Domestic Goddess

Yet again the boys stayed home from school, which meant another day of not running. I had a bit more of a master plan for Wednesday, and combating the war of sickies.

After having stayed up most of the night giving Sheepie nebulizing treatments, I realized that Wednesday had to be a calm, stay lying around type of day. So we trekked to the movie rental store to get just about as many kids movies as I could stand (and one for me!) and then went back home. Normally I am very anti TV and really don’t like having the kiddlets watch lots of shows. However, desperate times call for desperate measures. They got to sit on my bed and watch movies all day. Not terribly proud of it, but it kept them still and helped to keep both of their Asthma under control.

Boy seemed to be turning the corner and was much happier/ healthier on Wednesday, so he just spent the day doing what he always does. He quiet enjoyed being able to be carried around with me while I did various things around the house. I learned a new wrap to carry him all cuddly on my back, and so he loved getting to just snuggle into my when he wasn’t feeling very good.

As for me; I played domestic goddess and made homemade applesauce while the kids were watching movies. We had about three pounds of apples that I needed to use because I didn’t want them to go bad before we could eat them all. So I made some freezer applesauce (mostly because I didn’t want to have to can anything).

It seems strange finally seeing me in a picture or two

Sheepie snuck in to help me for a while

Dinner time rolled around and I was once again struck with amazingness… the kids had been after me to give them ice cream all day (could it be because they hear about how Daddy eats it with ever meal while at the hotel? I’ll let you decide). So yeah, ice cream. Not the best thing to be giving to congested kids… but when you are as cool as me you find ways to make it work anyway. I give you…

Mashed potato ice cream sundaes sprinkled with corn and shrimp scampi!!! As good as ice cream any day. The boys were so tickled with how unconventional the idea of eating dinner out of an ice cream cup was that they gobbled the whole things down. Sheepie decided at the end he didn’t want to finish, so things go a bit heated there (since he couldn’t leave the table until he’d eaten all his supper), but all and all, they were a hit. I also tried something new with my mashed potatoes and found out I love making them with vegetable broth. Instead of using water when mashing them up to get it creamy, I added a bit of organic veggie broth—which as a side note, Wolfgang Puck makes a nice premade organic veggie broth in a good recycled container, for convenience, if you all are interested—and after a dash of pepper it gave the potatoes a really rich and full flavour. Yummy!

That’s about it for Wednesday. Boys went to bed fairly quickly except for Sheepie having a melt down and getting sent to sleep in the port a crib in the dining room. I sat down to watch, The Leatherheads, which The Hubby recommended after having seen it on his flight over to India, but I ended up falling asleep about twenty minutes in. Thankfully, unlike Tuesday, I got a full night of sleep.

Dinosaur, Dinosaur, So Lonely and Shy

So, Tuesday was a long day (with sadly, not too much to report).  All three boys were in full swing with their colds, and hacking their heads off, when they woke up. Not so very good.  Sadly, they ended up having to stay home from school.  You never win points toward being the coolest mom at the school if you send your kids to class dripping with snot and hacking their brains out.   So the ickles stayed home.

This kind of put the kibosh on my running while they were at school; something I am not happy about at all, because I have decided that I am sick of looking like I am still five months pregnant (or have just had a baby—I can’t decide which is worse). The moral of the story though, was that no running was involved in Tuesday, and that was just a bit sad.

Well, more accurately I should say, there was no running involved with me. Frog Prince and Sheepie decided that the perfect thing to do while sick would be to dress up in every single costume they own. If you’ve ever been to my house, or met me in real life, you will know what a sucker I am for costuming and making costumes. We have heaps and heaps of costumes; so naturally, this activity took up most of the day.  The running came into play when they dressed up as Dinosaurs and announced that they’d be having, ‘Dino Races’ all afternoon.  So glad they were home sick… lol.

This is actually the outfit Sheepie wore for his first Halloween

It's supposed to cover the whole body

And he takes the lead...

Really, that sums up our Tuesday; I can’t even remember what we had for dinner because it’s just that exciting. I’ve been trying to keep it really low key, because I tend to get sick rather easily (which doesn’t seem all that fair since I eat the healthiest and am most health conscience of our family and my husband never gets sick!!) If I get sick right now, I think I’d cry a bit… But Heavenly Father seems to understand and has the tender mercy to have kept me healthy.

Boy had his shining moment of glory as well today.. He used his first sippy cup! No trouble at all, it seems, because I had to walk away for a minute to check on the homemade apple juice I was making, and when I got back he was just happily laying there holding on to it and drinking his heart out. Great work, Boy!

It's just another Manic Monday....

(Can't say I, 'wish it were Sunday' though ;) )

Monday brought trips to the doctor, sick ickles (aka kids), and trips to the super market for such yummy things as baby Tylenol and shrimp for Sunday dinner this week.

Boy officially turned six months old on Monday, and so he was spirited off to the doctors for his check up. My oh my, you'd never believe that this boy was five weeks premature. He has sky rocketed from just barely being on the growth charts (even with the adjusted preemie chart) to being in the 50 and 60th percentiles clear across the boards!! He is now coming in at 16 lbs 12.5 oz, and is 26 inches long! Good job little baby Boy.

While we were in town for Boy's check up, we ran to Home Depot to replace the toilet seat and run to Safeway to pick up some more baby Tylenol for Boy's shots. Man, did I ever find a good deal there. I am not sure if I have ever seen Safeway sell books before, but they had a display of them put up, just as I was walking out the door, and so I stopped... because really, I have never been able to walk past a gathering of books without stopping. There were books of all kinds on sale for super cheap, but I found cook books! I have ALWAYS loved cookbooks because they are a mesh of two of my favourite things; cooking and reading! I haven't ever been prone to buying them though, because they are so expensive. Looking at my cook books, I can honestly say I have not bought one of them. They were all gifted to me. Monday, that changed! I found a pasta cook book and two books on healthful eating all marked down to 4.99. On top of that I 50% off that with my club card. So all together they were about nine bucks. Sweet. The real kill was a beautiful, thick, expensive cook book that has amazing recipes in it; it originally was 35.00 according to the inside of the book jacket. It was marked down to 4.99, and with my additional 50% off... I paid a grand total of 2.99 for it!!!! I was so tickled!

The rest of the day was spent at home, trying to keep all the boys rested and not too cranky. Sadly for both Sheepie and Boy , that didn't work. Sheepie just continues on with what he'd been doing Sunday, so I largely just ignored him when he melted down and he spent a good part of the day laying in bed crying (and sleeping).

Boy had been getting sick too, so to top that with his shots and teething he needed all the cuddles he could get. I decided it was time to enact on something I'd wanted for a long time anyways... a baby wrap. Basically it's a really really long piece of sturdy fabric that you can use to wrap and tie in various ways to hold your baby. They are ridiculously expensive in stores, so I haven't ever bought one.. but I just happen to have a nice, very long piece of fabric in my closet that would work lovely. It needed to be haved and sewn together, so I quickly did that and after sewing it so that they was no way even a nuclear bomb could rip out my stitches (let alone a little babys weight) I tried wrapping Boy for the first time.

Terrible pictures (stupid self timer and such), but you can see what I mean, by baby wrap.

I still need to sew all the hems of it, so that it doesn't fray, but let me tell you what!!!! He calmed right down and buried himself into the fabric under one of the shoulder straps so that his head was blocked from the light and went right to sleep. He didn't wake up after that until 6:30 Tuesday morning. Even when I took him out of it, and changed him into a bed time diaper. (he also calmed right down when I put him in it Tuesday morning when his shots/teeth were hurting him again.) The nice thing about it, is unlike other baby carriers I have, since he's wrapped against my body and there isn't a lot of extra space I don't feel like he's going to fall out when I move around. I can really use both my hands to do just about everything, and he's not bothered by it!!! You can also tie it so they sit on your hip, or on your back. I found a website that basically shows dozens of ways to tie baby wraps. What a life saver.

http://www.wearyourbaby.com/

Happy Birthday Hobbsies

Hobbes-- or Hobbsies as we all call him-- is Sheepies special lovie and his best friend. It has been a long road getting there, and there have been many bumps in their friendship (including Sheepies brief forays with a monkey named George and a Rabbit named Peter) but after three years of working at it, the two have arrived at that sacred place one calls, 'Best Friends'. Hobbes often goes places with us, can always be found wrapped in Sheepies arms at night, and increasingly, with the absence of Hubby, can be found playing 'daddy' to his little tiger brother, Morton.

Apparently, Saturday was Hobbsies birthday. Happy Birthday Hobbsies!!!

Sheepie came in, after cleaning the house that morning, and announced that we needed to throw his tiger a birthday party, because it was his birthday. Well, how can you refuse that? Especially since he'd found a birthday candle while he was cleaning the cupboard fronts in the kitchen, (the candle was in one of the drawers he was cleaning the front of).

Having baked blueberry muffins that morning, I pulled one out, and we put the candle in and I tried to sing. Sheepie stopped me an told me it had to be lit... Okay! He also said that Hobbsies needed a birthday present, so he ran to his room and a few minutes later emerged with something rapped in his fireman bag. With the candle now lit, and a present ready we sat Hobbes down in Boy's high chair and sang to him.

He then got to blow out his candle (it should be stated that Hobbes is actually three years old...) and had I not snapped the picture when I did, and quickly blown out the candle, the poor tiger would have ended up with a very burnt nose. As it is, he is a little singed from Sheepie face panting him into it.

He then got help, from Sheepie, cutting his cake

Finally, we watched him open his present, which turned out to be his very own, 'Bob the Tomato' doll. Can't you tell he likes it. I'd say all and all it was a very good birthday party, and Hobbsies and Sheepie had a great time!

That evening I had plans to go out to supper with my mother in law, her mother, and my sister in laws at a great place down town called the Strega. Well, in getting ready for the babysitter, I realised something terrible-- I had no formula. I had let the one canister I had run completely out, believing that I had another one in storage. Sadly, I had forgotten that Sheepie had decided to (and by now you will start to notice a pattern with my kids) dump it all over my bathroom and down the toilet. Sooooo..

Off to the store we rush, where I am met with the most unhelpful and dim store clerks that have ever graced the face of the earth, and naturally it was when I was running really really late to pick up the babysitter. However, we managed to get through it and I arrived to supper before the dinner order had been taken.

Strega is a great fusion style restaurant that is located in one of the few truly multi-leveled buildings in the town. It takes up the fifth and sixth floors of a new building with luxury condos and a premier day spa. It reminds me of several places that The Hubby and I have eaten in Portland, so it's fun to see something a little less stuff and more modern finally arriving in Corvallis.

That night, after all the women of the family had returned to their respective homes, my brother in law--who owns a rooter service company-- came over to help me fix something with the base of the toilet before I could install the new one I bought. Much to my pleasant surprise, I came out from putting the kids to bed and found that he had gone ahead and installed the whole toilet for me! Huzzah! Sadly though, when I went to put the seat on it, I discovered it was defective, so we spent the night leading up to Sunday with no toilet seat. Strangely no one but me seemed to mind... guess that's what happens when you live in a house full of boys!

Finally, lest Boy be forgotten of late.... I have been trying to snag a picture of Boy sitting up on his own, but he is more stubborn than a box of nails, so I haven't been met with great success. This is really the best I could manage. He is sitting up, unsupported, on my lap.

Going back in Time

Alright, so obviously since I have already expelled all the terrible things that happened on Sunday, this post isn't in sequential order. C'est la vie, non?

Friday was actually quite a fun day. The boys went off to school in the morning/early afternoon, and had a great time... they did all their usual school things, so it wasn't anything too new. It was what happened after school that was the wickedly awesome part. But I will get to that in just a minute.

While the boys were at school I had set up with my friend to have her join me on the track, however since she is pregnant, she'd not be running... well that didn't make much sense for just walking in circle around the track. Instead we walked a nice road that runs right up behind the preschool, through the countryish area that's out there. It's a lovely little bending road, and a great walk, but has no side walks. Since she didn't have a jogging/hiking stroller she had to be in the street, which made me a bit nervous, but all and all it was a great walk and filled the time nicely while the kids were at school. Boy and I even got to try out the new running stroller and he LOVE it (so do I, but it's very important that he loves it as well). It's a very smooth ride for him, and he loves being able to face me while I am going.

After school the older boys got to go over to Frog Princes best friends house for a play date. This was Sheepies first time being invited to a play date that wasn't a family member, and he was over the moon. When I talked to Chad's mom, she said that he actually spent a great deal of his time kind of off doing his own thing, but it was still such a big step for him socially and I got to listen for hours and hours afterward how cool Chad is, and how neat going to his house, and riding in his car was. Frog Prince also had a fantastic time and told me about how they got to go to Diary Queen and get Dilly Bars.

Thing quieted down after they got home and we didn't do too much. I cleaned up and we played board games. After supper it was time to talk with Daddy, and then it was almost time for bed. But the kids didn't seem to agree with me. Instead, they begged and talked me into having an 'ice skating' party with them. Sure, why not?! After all it was a Friday night; there was nothing going on in the morning that would make it so that they we could not sleep in. Now if you have never going slipper/sock skating, you are totally missing out! All you need to do is slip on your slippers and away you go, zooming around dining tables and kitchens like the pros. Frog Prince even enjoys practicing falling, because he says that's what happens when he really ice skate.

The Pro Boots up for his big "skate"

And he's off...

Sheepie tries to steal my 'skates' since they're Nemo.

Obviously, he won...

We all stayed up way later than we should have, but we cuddled lots, laughed until our eyes watered and then all curled up together to read, 'Peter Pan'. And happily in the back of my mind I realised that I got to capture one of those fleeting moments of childhood, that I would never get back, had I put them to bed on time.

Someone explain Sundays to me

Alright, I know I've not posted for Friday or Saturday, and I promise I will get back to them, but I am at the point right now, where I just need to sit down and type. There is something about the feeling of typing that is calming to me-- almost like the feeling I have when I am holding a pencil.

So I will simply ask: Someone explain Sundays to me. Why is it that nearly every other day of the week is calm and manageable, and then Sunday rolls around I feel like my world is just thrown in a blender and handed back to me as a big pile of junk. I'd use a different word for that, but I am trying not to complain so much as just get a few things off my chest.

I think I should have just listened to that little voice that told me this morning to stay home from Church. I had planned on just taking the kids to sacrament meeting and then bringing them back to bed. They all three are getting sick, so I just planned on going to the first hour, but Frog Prince wanted so badly to go and practice for his primary program that I caved and told them we'd stay. This of course meant that I told the substitute that she didn't need to come in and sub for me. Upon getting to class though FP resolutely said he didn't want to go to Primary and not having the time to fight him about it, I made him sit in a chair, in the corner of my classroom while all the kids in my class got to play. Eventually though, I had enough and called in a member of the presidency to come and take him to his class.

Sheepie was unlike I have ever seen him before. I had to physically remove him from class and he then (after I threatened him within an inch of his life) spent the entire third hour of church sitting in the hall way outside my classroom, because he chose not to be a part of class. I can not even tell you what set him off. But I just about wanted to sit down and cry myself. Here I am trying to teach and keep my class focused and he is just out of control.... the dear lady who was sitting in as my assistant today took over for me as I hauled him away to the hall, but I am just baffled by his behaviour lately. Eventually he did decide to come back in and do the art project with us, so that was a good thing.

About that time though, Frog Princes teacher comes into my classroom with FP trailing behind. The announcement: FP has had an accident. You have got to be bloody kidding me! Apparently he didn't want to stay in class, so he lied to his teacher and told him that he didn't have to go to the bathroom, so that he'd have an accident and have to be brought back to me. For real!!!! I mean the boys less than three months away from being five; what kind of behaviour his this?

Being the oh so kind and patient mother that I am, I hauled him off to the bathroom, and cleaned him up a bit, but since it wasn't pee, I basically told him he would just have to wait out the rest of church and sit quietly in a chair in my classroom. He did so, and thankfully without protest, because it was around this point that Sheepie decided it was time to go back into the throws of hysteria. He started freaking out because I didn't let him clean up a part of the class room that another little girl was already cleaning up. Thankfully, by the time he really got into the swing of it, church was over and so I could just leave. But it took two women from my ward swooping in and collecting my things and FP and Boy for me to be able to man handle a shrieking, screaming, flailing Sheepie out the car for time out/leaving.

Things calmed down slightly until Sheepies cousin bit his finger (I am sure it was not even hard at all, as there were no marks and it was barely red) at supper. This sent him over the edge again, and it took me resorting(and I am not proud, but certainly not above this either) to bribing him with cake, to get him to calm down.

When I got home, much later tonight, from a special church meeting, I was also deeply saddened to find that, although I had basically put them to bed before leaving, both the boys were still awake (and FP was sitting on the sofa waiting for me); my family picture in the hall had been knocked the ground and not picked up; almost an entire bag of cereal had been dumped into my kitchen sink (sorry kids I scooped it back into a container and you're eating it anyway!) and half a can of formula had been dumped and smeared ALL OVER my bathroom-- the counters, the sink, the stool, the floor, and the toilet! I am really not sure what I am going to have to do to keep them out of the formula, but I am starting to think a pad lock is involved.

Finally, I am pretty sure I hurt a friend feelings tonight, because I have a stupidly sarcastic sense of humour and I think it went a bit too far tonight. I totally was joking with her about how big her new house was getting to be, only to have her look really kind of hurt for a moment. She then went on to say that it had grown past what their plans had been, and that her sweet husband had actually been flipped off by a complete stranger who was riding his bike past her new house. The biker just rode by and shouted, 'too big,' and then flipped off her husband. Now these are some of the sweetest, kindest, most humble people I know and certainly aren't building a house that is hugely ostentatious or for show at all. But nonetheless, I am pretty sure my joke hurt her feelings, and was a stupid thing to say.

So between all of those things, and something else I said to another friend, that I am pretty sure was the totally wrong thing to say at the time I said it (I have actually wondered for a while if I am just digging a big hole in this particular relationship), I kind of just feel like I want to climb under a rock and NEVER come out again.

so now my emoKate rant is through, and my eyes are puffy and blurry enough that I can't read this, I am going to go and dig formula out of my bathroom tile and then head to bed. Boy has his 6 mo. check up tomorrow and if I don't sleep, we will only both be cranky in the morning.

Today is the day of stories that involve Poop!!!

Today is a day of stories involving poop, and nakedness… so for the faint of heart (or those who just wonder why we Mommybloggers write about such candid and gross things) be forewarned… This post may not be for you.

Yeah, okay; you’ve been warned—it’s all fair game now.

The day started off normal enough. We got up and hurried to get ready for the day. We were supposed to be meeting my mother in law and sister in laws down town for breakfast at this fantastic place called, “The Broken Yoke”. It’s owned by the son of one of the doctors who works with my MiL. They have an awesome play area (thing really swanky, posh eatery and the kind of play area they’d have) and really fantastic food. So we went and did that, and had a good time.

Afterward I figured since we were already in town we might as well head over to the library for Preschooler story time. My kids love going to story time, but we’ve not gone regularly since they started school last year. There are only so many hours in the day, and days in the week, and I’ve learned that some things just have to get cut out. However, since we were in town and had nothing else on the schedule away we went, and a good time was had all around.

It was when we got home things go silly…(and in Frog Princes case, a little gross!)

The boys went off to play, and I went off to bed the baby and get lunch for everyone. Well, I happened to walk into the bathroom because I heard water running for a while and normally at my house that’s a bad sign. Truer words were never spoke… there is Frog Prince wiping himself with my hand towel… WOAH… WHAT?!?! Yeah. That was kind of my reaction too. When I snatched it out of his hands and asked him what in heaven’s name was crossing his mind, he said: “Don’t worry Mommy I got it wet first, so it will get me really clean.” You have got to be kidding me. Good thing I do cloth diapering, so the idea of rinsing poop out of something no longer grosses me out. But really… for crying out loud kid, you’re almost five years old!

And just when I thought I was done…..

Sheepie emerges from nap time with only his underwear on… I ask him why he’s that way, and tell him he needs to go put clothes on.

“No!” and then he starts to stick his hands down the back of his underwear.

“Sheepie, we don’t do that… now go get clothes back on… now, please!”

At this point he turns around and starts walking away, and to prove his point, turns his head back to look at me, and pulls the back of his underwear down to moon me!!!!

Good Grief… what am I going to do with him when he’s a teenager!! Already I can in vision the calls I will be getting from the Principal.

Boy was really just a happy ball of lumps today. Nothing new to report except that he did sit up a little bit on his own today, while on my lap at story time… We’re not there yet, but I bet he will be sitting up by himself in no time.

As I was getting supper ready this evening Frog Prince decided to pull out his tub of Mr. Potato Head toys, and below are his proudly crafted spuds. He loves them so much, it’s fun to watch his mind come up with new ways of putting them all together. Like in the second picture; he decided that if he put ‘sun’ glasses on Optimus spud, then he could shine light into his eyes and ‘make him really hot’. There’s usin’ that noodle kid!

Well that’s about it for us. It’s six o’clock now, meaning its time to pull the supper out of the oven and sit down to eat. The rest of the night will be the same routine as always… talking with Hubby on the web cam, jammies, brushing teeth, reading scriptures, reading bed time stories, prayers and bed. We picked up J.M Barrie’s, Peter Pan, today at the library, so we get to start that as our new bed time book. The kids are over the moon.

Wickedly Wednesday

Another school day another adventure. Nothing too interesting to report by way of things before school. I had decided that I wanted to start walking the track at the high school on the days the kids had class. Well, I long since have sold my double jogging stroller that we bought for the boys, because they didn't want to sit it it, and it was really taking up a lot of space. But I didn't want to buy another jogger stroller new, because they cost so much, and if I got a single I knew it would only be good until the next baby was born, in which time I would need another double (or just give up on running, which isn't likely to ever happen, no matter how distant running and my relationship becomes at times! lol)

So before school on Wednesday I hoped on the Internet and went surfing through Craigslist, which is totally one of my favourite things in the world. And wouldn't you know I found some of the most amazing jogging strollers on there... particularly this on.

Sorry, I know it's not the best picture... I would have taken pictures of the actual stroller I got, but it's all put away in the back of my car. What makes this particular jogger so cool is that the baby can face forward like the stroller is pictures, but they can also face backward looking at the runner. How cool is that! It also has adjustable heigth on the hand as well as adjusting the handle angle. Additionally it's got a cup holder and a holder designed to hold a water bottle, all three of the wheels are quick release (which is good because I have to take all three of to get it to fit in my car), and it relines further than any jogger I've ever seen. After reading through the manual I found it also is supposed to come with an odometer. When I picked it up, it didn't have it, so I am going to call the lady back tomorrow and see if she still has it. It also has lots of reflectors and it, not that I run much at night, and is a bright yellow, just like in the picture... so it's really hard to miss!

The best part of this stroller was the price... 50 bucks. I couldn't ever find, how much it cost new on the Internet, but I have never seen a decent jogging stroller that was less than 150 bucks.. and that is even a low price. So if it was around that new, I would have gotten it (and it's really in almost never used condition) for a third of the price. Man, I love thriftiness!

So anyway... I found this stroller on Craigslist, and emailed the lady about it. Then I went and dropped the boys off at school. I decided that was the day I was going to start running again seriously. So I put Boy in his existing stroller and headed down toward the track. I initially though to myself that I would do just a couple laps to get my heart moving, and stretch out a bit.... but wouldn't you know I ended up doing a 5k, I was having so much fun. For those who aren't aware that is roughly 3.1 miles and 13 times around a standard high school track. Boy was a dream and happily feel asleep to take his morning nap while I ran, and I was even able to spy on the kids for a while, when they were outside doing 'obstacle course' with their class. I haven't run a 5k in quite a while (who am I fooling... with the exception of my tread mill, I haven't run period, in a while), but it felt great and I think I am going to do it again tomorrow. (I totally need better shoes though... I have three blisters and my feet grew this last pregnancy so my toes were squishing into the end and rubbed the skin on my big toe ouchie... :( )

Just as the boys and I were heading out of town to come back home, my phone rang and it was the lady with the stroller, returning my call. She said that she'd just received my email and that she was calling me back out of the list of five messages she had, because I'd emailed her first. Not wanting to miss out, I zipped across town to check it out, and bought it, because well, it's awesome.

I realised at this point I only had twenty minutes to get home, because I had agreed to babysit for my friend Katie. I would have made it too, except that there was an accident on the way home and I had to wait through traffic control. When I got home Katie was already waiting there with her kids, and I felt like a doof. As it was, I was really really stinky from running and wasn't going to be able to shower.

The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent just hanging out and babysitting. I feel so badly though because our house must have seemed so terrible to Katie's kids. Sheepie was in a HORRID mood, and cried at the drop of a hat; Frog Prince was just an overly wild spazzy bully practically. He was back to his hitting toward Sheepie, but was also just plain wild with the other kids and ended up smacking the boy in the back of the head with his light saber, and smashing the little girls fingers between a toy and the wall. So after wanting to just sell both of them, I put my boys to bed (Frog Prince earned the great privilege for his behaviour of being in the port a crib). The two kids I was babysitting were getting hungry and tired, so I fixed them some food, and let them just sit and watch a movie until there parents came to get them. Poor Kids!

With both the boys sleeping Hubby and I got a chance to talk for quite a while, since he was heading into his office late that morning. I have decided it is in the evenings after the kids all go to bed that I like the least. During the day I function just like any other day that he's gone at work. Afternoons no longer throw me for a loop, with his not coming home, because I am a super star and am just that cool... and when I do finally go to bed, I am so blasted tired from being a super mom that I just pass out these days... but before bed, after the kids are down it's just plain weird. Not like creepy or any thing... Its the time when I realise most that Hubby is gone. Which is funny because most of the time we'd be doing our own separate things in the evening anyway... or just watching a movie/playing Wii together... nothing really amazing that I am not doing now. But it's just the simple fact that he's not around that makes it seem strange.

So yeah.... it's a good thing I've got Steve Carell and the good folks down at, The OFFICE, to keep my company. And with that... it's time to go see what silly antics those guys are up to, tonight. But as a parting prize, here are a few sweet pictures of Boy, learning to self feed with a nice bowl of pureed carrots.

"I swear I am eating more than I am playing with , mommy!"

Tuesday, Schools Day!!

Aren't my post titles just the lamest.. LOL.. I always feel compelled to put the day of the week in there somewhere, so that you know what day I am talking about.

Tuesday was the kids second day of school for the year, and they were stoked.... It was all about getting ready that morning. Lately Frog Prince has been trying to sneak out to watch a lot of TV and so I have been having to turn the power strip that all our TV stuff is plugged into, off. Well Tuesday was the day he finally figured out what I was doing. That morning alone I turned the TV off at least a half a dozen times.

Tuesday morning was also the morning I realised I am steadily becoming more and more disenchanted with my dogs. Leia isn't so bad, and is quickly learning her commands and using them. Spyder however still doesn't even respond to her name, and Chews everything!!! I mean everything. She has tried to chew up the fence we just put in.. she chews any bowl I set her water and food in that's not metal, and I just went out there to discover that she has destroyed my garden hose nozzle. So between that and the constant digging, I am really not liking her so much these days. And to add to the irony of this last paragraph, as soon as I was done typing it, the cities code enforcement officer just knocked on the door to let me know someone had called to complain about dogs barking... he said he wasn't sure if it was our dogs or not... but that he just wanted to remind us about the dog barking ordinances. Anyway... back to the day!


The older boys went off to school and Boy and I went to my friend Nikki's house to talk about something we were going to be doing that evening. Her eldest child is in the kids class, so she had about the same amount of time to kill as I did. So we chatted for a while, and then I went back to pick up the kids from school and head home.

While the boys played I set to work making up examples of my dinner calenders and menus, along with a selection for easy recipes that can be made in under 30 minutes... Then the boys and I spent the afternoon playing and doing a very failed quiet time. hehe

After quiet time the older boys got to go to my friend Katie's house to be babysat for a few hours and play with their friend, Lily, from church/school. While they were over there, I had the opportunity to take the things I had prepared earlier that day over to a lady in my ward's house and help her set up dinner schedules and lists of easy meals she could make. This way it would be a bit easier for her to spend time with her three kids and still not have to stress about dinner/meal planning.

On my drive home from this woman's house I marvelled at how far she come from just the first time I went over there and helped her with things like making a daily schedule and helping her learn to juggle three boys... I also used the time to consider what I could perhaps help her with the next time we got together....

When we got home everyone was promptly sent off to get ready for bed, and after talking with my Hubby for a while I too was ready to crash... It was a much longer day than I write about, but then again... aren't they all.

Man oh man... Another Monday

I have been trying all day to get this post updated, and still it seems like I am having trouble sitting down. See, it's been twenty minutes between when I typed that last sentence and this one, because the baby woke up and I wanted to snuggle him for a while. Yet, life goes on and I will manage a post for Monday, even if it kills me.

Monday really was one of those day (as all Mondays seem to be around our house) where we did a whole lot of nothing. I did some baking, and some cooking, and cleaned up after ourselves... beyond that, we really didn't do all that much.

Because it was a 'no driving' day, the kids spent most of the time in the back yard playing and jumping on the trampoline. Boy and I stayed inside because it was truly hot, and he doesn't like the heat.

At one point during the day I was sitting down reading my email and Frog Prince came around the corner, wearing the outfit seen below and riding on his hobby horse. I almost died laughing, because that is Boy's rain coat, and the hat from last years knight costume.

Any guesses? No... ready for this one. It's his motorcycle and gear. Since we have stressed that you always wear the proper protective gear while riding a motorcycle he had to get his 'helmet' and 'jacket' and was later looking for gloves to wear.

Really that was it for the day. The boys also decided while playing out side that they wanted to jump in the swimming pool fully clothes.. I am talking shoes and everything. So that was kind of funny... because normally they are better about things like coming in to get their swimming suits on.

Oh well... that's it for the Mighty C's.

10 Reasons why I love my Husband

Alright, I know I still have Monday and today that I need to post about, but frankly I am too tired to be bothered and if I was going to take time to do something that intensive it would be cleaning up my house... which is also that gets to be put off until tomorrow. However, I did want to take a moment and share with the readers out there.... and I know there are people reading this so why the heck do I never get comments from anyone besides sweet Allanna! ;)

Erm... yeah, so like I was saying, I just wanted to take a minute and let my readers know 10 things I love about my husband... because there are billions of them... and I think you deserve to hear at least 10 of them.

10. He makes the worlds best stew... and left lots of it frozen for me to eat while he was gone.
9. He spoils me rotten; far more than I ever deserve!
8. Lets me put my cold feet on him at night.
7. His children adore him, and want to be like him when they grow up.
6. He loves his children more than anything and constantly is striving, each day to be a better parent to them than he was the day before.
5.He indulges my many many strange hobbies... like Online Quidditch.
4. He works hard everyday, so that I can have the luxury of getting to stay home with my kids.
3. He has a testimony of the Saviour and tries to help cultivate our children's testimonies.
2. I never doubt his love and devotion for me, because he so freely shows it.
1.He is the person I knew from the first moment I loved. He is the person I miss every minute I am way from him; he is the person I can't wait to be close to at the end of each day; he is the person that makes me feel like I am whole; like I am who I was meant to be; he is the person who makes me better than I was each day; and he is the person who I can see myself spending the rest of my life with... growing happier each year.

There are so many more reasons why I love my husband....I find it a nice reminder to myself of the specific reasons why by getting the chance to sit down and share them.

I love you Hubby!

Simply Sunday

It is now the third Sunday that I have completed Sans the Hubby, and let me tell you, they never seem to get easier.

Church went fairly well this week, actually. The kids were well behaved in Sacrament. Poor Frog Prince got more than he bargained for when Boy threw up all over him though. I was holding Boy, and all the sudden he burped and threw up easily half his bottle all over my skirt and the front of himself. Then Frog Prince lets out a shriek (which of course was right in the middle of a quiet moment in the meeting) and points to his nice black corduroy pants; there is vomit all through the grooves of the fabric and pooling on top of his loafers. I couldn't help but burst into silent laughter... Poor little Frog that he is, he just sat there and stared in horror, unsure what to do. I managed to get all three of us cleaned up quickly enough, and without laughing too hard.

Sheepie did much better today during Nursery than he did last week, which was a blessing because a member of our Stake (city wide church leadership) Primary Presidency decided to stop by and evaluate/check up on my class. I think it went fairly well considering I had another substitute in there helping me instead of a real teacher. I also had a little boy who was new to class and wasn't very happy about being there, and a little girl who's parents left her by herself in class (the shy girl we've been working on) for the first time. We did end up having to take her back to her parents though, because she was crying so hard she started to throw up. The other little boy calmed down quickly and by the end of class was very involved and smiling. Sheepie still didn't want to be involved in singing time, but instead of screaming his head off this time he just moved his chair to the window and sat quietly by himself. I can live with that, as long as he's not interfering with my teaching.

After church we rushed home so that I could get dinner made in time for my in laws to come over for supper. I made pot stickers, carrots steamed with garlic and onion, Asian inspired salad, and watermelon (that actually didn't get served because upon cutting into it, even though I bought it only the day before, it was all squishy and icky... grrrrr). It's always an adventure having that many people-- something like 10+ -- in my house at one time, but the food turned out well and the kids love having their cousins around, so yeah....

After the in laws all went home the kids and I broke from our usual rule of no 'non churchish' videos on Sundays and had the movie night I had originally planned for Saturday night. They didn't get it on Saturday because they refused to clean up their room before bed, and missed out. But come Sunday morning Frog Prince started cleaning it up all by himself, without being asked, and got Sheepie to join him. And then when it was time to clean up with their cousins they did very well, and willingly finished off the last little bits by themselves after their cousins left. Having done so well, and having made me so proud I popped in, Winnie the Pooh and a Huffelupump Halloween, or something like that (the movie we rented the night before) and we sat down with our special little treats and had a movie night.

It was off to bed after that, and everyone went quite nicely... Poor Sheepie had it rough though and I couldn't help but laugh (lovingly, of course!) at him. He got up from sleeping to go to the bathroom and in his sleepiness cut his toe somehow on the door. Well, when he stopped crying a bit, he started demanding that I talk to the door. When I asked him what I needed to talk to the door about, he said, " Consequences, mommy! Tell him his consequences for hurting me, Mommy." I told him I would get right on it after I stopped giggling.

He also wanted to sleep with Boy last night, and was so adamant about it, he willingly spent the entire night laying on the floor next to his crib, since I told him it wasn't safe to sleep in the crib with the baby. What a sweet kiddo he can be at times!

So, that's it folks... I am finally caught up and current on my daily updates. Everyone 'oh' and 'ah' in amazement.

Super Saturday... Literally

Okay, it wasn't that super if you were under the age of five, but that's life sometimes...For the Mighty C's, Saturday was just a lazy day around the house. Not much to report, so you will get mostly pictures.

I had a project for Church that I had to get done... In November each year we had a big craft/ arts day where the women in the ward can get together and learn how to do certain crafts/arts. I was asked to teach one on making these recently trendy Paper bag albums. Having had a great time last year teaching a class, I said yes. That meant though, that I had to have samples of my craft ready to set out at Church on Sunday.

I bet you are all surprised when I tell you that I didn't have any made and that is what I spent my Saturday doing. I know... everyone take a collectively shocked breath. hehe...Really that's all I did for the better part of Saturday. I wanted at least one of them to look fantastic so that people would want to do my class, so it took a while to get everything just right. In the end I really liked how they truned out.... I think people will have fun making variations on them.

Like I said... about a million pictures today.

I also got a chance to finish up one the Harry Potter/ Gryffindor Robes I had been making for a charity my friend is doing. They are too big for Frog Prince, but I like how they turned out.

That's really about it for Saturday night. We did a quick run to the super market, so that we could have thing to eat on Sunday.... After that we grabbed some movies for Sunday night, and went home to bed. Sorry it couldn't be more exciting. LOL

** Edit: Okay, so I am sorry for all the glaring mistakes in this post... I typed it WAY late, and didn't go back and proof it... All fixed now.

First Day of School Friday

Okay... well it wasn't really their First, First day of school, but it was the first day back for this school year. Oh man, were they ever excited... you wouldn't believe it, (and after having a whole summer to try and entertain them 24-7, so was I). For whatever reason, this year, the kids have school later in the morning than usual. This made for a very relaxed first day back, there was little rushing and we got around to thing I hadn't thought of the night before.

I got everyone up to talk with The Hubby, and then, since, like I said, we had extra time, I took them out onto the front patio to give them both hair cuts. They needed to have their hair cut badly, and both boys are looking quite sharp now. Frog Prince was not at all keen on the idea and decided he was going to pout through the whole thing... I was certain it was going to turn into another one of 'those days', but thankfully he pulled it back together and was ready for school in fine form.

As you can see, I had one heck of a time getting decent pictures of them; they were so happy to be back at school they bolted from the car, and it was all I could do to get them to stay long enough to even snap a few shots.

Once the kids were gone, Boy and I had a chance to go shopping together and get some stuff that I needed for a church project I needed to make. I kind of felt strange going places with him; I am so used to the kids being around. It was really nice though, and after several quick errands, it was over all too quickly.

When I pulled up in the school parking lot, I parked next to Frog Prince's best friend's mom. She and I chatted while waiting to pick up the boys, and she told me that her son had spent the better part of the last two weeks talking about Frog Prince and little else. It is nice to hear that this boy is as happy being friends with FP, as FP is being friends with him.

As a side story... I was a bit shocked when, upon picking the kids up, I had a conversation with one of the high students who teach there about her baby that was due in 4 months.... The way in which she just casually threw around the fact that at 17 she was going to have a baby floored me. Anyway!!!

After dropping my nephew off at home, we headed back to our house for a very relaxing afternoon/evening. Boy slept, as he is prone to doing, Sheepie went off to play in his freshly cleaned room and Frog Prince... well he and I ended up having a major discussion.

On Thursday, he snuck in, behind my should and watched some new footage about the anniversary of Sept. 11th.... this opened the first of many sticky parenting moments... How to explain one of the worst tragedies in our country, ever, to a four year old. I explained to him very simply what had happened that day, and that the video I was watching was of people (now, seven years later) remembering the people they loved by leaving them flowers and singing songs to remember them by. I though that he understood pretty well... Fast forward back to Friday.

When I went into his room to check on him, he was not there.. Sheepie called out that he was sitting in the bathroom bawling. Apparently we didn't cover it as well as I figured, because he was bawling over our dog that had died back in November. He wanted to give him flowers and sing him a song, but was concerned over how our dog would ever get the flowers... We talked about how we could do things to remember our sweet dog, but then, more importantly, we talked about how Sept. 11th made him feel and how it was okay to feel those things. He told me he felt better and that he knew it was okay to be sad about what happened.... Poor boys has had more than his fair share of discovering feelings lately!

We ate supper over at my in laws that evening, and then the kids got to spend the evening/night with their favourite babysitter because I had a girls night out. My friend Nikki and I decided to set up a girls night at her house to get to know some of the new women who have recently moved into our ward. What a blast we had!! It was really just a night of sitting around, talking and laughing together, without our kids... and it was exactly the kind of thing I needed after another long (but good) week with the kids. I even met a woman who I think I will get to be good friends with. She is the sister in law of a girl I knew from high school and we are a like in many of our views on the world and ways in which to live in it.... Super cool!

That's all there is for Friday...Hopefully I will get Saturday and Sundays posts up by Monday morning (my time) Sorry for the wait...

The Day the Toys Moved out AKA Thursday!

Firstly, I would like to apologise for the excessive amount of pictures that I am going to be posting today. They are mostly for The Hubby's benefit, so that he can see the difference from when he left to now...

So there it was, the whole house clean; no more back up laundry; no kid-like things strewn through the living room; no dirty socks and underwear dropped in the bathroom; it was all clean, except one thing.... the big boys room!!!!

Oh yes, I had been putting it off, and just shoving the toys back into their room for about as long as I could justify. Once again, however, the time arrived when excuses had run out and it was inevitable that I must help them to clean their pig pen of a room. Frog prince wanted nothing to do with this notion though, and instantly launched into melt down mode.

"There is too much, mooooooommy!" he could be heard bellowing, but to no avail. I am impervious to their cries of sympathy when it that pit they call a room, and it's unearthly quantities of toys.

My reply, "If I clean it up... you won't like where they all end up, young men!"

***

Seriously though, their room had grown out of control and it needed some help. After a nice, and well talked through discussion with the boys, we all agreed that it was time to let go of some of the toys they had and give them to other people. Sheepie was pretty ambivalent as long as he was clear that certain toys (like his vast collection of Nemo paraphernalia) were out of the question. Frog Prince though had to have a bit more help understanding that it was actually going to help him take care of his room better.

Once he was on board though, it was time to begin, "Operation Overhaul!"

We literally dragged every single toy in our house into the middle of the living room.

Please note, this is NOT what our living room normally looks like, but it is pretty near close to the state that the boys bedroom was to be found in.

So with every toy in the universe now in my living room, I did an intense vacuuming and dusting of the boys room. Then I realised that their book case, which as been little more than a glorified shoe rack for the last few years, was even looked at wrong, it would break. So it too go the 'out' and I pulled in an old while shelve from the garage. It works lovely, and makes the books much easier for the boys to get to, and put away. (pictured below). I then switched around how some of their furniture was, so as to open up the room more , and make it so they can actually sit down at their desk finally. Once that was all done, I gave them their 'Cars' carpet and some toy cars to pay with, and banished them to their room until I was done in the living room.

I figured that if I had the boys help me in the living room there would be much fighting and it would take ALL day... so they didn't get a say in what I got rid of, but over all I think it was a wise choice to do it that way. After all, it's not like I am going to get rid of the things they love. My philosophy was, though, if it didn't fit in one of the drawers or the dress up tub, it was gone.... That mean a SERIOUS pruning.

I am happy to report that several hours later and many, many toys sorted through..This was my end result. ( It should be noted that those aren't regular, under the kitchen sink garbage bags.. Each one is easily as tall/taller than the boys.)

The next step was putting everything away in their room, and explaining to them the changes I had made in their drawer system and such. But when the day was done... I am pleased to say the room looked like this!

It looks very roomy and open in there now, and I told the boys that with over half of their toys gone, I fully expect that they can put everything away by themselves now....

Room cleaned, I had just enough time to shower before we headed over to my friends house for dinner that night. He husband was out late with meetings, and so she figured she'd invite me over for supper and to let the boys play. Man on man was the diner good. It was a Tofu Chili, and I certainly need to get it figured out.. Frog Prince and Sheepie also quiet enjoyed getting to run around the in the street with the bigger kids out front. My friends live in a very quiet cauld-a-sac, so the neighbourhood kids can literally run around.

That was about it for us... Sorry!

We-We-Wednesday

A whole lot of nothing happened this last Wednesday, so this post will likely turn out to be very very short. I did learn a very important lesson in why you should always clean up your messes. If you will recall, Tuesday I was in such a hurry to get everything done for Enrichment, I didn't clean up my cooking/flour mess. Well, when we all got home, it was so late that I just put everyone to bed and left the mess... myself included. The next morning, sadly, Frog Prince was trying to water the flowers that Apple Lady gave me the night before. The water got all over the counter and all over the floor-- right where I had left the floury mess from the night before!!! Fun, oh fun!!!

Sheepie had a cute moment that day, when he sneaked into the bathroom during my shower and stole my towel. I didn't' hear him at all, but when I went to get out of the shower my towel was gone, and in it's place was his beloved 'Blue Blankie'. It made getting out of the shower a bit trickier, but it was very sweet and made me chuckle.

Boy also had his moment to shine, when I realised that the shirt that I had grabbed for him to wear was a 12 mo. outfit my M-I-L bought for him... Wouldn't you know it fit him almost perfectly. The arms and legs were a little long, but around the waist and length wise the kid was dead on... You'd never guess from looking at the kid that he was 5 weeks early!

The rest of the day was spent cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning... It really is too bad that The Hubby isn't' around to see the house, because I think he might get lost and confused in such a place. I think though that if the house were messy, it would be too much for me to deal with and I would go nuts. So there you go... Hubby goes away, I clean! In fact, wait until you hear about Thursdays adventure!

Two Week Tuesday

It's hard to believe that The Hubby has already been gone for two weeks. It seems to have both flown and dragged on all at the same time. You know, in a funny way, it almost reminds me of being in elementry school again. Remember back to how it seemed like the week would always drag and drag and drag on, and yet before you knew it you were already facing your first vacation of the year, and you weren't quite sure how you got there? So yeah, two weeks down, and way too many still to go.

((Okay, I just had a really weird moment, while typing this. I have my blog open in another window so I can listen to my play list while I type, and all of the sudden some really strange loud noises start happening and do so right as my clock hits midnight... I jumped and couldn't figure out what the noises were, until after a minute of muddling around I remembered I was uploading a show from NBC in another window of my computer and the sound finally loaded. Derrr!))

Anyway, Tuesday brought more cleaning and some fun playing for the boys. It really must be the last week of summer, because we have a play date lined up almost everyday this week. In the morning though, it was all about work. I had to go to the church in the morning to set up the building for that evenings Enrichment meeting. The kids had fun running around the building with the son of a friend, and that happily kept them out of my hair while helping. Two birds with one stone.

After setting up, it became a mad dash for me to get through the day and accomplish everything I needed to, in the time I had. I still had to get about half of the cookbooks finished, as well as make my own food to take with me. People have been asking me over and over again if I was planning on making my hummus and pita bread to take. Being as easy as they are, I figured they were perfect recipes to, not only include in the cookbook, but make and take to the meeting. So that was my plan for the day.

Frog Prince, upon getting out of the car that morning, asked if his friend Logan could come over and play. He lives down the street from us and goes to church with us as well. Since Logan will be starting school with the ickles this year, I thought it might help him feel better about it, if recently had played with kids who were in his class. So I told FP he could invite him over. Now this is where I realised that Frog Prince really was growing up all too quickly. He walked to Logans house all by himself to pick him up. (being the mom that I am, I crossed the street so that I could see him walk the block down to Logans house-- but he only looked back for reassurance once). Hubby teased me that I stood there and watched him, but I think after a few more times I making sure he remembers to look both ways before crossing the street and such I will be able to let him go on his own; after all it's not like we are living in a busy neighbourhood or anything.

When Logan did arrive, the three of them had a blast playing outside, eating pizza for lunch, and running around like wild men. I was happy to be able to finish up my cook books without having those two monkeys under foot.

I had to send Logan home earlier than I had planned though, because, as I was finishing my books, I thought I was going to run out of ribbon. This meant that I would have had to get the baby up from his nap, as well as get the other two ready, and haul them to the store. Now, if ever there was a miracle in my life, it was that my ribbon held out through all 40 books. I had to change how I tied the ribbon, and ended up using scraps and hiding them by gluing the bow over them, but you'd never know and things worked out nicely.

With the three boys all in quiet time/naps, I quickly made a made dash to get enough Pita bread and hummus made to feed everyone who'd be there. Not much to say there..... I cooked, I made a mess...it all turned out great, and was done on time. By this point however, all of my work from Monday were for naught, as I realised my living room was covered in the aftermath of three preschoolers, and a HUGE craft project; my kitchen.... cooking dishes and such stalked everywhere and the whole room looked like a flour can exploded.

I couldn't help but laugh. Hubby pointed out that night that it takes forever to clean up the mess and so very little time to make it. Oh well, that's life for ya! I will admit though, it only got completely cleaned up (the kitchen that is) on Thursday.

Then it was off to my enrichment meeting, that went very well, and was talking about preparedness. Finally, we stopped by the Apple Ladies house on the way home to drop off her dishes from that night. Sure enough; she has apples for us and a lovely little gathering of flowers. The latter I am still enjoying greatly on my table.

The boys were more than tickled to see the Apple Lady, and it made getting them off to bed after getting home, all the much easier.

And that, my friends, is that!