiddies and Dan each get their own heart.

And I saved the best for last.

I'm quite proud of myself. It turned out exactly how I planned (while I was laying in bed at 3:00 this morning not being able to go back to sleep after being rudely awakened by a certain 3-year-old).

I've got 32 links up there. We won't be starting the countdown just yet but it doesn't hurt to have your family stuck on the wall now does it?

Here's my plan.

When we tear off the second link of each heart, we'll write a little letter (or card or cheesy Valentine) to that person and send it in the mail. So family (if any of you read this blog anymore), when you get some random piece of love mail from us, that's why.

And just so you know, it might be a countdown to kisses but I'm not promising kisses to everyone on the hearts.

That would just be weird.

puppy love

2012-01-03T16:53:00.003-07:00

I'm not a dog lover. Sure, they're cute as puppies but then some of them get big. And I'm pretty sure all they want to do is poop and slobber and possibly eat me. And eat my cats. And maybe eat my children. And they bark. And have sharp teeth. The better to eat me.

But my neighbor brought over this cutie pup last night for us to see. Cate just sat there holding her so quietly. For the first time all day she didn't have words to say. Seriously. That's amazing for this kid. She talks and talks and talks and talks. Maybe we should get a puppy. Heehee.

That little pup was just fine too. Looks like Cate's strangling her but she wasn't. Neither one of them made a peep. Quietest puppy I've ever seen.

This one's spoken for but she's got siblings who aren't (talking about the puppy here, not Cate).

therapy for the new year

2012-01-02T14:56:00.006-07:00

I've decided that if I need to get happy and ditch the afternoon blahs (because they tend to creep in every once in a while), I'm just going to grab a kid (preferably one of my own), plop on the couch and get crazy on Photo Booth.

Nothing brings on the giggles quite like it.

And speaking of nothing quite like it, check out my freaky neck. I'm thinking that's a new talent I never knew I had. Freaky neck tendon thing-a-ma-bobs.

unblogged

2011-12-31T15:36:00.000-07:00

I figure this is the day to do my Review of 2011 post where I go back through my archives and photo albums and tell you all my favorite things we did this year.

All our lovely family bonding experiences.

All the fun and educational activities I did with my children to enrich their lives.

All the life lessons I've learned.

All the best that 2011 had to offer.

Except I'm not going to.

Today you get all the stuff I didn't blog about.

Some pictures I took. Sometimes intending to blog about them. Sometimes not. Who knows? Most of the time I get ideas and then little people and fatigue get in the way of my computer time and stuff just goes unsaid and unshared.

So here it is.

2011 Unblogged (except now it is blogged so I guess that's not an appropriate title...too late)

From the top (that means starting in January, duh.)

Countless bath pictures and stories did not get shared. You're welcome.

Red, white and blue sandwich cookies I made for President's Day. Boring but kind of nice to look at.

So many pictures of Cate in her tutu (that no longer fits) walking around the house pushing dollies in strollers. The life of a little girl.

We got a new garage door in March. The old one broke 2 Februaries earlier. Yep. Broken door for a year. Sorry about that, neighbors.

Polka dot bums. I'm not sure why that went unblogged.

Dan dug up a monstrous dead tree root system (something like that) from under the swings in the backyard. I was pretty sure someone was going to fall off the swings one day and get a traumatic brain injury with that thing lying there slightly exposed. Those were some big honkin' roots.

Danny denied Cate's kisses too many times to count. Who wants to blog about that? Not me.

I was called to be the Young Women's president in May. Yeah. Me as the leader, teacher,mentor and overall awesome example for a bunch of teenage girls at church. Scary. It's been fun and challenging. My first big activity was scraping paint off an old house with the youth. Unblogged, until now.

In June Danny gave Grama Bama a lick of the frosting off my birthday cake and I didn't even blog about it. What is this world coming to?

One of my favorite unblogged pictures from July. I call this one "Monkey See, Monkey Do" and I can't look at it without smiling a little. She's just adorable. Have I mentioned that before?

Oh, August. What happened? I blame the heat. So many things unblogged.

The biggest and most memorable (at least that's what I'm hoping since I am still planning to post about it) was our road trip from Alabama to Utah with Grama Bama and Grandpa. I blogged about the other parts of our summer vacation. Just not the 4 day trip home. It's coming. Some time before next August. I know you don't care about it anymore but I sure do. I want to be able to click back in my archives some day and remember that I'm a survivor! (And Dan is too since he survived listening to Cate's Oswald DVD for 4 days straight.)

We came home from the high school reunion trip and I immediately had to get out my yearbook and remember what these people used to look like. I honestly didn't remember some of them. That first one is my senior picture. Look at all that hair. I have no idea where it went.

Cate saw the picture of the guy on the opposite page from my picture and said, "Dat's Daddy!" Eek. If I squint real hard I can see the resemblance.

Marisa commented on this post many months ago and mentioned that I should blog about my shoe hooks. I figured maybe I would so I took pictures of my shoe hooks. There they are. I got three of them from a cute little shop in town. Then I decided I wanted more but the next time I went back they were out. I looked online (from the tag on the hooks) and found them here. I want more because I have big plans to make a coat/backpack hanging spot near my back door. Don't go ordering a whole bunch and making them be out of stock, please.

Then I figured if my shoe hooks are blog worthy then so are my cupboards. Pretty cool, right? They're supposed to be the kind that you load cans at the top and they just roll down. Like at the grocery store. My grandpa built them.

I don't use them for cans. They hold jars and empty honey bears and baby wipes and sacks of extra flour. I think they'd be an awesome method of food organization if I'd just use them for what he intended. I think can sizes have changed and they don't work perfectly. Or I'm just lazy. See, that was a good one to leave unblogged.

Princess Cate with a kazoo.

We got a new roof for the back porch next to the back garage. The demolition stuff always makes me feel kind of sad.

The kids piled up all the stuffed animals and all the blankets onto Danny's bed one day and watched a movie together. Why did that go unblogged? That's breaking news, people! Miraculous things are happening over here and I don't tell you. I have no excuse.

Remember how Christie took some family pictures for us this summer? A whole bunch of them got left unblogged. Not because I don't love how they turned out. I do. I got distracted and stuff happened and those pictures just sat on my computer. Here's one of my favorites though. Better late than never. And it serves as a good reminder to me that I had quite the farmer's tan.

Lots of unblogged recipes. These mini pizza things were a big hit. Very tasty. And super easy. The recipe states that they're only 66 calories each. Only 66! That's just dandy unless you eat 10 of them in one sitting. Not that I would ever do such a thing.

And then there's the apple pie. We were at the store one morning and Cate asked for apples. Danny heard her and asked if we could make apple pie. I said we could, thinking to myself, "wow, i'm such an awesome spur of the moment mom. look at us. we're going to just head home and make us some apple pie. nobody even planned it. just doing it for the fun of it." So of course we bought some boxed up pie crusts and went home. I let them watch me cut the apples. Then they stirred a little bit until somebody wasn't careful and stuff flew out of the bowl. I stuck it in the oven and didn't even mind when nobody even wanted to taste it when it was done and cooled. These crazy kids of mine.

And then that very same day I read this post about this awesome mom who made apple pie with her little kids too except they picked their own apples, grated their nutmeg fresh and looks like they had homemade crust to boot. I felt bad at first but now I just figure we all try in our own ways. Plus, her kids probably ate their pie.

Cookie jar I found during back garage clean up time. I really love it.

Vintage ribbon and bead barrette that I probably wore all through high school. Any takers? I'm wondering how much I could get on eBay for it. It's vintage.

A beady purse of Grandma's I found out there too. Wondering if I should let Cate use it for dress up or if it's vintage too, like my barrette.

Old Yahtzee score cards and Absentee Report Forms from the same clean up session.

Why is this cherished wedding gift not hanging in my house right now?

Another recipe. One of my favorites. Rice krispie treats for grown ups. There's peanut butter in there.

Me in the mullet. I told Danny that if he'd let me take his picture in it, I'd let him take mine. There's a reason that one was left unblogged. Actually, there's lots of reasons that one was left unblogged.

I know I shared this one before but I love it. I feel like it gives me a glimpse of what Danny would look like as a cute little girl.

Cousin Andrew got married in October and the whole shindig went unblogged. So here's 9 pictures to make up for it.

Danny being whiny and complainy while we waited outside.
Cate and Dan checking out each others tonsils. Cate's are huge by the way.
The happy couple from the back.
Cate eating all of Aunt Suzy's breath mints. Poor little girl was starving.
Danny being tortured by his other big boy cousins.
Cupcakes!
Posing with Cousin Billy.
Cate with two big girl cousins. Grandma had a 16 year break (filled with the births of lots of little grandsons) between baby granddaughters.
Danny being extremely uncooperative.

The cousins, big and small. The small tend to not like to stand still all at the same time for one really good picture so we get shots like this instead.

Did I blog about how cute Danny is with Ray Ray? Maybe so.

I found my Girl Scout jacket during clean out the closet time. Oh, the memories. Danny was mostly impressed by my badge that had a rocket ship on it. He said, "Wow! How did you get that one?" Maybe a trip to space camp? I don't remember.

Danny was not very happy to be posing in Grandpa's old jacket from high school. That's why I didn't blog about it.

I don't know how this one got left out. First drawing of the blue sky at the top of the page and the green grass at the bottom. And don't forget the big red ball of fire in the middle. I really was very proud of this milestone.

A mess. Who blogs about messes? Not me.

Danny's birthday cake. Unblogged. That's a cupcake though.

My favorite ornaments. Unblogged. Because really, who cares besides me? That's what I thought.

The damage Cate did to the wall in her bedroom. Unblogged because I'm not very happy about it. Who wants to remember that kind of thing? Not me.

Here's our tree on Christmas Eve. I took a picture of it because it makes me happy. In years past I've been so frustrated with the lights. Really. I just felt like there weren't enough and I didn't do a good job putting them on. This year. Perfection. The tree's still up and the lights are still on. I'm having a hard time taking it down because it took me so long to get those lights just right. It'll be coming down on Monday.

Also unblogged, the time I let Cate put on blue eyeshadow while I was doing my hair. She was a cute mess.

Cousin Kris' birthday cake. He wanted red. I decided I'd have to use too much red food coloring or else it would just look pink. So I convinced him to pick a different color. He picked yellow. I didn't have yellow. He got green. I aim to please. I just fall short sometimes.

Cate playing with her little people in the morning sunlight.

Then one night Cate and Ray Ray got into the soap in Aunt Judy's bathtub. Cate rubbed it all over their hair. It was a slightly damp bar of soap so a lot of it got stuck in their hair. It was not a pretty sight later that night during bath time when the soapy water from that mess dripped into her eyes. Not pretty at all.

Another bath unblogged. You're welcome again.

Dan and his siblings at his mom's house on Christmas. Dan's grouchy and I had to chop off Uncle Tim and Aunt Suzy so they'd fit in the square.

Danny got some Tinker Toys for Christmas. The first thing he made were light sabers. The red one belongs to Darth Maul and the green one is Qui-Gon Jinn's. Obviously, the attempt to expose him to other toys and steer him away from Star Wars didn't work.

I love Yoda.

My fancy hairstyle I never blogged about. Three buns. The three little bunnies.

And one last picture of the whole gang. How could I not blog about these cute little creatures? Aunt Cindy made them for Danny and Cate for Christmas. She'd be happy to know that they were in a puppet show a few days ago. Danny's idea.

So yeah.

There's 2011 Unblogged.

I promise to unblog all the boring stuff in 2012 too.

You're very welcome.

last friday night video of the year

2011-12-30T19:12:00.004-07:00

I saved the best for last.

Cate singing an original piece.

She's quite the songwriter.

All about bugs and monsters...or is it?

She cracks me up.

holiday highlights

2011-12-28T22:25:00.001-07:00

Danny had a sleepover at the cousins' house on Friday night. When we came to pick him up on Saturday morning, we were informed that he puked in the middle of the night. Kris told us that when he woke up and saw Danny puking (or when he saw Danny's puke on the floor, I'm not 100% clear on the details), he puked too. Lovely.

Danny had a pretty good fever too so I gave him some medicine, buckled him into the car and made him come on a little family outing anyway. Sickness is no excuse to get out of family Christmas bonding time. Plus, I had a 20% off coupon for the BYU bookstore that was expiring that day and no way was I going to let it go to waste. Such a good mommy. I know.

I guess the medicine worked because he was fine and happy walking around the bookstore (at least for the first little while). We got some stuff and then headed outside to do some sightseeing around campus.

No trip to the BYU bookstore is complete without purchasing a few (or more than just a few) chocolate Lindor balls.

And none of that white chocolate either. That stuff's not real chocolate. It's not fooling anyone. Milk chocolate and dark chocolate. My favorites. I ate one and then saved the other one for Dan's Christmas stocking. I'm a giver. He ended up giving it back to me but it's the thought that counts.

Photo op with the big Y on the mountain behind them.

Know what I love about this picture?

Danny's fireman boots are on the wrong feet.
One side of his pants is stuck in the boot.
He's holding Hard Puppy in one hand and his bag of candy in the other.
Cate's legs. She's a little bit knock-kneed and her thighs are terribly adorable.
Dan's smiling and the sky is blue.

Here's my best effort at a family shot. It's a good thing Danny's head is right there because it covers up the humongo zit on my chin very nicely.

We roamed around outside for a while since it was sunny and not too cold.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I love that place. I spent some of the best years of my life there.

I had a good childhood. No complaints here. My parents and sisters are wonderful. I actually liked high school and even junior high too. I had good friends and lots of great experiences. I'm pretty sure band camp prepared me for the real world.

I love my husband and my kids are great. Duh. I'm thankful for them and all the good that's come to my life because of them. The good times just keep getting better (especially since I don't change diapers anymore).

But the years I spent in college are some that I will always treasure. Sounds really mushy and cheesy. Sorry. It's just the truth. I made some lifelong friends, learned how to have roommates (with 3 sisters I'm pretty sure I'd already been doing that one), went on my first date, had my first kiss (at the ripe old age of 19...good grief), found Dan (who was neither my first date nor my first kiss), and actually learned stuff! What could be better?

I walked around campus on Saturday fighting back tears a few times (and now as I'm writing this too...sheesh, I'm a cry baby). I love it there. I want my kids to love it there too. I think we're off to a good start.

We wandered around this huge building (that wasn't there when I was a student) with a big fountain in the courtyard. Danny loved it. He stood there staring at the water and then stated, "I'm gonna be standing here forever probly."

Less than a minute later we were on the move again.

The kids had fun walking around and jumping off these ledges. They weren't very far off the ground. No one got hurt.

Dan and I recreated our first kiss. The one where he leaned in, I turned my head and he ended up kissing my chin.

Ha. Just kidding. I'd never do that.

I just wanted a picture of us together. My big zit kept getting in all the shots. Dan switched sides and covered it up for me. Such a gentleman to kiss my zitty old chin.

The highlight of our BYU outing (besides the zitty kiss) was standing in line for the free gift wrapping. Two old guys were in front of me talking to a young man with one arm. They were just chatting it up like this youngster was some kind of celebrity. How honored they were to meet him. Wishing him well. A one-armed baseball star. Yadda yadda yadda.

I went home and googled "one armed baseball player from Utah" and turns out he is a little bit famous. Plus, he plays basketball too. And he's engaged. I heard him mention that to the old guys. Pretty cool that I eavesdropped on the conversation of a kind of famous one armed sports star on Christmas Eve day.

And then we went home where Danny slept for 4 hours and Cate made Dan play tea party with her for about that long.

I started a new Christmas Eve tradition. I'm pretty sure of it. I made Swedish meatballs for dinner and they were scrumptious, if I do say so myself. Really good. Almost as good as IKEA's. I even had a jar of lingonberry jam to go along with the meatballs. Yum. My grandma's maiden name is Monson so I figure we're Swedish enough to have their meatballs on Christmas Eve.

The cousins and their parents came over to eat and exchange gifts.

Danny finally woke up still feeling crummy and a little bit feverish.

Know what's fun about a sick kid on Christmas Eve?

Nothing.

Dan and Cate had fun trying out Danny's new Star Wars helmets. It kind of made Cate look like a little bobble head doll.

I got a picture of Cate later in her new jammies. Danny was feeling extra grouchy and crummy and would not cooperate. No new jammies and no picture. Party pooper.

I did manage to get a picture of them together the next morning. They sure are cute but I think a few smiling lessons are in order.

You can never have too many pillow pets right?

Cate got some pink girly Legos of her very own from Grama Bama.

I built the house and the car for her. She got busy decorating the garden. That's what she called the green flat square we stuck the house onto.

I think that's my favorite present. Pink Legos. Seriously cute stuff, people.

And in case you wondered, yes, Dan is a very good sport. The perfect daddy for a little daughter.

After church (which was only attended to by me due to the sickness level of my kids), we headed up to Grandma's house for more presents and a yummy turkey dinner.

Dan received a brand new head flashlight thingee from his brother. He put it to good use whilst carving the turkey.

Ricky and Billy kept sicko Danny entertained with their video games. Danny really is happy to just sit and watch sometimes.

Oh, this next picture just makes me laugh. I won't tell you how many pictures I actually took in order to get one where everyone has their eyes open and some of them are smiling. Good times.

I took a happy little Danny to the doctor Monday morning. It was strep. He's feeling much better now, thanks for wondering.

Cate and I went to Target later that morning (mostly to pick up Danny's antibiotics, but also it turns out we needed a few packages of 50% off ornaments for next year and a bag of way too salty popcorn...and a Diet Coke mixed with a squirt of Dr. Pepper) and boy, oh boy, did we ever feel sad that Grama Bama wasn't there with us. Cate sang a song called "I Miss Grama Bama" on the drive home. She mostly just sang "I miss Grama Bama" over and over again.

Other holiday highlights in no particular order with no accompanying pictures:

☢ the key lime flavored chocolate orange I put in Dan's stocking (mostly so I could eat it myself without feeling too selfish)

☢ Cate telling the lady at the gift wrapping station that she wanted lipstick, a phone and a computer for Christmas (the lady mentioned that sounded a lot like stuff a 14-year-old would ask for)

☢ only took me 2 days to clean up the aftermath (not counting the tree or all it's needles that are scattered around the carpet)

☢ my pants have only gotten a tiny bit snugger despite my over consumption of chocolate and under utilization of the stair master at the gym

☢ this little conversation I had with Cate on Saturday night (Mom, when is it Christmas Eve? Today! Is it snowing? No. Mom, it has to be snowing to be Christmas Eve.)

☢ the eggnog milkshake Dan bought for me on Friday afternoon

☢ buying the 2011 Lego advent calendar for almost 50% off (and I plan to use it through the year as needed. nothing motivates my boy to do good like Legos.)

season's greetings

2011-12-24T21:09:00.000-07:00

one hundred

2011-12-22T07:52:00.001-07:00

my dad and his parents

Today's my grandpa's birthday.

He would have been 100 years old.

He passed away when I was 9.

I don't have lots of memories of him because I didn't grow up around him.

He lived in Utah.

I lived in Alabama.

Now I live in the house that he built for his family.

It's the house that my dad grew up in.

I like that it's the house my kids are growing up in too.

I have neighbors who remember my grandpa well.

I asked one of them to share a few memories that she has of him.

(Please excuse Ray Ray and Cate making a lot of ruckus in the background. That's life with little kids.)

I love that she said "duck bumps" instead of "goose bumps."

I can't listen to her story without getting duck bumps of my own. And tears in my eyes.

This kind neighbor also told me that she remembers tending my dad when he was about 2 years old. She's pretty sure he already knew how to read at that age. She said when she was reading to him he'd stop and correct her if she missed a word. That sounds about right.

If my grandpa was still around I would have called up Willard Scott and had him added to the Smucker's spotlight on the Today Show.

That's for sure.

Happy birthday to my grandpa.

a few more items of business

2011-12-21T09:23:00.006-07:00

I'm 2 days behind on sticking paper ornaments on the paper tree. That's what happens. Danny's totally caught up on eating the chocolate out of our advent calendars though. He doesn't miss a day. Chocolate for breakfast every day for him.

Anyway, I think from here on out we'll just be sticking up circle ornaments. The Grinch stole my creativity. Look at this amazing tip my friend passed on to me (because she knows I don't love the mess of glitter). Stick on some double sided tape. Put glitter in a baggie. Insert the ornament with tape. Close the bag and shake it up until the glitter covers the tape. Take it out of the bag and done. No glue. No waiting for the glue to dry. No anxious little fingers smearing the glittery glue into a messy mess. I love it. It's nice to have friends looking out for me.

♢♢♢♢♢

Today is cousin Kristopher's 7th birthday. I don't know what Danny would do without him. He's been a great pseudo older brother and playmate. And he's taught my darling little boy everything he needs to know about burps, farts, boogers, poop, Legos and Star Wars. That's what pseudo big brothers are for.

♢♢♢♢♢

This is the first year since Danny was born that Grama Bama and Grandpa won't be spending time in Utah with us. Danny's never known a Christmas without them. Neither has Cate.

I've been trying to not think about this because it makes me sad.

Dan said to me last week, "It's going to be weird this year." My reply, "I don't want to talk about it." I think he was referring to the absence of Grama Bama and Grandpa but now I'm not sure.

I realize that I have 2 other sisters and they and their kids deserve time with the grandparents too. It just makes me sad that they're not here. I just don't like to share.

That's Cate on her first Christmas. It snowed so much that we didn't make it up to visit Dan's family. Grama Bama sat on that chair by the kitchen window holding Cate and watching the big boys play in the snow in the back yard for what seemed like hours. I'm sure Cate enjoyed it.

♢♢♢♢♢

Speaking of snow, I'm starting to wonder if we're going to have any for Christmas. That's Danny playing in the snow cave 3 years ago. Right now we've got practically nothing. I see flurries out the window but that's it.

I heard on the Frosty the Snowman movie that if the first snow comes on Christmas day then it's magical. Sounds good to me.

I like a little Christmas magic once in a while.

'tis the season

2011-12-19T22:48:00.001-07:00

Time for a little potpourri. My Christmas gift to you. I'm feeling very generous.

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The kiddos are loving the Christmas lights we see around town. This house is their favorite. Lucky for us, it's only a few blocks away.

I took this picture one night on the way home from the gym. Just stopped right in the middle of the road and snapped a picture. It was 10:00 and I was the only car around. Don't worry.

When we drive past this one I go slowly so they can take it all in (because quite frankly, there's a lot to take in). Danny said one time, "It. Is. So. So. Beau-teeee-ful." He wants to live there some day. I'm not sure how that's going to all go down but he likes to dream big. He told me he thinks old people live there so I guess he's thinking they'll just die and he'll move in.

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I came across this printable manger scene while perusing the internet one day. I thought my kids would love coloring the pieces (you can also print it in color but what's the fun in that?). Cate had fun coloring Mary, Baby Jesus' swaddling clothes and the cow. She got mad at me for coloring the angel's hair orange. It was supposed to be pink. Duh. I ended up coloring the rest of the guys.

I love how they turned out.

Cate wanted us to act out the scene. She's very into that kind of thing. Danny even participated. And Dan too but he was still in his pajamas so I kept most of him out of the picture to protect his privacy (and his messy bed head).

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How to make your very own Santa beard...

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In an effort to avoid the crying this year (although it is adorable right?), we had pictures taken with me dressed like Santa instead. I think they're pretty cute. I'm pretty sure my children would have refused to sit on Santa's lap and have a little chat anyway. They might not have cried this year but you never know.

That box was empty in case you're wondering.

I saved my favorite shot for the Christmas card. I wasn't going to order any this year but after our little photo shoot, I couldn't resist. It's too late to send them out but I'm hoping they'll get here in time to bring around to the neighbors along with their non-chocolate goodies.

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Every morning we change the number on the countdown to cousin Kris' birthday. Then we change the number on the Christmas countdown. Then we eat one chocolate out of the advent calendars that Grandma gave us. Danny usually eats his and mine and Dan's if he can sneak it. Then we add an ornament to the tree I made.

I know. I'm so very crafty. Don't be overwhelmed by the sheer genius of it all. It's just a lot of paper and tape and a little glue. And and even littler amount of glitter.

I don't own a fancy countdown calendar thing-a-ma-bob so I made one. Out of stuff from the closet that I already had. Everything was free. You can't beat free. I'm pretty much a slacker when it comes to the paper ornaments to stick up there though. I had this grand plan to have a whole bunch made so they could pick which one to stick up each day. Yeah, that didn't happen. I turned it into a big now you get to tell me what kind of ornament to make and sit there and watch me while I make it because I'm too lazy and unprepared to make them in advance kind of thing. They don't seem to mind.

There's a lot of snowflake ornaments up there because sometimes I'm just fresh out of creative ideas and snowflakes are easy. There's even a few circles because those are even easier than snowflakes.

I make the kids pick questions out of a jar each morning before they stick the ornament up. All the questions are about the birth of Jesus. Who is Jesus' mother? Who is Jesus' father? What did the Wise Men bring to the baby Jesus? Muuuuuh (that's how Cate says myrrh since she can't say her r's. it's adorable.) After a few days of these questions Danny said, "Are these all about church?" Yep, they are.

Some of the questions aren't really questions. Sing Away in a Manger. Sing Silent Night. Give your family a hug and a kiss (he did NOT like that one). I've got a Christmas matching game in there too that I printed off the computer last year. I have no idea where I got it from or else I'd share.

I know my tree is nothing fancy and you probably have something much nicer at your house. I had a big tall blank wall, lots of paper and two kids who needed to be reminded every day that there's more to Christmas than Santa and presents. So that's what I came up with. I'm sure I'll toss it in the trash when we're done and make something completely different next year.

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We don't have an Elf on the Shelf at our house. I can't say that I really want one either.

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Cate has been watching our Frosty the Snowman DVD a lot. I heard her singing the song in her room one morning just after she had woken up. Her version goes a little something like this:

Frosty the snowman you have to go to your room because you don't have any pickles to eat and you are not going to be my friend but you should go play at Idda's house and we will go to Target and then they want to wash their hands so they don't have pee on them and I want to have a picnic with you so will you do the puzzle with meeeeeeeeee!

That's not a direct quote, mind you.

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I won't be baking any friend/family/neighbor treats that contain anything chocolate. Not because I don't love chocolate. It's because I do. Too much. Just thinking about last year's friend/family/neighbor treats makes me gain 5 pounds. Those were yummy.

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I'm very tempted to do this to my hair on Christmas morning. I'm not sure I can pull it off though since I'm not an 11-year-old girl. Also, I'm supposed to be playing my flute for the Christmas program in church and I don't think Rudolph on the back of my head would be very appropriate. I'm saving it for when Cate has enough hair though. Is it ok to have a blonde Rudolph?

❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖

Guess what I'd make this year if I was super organized and crafty and not overwhelmed and feeling like I have zero time?

Snow globes!

I currently have 13 of those jars. I can't throw them away. They are too cute. And they are perfect for snow globes. Now I'm glad I've been saving them all year. Look out next year, neighbors, teachers and friends. You're all getting snow globes. Don't say I didn't warn you.

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We went to a family Christmas party last night at Aunt Cindy's house. Cate had a blast playing with Rusty. I'm pretty sure she just bossed him around all night but they both looked happy. Mostly.

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We went to the dollar store last week to pick out stuff for the gift exchange at preschool. I don't remember what was going on but I know that by the time I got to the check out I was ready to be out of there. (Three little kids at the dollar store is hard work, even if one of them is strapped into that tiny green shopping cart.) Danny picked out a package of very small Christmas stockings that he wanted to get for his puppy (the stuffed one he sleeps with). There were two little stockings stuck together (on purpose) with one of those white plastic things. I said ok.

When we got to the checkout, the guy beeped our stuff and bagged it. When he got to those stockings, they wouldn't beep. He tried several times and then asked me (HE asked ME), "Are these a dollar?" I just smiled and said yes but what I wanted to say was, "Are you kidding? Do you know what your store is called? EVERYTHING'S A DOLLAR. I believe that's the name of your store. Some people call it the Dollar Store. So, yeah. They're a dollar." Are there things at that store that are not a dollar? Maybe some of the candy at the checkout? Otherwise, don't you pretty much take a chance a figure stuff is a dollar. Do they do a lot of price checks at the dollar store?

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I remember watching Mr. Krueger's Christmas every year when I was a kid. I'm pretty sure that's my favorite Christmas movie. And here's my favorite part, because sometimes I need to be reminded that Christmas is more than Santa and presents too.

evil cookies

2011-12-14T14:44:00.001-07:00

That's what a sister of mine (who shall remain anonymous so as to not embarrass herself) called them.

The cookies will be taking that as a compliment.

They were evil enough that she decided to eat 9 in one night.

Danny was so sad that we left the remainder of the cookies at this anonymous sister's house last Sunday night that I made another batch just for him the next morning.

See what a good little mommy I am?

It's the least I can do.

Here's the recipe. Easy Gluten-free Peanut Butter Cookies

The best part about these cookies (other than the fact that they are seriously the best peanut butter cookies I've ever made) is that there's no sitting around waiting for butter to soften. No butter. There's peanut butter but no butter butter.

I tweaked the recipe a tiny bit and added 2 heaping tablespoons of cocoa powder. I was craving chocolate that day (what's new?) and wondered if cocoa powder would make these cookies taste chocolatey. It didn't.

But they are still very tasty.

Anonymous sister can attest to that.

And if you don't like gluten (or it's not welcome in your house), you're in luck. None in these cookies. Unless there's gluten in the cocoa powder. I have no idea about that.

I came across this website that will calculate the calories in your recipe. Pretty cool.

That's the breakdown for the cookies (with my added cocoa powder).

I plugged in 24 servings since that batch made 21 cookies and I figured that my kids probably ate enough dough to equal three cookies.

I love that the ingredients get grades. I like getting grades. I kind of miss that. I got grades for over half of my life and then I graduated from college and had no way of knowing if I was doing anything right anymore. The only feedback I get nowadays is when my kids tell me I'm a meaniac for making them do something they don't want to do. You know, like a maniac but meaner.

A- for you, Cocoa Powder. You're such an overachiever. Good job, Egg. You get a B+. Better luck next time, Sugar. D+.

So there you go, Anonymous Sister of mine. 99 calories in each evil cookie. Next time don't eat 9 in one night. I'm pretty sure she's not even going to read this so I might just have to warn her in person.

And now for those of you family members who read this blog (which I'm not really sure there's any of you left) and couldn't care less about how much flour is in a recipe (in this case, there's none!) and only click over here once in a blue moon to see if I've posted cute pictures of my kids, here you go.

Not sure if that's a cute picture but they certainly are my kids.

And it's proof that I don't brush Cate's hair as often as I should and Danny's getting pretty good at picking out his own jammies.

A Merry Mullet Christmas

2011-12-12T14:05:00.007-07:00

Santa said it was ok for both of us to sit on his lap. At the same time.

I was afraid we'd break that jolly old elf's legs.

Notice how he's not smiling. I don't wonder why.

I think that picture would make an excellent Christmas card (if I was actually sending Christmas cards this year...which I'm kind of not).

Here's another good one.

I didn't realize Dan was making the scared of sitting on Santa's lap face so he looks silly all by himself (because I'm fairly certain I don't look silly one bit).

Now we're both scared and sad.

And Santa's still not smiling.

Merry Christmas, y'all!

nine on the ninth

2011-12-09T07:31:00.000-07:00

Today's installment of the ever so popular nine on the ninth is ALL ABOUT ME!

Partly because I'm very important around here and I don't get enough pictures on this blog. You need to see my beautiful mug more often, I've decided.

Partly because I've got some kids that like to take pictures with my phone (which is not an iPhone so the quality is very inferior, I realize that but don't really care). Most of the time they take blurry pictures of the wall or their fingers. Sometimes they get some good ones of me, candid and not so candid.

But mostly because I'll be busy today. Busy freaking out about everything getting done for the church Christmas party tonight. No way I need to be thinking about taking pictures of us enjoying the small things about this lovely day (I think that's supposed to be the point of the nine on the ninth business but I'm not so sure anymore).

(It's your lucky day. I've got three sets of nine since after the walls and their fingers, I'm the favorite thing to take pictures of. It's 27 on the ninth! Bonus!)

The best part about today, I'm sure, will be seeing Santa tonight. He's got bells on his boots, you guys! He's the real deal.

Enjoy!

Getting my hairs did with Angie (my next door neighbor who makes me look 25 again every other month).

At the doctor's office with sicko Cate last year. That was a doozy.

Baby Ray Ray. He was so little.

Wooden spoon on my cheek! Why? Why not?

Baking again. Danny's licking the beaters.

Butt shot as I load up the oven. You're welcome.

Waiting for Danny's preschool class to be done one day.

I'm guessing from the looks of the ceiling this was a trip to Costco. I concentrate very hard when I'm shopping.

Proof that sometimes I sit down during the middle of the day and just stare.

Shopping at Target. Another face of concentration.

I like this side view Cate captured. I look at it on days that I feel like Large Marge.

My chest! It's always good to have a picture of that. It's in Cate's line of vision when she's sitting in the cart I guess.

Kissing at Cocolito's.

Thinking at Cocolito's.

More kissing at Cocolito's. Sheesh.

Sitting and staring again. See how I put my hand under my chin a lot. Covering up the extras in case someone comes by and takes a candid cell phone picture of me. (Speaking of extra chins, Cate asked me yesterday if she could kiss my chins. Chins! Plural. I felt kind of bad and then I asked her where my chins were. She pointed to my cheek. Phew. A case of mistaken identity.)

Happy on my birthday morning this past summer. Messy hair and no make-up. So pretty.

The look of shock when I saw that Dan had bought me a new tv. So not pretty.

Being goofy with Cate in the front yard. Still wearing that apron. I wear aprons a lot I think.

She tells me to make silly faces so I do.

In the kitchen with an apron on. Again.

Pretending to sleep. We all know I'm never asleep when the kids are awake. Too dangerous.

Folding laundry whilst wearing an apron. I'm June Cleaver minus the pearls. And I wear jeans under my apron, not a skirt.

Chips with my girl at Cocolito's.

Large Marge.

Large Marge, part two. She told me to be silly. I think I pulled it off.

Blurry me. Blurry Ray Ray.

practicing his words

2011-12-07T00:22:00.002-07:00

I took Danny to the elementary school yesterday morning for his speech evaluation. He was very excited to finally go inside. We drive past his school almost every day but he's never been in. I've been doing my best to get him excited to start kindergarten (although he's been ready since fall of 2010 when Kris started kindergarten so it's not too hard). Looks like my hard work and enthusiastic pointing to the school on the drive-by's has paid off because he was thrilled to be there. Yea for small victories.

I was worried he'd pull out his grumpy and I don't want to do anything you tell me to do card for this appointment. He can be like that sometimes (ahem, a lot of the time). He was wonderful. I've been prepping him for today for a week though so I'll go ahead and take all the credit.

I'd tell him he was going to practice his words with a teacher INSIDE the school. He'd get to show her all the cool words he can say while he is INSIDE the school. Show her how smart he is INSIDE the school. See how I did that? Focus on the prize.

We were early. The lady in the office escorted us to the speech lady's room. She wasn't quite ready for us so she asked us to just wait in the hall for a minute. Danny looked down the long hall and told me he was just going to walk down and then come back...for exercise. Ha!

I told him that was ok but he had to walk and be very quiet because kids were learning and they have to be able to listen to their teachers. Oh, I just wish I'd made a little video of his exercise walk. He strutted down that hallway, pausing to look into each open classroom door. When he got to the end, he turned around, waved at me and then began the walk back, with all the same pausing and peering into classrooms. It was too cute.

The speech lady came out of her room. She called him Daniel and I told her we just call him Danny. We went into another room for the testing. She was nice but he acted shy at first. He kept whispering his answers to her questions (stuff like what do you want santa to bring you? how many brothers and sisters do you have? do you like legos?) into my ear. I told him he'd have to talk out loud to her so she could hear all the words he knows.

He warmed up to her pretty quickly. She did the testing (which was a bunch of pointing to pictures and asking him to tell her what he saw). He got to pick a treat when it was over (he chose bubble gum). I go back in a week to review the results with her and see if he qualifies for services. I'm ok if he does. I'm also ok if he doesn't. I just wanted to feel like I made an effort to get him help if he can have it. If it's stuff he'll just grow out of, I'll take that too.

I did get a pretty cool souvenir though.

As a former special ed teacher I've given out hundreds (maybe? who knows? it sure felt like hundreds) of these to parents. Now I have one. It feels weird to be on the other side.

Before we left, we wandered around the halls (with permission from the office ladies of course) and checked out the school. He was so excited to see what was down each hallway. We even stopped by to see my friend who teaches there. I'm not going to lie. It made me miss having a classroom of my own. Like, a lot. Seeing all those bulletin boards and kids and desks and whiteboards brought tears to my eyes (they didn't spill over or anything...no crying at school). I miss it.

After all that morning fun stuff we picked up Cate from Aunt Judy's house, met up with a friend at Chick-fil-A (where Cate was freaked out by the person walking around in a cow costume giving high 5's to little kids), went to Walmart for a few things (including chocolate donut holes with sprinkles), came home and tidied up because the young women from church were coming over to work on party prep stuff.

I think we're prepped. Look what we did.

Cate was quite distraught that she couldn't have a tea party.

I think that's a nice looking stack of fake presents.

I'm just wondering what I'm going to do with all of those fake presents on Friday night when the church party is over and done with.

Suggestions?

prized possessions

2011-12-05T09:41:00.007-07:00

I recently found this box while I was cleaning out the back garage.

Here's what I found inside:

A sleigh my grandpa made. I love the little metal handle and foot step thing on the side.

Here's Grandpa's sleigh in action.

Cate came over and wanted to play with it when she saw that I had made it fun. I wouldn't let her. Should I? I don't know. I don't want it to get broken but I also don't think it needs to spend eternity in that box.

I wish I had a mantle so it could be on display out of reach of grabby little fingers.

Look what I found taped to the bottom of the sleigh:

Excuse me for a moment while I daintily dab away my tears with Grandma's embroidered hanky.

Do you think these two would hold still long enough for me to tape a note like that to their bottoms? Or maybe a tattoo because that would last forever and a note would just come off in the bath tub.

They are my prized possessions.

Just thought you should know in case you find them in a cardboard box in my garage some day.

That sounds morbid doesn't it?

Maybe I'll just make them sit on the mantle instead.

*cute picture of my little darlings by Candis. Her website is new and improved. Check it out.

thoughts on cuddling

2011-12-03T20:48:00.005-07:00

my cuddly baby, 17 days old

Danny came into my bed this morning whilst I was taking a break from washing dishes and picking up toys and scrubbing the kitchen floor (only because the young women were meeting at my house in a few hours and I hadn't scrubbed the floor in a very long time). He wanted to play a Lego game on my computer. I told him he could but he had to cuddle with me for a minute first.

He scooted over to me and wiggled his face into my chest area (mostly the vast open space between my you-know-what's). If I was a busty woman it would have been really awkward but since I'm not, I'm pretty sure he just got a face full of my ribs and sternum (I remember that from 4th grade when we had to name all 206 bones on a science test).

I backed away a little and asked him what he was doing (since that's not really what I have in mind when I think of cuddling). He told me that was cuddling. Huh? I have no idea where on earth he got that idea from. He's a crazy kid sometimes.

I instantly had a kind of flash forward to him sitting on the couch with his girlfriend (I don't like to think about such things but I know it might happen some day so I'm just trying to be prepared) and the movie starts and she tells him she wants to cuddle. I think I had better be teaching him proper cuddling form before that dreadful day or he's going to be in big trouble.

* * * * *

When I look at that picture up there I get all teary. I remember that day. I remember sitting in that big chair in the front room for what seemed like hour after hour after hour. Feed the baby, he falls asleep, be afraid to burp him because then he might wake up. I hardly ever burped him. I feel badly about that now but I guess I really should get over it already. Keep sitting there because if I get up and try to lay him down somewhere he'll probably wake up. If he wakes up he won't be sleeping anymore and then what will I do? Feed him? Burp him? I've got a burp rag on my shoulder so I guess I burped him and that's why his eyes are open.

I remember Dan taking that picture. I leaned my head back because I thought I looked fat and gross. I only wanted Danny in the picture because he was the cute one. I wish I hadn't leaned back now. I probably said something like, "Quick, Dan. Get the camera. Look how cute he's laying his face on his arm. But don't get me in the picture. I'm gross." I even remember that zit on my chin. It was there forever.

I remember that pillow with the reindeer pillowcase that Grandma gave me. I used that pillow instead of the silly Boppy pillow. I never did figure out how to use that Boppy when I was feeding him. It was great for helping him learn to sit up all by himself but lousy for everything else.

I was a mess. I'm glad Danny turned out as well as he did.

Even with his wonky ideas about cuddling.

friday night rambling

2011-12-02T20:31:00.009-07:00

I'm convinced that jumbled, random, nonsensical bits of information is how I do my very best writing. I know this stuff isn't what's going to win me any Pulitzer Prize nominations (is that what you get for good writing? who knows.) but I like it. I have a hard time stringing together more than a few coherent thoughts anyway. I don't have the attention span or the time for that kind of thing.

Sometimes stuff happens and I just want to remember the bits and pieces of our daily lives. So here goes.

✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

Cate wanted me to take a picture of her freshly painted purple nails a few nights ago. I obliged. She was wiggling around so I told her to stand still like a statue. That's the picture I got. I sure love that kid. She just makes me laugh. Sometimes she makes me want to cry (like almost every day around 5:00 because she doesn't nap anymore and by that time of the day it's very apparent that she still needs to nap) but most of the time she is just delightful. And quite funny.

✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

Earlier that day I took her to the doctor. She has had a cough for over a month. Lately she hasn't been sleeping well because of it. She was so good for the doctor. He prescribed medicine and then left. We waited for the nurse to come back in because she was going to give Cate her flu s-h-o-t. When I asked the doctor if that was for sure on the agenda for that visit I even spelled f-l-u. He must have thought I was a big weirdo. It's ok. I am. Plus, I was really worried about how Cate would react to the s-h-o-t so I was a bit flustered. I feel like such a crappy parent when my kids get shots. Horrible. Like I'm being cunning and evil. She was good and didn't even cry. Best part, she still loves me even though I let the mean nurse give her a s-h-o-t so she won't get the f-l-u.

✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

Danny was running around in circles in the kitchen the other day. I asked him what he was doing. He told me he was running errands.

✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

Cate was busy playing tea party this afternoon while I baked (these, except this time I added mini chocolate chips). She was singing and talking to herself, just like she always does. Then she pushed her shopping cart over to the kitchen and the conversation went like this.

Guess what, Mom.

What?

I miss Grama Bama.

Me too.

(It's true. I do. She's been gone for a week and it's been one of the longest weeks in the history of ever. No kidding.)

✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

Dan was wrestling with Danny last night before bath time. I don't know what was going on since I try to stay away from that kind of nonsense. I do know that Danny seemed pretty happy when he appeared in the kitchen and announced, "I beat up Daddy like a mustard sandwich!" Alrighty then.

✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

Know what's nice? Kids who can't tell time. More than that, kids who can't tell time in the winter. The sun goes down at 5:00 and for all they know it might as well be 10:00. They were both in their bedrooms at 7:00 last night. Lights were off. Maybe they weren't actually asleep but who cares. 7:00, people! To those of you who do that nightly, my hat's off to you. You are parenting geniuses.

✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

We made these snowman ornaments this week. That was an adventure. It's a little bit of a challenge to get wiggly kids to hold still long enough to hold an ornament so as to not smear the paint and ruin the cute little snowman form. My favorites are the snowmen with no bodies. There were more than a few of those.

✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

Our tree is really making me happy this year. It's the best one we've had yet. I need to water it more often but it's holding up quite nicely. No ornaments have been broken so far. Cate is my little plugger inner. She shimmies under there and plugs in the lights every morning. It's her special job. That's what I make her think because I can easily reach the plug but I hate getting the needles in my hair and poking my arm when I do. She likes being special so it's her job.

You know how lots of people set up their trees in front of a window? Not us. It'll block the tv if we do that. We can't have anything blocking the tv now can we? When Danny was a brand new one-year-old I put the tree in that tiled area by the front door. Then I moved the big chair and ottoman and whatever other furniture I needed to in front of it so he couldn't pull stuff off or worse yet, pull it over on top of himself. I was a freak show back then. I realize that now. I barricaded the Christmas tree. What's the fun in that? Not much. Good thing he was young enough that he won't remember my shenanigans.

Not related to the tree but still in that picture, the top of that bookshelf is "decorated" with cowboy hats. It's true.

✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

I'm taking Danny to the elementary school for a speech evaluation next week. He's got some stuff going on that I'm not sure will correct itself with age and/or maturity. I taught special ed for 5 years way back when. It's kind of strange being on the other side now. He might not even qualify for services but at least I'll know I tried. Or chied as he would say it. He also says chiet (quiet) and chop it (stop it). When he's yelling at Cate to stop crying it sounds like this: Chiet! Chop chying!

✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

Danny was very excited to go buy Kris a birthday present this week. He made me bring along his piggy bank (which is actually a bear) to Target with us so he could use his own money to buy it. What a sweet kid. He had about $9 in change so of course I let him. He was not happy when we actually got to Target and I left the bear bank in the car. I tried to explain the concept of me paying for it with paper money and then he could pay me back with his own money. I explained it a few times but I'm pretty sure he never really grasped it.

✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

Have I mentioned lately that we miss Grama Bama (and Grandpa too of course)? We do.

✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

I took the kids to the dino museum this morning because we needed something to do and it's cold outside. We lasted about 20 minutes. I don't have a clue why. It's ok though because I left my phone in the car and I was bored out of my mind just sitting there while they did the digging for bones stuff. They wanted to go see the animals instead. It was cold but sunny so I agreed. We were the only people there. Figures. Other mothers have more sense than to let their kids run around in the cold looking at farm animals. Cate thought these turkeys had mean eyes. I think she's right.

✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

Cate said the blessing on the food a few nights ago for dinner. Here's part that I remembered to write down when she was done.

Please bless the food so we can be happy and go potty by ourselves.

And to that I say a big fat AMEN!

sweetened condensed milk paint

2011-12-01T22:23:00.000-07:00

Here's my little disclaimer right from the start.

I read your little mommy blog. I even sometimes read your little crafty blog. I try not to but I get sucked in. I see how you do fun stuff with your little kids. They're smiling and creating and you're snapping pictures in the perfect lighting. You're probably happy while you're doing it too. Oh, you crafty little mommy blogger you.

Then I'm left sitting there wondering a few things.

Am I a crappy mom because I don't do artsy fartsy stuff with my kids more often?

Is there a pile of dirty dishes in your sink because you're helping your kids do fun stuff instead of washing them? (the dishes and the kids too I guess)

Is it ok that I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown while I watch my kids paint with sticky sticky milky stuff?

Is it ok that I'm hoping they'll just paint fast so I can hurry up and clean? (their mess and them and those dirty dishes)

Do your kids think you're so awesome because you do artsy fartsy stuff with them?

How often do you really do this artsy fartsy stuff? (because if it's every day then I'm going to have to hate you now)

Will my kids think I'm cool if I do lots of artsy fartsy stuff or are they ok with how infrequently I do it nowadays?

Will they remember this sticky sticky milky paint stuff tomorrow and want to do it again? (because I seriously almost had to go put myself in time out to keep myself from having a serious panic attack...or heart attack, one of those)

* * * * *

Another little disclaimer, I don't know where this idea came from. Certainly not my own little brain. I'm not clever enough to create my own paint from sweetened condensed milk. I have no link or credit. Sorry. I searched my Pinterest "For the Kids" board and it's not from there. I thought it was but I was wrong.

On to the reason we're all here today.

Part Two of How We're Going to Survive Being Cooped up Inside All Winter (part one was the super cool geoboard I made! still feeling proud of that one.)

Sweetened Condensed Milk Paint

Here's what you need:

Best part of this one, I already had all the supplies in my house. No buying anything special. Hooray.

Notice that my little bottles of food color expired back in February. I know. I was taking a risk but I used them anyway.

Just plop the goopy stuff in the muffin tin, mix in your drops of color, stir and then let the kids at it. My kids sit on the counter and paint on the other counter. That's how we roll. We also do artsy fartsy stuff in our pajamas because morning is when they're happiest and most likely to do stuff like this without fighting with each other.

I will never get tired of seeing that protruding bottom lip of concentration.

See that gloopy drippy stuff coming off the paintbrush? That's what darn near made me go crazy. I am just not good at the messy stuff. I'm trying my darnedest to let them have fun anyway.

Oh, be still my heart. I tried to teach them how to wipe their brushes a little bit on the edge of the muffin tin but they weren't having any of that nonsense. Drip drip drip away!

Smiling like his picture.

And then we were done. I think they each painted on two pieces of card stock. I recommend a heavy paper because that sticky paint stuff gets heavy on there. Cate was very generous in her application too.

They thought we were running out of paint at one point (we weren't) so I added more. That's why there's some white swirling around. They didn't do a very good job of stirring it in. Kids.

When the fun was done I stuck the muffin tin in a baggie. It fit perfectly. Then I stuck the baggie in the cupboard where the pots and pans go. I haven't looked at it since. I probably should have stuck it in the fridge. I don't know. I'm afraid to see what it looks like now.

I think we'll try this one again soon. The paintings turn out pretty cool once they've dried.

Nice and shiny.

getting in touch with his feminine side

2011-11-30T13:49:00.001-07:00

Alternate titles:

His Dad is Going to Kill Me for Letting this Happen

Good Thing Uncle Dave Doesn't Read My Blog

That's What Happens When the Cousin Closest to You in Age is a Girly Girl

Purple is His Color

* * * *

Fear not.

Ray Ray immediately started using his magic wand as a sword (or light saber or whatever kind of stick that you hit people with) right after I took these pictures.

thoughts of the long weekend

2011-11-28T13:36:00.000-07:00

I noticed this killer snowman on Danny's shelf on Saturday night. Should I be concerned?

Know what else happened Saturday night?

Cate coughed so hard she puked. Hooray. It was midnight. I went into her room to check on her because she was calling for me. I knelt beside her bed and she told me about the puke. I asked her where it was (since it was dark and I couldn't see and luckily I hadn't knelt in it). She told me it was on the floor.

Instead of just turning on the light, I put my hand on the floor and felt around for the puke. (I feel like a total crazy person just admitting that. It was late and I was tired. That's all I've got for an explanation.) Yay for me, I found it. And then I washed my hand.

Grama Bama and Grandpa flew back to sunny Alabama on Saturday morning. We miss them. Grama Bama forgot to pack her curling iron though so at least we have something to remember her by. She's very thoughtful (even in her forgetfulness).

We made sure to have one last tea party Saturday morning.

In case you're wondering what Grandpa and Dan were talking about during our lovely tea party video, I'll tell you. They were putting the finishing touches on this doozy of a spaceship.

Yes, I know it's not age appropriate. My kid isn't 12. He is, however, a very spoiled grandson. That big honkin' thing kept Grandpa busy every time he was at our house. What on earth would he have done this past week without it? (It kept Dan and Jarrett pretty busy too. That thing's a beast.)

Friday afternoon we went out to eat at a local burger joint. The kids ate shakes for dessert. Somebody ordered a grasshopper. Mint ice cream with chocolate. Kris was very eager to tell Danny it was a grasshopper shake. Like, hey, this is a shake and there's grasshoppers inside. No kidding. He was serious too.

I even heard Kris tell Danny at one point, "If it's a hard bite it's one of the legs."

Before lunch, some of us went to the temple. We took a few pictures outside because it was a lovely day. Most of the time when you tell my parents to smile for the camera, you get this response:

I'm not sure what's so serious and important but that's how they are. And then this happened when Dan tried to kneel down to get a different angle:

They can smile! And even laugh!

I know what you're wondering. Is it Cathy's goal to look ridiculous in every picture? The answer is no. I don't set out trying to but sometimes it just happens so easily. I can't control myself. It's a gift really.

Thursday we enjoyed a lovely turkey dinner hosted by Aunt Kym and Uncle Tim. Cate had a blast playing tea party with Cousin Shaelynn. She's a good sport (Shaelynn, that is. Cate is too sometimes.)

And last night I made cookies.

And ate 4 of them.

My post-Thanksgiving diet starts today.

That is all.

birthday festivities

2011-11-25T16:30:00.009-07:00

Good times bowling the night before the Big Day.

V.I.P. room well worth the extra $10.

First picture as a 5-year-old.

Yep, wearing the same clothes as the day before.

Opening presents. Legos, duh.

No birthday is complete without balloons.

Birthday boy and his little sis before church.

Being silly with Grama Bama.

Visiting with family for dinner.

Thinking hard about that wish.

To the doctor's office a few days later.

5 shots for the new 5-year-old.

Not fun.

Poor kid.

The end.

to prove i'm a good mom

2011-11-23T05:28:00.001-07:00

We've got a hot pink glittery star atop our Christmas tree.

HOT PINK!

(that picture doesn't do it justice. in real life it's pink. hot pink.)

Cate picked it out at Target yesterday and I didn't have the heart to tell her no. (We were in need of a new tree topper since I chopped way too much off the top of the tree for my usual angel to stand up straight. It wasn't a frivolous purchase. Sort of.)

Actually I just didn't really care about the hot pink glitter star. I've given up on having control of the Christmas tree. I'm not going to be winning any awards for best matchy cutesy decorated tree.

BUT I have one happy kid (dare I say she's tickled pink?) due to that hot pink glittery star.

And now, because I obviously need a little humbling after all that "hey, i'm a good mom because i sacrificed the perfectly decorated tree in order to have a happy kid. kids matter! trees don't!" stuff...

As I was quickly losing my patience whilst wrapping strands of lights around the bottom branches of our 80's themed Christmas tree (appropriate theme for a hot pink star I think), I asked the kids an important question.

"What's the real meaning of Christmas?" said I. They said um and uh and then nothing so I rephrased the question. You have to do that with these kids, I've found.

What is Christmas really about? Why is it important? Who do we think about at Christmas?

Stuff like that.

The rest of it went something like this:

Santa!

No, silly.

Presents!

Um, nope. Try again.

Christmas trees!

Oh, good grief. No.

* * * * *

And then I hung my head in shame.

So, yeah. I've got some work to do. They're 5 and 3.

If they're still giving those same answers in 10 years I'm going to be super duper worried.

And totally not a good mom anymore.

Hot pink star or not.

olive, the other reindeer

2011-11-22T13:13:00.001-07:00

Here's a cute Christmas book for you.

Olive, the Other Reindeer

A dog named Olive hears Christmas music playing while she's out and about town. They're singing "...all of the other reindeer..." but she thinks they're singing about her.

Very cute.

She takes a few bus rides to the North Pole to help out Santa on his busy night.

It's a good book. My kids sat and listened to me read it to them twice. Kids like it when you do that. Two in a row is my limit though.

(Best thing about this book: no mention of shut up or candy!)

Here's where our copy of Olive, the Other Reindeer is currently residing.

Wrapped up in a box along with all my other Christmas books I dug out from storage. Why did it take me so many years to clean out the garage? I don't know. It was fun finding all my Christmas children's books though.

This year we'll be partaking in a literary countdown to Christmas. Sure, I've got 4 different copies of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas in there. I'm sure the kids won't mind.

Every day they get to pick a different book to read (hopefully with no fighting). When all the books are opened, it'll be Christmas. I've seen this concept floating around the internet for a few years. I know it's not my original idea but I'm excited to try it.

Cate is too. It was really hard for her to keep her paws off those wrapped books so I could snap a few pictures.

Here's one of my favorites that's also wrapped up in that pile.

Grandma gave it to Danny for his first Christmas. He was 5 weeks old. I still can't read it all the way through without reaching for a tissue. It's a real tearjerker. (No shut ups in this one either! Possible mention of candy. I can't check now because it's already wrapped. Read at your own risk.)

I planned to start the countdown on December 1st. Then I counted the books. Guess what I discovered.

I have enough to start the day after Thanksgiving. Exactly enough.

It was meant to be.

five on his fifth

2011-11-20T03:37:00.003-07:00

1. I've never loved another boy as much as I love this one. It's true. I'll probably never have another boy to love so it'll stay true forever. He'll never love another mom as much as he loves me. I know it because he tells me almost every other day that he loves me six billion million trillion thousand billion trillion zillion billion thousand...and five. He's good at that. Just telling me out of the blue that he loves me. I love that about him. He can sense when I really need to hear it and he just tells me.

I'm thankful for all the love.

2. I love his eyes. When he was a baby they seemed so big and blue. Those eyelashes. They seemed to just go on and on. I'm sometimes jealous of his eyelashes. And then there's the eyebrows. I remember when they turned dark. He was about 3 months old. I love the way they curve up in the middle. He's a handsome boy. Some lucky lady is going to fall in love with his eyes some day.

I'm thankful he inherited some of his daddy's best features.

3. He likes to help, but it's got to be his idea. Requests to clean up toys are usually met with groans and moans and "I don't want to." We're working on that one. Nobody's perfect. I love that he sometimes comes into the kitchen, grabs a wipe out of the drawer and just starts scrubbing the floor or the wall or the fridge. He just gets the urge to clean I guess. I'm glad I keep the house just a titch on the grungy grimy side so he can have something to do when that urge hits. It's the least I can do.

I love having my very own mini maid.

4. He's funny. He has a sense of humor and he gets my sense of humor. Sometimes I feel like a lot of people don't (ok, a lot of the time I'm just not funny at all so maybe that's the problem). I think being funny is way better than being boring. He's a funny kid. I tease him and he just gets it. He teases me right back. And he's got a great laugh if you can get him to genuinely laugh about something. Like a really good belly laugh. I love it.

I'm thankful for his silly giggles and his lame knock-knock jokes.

5. He made me a mom. For all the years he made me wait for him and all the pain he caused on the way out (holy moly, that hurt like nothing else!), he was worth it. He's the one that helped me feel like I really earned that silly tomato plant they pass out at church on Mother's Day. Really, he saved me from the gloom, despair and agony of that Sunday in May. I find it very fitting that he was born so close to a holiday all about gratitude and counting blessings. We brought him home from the hospital the night before Thanksgiving.

I'm thankful for perfect timing and reminders of what's important.

As I tucked him into bed last night, I reminded him that when he woke up he'd be 5. Then I asked him how he felt about that. He said, "Good! How do you feel about it?" I told him that if he feels good about it then so do I.

And it's true.

I loved Baby Danny. I love that he taught me how important sleep is (and how frustrating it can be to not get enough of it thanks to such a tiny little person).

I loved Toddler Danny. I love that he made me so proud when he took his first steps and learned his abc's (and how fun it was to be the only person who really understood everything he said).

I'm really loving Big Kid Danny too. I love his imagination and his unwavering admiration of all things Star Wars (going on 2 years now and I don't see it fading any time soon).

Happy 5th birthday to my Danny Boy (or as Grandpa says, Danny Doodle).

We're lucky to have you in our family.

*all photos by the amazingly talented Christie

the day before today

2011-11-19T04:35:00.014-07:00

he likes the meat eaters

2011-11-18T14:01:00.001-07:00

As we were driving around town, Danny said to me (out of the blue because that's where most of his random comments come from),

"I like lions and rhinoceruses. I like all the animals that eat other animals. The meat eaters."

And I thought to myself,

oh, lovely. my sweet little boy likes animals that eat each other. should i be concerned?

And then after a moment of thought and peering out his window he added,

"And bees. Cuz they're the teeeeeeniest."

IN OTHER NEWS:

Danny actually played house. (Don't tell him I told you because he'd probably be really mad at me.) I saw him pushing around one of Cate's doll strollers. I've never ever seen him do that before. Usually he stays very far away from anything pink or related to dolls or girls or pretend mothering.

I asked him if he was playing with Cate (something that rarely ever happens, unless he's allowing her to play Legos with him). He told me they were playing house. He was the big brother, Ray Ray was the baby brother and Cate was their cousin.

And Cate named her baby Cousin Louie.

What did I ever laugh about before my kids came along?

Sometimes I wonder.

for your information

2011-11-17T21:27:00.005-07:00

Lookee what my kidlets made in preschool today.

That's his bow and arrow pose. Seriously. How adorable is he?

IN OTHER NEWS:

Grama Bama and Grandpa arrived in town last night. They drove to the Atlanta airport through hideous rain. A tornado touched down back in Auburn. They missed it. They picked a good day to fly away right? The news is that their house lost power but wasn't damaged.

Take a look at what my lovely mother lugged all the way across the country for me.

Oh, yes. That's a scarf. In the shape of a roll of toilet paper.

I love it! I'm not sure I'd wear it anywhere but Auburn though. I might get some pretty crazy looks if I walked around town with what looked like a strand of toilet paper around my neck.

Now, I'm not at all trying to use and abuse my parents. Let's get that out in the open. BUT this morning I dropped off my kids at Aunt Judy's house with them and then proceeded to come home and get oodles of stuff done in peace and quiet.

It was wonderful. I finished raking the leaves in the front yard. That same blasted pile that I have raked, and then the kids jumped in it and messed it all up, and raked again, and then the kids jumped in it and messed it all up, and then raked again. It's good to see those leaves gone.

As I was raking I had a few thoughts about being a mom of school aged kids. I'm pretty sure I'm not a mom of school aged kids. Preschool doesn't count. I hear moms talk about how sad they are that summer's over and their kids are starting school. Oh, how they miss them when they're away. Boo hoo hoo.

I really don't get it. I could totally get used to this whole getting stuff done in peace and quiet thing. It was lovely. I think I would be a way less grouchy mom if my kids could be off learning and playing for a few hours together every day. Really. It was so nice. Good thing my parents will be here for several more days. I've got lots of stuff to do around here.

I even cleaned half the fridge while the kiddies were at preschool. Free time and I spent it cleaning the fridge. I can hardly believe it. Good thing I only cleaned half though. I'm trying to pace myself.

Last but not least, I showered before noon and didn't have to make dinner.

It was a lovely day indeed.

in the spotlight

2011-11-15T09:19:00.004-07:00

It's Cate's turn to be the spotlight kid at preschool today. She worked on painting her poster last night. This morning I added the details (and greatly restrained myself from painting more and filling in all those blank white spaces).

Yeah, I colored the Learn About Me! last night. She said I could. That's all I did though.

This morning I added a few pictures and asked her questions so we could fill in the blanks. Some of it was just too good not to share.

Favorite Things To Do: eat breakfast, play with cousins, give a hug to Mommy (can you tell it was morning and Ray Ray was running around the house when I asked her this one? looks like she was hungry.)

Places I'd Like To Go: Chick-fil-A, the park, the dino museum (I'm sure her teacher isn't expecting her to say stuff like Hawaii, New York City or Disneyland. She's 3 after all. It's waffle fries and chicken nuggets.)

My Favorite Book: Cinderella (her actual words were, "Ummmmm uhhhhhhh, Cinderella I guess." she put a lot of thought into that one.)

My Favorite Subject: learning nursery rhymes (this one took a lot of prompting. her reply was, "Little Miss Muffett sat on a tuppett.")

My Favorite Food: chicken, raisins and cookies (I don't even remember the last time she ate raisins.)

My Favorite Color: red and purple (no mention of pink, that's a shocker)

And my favorite one...

Someday I'd Like to Be: a mommy

I bet if I asked her these same questions again in 10 minutes (or after she'd actually eaten breakfast) I'd get completely different answers.

Except for that last one of course.

baked pumpkin spice donut holes

2011-11-14T03:10:00.004-07:00

I started a new diet a few weeks ago.

It's called The Don't Eat Crappy Food, Drink Lots of Water and Exercise Your Butt Off Plan.

I lost 6 pounds in 2 weeks. Pretty impressive if I do say so myself.

And then I found this recipe and made 2 batches this weekend. I'm pretty sure I found those pounds again.

It was kinda sorta worth it because these little pumpkin spice donut holes are delightful. Light and fluffy. Just the right amount of pumpkiny spicy goodness.

I ate 6 out of the first batch. Danny ate 5. I figure since they're smallish, it would take 3 of them to equal a regular sized muffin. So really I only ate 2 muffins. That's not so horrible. Six sounds bad though.

I couldn't help myself. They were warm and that buttery coating that makes the cinnamon sugar mixture stick is oh, so good. And buttery. And cinnamony. And sugary.

I'm not really sure they count as donut holes though. You bake them in mini muffin pans and they come out looking like mini muffins. Whatever. I don't let the name bother me. They're good.

I shared with my neighbor to try to get a few of them out of my house.

I slapped some BYU stickers around the edge of the plate. I may or may not have written some dumb football related remark on the bottom of the plate wherein I substituted the word don't for donut. I'm not telling. It might have been pretty cheesy but my creativity is waning.

But sadly for me, my appetite for these little gems is not.

Maybe next batch (because I'm sure there will be a next batch...lots of pumpkin leftover in the fridge) I'll toss in a few mini chocolate chips.

Yum.

friday night videos: patriotic

2011-11-11T19:47:00.001-07:00

Dan used to read (but mostly sing since it's a song of course) this book to Danny when he was a wee one. Now he sings it to Cate at bedtime. She's gotten pretty good at it. She'll gladly perform it if she's in the mood. The dramatic ending is all thanks to Dan. He likes to ham it up.

I figured tonight would be a good time to share her version. You can see Danny's here. Man, he was an adorable toddler.

Oh, she can be such a stinker sometimes.

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Here's our attempt at a group picture on the elevens this morning.

Some day they'll be sitting around chatting with their friends, reminiscing about where they were at 11:11 on 11/11/11. It could happen. My kids (and their cousin) will get to say that they were being tortured by their mother with a photo shoot in a pile of slightly damp dead leaves. They'll pretend that it was so annoying that I made them pose with me but secretly they'll be thankful to have this picture of me and my wrinkles, Ray Ray eating something that's probably not edible, Cate staring off into the distance and faceless Danny. I try. Really I do.

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Other pictures from the morning (just not at 11:11). I'm pretty sure it's a requirement to take oodles of pictures of little kids playing in dead leaves. They had fun. I did too until they started to toss leaves at each other onto the section of lawn that I had already raked.

a big pain in the paronychia

2011-11-08T13:18:00.001-07:00

You know, sometimes I feel like my life is just boring. Same ol' same ol' day after day. Every day is different, yet every day is the same. Wake up. Clean stuff (including kids). Feed people. Clean more stuff. Entertain people. Feed the people again. Maybe go somewhere. Entertain the people some more. Feed them more. Bath. Books. Bed.

Over and over. Then there's Saturday and maybe we do something different (mostly not). Danny told me that Saturday is his least favorite day. He's 4 and Saturday is his least favorite day! I asked him why and he said it's because the next day is Sunday and that means church. It takes soooooo looooooong. Poor kid.

So I've got this blog here where I write about stuff in my life. My boring life (just sometimes). I wish I had something great and exciting to share.

A baby's on the way!

New job!

Cute new winter boots!

Going to Paris!

Won the lottery!

None of that stuff is happening around here. Not even the boots.

But on Sunday something exciting finally happened to me. Brace yourselves.

Paronychia. (Go ahead and click it.)

Oh, yes. Isn't that amazing?

Wanna see it before it got lanced and drained? Lancing and draining! That's exciting stuff.

I'll leave some whiteness in case you don't want to see it. Just close your eyes and scroll down until you think the words should start up again. Or just look at it. Your choice.

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I thank my lovely sister and her husband for tending my kids so I could have my paronychia attended to at the clinic Monday morning. It had grown to a monstrous size and I was pretty sure it was going to kill me. I could feel my heart beating on my finger. Weird stuff.

Know what I don't like about the doctor's office? Being weighed when I'm only there to have my paronychia fixed. I even took off my shoes and put down my purse before I got on the scale. Now I know for sure that my clothes weigh 3 pounds. I wanted to tell the nurse to just go ahead and subtract those 3 before writing on her little chart. I didn't though. My finger hurt too badly.

She prescribed an antibiotic and told me I wasn't allowed to wash dishes for 5 days. She even said she could write a prescription for that in case I have an evil husband who would be mad that I was letting dirty dishes pile up in the sink. How does she know I don't have a dishwasher? That's what I want to know.

I told her the prescription for no washing dishes wasn't necessary because my husband is kind and gentle and loving and he wouldn't care at all. Plus, I knew darn well that I'd be washing dishes with one hand for the next 5 days. I've done it before. I had two babies who wouldn't let me put them down for months on end. She told me vacuuming was ok but no cleaning where I have to put my hand into a bucket of dirty water. Um, I can't think of a time I clean anything where I put my hand into a bucket of dirty water.

After the lancing and draining, I drove to Target to pick up my prescription, all the while flipping off my fellow drivers. Did I mention that it's painful to bend my finger all the way? And forget about straightening it. Ouch.

I picked up the kids and we headed to the dino museum. Two hours later and we were headed home.

And then I washed the dishes. I told you I would. I kept my paronychia behind my back so I wouldn't be tempted to plunge it into the dirty water.

I'm trying to take it easy today so my finger can heal. I've stayed clear of cleaning the bathrooms. I think raking leaves is out of the question (especially since I broke the rake). I did some laundry but it kind of hurt to take the stuff out of the dryer so I just left it there.

If you're concerned about me, don't be. I'm sure I'll be fine. The paronychia is still tender, red and warm when I touch it but I know that whatever doesn't kill me will only make me stronger. Or my finger will have to be amputated and I won't be able to play my flute on Sunday during the Primary program.

If you want to be concerned anyway, in lieu of flowers, send chocolate.

And come wash the dishes after dinner tonight.

it's a beautiful day for some potpourri

2011-11-05T22:12:00.001-06:00

Cate sometimes starts her sentences with "It's a beautiful day for..." and it just cracks me up. Where does she hear this stuff? Sadly, it's not from me. It's a beautiful day for the park, Mama. It's a beautiful day for some ice cream, Mama. It's a beautiful day for preschool, Mama.

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That's Baby Ray Ray one year and one day ago. He didn't really love being plopped down in that pile of leaves for pictures.

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The kids and I raked some leaves for our neighbors yesterday. I wasn't trying to make work for them, just us. Turns out, I made work for them. Oh, well. All I was trying to do was teach my kids that it's fun to help out our neighbors without being asked (in hopes that maybe they'll learn that it's also fun to help out around the house without being asked).

We just raked two big piles and then the leaves got dumped in the back with the horses. I guess they eat them. Yuck. When we were walking away Danny whispered to me, "Who are we going to help next?" with a hint of happy anticipation in his voice. Try and not smile when that happens.

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I mowed the backyard yesterday too. I knew the storm was a-comin' and I wanted to get it done. I've never mowed over dead leaves before. It's kind of stinky, like something's burning. I was a little worried the lawnmower might explode but I just kept going anyway. It didn't explode.

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I made some chocolate peanut butter pretzel bars late last night while I was watching the episode of Grimm I had recorded. That's a spooky show. I like it. Reminds me of X Files (which I also like). I liked the chocolate peanut butter pretzel bars too. Especially yummy since I doubled the chocolate layer.

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I took this picture of Danny and Ray Ray a few days ago. Can you imagine how cute it would have been if it hadn't been so dang blurry? Someone please tell me how to take non-blurry pictures of kids indoors without using the flash. Please.

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I took the kiddos to the doctor yesterday. The coughing and runny noses had gone on long enough. They've both got medicine to take now. I threaten Danny with calling the doctor for a shot if he won't take his nicely this time around (see last time if you don't know what I'm talking about). So far it's worked. I also tell him that if he doesn't brush his teeth then he'll get cavities and the dentist will have to give him a shot inside his mouth before he uses a drill to make a hole in his tooth to get the rotten parts out. That works pretty well too. I'm evil but he loves me anyway.

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The kids had a sleepover in Danny's room last night. I'm the dimwit who said yes to it. How could I not expect that they'd be waking each other up with the coughing all night? What is going on inside my brain sometimes? I have no idea. We were ok until Danny had to go to the bathroom at midnight. Cate had migrated to the bottom bunk with him. He woke her up. I decided to take Danny to my bed and make Dan go sleep in Danny's room with Cate. Cate didn't like that idea so she cried and cried. I got her settled in her own bed.

When I got back to my bed, Danny was already back to sleep (with his legs all the way over into my territory). He tossed and turned and coughed for about an hour. I asked him if he wanted to go back to his own bed. He said yes. Dan slept on the top bunk. Danny on the bottom. Pretty sure we were all extra tired this morning. No more sleepovers. I don't know how you people sleep when you have kids that share rooms every night.

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The other day Danny said to me, "I wish I could be with you all the time!" I don't know when he thinks he's not with me. Preschool twice a week? When I'm in the shower? Night time when we're asleep? That's pretty much the only time we're apart.

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I broke the rake this week. Lucky for me it was after I had filled up the green waste container with about a zillion dead leaves. I was remembering the raking I did 5 years ago when my belly was filled with baby. I raked and raked and raked but I couldn't bend over to pick any of it up. Nothing. Too fat.

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Cate slept until 9:41 on Tuesday morning. I feel like that is noteworthy.

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We passed this house on the way home from preschool last week. See those green things over the porch lights? They're those cheap jack-o-lanterns that kids take trick-or-treating. I'm thinking you just cut a slit up the back and slip them over the lights. Very clever. I'll have to remember this one for next year.

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I've been grounded for a week. Our wireless quit working and now I have to be plugged in. It's annoying. I think being grounded actually cuts down on my screen time though. That's probably a good thing.

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I clipped Cate's fingernails. Shortly after that she came to me and said, "Now I can't get my boogers out!" I asked her why not (not having a clue why she was telling me that). Her reply, "Cuz you clipped my fingers!" Danny saved the day. He shoved his finger up his nose and said, "Look, Cate! My finger gets them right out!" I told her to stop picking her nose and go get a tissue.

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Sometimes I think that if this mothering stuff was my full time job and I could punch a time card, I'd punch it at 5:55 pm. I can't seem to function past 6:00. The patience is gone and I just hit the wall. Done. Done. Done. Every day. Just like how Danny cried from 5:00-7:00 every single night for the first month of his life. Every night. Crying. Crying. Crying for no reason and then at 7:00, done. It was so weird and exhausting and extremely frustrating.

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I've felt a very strong urge to get Christmas shopping done early this year. That started in about August. I'm done. Have been for a while. I've never done this before. I'm usually shopping in December (which I hate with a passion). I kind of worry that maybe something horrible is going to happen to me and that's why I got it all done. At least my kids will have presents under the tree even if this horrific thing happens. I'm really hoping nothing horrible happens and that I'm just being very prepared this year and I don't have to go to the store in December. Maybe I'll still go to the grocery store but that's it.

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Cate and Danny had a field trip this week. Their class went to see a play about pirates. Except the morning of the field trip Danny woke up saying his throat hurt and that when he coughed it sounded like he was honking. He stayed with Aunt Judy while I took Cate to the show. It was fine and dandy until she ate all her popcorn (before the thing even started) and then choked on a piece and puked it all back up.

Luckily, I'm the mom who has learned her lesson with this kid and eating popcorn and her tendency to puke. I had an extra cup. All the puke got in there. The kind lady in front of us offered me a wipe and wondered if Cate was sick. I told her she's just got a very sensitive gag reflex. The mom kept telling her daughter to stop staring at Cate. I'm glad Danny stayed home because I'm not sure he would have liked all the singing and dancing. I'm not sure I liked all the singing and dancing either.

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We got our first snow of the season this morning. That's why I wanted to get the raking and the mowing done. It was barely noticeable but the kids were happy. Cate licked snow off the dead leaves. She's crazy.

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We went to the fun kid place again this morning. Danny loved the fake grocery store again. It's so funny watching him walk around with that little cart. He was picking out ingredients for soup.

Cate dressed up as a bear and got on stage. I hated to make her leave. She was having a blast. Dan came with us this time. He said it was torture. Following kids around and trying to make sure you don't lose them. He's right. It is torture but we do it because we love them. The cheese fries we ate on the way home made up for it though.

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And last but not least, Grama Bama had a little procedure at the hospital on Monday. I told Dan she better make it out ok or else she'd ruin Halloween for the kids. He told me she better make it out ok or else we'd be really sad. Very true.

She's fine. Hallelujah! She'll probably be mad at me for mentioning it but oh, well. She can come be mad at me to my face when she gets here in less than 2 weeks. Hallelujah again!

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Time for bed. Even though the powers that be say I get an extra hour to sleep, my kids do not agree. Stupid time change.

a big red geoboard

2011-11-03T14:32:00.001-06:00

Well, the cold front blew in and the weather thingee on my computer tells me it's supposed to snow on Saturday. Almost as much as I hate the blazing heat of summer, I dread the stuck-inside-all-day-ness of a long cold winter. (Am I ever happy about the weather? Of course I am. Spring and fall. That's about it.)

I've been collecting ideas of stuff to do so that we all make it out of winter alive this year.

Artsy and craftsy stuff that I find around the internet.

File folder games that I made when I was a teacher (first grade level but my boy's a genius so I think he can handle some of them).

Other stuff I'll share (some day when my kids decide to take nice long naps at the same time).

First on the list, the geoboard I made.

I MADE IT!

The best part about this geoboard, it was free. I didn't buy a thing for it. I know at some point in time somebody paid something for all the supplies but it wasn't me. So free it is.

Back in the olden days when I taught school, my students used geoboards like these. Plastic ones with little plastic pokey things that they hook rubber bands around to make shapes. They were a big hit with the kids. I figured I could make my own.

I found some wood in the garage. I don't have a saw to cut it quickly and easily in half (to make one for each kid) so I just figured we'd use this as a lesson in sharing. Bonus.

The paint was leftover from the float we built for the parade the summer Cate was born.

I found the nails in the back garage, right next to the maraschino cherries, spray graphite and the waterproof adhesive bandages.

I painted that board and then when it was dry, measured and hammered my life away. I'm good at measuring. I'm not so good at hammering. I only ruined about 6 or 7 nails, I'm happy to report. In the end, I had almost exactly the right amount for my ginormous geoboard. I only had to search for 2 or 3 more to replace the ones I bent so badly they couldn't be reused. Oops.

Please excuse the state of disarray of my children's fashion. Just keeping it real. Danny has a shirt on. It's just around his waist. Cate pretty much lives in the princess dress and fairy wings. I promise I do brush her hair. I usually just wait until we're going to be leaving the house.

The kids enjoyed the geoboard once I showed them how to build shapes with the rubber bands. Cate likes making a shape and then saying, "What shape is that, Mama?" Then I tell her and she says, "Good job!" I taught her trapezoid. She calls it crapazoid.

Look at her "I'm Really Concentrating" lip. I love it.

Here's the kicker. This geoboard I made is totally a hazard. You know how marbles are fun and all but pretty much a choking hazard? Same with the geoboard. Except it's an impaling hazard. Can you imagine the horror if your kid accidentally fell face first onto that thing?

You've got to take the good with the bad I guess. Good: learning stuff. Bad: a nail in the eyeball.

The kids only played with that geoboard on the floor once. That was so they could be in front of the living room window so I could have good lighting for these pictures. Now it sits on the kitchen counter, never to be moved. Since I pretty much live in the kitchen, they're always supervised if they want to play with it.

So far, no injuries.

Only happy kids and crapazoids.

a little halloween history

2011-11-01T09:21:00.001-06:00

Now that it's over I can tell the truth.

I don't care for Halloween very much.

I don't enjoy figuring out a costume and then wearing it happily. So I don't.

I blame it on all those years I spent as an elementary school teacher. Halloween was not my favorite day of the school year. I loved seeing the cute kids. I didn't love the craziness.

And then I had a baby and figured I better be happy about Halloween for his sake.

Danny's first Halloween costume was this little China man outfit Dan and I bought in San Francisco a few months before he was born.

This was the trip where I was 5 months pregnant but just looked like a lady who enjoyed burgers and fries and chocolate shakes a little too much. No cute round belly yet. And I was so incredibly embarrassed for Dan to be taking that picture of me.

Dan bought a matching big man China man costume for himself. I think it was a size XXXXL (or something crazy like that since you don't find many 6'2" China men). He wore that costume to hand out candy to our trick-or-treaters that year. I'm pretty sure a lot of them thought he was nuts since he used his crazy China man accent while doing it.

My costume that year was Crazy Pregnant Lady Who Can't Figure Out How to Make Her Hair Look Decent. Pretty much the same costume I have this year...except for the pregnant part. Actually, it's the same costume I've had most years (minus that one part). Either that or Grouchy Mom. That's been a good one too.

The next year Dan was Dwight K. Schrute by day (with the middle schoolers) and China man by night (with China baby). You can't really see it in the pictures but Danny's hat had a long black yarn braid down the back. Little China baby hair. It was adorable.

The very next Halloween we had a baby Cate to dress up too. Dan was rocker dude by day and mild-mannered zookeeper at night. Danny was a monkey and Cate was his banana.

Sadly, no picture of the monkey and his banana together. I lost Mom Points for that one. I'm sure they'll never forgive me.

The next year brought the fireman and his dalmatian puppy. Cate even got to wear the little matching footies with her costume since she was a 16-month-old who didn't know how to walk. I like to think it worked out better this way. She was adorable.

Still adorable the entire time I lugged her around the neighborhood to do the trick-or-treating. Plus, if she hadn't come along I wouldn't have gotten to eat all her candy right?

One of my favorite parts about Halloween (see, I'm not a total Boo-humbug) is the pumpkins. Our across-the-street neighbor has had a big pumpkin patch in her backyard for as long as I can remember. This year, she didn't. I was really bummed when I found out. I was afraid I'd have to actually buy pumpkins at the grocery store this year. Luckily, a kind soul dropped off 4 at our house one Saturday morning and I was spared the agony of paying for grocery store pumpkins.

My neighbor said she does know the sign is spelled wrong. That extra P just wouldn't fit in the sign. I just love looking out the window and seeing pumkins for sale. It makes me smile. Well, it will make me smile again next year when her pumkins are back in business.

Know why I like the pumpkins? For the seeds. My favorite. This year I soaked them in salty water for 24 hours before roasting (like this recipe suggested) and I'm in love. Oh, they are yummy.

We all remember what happened last Halloween, right? Darth Vader and the Marshmallow who finally got her act together and turned into a beautiful cheerleader.

That brings us to this year.

Saturday we went to some kind of spooktacular fun stuff at the dino museum. It was free with our membership. I love free stuff.

We carved pumpkins. Dan asked Cate what kind she wanted and she made a silly face with her tongue sticking out. That's what kind of pumpkin she got. He's quite an artist, wouldn't you say? Danny wanted grumpy. What a surprise.

We went to Barnyard Boo at the farm and got faces painted and other Halloweeny fun stuff. Of course Cate requested a pink cat instead of the standard black one. Danny pointed to the word BOO on the sign with all the choices listed and asked his sister if she wanted boo on her face instead. Dan and I looked at each other in amazement that our kid read the word boo. A proud moment for us.

We ate lunch at Cocolito's on Saturday with a grumpy horse and his cowboy.

The kids and I made spiders out of yarn and pipe cleaners. I didn't pay attention to the directions for the first one so we ended up with a black spider with 16 legs. The rest of them aren't very spooky. That's what happens when you try to be less controlling and perfect with everything and let the kids have some choices. Rainbow spiders for Halloween.

And the best part of Halloween this year by far...

Glitter Pumpkins!

We made these one night with the young women at church. I've never done anything to a pumpkin before besides turn it into a jack-o-lantern. I don't fancy myself a very crafty person. It's just not my thing.

I might have found an exception. These were fun to make and I think I even smile a tiny bit every time I see them up on my shelf.

I'm thinking I'll leave them up until Thanksgiving is done.

I made an orange one too so I could put them together for my other team. War Eagle!

(Speaking of War Eagle, Danny was running his fingers along the words in the hymn book at church on Sunday singing, "War Eagle, fly down the field..." Another proud moment for me.)

The weather was nice yesterday so we played in the leaves at the cousins' house.

Cate loves Jarrett. I told her that he'd be coming over to our house for dinner after trick-or-treating and she said, "Oh, goody! I love Jarrett! When I see him I'm going to give him a hug!" But she said it in her little voice that sounds so much cuter than the way I wrote it. Oh, well.

Cousin Ray Ray dressed up in Cate's puppy costume from a few years ago. Too bad he learned how to walk when he was 10 months old. He missed out on wearing the matching footies.

We went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood when Dan got home from work. The kids wanted to go to Carolyn and Emo's first. She had two bowls set out. One with apples and one with candy. Not just loose candy, bags with 5 or 6 pieces inside. Know what my kids picked?

Apples. No kidding. The very first house on our trick-or-treating route and they chose apples. Another proud moment for the parents.

It didn't last though. Cate pretty much just took handfuls at the rest of the houses we visited. I tried to restrain her but she was on a mission. Luckily, we know all the lovely people and they were all fine with her greediness.

Dan was just thrilled to be with us on our quest for candy. He was a cowboy with a bat-a-tude!

Then there's those evil neighbor friends of ours who forced us to eat warm homemade donuts. They were dressed like lunch ladies so how could we tell them no? I just ate one donut hole though. Self control at its finest.

After all the trick-or-treating, we came home and feasted on the not-from-a-can chili waiting for us in the crock pot. Oh, and cornbread. Can't have chili without cornbread. With honey on top. That's why I skipped the donuts. I'd rather pig out on warm cornbread.

The kids watched It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on my computer and then went to bed.

I turned off the porch light so nobody would be ding-donging and waking up my kids. That didn't stop the teenage boys though. They ding-donged anyway. I ignored them.

There is one thing about Halloween that I'll miss. It's a little game I started one day when the fighting in the back seat was overwhelming and I had to figure out something to get them to knock it off. Danny named it Halloween Hunting. You look out your window as you're driving along and call out all the pumpkins, skeletons, spiders, witches (you get the idea) that you can see. Thank you to all of you wonderful people who decorate your houses. You saved my sanity this Halloween season.

Maybe Halloween's not so bad after all. Once I get past feeling like a bad mom since I don't sew my kids' costumes, I'm ok. That happens on November 1st. Maybe next year I'll just hand sew their costumes.

Then I'll be an extra awesome mom. Or probably just extra crazy.

And one last little Halloween confession: I took all the chocolate from the kids' bags and hid it in Dan's sock drawer. I left the tootsie rolls though. Those aren't real chocolate anyway.

who's the boss?

2011-10-29T22:57:00.002-06:00

me: in the kitchen, doing dishes probably (since that's what I do best)

them: in the front room, sort of playing together, mostly fighting (since that's what they do best)

Here's what I heard (aside from the fightin' words):

"Hey, Danny! You're not the boss cuz Mommy's not in the shower!"

Oh, what funny kids I have.

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Also, you know how you find a great idea on the internet about some kind of activity that will keep your toddler happy. Something that's supposed to be fun. And maybe helpful with their physical development and well-being?

Get a strainer thingee and let them stick pipe cleaners in it. It's sure to be a hit with the little kids.

Two thumbs down.

I have pipe cleaners and strainer thingees so we tried it. Not good. Well, unless you think an activity that keeps them occupied for 3 minutes and makes a huge mess of extra pipe cleaners all over the kitchen floor a success. I don't.

What are you supposed to do when the 3 minutes is over and they're ready to move on to destroying some other area of the house? Make them help you pull out all the pipe cleaners because you might need that strainer thingee for dinner prep. Then you're left with a whole bunch of bent pipe cleaners.

They do make lovely hats though.

keep on the sunny side

2011-10-28T03:53:00.001-06:00

I'm pretty good at lots of things.

You already know I'm a pro at washing dishes and cleaning up after my children.

Wiping bums, warming up chicken nuggets and avoiding the ironing pile? Yep. I'm an expert.

Lately I've realized I'm super good at a few more things.

Feeling overwhelmed, discouraged, frazzled, unsatisfied, inadequate, frustrated, unhappy? Oh, yes. I've got those covered too.

In an effort to get out of the funk and get over to the sunny side (I really wish I would just stay there all the time but dang, it's hard sometimes), I've been trying to really take note of all the little (and biggish) things that make me happy. I've got 5 index cards full of notes I've been jotting down so I won't forget.

From the top:

Cate and her daddy having a tea party. That girl loves a tea party. She's quite the hostess. She was tickled pink that Dan was playing along with her. I was tickled pink that he didn't break that yellow chair.

Vintage Halloween decor. I brought in this spider that my grandpa macramed many years ago. It's been hanging in the back garage. Spooky, huh? I'm thinking it would look pretty cool spray painted black.

The cold front blew in. I'm happy to be wearing my clogs again. I feel like that picture makes my legs look weird and my feet look really small. Oh, well. The clogs are back. I like them.

That goofy kid. I really have no idea what he was thinking. This picture was taken before the cold front blew in though. He's just a silly boy. And now the neighbors all know it since we were in the front yard.

My new favorite treat. I've tried honey blueberry, honey strawberry and honey flavored. I love them all. I have to restrain myself though since it's not fat free and holy cow that stuff's not low calorie. It satisfies my sweet tooth (sometimes) and I figure it's a little healthier than stuffing my face with chocolate.

Fancy dollar store Halloween decor. The skeleton, that is. The spider. We made them. Actually, I made them. The kids watched impatiently. And that poor spider is hung where it's hung because there was already a nail in the wall.

A package from a kind soul. Cate saw it and said, "Oh, that's for meeeeee!"

Turning 5. He's happy about it so I'm happy about it. Not sure why I shouldn't be. Am I supposed to be saying stuff about boo hoo I can't believe my baby is growing up so fast? Well, I'm not saying that stuff. I like it when kids grow. They're more fun that way. I liked him when he was a baby and I like him even more now. The end.

A budding make-up artist. Cate's been wearing that princess dress almost every day for weeks. It makes me happy because, well, it makes her happy. She saw me putting on my make-up and wanted some of her own. That other stuff I made her isn't cutting it anymore. I gave her some blue eyeshadow I bought at the dollar store. The picture doesn't do it justice. It was spectacular. On her nose and her mustache? Priceless.

OTHER HAPPY STUFF NOT PICTURED:

Cate and I were out driving one day. She pointed ahead and yelled, "Look at the mountains, Mom! There's snow on them!" I said, "I know. Aren't they beautiful?" She sat back in her seat and started singing God Bless America. She didn't get very far because she doesn't know all the words yet (like her brother does) but that's ok. It made me happy that she was inspired by those snowy mountains.

Danny said, "I can't decide what I want to be when I grow up. A police officer or a doctor or a hospitaler or a dad." I guess he could choose dad and one other. But I'm not really sure what a hospitaler does so maybe he could pick dad plus two of the others.

Halloween hand soap in a black dispenser with a spider on the front that Grandma gave us. Smells like marshmallows. A certain little boy came into the room making spitting sounds because he "accidentally" got some of the soap on his tongue. I can't blame him though. It does smell quite tasty.

Danny thinks my blueberry oatmeal smells yucky. He tells me to eat it in another room. He tells me this when I'm standing in the kitchen. I'm not sure what other room he'd like me to eat it in. It doesn't make me happy that he thinks my oatmeal stinks. It makes me chuckle which is a form of laughing and that's what you do when you're happy so close enough.

He asks for Fruit Hoops every morning for breakfast since it's his favorite cereal. It makes me happy that he'll actually eat breakfast nowadays. For a while there he just ate bread.

My favorite video came on the tv today (ahem, for that extremely brief moment that it was on) and the kids yelled at me to come watch because they know it's my favorite. I did lots of dancing and singing along in the 4 times I made us watch it. Rewinding live tv on the DVR makes me happy.

Cate was drawing with her Smarties candies this afternoon. The ones she got from her preschool Halloween party. She was sitting on my bedroom floor while I was getting dressed. She arranged the little candies in some kind of pattern and said, "Two little boobies and a belly button. Done. It's you, Mama!" I'm not happy about the little boobies. I am happy that she can see art in a bunch of Smarties candies.

Cate was watching Despicable Me (for the eight millionth time) in the front room. When it was done she yelled, "Hey, guys! There's a dance party in here!" We like to dance to the music at the end of movies. They call it a dance party. Tangled is another good one to dance to during the closing credits.

Kids who use the toilet ALL BY THEMSELVES. Oh, I never thought this time would come. It's here and I'm happy about it.

More happy stuff:

Look at those cute kids of mine. Good gravy. They're adorable. Thanks to the preschool party, I've got cute pictures of them in their Halloween costumes during the day in good lighting with smiles on their faces. Now the pressure's off to get a good picture on Halloween night. Phew.

I asked Danny what he thought his teacher would be dressed like. His answer: a weed.

How could seeing this kid all decked out in almost every piece of princess gear that fits her (plus fairy wings) not make me happy? Oh, I know how. When she gets out of bed at night, turns on the light and puts it all on instead of going to sleep. That's how. Otherwise, nothing but happy. The fact that she put all that gear on all by herself and then came to me to show off, pure happy.

This one's a big happy:

Hard Puppy has been found! Danny's slept with that mangy mutt his whole life. It's filthy and floppy and smells kinda funky. He won't let me wash it. It was missing for 3 nights. He slept anyway but I was worried. I could tell he was a little worried too. Then friends came over to play one morning and got out the big trucks. There was Hard Puppy, shoved in the back of the plastic garbage truck. Danny likes to hide him from me so I won't wash him. He must have shoved him in there and then forgot about it. Very happy about finding that guy.

See, there's lots of happy stuff all around. I guess I just have to carry around a little yellow index card with me wherever I go so I can jot it all down. That way I won't forget.

messy

2011-10-26T22:45:00.004-06:00

I'm sitting here trying to come up with some kind of mediocre blog post and it's just not happening. I hate to see that post from Saturday still up though so here you go.

I feel like that cute baby up there.

A mess.

I'm just not nearly as cute as him.

Or her.

ten things I learned at the pumpkin patch

2011-10-22T20:58:00.001-06:00

1. In order to cram the maximum number of people on the tractor-pulled wagon ride, there's no place to sit. Well, there is a place to sit. It's called your bum. On the hay (or straw, I can never get those two straight). Not bales of hay. Just scattered hay. Hay bums. Straw bums. Those preschoolers, they just plop right down. Those old mamas, they have a harder time. Then they have to cross their legs so that all those kids and moms can get crammed on the wagon. Ug.

2. If there's an opportunity for my kids to fight about who gets to stand where for a picture, they'll take it. Every time. Especially if there's a line of people waiting to take their kids' pictures in front of the ginormous pumpkin photo op.

3. Little boys like to jump. Doesn't matter how high. Doesn't matter if their mom is getting tired of standing there watching them jump. They just like to jump. Over and over and over again.

4. The sandbox filled with corn is a lot more fun to play in without all those big kids jumping around and throwing corn. Also, expect to find stray kernels in random places when you get home.

5. Remember how they like to fight about where to stand for the pictures? Same thing goes for where to stick their heads for pictures.

6. Cate will totally be the one to ride all the fast roller coasters with me at Six Flags some day. Totally.

7. I'd enjoy the slide a lot more if I could ride the escalator to the top of the hill. After the third time I was done. Cate, on the other hand, was not. She's a real thrill seeker.

8. Now I know why moms try to send the dads on preschool field trips.

9. Remember how they like to fight about where to stand and where to stick their heads for pictures? Same thing goes for the horsey swings. Please tell me I'm not the only one.

10. If you wait until the end of your stay (that means when the kiddos are grumpy and you don't want the other moms staring at your grumpy kids anymore) to pick your pumpkins, they're going to be too tired to walk all the way over to the actual pumpkin patch to pick them out. They'll be happy to pick one from the pumpkin stand next to the exit instead. Don't be surprised when you get home and one of them asks when you're going to go to the real pumpkin patch though. Don't bother trying to explain to them that you just spent the past 3 hours at the real pumpkin patch. It won't work.

happy birthday to you and you

2011-10-21T03:06:00.000-06:00

Happy birthday to the best mom I've ever had.

She'll want to kill me for using this picture but that's a chance I'm willing to take.

Look how cute she is.

* * *

And happy birthday to one of the best little sisters I've ever had.

Pretty sure she won't kill me for using this picture.

Look how cute she is.

{the one standing in the back holding my other little sister}

Happy birthday, you two.

Love you both!

p.s. Thanks for sharing a birthday...one less thing I have to remember.

red's my color

2011-10-19T04:40:00.001-06:00

Do you suppose I should post something boring, frivolous and blah blah blah before I show you more goodies I found whilst cleaning out the garage?

No?

Good.

How do you like my new (to me) winter coat? It's red. I really do like red.

It's made of something super duper soft and it keeps me toasty warm. Well, at least for the afternoon I wore it. Then the weather warmed up again and it's just hanging in the closet waiting.

I'm hoping the sleeves grow a good 3 inches while it's hanging in there or else my wrists are going to get mighty chilly this winter.

I always knew my grandma had excellent taste. I'm assuming Cate thinks so too. Either that or she's wondering why her crazy mama is taking pictures of herself in the window of the new back door.

Probably that last one.

And the purse.

I like it.

I don't own many purses because I've been toting around a diaper bag for the past 5ish years. I don't need the diaper bag anymore. I need a purse. I'll use Grandma's old one for now. I've seen uglier so I think it'll do.

Danny came around the corner just as I was taking this picture of myself wearing the wig I found. I love the look on his face. Once again, a child of mine wondering what's going on with that crazy mama.

I'm sure if I chopped my hair short and stopped getting my grays colored brown that's a pretty good idea of what I'd look like.

Amazing. I know. I'm almost tempted to just do it for reals.

* * *

One last find for the day.

Something that brought a few tears to my eyes and a little lump in my throat.

I stuck my hands in the pockets of that red coat and here's what I pulled out:

A kleenex and a partially sucked on breath mint wrapped in wax paper.

Made me miss my grandma and feel thankful for her little quirky habits.

And her stylin' red coat.

the weekend

2011-10-17T02:43:00.001-06:00

So I'm going to pretend that the weekend starts on Friday morning. It's my weekend so I get to decide when it starts.

We got to play with Ray Ray in the morning so his mommy could go on a field trip with his big brother. When I told Cate that her favorite cousin was coming over she squealed with delight. And then she said something like, "Oh, goody! I wuv Way Way!"

Danny wuvs Way Way too.

Aunt Judy got home and watched Danny while I took Cate to do some shopping for Christmas presents. Some of them were even for her. She was so busy roaming the aisles telling me what Santa could bring her that she didn't notice when I put pink girly stuff in the cart.

We went back to Ray Ray's house later so the cousins could play while my wonderful husband took me on a date.

I'd been craving steak for a while and the roadhouse did not disappoint.

Saturday morning I made a few loaves of double chocolate loaf with peanut butter cream cheese spread. One for us to eat. One for my Ute loving neighbor. One for the new neighbors we still haven't met.

On the other side of that Y tag I wrote something about hoping they love eating the chocolate loaf as much as we'd love watching BYU win. Lame? Maybe. But I really wanted to make that recipe and any chance I can get to provide my neighbors with some kind of treat wrapped in blue, I take it.

We put the kids down for Quiet Time, Dan turned on the football game and I headed out back to do some organizing and cleaning in the back garage.

I found some good stuff.

I love that my grandma saved these old milk bottles. See that little poem?

Once I met a little girl
Whose skin was white as silk
For every day, beside her plate
There was a glass of milk

And it looks like lots of lattice top pies are in my future with this handy gadget.

Ok'd by experts. Used by housewives.

I love it.

Know what I love even more? What brought tears to my eyes (but not so many that they flowed over and actually made me cry about furniture because that would be weird)?

This.

I found it in the far corner. Covered with a sheet. Boxes stacked on top.

It's getting painted soon and then it'll make itself at home next to the dining room window.

Anybody know how to get all that crud off the glass?

* * * *

And to wrap up the weekend, Sunday.

Leftover pizza for second breakfast.
Church meeting.
Church (where the kids were on their best behavior - hallelujah!)
Popcorn for dinner.
A failed attempt to meet the new neighbors.
Long bath for Cate.
And kids in bed at 7:30.

the end

madame butterfly

2011-10-12T07:53:00.002-06:00

Yesterday after preschool we stopped by Kid to Kid to look at their selection of Halloween costumes (because I'm the mom who doesn't sew).

Danny didn't know what he wanted to be this year.

Cate knew. She wanted to be a princess. No offense to Cinderella and her ladies, but that's not what I had in mind. She's already got a few princess dresses but they all "tickle" her when she wears them. That means they're itchy. I knew there was no way she was going to wear one of her princess dresses for the duration of the trunk-or-treat at church and then trick-or-treating around the neighborhood (and maybe even around the cousins' neighborhood too).

She saw a purple butterfly costume (after trying on zebra, giraffe, penguin and chicken costumes that were all too small) and decided that was the one. She tried it on. It was a pretty good fit, except that I couldn't do up the snaps in the crotch. Too small. Then I kind of wondered why a costume that fits a three-year-old would have snaps in the crotch. A quick look at the tag and come to find out, it's a costume for an 18-24-month-old.

Ooooops.

Too late though. I knew there was no going back. I'm hoping I can get my neighbor to rig up something to keep the crotch piece together. Some kind of extension piece with velcro. At least the hat thing fits. It's actually a tad big. I'm not sure what kind of 18-24-month-old has a head that big but I don't really care. The costume search is done.

And I can't tell you what costume Danny picked out. It'll be a surprise. Unless you ask him. Then he'll most likely tell you. I like to try to keep some things a secret. It annoys people.

Best part of the costume shopping trip, both kids telling me they needed to use the restroom, while I was standing in a long line waiting to check out. But they didn't tell me at the same time. Oh, no. Danny waited until after I had taken Cate (and lost my spot in line). I asked him when I took her if he needed to go too. He said no. He lied. So I lost my spot in line twice. You know I still love them anyway right?

IN OTHER NEWS:

I went to Costco while the kids were off learning that letter D is for dinosaur. Lookee what I found for Aunt Suzy. A mini Hello Kitty fridge. And when I say mini I'm not messin' around. I opened it up to take a peek inside. Looks like it could hold at most 3 cans of your carbonated beverage of choice.

Danny asked me where he was born. I told him Utah. He asked me where I was born. I told him Texas. Then he looked at me in wide-eyed amazement and said, "You were born where all the cowboys live?" Funny thing is, there's probably just as many cowboys living where he was born and he doesn't even notice. I guess next summer we'll take him down to Main Street to watch the parade dedicated solely to COWBOYS and their horses. A whole parade full of cowboys. And maybe go to the rodeo too. Hello, cowboys again.

Cate said to me the other day, "Mommy, I'm going to do a silly dance. You watch me and then you laugh, ok?" She's a funny kid.

The kids learned about circus stuff last week in school. They came home wanting to show me how to juggle. Oh, it was quite the sight. First Cate just went through the motions with her hands. Flailing around her head. No balls. Just hands. Then Danny got in on the action and thought the little oranges on the counter would make wonderful juggling balls. Except he only used one orange. He showed me how to juggle with one orange. I got a good laugh out of watching him concentrate so deeply on catching that one orange over and over.

I made breakfast for dinner last night. French toast. I burned the bacon. It was turkey bacon which almost doesn't count as bacon in the first place. Burnt turkey bacon is not good. Trust me.

Danny asked me to sing the wah wah song the other day. I had no idea what the wah wah song was. He said, "You know. Wah wah wah wah wah. Gooooooooooo cougars!" Oh, the BYU fight song. Why didn't you just say so? We've got to do something about helping that kid find his R's.

I'm pleased to report that the dining room table is cleared of all Dan's possessions. Now we can't eat off that table because the kids spread stickers, sequins, wiggle eyes and crayons all over it.

An after dinner conversation with my son last night:

When are you going to be nice to me and Cate today?

I have been nice all day! (I really had been. No grouchy stuff from them or me.)

Not all day. Remember when you told me and Cate you didn't want to listen to us on the way home from preschool?

Yes. That's because you were fighting and I didn't want to hear it anymore.

Oh.

Have I been nice the rest of the day?

Naaaayeah. (no and yes combined maybe?)

Then I said sorry and gave him a hug and a kiss and he told me I get beans in my jar.

And last but not least, I love fall. The sun goes down and the kids go to bed. 7:30 last night. It's the stuff dreams are made of.

nine on the ninth

2011-10-09T21:09:00.005-06:00

Morning snuggles with Daddy: I like to send the kids in to pester Dan in the morning. Sometimes they go in and pretend they're very loud roosters. Chock a doodle doo! Chock a doodle doo! (That's how Danny says it.) This morning it was Cate and snuggle time, except she's pretty squirmy and I'm not really sure how much of it counts as snuggling.

Tears at 9:00: You know, Sunday morning is not my favorite. I think it's tough on the kids too for some reason. Isn't Sunday morning supposed to be relaxing and peaceful? What are we doing wrong? I ask myself that weekly. I have no answers other than they like to pester each other in the mornings too, not just their daddy.

Building a house: Uncle Tim and Aunt Kym gave Danny these cardboard blocks a few years ago. They are the bane of my existence. The kids love them. This is the house they built in the middle of the floor this morning (after those tears were wiped away). Those five blue blocks outside the wall are flowers. So clever. It makes my heart happy to see them playing together nicely. It doesn't last long sometimes but I'll take it.

Candy corn: White chocolate's not my favorite but those m&m's people are so clever sometimes. Grandma gave us this bag of candy yesterday. I opened it after church today and started wondering what kind of baked goodie I could make with them. Cookies maybe. Or just let the kids eat them. Probably that last one.

Speaking of candy corn: My amazingly talented friend Janell made this dress and tie for my adorable kidlets. Danny was not happy about posing for the picture. Nothing new about that. Funny thing about candy corn, I think they taste horrible. They sure look cute as a dress though. Thanks, Janell!

Church gives me a headache: Just kidding. Kind of. I was hungry. I ran home with the kids...in heels. I was tired. The headache stuck around for a few hours. I popped some pills and went to lay down in my bed. I asked Dan in my sweetest voice to not let the kids bother me. Ha. They never came banging on my door but I did hear Cate running back and forth from her room talking in a loud voice that Mommy has a headache.

Dan's organizing project: So he's trying to clean out the garage one box at a time. I'm not sure how many boxes are currently spread out all over the dining room table. I look at that pile of his precious stuff in wonder (as in I wonder if we'll ever eat dinner on that table again) and awe (as in ahhh, man. are we ever going to eat dinner on that table again?).

The last of the garden tomatoes: We ate them for dinner tonight. BLT's. I had the carb-free BLT. L on the outside. B and T on the inside. Lots and lots of B. There's still plenty of green tomatoes clinging to the vines. I'm just wondering if they're going to make it to adulthood now that it's coldish out. Dan said they will. I better buy more bacon.

Pictures from yesterday: I scrolled through the pictures from my nephew's wedding yesterday. It was a beautiful day. The ceremony was lovely. It gave me a lot to think about. Made me want to be a better wife and mother. That's always a good thing. My kids were mostly good. It was a long day. Promising ice cream and cupcakes always helps. Playing with cousins was good too. More pictures of the wedding festivities forthcoming.

And since they're just so ding dang cute, more pictures of my little candy corn and her grouchy sidekick.

And since I like to make myself feel really old sometimes...

I remember what I was doing on 10/9/87 at 6:54:321 p.m. (I don't really know how to punctuate for that last 1. Does it need another semicolon and then a zero?)

Freshman year of high school. I was in the marching band. We were playing our warm up stuff before going onto the field for the pregame show at the football game. My band teacher stopped the warm ups to tell us what time it was and to recognize that it was 10/9/87.

And then the very next Friday night the announcer at the football game came over the loudspeaker and let everyone know that the rescuers had pulled baby Jessica out of the well. We cheered and hugged each other.

I remember weird stuff.

And I feel really old now.

a conversation before bed

2011-10-08T01:10:00.006-06:00

Danny, are you going to have a wife some day?

Yes.

Do you know what a wife is?

Yes.

Whose wife am I?

Daddy's!

Yep. Are you going to get married and have a wife and love her more than you love me?

I'm never going to love anybody more than you...ever!

{Commence the big hug and slobbery kisses}

I love you a hundred zillion million thousand billion zillion million zillion...and seven!

* * *

If he ever changes his mind, I hope I'm too old to notice.

photo by the lovely Christie

halloween by jerry seinfeld

2011-10-07T14:08:00.001-06:00

Here's another of my favorite books. Very appropriate for the season too.

Halloween by Jerry Seinfeld.

You know who Jerry Seinfeld is right?

If not, I don't think I can be your friend anymore.

If you love Seinfeld like we do (so far just Dan and me in this family but someday I hope my kids will have a sense of humor and they'll appreciate him too), then you'll love this book.

Even if you don't love Seinfeld (and you're ok with not being my friend) but you do love Halloween, you might still love this book.

Just look at that picture. Little kid Jerry dressed in his Superman costume with his winter coat on top. Head hung low because now who's gonna be able to see his awesome costume?

I haven't read this book to my own kids yet. I've shared it with my elementary aged students and they loved it. I read it at a few faculty meetings back in the day. Of course the teachers all got a good chuckle.

The best part about my copy...it comes with a CD recording of Jerry Seinfeld reading the book! I love it.

Get your own copy or come on over and borrow mine.

It'll cost you though.

Since it's Halloween season and I'm feeling nice, you can bring me some kind of pumpkiny treat and it's yours (but not for keeps).

And make sure that treat has some chocolate chips in it somewhere or you're going to be leaving empty handed.

we've been doing stuff

2011-10-06T21:17:00.000-06:00

The cousins slept over at our house on Saturday night. My idea. I take all the blame for the feelings of tiredness the next morning. The last time I walked out of Danny's room (where all three of them were on the bottom bunk) it was 12:22 Sunday morning. I told those 3 boys I didn't want to hear them again until morning. And I meant it.

I should have been more specific and given them a time that would be acceptable to wake up. Something like 10:00 maybe. Danny was awake at 7:30 and didn't want to be awake all alone so he woke up Kris. Late to bed, early to rise. That's my boy.

Cate let me fix her hair into loads of cuteness Sunday morning before leaving for family dinner at Aunt Cindy's house. Dumping out the entire bag of tiny elastic bands helped keep her occupied. I love having a little girl with longish hair. It's something I used to only dream about.

Cate and cousin Rusty tickled the ivories together. More like piano pounding, but tickling the ivories sounds much more sophisticated.

Those rambunctious kids of mine had a blast beating up their Uncle Tim (once they got over their shyness since they don't see him very often). Cate had fun doing her karate chops over and over and over again.

Danny's got Uncle Tim's head in the Leg Scissors in that middle picture. What you can't see is Cate standing on her uncle's back giving him karate chops to the head.

And then Cate's turn with the Leg Scissors. Uncle Tim is a good sport. He should be since he's the one that was encouraging them and playing along. He might have even started it all.

All the while, Grandma (and probably others) watched in horror as my sweet darlings played smackdown with their uncle. I take no blame for this. Dan's the one who taught them how to wrestle. They like it. Who am I to stand in their way of fun? I know a lot of people don't allow hitting or Leg Scissors in their homes but we're obviously not those people. You should see the Toe Hold and the Judo Flip. Good stuff.

I went to bed Sunday with a dreaded feeling that Monday was going to be a loooong day. Sometimes I just do not want to wash dishes or fold laundry or tidy up or make the bed every morning. So I decided that I wasn't going to do all that fun stuff Monday morning. We went to the farm instead.

Danny's not plugging his nose because of the farm smells. He was disgusted by the smell of the cheesy snacks that Cate had just been eating on the drive over. It's kind of funny that there just happens to be a lady's bum right next to him in the picture though.

When I told the kids we were headed to the farm they wanted Ray Ray to come too. So he did. It was his first time at the farm and he loved it. A little too much. That kid was trying to run all over the place. Aunt Judy had given me his new puppy dog kid leash/backpack combo apparatus to wear so wear it he did. That was an adventure since it was the first time he'd worn it. He needs to be leash trained. Just because you want him to stop trying to run away so you tug on the leash a little doesn't mean he'll stop trying to run away. He fell down. More than once.

The ponies were a big hit this time. Unlike our past visits. No scaredy cats this time.

Just smiles. Except for Ray Ray. He was a scaredy cat.

And then we were done. I was certainly done. It's a workout chasing around 3 little kids at the farm.

Danny played at the cousins' house and Cate went to Costco with me. We shared a slice of pepperoni pizza for lunch. As we were eating, Cate turned to me and said, "Mommy, that grandpa is grumpy!" That grandpa was sitting just a few tables away from us but I'm pretty sure he didn't hear her.

I asked her why she thought he was grumpy. She said, "Because he's grumpy." Well, duh. So I asked, "What part of him makes you think he's grumpy?"

Her reply, "He's eyes!" (meaning his eyes but you know, she's 3 and that's how she says it)

You know what, she was right. He's got those eyebrows that just naturally look kinda pointy and make him look mean and/or grumpy.

Can you tell from this undercover candid photo I took of him?

We came home and I got started on a little project. As I painted that chunk of wood I realized how all those crafty moms do it. You know, I see all that stuff they do and make and create and I wonder how on earth do you people do it? don't you have dishes to wash and laundry to fold and beds to make? how do you have time to paint stuff and make stuff? where are your kids? what's wrong with me?

Well I think I know. You just ignore stuff. The dishes, the laundry, the beds...and especially the kids. That's it right? Ignore stuff. I think I like that plan.

I took advantage of the nice afternoon weather (which is now gone, replaced with rain and cold) to do a little cleaning out of the back garage and shed. I found these two old screened windows. Not sure what to do with them so we just keep on keeping them stored in the shed. They're vintage. Vintage is cool. At least that's what all the cool kids say. Too bad I can't think of anything cool to do with them.

Look at these vintage steel wool pads I found. 10 cents each!

Kris came over to play after school and he and Danny worked on Halloween decorations. Halloween decorations made from Easter stickers Grandma gave us on Sunday. Oh, yes. We're so crafty around here. I told Danny he didn't have to smile at the camera, just pretend like he's busy. So he made pinching motions with his fingers. I love that kid.

I made a semi-gourmet meal of turkey sausage, mac and cheese, peas and grapes. I'm well on my way to writing my own cookbook and getting a show on The Food Network, wouldn't you say?

And then I walked around all day Tuesday with a big chocolate donut on the back of my head.

After preschool today I took Cate to the dinosaur museum. Just her and me. She loves it there. Especially the dark room with the stars. She ran through it over and over and over again singing her version of the Star Wars song at the top of her lungs. It's a good echo room.

The digging for bones room was quite thrilling today. She uncovered a new section of "bone" and yelled, "What is that, Mom? Oh, my gosh! What could it be?" I've got a budding paleontologist here.

Then we picked up Danny and ate dinner at Chick-fil-A. Dan missed out because of stupid parent/teacher conferences.

I put kids to bed early and then enjoyed watching The Office whilst Dan laughed out loud so loud he almost woke up the kids.

That's all, folks.

chicken pillows

2011-10-05T13:47:00.002-06:00

Here's what's for dinner tonight. Please excuse the picture taken long ago in my kitchen at night with the flash. Does that chicken pillow look appetizing anyway? I hope so because they are one of my favorites.

My Grandma used to make these for me when I came over for Sunday dinner in college. I'd call a few days ahead and let her know I planned on coming after church. She'd ask what I wanted to eat. Most of the time I requested chicken pillows. The other times it was her turkey tenders. I haven't made those yet myself but I've made these chicken pillows more times than I can count.

Chicken Pillows

2 packages crescent rolls
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 cups cubed chicken
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon chopped onion
1 package Pepperidge Farm Herb Stuffing
melted butter

Sauce

1 can cream of celery soup
half and half

I've got no step-by-step tutorial for you. Sorry.

Just open the can of crescent rolls. Keep two triangles together so you've got a rectangle. Plop some of the chicken mixture on top and then fold the corners up to the top so you make a little pillow with chicken inside. Pinch the sides and the top so the chicken mixture doesn't come out.

Melt the butter and spread it on top of each pillow. Dip the buttered side into the stuffing. Put them on a sprayed baking sheet and bake.

Mix the cream of celery soup and half and half over medium heat until it's the consistency you like your gravy. I am not a gravy girl. I don't like it ever...except on my chicken pillows. Maybe that's because the recipe calls it sauce. I don't know. It's yummy though.

And here's the recipe in Grandma's own handwriting. Isn't it lovely?

Make some.

They're delicious.

Even my kids think so.

p.s. It's ok to leave out the onion if you think onions are gross like I do.

a face

2011-10-04T07:30:00.004-06:00

Can you see it?

She drew it on top of the pink hopscotch that was already there
(except she would say it was only there because to her, those words are interchangeable).

The face is in blue.
An oval.
Two eyes.
A nose.
Straight line for a mouth.
An ear on each side.

Kind of looks like a muppet guy to me.
Bert without the unibrow.
I think she named it Daddy.

I'm so proud.