Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from me and MY NEW BEST FRIEND.

Now I just need to play and play and play until I get good at what I'm doing!

Hope everyone has a fantastic day spent with family and/or friends.

Famous lines

There are a few lines either from movies, TV shows, or commercials, that somehow manage to stand out and become used over time.

For example:

"Where's the beef?"

"Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!"

"Final answer."

"Can you hear me now?"

They still come up, years later, in jokes, conversations, (blog posts...LOL), etc.

Sometimes the use of a line is more wide-spread, and sometimes it's more limited to a few random people. For example:

There's a random line from one of the Indiana Jones movies where someone tells Indie, "sit down before you fall down." It's a line you probably wouldn't have paid any attention to beyond having heard it said in that part of the movie. Unless you're Emily. We showed the movie to the kids about a year ago, and then again about six months later, and as Indie gets into the restaurant Emily yells out, "Sit down before you fall down!" and Dan and I stare at her, both at a total loss as to what in the world she's talking about. Then a split second later, we hear that exact line repeated in the movie. Out of the entire movie, THAT'S the line she remembers six months later? It was so unexpected and so funny, that the line has now stuck at our house, and gets used fairly commonly.

When Jared was just a hair over two years old, if that, we showed him the 60's version of Batman and Robin. He LOVED it. About a week later, he started jabbering away CONSTANTLY about "atomic batteries to power" and we spent WEEKS (and WEEKS!) wondering WHAT IN THE WORLD the kid could be talking about. At some point many weeks down the road, he requested to watch Batman and Robin again, and in one of the very first scenes of the movie is the line "Atomic batteries to power, turbines to speed." Suddenly the mystery had been solved and Dan and I laughed for a good long while over that one! Again, it was just some random line in the movie, but it spoke to Jared at the time, I guess.

And apparently THIS line spoke to Dan (from Austin Powers), because he's been coaching Connor to say it for a few weeks now:


And lastly, during an exceptionally long and exuberant hug between Jared and Connor Tuesday afternoon as we were dropping Jared off at preschool, one of the moms commented how nice it was to see brothers giving such nice hugs. Jared turns towards her and says, "Well YEAH, brothers don't shake hands. Brothers hug." It was hilarious and random and when I mentioned it to Dan, he laughed even harder than I expected and explained it was a line from the movie Tommy Boy, which he'd mentioned to Jared months ago. ha ha!

What are some lines that stand out to you, or that you've adopted into your daily family conversations?

New Baby!

Our neighbors had their new baby, Ryder Dean, on Tuesday. Emily and I got to meet him yesterday afternoon for the first time. The boys were both in a funk (J has a bit of a cough and CJ has a bit of a runny nose) so we left them home with Dan. Ryder is so tiny and new. I could have happily held him all day.



Here's Emily and Sydney (Ryder's big sister) holding him


Emily was so excited to head off and play with Sydney that she forgot we were there to visit the baby! ha ha! I called up the stairs and asked if she wanted her turn holding Ryder and she all but flew down the stairs in her hurry


We took him some presents:

Here's the little sweater I knit for him. It's the first sweater I ever knit, and although the pattern says it's sized for a newborn, it seems HUGE to me (even with the sleeves cuffed up)


better view of the buttons


The matching hat (which fits him NOW, but the sweater won't fit awhile, so they won't end up being a matched set afterall. LOL)


And here's a picture frame I decorated with cut-outs using my Cricut machine


I put his name down the one side


I used the trucks at the bottom to coordinate with this paper


I couldn't get a clear picture through the glare of the glass to show off the wording on this paper, but I really liked it and wanted to use it and it tied in color-wise! (it says things like "cute as a button", "bouncing baby boy", "my pride and joy", "sweet little angel", "love at first sight", etc)


and finally, here is the card

REALLY?!?

Apparently photobucket finds baby bottoms in violation of their terms of use, because that hilarious and adorable photo of Connor roller skating naked (taken from BEHIND, not from the front) has been deleted from my account. I noticed it had been deleted about two weeks ago, and figured maybe it was because I'd titled it "connornakedbutt", and figured either the words "naked" or "butt" alerted them to the picture. So then I resaved it under something entirely different, loaded it back to photobucket, pasted the new code into the original post (viewable HERE), and figured I was good. Except I just discovered that it's been deleted again. I guess you can't be too careful, but my opinion stands that until they're about 2.5-3 years old, and as long as the picture doesn't contain any parts from the FRONT, it's perfectly acceptable to be sharing pics of a baby's backside.

(I used the blogger photo uploader option to get it back on here again. TAKE THAT Photobucket)

HUFF PUFF SIGH

I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. I've been unable to get a good handle on my allergies so far this fall/winter, and as a result, my defenses have been really low, and I've been catching every cold in sight. I'm in the middle of my 5th cold in about two months. I was well for FOUR DAYS before catching this latest one. Dan and the kids have been totally cold free, so it's just ME, again and again. And even when I'm well, I still have the runny nose, itchy eyes, itchy throat, and a cough from allergies; then when I have a cold, I add in sinus headaches, a worse cough, and serious irritability. Today, I have a million "chores" to do, and a million "I'd like to do's", but I have just enough energy to sit here and whine instead. ha!

Cooking disaster

I've been through the recipe a zillion times (and then some) and can't even come close to figuring out what when wrong here:


That started out as 13 spoonfulls of cookie dough on a cookie sheet, which baked down into one pan-sized bubbling puddle of sludge, which I scraped off onto the plate after the suggested 10 minutes baking time. Not enough flour, you might suggest? You'd be wrong, because after viewing THAT disasterous mess, I added a full cup of flour and tried again, with the same results. Added a second full cup of flour, with less disasterous results (they didn't all combine together, but they were very flat, very bubbly puddles of sludge still). At that point, I decided ENOUGH was ENOUGH and tossed out the entire rest of the DOUBLE BATCH of cookie and dough and started over (with much better results).

I know that recipe by heart, and have NEVER had anything like that happen before.

That's an hour and a half of my life I'll never back either! ha!

Well, that was fun!

I wasn't originally going to blog about this, because I like my blog to be more fun and upbeat, and I generally keep it to pictures and stories of the kids. However, this incident really upset me on many levels, so I decided to share the story and to get your take.

I was at Target on Monday with Connor while the other two kids were at school. He's all about doing everything the "big boy" way, and since I didn't have anyone else but he and I to worry about in the store, I let him walk like a big boy, instead of riding in a cart like he normally does. I just needed two things so didn't even take a basket. I just held his hand and the items we were purchasing. He was doing fantastically, until I was actually at the register paying for our items, then he was starting to try to wander off (not just a few feet away to check out the goodies behind us in the check-out aisle...He was trying to TAKE OFF), so I stuck him in front of my body, squatted down enough that my knees slid through under his armpits and pinned him in place in front of me. He, of course, loudly expressed his displeasure at being held in place, but I wasn't going to risk him running off and getting lost, stolen, or managing to get outside and being run over by a car. This woman comes running up to me, "YOU'RE HURTING HIM! MA'AM! YOU'RE SQUISHING HIM! LET HIM GO!!! CAN'T YOU SEE YOU'RE HURTING HIM!" I was sooooooooo taken aback and said something like, "he'll run off if I move my legs" and she starts in LOUDLY about it being child abuse and people like me shouldn't be allowed to have kids, and my poor POOR little boy having to tolerate horrible behavior from his mother (blah blah blah). I looked at her and said, "My knees are under his armpits on either side of him, he's not being squished, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to keep my kid from running off and ending up out in the street getting hit by a car, and if you think that's child abuse, YOU'RE CRAZY, LADY!" I grabbed up my purchases and Connor and headed towards the door and she hollers after me how she should really call and report child abusers like me. At this point, LOTS of people are staring because of all the commotion of the lady yelling about child abuse and Connor screaming his head off, and I'm sure some of them probably thought I really WAS abusing him!!!! I was so upset I was SHAKING when I got back to my car!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't hit him, didn't smack him, didn't kick him, didn't throw him around, didn't shake him, didn't scream at him...NOTHING. I simply placed him in front of my body between me and the check-out counter, and used my legs to keep him from running away. I kept my legs wedged tight enough against his sides to keep him from sliding down onto the floor and being able to take off, but there was so SQUISHING of my child involved. He wasn't hollering because I was hurting him, he was hollering because I was making him stand in one place next to me.

Here I thought I was being a good parent, keeping my child safely with me, not allowing him to mess up display shelves, or run willy-nilly through the store. Here I thought I was being a good parent, allowing my child the freedom of being on foot, to be able to learn how to behave in a store and to stay by mommy when requested. Here I thought I was being a good parent, coming up with a calm solution to a tantruming, flight-risk of a two year old.

What do you think? Was I wrong to use my legs on either side of Connor to keep him close while I was paying for our purchases?

This is a lion...

This is a lion who took a nap on a stove burner that hadn't been cooled off quite long enough (curtesy of Connor, less than TWO HOURS after receiving this previously undamaged toy)




I'm just thankful that the burner HAD been off for quite some time. Can you image?? Yikes! It'd been off for long enough that I felt safe to walk out of the kitchen and not worry about it. Now I've really been enforcing that we stay away from the stove NO MATTER WHAT, and that we NEVER set things down on it...

FED UP

I am FED UP with my Internet Provider and/or my computer. For MONTHS now, I have dealt with spotty Internet service (often can't load pages I need, I frequently get booted off pages I'm navigating, etc), my Instant Messanger signs itself out so frequently, I've pretty much just stopped signing into it in the first place, and I VERY frequently can't send/receive emails. I've called my Internet provider multiple times and spent upwards of 30-45 minutes starting/restarting my computer, unplugging my DSL modem and restarting the computer, logging into test sites to test my connection, restarting my computer, checking settings, rechecking settings, restarting my computer, ETC, only to be told my Internet service is just fine and dandy and it must be something with my computer. I've had my computer serviced TWICE this summer, to the tune of close to $100, and it would have been much higher, except I was given a family discount since my MIL works with the computer tech who serviced my computer. HE says it's clearly an Internet issue.

I spent close to 6 hours last night without the ability to SEND emails. I tried an online help chat thingy provided on my Internet Provider's website, but the man HONEST TO GOODNESS must have been typing one-handed, because it took 3-5 minutes on average to get his SHORT typed replies to my questions and comments, and to offer his suggestions. And then he said he didn't know how to further help me with that particular problem, but was there anything else he could help me with? I replied, "apparently not" and clicked off. Then I called the 24/7 help-line and spent 15 minutes on the phone with a nice gentleman who finally informed me that the error number I was receiving with the unsent emails is a specific code to a Microsoft problem and I would need to contact THEM about my problem. Went to the microsoft.com and searched the error code to see if there were downloads (the guy I spoke to on the phone said it was a missing file in my email program and there would probably be a download to repair it). While perusing miles of help chat feeds, I discovered that there is some all-powerful company that can flag your outgoing mail as spam, which will then, in turn, block ever other email in our outbox. So I had to go delete all the emails in my outbox and try them all again.

They actually went through at about 10pm.

Unfortunately, that doesn't explain why I also very often can't RECEIVE email either, and doesn't explain my spotty Internet service, or the IM that signs on and off over and over and over again. So I called the Internet provider 24/7 help line again and was told things seem to be running fine, but that he'd send out a technician to check the outside lines tomorrow between 8 and 9am. If I'm still having problems at 5:30pm tomorrow night, I'm supposed to call back and check the status of the visit and hear the results and figure out a plan of action from there.

I'm furious that I've spent this much money to have DSL, to then have it not even function properly for the last AT LEAST six months. Then the money I've spent having the computer serviced, and the TIME I've spent on the phone being given the run-around.

I should have married Bill Gates. I'll bet HIS wife never has to deal with stupid Internet issues and unhelpful help-line employees...

Oh, and something is blocking my computer's ability to automatically download updates at shutdown, and no one has the slightest clue how to help me with THAT problem either.

Any computer "nerds" out there who want to take pity on a poor computer illiterate, FED UP girl and give her a heads up on what the heck I need to do here???

I LOVE THIS BOOK!

I have ordered all three kids the book My Very Own Name from http://www.iseeme.com/. They weren't cheap purchases, but I fell in love with the idea and couldn't resist. Emily got hers for her first Christmas, Jared got his for his first birthday, and Connor got his pretty much right at birth. Not too long after Emily got hers, they came out with My Very Own Fairytale, which I would have gotten her in heartbeat, but couldn't justify after already owning My Very Own Name. Either way, we're thrilled with the books. The illustrations are very nice, the rhyming phrases that go along with each letter as it builds the child's name are fun/funny/creative. All three kids get a kick out of their books.

I get email updates from time to time from the company, alerting me to new products or sale prices, whatever the case may be. A few days ago, I got an email alerting me to their newest product, The World According To (insert your child's name here). Basically, it includes your child's own illustrations throughout the book, as well as THEIR own wording answering different questions. What a fantastic and fun keepsake of your child at that age!!! View a sample book HERE. Tell me that's not the most adorable idea!!! And it's all nicely bound and professional looking, complete with an "about the author" page, and a place for mom and dad (or whoever) to include a little something to say about the child. SERIOUSLY ADORABLE!

I'm gonna have to save some money and see about getting Emily one right away. I think 6 years old would be a fun age to do it. She's detailed enough in her drawings, thoughtful enough in her answers, etc. I'd have fun letting Jared do one now as well, except I wouldn't have one from Emily at age 4 and it would be more fun to have them all be from the same age for comparison sake. So then one just has to hope that in two and four years they're still offering the product so I can have the boys do one at six years old as well. I'm sure it will be awhile before I can justify a purchase like this (except the email came with a $10 off code), but I'm determined! I just think it's such a CUTE idea!!

I have great friends

There was a day a few weeks back where everything just seemed to go very VERY wrong. The kids were at their very WORST, and it was all three kids at once. Time-outs weren't working, loss of priveleges wasn't working, and a mom at her witts end shouting LOUDLY wasn't working either. This mom found herself in tears several times throughout the day. It was a combination of frustration, anger, and some MAJOR self-doubt of my role as mother and teacher, etc to my children. When I had all three kids in time-outs, and all four of us were tearful and angry and frustrated, I started to assume it truly must be something I was doing wrong, and not them at all. Thankfully for me, (unfortunately for HER), my friend Beth happened to be over here for the brunt of it, and assured me many times over that it wasn't just me being irritable and short-tempered, and that my kids were behaving as neither of us had ever seen before. Lots of sassing, stomping, shouting, ignoring requests/demands, etc. Just an overall very bad day. I slept very fitfully that night, and spent more time in tears feeling very regretful of how the day had gone, how it had ended, and desperately trying to analyze everything to figure out a way to make sure the following day went far FAR better. I'm still unsure what the issue was that day, but the next day was better. However, that bad day still lingers in my mind and bothers me greatly. Not only because I had no idea my kids could truly behave that badly, but also because I have never felt more overwhelmed or out of control of a situation, and because of how I went to bed feeling, for the very first time, like I had completely failed my children, like I had not handled the situation throughout the day as well as I should have, and because I fear I have somehow probably scarred my children for life with my angry shouting when I finally lost my temper. Those of you who know me well, know my flaws, you know my hopes and my dreams, and you know my fears. Those of you who know me well, know how much being a mother has ALWAYS meant to me, even before having children. It's all I have ever wanted to be. So that day really rocked the foundation I stood on as a mother, and who I knew myself to be as a mother.

My dear friend Beth offered encouragement and support and a kind shoulder to lean on, and assured me that all moms have days like this and that I truly am a good mom. Her words fell on mostly deaf ears, as I was feeling very low, and I think she sensed it. So after some time passed, she sent me a card:


I hope she doesn't mind that I am sharing what she wrote, but the words meant so much to me at the time I got to read them, and I need to brag that I'm very lucky to have such a caring and considerate and uplifting friend:

"I also wanted to tell you what an awesome mom and friend you are. My heart went out to you when I saw that you were discouraged. When you feel that way, try to remember you are a great mom with great kids. But even great kids push the envelope from time to time!"

My friend Cattigan also recently told me that I'm very intimidating sometimes because I come off as such a perfect mom. I think I nearly choked to death on my laughter, because although the day I mentioned was the worst day BY FAR that I've been a part of, there have been plenty other days where I know I wasn't at my best. But it was encouraging to hear that my overall appearance to the world is pretty good, and that my kids do well enough overall to set a good tone in people's minds. So even though it's FAR from true (and she knows it!), it boosted me up a little. I think our conversation continued with us swapping stories of our children's less-than-glorious moments in life and having a good laugh.

Sometimes laughter really is the best medicine, and sometimes a good cry really does help. And sometimes the nicely-timed words in a card from a good friend can make all the difference as well.

To all my friends, thank you for laughing with me through the good and bad stuff, encouraging me when I'm down, supporting and guiding me when I'm lost, and loving me no matter what. I love you all and appreciate you very much.

A big fat WHINE

It's freakin' RAINING, our doctor just rescheduled my kids' check-ups, Dan works too much at his new job, It's freakin' RAINING, my allergies are bothering me, the boys need haircuts two weeks sooner than expected and I can't let it slide because they need to be clean-cut little dudes for the wedding this weekend, blah blah blah, oh, AND IT'S FREAKIN' RAINING (pouring, actually).

THE END

My baby brother is getting married!

My brother, Marc, proposed to his girlfriend, Alisa (pronounced Uh-liss-uh), and she said "yes"! I'm so excited for them. Alisa is a very sweet girl and I look forward to continuing to get to know her and building a relationship with her (I FINALLY get a sister!).

My mom took this picture recently while we were at a Mexican restaurant celebrating my brother's birthday


My kids are really excited as well, because they get a cousin out of the deal. Alisa has an 8 year old daughter named Ali (she's the tall blond one in the back; this picture is from Em's birthday party back in May)


Marc and Alisa are still discussing dates for the wedding at this point, but I've been told they're getting close to having some of the details worked out. I'll keep you posted!

I love this baby

She's my baby, without actually HAVING a baby (I get to have her for a few hours and then she goes home). She's cuddly and sweet, she smiles the most amazing little smile, and WOW is this baby STRONG! She's just barely 6 months old and look at her:


My kids were all still slithering along on the floor commando crawl-style at 6 months old. Sitting was an ability that lasted only a few seconds, and ONLY if they'd been propped up. Grace, on the other hand, GETS HERSELF UP INTO A SIT, and stays that way for a good long time.


She's an amazing little baby, and since her mommy is rather busy with work, and with wedding plans, and taking care of a young child, I'll do the bragging on her baby for her... LOL

MEN!

Dan says this would be a really cute shirt except that I put the white one underneath it:

Giving some recognition

Ask and you shall receive! (FIL said he wanted recognition on my blog, and no one can say I'm not accomodating!)

I'm leavin' on a jet plane...

We're going to be suuuuuuuuuuuper busy over the next week, but FEAR NOT, I have blog posts all set up and ready, with one or two guest bloggers included just to keep things interesting. My computer goes in for repairs, so I will be unable to check comments (but LEAVE ME SOME ANYWAY, I can read them when I get the computer back), and will be unable to update my weight loss ticker, so just assume I'm doing really well with that this week, okay? LOL

Handy Gadget

I was standing in line at Hallmark the other day to purchase the snowmen ornaments my mother wanted for her birthday, and right next to the register was a stash of odds and ends things. Pens, magnets, eyeglass holders, necklaces, etc. I glanced by the bulk of it without a second thought, but this item caught my eye:


This handy dandy little gadget keeps my charging cell phone and the respective cords UP OFF THE COUNTER TOP, which makes wiping down the counters and having a clean and organized looking kitchen that much easier. The $5.99 ($6.99? Now I can't remember!) price tag seemed reasonable enough to me, and I quickly picked out the pink one, and added it to my pile of things to purchase.

What do you think?

It worked!

Wouldn't you know, my fried egg in the shape of a fish proved to be a good luck charm afterall. My parents went out fishing the next day and caught their first fish of the year. WOO HOO!


I'd better print and frame that fishy egg picture for the boat. ha!

Here fishy fishy fishy!

Maybe this picture will be just the thing to turn the tides on my parents' recent fishing attempts and they will start catching some fish (they'd better, I'm in the mood for some smoked salmon! ha!).

I swear to you, all I did was crack the egg and get it into the hot pan (sprinkled with a little bit of pepper at Jared's request). I turned away to pour some milk for the kids, and when I looked back, I was shocked to find a fish frying in my pan!