A Tale of Two Twinkies...

I'm ba-ack!!!

2011-03-08T17:43:00.000-08:00

So, I was realizing that I totally stink at keeping in touch, showing pictures and all that jazz. Therefore, I'm going to try really hard to start keeping up with this again after a nearly two year hiatus. Thus I give you...TEN ON TUESDAY.

1. I'd like to change the header on this blog but I can't remember how, so be patient with the really old picture. :)

2. Some new ones:

3. Ethan has a loose tooth and I cannot believe it. I think this has bothered me more than any other "growing up" sign I've seen with the Twinks.

4. We're separating rooms for the kids' birthday. Ethan's will have a WVU theme (can you see my heart swelling with pride?), and Emma's will have a peace theme. Apparently I'm raising a 5 year old hippie.

5. Speaking of birthdays, I have no clue what we're doing this year. Might be a game time decision.

6. Emma cracks me up sometimes with her one-liners. She was working on a particularly tricky dance move in class last night, and says to her teacher, "Ms. Gina, I've got that move but I'm just having trouble controlling my foot." Her teacher said she nearly peed her pants.

7. Ethan played basketball this winter and improved so much. He's constantly playing "games" in our house as a Mountaineer, and routinely beats Marshall by 100. He says he's gonna play for Huggs someday. Heart swelling again.

8. I'm ready for kindergarten to be over. Frustration is the nicest word I can use and that's all I'll say, just in case I become some world famous blogger before June.

9. Tball starts soon and Slacker Mom here missed the signups for one league, so we are going with the other league this year. Fingers crossed...

10. I can smell spring in the air, it needs to get here soon!

Here's my first 10 in a while...

2009-06-02T06:21:00.000-07:00

1. Thank God for my MP3 player. I know you really shouldn't thank God for electronics, but seriously, it has kept me from killing people. It's a Sony Walkman MP3 and it's FAB for those of you not on the Apple wagon. I didn't want to deal with Itunes due to the price (and I could get this MP3 with better sound and the same Gs for way less than a comparable Ipod).

2. Speaking of price, the BEST place to get non-Itune music is iomoio.com. It's fab, 10 cents per song! And, if you deposit certain amounts, they GIVE you certain amounts FREE. I've been using it for like 2 years, and never had a problem, and I have never put more than my original $25 in. I've downloaded like 300 songs probably (I don't put zillions of songs on my MP3- I think there are about 400 or so).

3. Speaking of music, I'm embarassed to admit that I like the Miley Cyrus song The Climb.

4. Less than 2 months til vacation! So the serious diet starts TODAY. I'm even turning down Mexican at lunch. Whew, it's going to be a long 2 months.

5. I have about 5 zillion pictures I want to post but I'm too lazy in the evenings. I will start getting to it, I'm vowing. Since I won't be eating all evening I should have more time. :)

6. I am addicted to Mafia Wars on Facebook. It's nearly a sickness. Join my mafia if you haven't already!

7. Yesterday was mine and Twin Daddy's 7 year anniversary. We nearly forgot. Aren't we romantic? But we did go out to eat to a new little Italian place that was fabulous. I had truffle pie for dessert and it was to DIE for.

8. I do not think I could live without Diet Mountain Dew.

9. I am very random today, I feel like the kids in school, when summer is upon you and you just can't focus. Unfortunately I don't get a 3 month summer vacation.

10. Our offices are moving back to their original spot on Monday. I am not looking forward to it (the moving part), and I hear there is some disappointment with the new digs. I guess we'll see, but seriously, it couldn't have been worse than the 1983 mismatched decor we had going on before.

Emma...

2009-05-25T15:01:00.001-07:00

Ethan....

2009-05-25T14:58:00.001-07:00

Birthday pictures

2009-05-25T14:54:00.001-07:00

Ode to my babies...er, big kids

2009-05-16T06:02:00.000-07:00

4 years and a little over 12 hours ago, you both made your debut, less than a minute apart. You were 5 weeks early and fighting to arrive. But you were big and strong and perfect, even the neonatologist and nurses were surprised.

To my Emma:

We still laugh about how just hours after your birth, you were already a princess, running your tiny hands through your dark brown hair. I personally think you were willing it to grow long, because you have a love of long hair. I guess it's more princess like, right? You were loud and PISSED when you came out, probably from being squished by your bigger brother for so long. You looked like you wanted to leap off the table and go do your own thing. I still see that from you- no one can ever make you do something, and your sweet, giving, loving nature belies that fiery passion and stubbornness born inside you. The last thing anyone on the planet would want to do is mistake your passive nature for you being a pushover, because a pushover you certainly are not. Your creativity constantly amazes me. You can play for hours with your Barbies or your Pollys or your dress up clothes, making up your own stories as you go. You love to do crafts, paint, and draw, and singing, oh the singing. You have no fear when it comes to singing, and can get up in front of a church of 100 people or in a pageant with 200-300 strangers and it doesn't bother you. Stage fright is something you've never heard of or felt. You love Taylor Swift songs, church songs and Ariel. Speaking of Ariel, you want to be a mermaid when you grow up. You are a giggle box and a dawdler and a pure little girl. You love dresses and makeup and nail polish and hairbows and pink and purple. You may have the most pure soul I've ever known and I pray I can protect that. I hope you're always the loving, giving, sharing little girl you are now.

To my Ethan:
You came into the world chilled out, just the opposite of your sister. However, you let us know quickly that chilling out was not the norm. You are competitive, and passionate in everything, from getting to the top of the steps to being listened to in the car. You have a mischievous twinkle in your eye and can crack me up with your silly jokes. You have a redneck streak a mile wide, and love Monster Trucks and Nascar. You don't just love them, you endeavor to learn EVERYTHING about them, from all of the drivers to who the sponsors are, or as you say "where they live." You can drive your cars and trains for hours on end, but don't ask you to share! You absolutely love to learn, and I know you'll do well in school. You want to know how everything is spelled, and love to do math so much that you have actually threatened me with, "Fine, I'm gonna go do my math book!" when you're mad at me. You're a pure boy, rough and tough, but at the end of the day you're always good for a nuggle and you get infuriated and upset if you don't get to wave at me as I leave for work or give me a kiss before bed. You do things your own way, including choosing when to be born. You swear you're going to be a racecar driver, or a fire fighter, or a monster truck driver...or whatever comes to your mind that day. I'm sure whatever you decide you'll be great.

To both of you:

You make me laugh, you amaze me, you allow me to have big dreams for both of you. I hope I can nurture your strengths and your bonds. I love that you make up your own games and that you love each other so much. Thank you God for giving me these babies and please guide me in their future.

How does this happen???

2009-05-14T19:14:00.001-07:00

How does this:

Turn into this???

Happy 4th birthday to my babies Friday.

Birthday slideshow coming soon....

Oh oh oh I'm magic....

2009-04-27T05:21:00.001-07:00

Sunday morning conversation:

Emma: Mommy, how can you see us all the time?

Mommy: Because I’m magic. I can see you when my eyes are closed or when my head is turned so I always know what you’re doing.

Afternoon conversation:

Emma: Can you see Nanny and Grampsy right now?

Mommy: No.

Emma: Why not?

Mommy: Because mommies can only see their babies with their magic. I can see you all the time.

Emma: *pondering* Mommy, can you fly?

In the news...

2009-04-24T17:49:00.000-07:00

Emma made the Herald Dispatch online...

She's a few photos in- the two Snow Whites...

A few random Easter pics...

2009-04-22T18:06:00.001-07:00

Waiting to hunt eggs at home...

family pic...

Excited that she found the egg hiding in the flower pot (love this pic of her!)

Egg Hunter Egg-straordinaire

After the church egg hunt

Tonight's 10

2009-04-21T18:11:00.000-07:00

For your reading pleasure...10 things I've done (or am doing) this evening:

1. Putting the kids' pictures on the computer (hopefully some will be up soon!)

2. cleaning puked on Cars pajamas from my son sticking 4 fingers in his mouth, gagging himself and puking up his evening popcorn snack

3. Digging a shirt out of the toilet that I dropped as I was trying to carry the laundry out of the bathroom

4. Ironing a mound of Michael's khakis the size of one of my kids

5. Threatening Emma's life if she tries to balance on the window ledge again

6. Playing my newest addiction Mafia Wars

7. Wishing I could go to the Fat Farm on Biggest Loser

8. Wondering if homeless people break into my house and drink my milk and eat my bread, because it's not possible to go through it this quickly

9. In the middle of already making dinner (unstuffed peppers) realizing that the peppers I have are in fact half rotted (thank goodness my MIL was here and I could run out without packing everyone up to get more)

10. Hoping tomorrow is better!!!!

I still heart the new camera

2009-04-04T17:02:00.000-07:00

So, Kim the awesome photographer took some pics of the kids this evening, but while I'm anxiously awaiting those, I took a few in the back yard. I'm impressed with myself and loving the new camera. These are their Easter outfits, and Ethan promptly rolled down the hill immediately after this and grass stained his pale off white linen pants. Nice.

I have to say, I edited them in Picasa and I think I should have left the middle one alone. It just looks a bit weird now...

New camera

2009-03-29T18:20:00.001-07:00

So my old camera died at of course an inopportune moment, so I have been on the search for a new one. Being camera clueless and cheap, I researched all over, and called some people with a clue (Kim of course!). I finally decided on a Canon Powershot, an SX110 IS. I spent a bit more than I wanted to, but I think I'm going to like it. It has a nice zoom on it, and if I learn how to use it, I can actually manually adjust it rather than just use it as a point and shoot. Kim is sending me a cheater email on how to learn the basics.

But, until then, here are a couple. I like it so far, I think the shots are pretty crisp. (Kim, avert your eyes, I used the dreaded flash and the portrait setting...I promise I'm going to try to learn ISO and f stop and all that...soon...)

10

2009-03-24T05:05:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a new kind of 10 today, because, well, I can, and I've been a bad blogger lately...

Mine:

1. My stinking camera crapped out on me. Argh. So I need a new decent and cheap camera. Suggestions?

2. I love that the weather is warmer but seriously, 30 degree mornings are killing me.

3. I don't think I'm going to find the person who hit my car last week and then drove off without leaving a note. The people who are supposed to be checking parking lot video haven't been returning my calls anymore. That does not bode well. What are the chances they got a video of the car's plate anyway?

4. I am secure in the knowledge that their car HAD to be damaged more than mine, since I drive a giant tank and it has a big ole dent. I hope their bumper falls off.

Emma's:

5. God has cursed me with a child who dawdles more than my mother, which I thought was impossible. I am not a patient person and am always in a hurry. I think she was sent to slow me down, because that child does NOTHING fast.

6. Emma's favorite "annoy your brother" pasttimes are bear hugs and hand holding. Now that's passive agressive if I've ever seen it.

7. Emma won a trophy this weekend and she now thinks the "gold angel" on top is the greatest thing ever. I had to pry it from her hands for church this week.

Ethan's

8. Ethan is obsessed with the new Hot Wheels color change cars. They change in hot or cold water, and he has a nightly ritual of a bucket of ice water on the side of the bath to change them.

9. Both kids are obsessed with the ridiculous Fox show HOle in the Wall (sundays at 7 generally). They always pretend to play it and "win" $5000. I have no idea why 5000 but that's what they win. Ethan says if he really won that much he'd buy ALL of the color change cars.

10. Ethan was particularly impressed by Emma's naming of some of the Thomas trains the other day. His response to her? "Emma, you're so pretty. You're so special..." It was a miracle.

Greatest country song evah!

2009-03-12T15:16:00.000-07:00

Ok, this isn't actually a video, it's just some pictures but this could be the greatest song chorus EVAH...

God is great, beer is good...AND PEOPLE ARE CRAZY!

10...a day late

2009-03-04T18:53:00.000-08:00

1. I have been dealing with getting the kids into Pre-k for a couple of weeks and it looks like there is no end in sight. However, I think I know our game plan...there is a supposedly excellent Pre-K that is private but is part of the Putnam County School System. Fingers crossed that we can get in! I can't believe what a process this is turning out to be.

2. I cannot believe that my kids will be in kindergarten in a year and a half. That does not seem possible.

3. I've never been affected by my kids getting older but since the big 0-4 is around the corner (May) I feel like they're getting so OLD now.

4. Alot is not a word. Just for the record. Big pet peeve of mine. That, and misuse of apostrophes.

5. I am yet again embarrassed to be from WV since an idiot state legislator wants to ban Barbies in the state. Like that's the biggest problem WV faces. Puh-lease.

6. I hate American Idol. It keeps displacing my two favorite shows, Bones and House.

7. It totally annoys me when people won't respond to repeated emails, yet you see their MySpace or Facebook and they've clearly been goofing around on there for hours on end.

8. My kids find underwear on their head to be endlessly amusing. I do not. Especially during dinner.

9. I agree with Neurotic Attorney about the bathroom.

10. The infamous Lovey Bear was almost lost forever this week. It was a crisis in the making but the good folks at Teays Pediatrics came through for us. Love them!

Creativity...mine and the kids...

2009-02-12T18:04:00.000-08:00

Quick post...The Office is on, can't miss the hilarity.

My kids love anything bath related. This is probably why the bathtub in the hall bath looks like a dump for Toys R Us. This is the result of them being left in the bathtub alone. Bath foam...fun for all but the mommy cleaning it off the walls...

And here is my handiwork for a work baby shower. My work friend is doing her baby's room in an adorable Baby Sesame theme, so I made these. The kids were super excited, as were the adults. Unfortunately they may never be made again, as there was a slight altercation between my decorating tip I used and the garbage disposal. The disposal won.

Happy Birthday Lala!

2009-02-11T16:32:00.000-08:00

Random Post

2009-02-01T18:28:00.001-08:00

Random Super Bowl Sunday thoughts:

-I am bummed I missed a party at my old boss's house because I didn't check my email til now. It was a last minute thing but it would've been fun I'm sure.

-It's probably a good thing, since my husband is a Browns fan, and would NOT be cheering for the Steelers like everyone else in WV

-Are the Steelers going to become like the Patriots, where people don't even know who plays for the team but they rock all the gear like they're a true fan? I hate bandwagon fans. It seemed from my trip to Kroger's today that there are an amazing amount of Steelers fans around all the sudden.

-Big Ben just got sacked and it makes me giggle a bit. I'm not a Cards fan or anything but I decided I want them to win because they have a former WVU player on the scout squad.

-Yes, I do make most of my decisions based on WVU.

-Speaking of, I want to like Larry Fitzgerald, Cardinal's receiver, because he seems like a talented, smart, humble guy...but he went to Pitt. I cannot forgive such a lapse in judgment, no matter how great of a guy he is.

-I think I might have a crush on Bob Huggins. I think it's the constant sneer. Or that he oozes power, or that he's going to take us to the Big Dance again. Not sure.

-Is it weird I'm so into sports? I don't think so, but my sister's boyfriend gets a bit freaked about it. I quote him (from one year during March Madness): "You two are GIRLS. You're not supposed to know that much about sports."

-I got a new laptop since we'd spent $150 in cords for the old one. It was getting cheaper to just get a new one but I have no pics on this one, except this one I just downloaded from my Walmart.com account.

-This is how Emma got out of bed one day last month. She has a tendency to do weird things at night, like go over and sit by the nightlight to "read," put on bandaids, change her pillowcase, and change clothes. She went to bed in normal PJs, and got up with WVU windpants, a Minnie Mouse sweatshirt on backwards (that's the hood of it by her chin), and a tutu on. Don't ask, I have no idea.

Better late than never...

2009-01-21T06:08:00.000-08:00

I know ya'll have been on the edge of your seats in anticipation of a new post. I'm sorry, I've been really REALLY slacking but life has been kicking my butt lately. I don't have a good excuse really, but I have been sick off and on and it seems the kids have had endless appointments, dentist, eyes, one sickness. So, a quick update and some random pictures.

First, Emma's eye surgery went pretty well, although it was way harder on her as compared to the last time. She had a TON more swelling, you can see some in the Christmas pic below. Right now we are not wearing glasses, but her left eye may have been slightly "over corrected." Hey, I love her doc but if she has to have another surgery I'm invoking buy 2, get one free.

I spent a nice long time at home over Christmas due to my rockin state employment schedule. I didn't go crazy even once! It was nice. The kids behaved pretty well and kept me entertained. Slightly funny story: I was trying to wet down Ethan's hair, which he HATES, and he was trying to watch some TV show. I kept telling him to look at me, not the TV, when he said, "But I have two eyes!!" I guess one was looking at me and one at Wow Wow Wubzy. I swear, the stuff they think of.

On to the pics, this is Emma in just a cute outfit her Mawmaw got her. The dress under the coat is also pink and gray plaid. Love it!

Ethan looking even more like a 3 year old lawyer...

Another of the cute outfit. Look how straight her eyes are!

Us at the bowl game (go Eers!). They were so well behaved at the game. Emma kept yelling out "Go Mountaineers! Go Pat White!" My heart swelled with pride. And it entertained everyone around us. At the end of the game, as everyone was leaving down the ramps (we were in the nosebleeds, thanks WVU Ticket office) she stuck a pompom in her pants and was shaking her bootie. People were endlessly amused by that and several took her picture because she was so cute. So if you see my kid on a kiddie porn site please let me know.

Christmas day at Nanny's. Emma's poor knee socks just don't stay up. They look a lot cuter when they're at her knees rather than bagged at her ankles. I force them on her just like my mother forced me into knee socks, which I hated. Maybe she slouches them down on purpose to spite me.

I promise to try to keep up better in the future!

Tuesday

2008-12-09T18:49:00.000-08:00

1. Where are all of my weekends going? I know that the craziness is coming starting about mid November and yet every Monday, I go, geez, I got nothing done.

2. I am such a freakin klutz, I fell down my friend Emily's stairs for no apparent reason, but didn't get really hurt. However, my shoulders are incredibly sore now, which adds insult to slight injury. Not fun when you type all day.

3. ON a happy note, I found out that Pyrex does not break when it falls down the stairs with you.

4. Is it just me, or are everyone's kids horribly behaved right now? Don't they know Santa is watching?

5. Any ideas for getting my kids (ok, mostly Emma) to pick up their toys? Nothing seems to work. I gathered up an entire laundry basket full of toys that were on the floor of the laundry room and play room and took them away this evening. We'll see if that has any effect.

6. My shopping is 95% done and I just have to wrap, which I used to love to do. I always had nice ribbons and bows and curlies. This year if you get it taped closed you're lucky.

7. The remaining 5% is due to no fault of ours. Ethan wants a particular train table which we ordered last week for a good price. Well, this Monday we get an email that Step 2 didn't manufacture enough of them and our order may not be filled. So 4058 frantic internet searches later, I think I found one at Home Depot. We'll see if the order is filled. Everyone else has them out of stock, so the elves may delay the gift til after Christmas.

8. The change in price from our good deal to our not so good deal leaves me with more money I now have to spend on Emma. It's spiraling out of control.

9. I, like Neurotic Attorney, am not looking forward to the office move. Complete cluster.

10. "Where are you Christmas?" is my theme song for now. I'm waiting for the spirit to come to me. It always does, it just seems like it's taking a while this year.

OMG, I almost forgot my excitement for the week!!

Special #11! I'm going to the Bowl Game!!! Whoo whoo.

I've slacked long enough

2008-12-02T15:43:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'm having BLogger issues again. I only have three of the Christmas pics for you so far but here they are, along with my 10 on Tuesday.

1. How come other people can put up like 10 pics and I'm limited to 5?? Weird. Someone help me out.

2. I love the overhead pic but I think it's being overused. Oh well.

3. How is it possibly December already? It kind of makes me sad that it's only 23 days til Christmas.

4. I am having such issues finding Christmas sweaters for the kids. How can that be hard? I have resorted to Ebay now though of course, since every other store in the Tri State area has let me down.

5. My son LOVES Tom and Jerry and now has to watch it every.single.night. after his bath. It's not nearly as hilarious when you're 30 as it is when you're 3.

6. Do you think I can wish the ornaments onto my empty tree?

7. I totally feel like Faith Hill.."Where are you Christmas, why can't I find you?" I'm having trouble catching the spirit this year.

8. My daughter's whining is becoming like nails on a chalk board. I need a cure for the whinies. And the hitting your brother/sister for no good reason. And the failure to pick up toys. And the talking back.

9. I made peanut butter balls last night and they're good! I am a regular Suzie Homemaker.

10. Is it sad that the most exciting part of my Tuesday is that House is on tonight and it's a new episode?

10, are you shocked I'm here?

2008-11-18T12:40:00.000-08:00

1. I'm resolving to be a better blogger soon...I promise. I have a buttload of pics including Halloween and Christmas.

2. It was colder than a welldigger's butt this morning and I am not loving the traipse from the top floor of the parking garage. Soon we will be moving to downtown digs and I will be fat and happy from the short walk from the new parking garage and from the close proximity to all of the yummy downtown food.

3. It is going to suck rotten eggs when our office is moving. Things are already being packed and finding stuff is like finding a needle in a haystack. I had to go on a hunt for paper this afternoon.

4. Emma has to have another eye surgery, not sure if I shared that yet. It stinks but hopefully this will "cure" the whole problem. The first surgery went great and that eye doesn't turn in at all now, so fingers crossed for eye #2.

5. My sorority alumnae group is selling Santa letters and it's so cute seeing what kids want from Santa.

6. Did you know Alumnae is the proper word for all female plural alumna? See, being Greek did pay off.

7. I am seriously considering doing a local craft show with the hairbows I've been making, along with some tutus. It's only $15 for a table and it's close to my house. So far I've made 18 hairbows, I'm going for 50 by the show. It's pretty cheap to do, just really time consuming. I'll try to post some pics of them soon.

8. I think I found a great deal on a train table for Ethan for Christmas. Shout out to Auntie Lala and her BF for picking it up if I win the auction.

9. And a shout out to Neurotic Attorney for setting me up with Sing and Dance Pinkie Pie too, and saving me a trip.

10. I am embarassed to admit it, but I have been listening to Christmas music in the car. I seriously heart Christmas music. However, I do not decorate until after Thanksgiving, so I'm not that bad, right? A late Thanksgiving has me all kerfluffled this year.

10

2008-11-04T09:04:00.000-08:00

1. Soon I'm going to get the Halloween pics up. Soon. I promise. STOP HARASSING ME. ;)

2. I, like Neurotic Attorney, am sick of the election season. I don't even care anymore. "We're Screwed '08" is my new mantra, cause the mess we've gotten into in the past 8 years ain't gonna be fixed overnight. Especially by the selection I had to choose from today.

3. It made me really really sad not to get to cast my vote for Hillary. I felt a renewed sense of hope in her campaign this year. For a brief moment, I could look at my daughter and say, see, you CAN be president. Then I forgot that's really not true if you have a vagina and an opinion, cause that makes you a bitch and for some reason, that's a bad thing.

4. Look up "bitch is the new black" sometime. It's awesome, it's from about March, and is a skit by Tina Fey on SNL. Heck yeah, bitches get stuff DONE.

5. Who the heck were the random California chicks on my ballot for president? Can you say "random?"

6. Ralph Nader, just give it up. You're only screwing the people closest in ideology to you, just like most third party candidates (please see Gore, Al)

7. I just remembered, in reference to numbers 3 and 4, a friend of mine sent me a pic of a little girl wearing a shirt that says, if you think I'm a bitch, you should meet my mom. Although I'd never put it on Emma, I found it hilarious. Again, bitches get stuff done. "Sometimes being a bitch is all a woman has to hold on to" - Delores Claiborne

8. I want to shoot a hole in my TV for all of the toy commercials that are on every 30 seconds, since all I hear all day is "I want THAT!"

9. I have had the Kanawha Valley Crud for almost 2 weeks now. I think it's finally going away but seriously, it's like it gripped my body and wouldn't let go.

10. Toys are so much cooler now, that when my kids see a plain old doll or car or something, they want to know what it does. I wanna be 5 again.

Who am I?

2008-10-20T10:14:00.001-07:00

Wow, this is pretty right on for me...

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are a Bette!

You are a Bette -- "I must be strong"

Bettes are direct, self-reliant, self-confident, and protective.

How to Get Along with Me

* Stand up for yourself... and me.

* Be confident, strong, and direct.

* Don't gossip about me or betray my trust.

* Be vulnerable and share your feelings. See and acknowledge my tender, vulnerable side.

* Give me space to be alone.

* Acknowledge the contributions I make, but don't flatter me.

* I often speak in an assertive way. Don't automatically assume it's a personal attack.

* When I scream, curse, and stomp around, try to remember that's just the way I am.

What I Like About Being a Bette

* being independent and self-reliant

* being able to take charge and meet challenges head on

* being courageous, straightforward, and honest

* getting all the enjoyment I can out of life

* supporting, empowering, and protecting those close to me

* upholding just causes

What's Hard About Being a Bette

* overwhelming people with my bluntness; scaring them away when I don't intend to

* being restless and impatient with others' incompetence

* sticking my neck out for people and receiving no appreciation for it

* never forgetting injuries or injustices

* putting too much pressure on myself

* getting high blood pressure when people don't obey the rules or when things don't go right

Bettes as Children Often

* are independent; have an inner strength and a fighting spirit

* are sometimes loners

* seize control so they won't be controlled

* figure out others' weaknesses

* attack verbally or physically when provoked

* take charge in the family because they perceive themselves as the strongest, or grow up in difficult or abusive surroundings

Bettes as Parents

* are often loyal, caring, involved, and devoted

* are sometimes overprotective

* can be demanding, controlling, and rigid

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at HelloQuizzy

How to tell if your kids are spoiled

2008-10-19T14:48:00.001-07:00

Ok, I'm a bit embarrassed by this ridiculousness, but I knew you blog readers out there would get a kick out of it. While we were at the beach, we visited that money pit known as Build a Bear with Emma, while Ethan went to the slightly less expensive "boy" version called Ride Makerz. Our creation there is named Purple and she is complete with bear purse, bear panties, bear shoes, a shirt and skirt...and a full on Snow White costume. So, of course, we had an issue...Purple has a Halloween costume but Butterscotch, Ethan's saved-from-the-yardsale best bear bud, needed one. That's how you roll when you have two kids, folks. So MawMaw went on a quest at Build a Bear and found a Spiderman costume.

Excuse the kids, they're a bit ragamuffin like in these pics...

Purple, Butterscotch and in the corner, Lovey Bear, the other best bear bud of Ethan's.

And of course one without the mask...

This ranks right up there with the Great Pony Box debacle of '07. And I sink a bit further into "idiot parent" quicksand...

Questions for the kids...

2008-10-14T15:06:00.000-07:00

I'm back from Blogger underworld to answer Kim's challenge. By the way, Kim, Ethan was eyeing Sophie's picture with the jumper and declared that she looked like a vanilla (va-illa) muffin. That's high praise from him. Oh, then he asked where Sophie's mommy was in the pictures. For those of you who don't know, Sophie's mom has got it going on and my son has a big ole 3 year old crush.

1. How old are you?
Ethan:3 (pronounced "free")
Emma:3 (ditto, and Ethan added, "Like me?")

2. How old is mommy?
Ethan: tries to eat last night's popcorn trash; "I don't know"
Emma: 3

3. How old is daddy?
Ethan: hm, 38 (he's close, almost 33
Emma: 58

3. How do you bake a cake?
Ethan: Put cake in the oven then eat it
Emma: I don't know, then gave the above answer after hearing Ethan's.

4. What is daddy's name?
Ethan: Michael
Emma: Michael (we've gone over this before

5. When is your birthday?
Ethan: May 15th
Emma: May 15th

6. What is your favorite color?
Ethan: lellow, blue and orange
Emma: pink and purple

7. What is your favorite animal?
Ethan: uh, a doggie
Emma: a piggie, no I think um a pony, um a horse, a horse is my favorite animal; Emma later added a doggie after Ethan answered

8. What do you want to be when you grow up?
Ethan: a racecar driver, basketball player, baseball player and a soccer ball player- that's all. (Mommy might have missed one as these were said at warp speed)
Emma: a ballerina and Sleeping Beauty and all of the Disney Princesses; and a mermaid (then she stuck quarters in her mouth, so evidently a piggy bank as well)

I tag Jennifer.

10

2008-09-22T17:22:00.000-07:00

1. Is anyone else confused by Blogger's new way of putting in pictures? All I see is code now. I'm not even sure where I'm putting the text anymore.

2. I am so hearting the new season of House. How sad is it that new TV shows are the highlight of my evenings?

3. I really have to do a Christmas budget list. I remember fondly the times when I finished all my Christmas shopping in like 2 trips.

4. I get why kids are so spoiled. It's so hard not to just buy all the cool stuff that you think they'll love and give it to them for Christmas.

5. Twin Daddy Law Man is out with a client and the boss and I don't trust the kids enough to stay in bed to go downstairs and work out on the elliptical. Good thing, since I hear a kid making another bathroom trip as I type this.

6. How many excuses can kids come up with for not going to sleep? Nightly, I hear how each is keeping the other up, how they're cold or hot, how they need a book, how the cars and trucks outside are keeping them up, and how they have to go to the bathroom.

7. Emma was talking to Neurotic Attorney in Target the other day about trying on a Tony the Tiger head and how it nearly knocked her over, and ended the story with "It was INCREDIBLE!" Cracked us all right up.

8. Allegedly there have been no Pee Pee fountains as of late but I'm not betting on it. Let's just say don't drink the water.

9. I am and always will be a Mountaineer fan. But this is one heck of a depressing year so far.

10. I just love the movie Lean on Me, and I just saw it's on! Gotta go! "Dear Eastside..."

Things I cannot believe I actually hear...

2008-09-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

So, kids are in the tub the other night, and since they're way past maximum wrinkle capacity, Michael goes to get Ethan out, only to find that he's standing up peeing. Nice. He calmly explains that he and Emma were making "pee pee water fountains." Great. How do you discipline a kid when you're laughing so hard that you're crying? Cause I so was.

Another instance of 3 year old logic...it's an hour past bedtime and things are still rough and rowdy in Twinkie room. Michael takes his turn to yell at them to go to sleep, and Emma explains (as she and Ethan are wearing pillow cases on their legs) that they're mermaids. I guess mermaids don't sleep.

The bedtime travesties continue in Twinkie land, as sleep seems to be optional to them, and cannot occur without a flashlight, Bunbun, Lovie Bear, Butterscotch the saved from the yardsale bear, the proper blankets, and books. So one night Emma, who believes sleep is wholly unnecessary, actually fell asleep first. This irritated Ethan to no end, so in a bit we hear Emma crying. Ethan's explanation? "Emma was asleep so I poked her in the eye til she woke up."

Sometimes I think life with three year olds is like a Road Runner cartoon.

A bit from the beach

2008-09-14T14:34:00.000-07:00

I'm working on publishing some beach pics but I'm learning how to use Picasa to edit some, so bear with me. Here's one where we were trying for the typical "laying in the edge of the surf" pic and were surprised by a bigger wave. More to come...

10 on Tuesday

2008-09-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

Hola, I'm back to the grindstone...I'll be uploading vacation pics soon, basically as soon as I relocate the camera. I swear I've mostly unpacked but I've misplaced the camera as of now.

1. My thoughts of coming home to a clean house were ruined approximately 6 seconds after we walked back in the door.

2. We really should have listened to the locals who said that Hurricane Hanna would be no biggie and stayed rather than driving home and getting there at 1:30 am.

3. I am disappointed in the Eers of course but feel we'll come out of the season no worse than 9-3. I'm predicting 10-2 and Big East champs again, but I'm hoping for 11-1.

4. All I can say is at least we're not the ACC. Pathetic as usual, haven't won a BCS bowl in I believe it's 9 years now. No wonder the Jokies won't play us anymore.

5. My patience today is thin at best. People should just not test me.

6. I'm really hungry and really not wanting my Lean Cuisine but I shouldn't spend the money to go to eat today, although I'm so wanting to right now.

7. I'm so lazy that I don't want the lunch I brought but sheer slothiness is keeping me in my chair. I don't know if slothiness is a word but I totally think it is and I was an English major so there.

8. I turn 30 in 3 days. I'm depressed. I think I'm so far from where I thought I'd be in some ways, but in other ways my life is better. Weird.

9. I still don't really feel like an adult most of the time, even though I have an education, debt, a mortgage, an SUV and 2 kids. I think I feel about 21.

10. I know 3 people who had babies in the week I was on vacation. It must be a boom!

One last pre vacation post...

2008-08-29T06:53:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from last week's trip to the park. Love the skating ones. I didn't even make them hold hands! We're off for vacation tomorrow morning and I cannot wait. I'll try to post some vacay blogs after! Tata all you working stiffs!

Workin' at the Car Wash, yeah...

2008-08-26T16:58:00.000-07:00

Blogger is doing some crazy stuff here, cause I can only see my pics when I hit post. So here goes, sorry if this is off...

I haven’t done pics in a while, and I actually have a bunch stored up. So here are some from earlier this summer when we decided to wash my Expedition and Daddy’s Trailblazer. It’s a nice way to pass a Saturday afternoon when it’s hotter than the hinges of you-know-where.

Rockin the sponge...

Ethan hard at work...

What's gonna work? TEAMWORK.

I'm not quite wet enough yet. Why don't cha just spray me again to be sure?

Even though I'm this cute, they still put me to work.

Tuesday 10

2008-08-19T10:34:00.000-07:00

1. I'm newly fired up again that softball is out of the Olympics just because the Americans win it every year. Hey, you don't see us lobbying to remove badminton or ping pong from the Olympics do you? Get better at it or stop crying

2. Am I the only one who thinks the gymnastics judges are a little too pro-Chinese, or maybe it's just anti-American? Poor Alicia Sacrimone got so hosed on the vault.

3. No more about the Olympics for at least the rest of the post...

4. I really want to let my hair grow out and donate it to Locks of Love but it's starting to wear on me. I think I could cut off about a 7 inch ponytail right now but it has to be 10 inches to donate. Not sure if I'm going to make it or not.

5. If anyone ever stole my MP3 player they would think I was a freak.

6. I cannot wait until football season but I'm so bummed that I have no tickets for any game. I tried for the ECU game but it's sold out already. I didn't have tix last year preseason though and got to go to two different games, so I'm still hopeful.

7. I told the kids last night before bed that if I heard the word why one more time I was taping their mouths shut. Emma considered this threat for a good 5 minutes, giving me a very serious staredown to determine if I was in fact going to carry out the threat, but Ethan wrote it off immediately. I guess i have to work on the threats for the boy child.

8. I really hope the #7 paragraph doesn't get me turned into CPS. I wasn't really going to tape their mouths shut. At least not last night.

9. I'm wearing my favorite summer dress today but I'm afraid that when I sit down it makes me look pregnant. Or that could just be my fat that makes me look that way. I'm going with the dress.

10. Funny conversation overheard last night from the kids in the bath tub:
Emma: (on why she couldn't put her foot down into the water) I have a boo boo on my foot E-THAN!
Ethan: Well I can't help you.

A dialog of our car ride home*

2008-08-18T15:06:00.000-07:00

*alternate title: I remember fondly when I wished my children could talk

So, it's exactly 15 miles from my MIL's house to my house. During that time this evening, I answered approximately 4051 questions. Several times each. I thought those of you out there might appreciate a condensed dialog of the trip:

Ethan: Why are we stopping?
Mommy: Because the light is red.
Ethan: Why is it red?
Mommy: Because the other cars have to go.
Ethan: IT'S GREEN, GO! WHY AREN'T YOU GOING?
Mommy: Because I can't turn yet?
Ethan: Why not?
Mommy: Because cars are coming.
Ethan: Why?
-at this point I've chosen to ignore further traffic related questions as I can see where this is leading.
30 seconds later...Emma finished her bag of cashews. Evidently there was some race going on that no one else was aware of.

Emma: I won! I came in first!
Ethan: ME too!
Emma: No you didn't. I won, I am the best. (I have no clue where she got that last part)
Ethan: No, I won.
Emma: No, I won.
-you can imagine the next 5 minutes of this...

Then the highlight of the trip home, a police officer pulled over a car that had attempted a risky pass.

Ethan: What's that policeman doing?
Mommy: He's pulling someone over.
Ethan: WHy?
Mommy: He was driving too fast.
Emma: (tag team time now of course) Why was he driving too fast?
Mommy: I don't know. (now I know better than uttering those three words because in 3 year old world, they are completely unacceptable)
Emma: But why is he driving too fast?
Mommy: Maybe he was in a hurry.
Ethan: Why he in a hurry?
Mommy: I don't know. Maybe he was trying to get home (sometimes you just gotta wing an answer)
Ethan: Why he in a hurry to get home?
Mommy: I have no idea.
-again I choose to ignore further comment on this topic which elicits approximately 200 questions in alternate versions of "why was he in a hurry?"

Ethan: Why are we on this road?
Mommy: We're going home.
Ethan: Why are we going home?
Mommy: Because that's what you do at the end of the day.
Ethan: But why?
*POP* The sound of my head exploding.

Ethan: Why did your head explode?
Emma: Why are we on this road?

So, who wants to take a ride with us?? Sorry, can't give you the rest because I have to answer for the 5th time that yes, this is an Alvin and the Chipmunks cartoon even though it looks different than the movie. Sigh. Anyone know how to ban the use of the word "why?"

An Olympic moment...

2008-08-15T10:39:00.000-07:00

So, I totally think Emma Bo Bemma will someday be an Olympic gymnast. Forget that she can't walk across the floor without stumbling, and forget that I'm 5'9" and Michael's 6'1". I'm shipping her off to China as we speak to live in one of those state run programs. You know, you don't have to know how to read and write if you can do a double twisting double back in a layout position.

Clearly I'm Olympics obsessed and last night ROCKED. Go USA! However, I really miss this:

Maybe it's because she's a fellow West Virginian. But I think Mary Lou had that "something" that's missing from today's gymnasts. She seemed focused, but like she was having fun at every moment during the biggest competition of her life. She did her thing and showed her excitement in a job well done. America's sweetheart...

(not to mention I had one of those totally awesome leotards- thanks Nana!)

diez de la mañana el martes

2008-08-11T17:37:00.000-07:00

Are you impressed by the fancy Spanish title? yeah, I didn't think so. iGoogle baby. Google can do anything...

1. Sorry bout the lack of posting but life has been crazy lately, with Bible School, my parents moving, lots of other commitments and life in general. Things are settling though...

2. Speaking of moving, is there much worse on the planet? And how do two people collect so much JUNK?

3. Do you know that my mother has an entire rack full of my old dance costumes?

4. Like many others, I'm totally obsessed with the Olympics and may have possibly flipped off the French team after the swimming relay.

5. Is it my competitive spirit or some deep seeded patriotism when I want the American team to win EVERYTHING and get really angry when they don't?

6. I'm wondering what sport is most likely to get Ethan and Emma into the Olympics. I have to think it's not that hard to make the American handball team, or maybe some badminton. And those can't cost nearly as much as 15 years of gymnastics or swimming training.

7. Speaking of handball, what a bizarro sport. Has anyone ever actually known a handball player? And how does ping pong get to be an Olympic sport, yet they're dropping baseball and softball after this year?

8. I cannot believe that my husband is already watching NFL football. I can watch 12 hours straight of college football on Saturday but the mere vision of the NFL on my tv makes me groan.

9. I guess I should at least watch a couple minutes of preseason since these guys will be flipping burgers in a week or so when they get cut from the team.

10. Why are there no American judges in diving? Is that how we keep getting 4th, just out of medal contention while the Chinese keep winning??

Pictures coming soon, as soon as I relocate the camera. Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY JACKSON!

Blast from the Past

2008-07-21T06:51:00.001-07:00

So, I was searching through some old emails and came upon these pics. These are from my college's homecoming in 2005, at our sorority tea.

My little legacy and her brother (can you see how thrilled they were?)

Two little legacies, Hailey and Emma. Yep, that's Hailey from Desperate Housemommy.
Hailey, Emma and Ethan. Clearly Hailey and Ethan were DONE with the pictures by this point, but Emma was just chillin. Funny enough, Ethan still makes this face when he's upset. Have a great Monday, and I'll try to put some pics up of 4th of July, car washing and horse riding soon.

It's Tuesday again!

2008-07-15T07:14:00.000-07:00

Here we go:

1. I'm shocked and somewhat appalled that the Court system doesn't give any paid maternity leave. Not that I'm ever going to use it, but really, that's pretty 1946, don't you think?

2. I have a tiny little cut on my thumb and I can't figure out where it came from, yet I keep staring at it. Weird, huh?

3. We have $200 in our change jar (not all of it is change) and I really need to cash it in, at least the part that's rolled. That's good for people who barely use cash anywhere!

4. I'm embarassed that my feet look so narsty today so I actually wore ballet flats instead of sandals.

5. Emma wrote her name all by herself several times lately, and then last night wanted to write my name. I told her each letter and she wrote it out really well! I'm so proud of her, that's pretty good for just turning 3, isn't it?

6. Ethan is actually good at writing too but he's been anti writing since this weekend. When I asked him to write his name on the same piece of construction paper he refused, but then went and got a sticker with his name on it and put it on the paper. Creative I guess, right?

7. We put a new blind on the kids' room, and now it's really dark, so they've taken to sitting in their beds with flashlights "reading" a book. Hey, as long as they're 1. quiet, 2. in their beds and 3. not making a mess, who cares?

8. Why would Angelina name her kid "Knox?" Especially giving the girl a beautiful name like Vivienne. I guess it's better than Apple, Coco, or Pilot Inspektor.

9. I hope hope hope that we have a rain free weekend, for once. I'm so tired of beautiful days during the week and then rain! Argh!

10. Why do businesses feel it's necessary to keep it 47 degrees inside on hot summer days?

It's Carmavore Time!

2008-07-09T17:40:00.000-07:00

So, the local volunteer fire department throws a big carnival (or carmavore in twinkie land) every year, so we hit it up this year. It was pretty nice, complete with about 6 different kiddie rides, a ferris wheel, bumper cars, and some other adult rides that we didn't frequent, along with greasy carnie food. All in all a good time, even if it was about 345 degrees.

Ethan and Chris (Auntie Lala's BF) lookin for someone to bump.

Emma and daddy crashing into Ethan and Chris.
Ethan cheesing from the whale.
Emma driving the rocket ship
Poor little boy waiting for a broken down ride. We never got to ride it, either. It was a kiddie "coaster" that looked like a giant alligator.

10 more on Tuesday

2008-07-08T16:20:00.000-07:00

1. I'm so thrilled to be going to the beach over Labor Day (and the following week!)

2. I've never really "budgeted" down to the penny for vacation before and it sucks. But I'm going so I'm cool with it.

3. I've already started packing lists. I'm a list maker, what can I say? It saved me when my stuff was stuck in NYC on 9-11 and I was stuck in New Jersey, cause I could make a specific claim to the Marriott (and they fulfilled it even though it was considered an "act of war" which is excluded).

4. I have been unmotivated to do ANYTHING as of late.

5. I really REALLY want to lose 10 pounds before the beach. But see #4 for how the exercise is going.

6. I totally screwed up my kids this last long weekend by messing big time with their schedules.

7. The sound of the kids singing on our CD player right now is driving me nuts, cause they really can't sing. But some of the songs are good, and hey, it was 120 Bible Songs for Kids for 5.99.

8. Walmart rocks, even though I may disagree with some of their policies. You know, allegedly they run Mom and Pop stores out, but seriously, I worked in a small grocery store and I didn't even have the opportunity to get health insurance and I made minimum wage at first. You get better than that at Walmart, and hey, no one is making you work there.

9. I find it ironic that a lot of people so opposed to Walmart still shop there. And some of the bad press they get is just wrong (like about the woman who they filed a subrogation claim against for her health insurance benefits- hello, I was a litigator- ALL companies, including the state and federal governments, file subro claims against lawsuit proceeds- they pay out millions in health care and then you get a windfall, while your bills are also paid???)

10. I'm rambling a lot tonight. Guess it's off to bath time.

I have a few pics I'll try to post later, we went to a carnival (or carmavore as the kids call it) a couple weekends ago and I have some shots from that. Since it's becoming romper room in here though, I better sign off before I end up in the ER.

10 on Tuesday, and some more pics

2008-07-01T05:29:00.000-07:00

So, I was gonna put the pics at the bottom but I'd have to retype my whole post, cause I can't seem to move them. Anyone know how to do that on Blogger?? Well, here they are and my 10 on Tuesday follows.

Here are my 10 on Tuesday:

1. What EXACTLY did the person mean who called me Superwoman the other day? Was that sarcasm or what? Hm.

2. I am getting a gray streak in my hair, precisely where my hair would bleach into a blonde streak every summer and people always thought I colored it that way. I think I enjoyed the blonde streak more.

3. My last Zumba class was last night and I'm sad, because I can't find any other ones in the evenings. Why do all workout classes go on during the day?

4. Technically I think a new class is starting where I take mine but the new instructor is obnoxious, since she was one of the ladies in my class. To beat it all, she doesn't even do some of the moves right. I think I'll just spend money on the DVDs instead of dealing with Obnoxious Middle Aged Blonde.

5. I kinda pretty much look like crap today, but I'm ok with that. Gray streak and all.

6. The last time I waxed my eyebrows really took because it's taking them forever to grow back, which is awesome since I resemble Chewbacca on the hairiness factor.

7. Poor Emma has inherited the hairiness. I feel bad for that.

8. People tell me all the time that Emma looks like me and I just don't see it that much other than brown hair and brown eyes. I think she's way cuter than I've ever been.

9. Sometimes I think my son is an 86 year old man trapped in a 3 year old's body.

10. I'm pretty sure I'm in trouble since as I pulled out of the subdivision I saw a head pop into our front window and it was too late to roll down the window and wave.

So, we're not freaks, right?

2008-06-30T12:41:00.000-07:00

It appears that parents aren't necessarily happier than those who are childless. While I don't agree that this is necessarily true, this quote interested me:

This means the experience of raising kids is now competing with highs in a
parent's past, like career wins ("I got a raise!") or a carefree social life
("God, this is a great martini!"). Shuttling cranky kids to school or dashing to
work with spit-up on your favorite sweater doesn't skew as romantic.

Hm. Is it that parents nowadays aren't as happy as non-parents, or parents nowadays had a whole different life before kids? Parents of a generation or two ago graduated from high school, got married and had kids. Their life before kids was that they WERE kids. Now most parents don't have kids until they've gone to college, graduate school, and worked a while. Like I said, a whole other life.

I don't think I'm less happy- I'm just a different kind of happy. I've gone from finding my happiness in the greatest pair of shoes or a really fun, loud, crazy time with friends to finding happiness in watching my kids play soccer or watching them learn something new or just listening to their little ideas. Saturday nights have gone from, what are we going to do tonight/where are we going to go/out of town jaunts, to "hey, let's hit the Walmart." Don't get me wrong, I'll still take the shoes, and I'm woman enough to admit that I DO miss the shoes. But I won't trade the Twinkies. Most days.

Here's the article for those interested.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/143792/page/1

Time flies...

2008-06-24T06:46:00.000-07:00

Last year....

This year...
Where are my babies??

Round one of the three year old pics

2008-06-24T06:36:00.000-07:00

Here are the "group" shots of the kids 3 year photo session. Some of ya'll have already seen these via email but I figured out that I can snipe them from the Sears site (don't tell) without buying the cd. I'm sure they probably aren't print quality but they're at least blog worthy.

Love this shot. I have a similar one when they were about 7 months old.

Yes, baby girl smiles with her mouth open.
See? Don't they look deceptively sweet here?
The classic "3" picture. I'll have to dig out last year's 2 picture for comparison.
Giggle box with her mouth open again...the lady kept saying, oh, her mouth is open. I was like, yeah, it's been open every set of pictures since she was born. It's ok. Don't they look so...old??

Another 10 for Tuesday- and it's actually Tuesday!

2008-06-24T05:27:00.001-07:00

Another of Kim's 10 for Tuesday...

1. It totally cracked me up the other day as I walked past the baby section in Walmart and saw that they're stocking Stay Awake (the Walmart brand of No Dose) in that section. Then my ovaries shriveled a bit at the memories of nighttime feedings x 2.

2. I am constantly amazed by people's parenting. There was a kid at the pool the other day who just walked up to Emma's snack size bag of Cheezits and helped himself. Didn't ask to share or anything, just grabbed them and started noshing. I drew the line when he grabbed her Koolaid Cooler and was about to take a drink. I maybe sort of told him it was rude to steal other people's drinks.

3. The same kid (about 4-5 years old) was left ALONE at the pool while his mom left the entire pool area (as in outside of the gates going who knows where) for over 20 minutes. I'm assuming my MIL and I were supposed to babysit him. Seriously, WHO DOES THAT? It's a freaking pool, and you're going to leave your young child there with strangers to babysit and save him from drowning?

4. I am suffering from major shoe envy right now. I used to always have sassy shoes but my collection is not enlarging like I'd hoped. Sigh, I miss disposible income and the days I didn't weigh purchasing a really great pair of pumps with purchasing pictures of my kids. (those are coming soon to a blog near you, I heart Sears Portrait!)

5. I'm totally in a dinner rut right now. Any ideas for fast, easy go-to meals?

6. The world of parents around here is a small world, as Kim and I found out. We both share the thought that this one kid's mom is nuts, as I've seen her at soccer class, and Kim knows her from elsewhere. Can you say "helicopter mom?"

7. I'm also in a major I don't like my clothes rut. Maybe I should do what my friend Emily did- she's literally selling most of her clothes and starting over. Interesting. I'm going to see how that turns out first.

8. I have been exercising WAYYYY more lately (I also heart Zumba), including breaking out the old dustridden elliptical, and yet I'm not losing any weight. Not a pound. I'm about to just say forget it and eat at McDonald's every evening.

9. Sine die is Thursday, which means the end of the Court term. If I were a big important person I could be laying by the pool for the rest of the summer with not a care in the world. Unfortunately I'm far from a big important person so I'll be schlepping to work, except for my 10 wonderful glorious vacation days that I have to decide when to take.

10. I have like 100 hours of stuff on my DVR that I haven't gotten around to watching. Time just seems to run out on me! But the pause live tv action is ruining my kids- Ethan now has to pause while he goes potty and we had to pause the Nascar race the entire time he took a bath the other night.

I'm officially a soccer mom

2008-06-15T13:17:00.000-07:00

I'd love for this blog to have some super great pictures, but unfortunately indoor soccer facility + low lighting + point and shoot camera = pics that are basically black blobs.

Anywho, my kids are officially soccer stars. Well, actually they're taking a soccer class at Quantum Soccer. They love it, and I think it's good for them to have some structure. It really only losely resembles soccer, but it entails running around for an hour (no actual games at ages 3-4) and tires them plumb out, so everyone is happy.

Here they are after their first practice.

The one quasi action shot I could get lightened up. Ethan is number 4 (back to the camera) and that's Emma on his right.

If you're like me, you're always worried that your kid is going to be "that kid" in situations like this. You know, the kid who pushes the others down or is mean, or the kid who doesn't listen to any directions and just runs around aimlessly like a monkey on crack. Well, fortunately that kid was D. [name withheld to protect the heathen...er, innocent] He was eventually asked to leave I assume, as his mom came over with the director and pulled him out. HE didn't return this week, much to most of our relief. Thankfully the only people my kids have pushed so far are each other, and that's embarrassing enough.

More pictures, I'm so slow

2008-06-14T18:22:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure I've lost some of the people who checked this blog because I've been so ridiculously slow in posting. So I'm catching up some. These are from their birthday. This is the bounce house that their 3 grandparents went together and got them. My kids are so deprived.

My attempt at an action shot. Yeah, I have a point and shoot Kodak. Not the best.
Going down the slide.
What good is a slide if you don't try to climb up it? However, it's not really easy to do in socks.
Upside down on the slide
My stinker butts. I like this pic. I'm going to attempt to remember how the heck I put the pic at the top of this blog and change it to this one.

Since I downloaded a bunch of pics, I'm going to try to do a couple new blogs tomorrow. Stay tuned!

10 for Wednesday

2008-06-04T06:46:00.000-07:00

10 on Wednesday (sorry, couldn’t make it in by Tuesday):

1. I’m super excited that the kids are playing soccer. I am such a sports freak that I have hoped and prayed that my kids will love sports too.

2. I think this soccer class will be good for the kids. They need some structure since they’re not in preschool.

3. I wore a really cute pair of shoes yesterday and although they would externally appear comfortable, they were possibly the least comfortable shoes ever made. Damn you Kate Spade! You’ve tricked me again.

4. If I worked a 4 day work week, I’m pretty sure I’d just spend the 5th day dragging the kids around on errands, so I don’t really think it’s worth it to spend 10 hours a day here.

5. I wish I’d have known that being a lawyer is 90% who you know and 10% what you know. I probably would have just passed on law school and you could call me Professor Chick right now.

6. I wonder why I still get ticked off when I see people in jobs that they have no business being in because they are about 2 steps above bumbling idiot, and they make twice (or more) what I do because of their connections. I need to get over that hot rage that burns in me when I think about it.

7. I think I will always be a litigator at heart even if I hate certain aspects of it. There is nothing like arguing a motion, writing a kick ass summary judgment or appeal brief, or hammering someone in a deposition. But billable hours and constant BS suck.

8. Why is it when you’re trying really really hard to save money, you think of 1000 things that you need to spend money on?

9. I get really jealous when people say they’re taking a sick day to just goof off. When I don’t work, I don’t have a sitter or daycare. I think one day I’m going to have to just leave like I’m going to work, call in, and spend the day sitting in a park. But then I’d feel too guilty and I’d end up going home.

10. Carpooling ROCKS. I swear I’m saving like $40 per week. Thanks Neurotic Attorney!

And a bonus since I'm a day late: I still heart you Hillary. I waited 14 years to be able to vote for you and I still think you're the best choice for president. Now I have to consider long and hard how to vote this fall, and since I'm a die hard Democrat that's distressing to me.

Reasons...

2008-05-26T12:41:00.000-07:00

I have some random pics to post so I thought I'd do a couple of top 10 lists. I have to get the few birthday pictures that I actually took while attempting to not get blown away off my camera...soon, soon. Go look at Kim's blog for now...

TOP 10 REASONS I SOMETIMES CONSIDER PUTTING THE TWINKS OUT WITH THE TRASH:

Ethan blowing a raspberry on Nanny's arm right in the middle of prayer during church
Emma constantly tearing her pony tails down in order to put on one of her many tiaras. Evidently princesses or mermaid queens don't wear ponytails
The fact that every single day I put at least 50 books back on the shelves because the kids feel the need to "read" every evening in their beds.
The fact that our water bill has gone up considerably since the kids have figured out that with their step stool they can wash their own hands and brush their own teeth- 86 times a day
We have 36 scratched DVDs because some people feel the need to play with them, yet we watch Cars and Polly Pocket Pollyworld so often that I have them both memorized.
There are only so many times you can hear "Ethan pinch-ed me" followed by "Emma hitt-ed me" before your brain starts to hurt.
"But I don't WANT to eat [insert any food in the house] for breakfast/lunch/dinner"
How hard is it to understand "Don't dump all the shampoo/conditioner/body wash into the bathtub while your bathing to create bubbles?" Evidently pretty hard, because I'm about to buy stock in the L'oreal Kids corporation.
If I step on another matchbox car, have to dress another Barbie or Polly Pocket, or stub my toe on another play grocery cart/stroller/highchair, I might lose it.
HOw is it we can eat in a restaurant and they can stay seated and eat like human beings yet when we are at home it's like corralling greased pigs to get them to sit and the kitchen floor resembles a trough?

TOP 10 REASONS I KEEP THEM:

They're too smart for their own good and they'd find their way back anyway
because they're so sweet when they're asleep
because a kiss or hug for no reason at all is so sweet
because I love hearing what their imaginations come up with
because there's no one I'd rather nuggle with
because every morning they wake up happy and run down the hall
because their thirst for knowledge is amazing and heartwarming and makes me hopeful for the future
because they're like short little people with their own opinions and ideas and that amazes me
because they love to sing little songs and it's so cute
because they're mine

Here's one of Ethan Racecar Driver. Hate to tell him that his favorite driver Tony isn't having the greatest year...

Both at the character breakfast with Elmo
Ethan and Spiderman. Ethan's the one on the left, in case you were wondering
Emma with the really pretty Cinderella
Emma as a laughing pirate, with a bandaid on her head...

Checking out the Nascar

2008-05-21T17:58:00.000-07:00

Auntie Lala just happens to work for a company that does different Nascar marketing, including for Kelloggs. For those of you not into Nascar, the Kelloggs car is driven by Casey Mears, whom Ethan believes is named Casey Mirrors. However, his knowledge of Nascar drivers is scary - he can see a driver on TV and know exactly who he is, including the random ones. He even knows the history of the Kelloggs car, and that Kyle Busch drove it last year. So of course we had to trek to Corridor G to see the Kelloggs car when Auntie Lala told us it was going to be on display.

He's pretty excited here, but not excited enough to put down the Nemo baseball.

Emma is always ready to cheese, although she didn't care much about the car. Don't you dig the pink cowboy boots? Ethan is ready to get in, he's tired of standing outside the car by this point.
One more pose...
Ethan driving...you can see the joy here.
More from Ms. Cheese.
Ethan also got to see the actual, will be raced at Martinsville Speedway Tony Stewart Subway car. Or as he calls it, the Eat Fresh car. However, we were not prepared because we had no idea it was going to be at Walmart so all we have is disposable camera pictures.

More later...

Am I out of trouble now??

2008-05-21T17:41:00.001-07:00

I know that most of you out there in Blog World have probably stopped even checking my page...I'm really sorry! I'm going to try to catch up. I have a lot of blogworthy pics in the hopper, two different princess parties, a trip to see a Nascar car, birthday stuff...I'm going to catch up soon, I promise!

To whet your appetite (how's that for an English major word??) here is princess party #1. They estimate that about 1500 people were there, and I'm sure there were at LEAST that many. Here's Emma waiting patiently in the huge line...

Here's Emma and her friend from church, Bailey.
Emma and Jasmine...isn't this girl just the cutest thing? I remember having abs like that.
Emma and Belle. Some of these teen girls were just gorgeous.
More posts soon, I promise. I actually have a 4 day weekend coming up due to our annual kid checkup and Memorial Day so I'm going to try to update a bunch then!

Random thoughts from a toddler mom

2008-04-16T05:03:00.000-07:00

No pics today, but soon, I promise. Emma and I have a Princess Party this weekend where she'll meet ALL the Disney Primpesses. I hope a soon to be 3 year old is an unlikely candidate for a heart attack. She survived meeting Dora so I'm thinking she's pretty strong.

Here are my random Hump Day thoughts:

- I'm pretty sure the number of times I can answer the same question in a row decreases exponentially throughout the day.

-How do you trick a kid into learning stuff who is completely uninterested most of the time? Ethan is very into his letters and spelling stuff and counting towards 100 and all that. Emma- not so much. Dancing around, jumping and singing are more her forte. She even knows when she's being tricked into learning with a promise of M&Ms at the end.

-I think I've given Emma nightmares because we watched the beginning of Bones the other night.

-why is the cold so much worse when I get it as opposed to when THEY had it?

-How do you get chocolate pudding all over your pants when you've been sitting at a table eating it?

-Would an indoor play area business really take off like I think it would? A friend and I have totally been discussing starting one. There is NOTHING physical to do around here when the weather is bad except Chuck E. Cheese, which ain't that great for smaller ones, and the Clay Center, which always has basically the same stuff and is expensive.

With dreams of small business success, I'll leave you. Happy Hump Day!

Birthday wishes...

2008-04-11T06:31:00.000-07:00

So, we do in fact have the infamous bicycle in our house, after some Nanny run ins with the [insert nasty name here] at Dick's Sporting Goods who wouldn't bother to help her run it 50 yards to her car to help out someone with two almost three year olds. I mean, they were super busy DOING NOTHING seeing as how it was 11:00 on a Tuesday. Let's say they lived up to their store name that day. Here is the bike:
However, now Ethan has decided that this looks super fun and amazing:
I have to agree, it's a Sesame Street Bounce House and Ball pit, and unfortunately for Mom and Dad, some kids in the 'hood have it. Other kids have some super cool toys too, including a motorized Hummer, a motorized Lightning car (which Ethan fully believes that the kid will soon trade him the car for Ethan's bike, he's already ready to make the deal), trampolines and those giant blow up slides. However, it comes at the grand cost of about $250 on sale (over $300 most places I found it) and it's not really as big as the picture implies. But it is super cool. And in turn, it would make me a super cool mom, right? Unfortunately I'm not super rich.

I've been on a 'Net search and found this Little Tykes bounce house for significantly less, it holds more weight and it's bigger. How bad is it that I'm seriously considering this?

Sigh. How do you balance giving them everything you want to give them and spoiling them? I guess it's easy when your checking account looks like mine does, as I will not be getting either bouncer unless my yard sale this possibly rainy weekend brings in some serious cash. So they might stay bouncerless. Stay tuned. And come buy my stuff!

Cautious optimism

2008-04-08T07:22:00.001-07:00

I may have found a bike at Dick's Sporting Goods. I'm cautiously optimistic until I see it in person.

Update on the Bike Situation

2008-04-08T06:04:00.000-07:00

So....8 Walmarts later, still no bike. Technically 9 cause Neurotic Attorney looked for me too. I've officially now called 14 Walmarts and physically been in 2 others. Sigh.

My only hope now is the search in North Carolina that is ensuing and Toys R Us told me there's a shipment that may or may not have a bike in it. And I have one more Toys R Us to call when they open today. I also have an ad out on Craigslist and will check Ebay every day.

I blame myself for even showing him a bike that we did not have in hand, because now if you ask Ethan what other kind of bike he wants if we can't find a Lightning one, he screams, cries and says he wants a Lightning bike. I think I'm in trouble.

EMERGENCY!

2008-04-07T10:21:00.000-07:00

To all those in the Blogger world, I implore you for your help. My dear son has his heart set on getting a Lightning McQueen (the car from Cars the movie) bike for his birthday. We've looked at pictures of it and he talks about it all the time. Well, who knew that some jack-butt at Disney or wherever would DISCONTINUE the stinking bike and now we can't find it anywhere. I have a little over a month until their birthday, and I really don't want to disappoint Ethan, especially when Emma will be getting a Disney Princess bike, just as her heart desires. I'm up for any idea as to where to get one. I've tried Amazon, many different internet searches, Walmart, Target, etc. Please keep an eye out for one and let me know if you've seen one. For those friends who are out of state, if you can find one I'll pay top dollar for one and all your costs if you see one!

EDITTED TO ADD: Sigh. I've gotten nos at this time from Walmart in Hurricane, Ripley, Barboursville, Logan, Gallipolis OH, and Charleston, as well as Charleston Toys R Us. Barboursville Toys R Us says it's possible that they'd get one in on Thursday. I guess the saga continues. And can you believe, none on Ebay?

Two nights in a row...

2008-03-25T17:45:00.001-07:00

For those of you not "in the redneck know" the following are our pictures with Gravedigger, the greatest monster (or "monker" if you ask Ethan) truck around.

Emma kept crowding into the picture. She looks all crazy in this one...
Ethan driving the monker truck
Emma and Ethan in front of Gravedigger. You have to mentally say that name like this: GRRRAAVVEEEDIGGER!
This was some kind of trophy for winning something or other. Ethan was refusing any more pictures since he couldn't drive the little mini Gravedigger that was on site. It was his form of rebellion.

Here comes Peter Cottontail, hoppin down the bunny trail

2008-03-24T16:29:00.001-07:00

Friday my awesome boss let us out early, so I came home, gussied up the kiddos and we headed to the mall to see the Easter Bunny. This is a modern Easter bunny who gives away chips and pretzels. I was pretty happy with the two minute photo shoot:

Don't they look sweet and innocent? Yeah...the night before they were Satan and Satanette. Let's just say it involved noodles in the floor, fuschia nail polish, sprays of Windex on the hardwood, and all the couch cushions pulled off the couch. In the same night.

Saturday we had a cold but successful Easter egg hunt at church. Here's Ethan, sorry for the blur but he was in motion.
Emma hunting eggs
Here are a couple from Easter Sunday. It was really bright and sunny out so excuse the squinty eyes.
Nanny and Gramps and the twinks.
Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

My bebes are gone, so I'm posting pictures

2008-03-24T16:17:00.000-07:00

My mother in law is keeping the kids for the night since she's babysitting tomorrow, so the bebes are gone and I'm posting some. I wish I could say I was enjoying an exciting evening but thus far it's Chinese takeout, the internet, and later a rousing game of "clean the nastiest parts of the house before CPS comes."

Anywho, Emma and I enjoyed this on Wednesday:

Ethan and Daddy saw Horton Hears a Who at the same time. Unfortunately Ethan was discouraged by the fact that there were no Horton souvenirs, although I'm told he ate his weight in popcorn.

Here's Emma pre-show.
Here are the dancing ponies and their friend Spike the Dragon. Or dinosaur. I was never sure. The dancing ponies disturbed me a bit, but Emma didn't seem to notice that their back legs didn't move.
Emma's favorite pony Minty...her other favorite Pinky Pie was also a star of the show.
Emma toward the end. She was pondering the quickest route to the stage. Approximately 5 minutes into the show, she informed me, "Mommy, I'm ready to go onto the stage now." I guess she thought they needed some little girl performers. She's going to be a star someday.
All of you out there can say you knew her when...when she informed me her $3 lemonade had boogies in it and she refused to drink it! (evidently boogies taste precariously like fresh squeezed lemonade pulp. Who knew?)

Finally updating

2008-03-17T17:23:00.001-07:00

Hello all you bloggers out there! I'm finally updating. Here was our Sunday afternoon project. Gotta love the egg dying! Our kits this year were Cars and Princesses, our two favorite things right now.

Can you tell how much fun Ethan is having? And, um, do you think that dye comes out of a cream colored button down shirt?

Emma making purple eggs. She figured out how to make them purple by dying them pink then dropping them into the blue dye. Impressive!
After the eggs were dry, we used stickers to complete them.

Some of the finished products.
Keep an eye on Sophie's page, since we attended her birthday party and Sophie's mommy's pictures are always way better than mine. I'll try to publish mine tomorrow.

Funny things heard in my house lately:

Emma: Mommy, I want some air conditioner in my hair. (speaking of HAIR conditioner)

Ethan: (after being asked if he'd rather marry Sophie or her friend Gracie) I want to marry Sophie's mommy!!! (there you go Mrs. Carr, or should I say Mrs. Robinson??)

Ethan: (answering the question of what he wants to be when he grows up) A doctor, a knight and a racecar driver.

Just when you think you're a good parent

2008-03-10T12:16:00.000-07:00

Along comes the video of the 17 month old who can read. Geez. I thought we were doing good because my kids can read their names, the word stop and the word welcome (a new one from this weekend). Hope they never have to face this kid in class.

The things you do for your kids...

2008-02-29T06:58:00.000-08:00

So, guess what I get to do this weekend? Go to a car show to see this:

Yay. Can you feel my excitement? For those of you who don't know, my son is a total redneck. He loves Nascar, monster trucks, heavy machinery, etc. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I have no idea where he gets it. I mean, we're certainly not high class folk, but if he starts asking for a mullet, wanting a gunrack in my Expedition, cutting the sleeves out of his shirts, and rubbing Skoal, I'm calling up the hospital and asking where my REAL kid is.

Gotta do it, I was tagged.

2008-02-25T06:33:00.000-08:00

Ok, Elizabeth tagged me, so here goes...

Four Jobs I have had:
A. Deli girl
B. DMV worker
C. Resident Assistant
D. Attorney

4 places I’ve been:
A. Vegas
B. Cancun
C. Myrtle Beach
D. Florida

4 movies I’ve watched over and over:
A. Steel Magnolias
B. Beaches
C. Shawshank Redemption
D. Legally Blonde

4 shows I watch:
A. House
B. Law and Order SVU
C. Bones
D. Intervention

4 places I’d rather be right now:
A. The beach
B. At home
C. Morgantown
D. sleeping

4 favorite things to eat:
A. chocolate anything
B. pasta
C. Southern breakfast foods
D. scallops from Sara J’s

4 places I’ve lived:
A. Morgantown
B. Athens
C. Hurricane
D. Buffalo

4 things I look forward to this new year:
A. saving some money
B. the kids getting bigger
C. some small weekend trip
D. having a lot of summer time off

Hmm, most of my blogger buddies have already been tagged, but I’ll go with Jonathan’s Mommy, Desperate Housemommy, Neurotic Attorney and Lydia’s Mommy.

A quick one...

2008-02-25T06:22:00.000-08:00

I hereby resolve to do better in posting in March. The funny part is, I get anxious when my blogger buds don't update fast enough and I'm the worst one!

Here's a quick post for the day, celebrating my parenting success! We had to go out of town this weekend for a funeral, and that entailed a stay in the Hampton Inn. The next morning we were dining on the Hampton's yummy hot breakfast buffet, and the kids were munching away on their "colored cheerios", known to the rest of the world as Froot Loops, when a lady came up to our table and said, "You have the best behaved children I've ever seen. I just had to tell you that."

WOOO HOOOOOO! They often get free goodies for their restaurant behavior but it's nice to have that reinforced sometimes, especially when people tell me often I'm too hard on them (that's YOU Nanny!!!! and Mawmaw!!!).

I solemnly promise I do have pictures to post but I keep forgetting. Soon, my lovely readers, soon!

Finally, some pictures

2008-02-10T13:35:00.001-08:00

Here are some new pics for all of your viewing pleasure. This is Emma prior to her surgery, complete with yellow hospital jammies and socks which she quickly rejected because they didn't match and were ugly. BunBun went through surgery too and got her own ID bracelet.

Emma and Nanny pre-surgery. Note the ugly socks.
Emma's ride to surgery.
Post- surgery, clearly feeling better. She's wearing my brown knee high boots, which are hip waders on her.

I know, I stink

2008-02-06T05:34:00.000-08:00

Ok, I keep forgetting to update, and I really do have some new pictures but just don't have time and I'm not on the right computer right now anyway...I'll really really try tonight.

Some updates on us...Emma's eye is doing fine. We've been back to the doc one more time and he says keep doing what we're doing, glasses and patch 3 hours a day. We have no idea how long that will have to go on but hopefully not too long.

I haven't updated on the potty training for a long time, but I'm happy to say that Emma is 99% trained, even at night. We still do diapers at night just in case, but most mornings she's perfectly dry, and she's always dry after naps. As for Ethan, he'll never be trained at night I don't think. Both go out in undies now unless we're going to be in the car for a long time (have you ever had to wash a carseat cover? no fun). The problem is that Ethan sometimes just "forgets" when he's at home and will just pee his pants. I have no idea how to stop this, as I'll ask him if he has to go and literally 2 minutes later he'll go in his pants. I'm just coming to the conclusion that boys take longer. We started in September so I thought he'd be over this by now but I guess not. At least he only does it at home.

Their vocabularies are amazing and getting bigger every day. It's so much fun to have a conversation with them, and very enlightening. Some phrases we're hearing right now:

Emma: Hello, missing the point, mommy!!! (thanks Polly Pocket)
I want some more Bazanya (lasagna)

Ethan: Um, 'cuse me mommy, I need....(his manners are so precious! It often gets us free treats at restaurants)
My fav: Um, 'cuse me mommy, you made a mistake. This chicken isn't right. (he thought his pork was chicken)

Ethan also tends to use the word "actually" a lot and use it right, which totally impresses me!

Every morning, as I walk out the door, I get to hear, Love you mommy, be careful, watch out for the crickets and reindeer. I had no idea that those vicious attack crickets had teamed up with reindeer in an effort to stop traffic.

So dear blog readers, until I manage to post again, be careful, and watch out for the crickets and reindeer.

Quickie

2008-01-16T09:39:00.000-08:00

We're all safe and sound and back from the Dr. appt. We all did great, especially Boo Boo. I'll post more later including some pics. Dr. T says that she did better than the majority of his patients. I knew she was a tough cookie.

T minus 1 day...

2008-01-14T04:55:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is Emma's surgery, and I *think* we have everything set. Let me tell you, the disorganization of the health care community sure doesn't give me confidence in turning over my kid to them to be put to sleep and operated on. Do you think it would be too much for me to circle her right eye with a red permanent marker and draw an arrow to it stating "this one?"

Everyone keeps asking me if I've told her, and of course I have, but I'm not sure this is going to sink in until we get to the hospital, they give her the sedative and then Mommy has to go bye bye leaving her with strangers and of course Bun Bun. And I pray they're on time, because she can't eat or drink til it's all over. That's bad enough for an adult, but how do you explain to a two year old that's hungry and thirsty, sorry, kid, no can do? Plus, this kid is an eater. I guar-an-tee that there will be an immediate request for panpakes immediately following surgery.

On another note, my kids are the things that marketing teams dream of. Ethan can sing the jingles of some notable commercials and now if he sees a Subway sign he automatically yells "eat fresh!" The other day, we were in the car and the Billy Ray Cyrus song came on, and this one was the version with his daughter Miley, better known as Hannah Montana. Well, the DJ said something about Hannah and Emma yells out from the back seat, "I like Hannah Tana." I was like, already???? Yet another marketing gimmick that's worked on her. At least she's not asking for the $500 concert tickets yet. However, I do think they've realized that the Disney on Ice show is going to be here soon, and that the Diego show comes as close as Ashland, Ky, about an hour and a half from here. Is it any wonder that I'm broke?

Little People town

2008-01-10T15:42:00.000-08:00

Ok, Kim got me into the blast from the past with her post on her Smurf belt. I loved the Smurfs, and had many Smurf toys. Personally, I was partial to Smurfette and even had a Smurfette cake once for my birthday. However, another of my childhood loves was Little People. They've made a comeback, but they sure don't look like this anymore. Incidentally I had the redhead lady in the blue dress back in the day, along with many others.

Now, Little people actually have bodies (sort of) and don't look like tiny little bowling pins with faces. This evening I was graced with Little People town in the living room, so I decided it was good blog fodder.

Here is the King, and his sidekick who I think looks remarkably like Dumbledore, gay and all. He's lowering himself to speak to one of his subjects, who I think is one of the 15 different Maggies we have. A downfall of the new Little People is that there is a finite number of characters.

Here's the schoolbus, driver optional obviously. Yet another Maggie in the bus, along with some blond kid.
Here's the cute little trendy Maggie on a weekend jaunt with her boyfriend Eddie. They're pulling their cool popup camper complete with camping gear, sleeping bags, a tiny camping kitchen and a radio playing nature sounds. There is also the Third Wheel friend tagging along, I think her name is Sally. This Maggie must have more game than the other Maggies as she's found herself a real man. Eddie is a construction worker; way to get a man with a job, Maggs.
I'm guessing Eddie's coworker Max tried to make a play for Maggie and Eddie laid him out here, as he's about to get run over by the camper. Straight out of WV, I tell ya. Either that or he got fresh with Sallie there and she booted his butt out.
Emma and Ethan in Little People town. We also have a construction site, airport and gas station. Homesites start at only $150K, built personally by Eddie and Max, assuming they're still friends. Call now!

Snow day!!

2008-01-09T18:49:00.001-08:00

So, thankfully I had until January 3 off, as we awoke to a few inches of snow on January 2. This was probably the first time the kids have gotten to really play in the snow, and let's just say they loved it.

Emma immediately started making a series of 37 snow angels. I really don't know how she knew what to do, but I'm assuming Dora is somehow involved.

The finished product.
Ethan spent the short amount of time we were outside (it was less than 20 degrees with a serious windchill, so it was short) rolling around and diving face first into the snow. He's rolling down a little slope on the side of the yard in this one.
Happy boy LOVING the snow.
This is what happens when mommy says we have to go in...I couldn't get a full picture of the screaming yelling crying fit because he was running away. All good things must come to an end son...a hard lesson.

I have a few more from the snow that are cute I'll post later.

Finishing up the Christmas Pics

2008-01-09T18:39:00.000-08:00

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house...

Not a Twinkie was stirring, it was quiet as a mouse.
I'm totally cheating here and skipping to some of the gifts the kids got from Nanny and Gramps; Santa was somewhat boring this year. He brought Emma a Dora Ballerina blanket, lots of Polly Pockets and Barbies, several Princesses, etc. Ethan got a Tony Stewart blanket, a Thomas track, and several race cars. Both got Vtech computers, and a really cool easel with a chalkboard, desk, magnetic letters and a dry erase board.

So here is Emma taking care of her twins, complete with their own Pack N Play, twin stroller, twin highchair (wish they really made those!), and twin swings. Technically she has 5 of those Little Mommy dolls now so I guess they're quintuplets.
Ethan's workbench.
The shared kitchen, because of course their old kitchen wasn't nearly big enough. Insert eyeroll here.

I'm moving on and not posting the rest of the Christmas pics or it will be April! I do have some great snow day pics coming up, maybe even tonight!

Christmas Eve

2008-01-02T13:51:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve was for Mawmaw's house and the present opening. Here are the kids in front of the excessively packed tree. Yes, every.single.one. of those gifts is for the kids.

THe beginning of the madness.
Emma's most favorite gift, her Dora "banity" (vanity). It talks and makes all the appropriate hair dryer noises, etc and has makeup, brushes, a crimper and a curling iron. However, I had to laugh while I was getting ready Christmas morning, as Emma had to assess my own beauty instruments and asked if I had a crimper. Uh, no.
Here are the two GIGANTIC bags full of clothes for each of them. I didn't even bother to count most of it, but I did count 8 new skirts for Emma and 3 new dresses, and fifteen long sleeve shirts for Ethan, not counting the sweaters and button downs. Just plain longsleeved shirts. Insert a giant eyeroll here.
The aftermath...this is the back of my Ford Expedition on the way home. Completely full.

Moderation is not something that my MIL understands but the kids are definitely happy and well clothed.

Christmas part 1-A

2008-01-02T13:40:00.001-08:00

Dec 23 was the first day of gift opening in the Law house. THe kids' great Aunt Gay and Uncle Don came down; they are Gramps' sister and BIL.

Here's what happens when people get bored after dinner. Emma stripped off her tights and shoes somewhere along the line so excuse the panty shot.
Ethan getting "upside down" too.
The kids with Aunt Gay and Gramps.
THe kids with Auntie Lala and her boyfriend Chris.
Thankfully this was not one of our insane amounts of presents days, but those would come on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. More later...

Christmas part 1- the church program

2008-01-02T13:28:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know I'm slacking but I had a sick kid and I've just been doing other stuff too. BUt I'm trying to make up for it and there will (hopefully) be several posts tonight. Especially if I get ticked off enough to turn off the Fiesta Bowl and rip my WVU sweatshirt to shreds. We'll see.

Here are the kids at the church program. Don't they look thrilled? They had already said their part and were ready to sing and cut out of there.

Emma decided to blow that popsicle stand early but was persuaded to go back for the remaining songs.
Here are the kids singing away in a manger, complete with arm motions.
"The little Lord Jesus asleep in the hay."
Jingle bells, complete with bells. It's hard not to ring them til the chorus, huh?
BY the way, my kids are the youngest who will actually stand up there, and so of course have to be the ones to make a scene. After Emma tried to cut out early, Ethan marched his jingle bell to the alter after singing Jingle Bells (and before the farewell song of We Wish You a Merry Christmas) and announced to the church, "I'm finished." After they all stopped laughing he went back to his place and sang. Nice.

More to come...

But for the grace of God go I...

2007-12-27T13:12:00.000-08:00

Ok, so my first after Christmas post was going to be mostly a compilation of pictures and a big ole whine about how my kids have too much stuff. But then I was watching Oprah (very productive in my time off) and I had to write about this story. This lady volunteered at a shelter for foster kids and learned that they don't have pajamas. The lady, like me, grew up with the routine of putting on pjs and going to bed. She brought in pjs for the 12 kids at the shelter, and one little girl looked at them, and said "What are those?" She was 6 years old and had never had pajamas. Call me premenstrual but the tears started flowing. Here I am griping because my family thinks my kids need to have 3499686 outfits and 234 pairs of pjs, and there are kids with none out there.

My cousin was telling me a story that also hit home. She's a teacher at the same elementary school where I went. She told me about a family who lives in a plywood house that's about 300 square feet. The kids have to walk through a creek with no bridge to get to the school bus. One kid is in the 4th grade and is up to recognizing about 1/2 the letters of the alphabet. My kids already know at least 80% of their letters and they're 2 1/2. The kids had very few clothes and no supplies, so the teachers got together and got them stuff.

With these stories, I'm committing to a New Year's resolution that actually matters. Well, I'm not pretending I'm Mother Teresa- I still have the selfish ones- lose weight, get in shape, all that. But I'm going to start doing more for charity. I talked to her about doing a backpack drive for local schools next summer, and she can get us a local family to adopt for Christmas. I have boxed up 4 boxes so far of kids toys and clothes for the local womens and childrens' shelter.

So now I challenge all you bloggers out there to do what you can. We can all do more. Frankly, just the thought of kids out there with no pajamas or sleeping on the floor and walking through creeks to get to school crushes me and I'm sure it does you too.

Tonight or tomorrow I'll be back to my regularly scheduled inane ramblings but for now I'm thanking God for all my blessings.

A day at the Museum

2007-12-21T19:17:00.000-08:00

So, thanks to Desperate Housemommy, we took a trip to the Clay Center museum. Yep, two mommies and four kids under 3. I have to say, all in all I think it was a huge success. Unfortunately I didn't pull the camera out too much but did snap a few shots I thought I'd share.

Here's Emma with Max, playing on the giant magnet thingie. I'm pretty sure this is Maxey's favorite part of the museum since it's one of the only ones that he can participate in.

Here are Max, Hailey and Emma working on their magnetic masterpieces.
Hailey and Emma conspiring.
Here is Desperate Housemommy doing the weather. I totally think she should become a weather girl, she's way better than our local peeps.
Ethan and Emma at one of the coolest parts of the museum (even if they had no idea). You make a little movie shot by shot using the little cars. I think Ethan spent about an hour at this section, as it contained his two favorite things, cars and buttons to push.

We had a fabulous time, no fits, no crying, no fighting, no breakdowns. A fully successful trip that we'll definitely do again!

The visit to Santa on Tuesday went very well. We got there about 2 minutes before an entire daycare, so our timing was impeccable. I'll try to post the pics tomorrow, I had Grampsy scan them in and I have to edit them to the right size.

Dragons and swimming pools and popsicles, OH MY!

2007-12-17T18:53:00.000-08:00

So, day 1 of my vacation at home (I'm off til January 3, the pleasures of state employment!). I have constantly been amazed lately at my kids' creativity. It's just amazing how they think and how complex their ideas are. I'm pretty sure they're smarter and more creative than I am already.

Their current favorite thing is pretend. They pretend play anything. One minute it's dragons chasing them down the hall, the next minute they're serving pretend popsicles from an ice cream truck. (And what's up with them being out of the blue ones when mommy wants a blue popsicle?). Then they're swimming on the rug in the living room, and 5 minutes later they're Alvin and the chipmunks (AAALLLLLVVVVIIIINNN! O-Kay!) or the Doodlebops (complete with guitar, drum and/or tambourine).

Tomorrow we're off on Errand Day, to Walmart, the mall and ending with Santa's lap. As you all know, it's always a crap shoot taking two year olds (especially two of them) out for that many errands. I'll post some Santa pics soon!

On a side note, please send thoughts and prayers to Neurotic Attorney.

Another I wonder

2007-12-13T05:12:00.000-08:00

Good morning readers, I've been very lax with the camera lately, so here is yet another pictureless post. First off, Emma Bo Bemma's surgery is offically set for January 15, so please think good thoughts with us on that day. I'm sure I'll have a neurotic mommy blog on about January 13-14 so stay tuned. :)

Here's a blast from the past, another set of I wonders...

I wonder why people would say things on the internet that they'd NEVER say to someone's face. A wonderful blogger got some nasty comments and had to privatize her blog. That stinks, because she only blogs about her kids and her life, and includes her pictures (which are super great by the way) and I can't see how THAT could ever offend anyone. She's like the least offensive blogger I've ever read.
I wonder why people feel the need to send the exact same set of exhibits that the litigants on the other side sent. Do they think if they send them twice I'll pay more attention?
I wonder why it's a headline that teachers in WV are ranked 48th in national pay scale. Um, the ENTIRE STATE is ranked 49th or 50th in median income, why would teachers be paid more than any other occupation in WV???? If money's an issue I'd suggest not living in WV, there ain't none here.
I wonder why I can't slap any attorney who files an appeal without a docketing statement. I'm about to designate myself as the Supreme Court slapper.
I wonder why people feel the need to back into parking spaces in a busy parking lot or parking garage. And if you feel the need to do this, at least hone your skills so it doesn't take you 15 attempts while 30 ticked off drivers line up behind you.
I wonder where the dude who works in my building gets his he capris. Seriously, where does a dude go to buy dress pant capris? They even have a nice little button below the knee and different colors in the pleat by the button. And he wears them with wool knee socks, I guess to keep his legs warm.
I wonder how Bruce Springsteen has an alleged hit album. Has he even put out a song in the past 20 years? And isn't he like 65?
I wonder how great my life will be now that I'm getting not one, but TWO DVRs on Saturday. And how many shows will pile up on it before I get to watch them.
I wonder if the mall is less insane during a weekday. I think I'm gonna try to do the whole Santa's lap thing on Monday or Tuesday.

Have a great day!

Christmas spirit

2007-12-11T05:33:00.000-08:00

I have to admit, for the most part, I think the vast majority of people are not great. Frankly, people really suck sometimes. But I’m trying to believe I’m wrong, at least for the sake of my kids, because I really don’t want them growing up in a world where people don’t care about others and are only looking out for themselves. So, in that vain, I’ve been trying to be nice to strangers, especially during the Christmas season, and I’ve been watching for people to show the Christmas spirit, so I can point out to the kids that people really ARE good.

Here are my examples so far:

*Thank you to the super nice lady in Target on Sunday who gave us the only dry cart so the kids didn’t have to sit in a wet one. She gave it up because she saw us looking for one and knew the kids would be sitting in it.

*A nice old guy in Fruth yesterday who had his hands full of items let a nice little old lady go first because she had a gallon of milk in her hand.

*Thanks to the maroon car who let me over this morning as I had gotten squished out and would have totally missed my turn at the fork in the road had she not let me out.

Anyone else want to share some Christmas spirit? Don’t forget to pass on the spirit.

Christmas party tour 2007 is nearly complete

2007-12-10T06:02:00.000-08:00

This past week was one of those weeks. I think that everyone planning a Christmas party/dinner thought the first week of December was the week to do it. I had a Christmas party or dinner Monday evening, Tuesday evening, Thursday evening, two on Friday, and one on Sunday. Phew. Of course, many of these meant baking, wrapping and getting kids ready. Fun times. I think my Christmas spirit suffered a hit, but I'm trying to get back on the saddle.

So, I have to say, I'm constantly amazed by my kids. I worry sometimes that not being in daycare will make them antisocial or something, but that could not be more true! Sometimes I think I hit the kid lottery. I mean just LOOK at these faces... We went to a party last night where they didn't know one person there, and when we went to the kids' playroom area, they just jumped right in and left us in the dust. I was so proud of them! They didn't care a bit that they didn't know these other kids, they walked up and told them their names and started playing! They played so hard that they wouldn't eat, and we had to go through a drive thru on the way home to feed them! And, to top it off, they were younger than 90% of the kids by at least 3 years, but they didn't care. Santa made an appearance, and Ethan and Emma quickly learned that being the smallest affords you the fastest access to the fat man in red, as they squeezed right through the adults and bigger kids for their shot at Ho Ho. Both have always loved Santa, from their first Christmas at 7 months. When the pics are emailed to me I'll be sure to post. I was shocked that there were some older kids (like 6-7) who were scared. I mean, come on, it's SANTA. I can see a little one, but that old? Maybe it's like a clown, some adults are still scared of them.

Anywho, it did put to rest some of my paranoid mother fears that my kids will be the ones who grab a toy and play alone in a corner while all the other kids play together. They never have done that, but again, I'm the same one who fully convinced herself that Ethan was autistic when he was like 6 months old. Yay for outgoing kids!

This is what SPOILED looks like...

2007-12-03T05:17:00.001-08:00

spoil (spoil) Pronunciation Key v. spoiled or spoilt (spoilt), spoil·ing, spoils : To do harm to the character, nature, or attitude of by oversolicitude, overindulgence, or excessive praise

See Also: Ethan and Emma

Yes, my children are spoiled. And it's not my fault. Christmas is going to be one hot mess in our house, as it seems everyone is trying to outdo the others with their gifts. Fun times. But, since Auntie Lala has bought so much for Christmas that she's not sure it will all fit in her car to bring it from NC, she brought these this weekend.

Yep, my kids now have their very own Nascar cars. Personalized and everything. Ethan's reads "Ethan Racecar Driver" and Emma's reads "Princess Emma Ballerina." For those not "in the know" these are their alter egos.

Here is the top of Ethan's car.
Here is the top of Emma's.
Side view:
And, they have Dora and Diego holding hands on the trunk of each car, along with each of their names over the doors, just like real Nascar drivers have. They'll be the coolest kids in the Hood come spring.

The eyes don't have it...

2007-11-29T06:28:00.000-08:00

The ability to straighten completely on their own, that is. The verdict is surgery, and the sooner the better. It's a long drawn out explanation that basically comes down to "if you don't use it you lose it." Basically she's not using her right eye when she doesn't have her left eye patched, and she'll continue to lose sight in it unless the muscles are snipped and basically rearranged. It's a whole deal with too tight and too loose muscles and lack of a change in her refraction. See, you don't really want the whole explanation, right?

The good news is that the patching has restored some of the vision in her right eye, so there is hope that after the surgery, her vision could return to perfect since she's so young.

So, we will be undergoing surgery as soon as I hear back from the pediatrician with her recommendation. Maybe as soon as Christmas. I'll keep everyone updated.

On a side note, we will not be going to New Orleans this year for the National Championship game and I could not be more crushed. But circumstances have arisen that make it impossible and irresponsible. It sucks being a responsible adult. I don't get how people who make way less than we do can afford to go, but maybe some of these people are like some of my husband's family, who choose to forego paying their bills so they can buy a Playstation or something.

Oh well, Let's go Eers!

Can I get a "Let's Go....Mountaineers!"

2007-11-27T11:56:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'm going against my word (again) and this post is completely Twinkie-less.

There are few things I love with an unbridled, sometimes unreasonable passion. One of those is WVU. I love Morgantown, and would totally live there if I could convince my parents and MIL to move. The sounds of the Pride of WV (the band) bring chills to my body and tears to my eyes. I used a version of Simple Gifts and Country Roads in my wedding processional. Blue is my favorite color. I do not miss games, and I don't answer the phone during games, so don't even call. I watch Sportscenter for a glimpse of what they're saying about my team. There are few things I want more in life than a WVU national championship.

I was crushed by the USF loss, but we have righted the ship, and all of the pieces are in place for a run to New Orleans. It's meant to be.

There are certain things you can't explain. You're either born with it or you develop it over time. One of those things is a love for WVU. I was born with it, it was hereditary in my case. I'm passing it on to my kids. It's a fire that burns in your belly, a feeling that envelops your soul.

I love my team and I believe. I truly believe. I don't care what "they" say about the Big East. I don't care if people say we don't belong. All we have to do is win and nothing else matters.

LET'S GO...MOUNTAINEERS!

It's turkey turkey time, you Butterball you blow my mind, it's TURKEY.

2007-11-21T04:55:00.000-08:00

Ok, you totally won't get the title unless you've heard that song, but the song is hilarious. Here's the link. Scroll to the Turkey Time song and click on it...

Since I haven't done an I wonder in a while, here ya go...

I wonder...

-why they are STILL cutting the grass like twice a week at the Capitol. Hello, it's not growing any more. Is it just job security?

-why I end up doing ALL of the real work for Thanksgiving while others volunteer to bring a pie. Argh. I will exact my revenge next year.

-how my mother has no idea to cook a turkey and she's 54 years old. I think she's totally faking.

-how Emma has some weird 6th sense about me throwing something of hers in the garbage.

-how I am going to deal with work, doctors appointments, house stuff and Christmas decorating and shopping next week while Michael is away at trial for a week and a half.

-how in the world I have three, yes, THREE Christmas parties (with multiple gifts) that I have to attend the first week of December (Monday, Tuesday and Friday).

-how Emma knows the actual names of the toys she sees in the Walmart catalog. Can she read and she's just holding out on me?

-how Ethan can get his clothes off so fast sometimes when he wants to run around being "Nakey Baby."

-how boys automatically learn to play with their peepee.

-if the football gods will grant my wish for a National Championship

-if Pat White will marry me

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and may all of the calories be blocked from your thighs!

It's not too early if the tree's lit, right?

2007-11-20T05:12:00.000-08:00

So, the State Capitol has officially lit its tree, which to me means I'm NOT too early to publish Christmas pictures. Right? Well, it was justified in my mind. Anywho, Sears called prior to our appointment to confirm and to get all the relevant information, as in the kids' ages, any particular backgrounds, etc. They informed me that we could do a clothing change, and she mentioned pajamas. So my wheels started turning, as I had seen some SUPER cute Christmas pajamas at Kohl's but couldn't justify them since the kids' last year pjs still fit. But for pictures, I could justify. So we bought new ones, and I think they turned out great!

The photographer lady has taken my kids' pics about 5 times, starting at the age of 4 months, so she sort of remembers us every time. She is great at going with the flow, as this series of pics shows, since she initially wanted the kids to pose with the cookies and milk, but that wasn't happening. So she just started clicking, and the results are super cute.

Excitement over the props, which are of course fake.

Just making sure the milk isn't real...Doesn't Ethan look like he's going, wait a minute! That boy LOVES his milk. And Emma looks guilty here.
Making sure the cookies are fake too. They were glued to the plate, and just after this shot, she actually LAID in the floor to try to bite a piece off. I swear we don't starve her, and it was 8 am for pity's sake!
Love this one, sweet and innocent.
She actually obeyed the instruction to hold the bear by its arm! I think this was to slightly differentiate from Ethan's pic with the hugging.
So, on a random note, is anyone else's kid becoming super materialistic? I hate commercials, and now the kids (especially Emma) have started asking for EVERY toy she sees: "I want dose mommy" or "I want ALL of dose." Thankfully she forgets most of it in 3 minutes. Except she wants a bigger play kitchen, cause hers is "too small to cook everything." Oh, honey, don't we all?

Is it too early for Christmas? Too bad!

2007-11-19T05:32:00.000-08:00

Good morning, glories! Well, I had a whole plan for post #100, but it was pictureless, so I figured ya'll would want to see the new pictures from our Christmas session. Pretend it's not pre-Thanksgiving here. Here are some of the more formal Christmas pictures. Big props to Sears again.

This is one of my favorites, reading the Night Before Christmas.

More tomorrow!

number 99 and nothing to show

2007-11-09T12:34:00.000-08:00

Well, this is post #99! So I've had 99 posts full of pretty much nothing, and this is no different. Random thoughts for the afternoon...

-having kids with the sniffles really stinks, especially when they can't sleep and therefore you can't sleep

-Emma is fully potty trained, and Ethan is getting there, although the thought that *most* boys are harder is ever so true for us. I did have to pull ahead in the Dairy Queen line last night as Emma was about to pee her pants, but in her defense, we did wait 20 minutes in that line. The pumpkin pie blizzard was so worth it though. And she held it and we made it inside.

-why is it so hard for me to let go of the Pullups? We've started venturing out in undies, and we always wear them at home, except at night. But when we do our weekend marathon errands, I just cannot let go of the pullups. They rarely even pee in them, but we're just in the car so much I still cling to them...

-I have officially completed more tutus. I'm working on one that's a gift for someone else's daughter, in her favorite colors of pink and yellow. Well, as favorite as a 13 month old has I guess.

-I get 10 days of vacation from Thanksgiving til New Year's, but the true holidays don't subtract from those days! I'm SOOO excited! I'm taking a random day in November for Emma's next eye appointment and some other errands, and then the whole week before Christmas, the week after that, and then til New Years Day. It will be like being back in college, or being a teacher I guess!

-Why is it so hard to decide what to put on the kids for Christmas pictures? I have to get on that.

Ok, off for the day. I have a long weekend too; ah, the virtues of state employment.

Random Picture Post

2007-11-02T05:37:00.000-07:00

So, I decided to do a random picture post today. But first, I have to tell a funny story.

Last night, we had stir fry with chicken for dinner, and brown rice. Side note- way to go Mommy on healthy dinner *pats self on back* So the kids are eating at their little table, but they have get-up-itis, and I keep telling them, sit there and eat, we don’t run around while eating. A few minutes later, I’m absorbed in Dr. Phil (ok, not such a good Mommy thing) and I start hearing this weird noise of something moving across the hardwood. Finally, I got my lazy butt off the couch and ripped myself away from the latest Dr. Phil drama, and see that they’ve spilled rice all over the floor and are trying to clean it up with their play vacuums! It was so funny I couldn’t even be mad. Unfortunately I had no idea where my camera was, and since they were walking through the rice and spreading it, I had to clean up the mess quickly.

So here are some pics I like. Sorry for the glare on Emma's glasses but everything I read was really complicated on how to fix it, as in cloning the non-glare eye and then pasting it perfectly over the other, so I was like, ok, I'll live with it.

This pic is true Emma, she's a giggle box.
Emma with her sweet smile.
Ethan's sweet smile.
Love this one. It shows his baby blues.
Ethan and Emma under their "tent" in the living room.

Have a great weekend!

Trick or treat report

2007-10-31T05:09:00.001-07:00

So, we did "real" trick or treating this year, not just the "go to the relatives and show off the cute kiddos" trick or treating. The kids LOVED it, and were soooo good. They said thank you every time, and their costumes were a huge hit. We actually had people stop us to take pictures of them! I hope they're not on some sicko kids costume site now, but the photographers seemed normal enough. All the other kids age 6 and under ran up to see Dora and Diego. So, it was worth the $60 plus shipping for those danged costumes I guess.

Since I totally stink and forgot my good camera, I had to resort to a point and shoot I happened to have in my purse. I'll get those developed and scanned someday, but for now, you'll have to live with the paragraph version of the highlights of the night:

-One little girl was dressed as Jojo the Clown and she was adorable, and also wore glasses, so Emma was enthralled and had to touch Jojo. Thankfully Jojo was nice and liked Dora, so they stood touching each other for a bit.
-We only saw one other Dora and one other Diego (but they weren't together) and the kids loved that. Tinkerbell and princesses seemed to be a big theme this year, along with your standard pirates, superheros and monsters. But there was a super cute Harry Potter who I think did a spell on my mom and I!
-The kids helped give out candy after they got bored, and they loved it. They would chase down kids to give candy to, much like Miss Sophie B!
-Ethan accosted some kid in a Spiderman costume who was not appreciative of Ethan's sudden love for Spiderman. I've never seen Ethan give two hoots about Spiderman before, but suddenly he was enthralled by this poor kid.
-The funniest part of the night had to be when Ethan was handing candy out to kids, and some bigger boy took the candy Ethan offered him, and Ethan turns around to his two grandmothers and I and says, loud as can be, "He not say thank you!!!" My own Mr. Manners. And Mr. Manners was sure to say "You're Yelcome" to all thank yous received. A child raising victory!

Happy not really Halloween but trick or treating anyway day!

2007-10-30T04:57:00.000-07:00

I seem to remember that when I was a child, Halloween was actually ON Halloween. Now it seems they move it if it's on a weekend night, if it's on a church night, if the day ends in y, or whatever. So we're trick or treating tonight. SOMEONE, who I believe was my MIL, thought it would be "cute" to teach the kids to say "Trick or treat, give me some candy," which Ethan turned into "Trick or Treat, give Ethan Emma candy!" and Emma kept the original, though hers was shouted at about 30 decibels. So last night we practiced the proper trick or treat techniques, with the threat of having to give back the candy if it's done improperly. I think that I have them under control, and now the speil goes ding dong (that's the doorbell), "Trick or treat", with a prompt thank you after candy is given. Fingers crossed.

Since we're going to my MIL's subdivision tonight, and the kids will be all cracked out on sugar, I'm posting pics from a less saccarin induced coma night, when the kids went to their friend Will's birthday/Halloween bash at Billie Bob's. Bad Mommy forgot to take pics actually AT the bash, so you'll have to take my word for it that the kiddos were cute, including the birthday boy dressed as Thomas the Train, which enthralled Ethan. (Side note- WHY are those things so darned expensive??)

So for your viewing pleasure, Dora and Diego.

Happy Halloween, y'all!

Being poor makes you crafty...

2007-10-29T05:03:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, I took a new job a few months ago, and in the process took a pay cut. Not a hugely significant enough one, but enough that I had to cut out most unnecessary spending. It's a balance, I have retained a bit of sanity for a while, but I'm broke. However, my daughter is a complete diva, and longs to be a ballet dancer. Since I can't justify lessons for a two year old, I started searching the 'net for ballet themed stuff. Enter, THE TUTU. Now, I know that Princess Emma Ballerina would die for one. But people making these jewels charge $20 or MORE. So I started thinking, tulle cheap at the Wal-mart. Elastic is super cheap. Mommy has some sanity left in the evenings to actually be creative. And VOILA, Princess Emma Tutus was born. (Ok, so that's the dream name of my tutu company if I could actually sell these things). This is my first attempt, pink and green sparkle tulle. She hasn't modeled it yet since I can't give her something without giving Ethan something, so it will probably be a Christmas present. But I'm pretty proud of it. The next one will be pink, green, yellow, electric blue and purple, and I'm think of making it long and probably poofier. This one is about 12 inches long and uses almost 2 yards of tulle.

Are you totally impressed yet? Yeah, I didn't think so. But I'm proud of it. Maybe next year I'll set up a booth at the Pumpkin Festival....Princess Emma Tutus goes regional!

Mommy guilt and the power of Ebay

2007-10-23T06:05:00.000-07:00

I never realized before I had children just how strong mommy guilt is. Had I known as a child, I could have totally used this guilt to my advantage, unless my mother is immune, which I believe she may be. Except the time she broke my finger, but I digress.

Mommy guilt is causing me to actually bid on a freaking McDonald’s toy on Ebay.

First off, you will see what a bad mother I am because my kids eat McDonald’s Happy Meals once a week. It’s their "thing" with Nanny on Fridays. Well, out of those danged Happy Meals come 34859384 useless toys, many of which are too old for them or just plain stupid (like the random black catlike thing with the bug eyes, I don’t even know what that thing is, how are the kids supposed to know?). But every once in a while we hit a Happy Meal jackpot, like when they have Hotwheels, or the Shrek talking toys, or the Madame Alexander mini Wizard of Oz dolls (ok, I liked those better than Emma did). In this case, it was a My Little Pony figurine. One I have since found is called "Skywishes with Gazebo." Notice that last word...gazebo. A cheap little pink and orange stand for the pony named Skywishes. Known to Emma as her pony box.
Insert Mommy frantically trying to clean out the toy room crammed with junk. Out went some random toys into the garbage, and some baby toys into the yard sale pile. I came across some cheap plastic thing with no apparent mate, and it went into the garbage pile. Oh, how I wish I could take that moment back. At this point I would dig through the garbage can for it had this not been over a month ago.

About 2 weeks ago, Emma starts asking, "Mommy, where my pony box?" while showing me Skywishes. I have no idea what the heck she’s talking about. But she kept repeating it, daily, several times a day. Finally I asked her what it looked like, not knowing myself what a pony box is. She tells me it’s pink and orange and her pony stands on it, and shows me the approximate size. Somewhere in my brain, I’m having a vague recollection of seeing an object of that description. That night, I search the toy room, but alas, no pony box. That nagging feeling of knowing where this box was kept gnawing at my brain.

Even Ethan was getting in on the game, as he would ask where Emma’s pony box was. One evening, while watching a Nascar race, he told his daddy that he needed to talk to Jimmie Johnson. Daddy asked why, and Ethan replied, "So I can ask him where Emma pony box is."
This was serious.

So I was travelling through the Walmart toy section and looking at the My Little Ponies when it hit me- the random pink thing that I didn’t know what it was. Oh my goodness, I had tossed the pony box. Panic stricken, I did the first thing a mother does when confronted with another, "Mommy, where my pony box?"

I lied. It was a good one, too. I told her that Swiper took it. That sly little fox, Dora’s arch nemesis. I was home free, only Daddy knew the truth. Until Emma, in her two year old way, started dwelling on this fact. "Mommy, I don’t yike Swiper. He’s mean to me. He took my pony box. Is Swiper going to take my pony too? Did you lock Swiper out? Swiper stole my stuff. Swiper take my stuff to his tree. My pony box in Swiper’s tree."

Geez. Why does she have to be this smart? She was seriously distressed by this turn of events and in fear that tomorrow, she might wake up toyless and Swiper would have a tree full of loot.
So I came clean. I told her that Mommy was a bad girl and accidently threw out the pony box, and that mommy would get her a new one. I admitted my lie and vowed not to lie to her again. After all, she’s smarter than me. She seemed to grasp the concept that the pony box was in the trash and Mommy was a bad girl. Daddy offered to spank me, which was quite helpful as usual, while he continued to chuckle about the whole thing.

So that brings me to now, where I am currently bidding on a freaking plastic McDonald’s toy. Heck, I’m thinking of getting her the whole set for Christmas, but of course the pony box will come out early. All for the bargain price of $15 and a chunk of mommy’s pride.

On a side note, I'm totally going to start hocking my kids' Happy Meal toys on Ebay. As long as it's not a pony box.

Possibly bad news...

2007-10-22T11:02:00.000-07:00

Well, we returned to the pediatric opthalmologist today, and the bad news is that Emma's weak eye is only being partially corrected by the glasses. The worse news is that her vision in that eye is getting weaker (don't ask me how they know that on a 2 year old, I'm not sure). So, that means continued glasses for now, and 3 hours of patching of the good eye per day. Thankfully the patches go over her glasses and not on her skin. Then we return in a month, but the doctor's current prognosis is...surgery. The sooner the better, as the weakness is possibly causing her loss in vision. Egads.

So say a little prayer for us. We'll be going back for another consultation at the end of November and if the word is still surgery, we'll be seeking a second opinion at that time to be sure that it's necessary and that it's the best time to do it, since she's so young. Unfortunately the surgery would NOT correct her vision, just the weakness, and would help the vision not to get worse. She may grow out of the need for glasses but we're not sure at this point. So anywho, that's where we stand, blog world. I'll post more pics soon, I have some super cute ones.

I should be mother of the year...

2007-10-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, not really but I bet it got you to read this entry. My current mother of the year qualifications are (1) I did not get tickets to the WVU/Mississippi State game even though I could have because the kids have a birthday party to go to which will have real hayrides with real horses and pumpkin carving, I couldn’t bear for them to miss that, even though they never would have known, and (2) I will be taking them to Billy Bob’s Pizza Wonderland for the second time in a month. For those of you who missed the last post on this, it’s like Chuck E. Cheese but way better. One dad at the last party called it Vegas for kids.

So here are some pictures from the last trip:

Ethan looks confused for some reason. Maybe it's because the concept of sharing is not a natural one for him, and there was a kid riding this ride with his tokens who let us hop on for free! Thanks little boy's mommy!

Driving the Mac truck. Twin powers, unite!
More twintuition driving...Ethan's not so big on "watching the road." YOu can see he's way more interested in the prizes.
Emma on the one kid ferris wheel. This is a pretty neat little ride.
Ethan chillin out. Love this pic! Sorry I didn't edit to get the red eye out. I never edit my pics, I just forget. (as if you couldn't tell!)
So the first trip was a hit and they behaved very well. We didn't get much ball pit time because there were some thug kids there whose parents, despite the 50 signs saying otherwise, were no where in sight.

On another note, when did we get so popular? October has been CRAZY for us. So far we've gone to, been invited to, or have upcoming 2 kids' birthday parties, a housewarming, a Southern Homes living party, a kiddie fall party thing, the Pumpkin festival, and an adult Halloween party. I think I'm ready for November!

Hot pumpkins

2007-10-10T05:08:00.000-07:00

Let's see if Blogger will let me publish this the THIRD TIME. Am I the only one who constantly has this trouble?

So, for any of you who read my blog roll friends, you’ll see that Jonathan’s Mommy and Jonathan, Desperate Housemommy, Hailey and Max, and the whole Twinkie Clan went to the Pumpkin Festival this weekend. It was great fun, even if it was hotter than the hinges of Hades. The biggest disappointment to me was that the kids didn’t get to wear their super cute Halloween themed clothes. Ethan’s is a glow in the dark skeleton shirt (but he also has one with a mummy that says "I love my mummy") and Emma’s has a cute little witch on it and says "I left my princess costume at home." Here’s a plug for Children’s Place, and since my MIL works there part time, my kids are pretty much a walking advertisement for them.

Here's the best I could do at a pic of them together. It's one of the best I've gotten in a while, but it looks so weird to see them in shorts and t-shirts amongst all the fall stuff!

Enjoying our pumpkin ice cream. Man, those lines were long but so worth it!
Like Jonathan, Ethan dreams of being a farmer. This is compounded by the fact that Gramps has a John Deere super duper mower, and Gramps is pretty much a hero round these parts. Here's Super Big E and MawMaw on the giant John Deere.
Emma Doo on the giant tire.
E on the giant tire. About this time the Carmichael Equipment dude started walking around us so we felt it was time to leave. We don't really have a need for giant tractors in the subdivision.
On a final note, the kids are going to be Dora and Diego for Halloween, since that's all they talk about is wanting to dress up like Dora and Diego and yell "Trick or Treat!" So I ordered the costumes on Friday and paid a pretty penny for what I'm sure will be really high quality polyester, and they tell me that the costumes will arrive on or around OCT. 25! WHAT??? So, 20 days? Um, these are Halloween costumes, maybe you should have informed me that you had super slow shipping! But I'm hoping they were just giving me a really long estimate, or they're going to have an irate Mami on their hands if those costumes don't arrive.

You know you want it.

2007-10-02T05:18:00.000-07:00

Ok, so Dyson is giving away a PINK vacuum. You know you want a Dyson, and particularly a pink one. Myself, I cannot afford to actually BUY a Dyson, so I settle for my dirt devil. But oh, how I could clean with a pink Dyson. So click here, and if you win it, can I just borrow it for a day??

I.Am.Crushed.

2007-09-30T15:42:00.000-07:00

I can't talk about Friday. I'm pretending it never happened. Once I come out of my depression, fueled by the big loss and the carb induced stupor I've put myself in, I'll post some new pics. My kids are going to be in a calendar! They'll be stars yet.

I think I need some ice cream.

It's a sickness...

2007-09-28T04:59:00.000-07:00

First, if you don't like football, this blog will bore you.

For those of you who don't know me personally, I am a Rabid WVU fan. And Rabid is in fact capitalized when speaking of my fandom. I am working to turn my children as rabid as I am. Let me explain exactly how Rabid I am...I'm not just that chick who thinks it's cute to go to games, drink some beer and wear a cute little blue and gold shirt. No, I'm that chick who shocks guys because I can explain exactly why the ACC is a pathetic excuse for a BCS conference, why the Big East should get more football credibility, and tell you the first and last names of at least 20 WVU players, including position. I am no expert when it comes to plays, I don't know a slant pass from a bubble screen, but I know when someone misses a block and when the idiot refs miss yet another holding call. My sister's boyfriend, upon first meeting me and hearing a long discussion she and I were having about college sports, actually said to me, "You're a girl. You're not supposed to know this stuff." But we're out there, loud and proud (right Lara and Wendy??) And I dislike some teams with the fire of 10,000 suns, including Pitt and Notre Dame, even though they're pathetic this year. And I dislike another team but it's not PC anymore to not like them, so I won't even mention it. But they're still #1 on my hatred list.

So, imagine my dismay, when a few weeks ago, on the day of a game that shouldn't even be played (thanks Manchin for giving us more crap on our strength of schedule), I have my kids all dressed up in their Mountaineer best, out early shopping at Kroger so we get back in time for the ridiculously early kickoff, and some woman (NOT a lady) comes up to them and says first to me, oh, they're so cute. Then leans over them, right in their face, and says, "You kids need to learn this: GO HERD." I gave her an icy glare and told her, "They know better." Argh. Seeing as how my dear husband is a pretend MU fan, I knew he'd hold me back had I chosen to deck her, so I refrained. Those of you who have seen me at games know this was a feat.

I'd like to see that woman again as we set at 4-0 (5-0 after tonight's thumping of the Bulls), and they are 0-4, including a loss to a I-AA team. Victory is sweet.

And so, I'm loud and proud, a born and bred 3rd generation WVU fan. I believe, boys. I know we can go all the way. Make a statement tonight in Florida. I'll be on the first flight to New Orleans to the national championship if I have to prostitute myself to get there.

In my world...

2007-09-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know it’s been forever and a day (or about 3 weeks) since I’ve posted but I’ve been seriously busy. It seems like a day doesn’t go by where the kids or I are getting invited to a party, or planning some activity. So, the posting has been scarce but I vow to do better in October. IN fact, I have pictures on deck for you if I ever get to do a proper post. Instead of a picture post, I decided to give you a list of the goings on in my world. So, without further adieu, here you go.

IN MY WORLD:

-banana starts with an M - "manana" and goes with any meal.

-I have to sing the WVU Alma Mater to my son before bed every night. He refers to it as the Go Go song, which was their name for WVU (since they always hear Mommy yelling "GO GO" at the TV) before they could say West Virginia.

-every time any football team in the world comes on television, Emma runs up with her hands in the air screaming "Go Mou-ta-eers!" or "Defense defense defense!" Hm, wonder where she got that from? But it does make my heart swell with pride every time.

-the words "I have to potty" are like sounding an alarm in our house, and cause said kid to be quickly dragged to the potty wherever we may be. Unfortunately, they are smarter than we are and now know this can be used to get out of church and to make bedtime 10 minutes later.

-ketchup must be on every dinner plate, even if it’s only for decoration.

-if given a choice, every meal of Emma’s would contain pancakes

-Ethan has a mean 3 point stance. I’m convinced he’s the next Owen Schmitt. But he’ll probably refuse to wear a helmet to play football.

-Barbie’s friend Nikki has been officially renamed Mikki and is Emma’s new BFF.

-Ethan’s Tony Stewart obsession is going strong still, and everything orange gets labeled "Oh, Tony likes that!" and any Home Depot sign or commercial gets met with a resounding "There’s Tony’s sign!"

-Any person, place, thing or food that doesn’t immediately please Ethan is labeled with "I don’t LIKE it, it’s YUCKY." Including Lovey Bear. Five minutes later, it’s "Where Lubby Bear? I like Lubby Bear." So far, Mommy, Mawmaw, Gramps and Nanny have been labeled yucky.

-Emma has a princess costume. Enough said. Thanks, Mawmaw for feeding her narcissism.

-Please pray for us, as I will be taking 2 children to Billy Bob’s (a Chuck E Cheese knockoff for those not from around here) for a church party this weekend. If I have hair left by Saturday evening I will deem it a success.