Happy New Year!

I almost forgot today was New Years Eve. I'm not a big party person so it's never really been a big deal to me. I went to rent some movies today and the guy at the counter was all like "but dude, it's like the last day of 2008, man." And I'm all "yeah? so?". Not to down play it or anything, but I just never have seen the necessity to go out and pay money to hang out with people you don't know and then drive home with a bunch of drunks. So my plan is to have a nice dinner, dessert, movies. And hopefully make it to midnight.
Side note: so there's another funny thing about the guy at the video store .... He gets my phone number and then you know they have to verify my name...so he goes "so yourrrrr........." And I could just see the wheels in his head turning. He's got two choices: Pete or Corey. Certainly this red headed girl in front of him couldn't possibly be either one of those listed under this number. (those are guy names) "Corey", I said. "Well, can I see your I.D.?" And then he sat there and inspected it for what seemed like forever and you could see his little mental Note To Self: yes, girls can be named Corey. And then I thought (are you really this worried about video store fraud??)
I didn't say anything, but I sure wanted to. The thing is, I'm used it. But it never ceases to make me laugh. All my life people have thought I was a guy just by looking at my name in print. I would always get the "oh, I was expecting a dude" when I would answer my phone at work. I actually really like my name, but it's always funny when people think I'm a dude!
Anyway, back to the new year...
I dunno...I'm kind of not feeling it. Like, I'm not excited for what's to come. I don't know what is to come, maybe that's it. I remember last year excited to start a few projects, excited for what the year would bring. But this year I don't really have anything planned. I'm not really a resolution maker. Because it just seems like too much pressure or something. Last year I tried to do the 365 project (photo a day for a year) and I made it 6 months. That's pretty good for me! I was thinking of NOT doing it this year. But then....I went into my pictures and tried to make a collage of 2008. There were SO many that I just loved. I ended up making 2 collages. It was great to go back remember there was a lot of good stuff this year. And a lot of it I would have never captured if I didn't do things like the 365, or the Day in the Life project, or my December Daily project. Looking at all those pictures just reminds me how good life really is, and how much I really do have to be thankful for. So, I'm not going to hold myself to it, or make any promises...but I'm thinking of attempting the 365 again. I guess I've got about 24 hours to make a decision! (collages to come later...photoshop crapped out on me and I lost everything I was working on! grrrr!)
Here are my NOT resolutions:
Moderation (food related mostly)
Being a better friend (to those near and far)
Spending more time as a family (I need this to be on Pete's list too)
Continue to grow and learn and be a better wife and mother.

Cheers to 2009! May yours be happy and healthy. :)

The year of the horse.

*Photo heavy and a little wordy*
At least it was at our house. Besides the two outfits I bought her, and the new kitchen set Santa brought her, all Megan got for Christmas was horses. Thank goodness she likes them! LOL! I'm not joking, It think the grand total was something like 20. I'll have to line them all up and take a picture. I did end up getting Jake a bow, though not the one we originally wanted. We decided to go ahead with the bigger, more expensive one because 1) it's all they had and 2) we figured he could grow into it and 3) it would be better to have something rather than nothing under the tree. Oh yeah! And remember in the video (below) how Jake was asking for diamonds?? Well that went on for days after I recorded that video. Then he kept saying that Santa was bringing him a treasure chest with diamonds. Santa was really starting to stress out. :P Tuesday night I went out to Michael's to pick up a gift card for Pete's mom and I found a little wooden box with a lid on it and they just happened to have a package of "diamonds". So I filled the box with the diamonds and wrapped up and put it under the tree. Seriously.....that's his favorite gift. Go figure.
Pete and I decided not to exchange gifts this year. It was kind of a bummer, but good on funds. He always gets what he wants when he wants it anyway, so he makes it hard to surprise him. What I found so interesting was that after all the gifts were opened Thursday morning, Jake said to me...."mommy, you and daddy didn't get very much. You guys really didn't have any presents". He was very sincere and kind of sad about it. I was surprised that he even noticed. But glad that he did. I'm glad he doesn't think Christmas is all about him.

Here's a little run down of all our Christmas celebrations in pictures:
Horsie #1 from my mom:


Blurry:

Gift exchange at my Dad's:

Megan totally excited about horse #2:

Christmas Eve at our house:

This is my nephew, Blake. His mom got this red robe as a gift and he immediately took it over. And for some reason he took his shirt off. I don't know why. But he looked so funny with this huge robe and then his gold chain. LOL!! We kept calling him Red Robe Man.

Christmas morning:



Christmas day was pretty uneventful after the present opening. It was nice to be home, but also felt kind of weird that we had no where to go and nothing to do....I didn't even have any big dinner planned. I guess I thought we'd have left overs from Wednesday night...but um...they didn't leave me any!
Thursday afternoon I also got the wild idea to start potty training Megan. Instead of waiting till after the holidays. We've had some success and a lot of failure. It's like she IS getting it, but for some reason there's still something not getting through. I'm not sure if I should just let it go for now or persevere through it. I could go on and on about it, but you all don't want to know about potty training, right?
Today: I'm hoping to get some of those residual piles of Christmas stuff finally put away. You know what I'm talking about right? The little piles of new games and toys and socks that have yet to find a home? That's always kind of my least favorite thing about Christmas. That and putting away the Christmas tree. It's such a chore, but I'm eager to get on with the regularly scheduled programing.
I'm looking forward to the new year. 2008 has been tough. Good, but tough. And I expect that '09 will still hang on to some of the residue from '08. But I'm looking forward to resolving a few things and getting on with life.
Have you thought of your Word for '09 yet? Any New Year Resolutions?

Christmas Eve, Eve

Well, there are all kinds of things going on here lately. Saturday night we went up to my moms to gather gifts and give hugs. Sunday morning we headed up to my Dad's for more of the same. Then home, raining all the way Sunday night. Yesterday was another trip to the DMV (much less eventful this time) and then out to Bass Pro Shop to pick up Jake's bow. They still were out of stock on the one we wanted to get him, so we opted for the upgraded version. I think it's going to be too big for him. The draw weight (which is how hard it is to pull back the string...like in the equivalent of pounds) is I think 17-22 pounds. Yeah, the kid is 5 and maybe weighs 40 pounds! I don't think he's going to be able to pull it back. But at least he will have it under the tree and maybe Bass Pro will get more in stock after Christmas and we can exchange it for the one we wanted. That's the best I can do I guess.
After Bass Pro, I stopped off at Target for a few groceries/necessities. I was really surprised that no where I've been this week has been terribly crowded. I mean, there is definitely more people out, but it doesn't seem to be like the mad rush I remember from years past. Either more people are getting their shopping done early, or they still haven't done it, OR the economy is really getting to everyone. I'm going with #3. Anyway, the crowds were fine IN the store, but man, people are crazy OUT of the store. I'll never understand the mad rush people feel for a parking spot. And the dirty looks they give. Jeez what is up with that? I go in expecting it to be bad, park as far away as I can and no one bothers me. I like it that way!
Today was a trip to the grocery store. We're hosting Christmas Eve with Pete's family tomorrow night. I don't really have to cook, as they are bringing most of the food. But a good host always has good appetizers, right? Well I like eating appetizers more than I do real food so ya know... that's really why I did it! Anything that can be dipped or held together with a toothpick is way better than real food in my book! I made onion dip, deviled eggs (is that bad, since it's Christmas and all??), salami thingies, more cookies, and tomorrow I'll make up some bacon wrapped jalapeno thingies.
I still have ONE more gift to buy and I'm hoping that Pete gets home early enough tonight so I can run out and get it.
In closing, here are two little videos of my crazy kids. You'll see evidence of Megan's ability to cry at the drop of a hat FOR NO REASON AT ALL. Luckily, I was able to nip it quickly, but usually she'll go on and on. You'll also get to see Jake rambling on incoherently about something...sorry about that...but the rest of it is cute. Oh, and Jakes Christmas list...what the heck. The kid is stressing Santa out, for real. He keeps changing it. A Wall-E machine?? Where did that come from? I've looked all over and haven't seen one. And um...diamonds? Kid, mom doesn't even get diamonds. I don't think you will either. You'll also notice he doesn't even mention the bow?? The bow, he couldn't stop talking about for weeks? Luckily, he is still asking for a fast bike...so we've got that taken care of (thanks Mom!!)
Merry Christmas Eve, Eve!!

I feel like I have so much to blog about, and yet so little. There's been a lot of little things running through my head, but not really anything of huge significance.
First I'm starting to panic a little bit about Christmas. We are doing a very simple Christmas this year, but I still want the !!! and awe for the kids on Christmas morning. We had a few things in mind for each kid that we knew we were going to get. So Pete and I went out last night without the kids. We had told Jake about a month ago that we would get him a new bow for Christmas. We even saw one at Bass Pro Shop and so of course he has been excited about it ever since. It's #2 on his letter to Santa. Anyway, so Pete and I go out last night specifically to get this bow. Well, they're out of them. And they don't know when they'll get them in. (Frrr!!!) So, ok option 2....the internet! *sigh* Well, I can find it online.....BUT....I can't get it shipped before Christmas. I guess because technically it's a firearm (this is not a toy, but an actual real youth hunting bow) they can't do overnight or 2nd day shipping. I'm just at a loss. There is a slight chance that Bass Pro will get some in on their Sunday night shipment so I'm going to call on Monday. But man, he's just going to be so disappointed if it's not under the tree. And so will I. I mean the kid only asked for 3 things. You would think Santa and I could deliver, right?
I think I've got Megan covered. Pete found the most awesomest horse last night at Target. I go there like every day and I hadn't seen it. Thank goodness I took him with me because I would have missed out on the coolest toy. The girl is just obsessed with horses. She loves them. The one we got her is pretty big, has a long white mane and tail, a pink saddle, a princess crown and other coolness. She's just going to love it. I can't wait!!
In other news.... I got into another car accident yesterday. (@#$%^!) If you're keeping score, you're right...it hasn't even been a year since my last accident. I swear I've been in more accidents than anyone I know. Except maybe my stepsister. Don't get in a car with that one! LOL! J/K! This accident yesterday was again, not my fault. A non English speaking, no license, no insurance, IDIOT pulled out in front of me. I did everything I could but still slid into him. Luckily there is really no damage. But still. It just really, really ticked me off.



Potty training. It's just time. I've got to get on the ball with that one. Megan brings me a diaper, lies down on the floor and says "Change me Momma!" Ummm. Yeah. The thing is, every time I've ever put her on the potty, she WILL NOT GO. Not even a dribble. The other day she had stayed dry for at least 4 hours. We were getting ready to take a shower, the water was running, she'd just drunk a whole cup of milk..... You would think she'd really have to go, right?? I even pored warm water down the front of her...you know, to kinda get it going?? Nothing. She gives me nothing to work with. I dunno. I'm going to hold out through Christmas and then we're headed straight to potty boot camp.
The DMV---Why is it, you can never go in there and just not have a major fiasco? Pete bought a trailer for the ranch and I had to take the pink slip in to get it switched over in his and the company's name. Well, they ran my credit card and it wouldn't go through. So the girl goes to another machine and it worked. Meanwhile, the other machine decides to put the transaction through. So they charged me twice. No big deal, right? Ummmm...apparently they can't do refunds. Huh?? Is this not 2008? What do you mean? They said it would take like 3 weeks. Are you kidding me? They ended up giving me cash. But here's the even more stupid part. They can't refund more than $100 at a time. So they had to give me two receipts. It's just strange. It ended up being fine, but such a hassle. And I still have to go back because apparently they have no idea how to spell.
Ok, so is this like the biggest complaint post ever!?? ha ha! really I'm not usually this negative. I think I just must be having one of those weeks!
Sorry, I'll stop now!

Overheard

at breakfast...

Megan: Where Dada?
Jake: He's at work.
Megan: Wal-mert?
Jake: No. Work. Work!..............Mommy used to have a work. But they kicked her out.

I just had to laugh at that!

This post has no point

Better than saying it's random, right?
But look at this picture! Isn't it pretty??! I took this yesterday for my December Daily album. I can't stop looking at it. This is straight out of the camera. No photo/color enhancement. I'm just in awe of the colors. It was also pretty awesome because yesterday was the first day since BEFORE Thanksgiving that we actually saw blue skies here. We've been socked in with fog for over a week. (wait...almost 2 weeks??) It can make you a little insane. Not seeing the sun for that long. And it's not even raining. That would be one thing. It was just miserable and cold for no reason.
Both Jake and Megan are much, much better. No more sickies. It was in and out very quickly with both of them. Thank goodness. Puke with a 2 year old is much, much different than with a 5 year old who knows what to do. Kind of a funny moment when I was cleaning up the other night...I'd taken all the sheets of Megan's bed and decided it just would be pointless to put new ones on. So I pulled out a few beach towels to lay on the mattress instead. So she's standing there watching me pull them out from the linen closet and says "momma? pool?" Poor little thing thought I was gonna take her swimming in the midst of puke and butt coldness.
I'm still paranoid about getting the sickness. I hate, hate, hate the stomach flu. I will avoid it at all cost. With all the power I have. I will try to defy it. So far, so good. I've been washing my hands like crazy and avoiding eating anything I um......don't want to see later. : I was really feeling bad this morning. I thought for sure this was it. Turns out I just needed to eat something. I was fine after that. Duh. Sometimes I amaze myself at my own ridiculousness.


I made these cookies today. Found the recipe on Food Network as one of the 12 days of cookies. I'm usually not a fan of the store bought sugar cookie dough, but these are so good. It's 2 sugar cookies with chocolate mint gnash (isn't that a fun word?) smushed in the middle and then melted chocolate on top with chopped up candy canes. They are so rich and....chocolaty. I could only eat half of one. Plus I don't really like candy canes. They add kind of a weird texture that I could do with out...but they do make the cookies look pretty and festive. These are really good, easy cookies. Grab some milk though.
My neighbor always, always has dirty dishes in her sink. How do I know this, you ask? Cuz I can see directly into her kitchen window from the window in my stairwell. And I'm not talking about a couple of coffee cups either. I'm not even talking about breakfast dishes. I'm talking about so many dirty dishes from last night, this morning and who knows when that their piled high and spilling out onto the counter. Please note that I am not judging her. Also note that I am not comparing her to myself. I am simply comparing her to the lady that used to live there. Because it's such a drastic difference. Sally never, ever had dirty dishes in her sink. None. I always thought that was strange. I mean never. Not even a coffee cup or a butter knife. I don't know, I just thought it was weird. And now I think it's weird that this other lady is so different. I got used to looking at that empty sink. I promise I'll stop obsessing over my neighbors kitchen habbits.
Please note that presently there are no dirty dishes in my sink. Just for the record.
So, I guess that's all the random I have for today.
14 days till Christmas. I am no where near being ready.

"Momma, dat dis-cussing"

Well, I don't have much to blog about. Other than the fact that I thought Megan had escaped the sickies from Jake. Wrong.

The title of the post is what she said right after the...you know. *ugh*

Like I said, nothing to blog about other than that, the 6 million loads of laundry I've done since last night, and my pruney hands from the over obsessive hand washing I've been doing.

What is it about that smell that gets forever burned into your nose hairs? It's like what ever I do I can't escape it.

Anyway, that's that.

Hoping all is well by tomorrow.

sick. :(

Poor little guy. I haven't seen him take a nap in months. I picked him up from school today and he said his tummy hurt. I thought he just must be hungry. But then he didn't really want to eat. And well...I won't go into the details.
We've been lucky so far. This is the first anyone has been sick all Fall. But why'd it have to be the pukey sick? Colds, flu..I can deal with. I don't deal well with puke. But luckily, I have the best 5 year old kid ever. No really. He goes to the toilet. And he doesn't miss. He's really brave. Obviously more brave than his mother.
The saddest part is that he is just miserable. Not just from the sick. But because he is sick. He could hear all his friends playing outside and he knew he couldn't go. And he cried and said "I'm just waisting the day away!"
So he's sleeping on the couch tonight and asked me to stay down here with him. So I will. And tomorrow if he's up to it, maybe we'll go rent some movies and veg out together.
Not exactly what I planned for the weekend, but we'll make it through.

Little pink houses for you and me

I'm not feeling very festive today. Not feeling Christmasy at all. It's just one of those days where reality has reared it's ugly head. I've said it before...I'm an avoider. If there is something I'd rather not deal with, I push it to the very back of my head and spend time pretending that it doesn't exist. In the hopes that maybe, just maybe if I leave it back there long enough, it will go away. It's never actually worked though. Dang it. Today, one of those little things I've had hiding back there did a 180* and is now smack dab in front of me again. *sigh* Don't worry, it's nothing bad or anything. Not really. It's just kind of pissed me off and all I want to do is put it back where it came from and go on trying to pretend it doesn't exist. It kind of went like this: oh, right, right...my house is for sale. And oh yeah, we can't afford to live here anymore. Right. There really isn't anything I can do about it anyway. So why not just let me go back to my fantasy world? Where I don't have to think about any of that nasty stuff? It'll take me a day or two, but I'll get it put back it's place wayyyyyy back there where it belongs :)
Anyway
Sorry for that weirdness.
But that's me.
In other news: Megan is still continuing to cry. Over everything. Still. Someone please make her stop. For a second I thought it might be because her 2 year molars are coming in. But no. All I have to do is say "Just a minute, honey" and she's on the floor in a ball of tears. I don't know how much more I can take.
I did end up making some more tiny houses today. I had dreams last night of a little village made entirely of tiny little paper houses. I couldn't help it...they're not that hard to make and just so dang cute. The ones I made today turned out a little better than yesterday. It just took a little practice to get the method down right. If you decide to make some and you want snow on the roofs...use a glue like Diamond Glaze and run it over the ridge line and it will naturally drip down the sides and make for good snow. I put clear glitter on top of the glue and it looks so cute!
So that's all I got for today. I've got to go clean up all the glitter, paper scraps and fake snow that is littered all over my kitchen counter! Oh yeah and avoid that other thing.

Dec. 2: project

Instructions can be found here. Mine isn't as cute as hers though. It wasn't quite as easy as I thought it was. Well, the only problem I really had was getting the roof to stick on. You really have to have patience and I don't. I think my houses are a little bigger than Sarah's too. There weren't precise instructions on how to do it so I just kind of went with it. This one is going to go to a new home as a gift and I think I just might make another one in a bigger jar. Fun little project and it looks super cute sitting on my counter :)

Dec.1

Every year about this time I get this wild hair to make Christmas cut-out cookies. And every year about half way through the rolling I find my self wondering: Why am I doing this? They never turn out they way the do in the magazines. I do not have the patience for decorating. And I think most importantly.....no one eats them! So, why? Why every year do I put myself through this torture? I still have no idea. On the bright side though...These actually turned out really good. I used a new recipe and they actually keep their shape when you bake them. So the snowflakes look like snowflakes, and Santa doesn't look like a big blob. Oh, and they taste good too. If you're interested in the recipe let me know and I'll email it to you. I love making cookies, so these are just the first of many this month.
My house kind of looks like a tornado hit it. For some reason I'm trying to cram all the holiday goodness into one afternoon. I've taken all the stuff out of the closet, strung lights outside, put up the stockings over the fireplace, made cookies, shopped for kids presents, and have a half-way put together Christmas Tree. There are boxes, and paper, and glitter, and fake pine needles everywhere. Giant messes overwhelm me so I'm not quite sure what possessed me to think I could do it all in one day.
Anyway.
Thanksgiving was fun. I love just hanging out all day and stuffing my face. It's my favorite holiday. Besides 4th of July. I actually did pretty good though. Not tooo much stuffing. :) Mom's oven broke so we had to cook everything in her cottage out back and in the camping trailer. That was fun. Hauling hot food back and forth. Luckily the turkey was cooked on the BBQ so we didn't have that to deal with too.
Yawn.
Am I boring you yet? Sorry.
The rest of the weekend was pretty boring too. Jake went with Pete to the ranch for 'Boys Weekend'. They had a ton of fun, but I seriously missed my kid. I mean, I missed Pete too....but it's just so much different when your kid is gone for 3 whole days. I'm almost embarrassed at how much I missed that boy.
Megan and I had fun too. I took her to the movies for the very first time Saturday night. We went and saw Bolt. It's sooooo cute! I really liked it and I think I'll take Jake for a special date so he can see it too.
Ok I'll stop here with the randomness. Must go finish decking the halls.
Happy December!

Traditions

These pictures have nothing to do with Traditions. At least not for me anyway. We went to the Teddy Bear Tea on Saturday. The kick-off of the holiday season. We got all dressed up and went to a traditional tea party. It's annual event put on by our city with the proceeds going to the local hospital. This is the first year that Megan and I went. It was ok, I guess. But I don't think I'll be going again next year. After all the hoopla of getting fancied up only to be rushed through a cup of tea and food from Costco....eh, I'm kind of over it. To tell you the truth, I really just wanted an excuse to put Megan in this super cute dress. Isn't she adorable? Even though she is still refusing to smile or look happy in front of a camera?

Back to the topic of traditions....I was wondering what yours were. So if you're so inclined, and have a moment, I'd love it if you posted in the comments :)
Do you have Thanksgiving at your house, or go away? This year we are going to my moms and I can't wait! I've never done Thanksgiving myself.
What's your favorite thing on the Thanksgiving menu...the one thing you wait all year for? For me it's the turkey that my mom's husband makes. Oh. My. Gosh. The best ever!
When do you put up your Christmas Tree? When I was a kid we never put ours up until maybe two weeks before Christmas. But now I like to do it the weekend after Thanksgiving.
Real tree, or fake tree? I prefer a real one, but I have a nice fake one. It's easier. No stringing the lights!
Do you open presents on Christmas Eve, or wait till the morning? We wait till morning. Actually nothing goes under the tree until the kids go to bed. That way they're super excited to see the loot when they come downstairs in the morning! It's what my mom did for me and it stuck. :)
Santa gifts: wrapped or unwrapped? Unwrapped.
Favorite treat you only make this time of year? Spritz cookies or Mexican Wedding cookies.
And lastly...do you have a traditional Christmas breakfast? Like something you make every year? I'm still working on this one. I haven't found that perfect thing yet. So if you have one, let me know, K?
Oh, one more thing before I sign off....Jake did all kinds of Thanksgiving projects and activities at school the past couple of weeks. He's come home with 4 different turkeys and Indian and pilgrim stuff but the best thing was his recipe for How to Cook a Turkey:
We will go hunting for our turkey. Take off all the feathers. Then it's ready to cook in the oven. It cooks for three minutes at sixty degrees. We will have salad too. The turkey will have spices.
We got a copy of all the kids recipes and I have to say it's another thing that will go into the box to be saved forever! It's so cute. What I thought was cool was that Jake was the only one to say he was going to hunt for his turkey! Doesn't surprise me though!
Have a great Thanksgiving!!

I keep things

I can't help it. I'm a sentimental kind of gal. If something has any significant memory attached to it, I keep it. (Maybe that's why I like scrapbooking so much?) I have a cedar chest full of memories from my childhood and adolescence. I have all 4 of my high school I.D. cards. I saved my tickets to the Prom. I have a T-shirt from the 5th grade that everyone signed on the last day of school. I still have the head gear I had to wear in the 9th grade. Yes, I wore head gear but thank God I didn't have to wear it to school! Could you imagine? *shudder* I still have 2 teddy bears that were given to me as an infant. Oh, and I still have my 'B'. That's what I called my blanket.
I keep things. Pete does not. He's a tosser. We'd been married about 2 years, no children yet, and he was out in the garage cleaning up. I had a box of old dolls and stuff that my mom had saved for me and given to me to keep. He opened the box, saw a bunch of 'useless' dolls and without even asking, just threw them away. About a month later I went out the the garage searching for something and noticed my box was gone. I went in and asked if he'd seen it. "Oh, you mean that one with all those nasty dolls and stuff in it?" Ummmmm yeah, that one. "I threw it away". I just about died. Most of the stuff in there was no big deal. But my very first Cabbage Patch Kid was in there. And a little teddy bear my camp counselor had made for me. I was so upset that it made me cry. And Pete just didn't get it. He obviously understood that I was upset, but he just didn't get it. I still hold this one over his head. He doesn't throw out anything anymore without asking me first. But he still doesn't quite get it.
I also have a box of school work from Kindergarten to about the 3rd grade. Most of it is art projects or reports my mom had saved for me. My very first report card is in there. Stuff like that. Pete has threatened to throw it out on many occasions. Because the box is just sitting there taking up space and doing nothing. That's not the point, I tell him. He asks me if I ever look at it. And mostly I don't. It does just sit there and take up space, I get that. But that's not the point. It's just not the point! Dang it!
A friend of mine gave away her wedding dress the week after she got home from her honeymoon. Her husbands grandmother handmade the dress. Without a pattern! And she sent it to the Good Will. I could not believe it. She said, "Well, I'm never going to wear it again." Yeah, ok....but SO WHAT?!
Yep. I keep things.
So, when Pete got home yesterday and I showed him Jake's very first report card and the nursery rhyme book he made, Pete said:
"So, I guess you're going to keep that for a while, right? I bet I couldn't pry it from your cold, dead hands."
He's learning. :)

Oh, and the confrence with Jake's teacher went well. He's definitely not that kid. But I already knew that :)

Oh brother,

I knew this would come back to haunt me. I just didn't think it would be so soon. My one moment of weakness in front of a bunch of kids and at least one of their parents.
Jake just came in from playing outside and said Mommy, is the middle finger bad? like when you hold it up like this??
*sigh*
My first thought was oh great, now I've gone and taught the whole neighborhood how to flip the bird. Please don't make it be my kid showing everybody....please let it be some other degenerate child.
Me: Who was doing that?
J: Well...um (gulp)....I was.
great. just great.
Me: Why?
J: Well...........well.......Brady started it!
*Oh thank goodness!*
J: He told us all to do it! And then, and then John said it was bad. And I'm sorry mommy, I didn't know it was bad! (he said, in his very rushed, please I don't want to be in trouble voice.)
*whew*
Me: Well, now ya know. Don't do it again ok?
J: Ok Mommy, I won't!

Being a parent is hard. Especially now when the whole social aspect comes into it. I'm very conscious of what other parents think of my kids. Because what they see in them, is a direct reflection of me. And I don't want to be that parent, you know? The one who lets their kid run wild through the neighborhood with no boundaries or rules. (and flips people off driving down the street) And I really don't want my kid to be that kid either. The kid who no one wants to let play at their house. Or the one who when they look at they think That poor kid with that awful mother.
ha ha! I know I'm being rather dramatic, but this stuff really does go through my head!
Parent/teacher confrence tomorrow. Let's hope Jake is not that kid at school. ;)

A new phase of siblinghood

Sibling hood? Is that even a word? I think I may have made that one up.

Anyways, here is Exhibit A:



Don't they look sweet? Lately, this has become a very rare sight around our house. I think we've ventured in to the new phase of brotherly/sisterly love. The fighting over everything phase. Seems like all I hear lately is:

"Get out of my room!"

" Stop touching me! Megan!"

"Get off!"

"Go away!"

Followed by:

"No! Dat mine, Day-dee!" (that's how Meg says Jakey)

or just a blood curdling scream: "Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!Eeeeeeeeeek!"

And then me:

"Ok! that's enough!"

And then of course Miss Bossy Pants:

"Yeah! Dat nuff Day-dee."

It's just a never ending circle of this stuff. It's uncharted territory for me, an only child. I don't know anything about fighting with a brother or sister. Does it ever stop? (don't answer that.)

Mix in with all that mess, Exhibit B:



Do you see the evil eye? Yeah. This the defiant I'm not loooooking look which I get quite frequently. Especially if I want to take a picture. She just will not look at me. Not only is she bossy and defiant, she's also a complete drama queen. She cries over just about everything. Everything. If she asks me for something and I say, Ok, just a minute....she falls out crying. If she asks to go to Grandma's house and I say Grandma's not home today....she falls out crying. She cries whenever someone leaves our house, or we'll be driving and she'll see a cat out the window and she'll ask if she can pet it and I say No, she cries. It's enough to make a mom crazy. I know I'm making it sound pretty bad I guess. And it's not like she's never sweet or never not crying. But there are a lot of these little crazy moments mixed in with tons of super sweet fun ones every day...you know what I mean? I find myself constantly saying "Megan...look at mommy. Stop crying. This is not something to cry about". I suppose it's all typical two year old stuff. You know, she's just working that little personality of hers. It think it just seems way more dramatized because 1) I'm with her 24/7 and 2) she's a girl.

Other things going on this week were my mom coming down on Tuesday for a visit.



That was nice. We took the kids to the park, which is were we got all these pictures. Jake is just looking like such a big kid these days. I was just looking at a pic of him from his birthday in August, and he already looks so much bigger and more mature to me. Maybe it's kindergarten.



We also went on another field trip with his class on Friday. This time was to the grocery store. I didn't take any pictures this time. I've been to the store a million and one times and that surely won't be my last trip! It was fun for the kids though. They got to go in the back and see them decorate cakes and cut meat and all that stuff. Our tour guide was kind of nutty though. She was just I dunno...a little too enthusiastic?? She showed the kids the box bailer in the back room...it's the big machine they use to smash all the boxes down to send to they recycle center. Anyway she proceeds to tell all the 5 year olds how "there was this one time.... a kid fell into the machine and got crushed". yeah. She actually said that. You should have seen us parents...we were all like are you kidding me? You're really telling this to a bunch of kindergartners?
Tuesday is our first Parent/Teacher conference. Even though I work in the class at least once a week and talk with his teacher frequently, I'm really looking forward to getting down to the goods and seeing how well he is learning. About a month ago Mrs. C pulled me aside and let me know that he had tested very low on the alphabet/letter sounds. This didn't surprise me at all. Remember back before school started how I was nervous about him not knowing the alphabet all the way etc...?? So yeah, her telling me he tested low was not a surprise at all. I asked her what I could do at home and she offered to send Jake to the reading specialist twice a week to kind of get him caught up. Well I've seen a VAST improvement since then. I think the reading specialist, plus the teachers more close attention, and my help at home has helped him a lot. I borrowed these books from a friend and I'm just amazed at how quickly Jake has picked it up and is able to read the books all the way through with little help.
Anyway, I guess that's about it for now. This is getting rather long (and boring), isn't it? I guess that's what happens when I don't blog for over a week. I'll update again soon....I've actually been scrapbooking lately and making miniBooks! Hello. That is like so rare for me! ha ha! I've made 2 completed ones and my December daily album.
Wow, just over a week till Thanksgiving! Are you ready?

So, my first thought was...

"So Pete, we're moving to Canada, right?"
If not Canada, how about Alaska? :)

I am filled with mixed emotions today. Who knew I could care so much about an election? I never thought I would. Obviously not every one will share my feelings on the outcome of this election. But lets just agree to disagree, ok?
I'm still cringing when I listen to the radio and hear the replaying of "The 44th President of the United States of America.....Barack Obama!" and then the crowd cheers. It brings tears to my eyes and fills me with anxiety. And honestly, I'm not exactly sure where that anxiety is coming from. But for some reason it's there. I think it amazes me that so many people can overlook inexperience, the fact that's he's BFF's with known terrorists, that's he's totally ok with late term abortion, that he won't put his hand over his heart during the National Anthem, that his wife has never been proud of her country (until now of course)....I suppose I could go on and on. But it's over, and there's no sense in harping on it now.
Barack Obamas' campaign was one of "Hope" and "Change" for many Americans. I think change is inevitable. And whether it's for the better or for the worse, only time will tell. All we can do now is pray for him. Pray that he can lead this country to better times. And hope, well there is always hope.
One thing I can say for President Obama: Through this campaign he brought passion back into Americans. Whether you were for or against him, he caused people to look around and stand up for what they wanted and believed in. I'd never seen so many people really excited to vote. This was the first time Pete has ever voted. He also has a friend he works with who is 50 years old and voted for the very first time yesterday. Not only did this election cause me to be eager to elect a president, but it lead me to look more intently on many State and local elections and propositions. I never cared about any of it before. Mostly because I just didn't understand, or take the time to understand. This year I took the time to understand and when I cast my vote, I was proud of the decisions I made.

Happy Halloween!!

It's impossible

to stay mad at this girl. *sigh* She just squished cooked carrots into my carpet. Not that my carpet isn't filthy already....that's beside the point. Orange mush?? Come on, man! *don't ask what I was doing at the time. Obviously, I was not paying attention ok?* Back to not getting mad...How can I? Look at this face!


And then, no matter how loud I shout, "Mommy is NOT happy about this! Mommy does not like orange carpet!" She just looks at me and says this:



And I say "No, it's not alright! The carpet is orange!" So she promptly follows up with this:



gah! Seriously, she is irrisistable. It's sickening. *********************************************
Megan's thoughts on potty training: This girl is just too much!

Dear Lord, please help me.

Help me to be a good mom. Help me to teach my children that being stupid is not cool. Please help me to not allow my teenage son to buy/drive a sports car....and then peel out and drive obnoxiously fast in neighborhood streets where there are 7 or 8 5-8 year old kids are playing. And then help me to teach them not to flip the mom's off who are yelling at the teenage boys to "SLOW DOWN!". And please forgive me now for flipping them off back in front of aforementioned 5-8 year olds.
*sigh*
Sometimes I have no self control. I'm a red head. It's like in my genes or something.
Yep, I totally flipped off the idiot 17 year old boys driving like maniacs through my neighborhood. But holy heck! They scared the crap out of me. I'm sitting here in my living room and all of a sudden I hear screeching tires. And then followed by blood curdling screams from a bunch of boys (mine included) playing outside. What would your first reaction be? And it wasn't just once. No. It was like 3 or 4 times. They sped up the street and then slammed on their breaks. And then peeled out and sped down the street again and did it again. All while these little kids are playing outside. Um yeah. Scared me. So I yelled. And a little birdie flew off my middle finger. I'm a mom, it's what I'm supposed to do right?
I sound so old right now...but really, I've never understood why that is so cool, or whatever.
Yep, my house is totally getting egged Friday night.

Week in the life 100% complete

Here's a preview of my album. Each day has three pages and all are formatted like these here. It was easy, fast, and I actually like the way it turned out. I'm usually more inclined to make things more difficult. But this time I found it so much more satisfying to know that I got it done and it didn't need all the bells and whistles to look good too. I didn't use all the pictures I took each day, but I think that's ok. I also didn't use a lot of words either. Just mostly bullet points of what went on during the day. I think the pictures are kind of stories in and of themselves and don't necessarily need the words. Anyway, this sure was a fun experiment/project and I definitely plan on doing this again.

The one about the food.

Because I've had several people ask what I've been cooking....here's some of my favorite stuff lately. I get a lot of the new stuff I try from blogs. (I'm totally adicted to blogs and I keep adding more and more to my bloglines list!) If you click on the links it will take you directly to the recipe, but if you're in the mood most of these gals/guys have lots of really good food and pretty pictures, so take a look.

I'll start with dessert. :D

sweets:


Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Oh my gosh, these are good. Like seriously. I took these to a friends house last week and they were a hit. They were gone in 10 minutes. I made them again this week. :D They're not too sweet, not overly pumpkiny. Just perfect. Because they're super duper moist, they don't last long. So ya gotta eat em quick. But really, once you taste them, I'm sure you won't have a problem.

Oreo brownies I made those a few weeks ago. Super sweet. But good.

My favorite chocolate chip cookies If you like soft gooey cookies, try this recipe.

Sour cream apple pie Because my cousin asked me too, and because Pete loves apple pie. I'm not a huge apple pie fan so I can't really say if this SO good or not. But I did eat a small piece and it tasted pretty good to me.





Dinner:

If I'm lost for what to make, and if I'm looking for something really, really good, I can usually find something I want on The Pionner Woman's blog. The lady just cooks what I like to eat.

PW's enchilada's. I have made these every week since she posted this recipe. My family has made enchiladas exactly like this all my life. Except for the sauce. Make the sauce just as PW suggests. It is key. I'll never go back to the old way. The recipe looks like a lot of work, but it's really not. It takes a total of maybe 30 minutes to get it all together and then you just throw it in the oven. Easy.

Pastor Ryan's Mexican lasagna. This one also looks complicated, but it's not. I've made it several times. Everybody, even the kids love it.

This Chicken Chili is really, really yummy.

Can you tell we like mexican/spicy food? :)

Tonight I'm making this. It's not spicy or Mexican. I've got mine in the slow cooker. And it already smells really, really good. Mmmmmm....comfort food. I can't wait.

All kinds of random

*It's been dang near 2 years since I started this here blogity blog. I have over 200 posts. And I've met some of the coolest people ever. Seriously. People who I wouldn't hesitate to call my closest friends. Aw. *sniff, sniff* Thanks guys. Thanks for stickin' with me.
*Pete is gone on a little mini hunting trip with his boss. He left yesterday and should be back tomorrow. Now usually, when Pete is gone, I take every chance to be a lazy/cool mom. Lazy meaning I don't cook, and cool because hello-what kid doesn't like to go to McDonald's? Oh and to Hollywood Video to pick up a bunch of mind numbing crap to watch?! But this time has been slightly different. Slightly. We did still go pick up a bunch of mindless crap to watch. But here's the real surprise...I've actually cooked. Like real food. Like not mac-n-cheese either.
Before I go on, let me tell you that it's been quite a while since Pete has been gone for more than just a weekend at the ranch. I might be wrong, but I think the last time he was actually on a real hunting trip was when I was still working. So the laziness then was mostly because I was so incredibly worn out. I almost looked forward to him being gone (I know, that sounds bad) because I wouldn't have to rush home and cook dinner. That whole sentence sounds so @$$ backwards. I should want to cook healthy meals for my kids, right? Right? Well I didn't. McDonald's, microwaved pizza's and PB&J were usual menu items when daddy was out of town and I couldn't have been happier. (or so I thought) So anyway, I'm kind of blathering on here, but my point is I've come to the realization that by me actually doing some real cooking these last few days, I'm either #1: getting used to this whole stay at home mom thing, #2: really starting to enjoy actually cooking things that didn't start from a box, or #3 a combination of both. I'm going with #3.
*Funniest song lyrics I've heard in a long time:
Cheater, cheater where'd you meet her? That no good white trash ho...
Of course I hear it when both my 2 and 5 year old children are in the back seat and I have the radio blaring. I'd never heard this song before and at first I didn't even realize what it said. I thought it was just one of your typical Country songs about liein' and cheatin'. It seriously has a real catchy tune. I look back and Megan is car dancing and by the 2nd chorus (right as I go 'oh crap, i better turn this off!) Jake is belting out "NO GOOD WHITE TRASH HO!" Nice.
Here's the video if you want to hear the whole song.
*My 5 year old kid told me that all old people have to stand on corners with signs and ask for money. That's their job, he says. How sad is that? It's unfortunate, we live in a pretty small town and on any given day, there is at least one person standing with a sign "need work" "need food for family" and "Please help, God Bless" on every corner to every major shopping center in our town. We see them so much that Jake will even notice if one of them has moved to a "new corner". He'll say "look mommy, that guy is over here today!" I don't even know what else to say about this. I'm not sure he really understands the concept of "homeless", and I'm not sure I want to break down his glittery world anymore than every day life already does.
Does that even make sense?
*I looked up my street today and realized that I'm the only "homeowner" left on our side of the street. We and our neighbors bought these houses 4 years ago and watched them be built from the ground up. We all shared a common bond. Not only being neighbors, but because these houses where brand new....it was like we were all starting this new adventure together. We all became friends and our children grew together and we trusted each other as good neighbors do. And now it seems as if it is crumbling all around us. When I looked up the street, I realized we are the only original people left. Even my neighbors next door. They both have jobs in the city and decided that they were going to rent an apartment in the city M-F and then come back "home" here on the weekends. Well, I don't blame them....but that didn't last long. There is a giant storage bin in their driveway. They're packing up. They're leaving. Out of 19 houses on my street and the street we share an ally with, there are 10 that are completely empty. On my street, we are the only homeowners, the rest are renters. It's not that I care that they rent (I'm not like that), but it's scary to know that every single one of them is a product of the foreclosure crisis. Yep. They all are renting because they all lost their homes due to bad loans or job losses. And we're trying to sell our house before we're in the same boat. Crazy, crazy times.
* on a lighter note....I found some pretty funny quotes today from a friend:
You're a great friend....but if zombies chase us, I'm totally tripping you.
I didn't slap you!....................I just high fived your face.
Call me ASAP! I was watching the news just now and I heard the short bus flipped over and I know you don't like to wear your helmet and all, so are you ok?
Come on it's all in good fun. I won't tell anyone you laughed.

I guess that's all I got for now. I think that was more than I originally intended. But it was random none the less. You can always count on me for randomness. :D
Oh wait! I forgot.....I'm 98% DONE with my week in the life album. Yeah, you read that right. All I got left is my title page and journaling. yee-haw!

You know what they need at the laundromat?

And seriously....why has no one thought of this before?
Treadmills. Or elliptical machines. Or stationary bikes. It would be perfect!
I had to go to the laundromat today. This is probably going to sound a little funny....but I have never been to a laundromat in my adult life. Not even at my first apartment. I was lucky enough to have an in-unit machine and dryer. I know!
So we went to the ranch on Sunday and Pete brought home 3 ginormous sleeping bags that needed to be washed. Enter: laundromat.
I really take my own washer and dryer for granted. What a complete waist of time the laundromat is. You stick your load in, pay almost 10 dollars to wash just 2 of the 3 sleeping bags you need to wash, and you sit, and you wait.
And you wait some more.
And you can't leave. I mean...what if that shifty looking guy over there steals your panties out of the dryer while you're gone? (not that I had any panties in the dryer, but you know what I mean)
Then you desperately shove your sopping wet sleeping bags into a dryer. Put another dollar in. And wait some more. Why is it so cheap to dry, and so expensive to wash? It only cost me about 75 cents to dry 2 ginormous sleeping bags.
They need treadmills at the laundromat. Seriously. I would totally hop on one of those if I had to use the laundromat on a regular basis. Might as well do something rather than just sit there and watch Montell. (which we couldn't even hear over the noise of the washers and dryers)
Laundromat owners: dudes, you could totally cash in on my idea. Send me an email and we'll work out the details :D
Enough about that.
Well, one more thing.... A laundromat would make an awesome place for a photo shoot. Seriously. Picture girls in fluffy petticoated dresses sitting barefoot on top of a row of washers? Or sitting inside of one with their feet hanging out! No?
Who knew one could write so much about a laundromat?

Just a quick note

I did order my pictures for the week in the life project. But I didn't fuss over them too much. During the week I uploaded the days pictures every night. Then in the morning I would sift through them and just do minor editing on the ones that looked really bad. (too dark usually)
So I had the hard part already done.
I also came up with a bit of a plan for my layouts last week too. I sketched four 8.5 x 11 landscape layouts just to look at as a guide. I planned on 4 layouts for each day.
Yesterday I just uploaded the entire weeks worth of pictures and ordered 1 copy of each. I didn't spend any time thinking about it. That was sort of a good thing, sort of a bad thing. The thing I hate is that so many times, even though I choose "auto edit OFF", my pictures come back from the printer just a little lack-luster from what I see on my computer screen. It's a little disappointing. But I went with it anyway.
Last night I sifted through them all, putting them in groups by day. Then I sifted through those and picked out the ones I liked best. I ended up with about 15-20 per day. Then today, I sifted through those and chose 4 I liked from each day and could easily be cropped into 2x2 squares.
And tonight....I have 6 layouts completed (one for each day) with pictures and patterned paper. Still need title/words and then they'll be done. So I'm like 1/8th completed with my album! LOL.
So anyway, I'm hopping sticking with this plan I can get it done. I'm taking advice from my friends and going with super simple.
I'm not intending to turn this into a scrapbooking blog....back to our regular scheduled programing shortly.

Sunday Favorites

Week in the life project:
So here marks the last day of the Week in the life project. I have to say that though I'm kind of glad it's over, I really enjoyed the process. I learned that ordinary life, isn't necessarily so ordinary. I think I've learned to see things just a little differently. And, I've learned that there are many beautiful things all around us, and in our every day lives if we just take a second to stop and look.
Sounds so cliche, I know. But I think it's true. Otherwise I wouldn't have written it. :)
I just placed my order for 235 prints at Costco to be picked up this afternoon. I'm looking forward to getting this album put together, but admittedly I'm a little intimidated. It seems like such a daunting task with an average of 35-50 pictures a day.

Sunday Favorites:









*edited to add: Pete is NOT in his undies in this last picture (as my mother thought!) But he IS in some funky old plaid shorts. He's had those since as long as I've known him (probably longer) and thank goodness he only wears them around the house!

Saturday Favorites

Week in the life project

Rain this morning

Enjoying the quiet

Much cleaning :(

Pumpkin patch!

Above the corn maze

Thursday and Friday Favorites

Week in the Life

Thursday Favorites:





Friday Favorites: (I had my ISO set WAY high today so these ones are kinda grainy)