Tabula rasa

So...

2011-03-08T15:56:00.002-07:00

On the way home from school today MiKael said...."Didja know that Mater is a ROCKSTAR?!"

Hum...

2011-02-21T20:15:00.001-07:00

Methinks it's time to get over here and edit some things.

And maybe, just MAYBE....

write something?

*silently wonders if anyone will even see this post...it's been a long time...*

Zander's track creations

2009-03-09T14:42:00.001-07:00

A glimpse into our future?

2008-08-23T18:41:00.004-07:00

Hopefully not.

Yesterday (while taking Zander to school) MiKael tripped on the sidewalk. Roadrash on his ankle, also a bump and a bruise.

MiKael starts running a fever of 103.

Give MiKael Motrin.

Today...

MiKael wakes us up at 6am. Crying. (he's fine, just upset about something)

Fever is gone.

Zander wakes up cause of MiKael crying.

Zander slips in bathtub. Gets bruise on cheek.

Zander falls down and bangs his knee. Bruise and limp.

The boys nap.

Zander wakes up and tells us his tummy hurts.

Zander throws up.

MiKael eats cereal and swallows piece whole. It gets stuck. It hurts. MiKael throws up trying to make the cereal move.

MiKael gets cleaned up.

Josh looks in MiKaels mouth. He has a new tooth and another one **trying** to poke through.

MiKael throws fit. Mommy gets him a drink just like Zander has. Fit stops.

All is calm...for the moment.

Oh yeah, somewhere in there MiKael peed on the couch. And the futon. And in the toilet. And the potty chair....Last night Zander also biffed it, fell flat on is face. Face bounced.

Literal Thinker...Part 2...and 3

2008-07-11T15:53:00.003-07:00

Lately it seems that we are being shown (on a daily basis!) how Zander thinks. For those of you who know of the show Word World, this one will amuse you. For those of you who don't know the show they have an episode on the website, it's one of our favorite shows.

I told Zander this morning that Jordan would be coming over to our house again today. Zander, of course, was all excited. He's asked me at least every five minutes since I told him, "Where's Jordan?" I'd was telling him that Jordan was in the car on his way here. I got a phone call while Zander was napping today, my brother and sister in law are having problems with their van (fuel filter or pump, niiiice).

Zander woke up from his nap and instantly wanted to take a bath (he wanted one before naptime, but he was stalling so I said no). This time I let him jump in, with is bath toys (plastic boats and foam letters). Sometime when he was in the tub he remebered that Jordan is on his way to our house and asked me again, "Where's Jordan?". I told Zander that their van broke and they had to fix it, but they were still on their way and would be here tonight. All the sudden he says, "Jordan is so disappointed." (or appointed if your Z.) Then he says, "Zander can fix the van!!" Then he starts grabbing letters out of the tub...I was confused. And then, it hit me...

"It's time to build a word! Let's build it! Let's build it now!"

Yep, he "built" a van.

I can't wait to tell my brother that he has a brand new van built entirely out of foam bath toys!

AND THEN...

When it was time to get out of the tub I told Zander he had to pick up his toys. He started right in but then about halfway through he decided that he was done and told he could get out now! Haha! MiKael was still playing in the tub so I told Zander that he had to pick up five more letters and he could get out. He ever so sneakily looked around the tub, reached down and handed me...the number 5! Goober. I told him he still had to pick up four more letters. He quickly grabbed two random letters and tossed em in the storage thing, telling me that he was done now. This time I told him he had only put three letters away and that he had to get two more...again he looks around and reaches down and hands me two pieces. Can you guess where this is going? He gave me the numbers 1 and 2!!

Literal thinker

2008-07-01T08:43:00.003-07:00

Yesterday Zander woke up from his nap saying that he had a hurt. Upon inspection his hurt came from the band on his too tight underwear. He had a red line/crease along both of his sides and it generally looked uncomfy! He also had on an uber baggy tshirt, so I let him just wear that around so his "hurt" would go away. After a while I realized that it was about time for the crew from WY to get here and Zander needed to put pants on. It went something like this...

"Zander, it's time for you go get some underwear on so your not half naked."

"I don't want to!"

It told him that Jordan (cousin) would be here in a little while and it would not be appropriate to be half naked and then told him..."Zander, it's time to get some underwear on and put your penis away."

"No Mommy! I don't want to put my penis away. I don't want to take my penis off, I want to leave it on!!"

He was so concerned that I was going to make him physically take it off that he was spazzing out a little bit!

A few pictures from today

2008-06-27T19:57:00.004-07:00

Ok, these pictures are from today. They are out of order, but I think you can handle it. I don't exactly feel like fixing it at the moment, I have a bit of a headache. Anyway this morning we went to play at the park, then after naptime I took the boys to McDucks to the playplace. They had a lot of fun at both places and they are thoroughly worn out tonight! :)

Update

2008-06-26T15:02:00.002-07:00

I went in and got the steroid shots for my right wrist today. I can't tell you how better I already feel, it's amazing! Plus...I've worn my wedding ring and anniversary band for the last 3 days and it's FIT. As in...it fits like it should. It's comfortable! The last I don't know how long I'd wake up in the mornings and my rings would be too tight to wear, puffy hands. That's not been happening! I take them off to do the dishes and I can put them right back on and not worry about puffy, evil night swellage.

I'm a happy camper right now.

Zander? He's a goofy goober...here's the proof...

Holy.Cow.

2008-06-23T16:36:00.003-07:00

Ever think you log online to do something only to realize later that you did not? And it's happened for a long time? Yeaaaaah. I just did that.

Blogging things in your head is not very productive unless you actually get your butt to a computer and blog about whatever. It's been a (good) kind of crazy around here. Spending time with the boys, having fun this summer. I guess I've thought about blogging some, just didn't get there cause I was busy doing summer things. Without a camera *cringe* I have got to start taking more pictures again or I'll be kicking myself later!

The boys are getting big and doing great. MiKael is talking more and more, getting frustrated at times cause we should understand him! LOL Some words are clear and some words...he thinks are clear. And they are words, cause he'll say the same thing looking in the same direction every time. He has a really soft voice though and won't seem to speak up, so for now we just try our best. He's on a huge Bob the Builder kick right now and constantly wants to "figgit!".

Zander is all things numbers (or bumbers) and letters lately. He loves watching SuperWhy and WordWorld, both which do with letters in every show. These are 2 I don't mind letting him watch cause he really is absorbing and learning. He also loves Curious George. I'm trying to read more of the Curious George books to him than letting him watch though. Too much screen time isn't good for anyone! He loves the books and if I pause in (some of) the stories he'll fill in the words..."This is _____. He was a good little monkey and always ____ ______." (George, very curious) etc, etc, etc.

Me, you ask? I called the Orthopedic Surgeon's office last Friday after having a really bad hand/wrist day on Thursday. I nearly cried my wrists/hands hurt so bad while cutting up the boys fruit for lunch. It had been a painful day already, but that sorta sent me over the edge. I was still having pain issues on Friday (meds only seemed to dull the pain, not really help like they had in the past) and then when I gave the boys breakfast and lunch...I moved wrong and wound up dropping their food on the floor cuase my wrist caught/hurt. Such fun. Bagels smeared w/cream cheese and pizza face down, on my kitchen floor. That was really the last straw. I called the OS's office after pizza sauce and cheese had been cleaned from the floor and made an appointment to see him this morning (since they would not let me talk to him on the phone). I go in today and he gave me a steriod shot in my left hand. If I notice improvement in the next few days (which I already have) I'll go in on Thursday and he'll do the right hand too. So, hopefully I'll be good on the whole wrist/hand pan/tingle/numb thing for a good long while. If not, I'm not sure what I'll do but I'm happy and optomistic about it all right now! :)

And that's our update for now. I'll try to be back soon, but I make no promises. Zander is in all day preschool next year, I think it'll be good for him but it's making me want to spend lots of time with him over the summer. I'm working on getting a schedule/routine down in the mornings and if I can manage that I'm going to pencil in some blogging time while the boys watch SuperWhy or WorldWorld, depeding on the day...at least that's the plan!

Whiner boys

2008-06-05T10:29:00.002-07:00

It's rainy and cloudy today...a cool 52 degrees.

Zander is in a growth spurt.
(which is kinda freaky considering he's in 5T clothes, already 45 pounds and just over 3.5 feet tall!)

MiKael is getting molars.

We're about to do lunch and then snuggle up on the futon with a movie...lots of pillows and blankets! Hopefully the veg time will mellow everyone out.

Orthopedic Surgeon

2008-06-05T10:15:00.004-07:00

Well, I saw him on Monday to go over the test results from the Neurologist. What fun. Again I was told that everything looks good and normal. OS told me that he still thinks I have carpel tunnel, I'm just one of the 3-5% that have "normal" readings on the nerve tests. OS also thinks that what I'm dealing with is mild so for now, unless/until things get worse...we're just trying to manage it. (The other day I was folding/hanging laundry and I went tingly/numb from my fingertips to my elbows, blah.)

As for the loss of strength in my hands, he told me to get a stress ball and some marbles (putty too!) and exercise the muscles.Follow up in 3 months. If the pain/fatigue/numbness gets worse then we'll see about some steroid shot. No surgery for now, it's not bad enough. Oh yeah, wear wrist splints at night so I don't tweak em funny in my sleep.

So, I suppose it's good and bad news. I'm still frustrated. I have an answer but not a definite plan of action, long term wise. No magic fix. There are things that I struggle doing on a daily basis and things I just don't do because I don't feel I can do them and be safe. (Taking things out of the oven that weigh more than a frozen pizza, use a pizza cutter, peel fruit, work with textures, some sets of weight lifting-no matter how light the weight is, vacuuming, etc, etc, etc...)

I was left with the question, if it isn't bad enough to do something about...what is?

*whiner*

Neurologist...nerve test...

2008-05-30T19:01:00.002-07:00

Well, he kept saying that things looked good. He wouldn't diagnose carpel tunnel based on the results of the test, it all looked normal.

I got a call today from the Orthopedic Surgeon and they want me to come in on Monday to go over the test results. They have the previous nerve test that I had done back when Zander was a baby. So, I think we'll go over both and try and figure this thing out.

Seriously, I just want to figure this out and get back to "normal"...whatever that is.

Learning to talk is SO MUCH FUN!!

2008-05-22T07:58:00.000-07:00

Doing the Doctor Dance

2008-05-12T11:33:00.002-07:00

So, my wrists and hands have been bothering me again lately. It's been a while since they have but I figured this time I'd get to the doc and get it figured out before it got as bad as it did last time. Sooo...this is how it's going so far....

I went to my Primary Care Doctor.
Primary Care Doctor referred me to an Orthopedic Surgeon.
Saw the Orthopedic Surgeon.
Orthopedic Surgeon is referring me to a Neurologist.
I'm waiting for a phone call to set up that appointment.

Meanwhile I've got to call our old insurance/doctor and get some medical records sent over to the new doctor so when I see the Neurologist they can compare the results from the nerve tests. FUN STUFF!!!

Gotta love $1 toys from Target

2008-05-01T15:10:00.005-07:00

This is the best $2 I've spent in a loooong time! Check it out...

New haircut for MiKael

2008-04-25T14:06:00.004-07:00

I thought this was too good to keep to myself, enjoy! :)

I know this last one is a little blurry but I love his expression!

Long time, no blog...again

2008-04-25T14:03:00.002-07:00

This time I just felt like I didn't have anything wonderful to say. We've been doing good, just nothing earth shattering to report. I didn't want to fester in negative stuff so I opted not to write. That makes it sound like it's been a bad little while and it really hasn't been, I've just been in random bad moods. For some reason those random bad moods were the times I thought about posting, so, I didn't. Nobody wants to hear me whine!! But I'm back today and going to give this another go...again. I'll always be back, even if it is more than a month later.

A case of the minor sickies

2008-03-11T10:08:00.002-07:00

MiKael has had a fever since Friday. Now he's snotty and has this unique cough to go along with the fever.

Zander is fine.

Last night I got a sore throat and major thick drainage going on. I'll be back to posting more when I fell a tad bit better. Right now I just want to take a nap. In the recliner. Sitting up.

Sitting in my driveway...

2008-03-05T10:15:00.001-07:00

There is one pair of snow covered flip flops.

The bus

2008-02-28T09:11:00.002-07:00

The bus that Zander takes to school has 3 older boys that usually ride in the back. Now, by older I mean like 3rd or 4th grade. One of the boys looks like he might be Indian, one of them is black, the other one is white. This morning I caught a segment of a conversation between them...

Indian boy to white boy: You got any brothers?
*White boy shakes his head*
Black boy: My brother's dead...my mom's in jail...an I ain't ever known my daddy.

On a completely different note, Zander was in a great mood this morning and literally RAN to get on the bus! It's been a while since he's been that excited to get on the bus. He's growing up so fast, how does this happen??

Spring??

2008-02-21T16:44:00.002-07:00

Almost here!!

this past week in stores I've seen...

lawn chairs

kites

easter dresses

sandals

YAY!!

bring it on

Sunny and 65! :)

2008-02-13T14:20:00.003-07:00

We took advantage of the sunshine and all around nice day today. Tonight it's turning cold, overnight low of 29 with snow. Tomorrow the high is 29 and it's suppsota be snowy. Friday, you ask? They are saying it will be Sunny with a high of 37 and the next week after...all in the 40's! Woohoo...so...here ya go!

Puzzle boy

2008-02-13T14:16:00.002-07:00

Silence...

2008-02-07T18:22:00.000-07:00

Is what I long for! Haha!!

Tomorrow I'm taking the boys to my brother/sil's house for the weekend. It's just going to be me and Josh. It's going to be great!

And now a few pictures from the past few (loud and crazy) days around here...

"I don't wanna share!!"

"I really don't wanna share!!"

"Neither do I...I'd rather horde the cars and trucks!"

More snow...

2008-01-30T20:16:00.000-07:00

Yippie!

Delays in Posting

2008-01-30T12:43:00.000-07:00

Zander has been sick. He was sick Sunday night and Monday morning and started to get better throughout the day Monday. He's still not back to his usual self, but he's getting there...slowly. He's really short tempered and at times he acts like he's not feeling so good. Other times he's running around acting happy, like nothing is wrong...but he still has that look to his eyes. Know what I mean? So, yeah...please pray for my boy, that he gets to feeling his usual self soon.

Dinner tonight

2008-01-25T17:57:00.000-07:00

Zander scooted his chair over to me and he looks up and says....

"So, hows school today? Go school bus?"

Oh, and yeah, he doesn't go to school on Fridays!

Who woulda thought??

2008-01-23T17:27:00.000-07:00

It's 5:28pm, do you know where your kids are?

Mine are asleep, taking late naps. About the time that I'd normally get them up for the afternoon, that's when they actually fell asleep.

Now I'm sitting here. I don't know what to do with myself....

Laundry: washed, folded and put away.
Dishes: washed and drying.
Dining room: swept, mopped and generally cleaned.
Living room: neat and swept.
Workout: done! :)

This never happens...I suppose I could read the book I've been wanting to get into.

And for anyone who cares, since the first of the year I've broken my weight loss plateau! I'm down right around 4 pounds. I know, it's not much but I'm excited!

Gripe of the day

2008-01-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

Snow...everywhere. It's flipping cold. Blah.

We had a good Christmas, a great Christmas. But seriously, I've lost my holiday spirit. I think it passed with the first of the year. The snow can go away now. And really, what's up with the high of yesterday? Nine degrees? NINE?!

sigh

Bring on Spring!

MiKael

2008-01-18T20:28:00.000-07:00

So, this lil guy has really been watching and immitating his big brother lately. I seem to notice it most at the dinner table. If Zander takes a drink, MiKael will suddenly drop the food he has in his hand and grab his cup (all while looking out the corner of his eye at Zander) and start to take a drink.

He's also started to pick up on the ABC song and counting. Tonight at dinner it was..."One...Tooooo...EIGHT!"

I really need to take some pictures of the boys and get them on here. Hopefully that'll happen in the next few days. They really are getting big!

Night all, it's been a long couple of days!

I Confess

2008-01-14T20:49:00.000-07:00

I have become phobic about something really stupid. I've become phobic about getting sick. Me getting sick, Josh getting sick, the boys getting sick. For some reason the thought of someone being sick really freaks me out.

I think it started somewhat when I was pregnant with Zander and all the hype about the flu shot. Blah, blah, blah. Enter Preemie #1 and I was worried about his underdeveloped lungs so I really didn't want him to get sick. We pretty much kept everything low key that winter. He was fine, didn't get anything worse than a cold. I got to a point where sick just happens and you deal with it, really not a big deal at all.

Then when I got preggers with MiKael there was the whole flu shot thing again. It was like if you got the flu it was sure you were going to die. Better get the shot! (For the record, I didn't.) Enter Preemie #2 and again I was worried about him getting sick. But this time his lungs were ok and didn't require him to be on oxygen after he was born. I was much more relaxed and not as worried about him getting sick.

And all the sudden it happened. MiKael got a cold when he was 2 months old. Fast forward a week and he was in the hospital for 3 days with RSV. I think this was the moment where I slowly started to become phobic about being sick.

Someone talks about being sick and my stomach drops. It's no good. I don't even like to look at the weather channel website cause they have banners of people laying in bed with thermometers hanging out of their mouths. I get to thinking things like "what if we get the flu?!" and I'm all paranoid about it. Blah. I get that thought in my head of "what if" and it just feeds on itself and gets worse and worse.

So, there ya go. That's my confession and I don't know what to do about it. I'm sick of it and I want it to go away, but how? Am I alone in this? Any suggestions on how I can stop the cycle would be appreciated.

By the way, if someone does get sick we deal with it and go on. It's not the end of the world if myself or one of the boys gets sick. It's just me way over thinking things that is the problem. How do I just let it go?

Ouch

2008-01-09T19:18:00.000-07:00

Sometimes taking responsibility for your actions (or your kids accidents) really "hurts".

I have a library book that accidentally got knocked in the bathroom sink. It got knocked in the sink while Zander was busy washing his hands. Yep, yep. The book got wet. Not totally soaked, but bad enough. I thought that when Zander brought it in to me (saying, "oh man" all disappointed like) that we would be paying for the book.

Tonight I went in to the library to pick up some books that I had placed on hold. I'm still reading the book that got wet, so I didn't return it. (Yay, it's still readable!) I asked them about damages to books so I'd know what I'd be facing when I take the book in. I wanted a heads up.

Holy Cow!

The two-hundred and twenty three page book that costs $12.99 originally will cost me...

Ready for this?

You sure?

$30!

I was shocked. I think she thought I was a nerd. I asked her if I could bring a replacement book in instead since the book only cost $13. As it turns out, they don't allow you to do that (anymore). She said that part of the reason that it's not allowed has something to do with a recirculation fee. You know, so they can label the book with the library info. Who would have thought that it cost $17.01 to recirculate a $12.99 book! :-P

Another thought...here, if you lose a library book they charge you the maximum fine and then life goes on. The max. fine is $5. Makes me wish I had actually lost the book instead of trashing it.

Anyone else hafta pay for a damaged library book? If so...how much did it cost you?

Once again Zander brings a smile to my face

2008-01-08T18:23:00.000-07:00

Let me just start out by saying that tonight has been a textbook rough night. Zander didn't nap at all and on those days the evenings just don't go quite like they should. He's moody and generally disagreeable. And he's also right there, in your face-intense. Tonight has been one of those nights.

It also never fails, if it's a night that Josh is working late. It will be one of "those nights". Guess who's working late tonight? But things are beginning to look up. Right now Zander has water in his mouth. He's gargling. He's multi-talented (or at least trying to be). He's gargling the alphabet. He kinda sounds like Fish from Chicken Little.

So, as we were sitting here at the table eating dinner I've been tense and not nice to be around. Zander has been under my skin for about an hour now. The more I try to deal with him and his stuff in a patient loving manner, the more he dishes out. I must admit that tonight (for a few minutes) I turned into a "yell-y mom". Not proud of that, but it's true. Slowly but surely I'm getting better about it. Hopefully one day soon that won't be one of the things I do.

Now, a while ago we started sitting down as a family to eat dinner. Sadly, this is not something we've always done but I'd say about a year ago we really made a huge effort to do that. We've also started to hold hands before we eat and pray. In Josh's absence tonight, I forgot to have us all hold hands and pray. If you'll remember I was sitting here at the table tense and ugly (in spirit) when Zander looks at me and says...are you ready for this?

He holds out his hand and says..."We pray momma, pray?"

I was floored! He's always paid attention when we pray, but he's never reminded us before and tonight he even joined in and said, "Amen!"

He's been in a great (and compliant!) mood since then. I'm also beginning to unwind. If I had been able to mellow before now I'm sure I wouldn't have a headache (but that's not the point, I need to stop the whine!).

All this to say, my oldest never fails to amaze me.

P.S. The younger boy is pretty snazzy too, but I'll tell you one of his stories another day.

ABC...

2008-01-08T14:34:00.000-07:00

right now this is what is coming out of Zander's mouth...

E, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, JKLMNOP, Q, R, S, T, U, B, ubbleu, X, yandz. Now we know ABC, next time won sing ME!

:)

So Tired...

2007-12-21T21:17:00.000-07:00

Josh started his two weeks vacation today, I'm so excited! We spent the first part of today finishing up some last minute shopping for stocking stuffers and groceries. It took the better part of the morning but I'm so glad we had the chance to go when the stores were not busy! I can't even imagine having to head out to any store in the next few days.

Upon unpacking the car and having lunch the boys took their naps. I should have taken advantage of that time to rest for a few, but I didn't! I was downstairs picking a few things up and getting some rooms organized. Family comes tomorrow! :)

I'm excited for everyone to get here. It's been a while since we've seen anyone and it's really awesome that they can come out for Christmas! We still have some cleaning and organizing to do tomorrow before they get here but they won't be here before dinnertime (and that's an early estimate!).

When the boys wake up in the morning we'll be heading downstairs to do Christmas as a family before Grandma Baba and Aunt P and Unk E arrive. I can't wait!!

Pictures to follow!

Jumping back in

2007-12-20T09:47:00.000-07:00

Not posting for so long only does one thing for me. It makes it entirely too easy to put it off...again...and again...and again... You get the point, it's a never ending cycle!

So, here I am. I'm wanting to blog on a semi-daily basis. I just hafta get my booty in gear and get it done. Cause really, I have plenty of things that I can be posting. The boys are doing and saying things that are worthy of mention and recording.

I'll be back to post more, for now I've got to get up and work on some laundry and junk like that. I have a little window of time to spend with MiKael while Zander is at preschool, I'm going to take advantage of that and I'll be back!

Lame introductory post, no?

Dino Nuggets

2007-10-26T11:43:00.000-07:00

Zander: It's a wadybug? said with a twinkle in his eye
Me: It's a dinosaur!
Zander: It's a daddy-sore!!

Memorable Moments From Today

2007-10-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

Putting Zander on the bus this morning for school. I turned around to wave at him and he was picking his nose.

When the pre-naptime diaper change was taken care of MiKael stood up, looked at Zander and said, "byebye Zannnnnnnn!! byebye!" And ran in the direction of his room.

Zander sharing his snack with MiKael.

Zander has had a thing for trains lately and last week I found a Hard Hat Harry DVD on ebay about Trains and Helicopters. He asked to watch it today after his nap and I said yes. (He's been asking for days and I've said no.) When I said yes he got this goofy happy grin on his face. The funny part was when he realized he was smiling like that...he tried to hide the smile but it didn't work and he started laughing. :)

Hugs and kisses.

<3

:)

MiKael the Mooch

2007-10-03T15:18:00.000-07:00

This face cracks me up! Every.Single.Time.

Perhaps it's funnier in person.

Today at Lunch

2007-10-03T11:24:00.000-07:00

I was lazy today and snagged the boys happy meals from McD's. Zander was busy blowing bubbles in his soda (which he rarely has these days). He's eating his french fries but not his burger. Right now they have hot wheels happy meals, so cars are the boys. I unwrapped a car and this is what happened...

Zander: Car!
Me: Yes, the food bag has Hot Wheels on it.
Zander: !!!!!
Me: Look at this...opening car toy... When you eat 5 bites of your burger you can have the car.
Zander: frantically grabs burger and takes a huge bite
Me: yay, he's eating!
Zander: Car, please!
Me: You need to take 3 more bites.
Then you can have the car!
Zander: takes another big bite and gags
Me: I realize that I forgot to ask for 'no pickles'
Zander: Yuck, dats YUCK!
Me: Let me get those yucky pickles off the burger for you.
Zander: promptly takes another big bite

MiKael and Zander got their cars when they were done with lunch. They spent the rest of the time before taking naps trading them back and forth....and eating more burger...and wiping "kaputch" (ketchup) on his shirt.

Crazy crazy crazy

2007-09-17T18:08:00.000-07:00

Time is going by so fast it's been hard to get on here and post lately. Last week Josh was in Cali for work so it was just me and the boys. Just me and the boys...well, it was a wierd week. I had a migrane Monday afternoon/eveningish that kicked my butt for the rest of the week. Needless to say, last week was up there on the crazy scale!

Zander is doing...I can't even put it into words! He's been talking more and more...more clearly even. A few weeks ago we got a couple of guinea pigs and he loves them...he can say "guinea pigs" perfectly :) The other night I was putting MiKael to bed and Zander said "Goodnight MAHKewe, Iyoyou!! See ya in the mern!" That translates into 'goodnight mikael, i love you...see ya in the mornin!' There's been alot more that he's said reciently but I'll leave it at that. I know I've said it before, but it really is exciting to see.

Zander has been jumping on the couch for a while. He'll wait until I'm working on the dishes or something of that nature and then he'll strip off the cushions and jump jump jump! Not to mention that he'd jump on his bed...bounce bounce bounce! Well, needless to say, I'd had enough. I checked out mini-trampolines on amazon and found one that does not use springs and had free shipping. I ordered it. Without. Thinking. Twice. It came in the mail today and Zander loves it! He's started to jump on the furnature only once, we redirected him to the trampoline and that's been it! :) No more jumping where he shouldn't. I should also mention that jumping is one of his sensory outlets. As is water. I'd much rather have him jump jump jump than clog the sink in the bathroom....again. I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow and get them posted. :)

MiKael is also talking more. He's picking up words here and there. Some he uses regularly and some he simply reapeats what you say. (We never ask him to "say apple" or "say ___" so when he repeats words it's all his doing, without prompting. Last night he ran into Zanders room and said..."Hey Ander!!" :)

They are both getting so big!!!

Bedtime worth blogging about

2007-09-04T20:55:00.000-07:00

I was putting Zander to bed tonight and he wanted me to lay down with him and tonight I did. Nights like tonight make me glad that I do things like this. :)

We did the usual thing where Zander points to all the decals on his bedroom walls...Mater and Sally and Doc...McQueen and Ramon and the Sheriff. Then he looked over and said "here mama! and he shared his blanket with me.

I asked if he wanted to sing a song and he let me know he did. This always always consists of me singing a song and Zander listening. I started to sing him the ABC song and he stopped me. It wasn't the song he wanted, but he wouldn't tell me which one he did want. I started to sing Jesus loves me and this seemed to satisfy him.

In fact, tonight he was much more responsive to the song that "normal". The words in italics, that's where he joined in <3

Jesus loves me this I know
for the bible tells me so
little ones to him belong
they are weak but he is strong.

And that's how my night with the boys came to a close. It was a good night :)

Zander, the big boy

2007-08-23T10:03:00.001-07:00

Today is/was the day that Zander went for his first day of Preschool! At first he didn't want to go to his class, but hit the playground instead. He kept saying..."kids...pway...diss way, I go!!" Poor little guy! :-P HIs teacher said it usually takes the kids a few weeks to get over the playground. After that, he was happy to be in the classroom. With the trucks. I can't wait to see how his first day is going, I pick him up in about half an hour. (The teacher sends home a notebook of some sort that serves as a behavior report for the day, we are encouraged to write in it if we have questions or anything.) Yay!

And, of course, there are the first day of school pics....

In case you can't tell he's pretty excited about his "pack-pack" :)

To the frumpy, grumpy woman at Target

2007-08-22T10:40:00.000-07:00

I absolutely loved the look you gave me as I was leaving the store with my screaming/crying preschooler. I loved the look about as much as I loved the boy throwing his fit.

I might suggest that the next time you see a mother trying to deal with a similar situation at least pretend to be nice. It helps no one when you dish out those ever attractive "shut that kid up now" look. Not. One. Person. Even you.

If annoyed trying to keep it together mommy looks at you and gives you a half smile DO NOT contort your face into a deeper scowl of disapproval. Again, it doesn't help. Not even to make you feel better.

Thanks.

Good luck in the future with your perfect children.

Zander camping

2007-08-16T09:04:00.001-07:00

Camping 2006 (Aug)

Camping 2007 (July)

Another brother "comparison"

2007-08-16T08:59:00.000-07:00

The first picture is Zander at 20 months, just after MiKael was born.

The second one is MiKael today, at 20 months.

Hey Ami, remember these thermals? :)

It's official, as of yesterday

2007-08-14T16:05:00.000-07:00

Zander is enrolled in preschool, we still don't have the start date yet. His teacher is going to call us on Friday to let us know when exactly it will be. I'm excited for him! Most likely he won't start speech until the second week of school, from what I hear his the guy he'll see for speech is really good! I still find it hard to believe that he's gonna be going to school, even if it is just 2 days a week.

Preschool and other random stuff

2007-08-10T16:29:00.001-07:00

I got a call this morning and found out just where Zander will be going to preschool, it's just around the corner. We drove by the school this afternoon and Zander got all excited at the playground equipment. I was hoping to get paperwork filled out so he'd be enrolled and such but enrollment for new students doesn't start until Monday, so I guess we'll be going back then. The only thing I'm "worried" about is the fact that the boys don't have social security numbers and I'm afraid that there will be some malfunction about that. I want to make sure I get in there asap so that can be worked out, if it is an issue.

A couple days ago we went to WalMart to try and find a backpack for Zander to use. They were all freaking huge. HUGE. Most of the ones we saw were bigger than the bags I used in college, no way were they right for Zander! (I had been earlier that week and hand seen some smaller bags, I was hoping to pick one up before they were gone. No luck.) Now, we never go to ToysRUs. They are too far away and generally have higher prices on their stuff that I'm not willing to pay but I was looking for something specific (a kids size folding table) that I couldn't find anywhere but there. I made the trek to pick up the table and I just so happened to walk past a wall of backpacks, all in Zanders size! I was even more excited to find a Disney Pixar Cars bag. He's not seen it yet because he'd have it worn out before school even starts!

Zander and I were looking at a Cars book yesterday and he opened the pages to a picture of Luigi and Guido in front of the tire store and Zander suddenly exclaimed, "Peeeeeet stop!" and turned the page.

We were in the car this morning, driving home from Sams. I had on a WeeSing CD for the boys and 'Jack and Jill' played through. The end of the rhyme says something to the effect of, 'get up and fetch that pail of water'. Just after it ended I could hear Zander from the backseat saying, "Get up. Get up and get that water!". <3

Seeing the allergist

2007-08-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

About a month ago I went to the doctor and found I had a sinus infection. After the doc gave me a prescription for an antibiotic and a decongestant she told me that she wanted me to see the allergist that worked in the offices across the street. She gave me his card and I called to set an appointment. I was actually kinda "excited" for the appointment, which was this morning, so we could work to get a handle on whatever was bothering me. They did 2 different tests and know what I'm allergic to?

Nothing.

Not.one.thing.

No, I'm not a hypochondriac. He told me what's going on is Vasomotor Rhinitis. Basically my nose is overly active and overly sensitive to the environment. Vasomotor Rhinitis mimics allergies but medications that work for allergies don't work for this condition.

Nice, eh?

The plan of action is to avoid irritants and use a Sinus Rinse daily. As well as 2 shots of Astelin (no clue if I spelled that right) taken twice daily. The thought is to keep the nose from drying out, keep it from becoming inflamed and irritated. That's what's been causing the sinus infections. Oh...and olive oil. He told me to use olive oil if my nose gets too dry. He said that I'd think he was crazy, but at this point I'll try just about anything.

This just in with more details to follow

2007-08-07T13:12:00.000-07:00

Zander will be going to preschool this year. Two days a week with speech therapy both days. It will be good for him...I'm excited for him! School is supposta start in 2 weeks but they think the paperwork and that stuffs might take just a touch longer. It's sorta hard to believe that he's "big enough" to go!

It's July 11th?!

2007-07-11T18:50:00.000-07:00

Please tell me where the time is going!! It's like it's being sucked away or something. The boys are getting bigger and bigger...it's NUTS! Anyway...

Joshs little bro and sis are here visiting this week (Unk ET and "FeeFee"). I've yet to get pictures BAD GAIL. I want to get some taken soon so I can get them posted on here! We've been hanging out, generally having fun. Phoebe has been helping out a ton with the boys and so far has only requested payment in NutterButter! Haha! We'll see how long that one will last...I think by now we owe her a couple months worth of the snack.

So far we've all been to the zoo and Willy's Wings but in the works are the Children's Museum and Dave&Busters...camping next week...and perhaps even a few other surprises. **Insert evil laugh here**

Side note...I went to the doctor yesterday and have a sinus infection. I swear, I had no idea. I knew I had drainage that was making me a tad nauseated, but that was it. I was in it to get seasonal allergy meds (wus, wussie!). The doc I saw grew up in KS and was really cool about everything...based on what I've been "dealing with" this year as far as allergy related crap goes (and also how my allergies were in KS) she wants me to see an allergy guy. Blah, blah, blah...Hopefully soon things will be under control and I can fully enjoy summer! Yay!!

Previously mentioned BucketHead

2007-06-26T12:12:00.001-07:00

Summer observations from this Colorado mommy

2007-06-26T11:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's been a while since I've been on here to post anything new. My first "instinct" is to tell you that I'm sorry about that...but well...I'm not sorry. I've been taking the time to enjoy my boys and (for the most part) it's been awesome!

Although today it's cool enough to wear jeans, overall it's finally gotten warm enough (and then some!) to wear shorts. I was beginning to question if this day would come or not. It's been an unusually cool year over here. At least compared to the last few summers.

So, in my absence from blogging I've noticed some things. Some silly and some not so...here ya go!

Zander is a big goof. The more you can let go and be silly with him, the more receptive he actually is. The more silly mommy can be, the more Zander talks! Letting go and being silly like that has been hard for me, silly was easier when I was younger. Before kids. I guess I'm afraid of looking silly to other "grown-ups" but I could not tell you why. Silly is (mostly) good. Silly is fun.

The flying-stinging-things that I'm so "afraid" of are much more interesting when they are stuck in the flying-stinging thing trap that we have hanging in the backyard. I guess there is something about knowing that they can't get me that makes me want to look at them. Even if they are creepy. And pissed.

MiKael is a Mommas boy. He loves to stop whatever he's doing just to get a hug and a kiss, and then jump right back into whatever was keeping him busy. On the other hand, if you want to give him a hug or a kiss he just might run away!

On the other side of the fence in the backyard there is a tree. This tree has some sort of berries on it's branches. I can only get close enough to see that they are there and that they are red.

Boys love being dirty. Sand, mud, dirt, water...all of the above.It matters not, it just makes play fun. Especially when you can dump it on your little brothers head. And little brother laughs and laughs.

Playing in the backyard in just your underwear (the 3 year old) makes playtime for enjoyable. You get dirtier and goopier that way. That means you take a bath when you go inside, which is always great fun. Bath time almost trumps playing in the mud.

On some days, TV is not such a bad thing. In some cases it can be just what a frazzled mommy needs for a few minutes peace. Time to stop and just be. Time to recharge and go at it again. And, in our case, it's helped Zander with his speech some.

Babies like to wear buckets on their heads. Even if it means they run into things and fall down. It's fun, skinned knees and all.

It's great fun loading the back of the dump truck up with rocks...until the truck gets too heavy to push! HAHAHAHA!!

Sometimes climbing up the slide reaps a greater reward than sliding back down. Especially when it scares the crap outa Mommy.

Kids love music and singing, even if Mommy isn't capable of carrying a tune.

18 month old boys are strong. They are also capable of pulling Houdini-like stunts.

Kids hear and repeat things. Things like, "OHHHH kkkWAP!" But then they also repeat things like, "it's ok, bug" "you're ok" and "yie yuuv yooooo-uh".

There are bigger problems than mine out there

2007-05-08T07:38:00.000-07:00

but I'm feeling really really stressed.

It has not been a good week for me so far.

Afternoon in the ER

2007-04-28T20:27:00.000-07:00

I'm too tired to go into details right now, so here's the short version....

We were at SamsClub grabbing a slice of pizza from the snack bar before heading home. Zander started to wiggle, I can't blame him, it was naptime. He had a pair of basketball shorts on and wound up sliding off the back of the bench (it didn't have a back) and he hit his head on the bottom part of a shopping cart. We took him to Children's Hospital and he now has 3 staples in the back of his head. The cut was half an inch long and 1.5cm wide and bled like none of your business (needless to say, it scared me!). He was acting fine by the time we got to the ER, he even ran around playing and checking out the massive fish tank (Children's has an awesome ER!) while we waited for him to be patched up. He didn't bat an eyelash at anything they did to him and only fussed/cried when they put the acutal staples in. I was very very impressed with him, he was really brave!

And, that's the short version!

Potty news

2007-04-28T20:14:00.000-07:00

Zander is in training pants all the time now, except for bedtime. Overnight we put him in a pull up and he's usually soaked by morning. The first thing he wants to do when he wakes up is "go poddddy"...his request, we don't tell or remind him to!

This last week he's woken up from his naps totally dry, but again requested to potty right after waking. Oh yeah, he's still in his training pants for naptime so that's been a major accomplishment. :)

The poops, the poops...he's doing really good there too! At first Zander was afraid do to that business in the toilet. I know that some will debate the idea of bribes when it comes to this, but it worked for him. We started out with a new HotWheels car or truck in the bathroom (where he could see it) and when he asked for it we told him that he could have it when he pooped in the toilet. It took him 2 days to "earn" his first car. After a week he had earned a total of 4 cars, only having a poo accident in the mornings (when he'd wake up super early, before our alarms went off). Yesterday we had a major pooping breakthrough. There was no new HotWheels car waiting as a reward but Zander pooped in the toilet anyway! woohoo!! :) We gave him one final car for his "accomplishment" (lol) and he'll get no more cars. His final reward was a Lightning McQueen, Radiator Springs style. He's carried it with him everywhere.

The little boy is growing up fast!

April 24, 2007

2007-04-24T17:46:00.000-07:00

I am completely confused by this weather. It's nearly May and yet...I look outside my window and see snow falling. How freaking messed up is that? This has been the longest winter. Ever. Seriously, will I be able to break out the shorts this year?

***********************************************************

Zander has been doing great with the potty training! He's had one poo accident since we really started to get serious about toilet training...and it happened just after he woke up in the morning and I was still asleep! He's even waking up dry from naps, it's going great! Mornings...not so dry but we'll get there...eventually. :)

***********************************************************

MiKael is working on walking, he'll take several steps at a time now but still gets majorly freaked out if Zander is too close. If that happens he drops down on all 4's and starts crawling, can't say that I blame him though! He also says (and regularly uses) words for apple, hi, Zander, dad...ocassionally mom...I think there are a few others but I can't remember!

***********************************************************

Zander is also getting the hang of this talking thing, he's still not where he should be but he's definetly getting better. We are still thinking about the possibility of preschool, still gotta ride that one out and see what happens. Zander is very smart and it's amzing to see him grow and learn every day!

Ok, so now I'm curious...and nosey!

2007-04-18T07:40:00.000-07:00

I just checked out the stats on my blog from the past few days and I'm rather intrigued! If you find yourself here could you comment somewhere and let me know how you found me? I know most of you are coming from emails I sent out but a few places have me totally baffled!!

Day #2 of...

2007-04-17T20:56:00.000-07:00

Zander pooping in the toilet!

I'm just a little bit excited about this one! We decided just over a week ago that it was time for Zander to stay in "big boy underwear" during waking hours. This means that he's only been wearing a Pull-Up for naps and bedtime. Until...he started holding poops in til naptime. When he started doing this he just got plastic pants over his training pants. He hasn't done it since!

He seems to have a pretty good handle on using the bathroom...as long as he's not too focused on play. If he's really focused on something he'll forget but we just clean him up and try again. I think we did a good job getting some motivatiors for him...if he pees in the toilet he gets a sticker (either Cars-the movie or construction trucks) and when he poops in the toilet he gets a brand new HotWheels car or truck.

Yesterday he "earned" a yellow car. Today he got a really neat looking orange truck. Tonight after the boys went to bed I put the next car in the bathroom for him to see. It's funny, as soon as we showed him the new car that he'd get for pooping in the toilet it only took a few days for him to figure it all out. The yellow car...he studdied that thing every time he was in the bathroom to potty and his excitement when we gave him the car was awesome. He has carried the yellow car with him everywhere since earning it. Even to bed.

If anyone out there wants to contribute to the "pooping cars" fund...I have a PayPal account! :-P

More pictures

2007-04-17T20:50:00.000-07:00

The boys were having so much fun playing in the sand on Sunday afternoon. I think we took them inside shortly after MiKael kept dumping buckets of sand on his head...on purpose...and laughing about it!

And now, what you really want!

2007-04-16T21:08:00.000-07:00

The balloon noise...he was not fond of it!

Awake one second, out the next!

Our first chocolate pudding experience! Zander REFUSED to touch it!

A cuddle moment :)

Zander has been pulling some evasive manouvers when it comes to the camera lately...I'll hafta work on that one and get some of him on here! I actually think I have some on the other camera but that'll hafta wait til tomorrow...it's stuck on the charger for now.

Special moments with Zander

2007-04-16T20:55:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks I've been doing something new with nap time since both boys seemed to play instead of nap. Zander and MiKael have been sharing a room for a few months and naps have been sporadic since they began to share that space. It didn't take long for me to decide that something must change...it just took me a while to figure out what to do (and do it!).

I have separated the boys for their naps!

Something amazing has happened. They are both napping again and it's wonderful! MiKael sleeps downstairs in the pack n play and Zander naps in his bed. It's been so nice having naps reinstated and working! MiKael goes down without a fuss, seriously...I lay him down and leave the room and a few minutes later he's asleep.

Now, here is where the special moments have come in with Zander. When he starts to get sleepy he gets SO wound up. He'll go and go and go and go....and go. It's insane. A couple of weeks ago we switched Zander from his toddler bed to a full size bed. That's when it all started. :) I've been going in with him at nap time and we'll read a book...or just be goofy for a few minutes. I love it! Then all the sudden I'll be "soooo sleepy" that I'll (pretend, obviously) fall asleep. I grab the blanket and cover up and snuggle up to the pillow...next thing I know Zander is also under the blanket and asleep! Most of the time I get to watch him fall asleep and it's so sweet, I absolutely love it!

I know, I know...shame on Mommy for the bad habit of getting the boy to fall asleep just cuz I'm there. But really...it's just nap time. He falls asleep on his own at night, requiring no "special attention". If we were having a problem at night, then I'd be worried and stop. But for now...I'm enjoying this!

This just in!!

2007-04-16T15:38:00.001-07:00

Zander just pooped in the toilet for the first time (on purpose)!!

This and That

2007-04-16T13:11:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time and I don't even now where to begin! I guess I'll go for a quick update that might just turn out to be long. After that I'll just shoot for some normal, regular posting on here!

Both of the boys are getting so big and grown up, I really can't believe it. MiKael is still a runt (I mean that affectionately!) but might soon outgrow "runt" status. His last appointment he actually went up the percentile brackets, he's sitting right at 20 pounds and is just now fitting into 12 month pants (@ 16 months)...short sleeved 12 month shirts fit him alright, but if you try long sleeve shirts, the sleeves are too short! He's "long and lean". Walking yet? Nope, he cruises around everywhere and is fully capable of letting go and walking...he just won't! He's walked from point A to point B unassisted...more than once, but it seems that there is no hurry to make it a permanent thing!

Zander, Zander, Zander...where to begin with him...In October last year Zander went for a speech evaluation and was found to have a mild delay. It was suggested that I take a class offered by TheChildren'sHospital that would enable me to work with Zander at home. I think we're about halfway through the class now and we've already seen major improvements with his speech, it's all very exciting! There are 2 people teaching the class (they are speech therapists) and they recommended that I get Zander into preschool through the public schools since he just turned 3...Preschool would give him social interaction with kids his own age, something he's been seriously lacking. It would also allow him to have speech therapy services through the school on a weekly basis...the information is in the mail and I should receive it shortly. The story I just got from the lady on the phone though is that they usually don't take kids for Preschool til they are 4, so this should be interesting.

Within the last month or so Zander has taken an interest in all things "artsy". He loves to color and cut and write...he's started to scoff at coloring books, he'd rather have "pai-puuuuuur"...he can draw a circle of sorts and a triangle too. And music! WeeSing is brilliant...SillySongs...WeeSing InTheCar...AroundTheWorld...etc...it's all very good stuff. There are a few songs he likes to sing along with and others he likes to laugh at, it's all very fun.

Now, me...I'm still working on my Fitness and Nutrition stuffs, I'm scheduled to be done with it by August. I've still got quite a bit of work to do in that area, but it's all coming together. Sometime in the near future...don't ask when, cuz I couldn't say...but sometime...I'll be going back to school to explore all of this more in depth. Gail the Nutritionist will take some getting used to but I'm really getting excited about it! :) I'm also planning on updating the look of this blog...and fixing links....and and and... stay tuned for that one! So, not a ton new with me...just trying to keep up with the boys and their never-ending supply of energy!

I must be getting along for now, I have some activities to plan for the boys while they are still napping...I'll get some pictures posted soon, I promise! :)

Word of the day

2007-01-15T20:22:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. I'm not trying to be a "word of the day junkie" but the word for today seemed fitting! I'm sure that there are multiple people that can use this word, especially with all the winter stormage that is going on out there! So, here ya go...

gelid

\'je-led\ adj : extremely cold : icy

Members of the rescue team braved gelid conditions as they searched the mountain for the lost climber.

Another couple of pics

2007-01-14T22:05:00.000-07:00

These pics are from Christmas in Kansas.
Aunt Phobe is the best!! :) She got Zander to settle down and relax (he was sick). She's wonderful!

MiKael finally started to pull up while we were on this trip and he's been cruising around ever since! :)

Word for the day

2007-01-12T11:04:00.000-07:00

abulia

noun : abnormal lack of ability to act or to make decisions

By about two in the afternoon, I feel as if abulia has set in and I just can't go on without another cup of coffee.

In my case it would be a nap instead of coffee. Anyone relate?

For the time being

2007-01-12T00:06:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post something new today but the day got away from me. It's way past my bedtime and well...this is what you get for now!

Zander got these goggles in his easter basket last year. It was a tonka bucket "stuffed" with all sorts of toy tools, he loves to wear these things!

MiKael has had a thing lately where he's been falling asleep in his chair. A lot.

Long time with no post...more coming soon...I think

2006-12-22T10:27:00.000-07:00

Have you heard about the snow in Denver? Wanna see it??

Enjoy!

Anyone wanna swing?

This is our Explorer that was parked on the street when the snow started. I'm pretty sure it'll be there for DAYS!

Our backyard. The wind blew and snow really piled up back here. Note the chain length fence and the neighbors roof!

Can anyone tell what this is?? (BE credits for the first person with a correct answer!)

And finally, Josh standing in the middle of the path he just cleared. He's 6'2''.

Hum...

2006-10-12T08:16:00.000-07:00

This morning Josh and I dropped his car off at the shop and on our way back home I glanced over at the van beside us. It was a Ford work van and the ad on the side said something about plumbing. But then, the driver noticed that I was looking at the van and got all strange. That's when I noticed that he was smoking...something smaller than a cigar or cigarette. Nice, eh? Josh kept saying..."he's gettin blazed on his way to work!"

Yikes.

For Amie

2006-10-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

I found a photo album a few days ago and these pictures were there, I thought you might like to see em. They are pictures taken around "home" during our 1st year away at college. The first ones are of an ice storm that went through town and the others show just how colorful Kansas can be!

The Forgetful Female

2006-10-08T19:48:00.000-07:00

I keep coming here with things to blog and by the time I sit down I can't remember what it was.

Life Insurance

2006-10-05T09:18:00.000-07:00

I'm filling out the paperwork for it today. I don't feel old, but that makes me feel wierd! And the kicker...we are doing it now to "preserve my age".

How's that statement? Preserve your age.

Bars on the windows? An alarm system?

2006-09-28T20:05:00.000-07:00

Or just give up and move?

I'm 95% kidding with the last question, I think it would be dumb to run away. The thought is tempting though. Why all the fuss, you ask?

I'll tell ya. You've all heard that last week the car was stolen from right outside of our house and that last night our doorbell rang and then there was nobody there. Ringing a doorbell then running away is a prank, I know that doesn't have me so bothered.

Tonight I talked to my neighbor to let her know about the car being stolen. They actually have a Lexus and an Audi, I would have thought that those would have been taken over a Sebring. I wanted to let her know so her stuff could stay safe. She was sorta shocked that the car was stolen but then went on to tell me that the house on her other side was broken into today. In broad daylight.

Nice, huh?

Luckily, another neighbor across the street saw the guy walk across some yards and up the driveway and into the window. She called 911 and the police were there and caught the guy as he was leaving out the back door. The police had him at gunpoint and he still thought about running. He was high and all he stole was some cash (needless to say it was recovered). He lives in a town about 35 minuts from here and this wasn't his first offense.

It was just two houses down. And, I was home. Alone. With the boys.

Overreacting? Perhaps.

I'd rather keep my boys safe than overlook these things.

Update: Come to find out there are 2 or 3 other houses on the block that have all been broken into lately as well. Creepy.

Ring 'n Run

2006-09-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

Anyone ever do this?

Our doorbell rang tonight at dinnertime. Josh was rather perplexed when he went to the door and noone was there. There was no sign of anyone. Anywhere.

He came back in and promptly checked the back door. Noone was there either.

Needless to say he made sure the house was locked. After the events of last Wednesday and the car being stolen, well, we're both a little jumpy now. (I know alot of people have said that it was probalby some random punk that stole the car, but the ignition was punched out. That's not random in my books!)

Next step? I'm planning on making curtains for the front and back doors. I've only been meaning to do this since we moved in over six months ago. Way back when I didn't think Wal-Mart was so evil I got some denim $1/yard fabric and soon it will be curtains. :)

No love for the boys

2006-09-25T20:12:00.000-07:00

This afternoon after lunch the boys and I walked to the grocery store. We had to go and finish up the grocery shopping for the next few weeks, so we hoofed it the 4 blocks. That is, they rode in the stroller as I pushed it.

All in all it was an uneventful trip. Normally when I take the boys out people smile and say hi or make comments about how busy I must be. Not today. It was strange! People looked, noone smiled or said hi or said anything for that matter. It was very strange. The only person who said hi was this guy sitting outside the store. But then again, the only reason he said hi was because Zander yelled, "Hey, HI!", to him first.

Very, very odd.

Makes me wonder if everyone had a case of the Monday Grumpies!

Feeling a bit violated and just a wee bit scared

2006-09-24T13:58:00.000-07:00

I've never had anything substantial stolen before. To be honest, I still have not. That is not making me feel any better about this though. Let me explain...

One evening after Josh returned home from work, he promptly parked his car. It's still sitting in the driveway, waiting. Waiting for a new fuel pump. It could be waiting for a little while, but that's another story. He drove my car to work and back for 2 weeks.

On the 15th of this month Josh asked about a company car. See, they have a car that just sits at the office. It's used when the president of the company comes into town, or when the VP needs to use it. Ok, so basically when the car needs to be used, it is. Josh was given permission to use the car until he was able to get his car fixed, or someone else needed the car on a more urget matter.

The car, you ask?

A 2006 Chrystler Sebring, soft top convertable. Custom rims. CD changer. Yeah, you get the picture. It was a sweet looking car.

Josh drove it on the 15th, it sat in our driveway over the weekend. Then drove it to work and back on Monday. Tuesday Josh went into work a bit later than usual knowing that he had a late meeting at the office. After the meeting he went out to eat with some people from work and wound up getting home sometime around 10:30pm. I was already in bed asleep. When Josh came in we talked for a few minutes and he came to bed shortly thereafter. All was right with the world.

At some point during the night I heard a car start up directly in front of the house. I'm usually paranoid enough that I'll get up and investigate. This time I did not, I told myself to stop being so paranoid and to just go back to sleep. I didn't even look at the clock to check the time.

I should have looked out the window, it was less than 2 feet away. I should have looked at the time on the clock, but again, I did not.

Fast forward to 9am on the 20th.

Josh and I are getting the kids ready so I can take MiKael to his doctor appointment. When the boys were dressed Josh went to take his work stuff out to the Sebring. You've probably guessed by now, but it was gone. Not there. Vanished.

The police were called, report made. The officer that came said that he was not positive about the return of the car, usually they tell people to give it a couple of days. But this is a "hot car". He says that the people who stole it will likely drive it around for a long time for bragging rights. Or that the car had been stripped for parts and was junked out already.

By 5:30 Wednesday evening Josh had gotten a call from the police saying they had found the car. It had, in fact, been stripped. No wheels. No CD changer. Nothing of value was left at all. Banged and scratched up, but they found it.

After I heard that they found the car I sort of breathed a sigh of relief. But then, I started to think about it all. Processing. Josh had only been driving the car for five days. That means...someone was watching our house (watching my house!) or someone followed Josh home (followed him home?!). I suppose it could have been random, but what are the odds? The thought that someone followed him home that night...the thought that someone was watching my house, the place where my kids are...it's just a bit un-nerving.

By the way, MiKaels appointment? He's still a runt! He weighs in at 16lbs 4oz and something like 26 and a quarter inches long. That puts him in the 4th and 10th percentile! All except his head, which is the 70th percentile...yikes.

Great day!

2006-09-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

Well, the week from Hell is officially done and gone! Last week (for those of you who have not heard about it) was simply awful. Both of the boys were major whiners making it difficult to get anything done around here. Late in the week I gave up even trying. It was that bad.

But then, the weekend came.

I was not looking forward to the 3 day weekend given our past history of just awful weekends. I was afraid things would go horrible as they had in the past. I should not have feared!

Josh was off. And not only that, but he was really off. I couldn't believe it but his work phone didn't ring! Not once. It was great!

Saturday we got up "late" and made brunch and played with the boys. Before we knew it, it was time for their nap! And both boys actually napped, I was in shock! Josh and I got to spend some time together like we have not in a while. It was so nice just to hang out, anyone know what I mean?

Sunday we got the boys up and went to church. This week we went to a "new" church (new to us) and while I absolutely loved how they had things set up for the kids, I'm not sure we'll be going back there. Yes, the kids stuff was good but the service wasn't quite what we were looking for. We may go back again this weekend and see if we just caught a fluke day. After church we came home and did the lunch thing and put the boys straight down for a nap. They were both being really good but it was obvious that they needed a rest. Josh and I got to hang out again!! :-) When the boys were up from naps we read books and played with them til it was time for dinner and then bed.

Monday we got up really late and had lunch! Yup, you read that right. We got up just in time to eat lunch! With lunch over we plunked MiKael in the stroller (Zander walked and the soccer ball sat in his place) and walked to a park that we'd not been to yet. The park we went to was an older park and was so much fun. It had a set of 4 swings some things to climb through and then a single slide. Oh, the slide! The slide was one of those that has somewhat steep steps going about 18 feet or so. It was made of metal instead of plastic which means you whizzed down the spiral slide. You should have heard Zander giggle! We got a few pictures which I'll post when Josh emails them to me ;-)

Now, today things have been great! The boys have only whined their normal amounts and I've had a productive day! I've gotten all the housework done and I made cornbread to go with dinner. And a chocolate cake. Both from scratch!

I actually can't wait til tomorrow! Long walks and a trip to the park are in the plans.

Gone camping

2006-08-30T22:37:00.000-07:00

My Montage

The neglected blog

2006-08-30T15:54:00.000-07:00

Who knew that summer would be so busy with travel? I mean, a few trips were planned but more travel took place than anticipated! And, this time next month I'll be staying with my mom for about a week! So, travel is still in the mix but it's going to be great.

This has resulted in one very neglected blog. I'm currently trying to get back into the swing of things but for some reason starting to post again has been difficult. I've started many entries only to delete them because they sounded so negative. Too negative. I'm trying to stop the flow of negativity and it's not easy!

With that being said I'm letting this post sit as it is and update again. Sometime soon. :)

Yucko weekends

2006-08-19T10:13:00.000-07:00

Well, what I mean is that the boys can have a really good week and then Saturday comes. And Josh has all day off. Both boys are moody and whiners and crying and YUCK! I just want a good day with all the family but that puts everyone in an awful mood. What the heck is going on??

Not that I'd wish this on anyone, but please tell me I'm not alone.

We are back...again...

2006-08-18T10:40:00.000-07:00

and I feel like that's all I've been saying on here lately! But with no trips in sight perhaps I can get back down to business in here again.

While we were in KS Zander had the chance to be around kids more than he is when we are at home. This resulted in a few things. One being a change in behavior that we are working on and the other...he's talking more. He's still not where he "should be" but he is saying alot more! "Let's go!" "Are you ok?" "You're ok (he tells himself now)" Whatturyoudoin?" "All done" "Down" "Look!" "See!" "AKael" "No!" "Stop it!" "Stop that!" "Shooooooe" And the list goes on and on. Much of that is new, but some of it he said before he stopped talking at all.

MiKael still doesn't have any teeth.

We went camping last week and Zander got dirtier than dirty. Pictures will follow.

Traveling isn't over quite yet

2006-08-04T06:26:00.000-07:00

Hum...long chain if events and lots of conversation later we have decided that I shall take a trip with the boys. We'll be leaving in a few hours to go visit my mom for up to a week, perhaps less. We'll just hafta wait and see.

I will blog when gone so more details will follow. :)

PS Josh brought me home a new *tiny* digital camera last night, easier to "haul" around than our big one so I really should be posting more pictures now of our adventures!

Heat wave or fall weather?!

2006-08-03T17:24:00.000-07:00

Anyone else have just crazy weather today?

Today has been the first day in over 2 weeks that I've not been outside with the boys. There were several times today that I went to break out the stroller and it was raining! So, no out of the house excurstions today.

I checked the weather on and off throughout the day and I never saw the temps rise about 74. Seventy-four?! That is not right for the beginning of August! I'm not complaining though, it has been a very nice break from the HOT weather.

Zander also took a very late nap, he's still in his room. I'm pretty sure he was almost asleep and a "thunderstorm" rolled through. So far he's not scared of storms but the heavy dounpours tend to make him a little unhinged. Sure enough, he got a little freaked out and I went in to sit with him until it let up. AND THEN he took his nap. :)

Today was nice and relaxing. Quiet. Stressfree. Just plain good.

July, the month of vacations?

2006-08-02T10:24:00.000-07:00

Crazy, crazy crazy!

I think we were home for one week out of the entire month! The dates and days have gotten away from me. I think it was Thursday night we left Colorado with the destination of Las Vegas in mind. We drove all night and got there Friday evening, but not before we hit a deer.

Somewhere in Utah, just before Nevada. I grew up in the middle of KS and I've never hit a deer before, it was crazy! That being said I will elaborate so if you don't want the details, skip the rest of this paragraph. It was obvious that a semi had hit the deer first, but ONLY half of the deer. We hit the other half. I've seen lots of road kill, but nothing like this. The "splatter" mark started in the very center of the highway and went out in a "V" shape, across both lanes of the highway. Left shoulder to right shoulder. There were bits of flesh here and there all over the road. Not to mention the under side of my car. Gross!

We immediatly pulled over to insepct the damage to the vehicle. I was sure it wasn't going to be pretty but you really couldn't find anything out of sorts. Except for the smell. I was glad we took my wheels as opposed to Joshs. I drive an Explorer w/oversized tires. He drives a Blazer that sits more like a car than a truck. I'm not really sure if the difference in the 2 vehicles would have made a difference or not, but I don't want to find out! I'm happy we were able to walk away with no damage!

So, we spent the rest of Friday and part of Saturday in Las Vegas. While we were there we went to a few stores and to a mall. Believe it or not, we never went to a casino! We napped and just sort of hung out as a family. If we ever go to Vegas again we are going without the kids, or at least a babysitter.

Saturday afternoon we loaded up in the car and were on the road again. California ,here we come! The rest of our "vacation" was spent in the San Diego area. The reason I say "vacation" is becaus Josh was working during the day and we'd hang out as a family when he got back to the hotel. The boys and I went for walks and to the hotel pool, we had a blast! We went to the beach a few times when we were all together but I didn't feel comfortable taking the boys to the beach by myself. Call me a wuss, but I wasn't ready for that.

Josh went to Tijuana the following weekend to help out with an orphanage. I really don't know much about it, but it sounds like it was part of a rebuild or something. Aside from it being really hot there he enjoyed the work and wished he could have stayed longer to help out. While Josh was gone I stayed with some friends and went to church with them. It was a good weekend!

From San Diego we drove to Palm Desert so Josh could work on another network and again we stayed with friends. It was a nice time to kick back and unwind! The friends we were staying with have a pool and one time in the pool with Josh and Zander became a little daredevil! It was crazy. Crazy. Let's just say that at first Zander didn't like it when we dunked him and by the end of the trip he was dunking himself!

We left Palm Desert and drove and drove and drove. All the way back to Colorado.

Palm Desert was freaking HOT too. In fact, being in Palm Desert those few days has made this unusually hot summer seem more bearable. Since we've been back we've been outside to go for walks and/or to play. We all love it outside and I'm embarassed to say it but I don't think we would be spending this time outside if we had not been in Palm Desert.

On this trip I've realized a few things....

I kill too much time online, doing nothing.
I like to spend time outside with the boys.
Zander likes to play in the water. Alot.
I really do like flip-flops afterall.
I need (to continue) to get the right perspecitive and a better working schedule at home.
I like to drive.
The boys do great in the car.
I have a tan (after sunscreen, for the most part) for the first time in YEARS.
I love summer.

I know that there are more, but it's time to get offa here and enjoy the day!

A bit of an update on the house across the street

2006-07-14T17:14:00.000-07:00

On Weds there were so many cars parked across the street, it was too crazy. I finally had enough and called the phone number that is listed on the big blue sign. A woman answered and I asked her when construction was to be complete on the "lovely" house. She said that they were hoping to have thigns wrapped up in another 3 weeks. 3 weeks! Yuck. The good part of the conversation? She said she'd put in some phone calls about the workers parking in more appropriate places. Since that phone call my drive way has been nice and clear. :)

And for those of you who asked about the house I have more information! I actually went to get a flier about it but they were all gone. So I looked it up on realor.com and here are my findings...

4 Beds, 5 Bath
4,419 Sq. Ft.

Master bedroom, Living room, Dining room, Family room, Kitchen, Den, Basement, Laundry room, Bathroom(s) on main floor, Basement level is 1756 sq. ft., 2 fireplaces, 2 car garage, Burglar alarm, Cook top, Dishwasher, Eat in kitchen, Five Piece Bath, Formal Dining, Great room, Walk in closets, Wet bar, Upstairs laundry, Finished basement, Family room in basement, Master bedroom upstairs, Deck, Mountain view (hahahaha!! not that great of one!) and the lot is 7810.

So, what's your verdict? Worth a million?

Poop, it's everywhere you want to be

2006-07-12T16:02:00.000-07:00

Or so it seems today! LOL I forgot to mention in my previous post that first thing this morning MiKael had a HUGELY explosive diaper. It's one of those rare times that I wish I hadn't changed him on the couch.

Anyway. That was this morning.

A few minutes ago the lil booger woke up crying. Ok, so he started to cry in his sleep and then woke up. I figured he was getting hungry again so I proceeded to make him food. Well, as I'm feeding him some sweet po-tay-toes (boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew! :-P) he decides to make another poopy. A big poopy. Even bigger than his previous explosive from this morning. This one is bath worthy. After his initial clean up of course. I also had to change my clothes first cuz somehow he managaed to goo my shirt AND shorts...he even got the bouncy seat he was sitting in!

Oh yes...this morning his explosive diaper not only got the outfit he was wearing but also the outfit I was going to put him in. Now THAT took some tallent! LOL

Has someone reset my calendar to Monday?

2006-07-12T14:53:00.000-07:00

Today has been the strangest day ever. Seriously. It all started about midnight too, but I'll got go there. Our story begins at 4am...

Yes, 4am Zander wakes up crying. He does this sometimes but will usually go back to sleep without any parental assistance. This morning was different. His cry was one telling us that something is the matter. His cry woke Josh up before it woke me up, fellow mommies out there know that when the daddio wakes up first that something is really WRONG!

Zander was crying at his door with Buddy in tow. Upon initial inspection all seems well, but Zander absolutely WILL NOT go back in his room. He's not overly impressed with anything in the living room and I can't figure out what the deal is so I motion him to come over and get a snuggle hug. Instead of curling up with me he grabs my hands and proceeds to sit down in the floor. Exactly how he does for every diaper change. Hum...I did a poo check and am met with a fresh surprise. I feel silly for not checking him first thing but his poops are usually of the toxic aroma and this surprise was non-aromatic.

After he's all cleaned up he's more than happy to run (and not slowly scamper off) to his room. He gets back in bed and promptly goes to sleep, the rest of the night was fairly uneventful. But, what the heck? He's not woken up in the middle of the night for a diaper change in about a year!

I had a bunch of errands to run today and for the most part the boys were so good! I expect to have a few minor issues here and there, they're kids afterall. No major freak outs or anything today. I was a bit disappointed at our first stop though. Being the geek that I am I just now thought to get a tank from OldNavy for the 4th of July and needless to say they are sold out (unless your a size small, if you are you have options!). I actually tried 2 OldNavy stores, both unsuccessful.

Before we went off to SAMS we had to make a stop back by the house since I forgot my card. I immediatly became annoyed with the entorage of cars parked all around my driveway. Evidentally they are STILL NOT DONW with the house across the street. I had finally hit my limit so I called the phone number that is on the sign and asked "how long will it be until construction is complete?". Ready for this? "We are hoping to have things wrapped up in 2-3 weeks." I'm thinking I'll be labeled as the "Neighborhood Whiner" because I told the lady on the phone about the parking situation. She became extremely appologetic and said she would take care of it. When I got home 2 hours later there were no cars parked on this side of the street!

Yet again (I'm almost embarassed to type this) we went through the TacoBell drive thru "real fast". I've never sat in a slower drive thru line! LOL Patience, I like to think I have it in check most of the time. But today as we approaced the window and had our food handed to us BOTH boys stared to fuss/cry. I had the dude my check card and he forks over the food, I peek in the bag to make sure we have everything. Crunchwrap supreme, 1 taco, and 2 cheesy bean and rice buritos. All is good. We go home and find something different. A chicken crunchwrap supreme and 2 spicy chicken buritos! LOL Soooooo not what I ordered!

Oh well, that's the way it goes sometiems, right? I'm trying to laugh it all off even if it may not sound like it!

And little bug is up and ready for some pureed veggies so I'm off! :)

Back from vacation

2006-07-11T12:36:00.000-07:00

And what a crazy time it was! I'm talking good crazy, busy all the time type of a deal. I really thought I'd be on at least a LITTLE bit to blog, but that obviously didn't happen!

Kansas City was good! Josh and I (yeah, so mostly Josh!) helped some friends work on their house. After two very long days worth of working (and alot of Gatorade) the house and garage were sanded, primed and painted. Bushes were ripped out. Tree's trimmed or even taken out. Inside of the garage was painted. Etc, etc, etc. I didn't help as much as I wanted to, MiKaels growth spurt seemed to last through the weekend so I felt like I spent more time feeding him than anything else!

Then it was on to "home". Many things there have changed but at the same time have stayed the same. It's amazing how that seems to happen in small towns. The High School is "bigger and better". Wal-Mart currently has 14 registers but that will all change soon as they are building a SuperCenter right behind the existing store. (Can you ghetto-ify a hick town?) Braums and Dairy Queen. Dragging main. Burger Station. QuikTrip is gone, replaced by jump(lightning bolt)start. Shoulda stuck with QT my friends! The movie theater is now a coffee house (how Smallville is that?). Oh, and it's not the swimming pool anymore either, it's the aquatics center.

All in all it was a good vacation. Not as "restful" as I would have liked, but I'll survive! I do wish that we could have stayed longer. I also wish I would have rememberd to take some pictures, I fully intended on it. I'll hafta check up on Bonda and Hondo when I go back for the fair...the county fair...definetly worthy of a few pictures there!

The source of my annoyance

2006-06-27T11:28:00.000-07:00

This first picture is the house that is being built directly across the street from my house. It can be yours for the low listing price of *evil voice* One Million Dollars!

This is the view from my driveway. Notice that the white truck is parked pretty much dead center to my driveway (and has been every day for the last I don't know how long). Also take note to the right side of the picture, truck parked to one side of the driveway with it's tailgate down. This morning there was another truck parked to the other side of the driveway. Which brings us to the source of my annoyance. The driveway is surrounded by trucks which makes it a royal PAIN IN THE BOOTY to leave the house. The truck that was gone before I could take the picture could not have been closer to my driveway without actually being IN the driveway.

And last of all is the sign that is planted in front of the house, anyone notice the date on it? Now, I took this picture not more than 15 minutes ago and last I checked it's already SUMMER. *whine* When oh when will the overpriced house be done?!

Oh yeah, don't ya like the port-a-potty in the front yard?

Vacation, small town and Bonda

2006-06-26T17:16:00.000-07:00

This weekend we are packing up and going on our first "vacation". We are leaving the state for just over a week and visiting friends and family. We are not going anywhere super spectacular, but it will be great! Ok, so I really could do without all the work that goes into getting everyone ready to go. And the 9 hour drive. And all the laundry and crap when we get back. BUT I'm so excited! This will also be the first time in close to a year where we've gone out of town as a family (with no work involved). I'll say it again, I'm excited!

The past day or so I have been thinking about where I grew up, since that happens to be one of our destinations. I grew up in a small town, smack dab in the middle of the US. They have a Wal-Mart, McDonalds, TacoBell, Sonic and that's about it! Small town WalMart only has 14 registers and usually only 5 or so of them are open. You get the point.

In SmallTown America owning a Honda is a big deal, a very big deal. Shortly after Josh and I got married we were on a visit to SmallTown and spotted a very interesting sight. It was a car that was 25% Honda and 75% Bondo. Subsequent visits had us pondering the status of the beloved Bonda. Most trips we'd drive across town (5 whole minutes!) and see how Bonda was coming along.

One visit in particular had us rather excited, Bonda had found a buddy! Bonda and Hondo had united, it was a freaky looking couple. Hondo got the better end of the deal though. He was comprised of at least 50% Honda and 50% Bondo. It also seemed that the owners of Bonda and Hondo were getting much better with their craftmanship for Hondo had a much smoother finish than the Bubbly Bonda.

The next visit had us even more excited for Bonda and Hondo had even more company After their union they seemed to have a baby, this was an exciting day indeed! This car was affectionatly dubbed Hobo as we were running out of punny options. Hobo was primer grey and hardly had a trace of bondo. At 95% Honda and only 5% bondo, Hobo was blessed with good genetics!

As I mentioned in my previous post, it's been about a year since we've been back to visit. I wonder what has become of Bonda, Hondo and Hobo...

Long time, no posting

2006-06-26T17:07:00.000-07:00

It's summertime, what can I say? Well, that and the fact that I'm trying to get things ready to go on vacation. We leave this weekend for a few days in Kansas City and then a few days visiting family. That's the topic of a whole other post which will come. So, the week of the 4th there won't be much new content. When we get back I should be in the swing of things though! So, there's your advanced warning. :-P

How evil is WalMart?

2006-06-16T21:10:00.000-07:00

Jill, this one is for you. Make sure you're nice and comfy, this could take a little bit. If anyone out there also has an evil WalMart story, please share it!

The Wal-Mart woes all started 7 years ago with my first "real" job. Yes, that's right, working for WalMart was my first full time job. In those days I worked the closing shift in the infant and boys section. At the end of the summer I moved out of state and transferred to another store. I still worked the closing shift, but this time as a cashier. Later I moved back to the sales floor, I became the phone operator and fitting room person. At this point I moved again, across the state and was unable to transfer again.

Oh, but it doesn't end there! Nope, not at all.

The experience I gained working with WalMart landed me a spiffy job of Menswear manager at none other than K-Mart. Well, one thing led to another and after 9 months I applied at WalMart. This time, because of my experience at K-Mart (isn't it funny how that works?) I was given more money with WalMart! So, I started as a stocker. I reported for duty at 5am and got off at 2pm, crazy, but I loved it at the time. This store is where I spent the bulk of my time and actually got the bulk of my retail experience.

I stared as a stocker for softlines and a back-up cashier. I "served time" in the shoe department, domestics, lawn and garden, seasonal, the smoke shop, the TLE (cashier) and finally, fabrics and crafts. I'm sure you've all seen a WalMart store that has been in the process of remodeling. I've been one of the worker bees. Thrice. I also helped setup a new store. I had worked in more areas of the store than most members of managers ever do.

This brings me to the reasons why I think WalMart is evil.

I mentioned above that I worked setup for a new WalMart store. Well, when that store opened and I went back to my "home store" there was a Department manager position that was up for grabs. I was definetly interested! I applied for the slot, along with 3 or 4 other people. I interviewed and found out later that I didn't get the position. No biggie, right? Wrong. The manager of the store told me the following...

"Pets is a hard department. There's a lot of heavy lifting involved and I'm just not sure that's where you want to be. You don't want to have to mess with that every day."

Nice, eh? Anyone who knows me wouldn't buy that! I love to lift, it's a widely known fact. I'm also 5'11'' and NOT petite. I could handle the lifting and shifting and all the other things that came along with the job. What I find interesting about this situation is the guy they hired for the job. He was in his late 60's and somewhat resembled Mr. Rogers, he got an a pee-on assistant to do all his lifting for him.

Do you see my first frustration? Me, capable of the job. Old guy, not so much. Old guy gets the job. That's reason #1.

I'll make reason #2 much shorter. A while later another Department manager position came open and I also applied for it. Now, it's policy that if you apply for a position, you at least get an interview. Well, I didn't hear anything and didn't hear anything and didn't hear anything. I went to my manager to see when I'd hear something and got the run around. A few days later I hear from someone that the new department manager will be starting in a few weeks! Company policy didn't happen. There was no interviewing of Gail for Fabrics and Crafts and managers that lied about it.

There are TONS and TONS of other little reasons why I think WalMart is evil, but these are a few of the big reasons. I'm shutting up though, this post is already way too long. Maybe later I'll post about why I think WalMart is evil from a consumer point of view.

100 degrees and Allergies

2006-06-15T20:42:00.000-07:00

I grew up in Kansas so I shouldn't be a stranger to extreme summer temps or allergies either, for that matter. The last summer that I spent in KS it averaged 117 degrees. In the shade. That was also the summer that I worked a temp job for a place that does plastic blowmolding (for places like Rubbermaid) and the plastic parts would come out of the machines at something like 125 degrees. Needless to say, it was a hot summer.

But I don't live in Kansas anymore, Colorado is currently home. Colorado is not supposta be as hot as Kansas but yesterday it was hotter. The town that I grew up in had high temp of 91. Here in Colorado it was 100 freakin degrees.

The morning didn't start out so bad, but by mid-morning things were starting to get ugly. We don't have air conditioning in this house so I simply had the windows open. The living room where I spend most of my time with the boys has a box fan in the window to suck in air from outside. Yesterday I forgot to turn it off before it started to warm up outside which proved to be a huge mistake. The house was nasty hot.

As the day drug on my allergies started to make an appearance and by bedtime I was felt like my head was going to pop. I've gotten to the point where I don't like to take a bunch of medicine but last night I caved. I couldn't take it anymore! Two Tylenol PM and a glass of water later I went to bed! Sound strange to take Tylenol PM for allergies? Interesting, the "sleep aide" part of Tylenol PM is Diphenhydramine, the generic version of Benadryl Allergy. Neat, huh?

You know your the mother of a toddler boy when...

2006-06-12T21:21:00.000-07:00

You clean out your car and in addition to trash you find the following...

2 matchbox cars
1 matchbox truck
1 "monster truck" that when you pull it backwards it propels it forward
2 little tonka trucks
4 sippy cups
1 soccer ball
3 pint sized sweat shirts
1 toddler baseball hat
8 pairs of toddler socks (and I wonder why I couldn't find any in the house!)

Enough said.

When is this EVER ok?

2006-06-10T20:56:00.000-07:00

I was at WalMart a while back, it's a place I've grown to hate. There are many reasons that I won't get into. Back to the point though. Here is a quote that I heard a mother say to her daughter, are you ready for this? Here it comes...

"Get that off your head. It's too hot to have a PLASTIC BAG over your head!"

Now call me dense, but when is it EVER ok to have a plastic bag over the top of your head?

Drive thru windows

2006-06-10T20:21:00.000-07:00

I find myself sitting here tonight pondering the woman who was working the drive thru at Taco Bell tonight. I wonder what her story is, why she's working a drive thru for what I'm sure is not enough money.

The reason for my curiosity? Her age and ability. You see, she appeared to be in her mid 30's. I'm wondering what happened in her life to have her working fast food. It was obvious that she was intellegent and compitent. What brought her on this path? I seriously hope that this unknown woman knows her full potential, because she has alot!

I often wonder what stories people could tell about their life, if given the chance. People fascinate me. I think that's why I'm addicted to checking out blogs!

It's Friday Night

2006-06-09T21:22:00.000-07:00

And I'm sitting at home, alone. The boys have both been in bed for a few hours now and I have been watching the Food Network. Yes, I'm a geeek! But, that is not the point.

Josh took off work early this afternoon so he could make the drive to visit his mom and siblings. I was really bummed when we talked about him going alone, I really wanted to go! But, we decided that it would be best if he made the trip alone. Taking the boys would only make the already long drive even longer. So, we stayed behind.

About an hour and a half ago Josh called and he's about 2 hours away from his final destination, but he's stopping for the night. His radiator hose blew. Ironically, this is not the first time this has happened to him/us while making this drive. It happened almost 4 years ago in his old truck, but again, that's a different story.

Oh, yeah, you'll never believe this! The place he stopped to say the night only had one room available...The Honeymoon Suite! Josh told me that it's the biggest hotel room he's ever been in and it stinks because he is there alone. *sigh* There's always next time, right?

First thing in the morning JoshiePoo is getting up and heading over to AutoZone to get the replacement hose and slap 'er on. He'll be on the road and to his moms house just in time for lunch. Knowing him, he'll work til he's cross eyed tomorrow night. Then get up Sunday morning and drive home! At this rate his visit will last all of 24 hours or so.

I really hope the rest of the trip goes smoothly for him. I know I'll sound like a goober for saying this, but I miss him. So, I'm outa here and gonna go call him!

Grocery delivery and Customer service

2006-06-06T07:25:00.000-07:00

I would say that for about 6 weeks now we've been ordering our groceries online and having them delivered the next day. It has all gone perfectly, until yesterdays delivery.

You see, when you order you can select to have substitutions made if they are out of stock with the item that you have selected. Every time I have ordered I have selected 'no substutions'. I've been afraid I'll get white bread and normal pasta instead of the whole wheat variety. You get the idea.

Well, as I was going through the order yesterday I noticed several things that had been subbed. When I got through the list and figured out where all the mistakes were I called the customer service line. I wasn't quite sure what to expect but the lady that I talked to was so nice! She took the time to go over the order that I made versus the order that was filled.

At first she was saying all they could do was have someone come by and pick up the items that had been subbed that shouldn't have been and then they would credit me. But after reviewing the order she gave me a credit for the difference between what I ordered and what I got!

So, if anyone is thinking about using a delivery service I highly reccoment King Soopers! (They're part of the Krogger chain) They are great!

Breastfeeding boost

2006-06-02T21:58:00.000-07:00

I've been taking fenugreek now for a lil bit to help with my supply. MiKael has hit a grown spurt and I've needed help!

I have found the answer!

Mike's Hard Berry.

Now, I'm no lush. I had one of these things last night with dinner. Waking up this morning I was in PAIN!

Yummy and effective!

Tabula rasa

So...

Hum...

Zander's track creations

A glimpse into our future?

Literal Thinker...Part 2...and 3

Literal thinker

A few pictures from today

Update

Holy.Cow.

Whiner boys

Orthopedic Surgeon

Neurologist...nerve test...

Learning to talk is SO MUCH FUN!!

Doing the Doctor Dance

Gotta love $1 toys from Target

New haircut for MiKael

Long time, no blog...again

A case of the minor sickies

Sitting in my driveway...

The bus

Spring??

Sunny and 65! :)

Puzzle boy

Silence...

More snow...

Delays in Posting

Dinner tonight

Who woulda thought??

Gripe of the day

MiKael

I Confess

Ouch

Once again Zander brings a smile to my face

ABC...

So Tired...

Jumping back in

Dino Nuggets

Memorable Moments From Today

MiKael the Mooch

Today at Lunch

Crazy crazy crazy

Bedtime worth blogging about

Zander, the big boy

To the frumpy, grumpy woman at Target

Zander camping

Another brother "comparison"

It's official, as of yesterday

Preschool and other random stuff

Seeing the allergist

This just in with more details to follow

It's July 11th?!

Previously mentioned BucketHead

Summer observations from this Colorado mommy

There are bigger problems than mine out there

Afternoon in the ER

Potty news

April 24, 2007

Ok, so now I'm curious...and nosey!

Day #2 of...

More pictures

And now, what you *really* want!

Special moments with Zander

This just in!!

This and That

Word of the day

Another couple of pics

Word for the day

For the time being

Long time with no post...more coming soon...I think

Hum...

For Amie

The Forgetful Female

Life Insurance

Bars on the windows? An alarm system?

Ring 'n Run

No love for the boys

Feeling a bit violated and just a wee bit scared

Great day!

Gone camping

And now, what you really want!