Happiest Place on Earth my A**

So the first day out we went to Epcot. I chose Epcot because it is the one park we didn't do last year, I remembered something with Dinosaurs there, I thought the kids would enjoy seeing the different countries and I heard Soarin' was a good ride. A poor choice for the kids. I think most of it was above them and there wasn't one ride that Mason was tall enough to get on. Mia really wanted to see Mulan so we went to China and Mushu the dragon was out. We were the lone family visiting with Mushu and I asked the guy when Mulan was coming back out and he said, "not today". So the ONE thing Mia wanted to see there was not happening. The ONE thing I wanted to do there didn't happen either as they had stopped giving out Fast Passes for Soarin' before noon and the wait was 90 minutes.

Wednesday was spent by the pool and Mike's sister, Alice, and her family came up that evening. We all went to the Magic Kingdom on Thursday and Seaworld on Friday. We will never again go to Disney in April. It was packed (or course it's spring break) as I think there were almost double the people there then our visit last year. That did not make for a fun time. We'd be at the park (even at Epcot) for about an hour and the kids would start crying to leave and go home to the pool. NICE! We had a really hard time trying to leave the Magic Kingdom as people crowded, pushed and screamed, "Can you let me out, I'm just trying to get out". Yeah, you and the rest of us. We got separated of course and Mike and this story to tell me when we met up. Mia had fallen asleep in the stroller before we left and Mike pushed her while I carried Mason. Mike said they were standing at a stand still when the guy in front of him who looked to be 80 turned around and started kicking the stroller. (we understand that occasionally while walking in a crowd we have bumped into the back of people with the stroller but they were at a stand still). Mike says, "Uh, What are you doing? My 5-year old is sleeping". The guy looks up at Mike and says, "I'm just sooo frustrated". Mike: "Well you better stop kicking my daughter." The guy, "I'm just so frustrated". Mike: "You're pretty tough with my 5-year old daughter but if you kick her any more I'm going to kick your a**". The guy: "Well, I just had heart surgery two days ago." Mike: "I don't give a s***, that's my daughter". Then the crowd started moving again and they went their separate ways. That puts you in a great mood just as you leave the park.

Don't get me wrong there were good times in there but the whining (of my children), the rudeness (of other people) and the long waits + hot weather pretty much ruined it for us. At one point, I turned to my SIL and said (as I was putting my camera away), "I don't know why I bother trying to take all these fake pictures of a great time". I guess it's so I can look back and say, "Oh, look what a great time we had (because we're all smiling)". So I took the picture of Mia above so I could remember what it was really like:)

I'll rant about Sea World tomorrow.

We're off to Florida

OK, we were off to Florida last week but I just thought I'd show the natural progression of flight when you have a night flight with kids. First- very excited, Second- snack with a movie to be followed by the "Crash".

We were pleasantly surprised how our travels turned out until we reached our condo. We rented from a guy on VRBO. In one of his e-mails it read, "print out this e-mail and show it to the guard at the gate so he knows you're renting from me." So it's about 1:30 am I show the guard the e-mail and he says, "it doesn't show your dates on here so I can't let you in". So he trys to call the owner who of course doesn't answer his phone because it's after 1:30 in the morning. The guard guy does "vouch" for us and let us in after all. We finally get to the condo to find the owner had given us the wrong code on the lock box and we cannot get in. Mike and I are getting really pissed off with the realization that we came all this way and we're going to end up sleeping in the car. I cannot let it go so I start checking the windows and find one unlocked..... I popped the screen, crawled through the window and unlocked the front door. Yes, I started my vacation with some B & E. It ended up being OK as I was able to get a hold of the owner the next morning who told me the right code to get the key so we weren't stranded in the condo.

Anyway, I thought I'd start off our vacation "telling" with pictures of Mia at Epcot for my mom.

I walked into one of the stores in Japan because I saw Hello Kitty. It was Hello Kitty mecca and what 30 something woman isn't obsessed with Hello Kitty? I know I'm not alone just admit it.

So at the back end of the store they have more traditional type items from Japan with a section just of Kimonos. The girls saw Mia and dressed her up. I thought my mom would LOVE seeing Mia in a kimono. After that we grabbed some lunch and Mia being the noodle lover she is went for some Udon noodles. She of course slurped them in true Japanese fashion. See mom, some of your genes made it into the kids:)

The boy who didn't cry wolf

While I had been fighting yet another cold this week the kids seemed fine. Monday they seemed a little stuffy so I gave them some cold medicine but that was it. Tuesday when I went to pick the kids up from school I arrived to find Mason asleep. Their teacher said Mason came up to her and said, "I need to go lie down". So she read him a story and he fell asleep. If only it worked that way it home. The kid stopped napping shortly after he turned 2 and I battle all night to get both kids into bed at night. Around dinner time Tuesday night Mason started holding his right ear and crying, "ear hurts". Mike said that he had been playing with his ears and Mason didn't like it. This went on for an hour or so and then he seemed fine the rest of the night. In fact, I had the usual fight to get him to go to bed. Wednesday he wakes up holding his ear again crying and moaning. Then he starts switching holding the other ear. Most of the time he acts normal. No fever nothing. I take a flashlight and look in his ears and it doesn't even look pink so I'm starting to think he's just fine and likes the attention from me. I decide since we're getting on an airplane Monday I better take him to the doctor just in case so we go later Wednesday afternoon. Sure enough he has ear infections. I just felt bad all around. First because I doubted him really being sick and second because I also felt a little justified going to the doctor since he was sick. So he's on antibiotics acting totally normal. I'm hoping we don't get sick (sicker) on our vacation. I think I'm just as excited as the kids are. Tomorrow I need to start packing, I dread that. It's not so much the clothes part but the carseats, strollers, etc.

I'm off to try to get some sleep since I'm sure I'll get none the next two nights.

A Pet Peeve

Can't sleep so I thought I'd write about one of the many things that annoy me.

A couple of weeks ago I participated in a Fundraiser that involved getting my kids pictures taken. I read about the boy who the Fundraiser was helping in the local paper and the story got to me so when a friend e-mailed about the Fundraiser I was very willing.

The Fundraiser was to have your kid's pictures taken with that "antique" motif in sepia for $10 and you got a free 10x13 picture. 100% of the money went to the boy and who doesn't like pictures of their kids. I'm not really a fan of the "Antique" look and would have rather have had my kid's pictures in normal clothes but I just went with it. Today was the day I went back to view the photos and pick up my free picture. It's not just this photographer mind you because everyone does it (my pet peeve) Sears, Olan Mills, the pre-school photographer for the school, etc. Here's how it went down.
I knew before I got there the cost of the packages (starting at $129.95) so I thought maybe I'd buy just a couple of sheets if I liked some of the pictures. I knew there'd be some good pictures since my kid's thought the photographer was the funniest man on earth and couldn't stop laughing during the sitting. I walked in and he laid out all the pictures and the prices and walked away. At least there was no pressure. He had printed out 8x10s, 5x7s, wallets and proofs for each of 17 different poses. Sheets were $40 a piece and all the photos were great. The "goofed up" shot was Mason flipping Mia off but it was still darn cute. Truly, I don't know what he was doing with his hand... they're both laughing (smiling) but his middle finger is clearly alone pointing up. That would have been a good one to have for the scrapbook. Anyway, I don't know how I did it but I didn't buy anything. It was torture. So what is my pet peeve.... the knowledge that they're just throwing all those great pictures in the trash.

End of rant.

Rising from the ashes once again

I'm starting to see light at the end of the tunnel from being sick again. Easter was great, Monday was OK, then Tuesday it went downhill. Usually when I'm sick, I'm the worst in the morning and I feel better as the day goes on. This time it was reverse. As time ticked by I slowly turned into an invalid. Then came Wednesday when Mike had to come home and I slept for over 18 hours straight. To top it off the kids weren't sick. Thank god for TV because who knows what they would've been into with me passing out when their under my watch. That's one of my biggest complaints of being a SAHM, no sick days ever. I can't even drop dead because of the worry of who will watch the kids. Anyway, I'm awake and healing.
How did I get sick you ask.... well you didn't but I'm posing the question anyway. Every time I'm exposed to certain children, someone in my family is sick days later. Maybe I'm allergic to them or something. It's weird and I'm not making it up.... every time we spend any amount of time with these kids we're takin' down. Anyway, we've been locked up in the house for a couple of days now and my kids have cabin fever. Spring better come soon.

Happy Easter

I actually prepared Easter eggs this year. I figure egg salad sandwich... throw them in a salad they'll get used. I haven't had a hard boiled egg in a long time. Maybe if the kids see me eat one they'll want them too. The rest of the pictures are from the kids Easter egg hunt it wasn't so much as a hunt as a feeding frenzy. I think the kids had all the eggs cleared out in 5 minutes. This was are 3rd year going and the kids loved it. What's not to love? Free candy and lots of it. We had a great day today as well. I hope to have some time to better recap the weekend.

Good Friday

My mom was going to come visit Friday yesterday but due to a very sick dog (he's been at the vet ALL week) didn't come in case it wasn't good news when they called. Sooo, since Mike had the day off too we went to Meijer Gardens to see the butterflies. Around 11am or so it started snowing and we probably got around a foot of snow here. IT SUCKS! It was wild to be in this really warm atrium with butterflies, flowers, waterfalls and tropical plants and see the snow falling on the other side of the glass. We love going to see the butterflies every year and always take a ton of pictures. What do I do with the pictures of all the butterflies and flowers I take, um... nothing but nevertheless it still happens.

We usually take the time to walk around and look at the art both inside and outside too as they have a really nice outside area but it was too freakin' cold. I mean I barely survived the biting cold walk/run from the car and back. It took us well over an hour to get home as there were cars off the road everywhere and the average speed on the highway was 30 mph. There was a lot of crazy drivers... the ones that get so freaked out driving during a snow storm that they are more likely in reality to cause the accident then stay out of one by hitting their brakes to try to slow down and drive 30 mph in the passing lane. Mike says everytime, "I bet you it's a woman." I gave up being offended because every time we drove by and I looked.... it was.

Happy Easter!

Week of theater

So as I was browsing the local paper last Thursday and saw a not so local high school was putting on Cinderella and another more local school was putting on Beauty and the Beast. I've been meaning to take the kids to live performances but have missed the ones that I thought they'd do well at. So Thursday night I let Mia choose what she wants to see and she picks Cinderella since she saw Beauty and the Beast at WDW. Mason wanted to come too and since Mike was sick in bed I took both kids to get some culture. Let's just say there won't be any American Idols coming out of that school. In the opening act everyone pretty much had a role to say or sing and it was G** awful! (See how I tried not to take the Lord's name in vain there:) Just attended the reconcilatory mass last night so I can be better than sinning the day after I was absolved. Yay me!) Anyway, the kids really seemed to enjoy it. After talking to some people Friday day and hearing the Beauty and the Beast show was supposed to be good.... I packed up the family and dragged them to that show Friday night. It was the last performance so it was then or never. Mike was less than thrilled to be going since it was the first nice day all winter and I was dragging him to an indoor event but he eventually got over it. I think. When we arrived the show was sold out but they sold us tickets and let us sit in the balcony. We couldn't really see that well from a couple of rows back so the kids went up to the railing and sat on the floor. It was really very good... just a little long. The show started at 7pm and it was about 10pm when we left. Below is a picture of the kids pressing their little faces between the railings to see.

So we pretty much had a filled weekend. Thursday-Cinderella, Friday- Beauty and the Beast, Saturday- Christie/Mia had a tea party to attend and Mason/Mike went to an Outdoor Expo in Grand Rapids and saw the St. Patricks day parade. Then we arrived home around the same time and the kids were invited to a bowling birthday party (last minute) so we went to that too. Sunday- of course there's mass and then after lunch we went out to our friend's farm. They will be watching the beast for us when we go to Florida so we brought him out to get him acquainted with the farm. They have 2 horses, a goat, a chicken (that's all that's left) and some cats. I'm just tired. Yesterday was a blur in the morning, the running errands while the kids were at school, then home to finish St Pat's dinner (corn beef and cabbage) and then dragging the kids back out so we could go to mass. Today was no rest either. Mike got me up in the morning to run and then it was out the door to take the kids to their last swim class this season. Running late from that it was lunch at McD's and then off to preschool. Then I got to grocery shop which always takes me FOREVER and by the time I got home fed me, put away the groceries, it was off to pick up the kids again. I have to say McD's put me on the spot today. Usually, if I have to do McD's.... I buy an EV meal like the 10 piece chicken nuggets or 2 cheeseburger meal. I get the coke for me and then go home divide up the meal between the kids and give them milk. Yes, it's all because I'm a cheap bast*** (you can fill in the rest without me actually swearing). This time I go through the drive thru with my plan set in my head, look at the order menu and see Happy Meals are Disney Pirates & Princess. Plus there's a chance in each Happy Meal that you may win a "Dream Vacation". Well we are going to Disney pretty soon so why not. I hand the kids their respective meals as we pull away from the window.
Mason- You got us toys? (In total disbelief)
Mia- You got me a juice box?...Wow, I got a wand!
Mason- I, I, I, (stuttering because he's so excited) got a skeleton guy with swords.

Mom was loved today so Mom is happy.

Hangin' in the hood

Mason likes his "fire" hat so much he has taken to wearing it all the time. He's like a little gangsta' just kickin back with his pants hanging low. (That would be because the kid doesn't eat and is barely on the charts anymore for his age)

He is like his Dad in the fact that he likes cereal for any meal. He is a breakfast guy while me and Mia could really pass on breakfast. (unless it's bacon, who doesn't love bacon). Mia on the other had is all noodles all the time. We went to a Tea party Saturday morning and while there was cinnamon rolls, monkey bread, cookies, quiche, etc.... what does my little girl want? You got it 2 helpings of pasta salad. She's like me in the sense that I'll pass on something really sweet and stick with the appetizers. However she's not like me since she can handle 4 helpings of spaghetti and still be rail thin.

Anyway, picture of me and Mia Saturday morning.

Not one of the Chosen

Who would have thought enrolling in Kindergarten would be stressful. There are two schools that I'd like to enroll Mia in and we did attend both open houses. The first is done be lottery for new students. So about 40 spots for Kindergarten and you subtract spots for siblings of students already enrolled then have a lottery for the rest. Last year they had about 100 applicants and 25 spots. The other school would be "school of choice" for us and shouldn't be a problem getting in but there were a lot of kids at the open house and I won't know until May if she is actually enrolled there or not. Our neighbors child was "accepted" into the first school and there was a definite attitude about her being "Chosen". Needless to say we didn't tell them (or most people for that matter) that we were considering that school and applied since I didn't want to hear that my child isn't special enough to be "Chosen". While at my Moms meeting this morning one of the other moms mentioned that the lottery had already taken place as her friend's son had been accepted. So I come home and called the school. Mia is 29 on the waiting list. They told me the letters would me mailed out soon. So while I had joked this morning that she'd be getting a rejection letter for her application to Kindergarten..... she really is. That is nuts! Now if she doesn't get into the other school I'll be really panicked but powerless to do anything about it. So goes most of my life.
Also, this morning it was good to see that I didn't poison a new member's children. I dropped off a Blueberry bread to her earlier this week to say "Welcome to the neighborhood" and I thought as I looked at the ingredients on my counter it was milk-free. I remembered she had said her kid's had a milk allergy so I dropped it off and made a point of telling her it was milk-free. As I lay in bed later that night I kept thinking, "how can that bread not have milk?". As I thought about it more it definitely does have milk. It calls for sour milk so I had the milk set aside to sour when I was glancing at the ingredients on my counter. So what I was really saying was, "Welcome to the neighborhood and let me try and kill your children". I was unbelievably relieved to see them all healthy this morning. When I tried to call and warn her there was no answer and I just had visions of them all at the hospital. So that's one stress that I can let go.

Being a "Lurky Loo"

OK, Feeling semi- normal but haven't felt like posting. I do get on the web and lurk ALL THE TIME at other sites. I check out Jenn and her life pretty much every day. Do I know her? No! but somehow since I relate to her (and see a lot of myself there what with the sarcasm and Japanese parentage) postings I feel like she's a BFF. If she ever knew that she'd probably get a restraining order from the scary stalker chick.

I look a lot on the internet and belong to some forums but I hardly ever post. It's not that I'm afraid to put myself out there it's sheer laziness. What take the time to write a comment when I can be two clicks on another site already. What else do I waste my time on.....Webkinz. Mia only has one that she got at Christmas and I waited a few months before I entered the code on the site because I knew we'd have to "take care of it". What I didn't anticipate was how freakin' addicting it is to play the games.
Week One:
Mike- Are you playing Mia's Webkinz?
Me- I'm just playing to make her some money so we can get some stuff for her room.

Week Two:
Me- (to Mike) Hey, what's that game.... how do you play....can I have a turn.

Week Three:
Mia- Hey, are you playing my Webkinz? Oh Good, I want to play with my puppy.
Me- There you go honey.

Week Four:
Mia- Mom! When can I have a turn to play.
Me- It's my turn after your Dad.

Every night when I need to check e-mail and get some of my work (projects) done I tell myself, "just one quick game and then I'll log off". All of a sudden it's 10pm and I've got nothing done.

Head will explode

Okay day 8 of Antibiotics and I have a headache I can't kick. I've taken everything.... no dice. So I've just popped one of my sleeping pills hoping that I just pass out at this point. Only 2 more days of antibiotics left and the doc said that ALL my symptoms better be gone because of the length this sickness has dragged on. Should I be worried that I'm on day 8 of a 10 day prescription and my symptoms are far from gone.

Also, add to that that my loving dear husband has bought me the bean which we have been doing every night. It would be nicer had the hidden implication not been "I'm sick of seeing your fat ass.". At least he is doing it with me. We started doing push-ups and sit-ups (just like we were back in the military) every night before the bean showed up so I'm already sore. Now I could almost cry when I need to cough. Wonderful! Progress though since I can now once again sit up in bed in the morning. Now if I ever kick the head crap that's taking over my life, I'll make it back down to the treadmill for some cardio. I mean really it's in my basement in front of a TV, Totally do-able if I just didn't feel like crap 90% of the time. Feeling this way makes for some good parenting too. Just in case you were wondering. I need a weekend of feeling good by myself to just totally get caught up on everything I have going on. Don't think that will happen anytime soon though! I really need to find some good babysitters in my neighborhood.

Enough about that though since I can start to feel my drugs working their magic. Better go lie down. Sweet dreams!

Reading Olivia

I'm a sucker for children's books and have been buying them since before I even had kids. Whenever I flew somewhere in the military I always tried to come home with a children's book. (most of the time I wasn't able to get my hands on one). I really didn't buy your typical souvieniers though: children's books, music CD's, cookbooks, etc. Anyway, I love the Olivia books by Ian Falconer. I've borrowed them again from the libray (we go every week) and Mason has taken to "Olivia and the Missing Toy". I know I will be buying that one now. He not only wants it read over and over to him but he wants to read it to us as well.



If you don't have these books, I highly recommend them.

Girl Crazy!

Mia's last day of soccer was last night and it made me think of a video I shot last week. I was taking pictures of Mia and "her girls" at soccer and noticed Mason eyeing up his "girl". The last couple of weeks while Mia was in her soccer class Mason was entertained by two other little girls who must have had a sibling in Mia's class. They chased each other the whole time. The last 10 minutes of the class they let the parents and siblings come in to play. (This is the reason Mason has to go every week. He LOVES those 10 minutes). So while I'm looking for my kid's to take pictures I see Mason look for his girl and then beeline for her. Watch the video.

Also, when I was at Soccer I was the worst parent in the world. Every week Mason would end up hurting himself and some other adult would come to me carrying my crying child. Last week, he was playing with one of my friend's older son, Alex, (8) when Alex came running around the corner to tell me Mason needed me. As I'm calmly walking to where Alex came from... Alex, says "he fell on his head, he's hurt". Now I'm running. As I turn the corner there's a man surrounded by a bunch of other adults holding Mason as Mason is crying. I retrieve my child and am comforting him as Alex tells me they were at the top of the bleachers and Mason tripped then fell headfirst off the bleachers and onto the cement. He had just a little cut on his cheek and was fine minutes later. I can't believe he was so lucky. Later the same night he's playing with "his girls" on the bleachers and I tell him to get down, be careful. He says, "so I don't hurt the other cheek?" How about so you don't crack your head open! (I didn't say that just thought it). Yesterday, I'm talking to my friend while Mason is playing on the stairs (just 3 of them) about four feet away from me. All of a suddent this lady walks up to us carrying Mason and says, "is this your son?". She tells me he was stuck in the railing. Are you kidding me? Thank goodness soccer is over. I don't know if Mason could have survived it much longer.

Mia and her girls, Abby and Alyssa.

Mia's actual birthday

The presents were wrapped and waiting when she woke up in the morning. For some reason, even though she usually sleeps to 8:30-9ish she was up at the crack of dawn telling us it was her birthday. Her present from us was a "big girl" bike. Of course, I don't know if it's still considered a "big girl" bike when it has training wheels.

Later we packed up the cupcakes to take to school and headed out. It was snowing a LOT. I had told her we were going to eat at a restaurant that night since it was Ash Wednesday and Mike and I couldn't eat meat. I let the kids pick and will usually just make their favorite dinner however her favorites usually involve meat and I didn't feel like cooking twice.

Here she is dressed and ready for school. She said she was a "black birthday ninja"! Huh? OK. ...So after I drop the kids off at school I head to mass and the roads are really starting to get bad. By late afternoon all evening activities in the area are cancelling and Mike says, "no way, are we going out in that just to eat." Well, after I point out that I already told her we were going, I've got nothing ready to cook and I need to eat REAL SOON as I fasted all day (being the good Catholic) and can feel the headache coming on. We head out. Other than the weather it turned out to be a good day. She was happy so we were happy. Mason couldn't understand why she had more presents since he kept saying her birthday was over. (He means the party was days ago). He liked playing with her and her new toys though.

Note: I did go to the doctor today, you'll never guess. Hmmm. Sinus infection. Yep got antibiotics. I'll be thrilled to get that bill.

SICK! I surrender!

Okay about 2 months ago the whole family was sick. Mike was worse than any of us and ended up taking some leftover antibiotics to get rid of it (there were 9 left for once a day). I seemed to get better on my own. Then about a week and a half after I "got better" I started getting huge headaches that initially would go away with sinus/congestion OTC stuff but then got progressively worse and I started throwing up. I was throwing up mucus though so I'm pretty sure it's not migraine headaches. I did try my migraine medicine though and nothing I tried helped. Flash back in my memory to Spring of 1994 when I was seemingly fine (no cold) and I started getting headaches so bad I had to pull the car off the road if I was driving. Not good considering I was in flight school at Ft. Rucker, AL learning to fly Army helicopters at the time. I finally went to the hospital and they took x-rays to make sure I didn't have some kind of brain tumor. What showed up on the x-ray though was a huge cloud in my sinuses that they diagnosed as Sinusitis and prescribed me antibiotics. That was that.
Back to the present. I posted a while back that I started taking some left over antibiotics and they worked. I could not get the perscription refilled without an evaluation so I just decided to see how it goes. So I take the rest and am again seemingly better. Thursday I wake up with a sore throat. I cannot believe the amount of mucus that is coming out of me. I feel like a drug addict that's been taking Mucinex, Advil, Tylonel head congestion, Nyquil, etc..... I give up I promise I'll call the doctor tomorrow. It just kills me to go in when and pay that much money when I know what the matter is but I've been sick for about 2 months. I'm ready to have a productive day already rather than just going through the motions. I'm sooo far behind in e-mails, house cleaning, correspondence with family, teaching my kids something, EXERCISE, my on going projects....... I guess to sum up I really behind in being a friend, a wife and a mom.

Too good to be true

I should have known it was too good to be true. Last fall around September was when Mason finally just clicked into the whole potty training thing. After months of keeping his pull-up dry all night I just switched to underwear at night and it never was an issue. Well, two weeks ago he pee'd my bed after he had climbed in sometime in the middle of the night. It was a little weird since he didn't even wake up since this is the kid that if he gets a drop of pee in his underwear freaks out. A few days ago I made him wear a pull-up to bed because I hadn't put his clean underwear in his drawer (still sitting in the laundry basket, clean but not put away) and he started crying about how diapers are for babies and he's a not a BABY.
I was a little ticked about the accident since of course our bed doesn't have the waterproof pad on it. In fact, I had moved the waterproof pad to the bed in Mia's room to the bed he usually sleeps in and there's not even a pad on the bed in his room. Of course the kids wanted to sleep in Mason's bed last night and about 5:30am Mia comes in crying that Mason pee'd the bed and got her jammies wet. His bed is totally soaked: sheets, comforter and mattress. I just hope I got it all out of the mattress. So after months of not even one accident it starts. I guess I need to go buy a mattress pad for just in case.

I had planned on posting about Mia's actual birthday (Ash Wednesday) and some hair bows that I made but the cold that I thought was gone turned into a pretty bad sinus infection and although I'm not "cold-like" sick I was almost bed-ridden with headaches and throwing up. I finally started taking some left-over antibiotics from the last time and I'm actually starting to get some hours of no pain. Our insurance really stinks so I've been avoiding going to the doctor's office since I'll end up paying a couple hundred dollars just to get antibiotics. It really sucks when you KNOW what's wrong with you but can't do anything to make yourself better. We'll see what happens on that front as I only had 7 pills left (2 a day) and will have to call the office to see if they will prescribe more to knock out the infection. I know I don't have a medical degree but when it's something I've had before and the pills are working.... I'm trusting my self-diagnosis.

Mom jeans

I'm always on the hunt for a good pair of jeans. My favorite pair of jeans are over 10 years old and starting to wear at the seams. I have of course seen the Oprah show but I don't feel that a pair of jeans should cost almost $200. That being said if I tried on a pair of $200 jeans and it make me looke like a size 2 then I'd probably drop the money on them. My friend Susan told me that she heard the lighter color jeans are supposed to be coming back in style. I ran into the Gap last week and the lady working told me they were getting a bunch more colors that night so I asked her if it's true the lighter jeans were coming back. She said she didn't know but she said the high waist jeans are coming back. It made me think of this SNL skit Mom jeans. I don't want low cut and I don't want high waist..... why can't they make it in the middle. I think like keeping the average woman either looking like she's trying to be a teenager again (and the clothes clearly don't fit) or like I should join a shuffleboard tournament. Why should a good fitting jean be so ellusive? My loving husband the other day told me my "muffin top" has turned into a "loaf of bread". Think before you speak dear.

what does THIS dancer say about YOU?

Left brain vs. right brain.

This is so weird. I know e-mailed this to most everyone after my SIL e-mailed it to me. When I first looked she would only go counter-clockwise and I couldn't make it switch. Then I opened it again to show Mike and he saw it going clockwise. We sat there and argued about it since we were watching it at the same time. I opened it again today and it was going clockwise. The more I stared at it the more it randomly switched direction. It's nice to know I use both sides of my brain. Also, kind of shock that my ANAL husband doesn't see it going counter-clockwise. Which are you?

The Princess Party

This year Mia wanted to dress-up with her friends so we had a "party" Saturday. We only invited her "girlfrieds" and Mason was the lone male. I made flower cakes (forgot to take a picture of them), red punch, meatballs, a bowl of mixed fruit and every kids favorite- mac & cheese. We let them just play for awhile while us moms just sat around and talked. Gotta love it when the guest list includes your friends. Then we made crowns and wands. One little princess had to go home for a nap before we took the pictures but here are the rest of the little ladies with Prince Mason:

My SIL told me that whenever there is girls for a party there is ALWAYS drama. Thank Goodness we didn't have any of that! We did have a little prince pretending to be a monster chasing princesses and whacking them with his sword though.

There were times when Mason kind of questioned Mia's party. I'm not sure if he's putting together that she got a birthday party and he didn't. My poor Christmas Eve baby we'll do a half birthday party for you this summer so you can have at least one to remember.

Signs of non-active parenting

In our defense... Mike and I have been sick for almost the last 3 weeks. Two weekends ago was so bad it was like a movie marathon in our home. We were just so sick but the kids were fine. We were like, "How about a movie?".... two hours later, "How 'bout another movie?" and so on.
Yesterday Mia was watching a Wonderpets show and at the end the baby bee and mom bee were flying outside the hive.
Mia - "Where's the Daddy?".
Me- "I know he's probably working."
Mia- " I know! He's probably inside sitting on the couch watching TV".

Yikes! Do they really view us as deadbeats?

I'll post about the birthday madness tomorrow.

Deal of the day

I went to Younkers today thinking I would just look to see if they had any boy's winter coats on clearance. I usually buy my kids winter coats (& snowpants) for the next year when they're on clearance at the end of the season. I usually never find stuff in Mason's size and there was one style coat left on the clearance rack with a final price of $24. It was trimmed in blue and the next size up was trimmed in black which is what I would have preferred. So I decided I'd get it since I can always take it back if I find a better deal down the road. Then at the last minute I decided I'd go check in the "boys" section in case some clothes got misplaced. They did have one coat left overthere trimmed in black in 3T. So far so good. Then I noticed a rack of coats marked $14.99. The sign said originally $60-$45 and I saw 2 snow suits on the rack but they were marked originally $80. So I took one up to the counter and asked her if it was on sale. It was. So I got a snow suit for $14.99! It's a 4T so it will be probably 2 years before he wears it but $14.99.
The brand is London Fog. Not too shabby. She said I could have even used my coupon but I brought the wrong coupons which were dated Friday-Saturday. It would have been another 20% off.

In other news I've decided I'm pretty much done with the kid's rooms. I really messed up the pillow shams I was trying to do for Mason's room so I salvaged what I could and made pillowcases. Mason's bedroom is in the pic below followed by a picture of his bunk-bed bag that is on Mia's bunkbed. Below is Mia's room.

Have passport want to travel

So way back in August we talked about getting the kids passports in case Mike gets sent to Japan again. I also pointed out that if we should ever want to go to Canada or Mexico we now need passports. I finally got the kids applications put together over the Holidays and took them in on Friday Jan 4th. They weren't turned in early either since I needed to run home to write separate checks instead of the one combined total that I had ready. She said if I got the checks back by 4pm they'd go out that day. I think I delivered them around 3pm. Imagine my surprise when Mason's passport arrived Monday the 14th and Mia's the 17th. I was thinking it was going to take 3 months and it was less then 2 weeks. Impressive! Maybe we should take a winter escape to Mexico to test them out. I WISH.

Weather update here: SNOW, SNOW & more SNOW!

Sir Mason

Mason in his knight costume. Disney was having 50% off the sale price and I spent $5.99 for the costume, $2.99 for the sword and shield and $8.50 for shipping. CRAZY! Anyway the quality is great and he loves it. He's so short that when he puts his boot covers on you can't see his pants:)

The Next Mia Soccer Star

Mia had her first soccer class Tuesday. It all started out well but then about halfway through she sat down and refused to move. Then she came over to the side and told me she's bored. She said she knew how to play soccer and they weren't playing a game.

The last 10 minutes of class they let the siblings come out and run around. Mason LOVED it!

I'm going to have a hard time keeping him away from the class now that he thinks it's his class too. It was a little ridiculous that the kid's had 3 or 4 water breaks for a 45 minute class. My friend Becky said something though to the people that run the place so maybe it will be different next week. We signed up with some friends so Mia gets to see her friends and I get to see mine. She has asked repeatedly since then when "soccer practice" is again. I said, "why, you didn't play with everyone else". She claims she likes it. She said her favorite part is one the brothers and sisters get to come out. Of course, who wouldn't love a bunch of kids running around like mad. It's kind of like a a little mosh pit.

Here's Mia getting ready for soccer in her "Mia Hamm" soccer shirt she got for Christmas from the Ferg's. She keeps telling me she's "number 9". Very cool that she gets her own personalized shirt to run around in.

Valtrex

Mike and I were watching the pre-game for the OSU game yesterday (we won't mention the game) when a commercial for Valtrex came on. I started laughing because it made me think of the SNL skit with Alec Baldwin. When I watch SNL (once a month or so) I generally don't think it's very funny anymore but there are quite a few skits when I think of it that really crack me up. So click the link above for a good laugh.

Bunkbed Bag

Tried to get caught up a little today with some sewing and finally made Mia a bunkbed bag. It is a bag to hang from the rail in her bunkbed to hold books. I'm hoping this will keep them from ending up all over the bed and buried under the sheets. I'm also thinking of putting a pack of Kleenex in there in hopes that this will end the existence of the "booger wall". OK, maybe there's only one booger every few months but it still grosses me out.

A few months ago I decided to do Mason's room in an Airplane theme and finally made him a curtain. I'll take a picture of his room when I finally get around to doing his bedding.
I still have lots of ongoing projects but at least I got something done.

Christmas Sales are killing me

I just go to make a return and then I see something that I want (don't need) that's 80% off. I went into Kohl's to return a few things and see a table in the back that has their nice hardcover books for $2.50. Then the Christmas Corner. They had apothecary jars marked down from $40 to $8. They even come with the holiday stuff to put in them. Of course, I'll have to stash the holiday stuff until next year but I hope the jars look as good in my house as they do in everyone else's. I also got a new coat that I needed. What I need are some clothes but I either don't have the time to look or I'm not in the mood to try things on. After a break of just eating and PMS set in trying on clothes is some kind of torture.
Anyway, trying to gear myself up to run to the store with the kids today. Never a fun time.

Mia's Fake American Girl Doll

Mia had saw some ads in the Tuesday Morning ad in November for some Gotz dolls and commented on how she wanted one. The dolls in the ad (IMO) were UGLY! I'm not keen on the dolls with the crazy bangs. I did happen to go to Tuesday Morning later that week for something else and took a stroll down the toy aisle. I did find a doll that I thought was cute and for only $30.
I thought for $30 we'll give it a try as there's no way I'm spending a $100 on an American Girl Doll to have her destroy it or just not play with it. So my mom bought it from me and gave it to her for Christmas. She loves it. So far anyway.

I did find out yesterday though that there is a new American Girl doll out named Mia. Mia is a figure skater but is reddish blonde with freckles. She does resemble her cousin Bailey though (on left) who Mia also LOVES. So if I do decide to ever break down and get an AG doll. That may be the one.

I keep checking back at Tuesday Morning everytime I go to see if I can find another "cute" (I have my standards) doll to get for Bailey but so far no luck. I'll keep trying though.

Football is painful yet wonderful

I'll admit I was very pessimistic about watching my Wolverines play yesterday. Michigan never seems to play well after a break and I was wondering which Michigan team would show up to play. I've been a fan forever. I've been watching Michigan football since I was in Elementary school and even started attending some of the games when I was in middle school. Both my dad's grandparents moved their families to the Ann Arbor area for the express purpose of my grandparents attending Michigan. We (me and my Dad) are true blue Michigan fans. That being said we both know that the Michigan football team is bi-polar. They either come out and play INCREDIBLE or they come out and look like they're not even trying. So it was with anxiety and angst that I sat down to watch the game yesterday. True to form the game brought me nearly to tears while I cursed like I had Tourette's syndrome at the TV. But it the end, it was worth it.

Now that I live in a split household having married into an Ohio State family I'll have to root for the Buckeyes next Monday. Actually, I would anyway. If the school is not playing Michigan, I always root for the other Big 10 schools. Unlike my Father-in-law who hates Michigan so much he went out and bought an Appalachian State shirt. At least Mike suffered through the game with me yesterday cheering for Michigan. There could have been some blood shed had I heard any of those well-deserved anti-Michigan comments during the game yesterday.

What Boys Dream Of

When I went to check on the kids the other night I found Mia sleeping in the top bunk sprawled out among her dolls. Mason on the bottom was asleep with his football. I just had to get the camera. I was so scared that I was going to wake him up with the flash but he didn't even notice.

Well Santa thinks they were good

The kids in front of their haul. That's not even all of it. That's what we could make visible for a picture. Mike has five sisters so you can imagine the amount of gifts they get from Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents. As you may or may not be able to tell from the picture Mason just wants to rip into that box he has his hand on. Nothing fills you with Holiday Cheer more than screaming at your kids trying to get one good picture. First comes the challenge of getting them both within a couple feet of each other so they will both be in the same picture and to stay there. Followed by getting them to look at you, then look at the same time, then smile and finally to look and smile at the same time. Virtually impossible. It doesn't matter if Mike or I am manning the camera it always ends with one of us saying, "Well, that's as good as it gets. I think there might be one decent one in there."

Even Barley was happy with his gifts.

Keeping it separate

Christmas Eve is Mason's birthday and it's really getting to be a challenge for us to keep it separate from Christmas. We had hotdogs for dinner since that's one of Mason's favorites and tried to keep the day focused around his birthday.

The evening gets pre-empted for other programming however: Christmas mass and then preparing for Santa by laying out the cookies, carrots and beer.Yes, Santa gets beer from our family. We figure Santa gets milk from all the other kids and would probably enjoy a nice cold beer for all his efforts. I thought about celebrating his half birthdays with a party six months later since the poor kid never gets to have a party but that would make it days away from his cousin's who generally is visiting in Michigan at that time. I'm on the fence but I think we can manage a half birthday party in the summer.

Christie Rocks!

At least so far. Mike got Guitar Hero II for his PS2 and he tried it out yesterday. What we realized.... he sucks at it. So I gave it a go and am MUCH better. Hence, today when he went and bought new "shoot em' up" games that he's good at and told me he won't play Guitar Hero anymore because it's "impossible". It's nice to be better at something finally:)

The kids have been wanting nothing but to stay in and play with all their new toys. We dragged them out today to run to some stores: Target and ToysRUs. Mia got a giftcard to ToysRUs and they had the Leapster games BOGO free. So we drove to Muskegon (as the Holland TRU closed a couple years ago) and let her use her gift card to new games. We also went to Target where I bought wrapping paper, etc for next year and Mike finally broke down and bought some lights for outside. The kids have been asking us to make our house a "Christmas house" which in their lingo means put up some outside Christmas lights. I guess the two little wreaths I have framing the garage didn't cut it in their eyes. Now I have to wait almost a whole year to what I anticipate will be Mike on the roof with a lot of cursing.

I asked the kids what their favorite gifts were: Mason- "I don't have any" which means he likes it all. Mia- "the Leapster". So I guess getting up and going to Kohls on Black Friday was worth it.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Lights - TSO - Christmas Eve in Sarajevo - 2007

I'm thinking that we're going to the TSO concert next year. I think the kids we'll really enjoy it.

My Supermodels

Well for the first time Mason was actually used in the print ad for one of his modeling ads. He has had his pictures taken multiple times but in the end he never made the ad. This time he didn't take very good pictures. He always had fingers in his mouth, a finger up his nose or his tongue out so I'm pretty surprised that this was the time he actually made the ad. He's on the back page of the Meijer mid-week flyer.

Mike sent an e-mail and pictures to the kennel where we got Barley and Mia, Mike and Barley are now on the kennel's website.

In other news, today was the last day of school until after the new year. How will I survive?

Cotton candy, sweet and low, let me see that "crayon" roll

Decided last minute to make crayon rolls to stick in my "treat bags" for my kids in the Faith Formation class. So Tuesday night, up forever making crayon rolls and baking cookies.

I decided to use elastic to close rather than the ribbon that you tie because my kids can't tie yet.

The week before in the Faith Formation class the kids made St. Nick hats(mitres). Here's Mia and Mason wearing the one Mia made.

Just got back from my SIL's this weekend. She has an annual "wine and cheese" party and Mike and I have been lucky enough to go the last two years. It had been years since we made the one last year and I forget how much fun it is to be out. I got my mom to babysit and keep the kids for the night so we had a free ticket to party. The food is always FANTASTIC and the wine is great too. Since I've had kids though I only get to have a couple or more drinks and I'm done. Not because I stop myself but because I've become such a lightweight and will spend the rest of my evening "praying to the porcelain God" if I don't. Since most of Mike's family was attending the "Wine and Cheese" fest we decided to do his family Christmas today. The kids are so excited about their haul (presents) that I can't get them to go to sleep.

SNL Christmas Song

Too much going on to post to the blog today. This is to get you into the Christmas mood.

Naughty and Nice

This morning it was my friend Laura's turn to watch the kids for our kid swap and Mia was soooo naughty. I'm sooo sorry, Laura! I don't know why but when one kid is incredibly naughty the other becomes VERY good. Mason did everything I asked the first time and was very obedient. It must be some kind of natural offset. Thank goodness for that as I don't think I can handle them both being VERY naughty at the same time.
During my free time (probably Laura's hell time) I went to JCPenney and found these really cool shirts for $9.99 and they came with a toy. They had Transformers, Spiderman, monster trucks, etc. As I was first lured over by the Transformers I ended up getting the black glow-in-the-dark Spiderman one. It is sure to be too big but I know Mason will like it.
Mike went to pick up my finished Christmas cards at Walmart and again they were screwed up. So we had to go with a different card that they did there at the one-hour-photo but we got them for free. Thank goodness Mike went to pick them up because with my luck it probably would have been, "Screw you lady, Tough luck!". I find that Mike has much better luck with "customer handling" then I do except for the mitten incident of course.

My Customer Service Vent

Last week I ordered my Christmas Cards online to be picked up in the store at Walmart. I hate going to our Walmart. It is ALWAYS busy and trying to pay for anything is a nightmare since they only have about 4 lanes open for the whole store. I figured since I prepaid the cards just picking them up wouldn't be so bad. So for the card drama. I picked them up Saturday to get home and find out the wording is screwed up "on every card". So I call the store and they tell me to come in and redo the cards on the "one hour photo" machine. The Walmart parking lot was always packed out during the weekend so I waited to yesterday to go back. I then wait in line at the "one hour photo" machine for what seems like 20 minutes behind some lady that was ordering a few hundred vacation photos. It's finally my turn and I realize that they don't even have the cards I want on their machines. They said "Sorry, you'll just have to go home and redo them from there. Take these to the Service desk and we'll refund your money". So then I go wait in line at the Service desk. Never a small wait. I explain what happened to the Service person and say, "I really just want my cards since they were supposed to be done last week. I have to order them through the internet but I can choose the one-hour-photo option. Can you make up the difference of the cost since it was your mistake?". She says, "no" and hands me my refund. NEXT! Not only do I have to wait another week for my cards but I wasted a trip and my time going to the store for nothing. When I go shopping lately I feel like something is going to go wrong. It makes Christmas shopping all the more painful.

Bah Humbug!

Schweaty Balls

I was debating on what to make to take to my "Moms and Tots" cookie exchange and thought of this clip.

Where oh where has my lost mitten gone?

Okay I was a little ticked about Mason losing his mitten and I KNOW he lost it in the store so I call back twice that night, once Tuesday and then again today. Today she says, "Yes, we have it!" Great! I say, "Can you please put a note with our name on it and I'll be in to pick it up." She says, "no problem, I'll set out for you." So then I call Mike and ask him to pick it up. I get a call on my cell later. He went to Meijer and they can't find it. I tell him, I know they had it (the lady read me the word off the mitten) and she said she'd lay it on the desk. So he goes back, actually talks to the girl I had talked to who confirms she had the mitten and then laid it next to the cash register. They look everywhere they can think and it is gone. Now that it's determined that the mitten is no longer where it was they just turn their backs to him and walk off. Is it me or is that just rude? I know they're not responsible for lost items but when you find something and then lose it again doesn't that at least warrant an "I'm sorry about that". Now I'm more mad then if they had never found it at all.

On a good note, I went to the Rivertown mall and actually got some things accomplished. I had a coupon at VS that got me a bra and panties for $9, exchanged a lotion at Bath&Body works because I couldn't handle the smell of the old one, got the kid's 2007 tree ornaments (Mia wanted Barbie Island Princess and Mason got the black Spiderman), saw Santa, exchanged some shoe inserts (got home and find out they had given my men's last time), let the kid's run in the play area (the first ones in after it had been clean, BONUS) and found some long sleeve dress shirts for Mason that we're not plaid. Mason asked Santa for Transformers and Mia asked for a "real" cat. Santa tried to explain to her how he couldn't carry a real kitty in his bag with the presents because it couldn't breathe and how she would have to talk to Mom and Dad to see if they could work out the delivery for Santa. She just stared at him. He asked, "Is there anything else that you would like me to bring you?" More silence just intense staring. He told her to go home and think about what else she might like. I think Santa is now on her "list".

Catch up for another week

I'm just having trouble lately getting anything done. I did the craft fair this past week and it was really slow. I did OK for the amount of traffic that went through but it wasn't that great. If only I had some connections to get into some "busier" ones. Mike came home from his hunting trip today, THANK GOD! I had been pretty busy while he was gone and even went out of town right after the craft fair so it's not like I really had a chance to notice he was gone but my shopping trip to Meijer today..........Bad news. I pick the kids up from preschool and I tell them we have to go to Meijer and if they're good it will be really quick then we can see Daddy when we get home. I was pretty much screaming at them to sit down, behave, etc. I started out nice, calm but eventually I was starting to lose it and I could tell I was getting the "what a b****" looks from some other people. It's not like I spanked my kids although I sure felt like it. Then the wild man, Mason, ripped the string that I ran through his coat to keep his mittens from getting lost. He lost a mitten. They were expensive mittens too so I backtracked my steps like 5 times and what I think was 45 minutes. I went to the lost and found twice and called again tonight. No luck.

I have a pile of stuff to sort through on my desk...... time for me to try to catch up there as well.

Catch-Up

I know it's been a week since I last posted, I was getting so good at trying to post something every day. Thanksgiving was OK. It was just us at home and I spent a lot of time cooking and when we finally sat down (the kids sat down about 15 min. ahead of us and started grabbing food because they couldn't wait) it was done. Really in about 15 minutes we were stuffed. So then starts the clean-up. We watched the Lions play and lose so there was some tradition involved.

Me and my friend, Laura, were crazy and got up and went out Black Friday. She came and picked me up at 3:30 so we would be at Kohl's for their 4am opening. The line was already out in the parking lot and by the time the store opened the line was out past the end of the parking lot. CRAZY. It's not like we were there for something huge either, we were there for the Leapster L-MAX's that we missed out on at Meijer. As I'm standing there in line I say to Laura...." we should have taken the Meijer ad Monday to Walmart and just had them price match it." DUH! Instead we're up before the crack of dawn freezing out buttocks off for what better not be next year's garage sale toy. Later that afternoon.... I'm sick. I've been sick ever since but am gradually getting better. I've been sleeping in Mason's room though since I cough all night and don't want to get Mike sick before his hunting trip.

So I'm tired and sick.... Then I find out yesterday that I did get into the craft fair after all that is this Saturday. Now I need to start sewing so I have stuff to sell. Did I mention I'm tired. I'm getting pretty cranky too, this is my busy day so maybe that's part of it.

Day before Thanksgiving

Wow, since I thought I'd invite some people (family) over for Thanksgiving I bought a 18lb turkey. Now nobody else can make it and I can't really save the turkey because it takes up my freezer (actually it's defrosting now so I have my freezer back) so it looks like we'll be eating turkey for years to come. If you have good leftover recipes (preferably those that can be frozen) pass them on.

Bachelor news: I watched the Bachelor maybe a handful of times since it started.... I saw a couple of the first ones with this new Bachelor, Brad, and thought he seemed pretty "real". I saw in the news last night that he turned both girls down at the finale! That would have been worth watching as I'm never impressed with the women. Thanks for keeping it real Brad.

Leapster Blues

Yesterday was a whole lot of running around. I decided to get Mia this Leapster L-Max for Christmas. K-mart had BOGO games yesterday only so as soon as I dropped the kid's off at school off I went. They didn't have the games I wanted but I figured I'd buy what they had at comparable price and I could go back later to exchange. Meijer had the Leapster L-Max advertised as $59.99 which was much cheaper than the $69.99 at Amazon (price has already gone up). I went to both Meijer stores in Holland. GONE! Now it looks like I'll be getting up at 4am on Black Friday to try to get one at Kohls which is only $69.99 but I have the 15% off coupon. I have scoured the Black Friday ads with no other leads and I'm not going to pay more for it now. What kills me about these great advertised deals..... when they say stuff like, "at least 7 per store". That tells me one person probably went in and bought all 7 and the rest of us suckas that can't shop at the drop of a hat unless we lock our kids in the trunk of the car (just kidding, never happens) don't have a chance. At any rate, I guess I'll keep my eye out for awhile and hope it goes on sale before Christmas. I have no idea what to get Mason. Isn't Christmas shopping supposed to be fun? I just want it to be over. Maybe it just seems worse since I have the birthday presents to think of too.

Bee Movie- B minus

We went and saw the Bee Movie yesterday. I didn't think it was all that great. The kids seemed a little bored too. Mason's favorite thing? That he ate popcorn the ENTIRE time. I thought for sure he was going to make himself sick as I'm pretty sure that he ate more than the rest of us combined.

Mia woke up this morning... she's in a great mood, she's dressed and ready to go. I'm not sure how to handle this as I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. Of course, Mason is not awake yet so maybe her mood is to offset his. Time to wake him up. Wish me luck.

Mia gave her Locks for Love

Today was to be our "girls day". Mia got to wear eye shadow and lip gloss and then we went to get her hair cut. She seemed to really enjoy all the attention she got in the hair salon. When I originally said we were having a girl's day I was thinking of getting a manicure, taking her for "tea" or something similar, maybe some shopping...... What it turned into was just wearing make-up, getting a toy and going out for dinner. I guess I have to wait a few years before we get what I consider to be a "girls day". She seems happy though and genuinely excited to be giving her hair to some other little girl so I'm glad for that.

Here she is right after the Big Cut.

And at home after a little more styling.