Sam's Club On A Sunday Is Not A Good Idea!

I talked David into getting a membership to Sam's Club. I really only wanted it for the snacks for the kids, and if they happen to have a good deal on a couple of other things we use/need while I'm there, I might grab that. As is stands, we go through snack like crazy, and only two small people are eating them. Ethan could polish off a large bag of animal crackers on his own if I'd let him. I figure I only need to make a trip out there once a month. The closest Sam's Club to us in in Maplewood, MN, about an hour away from us. It might be longer, I'm not entirely sure.

We got there today, and just pulling into the parking lot to a warehouse store up here compared to Arizona was INSANE. I hadn't gone to a warehouse store here at all. I used to go with my grandparents in Arizona all the time. The parking lot was HUGE. It made me think people were going to have to catch a bus to the doors. There were actually store employees that drove around in golf carts in the summer picking up people in the back of the parking lot and driving them to the front doors. Apparently, up here, they don't think anyone wants a membership to warehouse stores, so they made their parking lot impossibly small so no one could park. Then, it's a Sunday, so everyone is in the store, and wandering around the parking lot. When we got into the store, we had to wait in this insane line so I could have my picture taken for the ID they give you. My picture is terrible. Yeah, it's black and white and totally grainy, but I still look like poo. David and I seperate. He takes Ethan and Claire, and I head off with Grayson to scour for some savings. All I was really looking for was meats and snacks. It took me almost 45 minutes to find snacks. They had them stashed in one tiny corner on the opposite side of the store. That was a lot of fun. We finally got everything we needed with little to no fuss from all 3 kids. We headed to checkout. When we got there, there was a guy in the line next to us that had one of those pallet carts. On the outside of all of his stuff, he had three blocks of cheese. Claire decided that she must have them, and tried to take them. It was great fun taking them from her and putting them back. The guy thought it was funny, and he didn't seem to mind. There was actually a point where she tried to climb into the middle of his stuff. It's a good thing he was OK with it..lol..As we're waiting in line, Claire starts screaming. Turns out, she pooped. Yeah..So I take her to the bathroom. I set up the changing station, lay her down, take off her pants and it's POO CITY! Nothing says 'Welcome To Sam's Club' like your daughter crapping all over herself. I get her changed and notice she gotten some on her shirt. I dig in the diaper bag (which sucks because EVERYTHING manages to get buried) to find that I forgot to put the spare clothes back in after I washed them. Nice. I clean the mess as well as I can with baby wipes. It's a good thing we're headed home. We get home, unload everything, and the evening has been peaceful ever since. Now, all three kids have been bathed and are sleeping, Ethan's lunch is made, and I'm free to blog. YAY!

On another topic, the medicine that we got for Grayson's acid reflux seems to be working! He's only been on it a couple of days, but it's like a brand new baby. He's nice and calm on car rides now, he doesn't cry as much, and he's actually taken a couple of naps! It's a weird thing to be excited about, I know, but he wasn't napping before. He was always so tired, and I think that added onto the crankiness from the reflux. I'm am so happy the medicine is working. I hope it gets even better over the next couple of days!

He's A 14 Pounder!

Grayson had his 2 month well check today, and my oh my, is he a big boy! He weighed in at a whopping 14 pounds even! Can you believe that? Freakin' 14 pounds at 2 months old! I must have steroids in my breast milk. It's the only thing he's had since birth. Must be good stuff I'm making. Or, it could have to do with the fact that we think he's got acid reflux and it's making him eat like no other. So here are some stats:

Birth: 7lbs 8oz 21 Inches
2 Weeks: 9lbs 3oz 21 Inches
2 Months: 14lbs 24 Inches

I do have to say though that he is the ONLY baby that was actually able to have their head compared to other babies on the percentile chart that they do. At two months of age, Ethan and Claire both rocketed right off of that thing. There was no comparing them. My kids have big heads.

Grayson checked out perfectly. He's doing tummy time well. He babbles when you speak to him. He's perfect...Aside from that nasty little acid reflux thing. Oh, and his clogged tear ducts. He also thinks the doctor is HYSTERICAL. He laughs a lot at home, but wow, I've never heard him laugh this much. I laid him on the table for the doctor to do all his checks, and as soon as he pulled out the thing to check Grayson's ears, Grayson just started cracking up. He laughed long and loud. The doctor thought he was the cutest thing. He gave me a prescription for antacids for the reflux. I can't even put into words how happy I am about that. I just want his little throat to feel better. Maybe he'll stop eating so much and actually start being happy for a large portion of the day instead of crabby and crying all the time. I'm excited about that. I'd love for him to be how he was when he first came home. He also gave us a prescription for his left eye because the clogged duct is causing some irritation. He then warned me if the duct doesn't become unclogged by the time Grayson is 9 months old, we need to see a pediatric opthamologist to discuss a duct probe. They will need to stick a wire into his tear duct to break up the blockage. I don't want to do that. I hope it clears on it's own.

After all that fun stuff, Grayson got his shots. He cried. I cried. Seriously. I hate having to get it done, but I know it's good for him in the long run. I cried when Ethan and Claire got their shots too. I mean, they're so happy before it happens. Playing. Laughing..Then...BAM...It sucks. But, after a dose of Tylenol and lots of love from me when we got home tonight, Grayson went to bed full and happy and is still sleeping soundly. I'm off to join him. Good night!

Writer's Workshop: Your Poop Wants To Party Like It's 1999!

Today is Writer's Workshop day over at Mama Kat's. Head on over, choose a prompt and write. Write to your little heart's content!

Today, I have chosen the prompt: Share one piece of great advice you’ve received from someone who knows stuff… Let's Begin!

Back when Ethan was three, he was showing signs that he was ready to potty train. I'd been waiting for this moment to arrive. I was so excited. I began having dreams of the day I would not have to change a diaper. Not really, bit you get the idea. I was over diaper changes. I wanted to break up and move on to the single life. The single life being no diaper changes.

So, we began. However, Ethan decided that no, he wasn't going to use the potty. Not at all. He and the potty were not making friends. If this was preschool, and he and the potty were in the same class, they would be on either sides of the room glaring at each other. I tried to entice him with big boy underpants featuring Elmo, a "treasure chest" full of candy and small toys as rewards, shiny star stickers for the calendar..EVERYTHING I COULD THINK OF!! Still, nothing. So, I decided one day just to put the big boy underpants on him and see what happened. You know what happened? He held it..ALL DAY! Oh yeah. He did. Later that night, I got him ready for bed. I put the pull up on, and the first thing he did was go to the bathroom. WHAT?! All that work for this! It happened several times. He would hold it all day, and then go as soon as the pull up was on. I was at my wits end. So what did I do? I went running to my uncle. Pediatrician. Ethan's doctor. The only person I knew then that did this with three kids and could give me some good advice on the subject, because I was ready to throw myself on the floor and have my own tantrum. Sobs..Kicking..Snot bubbles. The works.

Anyways, so I call my uncle, and he tells me this little diddy. Tell Ethan that his poop wants to go to a party. Say what? Yeah..A poop party. Tell Ethan his poop is sad, because all his friends are going to a party, and his poop isn't, because it's in his diaper, and now it has to go in the trash and it can't go play with is friends at the party. When he does eventually go poo in the potty, clap, shout, dance, throw confetti if you have to, and have him tell his poop to have a great time at the party. I listened to this advice intently. When I got off the phone, I laughed. I laughed a lot. A poop party? You can't be serious!? But, you know what? I tried it. Because I was at my wit's end..Remember? And you know what? It started to WORK!! Not even joking. I told him this story, and WABAM, kid was using the potty like no other. He had the occasional accident, but it wasn't horrible. Then, just two days after moving to Wisconsin and a couple of months after his 4th birthday (don't judge me!) Ethan said bye bye to diapers and never looked back.

So, looking back, the poop party is AWESOME! I'll be using it again. Claire is coming up on birthday number 2. We bought her a talking Elmo potty for Christmas. I opened it up not too long ago and have been letting her explore it in the living room and telling her it's for poop and pee. Soon, I'll be taking it into the bathroom and sitting her on it when I'm using the potty. We'll see what happens from there.

Ooo...A whole post about poo. I bet you're excited you stuck around!

ORGANIZATION!!!!!

I have the uncontrollable urge to organize. It's killing me. There is so much stuff in our living room, and nowhere for it to go. David keeps getting movies, and they keep piling up..ON MY COUNTER!! I've cleaned the counter up 3 times this week..THREE TIME!! We really need some kind of media shelf. We have 2 media shelves, and they are completely full of movies and video games. It's insanity. Ethan also has a ton of board games that are overflowing off of their shelf. Claire then uses them as a ladder. That drives me nuts.

So, here's what I want:Look at it. Isn't it pretty? I want one. I want the little fabric boxes that go in it. I can put board games, books and movies on the shelves that don't have fabric boxes. I can put pictures on the top. I've heard lots of people say, "Well, I got clear tubs because my kids couldn't find anything in the fabric containers." Well, this wouldn't be for my kids. It would be for me. In the fabric cubes, I could put Claire's diapers in one, Grayson's diapers in another and baby wipe refills in another. That way, all those boxes would be out of site. I mean, I look like I'm running a diaper and wipes factory with all these boxes of diapers in my living room. Not to mention, Claire has the nasty little habit of pulling EVERY SINGLE DIAPER out of the boxes so she can hand them to me. If they are in here, that would make it easier for her to "help". I'd get four fabric cubes. What would go in the last one? I don't know..At least my living room would look a tiny bit more orderly.

I also want this:This shoe rack is so much better than the one we have. It has FOUR TIERS! And, it's looks so much sturdier than ours. Ours is some flimsy wood crap that's started to fall apart every time David puts those boats he calls shoes on the damn thing...When he does put his shoes on it! Not all of our shoes fit on the one we have now. I mean, we have snow boots, tennis shoes, sandals..All kinds of crap. And, now that's there are five people in our family, can you imagine how fast our tiny, wooden, two tiered crap is going to fill up..If it doesn't break first!

And, I want this for Ethan's bathroom:David says he doesn't want an over the door towl rack. HE NEVER USES ETHAN'S BATHROOM!! There is no place for our guests to hang their towels after they are done showering. Not only that, Ethan's towel rack is so flimsy. It's constantly falling off the wall. It's super hard to put back up. I just want to get the over the door towel rack and be done with it. Then we have a place for Ethan's and Claire's towels (Grayson is bathed in our tub), and our guests can actually hang their towels.

There, my organizational wants are out there. Now, here is a different want. In 3 months, Claire will be 2. I want to get her a play kitchen for her birthday. Target just put this really super cute pink wooden kitchen on Clearance for $33. David saw it when it was $60, and decided to wait. We missed it. I'm not very happy with him.....Why didn't he just get it when it was $60? Toys R Us has an equally adorable wooden kitchen on sale this week for $79.98. It's usually $119.00. Wanna see it?:How cute is that?! It's called the Just Like Me Park View Wooden Kitchen. It has a view of a little park out that "window". SO CUTE! I want this for Claire so bad. We could get her some little play food and some little dishes. I want to get it so we can put it together the night before her birthday, and then when she gets up on her birthday, there it is! I want to see the look on her face when she sees it.

David asked me last night why I want something like this so bad for Claire. Well, when I was little, we could never afford anything like this. My friends had stuff like this, and I never did. I made stuff like this out of cardboard boxes. We've been able to get Ethan things that I never had as a child, and I want Claire to experience the same things. Besides, I think she would love it so much. We're going to get it. I'm so excited!

Flashback Friday: Prom..The Conclusion!

Look at that! You can even see the top of my dress in this one! It came with a matching purse. Do I know where that purse is now? NO! Whatever. The dress doesn't even fit anymore. I only still have it because I spent $107 of my hard earned babysitting money to pay for it.

Anyways, back to the story. So, if you read my first prom story HERE then you know this is the conclusion to that craptasticness. So, here we go!

After my horrid prom, I'm talking as soon as I walked in the door, I called one of my very best friend's, Kelly, and told her what happened. She listened, and then told me, "Wow..I'm so happy I'm not going to my prom!" I stopped talking, and said, "WHAT?! YES YOU ARE!!" I demanded to know when it was. She stammered something about May 12, 2001. I said, "I'm putting $50 in the mail to you tomorrow. Buy tickets. We are going to that prom, and you'll have a fabulous time!" She protested. I demanded some more. She grumbled a, "Fine." We hung up for the night. The next morning, I shoved a $50 into and envelope, and popped it into the mail.

Three weeks later, on May 11, directly after school, my grandmother drove me to the other side of Phoenix so I could spend the weekend at Kelly's place. We walked in and my grandmother go to chatting with Kelly's mother (whom I love so very much!) and Kelly and I compared dresses. As soon as my grandmother left, Kelly and I took off for our ritual walk to Safeway. It's just a thing we had. Whenever I was at her place, we had to walk to Safeway for some random crap. Who knows what we were buying. I don't even remeber half the crap we got there. I'm pretty sure we got popsicles though, because it was a staple of our walks. Had to have one. We got back to her place, watched movies and talked about our days at Girl Scout camp. Yeah..Those were the days.

The next day, we lounged around the house and took another trip to Safeway. After that trip, we took a ride with Kelly's mother to her grandmother's house (whom I also love!) to say hello and have a quick brunch. Her mother and grandmother we gushing about how excited they were that I had talked Kelly into going to prom. I really didn't give her a choice. She was going, and she was going to LOVE IT!

Finally, at about 5, we started getting ready. I did my own hair this time, as well as my own nails. You can't see them in the picture, but trust me, they're hideous. The nails, not the hair. The hair I just put up in a clip. The nails were a horrible pink and I glued a couple of them on crooked. I tried to keep my french ones looking nice after my prom, but I had a mishap making my bed and broke one off. It actually launched across my room, bounced off the TV and hit my light bulb in my bedside lamp. It's a good thing it didn't break! Her mom made us a fabulous sphagetti carbonara dinner. We had sparkling cider. Her other friend that was going with us came over and had dinner with us. Her mom served us dinner on her special china. It was awesome.

After dinner, we headed out to the Tovera Mansion, where the prom was being held. It was NOTHING like my prom. There was a pool surrounded by twinkling lights, there was a lattice overhang covered in twinkling lights, there was an indoor buffet, complete with chocolate fountain and ice sculpture, and KARAOKE! Oh yeah, I did karaoke, and it was AWESOME! We danced. We snacked. We played Blackjack. The theme was Clue, and when you walked into prom, they gave you clue cards and $5,000 in monopoly money to gamble with. I lost all mine. Don't take me to a real casino.

At the end of the night, we all loaded into the car and headed out to Denny's for post-prom breakfeast. We were there laughing and talking and having a great time until 3AM. We then all headed back to Kelly's for a post-prom slumber party. We woke up early and made french toast and eggs for breakfeast, laughing the whole time. It was SO much fun. SO MUCH! It sure beat the tuxedos and ballgowns off my own prom, which was crap. Before I left that afternoon, Kelly and I hugged and she thanked me for making me go to her prom. Hey, what are friends for!? Besides, I got a second prom, and it was worth it!

Writer's Workshop: Wow..Am I Ever Bored!

It's Writer's Workshop day. Head on over to Mama Kat's to join the fun! You know you want to! When your done, sign the linky and check out what other people are saying.

Today, I chose the prompt Make A List Of 10 Things To Stave Off Boredom.

Well, here's the thing. I live in Wisconsin. It's also winter. When I stave off boredom, I like to go outdoors. Since I live in Wisconsin, and it's winter, I'm not doing much of going outdoors. So, let's pretend it's Wisconsin, and it's summer. I also live in a town with just over 1,000 people in it. Seriously, it's tiny. The number of people that attend my son's school and all the staff that work there are way less than the number of kids I had in my graduating class in high school. It's insane. So, let's pretend it's summer, June to be exact when crap actually happens in this town.

1) Attend Clear Lake Days. It's a three day event that celebrates Clear Lake. There is a carnival and a parade. For a small town, you'd think this parade is pretty short. Uh..WRONG. Everyone in town gets in on this thing. I kid you not, this parade lasts about an hour and a half. Insanity. Also, they have little kids doing back handsprings down the street to promote a tumbling class at the community center. That's just a scraped knee and a few stitches to the forehead waiting to happen.

2) Go on a garage sale hunt. Really, the only time to get into this is during Clear Lake Days. There are so many garage sales you can't even drive through the town because of all the people walking. They will actually close down entire streets for these garage sales. It's OK though. I could walk to one side of the town and back in about 40 minutes.

3) Hang out at your friend's brother's farm and light fireworks. During the summer, we do this a lot. The kids don't touch the fireworks, but the adults go crazy over it. I'm too much of a wimp to get near it though, so I leave it to everyone else.

4) Take a walk to the park. I love the park. It's actually very pretty an scenic there. It's also a really nice walk. See:You can go fishing, swimming, camping, they have barbecue grills..All kinds of stuff. We've been trying to teach Ethan how to ride his bike there. So far, he can't do it.

5) Hang out on the front steps after it's dark and watch the fireflies. Ethan really likes to do this, and I like doing it with him. We talk about his day. Besides, being from Arizona, I'd never seen fireflies before, and I'm easily entertained.

6) Take a walk to the library. If I could, I'd live in the library. The librarians know me by name because I'm there..ALL THE TIME! I'm always ordering books and browsing. My kids love the library too, which makes it even better.

7) Catch up on a week's worth of show's that you and your hubby both enjoy. Since David works Tuesday-Friday, we never get to watch anything together. So I don't watch any of the shows we both enjoy during the week. I record them, so when David is home on the weekend, we can spend some time together watching our favorite shows and chatting.

8) Scrapbook. I like scrap booking. I'm trying to get my paper crafting up to super awesome level. I've checked out books from the library and read blogs and looked at craft websites. Some of that stuff is SO COOL! I want a Cricut. I'm working on my paper crafting, so when Grayson's first birthday comes around I can make my own Happy Birthday Grayson banner, make gift bags and possibly make party hats. I can do it. It will be done.

9) Play board games with your family..Except Monopoly. Don't play that with David. He doesn't pay for his properties. Seriously. I don't know how I miss that, but I always do. A game I recommend though? Cranium. So fun.

10) Bake. Ethan loves to bake, and I love baking with him. We checked out 'Hello Cupcake' from the library this past summer, and had SO MUCH FUN making those cupcakes. We made Alien Cupcakes and Owl Cupcakes. There were other's we wanted to try, but the book was due back and on hold for other people, so we didn't get a chance to try them. I'd love to own this book!

And, there you go, 10 things to stave off boredom.

Thanks For The Cold Sweats Tax Guy

David got our taxes done yesterday. As soon as January 1st hits, he's bouncing around on me like a kid high on pixie sticks wanting me to make an appointment with the accountant. He prints all his tax stuff off of his work website, has it all set by the door and is all anxious and antsy waiting for tax day. Well, yesterday that day came. He went, he came home..All was good. We also had yummy burgers for dinner, but I digress.

Anyways, today, a lady from the accountants office calls. She asks if she can speak to David. No. David is at work. Can she speak to him tomorrow. Well, that's a little difficult seeing as how David doesn't get home from work until almost 4AM, and is in bed until 45 minutes before he has to leave. She then tells me that they had a little trouble with my social security number. It had already been used to file taxes in the state of Minnesota. David works in Minnesota. We live in Wisconsin. As soon as she said that, my heart kind of sputtered and my brain kinda does that thing where it deflates and all that comes out of your mouth is, 'But I, but I, but..I..Well..Wait...I...What?" Yeah..Fun stuff. So, then I start freaking out, thinking, "Oh no. Someone STOLE my SSN. Someone out there is using my info!!! SOMEONE IS ME!!" Then, I calmed myself down, and asked if there was someone I could call to figure all this out. They gave me a number for the Minnesota Revenue people. I called them, and was totally surprised to get a real person on the phone, who was very pleasant. So, Judy in Minnesota working for the revenue people, thanks. Once I explained my situation, she looked everything up, and turns out our tax guy tried to e-file out stuff, TWICE, which was why my SSN was blocked. Someone isn't me. There is no body snatched. There was just a misunderstanding.

So, I call back the tax place to tell them what happened, and give them the times that everything went through on the revenue end. The lady at the tax place was all impressed with my super fabulous detective skills. I was all, "Yeah, I know, I could totally be the next Jessica Landsbury and do it up Murder She Wrote style." OK, so I didn't really say that, but you get the idea.

So, my SSN is safe, our taxes are safe, and life is back to "normal".

Look What We Got In The Mail!!

We got our Bumbleride Indie Twin stroller in the mail today! I've been waiting since I found out on Christmas Eve that I won it for this baby to arrive. I can't even tell you how excited I was when I heard the UPS guy out there putting it on my front step. I dragged it in, and the first thing that happened was, Claire tried to climb up the box. She was all over the box like a little monkey. I kept having to peel her off of it. I wanted to rip into this bad boy right away, but Grayson was demanding food, so I had to nurse him first. I stared at the box while Grayson enjoyed his meal. I also watched Claire giggle as she ran around it. Entertainment comes cheap in these parts.

After Grayson finished eating, I set him in his bouncer and went to work putting it together. It didn't take long at all. Maybe 20 minutes tops. I click here, a pop there, badda bing, badda boom STROLLER! Then, I adjusted Claire's side to fit her, and tried Grayson into his side, which I didn't have to adjust at all because the straps fit perfectly in their position. Claire was all for climbing up into the stroller and having me adjust everything for her. Grayson, as you can see in the picture, just wasn't having any of that business, and cried. A lot. I'm pretty sure if he could say some choice words at that moment, he might have. He wasn't a happy camper at all.

Once everything was adjusted, and I snapped a picture including my uber messy background (please, ignore that, I was way too excited about the stroller to care), I released Grayson from his stroller jail, and took the stroller, with Claire still strapped in, for a cruise around the living room and kitchen. She clapped and waved at the kitchen table. She screamed, "Oh no!" When she dropped her cup.

I am so excited about this stroller. I think grocery shopping is going to be FANTASTIC now. Ethan can push the cart for me, and I can push Grayson and Claire in the stroller. No more Claire having to be dragged along with Ethan. I love that. And, I really don't like finding surprises on the bottom of the cart. You know, ketchup, gatorade, one of her shoes..It's endless.

This week, it was kinda nice though. David went grocery shopping for me because I caught a cold and wasn't feeling too hot yesterday afternoon. Is it just me, or does anyone else have a mini panic attack when you send your SO out to shop for food? He ALWAYS come back without half the crap on my list, or with stuff I didn't even put on the list. I'll be putting away groceries and pull out a bag of oranges when I asked for onions and he's all, "What? They were on sale! Wanna watch Wayne's World?" Uh...No...I want my onions. This time though, he came back with everything I put on the list, and only two things that weren't on the list, which is fine, because one of those things was banana's, and that made Claire a very happy girl. I'd love for that to happen more often, but I'm pretty sure that was the only time it will ever happen..*sigh*..

Now, for a good cause that I found out about over on musings of a MOXIE MAMA..For every person that links up the meme or MannLand5 today, they will donate 25 cents to the Red Cross to help Haiti. I'm doing it. You should to.

1. Hair color..Au naturale..or not?: My haircolor is Au Naturale. Though, David so kindly pointed out to me, during childbirth, that I have gray hair. Oh, that story! Did I forget to mention it in Grayson's birth post? It's amusing. More on that at a different time.

2. If somebody has food in their teeth or lipstick on their teeth do you tell them?: I would. I wouldn't be able to stand it. Now, if I was going to tell them and they were rude to me....I would still tell them. I'm not mean.

3. Would you rather have a million dollars or your vision of the perfect body?: If I had the million dollars, couldn't I just pull a Heidi Montag and fix it all anyways?

4. Favorite magazine?: Parents and Cosmo

5. Bra style..lacey or plain?: Well, I'm pretty much stuck in the boring old nursing bra right now, so how's baby accesible for you.

6. If you walked into Victoria's Secret..would you most likely come out with something sexy or comfy?: Comfy..I'm all about the PINK collection.

7. Do you fake and bake?: No

8. What's your favorite body part on a man?: For some reason, I've always like eyes. I'm weird I guess.

Bye Bye Binky?

Claire went to bed for the first time tonight without her beloved binky. Paci..Nuk..I don't know. There are so many names for it. I've noticed that the big name for it here is Nuk. We call it a binky. To each their own I guess.

Anyways, Claire went to bed without it. I'm wondering, time to say bye bye binky? She does have some hidden around the house. I'll have to find them. She went to bed with her cup of water, and no binky. There were no tears. She took a sip of water, rolled onto her side and listened to her music and she was out like a light in no time. It could also be though that she was just tired and didn't care if she had it or not. I thought we should have gotten rid of it before Grayson came, but David, big old softie he is for the girl, thought it would be too difficult if Grayson had one and Claire didn't. Well, no problems there, because just like his brother, he hates it. Won't take it. Wants nothing to do with it. We tried it in the hospital, and they gave us two to bring home and try, and he doesn't want any part of it.

I'm scared to ween her off the binky though. I really am. Maybe it will be like the bottle. See, I never had an issue with my kids with the bottle. At around 12 months of age, they both just gave up the bottle on their own. It was like, "Eh..No thanks. I'm good." Seriously. I gave Ethan a bottle one day, and he gave it back. I gave him a sippy cup instead, and he never looked back. Claire was pretty much the same way. So, maybe she's telling us that she's done with the binky. Over it. She's ready to break up and move on. I guess I'll find out tomorrow. My plan is to keep all binkies from view and see if she notices. I think she might catch on at naptime. She usually starts really wanting one about an hour before naptime. I'll have to start watching her at 11AM. Maybe she'll lead me to her hidden cache of binkies.

Can I handle the tears? The wanting? The clinging? CAN I DO IT!? Yeah, I think I can. My eardrums might die a little, but I think they have been heading that way for awhile. Claire has herself a pretty nice set o' lungs.

A Beba Giveaway! OMG!!!

So, remember my Beaba Babycook post? Well, I was doing some blog hopping today, and came across a blog called Life In Chicago. The very first post on this blog? A Beaba Babycook review and Giveaway! Oh yeah. She lists all the same wonderful reasons for owning this that made me want to buy it in the first place. If I can win it, that would be even better. She also has an opinion from someone with an older child who said that the Beaba is still quite useful after baby outgrows baby foods to steam and puree veggies to sneak into other foods, so your child is still getting lots of veggies, without knowing that the veggies are being consumed. I love that. So, this awesome product would not only be useful for Grayson but for Claire as well, who is starting to decide that veggies just aren't her thing anymore. Guess what? They will be!

So, this post earned me an extra entry in this awesome drawing. I hope I win!!

Flashback Friday: Senior Prom #1...

Aww..Look at me all dressed up. It must be..Yes, that's right..PROM NIGHT!! WOO!! And, it's senior prom night. It's April 21, 2001. I have on my best dress, my hair's all did. I'm looking FLY! Yeah, I did just say that. I'm looking fly. Yes, I did just say that again. Let's hear the story!

So, I wake up in anticipation of my awesome prom. It's my senior year. This prom is sure to be better than the prom before. I CAN'T WAIT. I stayed at my friend's house, who is the sister of my boyfriend. We're all hyper with anticipation. We CANNOT wait. Did I say that already? Well, now you get it.

The prom is to be held at Heritage Square in downtown Phoenix. It's outdoors. It's going to be fabulous. It's been raining all morning, but by the time my friend and I leave to get out hair done, it's actually starting to show a little sign that it's going to clear, and his name is SUN. We talk excitedly about our night ahead. We giggle all the way through the mall on our way to the salon. We gab nonstop in our chairs while our hair is pulled and teased and pinned painfully to our heads. Off topic, but why does the bobby pin have to hurt some damn bad!? When our hair is finally done, we get up, head to pay for our beautiful do, and look outside to see..RAIN! And it ain't small..Oh no. It is POURING rain. Buckets. The monsoon has decided to make a little day trip to AZ on the day of our prom. The salon workers give us bags (oh yeah, BAGS!) to put over our heads, and we run like crazy people to our car.

We head back to her place, dress in our finest, and head out to dinner with out dates. The rain lets up while we're eating. We're hopeful. It'll be great still. Right...Right? RIGHT? Parking for this thing ends up being 3 blocks from the square. We park, and walk the three blocks, turn the corner and see.....NOTHING. NO ONE! We see some dangling balloons, a few falling streamers and a security guard coming towards us. He's telling us that prom has been moved, to the high school cafeteria. My friend and I are shivering. Our dates hand us their coats and run to fetch the cars, while we take refuge in the small kitchen that is off to the side of the square. While we stand in the kitchen doorway, we can see people from our rival school arriving to their prom, just a few steps away at the Arizona Science Center. Fantastic.

We head to the high school. What do we find? A small semblance of something that is supposed to be a prom. There is a last minute DJ and a character artist. The caterer refused to come to the school and set up. There were hardly any decorations and almost zero seating. The security guards who came from home to supervise our dance on their day off refused to open snack and pop machines for us. It was the prom from hell. We took our pictures. We got our gifts. We left 20 minutes after we arrived. As we were leaving, it started POURING again. I stood under the awning of the gym while my date ran for the car, pulled up to the curb, and then I ran to get in.

So, in my picture that I took in the car, I'm all dressed up in the parking lot of my high school after leaving my senior prom.

I got a second chance though. Tune in next week for the conclusion to this story!

Writer's Workshop: And This Rose Is For....

Hey, it's Thursday. Please, enjoy my Writer's Workshop post. If you feel the need, head on over to Mama Kat's and take part in it yourself. You know you want to. You can write your own and think it's totally awesome. Then, you can post your link and read other people's. Do it..DO IT!! OK, so, only do it if you want to. It's fun though.

Anyways, today, I chose the prompt::
Welcome to the most shocking rose ceremony in writing prompt history. Please award roses to the ten people (or items) in your life that you’d like to continue pursuing a relationship with.

So, here goes!

1) David--Oh, dear hubby of mine, I guess I'll keep you around. Hey, this year we are coming up on 9 years together. That's gotta count for something, right? Now, if you could just keep your damn socks off my living room floor, put your shoes on the shoe rack and maybe throw away your pop cans, we'd be golden. LOVE YOU!

2) I-Pod--Thank you for helping me keep my sanity. Thank you for holding super awesome rocking tunes (Glee soundtrack anyone?) and also, my fabulous movies (Juno..Twilight..Wall-E). I can only handle Howard Stern for so long in the car.

3) Elmo--You annoy the living CRAP out of me, but if Claire laughs, dances and think you are a perfect angel, well keep the annoying habits coming. I do enjoy the hour of Sesame Street that she is glued to my TV in anticipation of seeing your happy red face. It gives me time to feed Grayson and enjoy small bits of quiet.

4) Imagination Movers--You really aren't as annoying as Elmo. My daughter thinks you are the best thing since Elmo. Please, don't ever go off the air. If you leave Playhouse Disney, I think I might have a heart attack. She knows what time you come on. She waits. She waits. She waits some more. You have no idea what happens if you don't show up at 8:30AM on my TV screen. All I can say is, there are tears.

5) F*R*I*E*N*D*S (The TV Show)--I watch every season at least twice a year. I can't get enough. It never gets old. It's always funny. Someone has a Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Chandler, Joey and Ross in their group. I could kick anyone's ass at a Friend's trivia game. BRING IT!

6) Medela Breast Pump--As much as I hate pumping, you are seriously the best pump I've ever had. You are awesome. I can take you anywhere. You've lasted longer than any other pump I've ever had, and only 2 months into Grayson's life, that's saying a lot. The other pumps were crap.

7) Bug Spray--Spring will be here soon, and if you've been reading, you know my distaste for crickets. You know, those scary hopping bugs that everyone tells you is good luck? CRAP. All their good for is sending out messages to each other to find me. Oh yeah...I bet they have cell phones and homing devices set for me. They hang out in my shed, which sucks because that's where the kids pool is. Guess who gets to go in there to drag that thing out? OMG...I'm getting goosebumps and chills just thinking about it!!

8) New Oven--You're the best. You make perfect cupcakes. You cook everything speedily. You like to heat up. You're pretty, and white. You're digital. I wish you had hands so I could high five you on a job well done.

9) New Camera--You take aweome pictures. When I zoom in, you actually take a great shot. The only thing I wish was better was the speed at which I could take pictures. Speed it up a little..Please?

10) Naptime--You can only last so long. Claire is really fighting it now..I'm hoping that doesn't last. I enjoy naptime. It's quiet. Grayson eats or sits quietly in my lap. Please, don't leave me.

I Think Claire Needs Some Mommy Time

It's been awhile since I've been all alone with Claire. Before Grayson was born, she'd snuggle up next to me on the couch and watch Playhouse Disney and Sesame Street in the morning. She'd sit in my lap while I used the computer. We'd play..A lot.

Well, today, during the 20 minutes that I wasn't holding Grayson, she climbed into my lap on the couch, snuggled up as close as she could get, and just held on. She wants to snuggle with me so much. I think she just needs some mommy one on one time. I miss spending time alone with her. Now, I have her and Grayson, and Grayson is always wanting to eat. I think the only time I actually get a break from feeding is in the morning when I'm getting Ethan up and ready for school, and getting Claire breakfast. He happy lays under his little gym or sits in the Bumbo or lies in the bobby on the couch cooing to himself. I have a good hour before he's ready to eat, which is just enough time to get Ethan fed, dressed and out the door to the bus, Claire fed, teeth and hair brushed, and diaper changed. Then, Grayson wants food, and I have to nurse him. This is usually when Claire starts whining because she wants to snuggle. It's even come to the point where she tries to climb in between Grayson and I while he's nursing. This ticks him off because he usually ends up being pulled away from the food, and it ticks Claire off because I have to tell her no and set her back down on the floor. I'm really hoping that at Grayson's appointment, I can find out once and for all if he has acid reflux, get him some meds and get him to feeling better. He wants to eat and be attatched to me so much I think because his little throat hurts.

I can't wait for Saturday. Maybe I can get David to watch Grayson for a half hour so I can spend some girl time with my Claire Bear.

7 Year Old With A Plunger + Clogged Toilets=2 IN Of Water On My Bathroom Floor!

Ethan managed to clog our bathroom toilet today while he was hanging out in our room. He likes to play with the X-Box 360 and watch movies in there. So, today, he used our bathroom. He came out and told David. I was feeding Grayson, so David had to go help. Twenty minutes later, David emerges from the brinks of the bathroom, and informs me that the toilet is so badly clogged that he had to dump three bucket fulls of water from the toilet into the bathtub, and that he left Ethan to his own devices with the plunger. I panic. He's 7. We all know how this story is going to go, right? I can't get up right away because Grayson is still happily nursing away. CRAP!!

Fifteen minutes later, I'm finally able to get up and see what's happening in my bathroom. I hand Grayson off to David for a burp, and walk towards our room. I here him trying to close the bathroom door. I say trying because our bathroom door does this awesome thing in the winter where you have to lift the door and pull it closed until you hear a click, otherwise it opens on it's own. In the summer, it doesn't do this. We don't know why. I open my bedroom door, and see Ethan trying to slam the door shut. I reach the outside of the bathroom, pull open the door, and step on the carpet outside my bathroom. The first thing I notice is, my socks are wet. My socks are wet on the carpet outside my bathroom door. Oh, dear God, why are my socks wet? WHY ARE MY SOCKS WET?!! That's when I hear dripping into the vent. Yes, we have floor vents. I look down to my left to see water running into the vent. That's when I do that thing that cartoons do where they start assessing the situation faster than their eyes move. There is water overflowing out of the toilet. It's all over the floor. It's going into the vent. It's soaking into the carpet. All the clothes that David has left on the bathroom floor and our bathmat have soaked it all up, but it doesn't matter, it's still coming out of the toilet. And there, in the middle of it all, is a 7 year old trying not to giggle. I do one of those forehead swipes that you do when you just want something to go away, and you think that swiping your forehead is magic. Well, it didn't work. It never does. Maybe my forehead swipe is broken. As I'm swiping my forehead, here comes Claire, with a running leap into the water. Oh yeah, splish splash. Good thing it was time for a bath. I recover from my non-magical head swiping and finish plunging to toilet. I then tell David that this is his fault for leaving a 7 year old alone with a clogged toilet and a plunger. I have Ethan get towels and dry the floor, then I wash everything. Then, I have Ethan Wet Jet my bathroom floor. It was eventful. Very eventful. I hope it never happens again.

The carpet is partially dry, and I think the warm air dried up the water in the vent pretty quickly. Lesson for hubby: Never leave a 7 year old alone with a plunger. NEVER!!!

I Was Tagged...Word!

Today was a boring day. I went to Wal-Mart to go grocery shopping, where my kids were unusually well behaved. Grayson actually took the bottle of pumped milk I had. We did have an incident where Claire put four bottles of ketchup on the bottom of the cart and I didn't notice until I was checking out, but hey, it's fine. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Oh, and I got to take a nap. Thank you David! The nap was awesome..However, the nap occured at 3PM, leaving me wide awake right now.

So, since my day was uneventful, Shea at Lovin' Every Minute Of It tagged me..WOO HOO!! Now I get to tell you 7 things about myself, and make 7 of you do the same! Sweetness!

1) I'm the oldest of 3 kids. I have two brothers. Justin is 24 and Michael is 13. I'm pretty much an awesome big sister. Or, at least I like to think I am. They might think different. When they say I suck, I hear 'You're awesome. We totally think you should hang out with us 24 hours a day and be rad at all times.' Awww....Thanks guys.

2) In high school, I didn't really have a 'clique' that I stuck to. I migrated. I had friends from all the cliques. I knew popular kids, I knew not so popular kids. If someone asked me why I was hanging out with so and so, I was always like, 'Well, why not?'

3) I tend to be super quiet when I first meet people. This, in turn, makes those people that I'm meeting think I am a raging bitch. How that comes about, I'll never know. I'm not a raging bitch, I'm just quiet. Funny thing is though, usually, none of those people that think I'm a raging bitch ever take the time out to talk to me. If they did, they'd see I'm not.

4) David is in love with Star Trek. I am not. He once told me that for every episode of Star Trek I watched, he would watch an episode of friends. I'm debating on if I should take this deal or not. Is it worth it? Do I dare take on the Trek in trade for Friends?

5) I dole out a pretty large amount of high fives and VHF (virtual high fives). I don't know why. It's totally random.

6) My friends and I talk about poo in front of our hubbies/boyfriends because it freaks them out. Try it. It's fun.

7) I've said it before, and I'll say it again..Crickets are scary as hell! I hate crickets. They jump. They make weird noise. I swear, they know where I live and they smell my fear. They hunt me down man...THEY HUNT ME DOWN!!!

OK..So, there are my 7 random and totally useless facts about me. If you ever play a trivia game about my life, you know some weird facts. Enjoy! Here are the 7 people I choose to take this little adventure on:

Tracie
Cathy
Amy
Nicolasa
Maddie (She's new to the blog game and makes baby products..Check her out!)
Peeling An Orange With A Screwdriver

Alright, so, that's only 6..But who's counting?

Am I Crazy?

I've decided that I want to make my own baby food. I didn't do it with Ethan because it was actually inexpensive to buy baby food for Ethan 7 years ago. I should have done it with Claire because from the time Ethan was a baby, baby food prices got pretty steep. Not only that, I had a few instances where I bought some jars of food, only to open them and find that they were rotten. Like, congealed, and they smelled so bad I actually gagged. I plan to do it this time because I think it would save us money, and I won't have to worry about why it's all gross like that because I'm making it, freezing it and storing it myself, so I know what's going in it.

David thinks I should just buy the food. I don't want to. I'm really dedicating myself to this. I even purchased a book called 'First Meals' by Annabel Karmel so I have lots of different recipes to try. There are some combos of food in this book that I wouldn't have even though to put together, like Avocado and Papaya. I also read somewhere that if you make your own babyfood, you can save up to $600 a year. I'm all for that. If it saves money, I'll do it.

Now, I'm just debating on how I'm going to do it. I got a food processor for Christmas. I read the instructions, and it seems that all it does it chop. Hey, I'm all for that though. I'm keeping this bad boy. I HATE chopping onions. If I can chop a few onions in this thing at the beginning of the week and store them for use in recipes throughout the week, I'm happy. Bring on the chopper! Someone suggested I buy a blender, but I really wouldn't use it for much else, so I'm probably not going to do that. The one thing I really want, but David keeps telling me not to waste my money on, is a Beaba Babycook.It sells on Amazon for $139. It steams and purees. When it comes time to thaw out baby's food for feeding, it will also defrost and warm it up. It does all this in one container. That sounds pretty awesome to me. I've tried entering giveaways on various blogs for this bad boy, but haven't been lucky enough to snag one. Oh, how I want one. I also think that in the time I make Grayson a few meals, this thing will pay for itself. So, I have enough money saved up from various people from Christmas, so I'm debating on whether or not I want to save that money, or buy this. David keeps telling me to save it..I want to go ahead and buy this thing. Every blog I've read has nothing by good reviews on this thing, and of all the reviews out there online, there are only a handful of bad ones. I can actually count on one hand the number of bad reviews I've read. So, would you buy it?

Flashback Friday: This Is What I Did When I Was Out Past Curfew!

Want to take part in Flashback Friday? Click that button there to take part. You know you want to. It's super fun!This is my cousin Danni and I circa June/July 2001. We went out one night with some friends after her BMX race. We were staying at her place. We were supposed to be in at 12AM. This picture was taken at 1AM (yeah, I don't think we made curfew) at Hooter's on Mill Ave in Tempe, AZ. What? I just go there for the wings! Forgive my horse mouth..I don't know what the hell I was doing!

I still remember that night. I'd graduated not too long before this. We were bored, so we both called some folks, and one of my friends headed out, and one of her friends headed out. We ended up at Tempe Town Lake being rambunctious teenagers. Throwing rocks into the lake. My friend actually ended up jumping into the lake, which was a no no. At this point, the lake was only about a year and a half old (maybe older, I don't remember) and on the news they kept saying, "No swimming in the lake. Chemicals are still balancing..Blah Blah Blah." He didn't end up radioactively green or anything like that, so I think we were good. We walked all the way to one end of the lake, where there was a security station. The person in the security station called the cops because they heard voices. The cops came up on their bikes (we're talking ten speeds) and asked us what we were doing. They laughed at my non-radioactive friend for jumping in the lake.

This is when we hit Mill Ave, deciding that hot wings and pop was a better alternative to seeing just how sick you can get from the lake. We ordered two of the biggest plates of wings you could get, and Danni and I proceeded to take this picture. It was really one of the best nights I ever had. I still remember it, and Danni and I still talk about it, laughing hysterically at the stupid crap we did. We both have a copy of this picture. She has hers in a frame on her bedroom wall. I cut mine into a wallet size and kept it in my purse for awhile. I need to pop it into my scrapbook. We're both married and have kids now, so it's always fun to remember those times. We have lots of them!

Writer's Workshop: Really? We're Reading This AGAIN!?

It's Writer's Workshop day! YAY!! Head on over to MamaKat's to take part in this super fun activity. I think it's super fun, you just might too!!

Today, I chose the prompt Book Review! What Children's Book Do You Hate Reading To Your Child? Let's begin!

I actually have two books. One, comes from the library. It's a Sesame Street book. It's called 'Baby Love'. Why I continue to check this book out for her is beyond me. After the first day we get it, and the first (and I'm so not exaggerating this) 50 times of reading it, I try to hide the damn thing. She has a radar for this freaking book though. It's like there's a homing device to it implanted in her brain. There's maybe 4 or 5 words on each page. We spend about 15 minutes on the page where Elmo resides while she pokes the page, I say Elmo, she claps with glee and does it again. Oh yeah, good times. Cute book, but sometimes I wish it would just die. I'm very much over this book. Please, if you ever see me at a library, and I have this book in my hand, shake me..Shake me hard. I'm out of my mind.

The other book is How Do I Love You?
Really, this book is super cute and a lot of fun, but again, it's really only super cute and a lot of fun if you don't read it 20 times a day. We've read this book so much that the inside has fallen out. I haven't had the time to tape it back together yet. This, of course, angers Claire because she wants her book damn it. Before Grayson was born, she'd sit in my lap for hours (literally) while I read this book over and over. She'd point to pictures and demand I name them. She'd make me poke her in the nose at the end of the book. I've read this book so much, I don't even need the book to know what the words are. When she pulls it out and starts toddling to me, I start reciting it, and she stops in her tracks, listens and when I'm through, she toddles off, content to have heard her story. It's insane. I can't believe I know it that well.

I think it's great she has a love of books. I, myself, am an avid reader. I have a list of books in my desk drawer that's three pages long that I want to read. I just wish kids books were less annoying. Ethan just got a copy of In The Night Kitchen for Christmas, and I'm really hoping she likes that. I loved that book when I was a kid.

Can I Get A WOOT WOOT For A Clean Kitchen!

Yeah, I said it..Woot Woot! Ha..That makes me lame. Add that to the list of things I should never say. It's right up there with "homie" and "word yo". And yes, I do say those things on a regular basis because they sound ridiculous coming out of my mouth. It makes me laugh. It makes other poeple laugh. It makes the situation fun. I'm awesome.

Anyways, two months after Grayson made his entrance, my kitchen is finally looking normal. I got all the dishes caught up on. I put away all of Ethan's art stuff that Claire pulled out of the art caddy. I'll be doing this everyday, since she seems to find the activity of pulling it all out fun. I don't find the activity of putting it all back that much fun. Play Doh comes with a lot of crap, and she always manages to pull it all out, all over the floor. As long as she doesn't open the Play Doh, we're all good. I don't really want to pick that out of my carpet.

She got her own little art thing for Christmas that she LOVES. I noticed she wanted to color. When did I notice? Ethan was sitting at the kitchen table doing his homework one day, and she pulled a colored pencil out of the box and tried to scribble on it like her brother. It was math. I'm pretty sure his teacher wouldn't want colored on homework. So I mentioned the Crayola Color Me A Song toy to David. You push a button, and it plays music. Then, when you color on it, the music plays faster. The faster you color, the faster the music plays. I set it up on the floor for her the other day while I was making dinner, and gave her some colored pencils and showed her how it worked. She was THRILLED. You should have seen the look on her face. She loves this thing. She pushes a button, dances for a bit, then gets down to makin' some art. She's all over it. I need to get a picture of her actually using it. I tried yesterday, but everytime I put the camera up, she stopped everything she was doing, looked at me and said, "No!" When I put the camera down, she went back to what she was doing. Yeah, she's a funny kid. I'm hoping that after awhile, she'll only want crayons or something out of the art caddy to color her pictures with and leave all the other stuff alone.

Alright..Now I need to crack down on my living room. Tomorrow is living room day, and since Grayson was happy today and I got to finish my kitchen, I'm hoping he'll be just as happy tomorrow and I can get on this living room. PLEASE LET ME CLEAN MY LIVING ROOM!!

Ahhh..Bedtime Is A Wonderful Thing!!

First, I would just like to thank you all for your kind words for my loss. I'm doing a lot better today. I spent a good portion of last night rummaging through my scrapbooks and old pictures and reminiscing, and it was a lot of fun. Sad, but very fun.

Can I just say that I love bedtime? Can I? It's the only time during the day that I get to spend five minutes listening to myself think. The rest of the day it's full of Grayson crying, Claire squealing and Ethan asking me why he can't do something after I've already told him at least 10 time why he can't do what I told him not to do. Bedtime..It's quiet. I can sit and watch a show without having to rewind it and catch whatever that character just said. I can blog..And blog I will.

Don't get me wrong. I love the daytime too. Grayson is just getting into his cooing phase. Whenever he sees me come into view, he's all happy. He smiles and waves his little arms in circles and coos. Those high pitched Ahh sounds. I love those. He's always so happy to see me. It's best in the morning though. I really don't know why, but he is such a happy little guy in the morning. I get up to get the Ethan ready for school and get Claire breakfast, and I set him in his boppy on the couch so he can see what's going on, and he just hangs out and coos and smiles. He's happy for a good hour before he get ticked. I love it. It's the best. Claire is happy in the morning...Sometimes. She's not so much a morning or after her nap kinda gal. Once Imagination Movers hits the screen though, she bounces into her happy self. She starts shakin' her little tush to the music and claps and says 'There you go!' So much fun.

But, I need me some quiet. I really do. Bedtime is just the best. I really used to enjoy naptime for Claire too, but Grayson isn't too into the naptime thing yet. He's got a regular 7PM bedtime, but naps just haven't happened for him yet. I really think it's acid reflux that's got him. Once he falls into a nap, he wakes up crying in pain. I think once we get that taken care of, naps will happen. I think they will be great naps. I think I might be able to get more than 5 minutes of cleaning here and 10 minutes of cleaning there done a day. I'm very excited about that. VERY EXCITED. Does that make me sound wierd? That I'm totally excited about cleaning? Whatever man..I want a clean floor!

The World Just Lost Someone Special

Yesterday, I got terrible news. Someone who was going to be a part of my family, and whom, even after my mother's relationship ended, I considered to be a large part of my family, passed away. It was sudden. No one knows what caused it. The autopsy was performed today. He went to bed, and when his wife woke in the morning, he was gone. I couldn't even imagine finding my husband that way. I'm hoping she's getting love and support, and lots of it.

Andrew was a beautiful person, and a fabulous artist. He was really breaking out in his art. He was being discovered. It's not fair that this happened to him. It's not fair that his wife only got him for a year. It's not fair he was taken from us.

I have so many fond memories of him. So many. I am so happy that I was lucky enough to meet and know him. I am so happy that he was a part of my family. I'm wishing I could be in Phoenix to be with the rest of his family. His sister and I are especially close, and it hurts me that I can't help her through this. My mom is really upset of the whole thing. Understandable. She was a big part of his life for many, many years.

I'm not really sure what else to say. I've cried. Now, I'm numb. The world lost someone special, and so did I.

Birthday Parties Are Awesome For Mommy Socialization!

My friend, Jamie, held her daughter's birthday party today. Eliza has the lucky fortune of being a Christmas baby. Jamie and I joked before Grayson was born that we'd switch of birthday holiday's if Grayson happened to be born on Halloween. We'd go out and get the kids free candy in celebration of Grayson's birthday, and stockpile gifts for Eliza's birthday on Christmas. Grayson came on Halloween, but hey, Halloween is all about the candy. Jamie tries to seperate Christmas and birthday for Eliza because she doesn't want her to feel cheated. She usually does a party a week before or a week after her actual birthday. It's always great.

Today, we headed on out. Let me say, it was not a fun day to be roaming outdoors here in Wisconsin. When I got up today, Yahoo had the temp listed at a warm -23. Oh yeah...When we left the house, it had heated up to a sweltering -17. On our way home, it had warmed up even more to a tropical -7. Fabulous weather. I hated having to take the kids out in it at all. I'm glad the party was indoors. I started the car, and then 20 minutes later, I put Grayson in his carseat and set it by the door, then I loaded Claire into the car, Ran back and grabbed Grayson and loaded him into the car and then I ran back and had Ethan get in the car. Good thing he's 7. He can buckle himself. Good thing about Grayson's carseat, all I have to do it pop it into the base. Claire, however, I have to fight with her coat to get her buckled in. It's super. We met up with Jamie and followed her out to her place. When we got there, her boyfriend and his friend were setting up an inflatable jumper in the living room, so I sat with Jamie and another girl whom I used to work with and Jamie still does, Lori. I got to share my super embarrasing Wal-Mart moment. Want to hear it? Awesome.

So, I'm at Wal-Mart, and I'm in the check out lane trying to soothe Grayson, watch the price on the scanner go up, keep Claire's fingers out from under the rotating grocery bag thingamajig and tell Ethan not to poke the eggs. I grab my wallet out of my purse, and unthinking, set my purse down next to the rotating grocery bag thingamajig. Claire puts her hands in and, unbeknownst to me, pulls out a pad. Yeah..So, I'm watching the price, and apparently, she's waving the pad around behind me. I hear someone laugh when they pass by. All of a sudden, Ethan grabs the pad, holds it above his head, and screams, "Mommy, do you want me to open this gift for Claire!?" I look down and say, "What gift?" and notice he's trying to pull the little open tab back. I grab it and say, "That's not a gift!" And shove it into my purse. Too late though. The damage is done. The clerk and line are laughing. Sweet. Embarrasing mommy moment number one million in the books. Whatever..I laugh at me for that too.

That party was awesome though. The kids jumped and then turned the jumper into a wrestling ring. There was body slamming. Choking. A few tears. Parents crowded around the outside going, "Hey (insert child's name) don't (insert injury inflicting incident) to (insert other child's name)!" Good times. There was a pinata, which Ethan cracked open and everyone scrambled under. There was cake with hot pink frosting that stained Claire's shirt..(any suggestions on how to get that out would be gladly taken)..There was a pretty hysertical game of pin the tail on the donkey where two kids tried to pin the tail to their own masks. There were gifts. I got her a Polly Pocket, which is now more like, Polly I Used To Fit In Your Pocket But Now I Fit In Your Mother's Hobo Bag. Seriously..This lady now has a freakin' mansion. Polly Pocket has moved up in the world. Sorry little girls, she too good for your pockets.

All in all, it was a super fun day. Claire and Grayson are passed out, and Ethan just headed into bed. Now, I'm spending some quiet time with me since David went to see Sherlock Holmes with his dad. I think I'll make some popcorn and watch some Friends.

OMG..Grayson Is Napping....QUICK WRITE A BLOG!!

Yesterday I said I was going to do Project 365. Well, I set up a blog for it. See, we decided that Ethan was old enough to stay up an see what New Year's was all about. At 9PM, I asked him if he wanted to stay up until Midnight. He got excited and said, "YES!" We watched some of the America's Funniest Videos marathon they had running on ABC Family. He loves that show. He actually used to watch the old version with Bob Saget on Nick At Nite, but he didn't call Bob Saget Bob..Nope. He had his own name for him. Juan. I don't know....It was funny though. At 10:30, I got up to check my e-mail real quick. Not even 10 minutes later, I turned around and BAM, Ethan was passed out cold on the couch. I put him to bed. Now bored, I decided to set up my Project 365 blog. The link is HERE..I'll be posting my first picture later tonight after the kids are in bed. I'm not going to push my luck with the nap taking progressing in the bouncy chair to my left. It's probably short lived because, hey, I'm not that lucky. In fact, as I type, there is a little rustling going on...(sideways glance)...Yup, totally some waking up going on.

So, check out my Project 365 everyday for a new picture. If you have a Project 365 of your own going on, let me know. I'd love to stop by and check yours out too.

On a side note, I watch 'Paranormal Activity' last night. I'm a sucker for scary movies. I'll watch them all. All I have to say about this one though. CRAP. I really don't know what the big deal was. Why were all those people in the "actual audience reactions" previews screaming so damn much? Wasn't scary...Not one little bit. Thanks for taking away an hour and a half of my life. I could have watched Friends.