correct me if i'm wrong

I bet your Memorial Day festivities were loads more fun than mine.

kind of like hansel and gretel

Remember what my kids did last week while I was getting ready for church?

Go refresh your memory.

Today they made a trail of Apple Jacks for me to follow when I was done drying my hair. I wasn't even in the bathroom very long. They work fast.

I'm thinking it's time to start a weekly feature called "Look what trouble the kids get into when their parents are getting ready for church meetings!"

It's a good thing Danny can count to 100 all by himself because he got all the way to 73 with that trail.

I swept it up and they got upset.

Then I scared them by telling them the ants would crawl into our house and eat them. I meant the Apple Jacks when I said them but I think my kids thought I meant the ants would eat them (you know, the kids).

I didn't clarify. It's best to keep them on their toes about such things.

Cate later told Dan, "Daddy, when you see ants say ANTS!"

Thanks, Dora.

And thanks a lot, Hansel and Gretel.

the graduate

This crazy kid graduated from preschool this week (except he didn't really since he has another year before he starts kindergarten). Good thing he doesn't really know what graduation means.


Cate didn't want to be left out of the post-graduation photo shoot. I told them to hold hands and jump and this is what I got. Crazy kids.



I have to admit I was extremely proud of Danny during the program. Sure, he made plenty of pouty grouchy faces. I was expecting that.



And he didn't sing any of the songs. Pretty much figured that would happen too. But he stayed in his spot the whole time. And he kept his silly hat on. That's big stuff, people.

I'm pleased to report that he never once tried to karate chop anyone. No fake light saber duels either. He even seemed ok with sitting by a girl. What a kid.



In other news, how do you like my fancy jacket? I wore it to my very first round pen last night. Hopefully it'll be my very last round pen too because I had an allergy attack of epic proportions. But I sure looked fancy while I was wiping my runny nose and itchy eyes. That's for sure.

Well, fancy or ridiculous. One of the two. My kids both thought I looked awesome (they told me so) and that's all that matters.

chocolate cheerios and no news about yesterday

Dan comes home from work every day and asks Danny what we did all day.
Lots of times Danny's reply is, "Nothing!"

Nothing?
NOTHING?

Who is this kid and where has he been all day while we were busy doing everything except for nothing?

So I had this great plan to post all week about what we did every day so that Dan would know for sure that we do NOT do nothing all day.

That lasted 2 days.

I've got no post about Wednesday for you today.
I was tired and busy and lost my oomph.

What I do have for you is a little girl who has been waking up too early lately.

Yesterday it was 6:40.
Today 7:15.
Plus a few middle of the night wakings thrown in for good measure.
I don't know what's going on here but I don't like it.

Part of it is my fault.
I had this great plan to paint her bedroom.
I took stuff off her windows to paint and now the sun shines in when it is not welcome.
And wakes her up when I am not ready for her to be up.

So I need to get my bum in gear and finish painting today.
And then buy some curtains that make her room nice and dark until a more acceptable hour in the morning because 7:15 is making me really not happy.

This morning Cate and I had a little photo fun in my bed (in an effort to keep her quiet and not wake up her brother).
It's impossible to take pictures of yourself laying in bed and NOT have a double chin.
My hand is trying to hide it but we all know it's there.

Cate had fun.
Me, not so much.

And then I ate a bowl of chocolate cheerios and felt better.

duck duck goose and other stuff about yesterday

duck duck goose at preschool
(sitting right next to the teacher...he's definitely her favorite)
a hissy fit at Walmart
(because someone didn't want the seat belt buckled)
homemade granola
(made the house smell lovely)
laundry
(because someone wet the bed)




bead bracelets for impromptu craft time
(that lasted a good 4 minutes)
clean bathrooms
(because stuff was growing in the toilet)
playing out back
(barefoot in the sandbox)
afternoon bath time
(because someone doesn't like sand in between her toes)



finished gifts for Danny's teachers
(wowzers! I did something semi-crafty!)
working outside
(that picture up top)
a nap on the chair in the front room
(I tired her out with all that sweeping)



breakfast for dinner
(because we love us some bacon around here)
a romp at the park
(too windy, froze my bum off)
pestering Mommy the rest of the evening
(because they know how much she really wants to get that bedroom painted and they're doing their best to thwart her every effort)
no exercising
(because somebody couldn't find a very special stuffed puppy when it was time for bed and another somebody spent a hunk of time looking for it and by the time it was found and stories read and prayers said it was too late)

Best part of the day:

the raspberry Lindor ball eaten at 11:09 in the morning
(no picture because it went fast)


And that was Tuesday

monkey brains and other stuff about yesterday

Danny went to preschool in the morning.
I had to wake him up to get there on time.
I hate waking my kids up.
Why does he pick the one day we have to be somewhere on time to sleep in?

The kids practiced for their graduation program and played with a ginormous parachute.
Can you spot my little darling?
He's right next to the teacher at the bottom.
I'm going to pretend it's because he's her favorite and not because of that whole proximity to the problem kids thing that teachers like to do.

That's Cate's hair on the side of the picture.

It rained.

Cate and I went to Target and Hobby Lobby while Danny was at school.
Cate calls Hobby Lobby "Hockey Wally."
She kept bugging me to go find the toys.

We cleaned out Cate's bedroom in the afternoon.
(By we I mean mostly me.)
Everything we moved out is now in my room and the dining room.
Please don't come visit.
My house is a mess.

The plan is to paint her bedroom.
She wants it black.
I told her it's going to be pink.
I've decided that most of the time she doesn't know what she wants.
And that she needs to work on learning her colors.

These are the before pictures.
I waited until I got all the toys, books and general mess out of there.
And then only took pictures of one corner.
Good enough.

Judging by the amount of time it took to do what we did in there yesterday,
I'm thinking I'll have her room painted and put back together some time before Christmas.
I'm dreading opening that paint can because they really think they're going to help me paint.
It ain't gonna happen. My heart can't take it.

Danny used kid scissors to cut a hole in his pants.
Then he spent a good amount of time in his room with the door closed.

I made dinner.
Cate fell asleep on her favorite chair in the front room.
At 4:30 in the afternoon.
Not good.

The cousins and Uncle Dave came over to eat.
Aunt Judy was still at work.
Baby Ray Ray sat at the table and ate meatballs and pears.
A lovely combination.

Cate woke up and got to hold Baby Ray Ray.
She sure loves that kid.
He's 10 months old now and isn't so keen on being held by his 2-year-old cousin.
She loves him anyway.

I washed dishes.
Kids took a bath.
Books were read.
Teeth brushed.
Prayers said.
Bedtime objections were heard loud and clear.

I'm just wondering if there will ever come a day when they yawn and stretch and say something like, "Golly gee, Mom and Dad. I'm tired. I think I'll turn in early tonight."

That'll be the day.

I stopped by the store on my way home from the gym to pick up oats and coconut.
Kris has requested that I make more granola.

Look what I found near the oats.

monkey brains


And that was Monday.

in the news

I wonder how Dan will feel when he comes home from his meeting and sees what his little darlings did to his stack of newspapers that he still needs to read.

I'm hoping for proud.

That he's taught them so well, of course.

In my defense, it all went down while I was in the bathroom getting ready for church.

They're quick little trouble makers, that's for sure.

a shot and a couple of slushies

Danny told me Thursday morning that his throat hurt when he swallowed. Then he told me again that night at bedtime. I told him I'd call the doctor in the morning. He said he'd go to the doctor as long as she didn't stick that pokey thing down his throat. Yikes.

Friday morning he woke up and told me that his throat still hurt. I called the doctor. As soon as we got there Danny reminded me that he didn't want that pokey thing in his mouth. I told the nurse about his sore throat and runny nose and she returned with the pokey thing to stick in his mouth. Lovely.

She had to swab the back of his throat to test for strep. Danny saw the pokey thing and freaked out. That made Cate freak out. The nurse and I held him down on the table. I pried his mouth open and she swabbed as fast as she could (which is good because Danny was about to bite a few of my fingers off).

He was mad at me after that. Good thing the doctor took so long to come in. Danny had calmed down and so had Cate. (Note to self for next time: don't bring Cate.) The doctor checked his ears and proclaimed that both were infected. Lovely again.

She said the results of the strep test weren't clear. She saw a line but the nurse didn't (whatever that means). It didn't matter though since he had the ear infections. The medicine would clear up the ears and the strep if it was indeed there.

I asked her if she could just give him a shot instead of a prescription for him to take by mouth. I know that sounds pretty mean, but the last time he had to take medicine twice a day for 10 days was not fun. For him or for me. Tears were shed and a lot of medicine got spit back out or dribbled down the chin. I don't enjoy wasting medicine that's meant to make my kid better. I also don't enjoy wasting money that I had to spend on that medicine. So I asked for the shot.

The doctor said that he could have it because it had been 3 months since his last ear infection (3 months and 3 days to be exact). Danny heard the word shot and started freaking out again. I don't enjoy making my kid get shots. It's not fun watching him freak out and cry and be in pain. It's also not fun watching him spit out medicine for 10 days so I opted for the shot. (The only reason I know a shot is a choice is from all the ear infections he and Cate both had as babies and the times the oral medication didn't clear them up. That's when they get a shot instead.)

I'll spare you the details. Let me just say that my 4 1/2-year-old has got one cute little tushie and he can cry hysterically like no one else I know. I'm praying for no more ear infections ever again.

To help us all recover from the doctor's office trauma we headed to Target. The kids got slushies and I got a big fat Diet Coke. Then we walked around the store and bought a few other things to soothe our troubled souls.

And this morning Danny woke up and said his throat didn't hurt when he swallowed.

Hallelujah.

blog hopping and proud of it

I'm a blog hopper today! Hooray!

Miranda invited me to hop along with her and Hannah and I graciously accepted (because if I'm anything it's gracious).

This month's theme is "A Quick and Easy Family Recipe." I'm not sure what qualifies as a family recipe though. I'm thinking it means something my family eats right? Well, I've already shared the recipe for our favorite meatloaf, yummy chicken and scrumptious meatballs. Aside from those three, this is the other meal that garners no complaints around the dinner table (and when I'm looking for family recipes, that's a biggie).

Pizza. Big surprise right?




I'm going to share a little tid bit of information with you. Up until a few months ago I had never made homemade pizza. Yeast scared me. You stir it with water and it dissolves or gets foamy or something like that? It's alive? Yikes.

I always wondered why people made their own pizza. All that work. All those ingredients. All that yeast. Don't people know they can just buy pizza and keep it in the freezer until they're ready to eat it? I didn't see what the big deal was. Plus that scary yeast.

I've changed my ways. I came across a recipe for weeknight pizza dough (from the blog of my high school friend...hi, Stephanie!) that has resulted in my family eating more than their fair share of pizza in the past few months.

Here's what you need:


(Don't you love tiny glass bowls? I've always wanted to post a recipe using my tiny glass bowls and today's the day! Hooray!)


2 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup hot water
1 tablespoon rapid rise or bread machine yeast
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat the oven to 475º.

Mix the dry ingredients in a big bowl. Add the hot water and olive oil. Mix for 5 minutes and then let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

Here's what you've got:

A happy ball of quick and easy pizza dough (made with yeast that is not scary in the least bit).

This is when I chop the dough into two pieces. I like thin crust. My kids don't know any better so they like it too. Plus, it makes two pizzas instead of one. Two is always better than one, especially when you're talking pizza.

Roll it out. Stick it on a pan. Poke holes in it. Spread it with sauce (store bought for me, from your own homemade stash if that's how you do things around your house). Sprinkle with cheese. Call the kids to come in and help with the toppings. We stick to pepperoni around here. We're simple folk.

Stick the pizzas in the oven and after about 12-15 minutes, you've got dinner.




I make my pizzas on rectangular cookie sheets so we usually end up with wonky looking triangles and some pieces with no crust. Nobody's complained yet so that's what I'll keep on doing.

Here's a bonus recipe for you. I came across it this week. If you're craving a little sweetness after your pizza, make some of this lime yogurt dip and eat it with your favorite berries.



It is so good. I might have made two batches this week and possibly eaten them both almost all by myself (with only a little help from my two-year-old who loves raspberries). I maybe even licked the bowl.

Yum.


Thanks for hopping along with me today. Go check out these other lovely ladies who are blog hopping too. Maybe you'll find a new quick and easy family recipe that will garner no complaints from your loved ones. That's what I'm hoping for!

Hannah

Miranda

Dianna

Jaime & Emily

Jessica

Jessie

Lindsey

an exercise in patience

Alternate titles:

How To Make Finger Paint in Your Very Own Kitchen

or

How To Drive Yourself Crazy (if You're Anything Like Me)

or

A Fun Activity That Kept My Kids Occupied for a Whole 8 Minutes

When I came across this recipe for home made finger paints I figured I might as well try it. I had all the ingredients. It seems safe (to eat especially, since I have a kid that likes to taste things). Probably tastes a lot like really bland pudding. I figured the kids would like to help me. Cate did. She had a blast stirring the dry ingredients to death and then licking the lid of the cornstarch. Why would she do such a thing? I really have no idea.

Next time I'll plan ahead a little better. Maybe make the paint all by myself in the middle of the night while everyone is sleeping. That way they won't be bugging me over and over and over again to see when it's done. That stuff has to cool before you add the color and stick your pudgy little fingers in it. My kids aren't so good at the waiting part. I'm not so good at the listening to kids ask if it's ready over and over and over again. Now I know better.

And as Oprah said a few days ago (quoting her bestie, Maya Angelou), "When you know better, you do better." I like Oprah. I miss her already. I don't know Maya but I think I like her too.

Back to the finger paint...

I learned a little about my kids during that whole mess. Danny wanted to know the rules (since we talk a lot about rules whenever we go to the store...no running away from Mommy, no peeing in your pants, only touch with one finger). I told him to just stick his finger in the paint and then put it on the paper like a paintbrush. Then he needed to know which finger and should it be on his left hand or his right. So many choices.

Cate had no questions about rules. She just went to town with it. Paint everywhere. Slapping the paper with her palms full of paint. And because of that, finger painting just turned into an outside activity. My poor heart won't survive another inside session.



The bonus of doing it outside, I'll just strip them nekid and hose them off when they're done. Or even maybe let them paint their arms and legs with it when they get bored of the paper. That sounds like fun (for them, not me).

Maybe next time I'll let them use the red, orange and yellow.

And maybe next time it will keep them happy for more than 8 minutes.

And maybe it will stop raining some time in the next few weeks so we can actually play outside because this inside stuff is driving me bonkers.

monday plans

Spend some time with this messy baby because he's got some cousins over here that miss him.

Sweep up the zillions of tiny yellow flowers that are covering my driveway, sidewalk and yard (or not sweep them up and let the wind just take care of it for me).

Hobble to the gym tonight in hopes of exercising my tired old body (in an effort to combat the evil effects of that birthday cake we ate last night in honor of Dan's birthday week coming to an end).

Plant the rest of the flowers I bought and avoid that pesky door-to-door salesman and his overpriced whatevers (and it better not rain because my phone tells me that the high this week is going to be 64° and that's not happening until Friday).

Make breakfast for dinner again because we like bacon around here and I haven't been feeling very creative in the menu planning department lately (and nobody complains when I make pancakes so pancakes it is).

Come up with a plan about getting the garden planted (meaning how can I ditch my kids for a few hours this week so I can buy some tomato plants) or else I'm going to feel really bad that my friend came over and dumped a pile of crap into my garden and tilled it for me and I'm just letting it sit there. It seems like a shame to let a perfectly good pile of crap go to waste.

Not feel overwhelmed about getting the garden planted.

Enjoy the day with a little girl who woke up an hour early this morning. Maybe she'll let me play dolls with her. I'm especially looking forward to playing with the ones she's named Titta, Poopa, Toota and Edda.

Fold the laundry that's been sitting in the dryer since Friday afternoon.


We'll just start with number one and go from there (in no particular order) because this is one cute kid. Can't you tell? Blurry yogurt smeared and all.

since monday

Here's what we've been up to.



My darling Dan turned 41 on Monday.

As an early birthday present to him (and by early I don't mean before his actual birthday...I mean early in the morning ON his birthday) I stayed in bed and slept while he got ready for work so that I wouldn't be in his way in the kitchen while he prepared his own breakfast and made his own lunch for work. I know, I know. I'm so thoughtful.

I'm pretty sure I did wake up when he came in to say good-bye before leaving because I vaguely remember hugging him and wishing him a happy birthday. Or else I dreamed that I wished him a happy birthday. I can't remember. He leaves for work at 6:30 in the morning and how can I be expected to think clearly at that hour of the day?

The kids reminded me several times throughout the day that it was his birthday. We went to the store to buy him a weed whacker. That was thrilling. It was rainy and windy out. If it had been nice out we would have braved the party store for balloons. It wasn't so we didn't.

When Dan got home, my neighborfriend was over visiting with her kids. She convinced us to leave the kids with her and go out to eat. Just the two of us. It was lovely.



Then we came home and Cate helped Dan blow out his birthday candle over and over and over again. It was worth it to hear her sing the happy birthday song over and over and over again.



That kid sure loves her daddy. Seriously so cute.



And then we drenched our super duper healthy angel food cake (how can a food with angel in its title not be good for you?) with smooshed strawberries (also super duper healthy) and squirted a little white fluffy stuff on top (whipped cream is basically milk right? milk is super duper healthy too). That's Dan's birthday cake of choice so that's what he gets year after year. I can't complain.

I love this picture because it looks like Cate is having some kind of meltdown in the background. I don't remember her freaking out about anything during the festivities but it sure looks like she did.



I don't remember much about Tuesday.

Danny brought prepackaged brownie treat squares to preschool for the snack. I figured those poor kids had to be getting tired of fruit snacks and those little bunny crackers so we opted for something they couldn't resist. Danny picked them out. Then on the way home from preschool he asked me why the kid who brings the snack has to eat one too. He chose the brownies and then didn't even want to eat one. That kid.

Dan was late coming home from work because he had a class. He was late coming home from the class and was pretty much home for a total of 53 seconds before leaving for his church meetings. I don't think the kids even knew he had come home.

Tuesday was not my favorite day.

And that's ok because maybe Wednesday was.

Cate had a play date at her friend's house in the morning. On the way home from dropping her off I asked Danny what we should do while she was gone. I thought he'd suggest going to Target. He loves Target because he likes to stand in the Lego aisle admiring all the awesome Lego collections that I'll never buy him. He doesn't know that and I'm not one to crush the dreams of a 4-year-old.

He didn't suggest Target or the park or Cousin Kris' house even. All he wanted to do was watch a Star Wars movie with me and work on his sticker book. So that's what we did. We sat together on the couch and he narrated the movie for me, asking me if stuff was cool and who has what weapon and which planet are they from and on and on and on.

It was nice to not be folding laundry or washing dishes. I should try this relaxing and spending time with my kid thing more often.

Thursday came and went and I don't really remember what we did. I probably spent a few hours folding the laundry and washing the dishes that I had neglected the day before.

Friday some neighborfriends came over to play in the morning. Two of them are in Danny's class at church. They're girls though so they mostly just played with Cate. I let them "help" me make peanut butter cookies and then they played in the back yard while I washed more dishes. I swear I wouldn't know what to do with my time if I actually had a dishwasher.

Aunt Diane and Uncle Tony came down to visit last night. Dan and Cate went with them to Cocolito's. I hear she was very well behaved except for when she wanted Dan's Diet Pepsi. That sounds about right.

Danny and I stayed at Aunt Judy's house watching kids so some moms and dads could go to a meeting. They took baby Ray Ray with them though. Cate and I have decided that we really miss that kid so we're going to be spending a lot more time with him this week. Maybe he's ready to crawl around at the park.

And that brings us to Saturday.

I woke up early this morning and ran in a 5k. When I told Danny I'd be in a race he was excited. He told me he thought I'd be "soooooooo good" and that I'd probably win. How's that for a vote of confidence? I'm happy to report that I ran the entire race (except for when I had to stop because the car turning the corner didn't want to just let me run in front of it). No walking. As I was huffing and puffing along I thought several times of people who run marathons and all I could think was WHY WHY WHY do people do that? WHY?

The best part of the race (other than crossing the "finish line" and the girl telling me that my time was 26:58 and that I was in 6th place and being really excited about it because that's over 4 minutes better than my last 5k finishing time) was passing the girl who was in front of me the whole race who was wearing a half marathon t-shirt when she stopped running. The song playing in my ears at that exact moment was We Are The Champions. I kind of wished it was the song playing a few blocks later when I finished the race but oh, well. I passed half marathon girl. That's worth something!

Here I am in all my pink sweaty faced glory. A two time 5k finisher! Woo hoo!

Then I got myself all cleaned up and went and bought oodles of flowers to plant in the front. The wind picked up and blew a zillion tiny yellow flowers out of the tree and all over the yard. Should I sweep them up or just wait for more wind to take care of it for me?

Big bummer happened when I was ready to plant some of the flowers and a door-to-door salesman pulled up across the street. I saw him get out of his car with his name tag and duffle bag so I shooed the kids into the back so he wouldn't try to get me to buy his overpriced whatevers.

I was frustrated and the kids were a mess. They bathed and we went to eat dinner at Chick-fil-A so we could avoid me making dinner and the salesman guy when he eventually made it around to our house.

And then we came home and the kids were naughty to each other so I stuck them both in their rooms. Danny cried. Cate cried. Danny kept crying. Cate stopped. We went in to check on her and she had tucked herself into bed. It was a little after 7:00. Why can't she just do that every night? Minus the crying part of course.

Here's one last picture for you. It's not really "since monday" but I'm sticking it in here anyway.

Dan took exactly 14 pictures of me with my little people on Mother's Day. Not one of them has all three of us smiling and acting appropriately at the same time. This is the best one of the kids. Both smiling and cute, no silly faces.

And then there's me.



the end

friday night videos

July 2007 on our trip to visit Dan's good friend Eve in Santa Cruz, California

Stinkin' adorable Baby Danny

Dan in a goofy hat

Good friend Eve trying to make Danny laugh

One of my favorites

ten things I must keep telling myself

...especially on days like yesterday


1. One day they'll get on and off the toilet without your help, wipe their own bums and thoroughly wash their hands without a reminder. And they won't announce to you when they need to use the toilet. They'll just do it. And you won't have to say stuff like good job, way to go, you're so awesome and I'm so proud of you as they're flushing the toilet.

2. Pretty soon rainy cool spring will turn into summer and they'll play outside a lot. And you'll be complaining about how hot it is so just enjoy the rainy cool spring while it lasts. They'll be outside making messes with mud pies and spraying each other in the face with the hose soon enough.

3. At some point their desire to go into the bathroom with you will end. Hopefully, your bodily functions will bore them to tears instead of acting like some kind of magnet that pulls them into the bathroom while you're in there. If you're lucky, they might even find your bodily functions quite disgusting and the kind of thing that does not require an audience.

4. There's a chance they might grow up and think it's lame to hang out with their mother so you might as well enjoy the 12 plus hours of awake time you get to spend with them almost every single day. 12 hours!

5. One day they will want to sleep in and a take naps. You won't even have to bribe them to take one. You might even be able to nap while they are napping and they won't come wake you up. That's supposing you turn into a nap person by then. It's not likely but it could happen.




6. They'll still love you if you lose it every once in a while but it's a lot nicer around here if you don't lose it in the first place. Keep your cool, even when you decide at 6:00 that you need a break (and your husband still isn't home from work and no naps were taken all day) and they say, "We'll take a break with you!" as if it is the best idea they've ever come up with. Just let them come lay in your bed with you again next time because you'll remember that they get bored of things really fast and they'll be out of that bed in less than 10 minutes and you can have your break after all.

7. A cutely decorated house is highly overrated. So what if you've lived in it for over 10 years and lots of the walls are bare. Your husband always tells you everything looks nice when you complain about it. Your kids couldn't care less. Neither should you. They'll go to school eventually and you'll have all day to sit and stare at the blank walls and wonder what on earth to do with them.

8. Some day they'll be friends. It might take 30 years but it can happen. And so what if Cate might never have a sister and Danny might never have a brother. That's what cousins and friends are for. You have three sisters and no brothers and look how perfectly you turned out. Everybody gets the family they need.

9. People who say enjoy this time, they're only young once, they grow so fast and other blah blah blah like that are the ones who had kids who never fought, ate their vegetables, had perfect sleep habits and didn't pick their boogers and then present them on the tip of their finger for proper disposal. And if those people say that stuff on just the right day (like yesterday) they're just asking to be punched in the face.

10. Remember all those nights you cried yourself to sleep because you wanted a baby and it seemed like everyone and their dog was having babies but you weren't? Remember that? Well, here they are. They grow so fast. They're only young once. Forget all that other stuff and just enjoy them.