3rd Shift

The only nice thing about Nathan working 3rd shift is that I get the whole bed to myself for a week. Miracle on the other hand likes that Nathan is home sleeping during the day.

My Puppy

Katie Bell is getting bigger. She's hilarious and very very playful. Our cat Miracle is less than thrilled about her presence. We got a black dog because Nathan said our pets have to match.
Snowflakes.
Trying to get a picture of her opening her Christmas present but she was to excited.

Crazy Hair Day

Last week the boys had crazy hair day at school. They wanted their hair to be colored and Halloween is the only time of year you can find the colored hair spray in stores.

So I Was Wrong

This was Saturday. We had 3 snow days for two inches of snow. Life in the South.

Advice Gone Awry

This past summer I went to my 10 year high school reunion. It was awesome to catch up with people that I hadn't seen since graduation. Among the most amusing things to announce was that I had four children. I can't tell you how fun it was to watch peoples' faces when I told them that.
During one of my conversations I mentioned all the trouble we'd had with crayons in our house and that I was seriously considering getting rid of them. Ken, a graphic designer, pleaded the crayons case and said that maybe my kids would grow up to be designers and I shouldn't stifle their creativity.
I decided to give the crayons a second chance. It was okay for awhile, paper and coloring books have always been in large supply here. But, alas, Ken's advice has gone awry. I now have a beautiful mural in my living room. Three purple stick figures who owe their very existence to Ken and to one handy little man named JM and the fact that JM gets up at 5:30am to do his wall art.
Thanks Ken. I owe ya one. :) And no, I haven't gotten rid of the crayons.

What a Memory

Two years ago we went to KY to visit family for Thanksgiving. Grasshopper was three months old at the time, this was before he ever got sick. While we were there my brother shot a turkey on the farm. AJ had just turned 5 at this point. That's my brother and his son is holding the turkey.
Today we were in the store and I was picking out a roasting pan for our turkey. AJ asked what it was for and I said that I was going to roast a turkey in it on Thanksgiving.
His face light up and he gasped, "Is Uncle Michael going to shoot a turkey for us?"
I laughed and told him no.
"Then where are we going to get one?" he asked.
"I'll buy it at the store, it will already be dead."
His face fell, "Oh, I wanted to watch Uncle Michael shoot it."
I cracked up.

Yesterday Morning

Here's how yesterday morning went.


6:45-get up, make AJ's lunch, go back to bed, note to self MOPS today

7:20-Nathan wakes me up to say goodbye, doorbell rings, me-in jammies, Nathan tells me Grasshopper is in need of a change

7:21-neighbor missed the bus and needs a ride to school.

7:22-throw on clothes and ask what time she has to be there, thinking I'll throw clothes on the kids and take them with us and get ready for MOPS when we get back, reminder from Nathan about poopy diaper on Grasshopper

7:23- neighbor informs me she has to be there at 7:35, I realize there is NO way we'll make it in time, mind scrambles, I hand her the keys to the van and say, "Have your mom bring the baby over, and I'll watch him while she runs you to school."

7:24- start changing diaper, poop was an understatement, massive overflow disaster would have been more accurate, move Grasshopper to the bathroom

7:25-neighbor baby (boy 18 months, almost size of JM) shows up, crying cause he's never been over here, I turn Clifford on for him, run between mess in bathroom and hysterical baby in living room

7:26 start rinsing Grasshopper off, wash his hair, remember today is Mops mom's birthday and I was supposed to make warm nutty caramel brownies, remember that we have no rollos, no chocolate chips, and no brownie mix. Mild panic

7:28 dry and dress Grasshopper, dress Peanut, make JM get dressed, hope and pray neighbor will watch kids while I run to the store

7:40 neighbor returns, girls to school on time (YAY!) agrees to watch kids while I run to wal-mart

7:50 arrive at Walmart, grab 3 items, get in checkout lane behind person with birthday party supplies.....t a k e s f o r e v e r.

8:15 arrive home, grab kids from next door, note to self fix hair before leaving house again, throw brownies together and double and triple check recipe to be sure I'm not forgetting something, continue feeling like I forgot something.

8:20 put brownies in oven

8:25 fix hair, check brownies, pack diaper bag, do makeup, grab necklace and watch, throw cute scarf on

8:40 take out brownies, put rollos in, realize I forgot to put the nuts and brown sugar on top before baking, top with chocolate, herd kids to the van

8:50 buckle seat belts, prep front seat for hot stoneware

8:55 check with neighbor about going, she's waiting for a phone call and can't go

9:10 pull out of driveway with everything

9:30 arrive at MOPS and ask other moms who forgot to remind me about making snack.....

can I have a nap now?

Wordless Wednesday

Because mommy said you may not get up at 6 am.

Warmth is Coming

It's still chilly today but most of the snow is gone. It's lingering for as long as it can in the shady areas. Tomorrow brings the return of the 60's. Yeah! Just in time to wear my new jean skirt that I got.
I have always been amused by other bloggers who get high traffic and post about funny things people have searched to get to their site. This morning I got my own dose of laughter as I discovered that if you google the words purple nightgown you will find my blog about 3/4 of the way down the first page. I laughed so hard when I realized it was a link to this post. There must be a real lack of purple nightgowns out on the internet if we made the first page. Someone in Canada actually, found my blog and spent a couple minutes reading that post. The kids couldn't figure out why I was laughing so hard.
And to top of today's informative post here is a picture of Little Peanut most days. The outfit underneath varies but the Tinkerbell dress does not. Thanks Aunt Shagga for our favorite outfit.

Umm excuse me???

WHO ordered this gross display?
Why on earth did they order it?
What can I do to make it go away? and soon. I'm contemplating taking a hair dryer to it. Yuck.
I like this veiw much better.

Ouch

This morning I am babysitting a sweet little baby for a friend of mine. I was picking her and her blanket up to lay her in bed and I got a splinter under my little finger on my right hand. It really hurt as I pulled it out. And it reminded me of something much funnier that happened several years ago in our other house.
JM was just a month or so old. Nathan and I were upstairs. The kids were asleep so it probably was after 9 pm. Nathan had been teasing me about something or other and I was chasing him with the intention of pinching his butt. He headed for the stairs and just as I caught up with him my left hand brushed against the top of the banister. All of a sudden there was searing pain in my left little finger. I started saying, "Ow ow ow!" I ran down the steps and knelt in front of the end table and held my hand under the light. My little finger nail was half normal looking and half brown. I realized that a large splinter was jammed all the way under my finger nail. There was no way I was going to start messing with.
I called my sister and told her what happened. After she finished howling in laughter she said for me to come over so she could look at it. I drove over and she decided there wasn't anything she could do for it, after more laughing of course. So I made her come with me to emergency room.
After much explaining, and a lot of disbelief on the part of the ER staff, they decided to numb my finger and lift up the nail and pull out the pieces.
For as gross as it sounds it really didn't hurt when they took it out. And you couldn't even tell by looking at my finger nail.

How smart is he?

Yesterday afternoon.
Me: Nana want to know what you want for your birthday.

AJ: (pouting) I can't tell her.

Me: Why not?

AJ: Cause then I'll know what I'm getting.

How funny is that?

Last night we went trick or treating. This morning we overheard this over the baby monitor at 7 am after having sent him back to bed.

JM: Little Peanut I can't find the candy anywhere and I looked everywhere.

When I walked into the kitchen after that comment I saw all the cabinets open and chairs pushed up to them so he could climb up. I knew he would look first thing so I made sure I hid it last night in Nathan's filing cabinet. hehe. I was so proud of myself this morning when we heard him say that.

Wordless Wednesday *

*and some fashion don'ts!

Meet them again

You remember when I posted here about how funny I thought the dinosaur in Meet the Robinsons was? Well, before JM got his summer buzz his hair was rather long. One night after he had had a bath and was in bed this is what I saw. All he needs is the glasses and he will look just like Lewis from the movie. Nathan and I thought it was pretty funny.

This Just Cracks Me Up

My kids love movies, don't most kids? I try to limit how much tv they watch. We just got the movie Meet the Robinsons. There is one part that just completely cracks me up...which is why I got the movie for the kids. The dinosaur is being controlled by "bowler hat guy" and he's try to capture the boy. "bowler hat guy" says to the dinosaur, "why aren't you seizing the boy?"
The dino says, "Cause I have a big head, and little arms and I'm not sure how well this plan was thought through!"
For some reason that just cracks me up. Now back to the laundry, dishes, and house work!

At a Loss for Words

This is what I saw the other night when I went to make sure the boys were asleep in their beds. See that book by JM. Now , mind you, he can't read yet. He does recognize some letters but he can't read. Look at the title. Look closer! Can you believe it! My child took The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to bed with him. How funny is that?? And how appropriate for this child.

Chicken Emergency

JM has a chicken from the Sandra Boynton books. He named her Amy immediately after he got her and it stuck quite well. No one is really sure where or why he picked this name but it's kinda funny. He loves Amy Chicken.
The other night JM came downstairs crying that Amy's leg was broken. I looked at her leg expecting a rip between her leg and her body. Both legs looked fine to me and I told him she wasn't broken.
"But she will if I do this," he said and proceeded to grab her legs in one had a her head in the other and pull quite vigorously in opposite directions. My advice to him was, "Then don't do that!"
Poor chicken. A couple days later she did indeed get a rip in her leg and I had to attempt chicken surgery during nap time. He never mentioned that her leg was fixed but I haven't seen him pulling on her legs anymore either.

Conversations in the Van

Saturday night on the way to church AJ asked is Puk Puk was 6 and I said yes.
Then he asked if JR was 8 and I said no he was 15.
"Wow," he said, "that is a big number."
"Yes," I agreed.
Then AJ says, "JR is big and he's going to get bigger and bigger until he's big like Clifford. Then he won't fit in the house or the van."
So here's to you....JR Clifford!! :)

Kissing...

After reading this post over at Three Girl Circus the other day over hearing this this morning was pretty amusing. They were busy building roads and playing with cars.

AJ- Did you kiss me?

JM- No.

AJ- Yes you did. You kissed me!

JM- I DID NOT KISS YOU!

AJ- Thank you for the nice kiss JM!

JM- I. DID. NOT. KISS. YOU.

I got a good little giggle out of it.

During our last House Showing

You may know that we are attempting to sell our house in an effort to downsize both payment and space. Our realtor called last Friday and asked if we could show our house on Sunday. I asked what time and she said whatever was good for us. I told her between 10 and 12 because we would be at church. We heard from her on Monday. This is what our conversation sounded like.
Me: How did it go?

Her: Great! The lady really loved the house. There was just one little problem.

Me: What's that?

Her: Well your ceilings are only 8 feet 10 inches tall.

Me: Okay?

Her: Well the lady has some antique furniture that is 8 feet 11 inches tall so she absolutely has to have nine foot ceilings.

Me: Are you serious?

Her: I suggested she just cut a couple inches off the legs but she didn't seem to go for it. Oh well, we'll try again.

After all that, I wasn't even sure how to respond.