Monday, September 21, 2009

Are we insane? July09

Ever notice when your finally happy with the way your life is going(which is rare in this day in age) and make plans, some higher power laughs at you and changes things up? Seems to be whats been going on over here. We were customizing our house to what we could want, making plans for both of us to return to school, then BAM....pregnant with #3. Which wouldn't be so bad if we weren't already living on top of each other and have 2 crammed into a 10x10 room already. So now on top of being pregnant we have the joy of house shopping. Well, I should rephrase that, "I" have the joy of house shopping with 2 small terrorists in tow. Nothing more fun then taking your kids to look at foreclosed houses that are in desperate need for repair and seeing your child eyeing up all the 'fun' things they can launch themselves off from, smack their sister with, or rip off the wall, bc, hey....its already falling down! We happened to have found one, the only catch? Its a foreclosed, great deal, but LOTS of work. Which should be intresting since I'll be 25 weeks pregnant if we close when we want to and going to have to work on it every day/night, while the terrorists play upstairs(the one area the of the house that was fine amazingly). Should be intresting when we do a inspection on the house and have to be there for a few hours, I'm curious/scared to see what kind of trouble they will cause, wonder if the house will still be standing afterward?

E's birthday

ahhh things are starting to get better, or at least go smoother for us. So we decided(hubby finally decided) we are going to have a small birthday party at the house this year for the Emily. It will be interesting to see how well everyone packs in here. It's going to look like a can of sardine's by the time everyone gets here and we try to eat, sing, play, or just even stand around and talk! I'm excited though since this will be the first time any of the girls have had a day all about themselves(well 2-3 hrs). Not even 30m's after hubby said we could do it I had the laptop out, on the party city website, and Em picking out what kind of theme she wants. She picked out the Scooby Doo since that's the latest 'cool' thing in our house, but daddy said 'it's not girly enough' and talked her into princess's. I'm thinking, its her birthday, why does it matter? Besides, I'm sure the boys are just going to 'love' playing 'Pin the shoe on Cinderella'. We certainly didn't waste anytime getting out and shopping for it. I think I'm more excited then she is over her party!

Wednesday was the usual day of grocery shopping, which went as well as any other time. Me pleading and bribing my child, which never works. Nothing works with Maia, I just 'love' it. She refuses to sit in the cart, which is a challenge in itself. Every time you go to sit her in there the little seat flap flips up, so you have to move them, put that down, you get their foot in, go for the other foot, they slip the foot that you just had in there out, the seat flap goes back up. I swear we run through this process at least 3-4x's we go to anyplace that she has to sit. Your thinking, while why don't you just let her walk beside you? I'll tell you why, because first she runs all over the place, doesn't listen, runs in front of the cart at the last minute like a deer testing vehicles, never makes it in time, so you then knock her on her butt. Then you get the evil stares from everybody with them clucking their tongues on what an awful parent you are to that, as if you somehow planned it, and of course they're darling children would 'never' do such a thing. If that's not the case we have to put everything we see in the cart whether she likes it or not. Not to mention there's the touching of every piece of food that we can find. The list goes on and on. Riding in the cart even with the strap as tight as it can go is also no fun. Now houdini is able to reach everything and so everything, I still have not been able to figure out how, every time I try and watch I miss it. As if she can sense when mommy's looking. I absolutely hate the packages that raspberries and blueberries come in, it never fails that she will find them(or something else) and grab them to eat. Which wouldn't be so bad except she eats 1 or 2 then loses her grip and drops the entire container on the floor. After shopping, we now have the battles of the wills.
Nap time....
Me:Come on nap time, pick up toys
Maia:I don't wanna pick up toys mommy
Em: La la la la la
Me:Maia please pick up toys
Maia:(more insistent) NO mommy, I DON'T wanna pick up toys!
Me: Fine, no snack after nap
Maia:I wanna snack!!!
Me: then you better pick up toys!5 min's later
Em: look mommy I picked up all the toys!
Me: Go pick up toys in your room
Maia: I don't wanna pick up toys in room"By now I'm dragging her to bed kicking and screaming, Emily goes to bed no problem, as if she's a perfect angel. After a few more minutes of screaming and crying Maia gives up and goes to sleep. This process goes on everyday or at least every time they have to take a nap....sigh...it never seems to get easier. Once I finally find a way to deal with her mood swings or stubbornness she finds something else to add to it that feels even more horrible then the one before it!

Friday there was a bridal shower/playdate that I took the girls to. Of course it was suppose to be a rainy and crappy day, turns out to be sunny and 70's and I'm wearing a long sleeve shirt....nice. I make lists up the wazoo and no matter what I do, I can't sleep! Which made us all wake up late and we had a friend riding with us. So I'm running through the house like a chicken with the heads caught off trying to get breakfast for the kids and things ready to go. Then jump in the shower, ect. I told myself to keep checking for then they get here, while I was doing my hair, just as I'm finishing(thankfully almost done) they get here, so I'm whipping on the clothes, running, tripping, to the back door to let them in. 15 m's later we were out the door and on our way. I always wait and put Maia's shoes on in the truck and have her stay in the house while I go and get things put in there. While since Emily came out and everyone else followed so did she......in her socks...argh! Get the girls strapped in, shrek going on the DVD player, I ran back in the house, to grab her more clean socks(it had just rained to), snacks for the kids, and you think I remembered to grab the shoes on the way out? nope! The one time that she doesn't have ANY shoes in the truck! I can't win......While we're there, I'm thinking to myself, the girls have been quiet for awhile and I haven't seen them. Sure enough, they're outside and Maia's barefoot.
So another battle of the wills comes about:
Me:Maia get back in the house
Maia: NOOO!!!
Me:I'm not asking!
Maia: I DON"T WANNA GO IN THE HOUSE!!!!I believe that children should ask for permission, I never let them go outside without asking at home so it certainly isn't going to be any different going somewhere else. They're not allowed to go outside period unless I'm with them, daddy, or whoever we left in charge. She has turned into a very mouthy, independent, stubborn, know it all, defiant, 2.5 year old. Wonder when it gets better?

Yesterday the weather was perfect though when we got home. I was surprised to see hubby working outside on the yard so the girls went running for the backyard to play. I went in and opened all the windows in the house to air it out from being closed all winter. The wind was just crazy, it was awesome how strong it was, of course you know its only that strong because there's a storm coming. Which I'm highly disappointed with! The best part of the storm was 11 Miles north of our house! I love thunderstorms and heavy rains and watching it from a far, instead we get drops of water and can hear the thunder in the distance. All in all this week has been great. Now we're back to cold, crappy, cloudy weather which really stinks.

Gotta love Murphy

What a nice few weeks we've been having. Just like Murphy's law, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, has gone wrong. Our basement is starting to get water in it again, thanks to spring and the ground thawing out. The roof in the corner of the garage is starting to rot, and everything needs to be replaced. Our back yard has turned into a pond whenever it rains, therefore making it into a soggy squishy mess that the kids can not play in. Well, I suppose they could, but I'm a mean parent that can't stand to get dirty, especially with mud! It just sends chills down my back at the thought of even stepping in it, let alone having to scrap it off the kids. Our truck seems to be making noises, and will it do it for hubby or the mechanics? Nooooope!!! It does it constantly for me, never stops, then when I go to meet with the mechanics or hubby it automatically stops and refuses to do it. I think my truck enjoys provoking me....sigh.....Well hubby replaced a house off the power steering pump*yay*. The downside? The truck is L-O-U-D or as hubby says 'squeals like a pig', and it gets even worse when you turn in any direction! Defiantly have had a few stares, okay....a lot.

Spring is finally here!! I love April, for me it is the beginning of summer when we make all our plans as to what we're going to do. Which of course all those things we plan maybe 1/3 of them actually get done. But hey, its the thought that counts, right? The goal is to do the roof, build a deck/awning, and possibly finish the privacy fence. Nothing like being stuck between 2 houses of family's that you don't get along with....long story. The girls are having a blast already. Thursday for something different I took them to the park to play. Last year I think we went all of a few times. I'm determined to get the girls out more to fun things and more social outings of course. I made the mistake of taking the girls to Chuckie Cheese on a Friday, DURING SPRING BREAK!!! Oh my word!!! What was I thinking? I should have known to turn around when I pulled in the parking lot and seen that there was NO parking spaces, but noooo I thought it would be fun. Well 20 m's later we were outta there. Talk about a mad house. Turns out there was a birthday party going on to. So instead we went ahead and drove over to the mall and hit the pet store.

Emily is terrified of dogs so we've been going there and playing with the animals which has seemed to really help her with her fear of dogs. Course I suppose its not really making a difference since they're puppies and not full grown, oh well, baby steps. They had the cutest shitzues(sp?)/bischons and we were playing with 2 of them and 1 of the fur balls was really wound up to the point he pee'd all over the floor. Of course that was the moment both children decided to get up and grab the toys, and stepped in it, then fell in it.....ewww! So after getting them to sit down, of course the puppies all up in it and the jumping up and down on everyone at this point, so now we're all covered in dog print pee. Now I'm remembering why I don't want a dog, I love them, I think they're soo cute and make a wonderful pet. Except I want an animal that is litter trained, which leaves cat. Yes I know there's some dogs you can train to do it, blah, blah, blah, but I'm lazy, I want it done yesterday. Besides, its bad enough trying to potty train kids, that is the last thing that I want to be doing, let alone having to clean up accidents, or crap all over the back yard. Then chance missing some and finding it on the bottom of my shoe, which is more then likely what would happen. Course I really fear finding Maia playing in it again, ugh! It can still make me gag thinking about it!

So today we went to the park(again), but this time daddy came with us and we were there (forever)for about an hour. They have this enclosed slide there, that's really steep and the opening at the bottom doesn't really give kids much time to sit up and catch themselves at the end before falling off the bottom. I had tried to get the girls to do down it a few days ago, they went down it once and weren't thrilled with it so didn't go near it again. Well today it became Maia's favorite thing to do while there. She flew down that thing so fast you had to catch her each time before she landed on her back on the ground! It was so funny to watch. Then daddy proceeded to try and go down, mind you this slide is barely big enough for a 4 yr old. While he got his leg stuck(yes I was at the bottom laughing, umm....I mean watching) and could not get it out, so he came down in some contorted position. After that the kids thought it was a blast because daddy was doing it also. After he figured out how to sit in there he did it a few more times(at least a half dozen), I was laughing so hard watching him at the bottom. He almost fell on his butt I don't know how many times, and yes, I was very encouraging to any stupid acts so I could have a great laugh. The only downfall to that park is you have to bath the kids when you get home, they get so dirty from playing there. But seeing them sooo excited is the best and worth it.

Back to the grind

Really not ready for vacation to be over! To be able to sleep every morning and have hubby get up with the kids, dress, feed them, while you slowly come to, now thats a dream come true. Sadly we are back to normal here and no one seems to be adjusting well. As if to make things worse the weather is dark and gloomy not to mention raining none stop. haha maybe mother nature can feel my mood? The only real goal we seem to have this week is find Easter outfits for the girls. You wouldn't think it would be so hard to find a cute little capri pants outfit for them to wear all the time, but nooooo......it's turning into impossible. Well I should re-state that, it wouldn't be impossible if I wanted to spend $30 buck a piece, but somehow I just can't justify spending $60 dollars on 2 sets of clothes. I think I'm more excited over Easter then anyone else, I know I know it's about Jesus and shouldn't be about anything else, but I can't help it!! I LOVE every holiday or any excuse to back and read about it. So much for the diet(I mean 'lifestyle' choice) that I've been on. I still have yet to even download pictures from the wedding on here! Yes, I'm the queen on procrastination. I still have a spring quilt to finish making that was suppose to be made ooohhhh.....last spring? Which I should work on today, but somehow I think that's not going to happen, I'm sure I will come up with some excuse. You know in between being lazy as I clean the bathroom, kitchen, living room, bedrooms, entryways, do 4-5 loads of laundry, take out trash, vacuum, cook dinner, plan meals for next week, make grocery shopping list, return some items we bought. Oh yes, sounds like another 'lazy' day here!

Vacation March08

So this week Vince is on vacation and we're suppose to be taking it easy and enjoying each others company. I get so excited whenever he is going to be home with us and not working. We've have been lucky enough to where he hasn't had to work any job or have school this week! This hasn't happened in almost 2 years! Now mind you, there's projects going on at work and there was a chance he would have gotten an extra 20-30 hours, which we could really use. If he would have kept working though there wouldn't have been anything except the usual stuff. It's not until you plan something that things come up like that. Instead of relaxing we seem to be running all over the roads and not having a moments break. On the bright side the kids haven't been begging us to go shopping since we've been doing it almost everyday so far, then again today they we're crying because they were 'sick'(means tired) and wanted to go home and play since they've been gone the past 4 days in a row. There's just no winning with them. Saturday one of my cousins got married, which was very exciting to me since it was someone who I grew up with and use to be very close to. The wedding was perfect and the girls were actually really good. All I could think of is, we're sitting the 2nd row and Maia is going to keep talking through the entire ceremony or yell things out. While everyone is getting situated my cousin came out to take his position and leave it to my husband to cat call to him. Everyone lost it they we're laughing so hard. It wouldn't be a normal or fun event if there wasn't humor throughout the entire thing. When the bride came down the isle Emily yells out, 'look daddy, it's a princess!' It was so cute! Everything went very smoothly and I am so thankful for that. We didn't get started for home until later, and as usual we could not agree on dinner. So after driving back and forth through Imlay City 3-4 x's we found a hole in the wall place to eat at 8 at night! Maia 'had' to sit on the table and we certainly we're going to fight with her when we ourselves are trying to stay awake. Sunday morning(I hate spring ahead time change) we forgot to go get maia around 4 to put her in her crib in our room so she slept. We heard them in the kitchen around 7:30 whispering all conspiratorial, I'm thinking greaaattt we're going to wake up with the house trashed and cabinets wrote on with marker. Instead they we're planning on how they we're going to come and wake us up. It was so cute that they both came in and jumped on the bed, I'm sure that if this was an everyday thing it would have been annoying and enough to wake you up grouchy, but they've never done it before. We also had a birthday party at Great Escape, I wasn't sure what the place was. Its like a Chuckie Cheese and putt putt golf, and go karts mixed. They had coupons so you could ride double and take the kids on them. Maia wanted nothing to do with it, but I assumed that after we got going she would stop screaming and crying like a banshee. I thought it was just because she didn't want to sit there, oops! I was wrong! oh well.....since we had never driven on the course or the cars before it was just us on the track. Emily rode with me and loved it, every time we would go around a corner really fast she was laughing so hard you could not help but crack up. I guess Maia hit behind daddy the entire time and only peeked out once when we passed them. Finally today, we had our family pictures. We(I) am terrible at checking around and finding the nicest studios and places to get photo's done, let alone make appointments. The only reason that I got our pictures done so soon was because I was able to make the appointment online and not have to call someone and try to hear them over the kids screaming and fighting. Mind you, when I'm not on the phone they're semi-quiet, but as soon as I touch the phone or it rings the kids have a million questions or are just plain whining and tattling that so and so took my toy..sigh.....The last time we took a family picture Emily was 6 weeks old, so yes, we're a little behind. Poor Maia, this is the first time that she's been in a nice family picture and shes.....2 and half! We were about 5-10 minutes late(of course) and ended up still waiting almost 40 minutes. Maia was her usual difficult self. You tell her to stand somewhere and she didn't want to stand there, she wanted to stand in the opposite spot, so we have one family picture of my holding her in place and it is very obvious. We tried getting a picture of the girls together, boy was that a challenge. One would smile, the other would look the other way, they would both look at the same time and one wouldn't be smiling or the other would have her tongue sticking out. I do not understand the fascination with having to stick out your tongue over everything! It's like second nature to them, I swear they are always doing it! 2 hours later we are all done and finally have everything taken care of and the kid's are now whiney, grouchy, crabby, and we have none of the errands done that we wanted to do. Isn't that how it's suppose to work though? All in all I'm glad it's done and we're finally crossing things off our to do list that have been on there since.....the beginning of time? Posted by mommy2dramaqueens at 12:50 PM 0 comments

Normal, is there such a thing?

We finally got snow! More then 5"!!! Course it never fails to happen when we have a million things to get done and errands to do, but I'm still excited! There was almost a foot of snow by the time the storm was over with. The only downfall, I had to leave the kids in the house while I plowed the driveway. This has to be the first time I've ever came back in and the house was in tact, as if they never got into anything. I love how excited they get whenever we get snow, its the coolest thing in the world to them. They can't wait to go out and have a snow ball fight or just plain run around in it. Anywho, one of our many trips was to go grocery shopping. The store that we shop at just recently got these carts in that are lil cars w/ doors so you can lock your child in and they watch a movie while you shop. I'll admit, I thought it was crap that you had to pay, even if it was a buck just to push your child around a store so they can have some kind of entertainment. The first time we did it I could not believe how fast the trip went and how quiet the kids were! I had to keep checking on them to make sure they didn't disappear! It's not like them to not fight, scream, throw a temper tantrum, or even be quiet for more then 10min's. Well this week, maia wasn't to fond of it, which made shopping a little bit more 'fun'. She'd try beating on the door as though shes in prison, or just climbing out the front and whining. One really nice thing? You can't hear the whining =) All in all, it was still worth if just for some sanity while shopping. It would figure that I would forget to pick up a gift for the wedding while we were out yesterday.

So last night after dinner we went out, again, but this time daddy came with us. Which I love when he's shopping with us, not just because he's there, but he can also see why everything seems to cost so much and that I'm not just buying whatever! While we were at it we went ahead and got things for the girls Easter baskets. It's actually challenging to find things that are healthy for snacks and cheap, along with toys that are good, but you aren't spending a fortune on! I couldn't believe some of the things that they had for toys and they were charging $5 bucks for this little itty bitty thing!!! What is up with that? After all that shopping and thinking that we're done and be excited that it was that easy to accomplish it, we realise that we have nothing for maia. Soooo.......back out we go.....eventually.

Never Ending Feb28,08

What a week! Everyday this week we've had something going on and been gone, or had people over, ect. My children's nutrition has been coming from McDonald's this week, the one day that I do feed them lunch because were 'actually' on time for once, something happens and we end up going out anyways, it always works that way when we 1. don't want to eat out or 2. trying to be cheap. Is that even possible when you have kids? I use to think that after we got maia out of diapers our grocery budget could be cut down, HA! Like that's ever going to happen. We had our 'normal' shopping this week and then Tuesday I had an appt. at 5:30. Smack dab in the middle of dinner time, which meant hubby would have to cook. So he insisted that it was alright I pick up dinner, I secretly think he didn't want to cook(neither did I). Since I hate being late for things I was planning on getting there in a time frame that I have set up for when kids and I have to be somewhere. While since I didn't have to get them ready to take, I made it 20 min's early(what was I thinking). This is the place that even if your 15-20 min's late your going to be waiting. There's just never away around it. For the first time, ever, the receptionist told me it would be at least a 1/2 hour and if I had some errands to go ahead and run them! I don't think I have ever been told that by a dr! 2 hrs later I am finally home feeding my children crap*ahem* I mean a mess free meal.Wednesday we woke up late(seems to be our thing lately), barely had time to work out, but to miserable not to. My latest thing is working out whenever possible, I'm determined to get back my body before we have another one. I know I know, a girl can dream, right? Well Emily loves to work out with mommy, which I think is great for her and I'm going to in courage that of course. It's really hard to get into the groove whenever you go to do a different move or stretch and there going, look mommy! look mommy! look at me mommy! I doing good job! Trying to praise someone a 100 times and concentrate on breathing in this positions that feel like they're going to be the death of you, is not fun. I can't wait until we get a bigger house and can bring our gym into the house. Why is it always easier to workout on a machine then to work out to a video or use hand weights?After that 'fun' we left to go grocery shopping. Now I know it's cold out, but you can't really tell because our house is blocked by so many things and the fence stops most the wind gusts. After we finally get a spot at the grocery store(at the end of the parking lot) we don't even make it 1/2 way to the store and freeze to death and just turn around and go back. We have never done that before, usually the cold doesn't bother us, but we were all shivering and complaining. Instead I thought it'd be a great time to just take in the truck and see why it's making this funny noise.Whenever I tell my husband that our vehicle's making a weird noise he thinks I'm making it up, okay......because I love to spend money on things I can't wear or enjoy? An hour later they tell me it's an idler arm, something hubby could fix, but he's going to be busy with work and school and we have a wedding to drive to next week. Lovely, $200 bucks later it's fixed and I'm wore out from keeping track of the girls run around this stinky tire place. Normally hubby is home from work a few minutes after 4:30 when he gets out, but that day he was taking forever! I was thinking, hey, maybe he's surprising us with dinner? Even though I highly doubt it since he hates eating out. After 5 he finally gets home and surprises us all right, he got pulled over! Funny how we both drop unexpected cash that day and almost the same amount, needless to say that put him in a funk. Though I find it hilarious, course my luck I'll get one for just saying that. We still haven't even made it grocery shopping this week either, and we get the 'pleasure' of going on a Friday now.

okay......... Feb22,08

Like Murphy's Law this week, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. It has just been one thing after another here! We have been looking for a vehicle which is always a blast when you have to take kids with you. Which I'm even more thankful that we have a DVD player for the truck, considering they had to sit there for almost 2 hours. Wednesday was not Maia's day, everything she did, did not go as planned which made her get frustrated and growl, then eventually cry. We didn't even make it in the grocery store and she had a major meltdown, not to mention the other 4 she had while we were in the stores. I know I should be use to it, but it drives me crazy when they do that in the stores and then everyone's staying at you like 'what kind of parent are you' or the 'I'd never let MY child get away with that'. It is just been an emotionally exhausting week. This morning Maia woke up and said "I wanna sleep up there", meaning w/ me. I love when me kids wanna cuddle, that rarely happens, especially in the morning when they just want to get up and go eat. All of us except for Emily seem to be a funk here.On one of my many JoAnn trips the past week I bought the girls a foam princess necklace kit, thinking it would be good to work on the fine motor skills. I can't believe that they sell these things for 3 year olds and up! I myself had a pain in the butt time trying to put the string though the dumb holes on the foam hearts! I use to find the smallest allen wrench to help push it through it was that bad. I made the mistake of doing these crafts right before nap time, which made putting Maia down a 'blast'. 30 minutes later the temper tantrum has subsided. Wonder how tonight will go when we all go out?

no longer sick =)

I know my oldest is sick when she doesn't ask 'are we going shopping' every morning. She went 3 days without asking! poor baby......so yesterday since they re no longer contagious we went to Target. The girls thought it would be fun to use the cart that had the seats where they sit together. Sure, no problem, whatever makes them happy so mommy can shop in peace(yeah right). It would figure that the buckles do not fit my kids no matter how much you loosen them(sigh). So now every time I go to grab something off the shelf I have a child grabbing the bar and swinging on it like a monkey. Or when I turn around to reach for something they're jumping on and off to see if they can't get caught, as if you can't hear the conspiratorial giggling that just says 'yeah we're doing something we're not suppose to'. For the most part they we're pretty good since they haven't been out of the house in almost a week. Which if we were to stay home another day I probably would have lost my mind. Houdini is back to her old self and frustrating more then ever, she's making up for lost time. Figures that today an 'arctic' air comes through and makes it so cold I don't want to chance taking the kids out in it, just can't win, can I?

Happy Valentines(a day late)

Every year when Valentines or Sweetest day come around my husband starts with the 'you know it was just a made up holiday so the greeting card company could make money' blah blah blah. Yes, I know that, but it doesn't stop me from thinking that is one of the most romantic days of the year. Wednesday night after the girls went to bed, hubby had to run to the store to pick up some diapers after his class, and as you can guess he did his last minute shopping. You know the one, where they run through the store thinking of the things that you make you happy, like chocolate and a card. Which with as busy as he's been I'm happy that he remembered(course I might have been reminding him a 100x's a day). Yes I did actually get him something, in fact, every week that I have been grocery shopping I would pick up something to stick in his lunch box as a surprise, so he was getting Valentines surprises 2x's a week for almost a month! I'll admit that I was doing it to hit constantly so he wouldn't forget.Yesterday the girls we're getting better(or so I thought), but we stayed home anyways because 1. we woke up late 2. to tired to drag them out after running around the day before. I am still shocked that Maia didn't wake up until 11:30 am! Mind you, it might have had something to do with the fact that we were up at 3:30 doing the albuterol treatment on the nebulizer and she didn't want to go back to sleep. When you put her in her crib the fun begins, 'Wheres bunny, I want bunny momma, where's my juice, I want princess blanket, tuck me in(she rolls over), I can't find my juice(it's right beside her where SHE put it), tuck me in mommy' and so on. It takes forever, but if you don't do it you have to listen to the screaming. Now I could just put her in her room and let her scream it out but 1. shes sick and 2. Emily shares a room with her and I can't stand to have 2 whiney kids. Which is why I put up with it, to give some resemblance of sanity.The girls and I made their foam Valentine craft projects that were I guess suppose to be cards. Emily loves to do crafts and was very excited, where as Maia had no clue as to what we were doing and just knew that Emily's excited so that it must be fun and I want to join in to. I am still having a hard time learning patience with Maia, you tell her to wait, stop, push the button, ect, and she will do the complete opposite. 30 min's later we have 1 deformed bee and monkey made and we are all so proud. Emily because she got to make hers, maia because....well, she just thought it was fun, and me because I didn't get frustrated once! After dealing with sick kids all day I was not in the mood to make dinner, so pizza and a movie it was. Besides, it's not like the kids are eating more then they have to and pizza is nice and soft to chew and swallow. yeah I know, what an excuse to feed your child crap while sick. Hey I did make the, chicken noodle soup for snack later since they didn't eat much.What was I thinking? I should know better then to think one way because it just curses it and then it goes the opposite! Yesterday the girls we're showing a major improvement and getting better and then today came and Emily is awful! I feel so bad for her. Maia went in to wake her up this morning and she was asleep and so peaceful, so of course maia had to flick on the light and climb up to her top bunk. She ended up coming out and sleeping on the living room floor until I told her she should sleep on the couch. Today has been spent still doing nothing but watching tv and movies all day. When you want these days they never come, but when you don't want to sit around you just know it's going to happen! Maia has been running around today lost because her best friend is sick and to miserable to do anything. This is the first time she's played so peacefully before, that's a rare thing to happen.

Who let the dog's out? Feb13,08

It wouldn't be a normal day if something didn't happen. Every morning when my hubby gets up to get ready for work he puts our youngest in a crib in our room. While this time when he picked her up to move her, she woke up for good, not only did she wake up, but so did Emily. I didn't know since I was half asleep. Meanwhile Vince is trying to calm her down(which shes having nothing of) and he tells me 'either calm her down or calm Emily down', E's crying to? Shes definitely easier so off to her room I went. I failed to notice that they re both practically barking, poor babies! We've never been through this before, so at the time we weren't sure what was causing it. We did albuterol treatments on Maia and gave them some cough medicine and Emily went right back to sleep almost instantly. Maia on the other hand decided she had enough of sleeping at 6 am and was up and not happy about it. She's the child that if she wake up 5 minutes before 9 am you are going to hear about it ALL day long. So about 7 daddy came in and got her after he called in to work. You know its bad when hes offering to call in to help, he never does that unless I'm puking! She sat on his lap at the kitchen table and scribbled a picture while daddy did his homework on the laptop. I got to go back to bed, I was honestly dreading have to get up early and dealing with whiney kids all by myself. Around 11 we got to go see the dr when of course she told us what we pretty much thought at the beginning, that it was croup. It never fails though, if we take them in, they aren't going to be sick, but if we don't then they end up getting so sick and either needing antibiotics or a 3 day stay in the hospital. On that end, better to be safe then sorry. I absolutely hate taking them to the dr, I would rather go through a root canal then take them there! 1. It takes them forever to get us in 2. The kids can't help but touch all the nasty germy toys 3. They(maia) runs around like a mad man because the rooms are so kiddish looking that she thinks it's 'fun' to be there. One thing great about kids being in school is you don't have to wait nearly as long. An eternity later they call us to our room while we walk the halls, maia running full speed ahead, we get in there and go through the usual routine. Afterward they want to weigh the girls, you certainly didn't have to tell maia twice! She was already running out the door for the scale before we registered what was going on. I have never seen someone of any age get so excited about standing on a scale. I certainly wish I had that enthusiasm! Shes up to 34 pds already!! I can't believe how much shes grown in just a year! Emily is only 17 months older then her and weighs 37, she is so tall and skinny you would never know it. Maia's starting to grow taller and lose her baby face =( Pretty soon she will no longer by my lil runt. After that excitement we went back to our room for the final part, of waiting for the dr to come in. Sometimes it can take only 15 minutes, others up to and hour. Thankfully it went by fast since maia was being her usual 'charming' self and wanting to run up and down the hallways, because staying in a room is just not fun! Meanwhile we're telling her repeatedly that if shes not good shes not going to get a happy mean, I know, what kind of parent feeds their kids that crap when they're sick? WE DO...Vince looks at me and says 'ya know, it's bad when we have to bribe them w/ a happy meal to be good'. I know you shouldn't bribe because it doesn't teach them anything, but I consider it as 'earning' a reward, we just have to keep reminding her of the prize at the end. Now at the checkout the kid's are begging for stickers and of course the have seemed to hire the most 'friendly' girl ever(sense the sarcasm). How can you work in a pediatricians office and not be friendly? How do you last at your job? You dealing with little kids, they want nice, happy, friendly, smiling people. Not scary, looks as though going to rip your head off types. oh well, at least we haven't been frequenting that place often this year, so I can't really complain. Afterward we ran through Mcdonalds for the happy meals and off home we went.Today was also the usual grocery shopping day, so I thought oh I'll just go tomorrow, but my luck the kids would be worse. So hubby sent me out shopping today which was a really nice break. Except for the fact of having to wait forever everywhere since it was after 1 that I got out of the house. I make it all of 2 miles from the house and realized, I can't find my phone anywhere! ARGHHH!!!! I hate doing that! Normally I'd just keep going, because people have survived without them before...GASP! But one, I knew I was going to be gone a long time, and two, I figured Vince would be calling for something he just thought would be great, or that I forgot, or something the kids would need. For the first time ever he didn't call, I almost felt lost! $200 bucks later I'm all done grocery shopping and warehouse shopping and now off to pick up a movie for the girls since their sick and deserve it while being stuck in the house. I happened to forget that it's 'rent one get one' night. It took 30 minutes to pick out 4 older movies!! I thought I was never going to get out of there, but if I came home with just 3 vince woulda said 'why didnt you get your moneys worth' or 'oh man, I've been wanting to see so and so'. 8 movies later I am home, grocery's are put away, and we're cuddling on the couch reading a magazine. While it was MY magazine, but my man had to constantly point out all the weight things, eat this to speed up metabolism, do this exercise to lose weight tomorrow, ect. Then came the one that said 'for every fast food meal you eat, you gain 1.5 pds'. YIKES!!! lol then last week was NOT a good week!

One of those days Feb12,08

It has been one of those days where everything and anything seem to happen or go wrong. I'm almost afraid to touch anything at this rate. This morning we woke up late and we had friends coming over, and I still needed to work out and clean, which was not going to happen. Somethings came up and it was canceled, but nope, still didn't get any ambition to work out. So after I feed the girls and get them their show and start their morning routine I figure I better get in the shower since we have things to get done today and already have a late enough start. Get through the shower process, no fighting or screaming from maia, which was a miracle in itself. As I'm working on my hair I have Emily coming in every 3 minutes to ask 'what you doing mommy'. I know I know just tell her, I'm doing my hair. Well after the 3rd time it starts to get old, and you would think when you tell your child to stop asking your the same question over and over they would, but then they wouldn't be a child if they did that, now would they. Sooo.....after my patience are wearing thin because I'm horrible person that hates to be asked the same thing repeatedly a 100x's(how can that not drive anyone crazy?), I get done, grab my things to walk out of the bathroom, and what do I do? I drop my phone into the cat's water dish! What are the odds that my phone has to hit this tiny bowl of water? I swear it could have been a medicine dropper cup size and my phone would have hit it just right. Somehow my phone is still working. Course the #'s 2 and 8 don't work and you can't use any cursor keys. 3 hours later it is starting to work again, which I'm quiet surprised. After I did it, I was only able to call my husband, which I did to tell him. Talk about not thrilled, then again I can't blame him since I just did it 3 months ago w/ this phone and had to have insurance replace it, ooops! No when I go to leave voice mails on people's phone and your talking the phone(who has a life of its own) it presses the # key to end the message, it took 3 messages to complete 2 sentences, I'm sure the person who hears it is going to think I'm crazy and not call me back since I didnt have time to explain.After that fun the girls we're dieing of hunger, as I'm sitting there in the kitchen the sink is STILL dripping!! I'm going crazy with listening to it! I took it apart 2 weeks ago because I was told it was probably just a simple fix, nope! I still can't figure out what is wrong with it, even my man has looked it over, argh! Out into the freezing cold we went on a home depot mission, I was armed with a picture on my camera and relayed the story to them and they think its just the springs(crossing fingers). I never realized how much of a pain in the butt getting those springs in there was! I swear I was there for 15m's fighting the dumb thing as it popped back out again!! oh yes, I was in a 'great' mood. Now I remember why I hate doing projects and save them for hubby. It's funny how when it comes to project he can have the patience of a monk, whereas I'm bored to tears after 20m's, and its a record if I can make it that long. So far we've made it 30 minutes and no dripping, but last time we made it and hour, so we'll see. I swear between that, the dryer, and the kids screaming, fighting, and bickering over everything I feel like I'm going to snap and start screaming like Emily from the exorcist. It's only Tuesday and it has been a long week. Still have to go grocery shopping, clean some more, bake cookies, brownies, valentines cake, special dessert, do valentine crafts w/ kids, finish laundry, plan meals, track down the dr, finish my kitchen curtains, and a few other things that I know I have to do and are important but can't remember what exactly, all before Thursday morning. I'm not a procrastinator am I? Seems to be the only way we get things done around here. Like the fact I took out maternity(pregnant 2 yrs ago) and summer clothes out of my closet and I'm still waiting for hubby to help me drag them down the basement.

Dentist Fun Feb7,08

Yesterday was a unexpected surprise. We went about our usual routine of dinner and a movie in the truck and grocery shopping. Me being the bad parent that I am, bribed my kids with donuts, and told them if they were good, they could get one. I know I know, what kind of parent feeds their kid's crap?! umm....ME, quiet frankly whatever works to get them to shut up. Yes I love my children, but man do I miss peace and quiet. Then you get the wonderful people who get all snotty when you say that saying 'then why did you have kids?', don't you just love that? You mean you have never, not once wanted some peace and quiet or gone through a mood? can you walk on water to? Yes I'm a parent, yes I WANT to be the one to raise them, but it doesn't mean I can live without peace and quiet and no fighting for the next 18 years.....and I'm rambling again.So after the fun of grocery shopping, which I must say we made it 2 hours in one store and I didn't once have to raise my voice. "It's a MIRACLLEEEE".....okay so I'll leave the singing for another time. My husband who is in school PT has an extra credit class that he can take, mind you, this if the guy that had the best grade in the class last semester and had always been an A student without even trying. I know, it makes me sick to, and yes I admit its because I'm jealous. How could you not?! Anywho, we ended up getting a ton of snow like instantly so the school canceled all classes, of course instead of doing something fun and constructive. We sat in front of the tv most of the night. A few hours later him and Emily we're ruff housing and she went to get down(or fell, not sure which), lost balance, and went face first into the chair w/ mouth open. Now our poor child is gushing blood and screaming bloody murder, even though it's an accident you still feel like rotten parents. After we look at it, the tooth went up into the gum and is now loose.Today I had to take her to the dentist(with maia in tow) to get x-rays. First thing she says when we walk in the door 'Daddy broke MY tooth', and said it to everyone that looked at her. It was quiet comical, more so because for once it wasn't me that caused something. Back in the room now a few minutes later the nurse and Emily are talking and she's being a big girl about this and I'm sooo proud of her since it is her FIRST visit ever to a dentist! The dentist himself walks in, Em still hasn't gotten to the point where she will talk to guys, she ignored him and looked at the wall. Needless to say the nurse had to do everything, it was pretty cute though. Only took a few minutes but she let them take x-rays of her tooth and was smiling and talking the entire time. I was so proud of her and never seen her act so grown up before, ugh, time's going by so fast!!!!

SuperBowl Sunday Feb4,08

My husband has been looking forward to do this day for weeks, well probably since the season started. Which is okay, because it gives me a reason to plan things and make all these cool superbowl foods. He informed me again the night before that he was going to go play basketball on MY morning to sleep in and catch up...sigh....on the plus side I woke up to Emily coming in the bedroom saying 'mommy get up' over and over to the point you just want to strangle her to shut her up(no that wasn't the plus side). No, the plus side was when she opened the door and daddy had breakfast, for mommy, and only mommy to enjoy =) Definitely can't stay mad at someone who makes you your favorite eggs(over easy) even though they say they aren't good at it(I think it's just a excuse).So off he went and the girls and I lounged around, well, I lounged around and ignored all the screaming, fighting, hitting, and spitting. I still do not understand what it so fun about spitting water into something that can be used as a cup, and then drinking it. Then to make it ever grosser(lol new word), maia will spit in a cup and then give it to Emily to drink and they think that is the most fun game in the world, umm.....eewwww!!!Finally daddy arrives home, and here I am thinking, okay, we're finally going to spend time together.....nope! Apparently the chili that I made last night just isn't good enough and would I please run to the store for more items? Can you say grateful? Finally home by 5:20, chili's perfect right at 6 in time for the show to begin. That is where hubby sat as a lump on a log for the next 4 hours. To be honest, the only thing I like about the game is the ad's and all the fun food that we make and gorge out on. lol and now it's back to working out just to work off what we ate last night!

Snow Fun Feb2,08

I swear that everytime we make plans something comes up, like this time it was the weather. They were going on and on about how we were going to get almost a foot of snow. So just to be safe, I canceled a playdate, then come that morning we had all of 5" of snow. Whereas if I woulda kept the date, we would've gotten a ton. Oh well. So the girls and I instead decided to go to the mall. I must say, my children were on their best behavior to the point I was thinking they were traded! Usually whenever we go into say, Victoria Secrets so I can look and get some more things, my children are digging through the drawer's or picking off tags. That has has become the new 'in' thing to do. I'm glad that it's just that because the last time we were there it was a horrible experience. The girls we're bored(of course) with in 5 m's from getting in the store, so as I'm trying to pick things out, maia is somehow managing to get all the thongs out of the drawers and pull them on her head like a hat(sigh)....which then throws Emily into a fit of giggles, and then pushes Maia to even farther to make her laugh and putting as many as possible on her head, while re-arranging the drawers. Amazingly none of us have been told not to do that by the store employee's, could it be because we spend so much there? This time they were great, no touching of the drawers, or touching the bra's on the walls because they seem to be the 'crack' for kids. We we're there for 40 m's and not once were they a pain, can you say awesome? Needless to say I spoiled them with cookies from Mrs. Fields, how could I not? Off to another store we went, where the good behavior ended......on our way out the door we stopped at the pet store to play with all the puppies. It was funny watching them basically attacking this puppy with love and him going after them for all attention. Now trying to get them outta the store was not fun.They didn't get a nap so I thought it'd be a good idea to take them out and wear them out some more so they sleep really good =) I know how cruel.....So after dinner we took them outside to play in the snow, which then turned into a snowball fight. It's always hubby that start's it.. I know, what kind of parent teaches they're child to throw em, aye? The girls had a blast throwing them at mommy and daddy, the only problem was they kept ducking their face and not covering it. Needless to say, Em caught a few with her face! Really though, what can you expect when she's only 3.5 ft tall. They screamed and cried because after 30m's of being out there we were coming in. They could stay out all day and not get tired of it.

Cleaning Frenzy Jan08

Today has been one of those once in a blue moon days. The girls were perfect angels, and very helpful. We rotated the furniture in their room and cleaned everywhere and they helped and thought it was 'fun'. Amazingly I was able to get the bathroom cleaned, bleached, laundry almost done, and our bedroom spring cleaned a few months early. Usually the girls are following behind me tearing everything up and throwing their toys all over. So it was a break to have them so helpful today!Whenever we go to the library I let them pick out a few books that they want to check out as their special treat. Emily is in the stage where she's obsessed with princess's, so the first thing she does is look for any book remotely related to princess's. Then when she find's it she of course shout's(she doesn't understand the indoor voice thing) across the room 'I found my princess book mommy' over and over 3 or 4 times and is all excited. Where as maia could care less about what book that she's getting. Oh no, she's to busy ripping every book off the shelf as if I never take her out in public. By the time Emily has 3 books maia has about, oh, a dozen? That doesn't include all the ones I'm trying to put back. Somehow she can manage to grab a book from each 4 wall's of the room before I can find the spot where the first one is to go. I swear the girls that get stuck putting kid's book away groan when they see us coming, they know they're going to be busy for awhile after we leave. Mind you before we even go to the library I'm talking to them and reminding them that they have to be good, listen to mommy, and speak quietly because people are trying to read. Once we cross the doors to the library they become insane and run around like a raped ape trying to get everything. On the last trip, Emily found a barbie princess book that she really wanted, so of course I let her get it. Now 2 months later I still can't find it, I have teared this house apart! We re-arranged(or rotated as some call it) the living room and I was hoping that it might be under the tv or couches, or in the chair, but nope. Not under the kitchen cabinets(we still haven't gotten the face boards up), no where to be found in our bedroom. Which it shouldn't have been in there anyways since kids aren't allowed to play in there. I tore their room apart scouring every inch(or so I thought), and taking out the mattress's from the bunk bed, crib, pet net, ect. Then tonight when I went to move the baby mattress, I found that Em had stuck the book between the sheet and the crib mattress that was standing between their dresser and the closet! UGH!!!! On the bright side I won't have to buy the book from the library now! Why must kids hide everything their not suppose to?

Good ole weather Jan29,08

Good ole Michigan weather, first it felt like spring today. Kind of rainy but yet 52 degree's. Then tonight we're suppose to get snow! With mind you, a high of 16 tomorrow. Which never fails, tomorrow happens to be the day we have a ton of errands to do, including the dreaded grocery shopping with houdini. Not to mention we're busy for the rest of the week, when of course, the weather will be good. We can usually only make it to 1 big shopping adventure store a day, or at least before or after nap. Anything else sends her into meltdown, kind of like taking a guy with you to trying on a thousand different shirts, skirts, ect, and at the end of the day only buying 1 0r 2 pieces. Which always cracks me up, you would think that after we explain it a 100x's they'd get the message, but they don't, because they're, well.....guys. Houdini thinks it's 'fun' to sit in the grocery shopping carts side ways and lay down, then 2 seconds later try jumping out, or reaching for things that almost make her fall out. Even if my husband is home I feel bad if I just take Emily with me shopping(she loves to) because then Maia gets left out. Or it might have something to do with her screaming and crying that I may even think about leaving the house without her. Then again if I take her I'm ready to rip out my hair. So really it's a no win situation, and you just learn to deal with the stress as part of routine.The girls had a play date on the agenda for today, so last night I told them that if they were good and ate their dinner they could go see their friends. Which is a great way to keep them behaving, but bad because now they follow you everywhere asking if it's time to go yet. You can explain to them til your blue in the face, they just wanna go now. So today FINALLY came and they re all excited, driving me crazy while I try to shower and do my hair, constantly asking me 'we're going to play' 'I wanna play' 'we need to go' 'can we go yet'. Yes they certainly are patient, aren't they? Course after we get in the truck Emily tells me the dog's 'going to get her'. Where did that come from? She use to love them, now she's terrified of them. Instead of being all excited we get there and she just sits there! You've been driving me crazy for the past 24 hrs asking every 2 m's when we're going to go and your not going to play and just watch tv?! After about 30m's they finally got up and went and played and had a grand ole time. I swear kid's just do all that to see how long it will take for mommy to snap and bite heads off. Like tonight for instance, maia decided that she didn't need to eat dinner in order to get a cookie, and how dare we think that she should have to eat it! Yes, that was a great battle, but I won =) Is this what parenthood is all about?....sigh......time to go to bed and find out, oh wait, I already know the answer.

Weekly Fun Jan08

This week has just flew right by here! The girls are no longer sick*YAY* and for the most part are back to normal. So now its time to catch up. Why is it when your sick it takes almost a month to get back into the groove of things? Its frustrating at times, but there's nothing you can really do about it. So Wed was the usual grocery shopping day, which as always was a 'blast'(sense the sarcasm?) with houdini. We actually made it through the store with only 1 meltdown and not buying thing's that the kids may have slipped into the cart. They are notorious for that, somehow they are able to get thing's off the shelf, into the cart, then out of the cart, onto the checkout belt, purchased, and home before I realize that, hey, I didn't put that there! I don't know about other people but when I get sick my energy levels take forever to come back. So dragging 2 kid's in the snow, grocery shopping(that desperate for food), wore me out. Of course well they're 'suppose' to be sleeping I was stuck doing and folding the mountain of laundry that never seems to end. After they got up they get their usual snack of crackers, and after about 30m's of my daughter laying on the couch she looked at me and says in a demanding voice 'Mommy, Go make dinner'. I was stunned beyond belief, instead of telling her never to talk like that I laughed. The odds and timing we're just hilarious. Now daddy on the other hand got in trouble.

Yesterday we decided to have a 'family' date and go out to dinner. All morning houdini was crying over everything, apparently someone woke up on the wrong side of the crib! You even looked at her, asked her a question, god forbid talk to her, and that would set her off. It was the end of the world or something. Then while trying to give her Benadryl I managed to drop the plastic bottle and have the bottom crack open. $8 bucks worth of med's all over my bathroom floor....nice.....After nap she woke up perfect =) Except now, her sister woke up crabby, just can't catch a break(sigh). My husband doesn't understand the concept of giving the kids a snack on the way out to eat, or while we're waiting for food to kinda curb the hunger, and to stop the whining of them dieing from hunger because ya know we 'never' feed them. So we get to the restaurant and there's an hour wait. No way are they going to sit through that, so back to the truck we went. It would figure that we parked out at the very end of the parking lot. Over to another one we went and only had to way 5 min's. This has to be the first time that we've ever been to a restaurant where the was no crying, fighting, gagging, or hitting. It was like a dream come true. Plus Em was showing off her new ability to chew with her mouth closed. She looks like a cow chewing food, but with the mouth closed the entire time. It just cracks me up watching, and she's sooo excited that she can do a 'big' girl thing.

Weekends Tues, Jan22,08

Funny how after kids everything about your life changes. Friday nights use to be the best because we had all weekend to do whatever we wanted, go out to dinner at a nice restaurant, or see the latest movie in theaters. Now? Everyday is a Monday, there is no breaks unless hubby is here to take over the morning ritual so I can hog the bed all morning by myself. Now Friday nights are spent chasing kids, cleaning whatever was missed, finishing laundry, or working on projects for the house. Which for some reason the last one I can't seem to get anything done on. For every 1 thing that gets crossed off our 'house' project list at least 3 more add on. It's a never ending battle so we have learned. Our basement that needs to be painted, since.....we moved in? is still waiting for us to come down and pretty it up, heck even the paint's been sitting down there for 2 years just calling our names. I will more then likely be the one doing it, but I can only imagine what houdini will get into, break, or start. She knows right from wrong, but that doesn't mean she listens or cares.....sigh. Saturdays if hubby is working are spent on 'his' projects that 'he' wants done. Course lately it's been just him working on school work, so I'm thinking I might be free for the next 2 years from his projects? yeah right. Saturdays are the worst because he just wants to stay home and we have nothing to do. So we spend it going back and forth saying 'what do u wanna do?' 'I don't know, what do u want to do' ALL day. Its enough to drive you insane, your a grown man come up with ONE thing!Then Sunday, if it's football season forget about doing anything. He will be parked on the couch with the tv blaring, yelling at the players for not listening to him. Which then gets the kids all excited so they start yelling thinking it's 'cool'. I know a lot of people love sports, but I can't stand to listen to it all day and night! Not to mention he's into every sport except baseball unless the team's having an amazing season. I can't get to upset about it though, I just have my selective hearing with the kids. (kids screaming in the bedroom)'what do you mean they re crying, I don't hear anything' 'oh its probably nothing' Which I'm pretty sure he's caught on to, but he hasn't said anything yet so why ruin a good thing....

Potty Training Fun Fri, Jan18,08

Potty training, oh the fun. My oldest daughter who will be 4 in April has been doing great. Telling you when she has to go and rushing to the bathroom all excited that shes a big girl now. Then all of a sudden it vanished! She will hide and go anywhere except there, unless it's to pee, then she has no problems going. So you never know how many pairs of pants and underwear your going to be cleaning out a day. This child has the metabolism you'd kill for, I'm even jealous.On this particular morning she doesn't tell me that she did it. Mind you she wears diapers to bed for the night time accidents. As she;s getting dressed this morning she failed to tell me that she had an accident or that it was left behind on the kitchen floor. We also have friends coming over in a little bit and we woke up late so I'm trying to get Houdini dressed, kids fed, shows on, straighten my counters, and wake up so I can go shower and begin the dreaded fight with my hair. After I get out I realize there's this funky odor and its not coming from our cat. Grrreeaaat! Does it ever end? I track it down to what I 'thought' was my daughter trying to hide it, problem solved, shes sitting on the potty while I work on the rats nest. Few min's later it gets even worse and its not coming from the bathroom. You know it's going to be bad but yet you don't want to know, yet you have no choice. So you put on the brave face and go in search, which certainly didn't take long. Nope, I seen houdini playing by the trash and I know for a fact that she would not waste chocolate like that, because I have trained them well. The whole 4 feet of my walking I'm just praying 'please let her have climbed the cabinets to get the chocolate!!! oh please oh please oh please let it be chocolate, just this once!!!'. NOPE! As I get closer I can see her mashing her toys in it thinking its mud or something and just having a blast. I could not believe my eye's, it was horrifying, for a split second I was stunned speechless. First thing first, I go in to panic mode, you know with kids your suppose to be calm, and very specific. Well when your child's playing with poop as though its just play dough, your a freak of nature if you can stay calm.

Me: "STOP"
Her: Deer in headlights look
Me:" DON"T MOVE!!!"
Her: Furiously wiping her hands everywhere trying to destroy the evidence.
Me: (gagging to death) STOP STOP STOP!

Finally she just stops and stands there and I get her wiped down(basically bathed standing in the kitchen) and shes all happy and proud that she was playing by her self, quietly, and being an angel. I sometimes wonder if kids do this just to gross us out.

Sick & Shopping do not mix Thurs, JAN17,08

What is it about sick children that they think that they don't need a nap? Like any other day they woke up in good moods. Which is great considering we have a million errands to run and I can barely function, let alone deal with grouchy crabby kids. So right before we can leave we have to go through the check list. Bathroom, check, diaper change, check, socks on feet not hands, check, shoes, check, track down coats, check, find the water cups that they have managed to lose in less then 2 hrs, which that still baffles me. We have a small house, about 800 sq. ft. You would think that there wouldn't be many places those lil buggers could be hiding, but where theres a will theres a way, and that there completely describes my kids. It could be under the kitchen cabinets, hiding in the top bunk of their bed under the covers, between the sheets, in the pillow case, between the frame and the bed, under the crib mattress, in a kitchen drawer such as towels so it can leak all over and force me to wash clean towels all over again. As you can see that possibilities are endless for these girls. In fact, that latest 'cool' thing to do is twist the tops of their sippy cups. I can barely get these lids off because my husband puts them on so tight, and yet they manage it. My youngest is the pint size hulk I swear.We finally make it to the truck and hour later, get them in, buckeled, distribute toys evenly as to not start fights and listen to whining(like that stops them), they wanna watch a movie, easy enough, start the Veggie Tales, and away we go. Mind you we just got a DVD player for the truck this christmas and I can't even remember how I survived without one before! I have never had so much peace and quiet before, it's like a dream come true, no fighting, screaming, crying, or hitting(they sit right next to each other), just them sitting there dancing to the music.My youngest Maia hates to sit in carts with a passion, she's throwing a temper tantrum about sitting in those things before we even get into the store. Why did God give me a child that hates any kinda shopping? We finally make it to the warehouse kids are in the cart, so far no whining. We haven't even been shopping for 5 min's and she gets ants in her pants and is all over the place. This child is houdini, she can get outta any kind of grocery cart belt out there. I can have it so tight that she can't move and she will find a way to get out of that! So shopping with her is more like wrestling, you would never believe that she's disciplined, oh yes, God gave us a stubborn one, wonder where she got that from......So you let her walk around? HAHAHA She is all over the place, touching things, throwing things in the cart, sitting on displays, mine are the ones you see in the store saying 'If I ever had kids I would never let them do that'. Let's just say that my kid's have to go to the bathroom for 'talks' constantly while shopping, when I say kids, I mean houdini.One store down, but more to go. Which they think we're going home no matter how much I explain and say we have to go to the grocery store and buy things to make dinner this week. The cart process starts all over again, except this time it's the fighting to get the strap on her because being in carts is just nooo fun. We went in for 8 thing's, that was the longest grocery trip. I could've cried from happiness when we were done! After we finished the rest of the errands, we came home and it was about 30m's past nap time. So Maia of course didn't need a nap, she's a 'big' girl to. Sick kids, long day, miserable mommy, and no naps for anyone do not mix. I now have the crabbiest toddler on the planet to the point I want to rip out my hair and scream to drown out hers!! how much longer til bed time?

Morning mommy -From:Wednesday, January 16, 2008

So this morning, like well, any morning I woke up to my youngest daughters wonderful screams of 'mommy wake up'. She currently sleeps in a pack-n-play in our room that daddy transfers her into while hes on his way to work in the morning, because like me, she is not a morning person. Where as her sister is talking 90 mph as soon as you even touch the door knob to greet her. Asking you question after question and if you fail to keep up she just keeps repeating them until you answer, when your still piecing the first one together shes already shot off 4 more. Yeah it takes me a bit to wake up. Anyways, on this particular morning we all happen to have colds/sinus thing going on. Somehow, even though the kids are sick their acting normal, cheerful, bubbly, actually come to think of it, its above normal for them. Where as I'm miserable and feel as though I've been hit by a mack truck. All I want it 5 more minutes, just 5!!! So I grabbed my youngest and threw her in bed with me and told her to go to sleep(hey! I can dream can't I?). So she layed there, wriggled, kicked me in the stomach, rolled over, bashed heads, squirmed some more. Ever get that feeling that something is staring at you? yes, I open my eyes to have her hoovering over me smiling all cute and innocent. I tried to ignore it and pretend I was asleep, but even when its a child its impossible to do. Then it turned into a game for her 'lets see how much I can do before mommy opens her eyes'. Which can get quite scary for the person trying to sleep. You might get head butted, body slammed, kicked in the face, you just never know with that little munchkin. Yes, my sweet adoring angels we're at full force today. Oh I just love the sick season.