Potty Power Please

Thought for the day...."Please don't pee your pants!". This morning I'm trying to round up the royal heirs to go to their preschool open house. Mason has flat out told me when I ask, "Why? Why? Don't you use the potty?"..... "Because I want you to do it". Great! You get a kick out of me wiping your butt. He did pick out his underwear this morning, we shall see. Maybe the soiling of the underwear is a treat reserved for mom and he'll be fine at school.
Last night, we took our last trip to Sam's Club (as my membership expires at the end of the month and I've already bought a Costco one now) and bought Mia the el-cheapo Sleeping Beauty costume. I was going to buy from mydressuptrunk.com but just couldn't justify buying 5 dresses (of course, I'd HAVE to buy the package). Mia has said she wants to be Jasmine so I've bought the patterns and will attempt to make it. The Sleeping Beauty is my back-up in case I screw it up which is highly likely. Anyway, off to start the day.

Mike's Kayak

My favorite thing about Mike getting a Kayak?...... I get some alone time:) I say there's no room for me. He says, "there's room for everyone"....hmmmmm......maybe next time.
There's about 2 weeks left until school (OK preschool) starts and Mason will be starting this year. Of course, that's contingent on him using the potty but I think when he realizes his alternative is to stay home with me the potty will be "sweet freedom". I've been feeling really stressed lately. Just overwhelmed really, so much to do-no time. I was even contemplating getting a prescription for the "happy" drugs but I think once I have a little break maybe I'll return to normal.
Here was my big freak out of late. Well, internal freak-out. Those who know me know I'm not exactly the church lady type. I was a military pilot in my past life and frankly a little uncomfortable around other women and children. Now as a SAHM I try to get involved, I mean I can't continue on with no friends and live like a hermit in my house right? So now that we finally attend church on a regular basis (we weren't good about that before the kids came) I've become the "moms and tots" leader/coordinator and my neighborhood network coordinator. The moms group thing doesn't really seem like a lot of work since I've finally met some friends. It's become less about the kids and more about ME. Well, I recently volunteered to be an aide for the Faith Formation classes. At the meeting I realized I'm not an aide, I'm the teacher! FREAK OUT! Me a church teacher? I envision my phone ringing of the hook with angry parents wondering just what did I teach their little one. I do have the 4 year olds and Mia will be in the class. Mia is doing pretty well so maybe a few hours with me won't damage other children too much.
Anyway, I've been lurking on other sites/blogs for awhile. Some of them I just love but alas it's no good for me to just make virtual friends. I spend way to much time on the computer as is. It has inspired me to update my own blog though. So if you come by, read the blog, leave a comment to inspire me to update more often.

Wow! Haven't updated since New Years. Too much has happened to write a catch-up so I thought I'd just post a few pics. Top left is obviously the Magic Kingdom in WDW, top right is the four of us at Sarah's (Mike's youngest sister) wedding and the last pic is the kids on the stairs of the Capon House during Tulip Time. May was a whirlwind of activities and just flew by. Of course, I have a ton of projects in the works and really have finished nothing too! I'll post again soon but have to run.... sooo busy.

A day at the beach. We decided to go for a family stroll on the beach yesterday. Mason made a beeline for the water and was not too happy that I wouldn't let him get close. I think he actually thought he was going for a swim. Barley had fun chasing all the birds, he sure seemed like he had a good time. I personally prefer the beach in the summer. This is the closest we've got to taking a family photo with the lighthouse, "Big Red", in the background.

All the kids have been to the doctor for checkups this week. Mia is now 35 lbs. Mason is 25 and Barley is 27. Barley has already passed Mason in weight. I think we have a few years before Mason passes him back:)

Mason's 2-year birthday!

Since it's Christmas Eve it was just us as everyone we know is pretty much gone out of town celebrating the holidays. We still had lots of fun.

Some sewing projects that I've done. I can sew can you believe it? Mia modeling the 2 jumpers and she is wearing the one to go see Santa. She picked the clothes underneath:) I made the pink Satin PJ pants for me and Mia but not the shirts. Also, was feeling pretty crafty with the pretzel snacks that I made for Mia's preschool class.

Just a little update. For most of you that know me this is old news. The past week has been absolutely miserable. Mia had the modeling job from hell Wednesday. I was told a "client" wanted her for the cover of a magazine. I should bring pink tops and not feed her lunch as she will be eating chocolate cupcakes for the shoot (and may have to eat a lot of them). The shoot was scheduled at 12:45 in Benton Harbor. My friend Laura watched Mason and I told her I'd be back around 3pm since these shoots can go quick or last over an hour. I thought I was being conservative. I dropped Mason off at 11:15, picked up Mia from preschool at 11:30 and drove straight to the shoot. Mia says she's hungry and is almost crying that I won't feed her. I arrive at the shoot to find they have booked 2 other girls for the same job and they have scheduled a minimum of 3 hours. (I call Laura in a panic who tells me not to worry). At about 1:30 "they" come out look at the girls and decide to start with the one who has the thickest/longest hair since "it will take longer to do". We sit with no word until they come out at 3:15 and release us. Soooo, Mia never even got her pictures taken. At least we still get paid and Mia got her cupcake. Since I'm not a big breakfast eater I was ready to eat the magazines in the waiting area! I guess I need to ask a lot more questions next time they call one of the kids for a job. To top of the day's fun Mason started vomiting at 9pm and it took until Friday before he could even keep down water. Fun, Fun! Mia was the neglected child and I felt bad that she was pretty much ignored while I tended to Mason. She of course vomited after dinner last night. Luckily that was it. I kept her home from school today but I think she is just working it for the attention. She seems perfectly fine (and has since about 9am) but if she doesn't like what you want her do do, wear, eat, etc..... she says she's sick. Yeah right.
I guess I should be thankful this was before the Holidays and not during Mike's hunting trip (knock on wood, rap.... rap....rap).
So sick kids.... and Bo died.... and Michigan lost. Bad week.
We did manage to sneak in getting our family pics done Sunday after mass. Our first family photo that has Mason in it. The kids thought it was fun and it only took about 15 minutes to take the pictures.
Anyway, hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween! Top: Mia and Mason in front of our house. Middle: The trick-or-treating gang at the Snook's house. Bottom: Trick or Treat bags that my friend Shannon made for the kids. It was sooo nice outside Monday night but of course cooled way down for Halloween. We set out our treat bowl so we could both go with the kids and of course our bowl was empty shortly after we left. So much for honest kids. My friend Laura told me she still had candy left in her bowl when she came back and that was after she saw a group of teenagers leaving. I guess the kids in my neighborhood are a little less morally conscience. Now that Halloween is over I've turned into the candy Nazi. Letting the kids have one piece after lunch and one piece after dinner. Mia has tried to help herself a few times so now I get to add in the fun of hiding the candy. They were cute in their costumes though.

We ate our last apple Sunday morning so since the weather was nice we decided to go to Crane's and get apples one last time (yesterday was the last day for the u-pick). We've never eaten in the restaurant but we can attest that the cider and donuts are killer. The apples were darn good too (we like Jonagold). If you've never been you should check them out sometime http://www.craneorchards.com/. I can't wait until the kids are old enough to try out that maze.

Last Wednesday at our Moms and Tots Halloween party. This is the best pic that I could get (hopefully Becky or Meg got a better pic) but it's pretty good considering our subject matter. We are missing a little Dalmation pup, he ran off before I could snap the pic. There was lots of treats, lots of mess and lots of energy:)

Ladies Night Out (Oct 19th) this month was at Paint a Pot from 6-8 followed up by the Curragh at 8 til about 10:30. Paint a Pot was fun but was a bit like playing beat the clock. I was painting up to the last minute and definitely needed the beer (and good conversation) at the Curragh to bring me back to a calmer state.

Laura Pohl adding the finishing touches on her masterpiece.

Claudia's new Halloween Candy bowl, Awesome Baby!

Me pushing it to the last second.

Others that came to Paint-a-pot that I missed getting pics of: Carrie Rutkoski and Becky Loeprich.

At the Curragh (we forgot to take the picture until almost ready to go, sorry we missed you in the pic Claudia). From left: Laura Pohl, me, Becky Loeprich, Megan Macina, and Becky Karner.

OK, just finished my first sewing project. Mia REALLY wanted to be a witch for Halloween and I couldn't find a costume I liked that was under $40 or not incredibly short for a 3 year old. I had cut out the neck too big but I think I fixed it well enough. Mason is to be a frog for Halloween (Thanks Shannon for the costume!) but I can't get him to even put it on. Mike thought if we can get him to wear it for a couple of days like pajamas to bed he'll get used to it but unfortunately he took it off. I'm not sure if we'll get a costume on him or not. Fabric was only $1.99 a yard and I used 2 and had a lot left over, plus I had to hem a lot so I got off pretty cheap. I just can't believe I took a piece of fabric and made it into a dress. Wonders never cease:)

Last Thursday I got to meet with my Aunt Ali and Uncle Cliff for a couple hours at McDonald's. They live in Florida (I haven't seen them in probably 8 years) and were traveling by on their way to my Cousin Greg in Mancelona. They had at least another 4 hours in the car to go so I was happy that they made the time to stop and visit if only for a short while. It was the first time for them to see Mia and Mason in person, lots of changes since the last time we saw each other. Time flew by and of course the visit was way too short to really catch up. The kids were starting to get a little cranky and fell asleep as I was pulling out of the parking lot. Hopefully, it won't be another 8 years before we get to meet again.

Just wanted to test my ability to add pics.

"Go Blue!"

OK, I was told since I send out sooo much e-mail that perhaps I should think about starting a blog. So I guess I'll give it a try. This probably confirms to my husband that I have too much free time on my hands but I believe it's more about ranting and maybe a kind of therapy. I have way to much stuff on my plate at the moment so I need to have an instant gratification that something is done. If I see myself published here that's something right?

My first post is the fun flower thing that I did from my friend/neighbor Shannon's blog.

It's a start.

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

I am a Snapdragon

"Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the prankster that loves to make other people laugh."