The Tattooed Little Lady

Sweet Girl has grown FOND of band-aids, and not just any band-aids, they have to the the "tattoo" ones. I had to advise her preschool teacher that she does not REQUIRE that many band-aids before they end up calling DHS or something because she is sporting NINE, YES NINE band-aids going up her leg. She has adorned her leg with a plethora of both princesses and fairies (the fairy kind were purchased after she exhausted our princess stash).

And they don't bother her, she wants to add MORE.


Here are here little legs for you to enjoy (sorry you only get to see eight of them...)

Evolution of A Party

We had a get together on Saturday afternoon/evening. As I was preparing everything for the party, I had a realization. My realization came as I was making these:

They are mini "caramel" apples and amazingly mine turned out and looked like the ones pictured above (courtesy of Family Fun Magazine). As I was balling the apple (yes with a melon baller), and getting shot in the eye with apple juice, I realized I was worried about having enough apples to go around. This struck me as funny because at any previous party we had (before kids that is) I was probably not worried at all about food but instead if we had enough jager to go around, would it be cold enough, will there be enough beer, is anyone going to pass out in the grass again, are the cops going to get called this time, etc etc. Not anything like what I was thinking while balling these apples. I was wondering will there be enough for the kids to do, maybe I should have gotten some chalk or special thing they can play with, will there be enough food for everyone, well you get the picture. The exact opposite thoughts of any previous party we would have thrown.

Yes we did have beer at this party and well we even had some summer beer (a yummy concoction of beer, vodka and limeade). But no one, well except one person, drank a great amount and got lit. And while all the previous parties didn't really get going until 9:30, this one was over before then and I was in bed at 9:30.

My my how times change.

The Joys of Small Children

I have found that even though sometimes I am at my wits end, there are so many joys of small children.
Like...
Hmm...well really I can't think of any.
Ha just kidding...

• They are totally in love with you.
• Their laugh.
• Their determination.
• They are borderline OCD and it's really OK.
• Their imagination.
• Their wonder at the small things.
• Their excitement.
• Their clothing choices.
• Their accomplishments.
• Their sleeping through the night.
• Their soft hands on your face.
• Their head on your shoulder.
• Sleeping in your arms.
• Their love of snuggling.
• Their love of movement.

There are so many but these are my some of my favorite things I've enjoyed experiencing with Sweet Girl and Little Man.

Sufing Kids

Do your kids already get on the PC and surf the net to kid-friendly websites? Do you allow them PC access to play age appropriate games? I am just wondering as Sweet Girl doesn't get a lot of PC time, really none at all. She has her VTech thing where she can play some video games but it really doesn't hold her attention very long.
But I'm wondering if we should be allowing her to become more PC literate at this stage? She is almost 4. Is it too early? We do have a desktop but it's in our wonderfully unorganized closet and the monitor is still wrapped in bubble wrap.
I know they have a PC in her preschool class and they do some activities on it. But I'm not sure how much, I will have to inquire.
She is a lover of real books, so I don't want to replace the PC with her love of reading because she views the PC more exciting.
I am sure with all things kid related there is a balance. I will admit I am not very good at the balancing act. I am always out of balance for some reason! Even with all that "core" conditioning I've been subjected to...
Oh the joys of parenting...It is my biggest challenge yet.

An Inquiring Mind Wants To Know

I am wondering just how clean and straight your house is on a daily basis? If you have kids and you work outside the house too, is your home spotless and everything put away in it's place? If so, how in the hell do you do this? This is a constant battle I seem to be fighting and add in Leo's thought that every one's house looks the same way everyday all day as it does when we're invited over for dinner or a visit is not helping this issue. We know OUR house isn't that spotless and straight as it is when we have company over so why he thinks this is the case with others is beyond me but oh my get ready...I could be wrong.
So am I wrong?? Do all you people live in everyday clean and spotless homes with no clutter to be seen?? And if you do, please I ask again share your secret.
I am not saying our house is an absolute pigsty and that you can't walk through it without tripping on something every day. I'm talking general clutter mostly in the kitchen. The mail and other assorted items that get piled on the counter, etc. This is my problem. How do you control THAT? What do you do with it all?

Come on, share away please. Share share share, didn't your mother teach you this was a good thing to do??

Lots of Unorganized Thoughts

I have had a couple posts swirling around in my head for the past couple days. I just do not have my thoughts completely organized around them just yet to put them into a post that would be coherent.
So today you just get this:
Sweet Girl is acting like my younger sister in that she cuts up paper into squares and rectangles and puts them in piles. I don't know about you but I think this is weird. I don't think my sister still does this now that she's an adult with her own child but maybe at work when she's bored she cuts paper and puts them in piles or bags? Who knows.

Back To School Insanity

The other day I was looking through the mail and started to flip through a local magazine. It was all about back to school. Back to school fashion and other various tips about what styles will be popular. Well let me just say, I feel sorry for my kids when it’s back to school time for us. On one of the pages it listed an outfit and other accessories, among them:
A $135 pair of jeans! (yeah I don’t think so)
A $105 watch (really, not necessary)
A $18.99 top (now that’s more like it)
And here is the kicker…
A $398 Coach bag to be used as a book bag. Are you fucking serious? Come on. There is no way I would be spending that kind of money on a book bag. If Sweet Girl wants to work her butt off and save for that kind of luxury back pack well then more power to her, but I think before she drops almost 400 dollars on something we should have a talk about wants and needs.
And to prove that there are kids that actually are walking around high school with the $398 Coach bag, we were at the Cold Stone and lucky for us (read with sarcasm) the local high school cheerleaders were having a fundraiser and were working at the Cold Stone. Yay…(rolling my eyes). And there sitting in the corner with all the books and bags was the Coach bag. I couldn’t believe it, but there it was in all its glory.
Now I’ll admit my kids do have a lot of Ralph Lauren clothes. But none of it was ever bought unless it was on a wicked good sale, such as a polo dress marked down from the ungodly price of $59 to $5! I have a feeling that the Coach bag is never reduced THAT much…
Here is my back to school tip, go to Goodwill.

Poop Check

Sweet Girl has somewhat taken on the task of checking Little Man for poop. It just came about due to the fact they are always playing so close so it was easy to just ask her if he had poop when I got a wiff of something. And if you ask Little Man if he has poop his answer is ALWAYS no. She's good about it and doesn't think anything of opening the back of his pants and peering in. She'll either reply with the resounding No or the 'Yes Little Man has stinky poop'.
I guess all good things like this are bound to backfire on you at some point. And we experienced that last night AT. THE. MALL.
We headed to the mall and ate dinner at the bread company and then to play in the play area. It is inevitable that Little Man poops after we eat dinner AND they are playing somewhere. So I was prepared with a diaper and ready for the diaper change. I headed over to the Bare Escentuals store to get some lipstick because all my tubes have disappeared. As I'm leaving the store I see Leo quickly rounding the kids up and getting them out of the play area. Strange I thought until I see the look on his face. Hmmm...something is amiss. I get to them as they are leaving the area where he motions me to look at Sweet Girl's dress. I must have had a questioning look on my face as I'm looking at her dress with light brown streaks going down the front. Leo answers my look with 'It's poop', but I hear 'it's puke'.
Me: Who puked?
Leo: No it's POOP.
Me: So Little Man has poop and she checked?
Leo: Yes and then got it on her finger and wiped it down her dress.
Me: Great.

Off to Barnes & Noble to change Little Man's pants which happens to be right up to the top of his diaper any more falling on his bum and it would have leaked out the top. So it's no wonder that Sweet Girl got it on her fingers when doing her poop check. It would have happened to Leo or myself if we had checked him. I guess as Leo pointed out, we wouldn't have wiped it down the front of our clothes...
So Little Man has new pants, Sweet Girl's hands have been scrubbed and we head home.

I guess it's a good thing he didn't blow it out all over the play equipment. That would have been just horrible!

A Hug A Day

Sweet Girl is now getting a daily hug from little Matthew as she leaves. It is sort of sweet the way he escorts her to me and gives her a hug, but still it does freak me out. And poor Leo. He is REALLY freaking out.

Today is movie day at school and Sweet Girl wanted to bring a movie so she's debating with Leo about Toy Story because the boys will like that movie. Then she asks him:
"Do you think Matthew will like this mobie?" (Not a typo, she can't prounouce her V's, they sounds like B's, I'm trying to stay true to life here...)
Leo: "Well I don't know"
Sweet Girl: "Ok, I'll bring Shrek"

I'm not really sure how she ended up with Shrek but who knows when dealing with the mind of an almost four year old (holy crap, almost four!!!! How DOES that happen so fast????).

Dark Blue

This morning I woke up to the lovely sight of a dark blue sky. I love the dark blue of rain clouds especially when it's still sunny in some spots; I think it casts a wonderful glow on everything. And plus I like rain but the sky leading up to the rain I have always found to be so pretty and calming. Even if it looks like the sky is about to fall out. When I got to work, as I was walking to the door and I smelled the familiar scent of rain. But will it really rain? Who knows and if it does I probably won't know because I'm stuck inside an office surrounded by cube walls, surrounded by office walls with no access to a window at all. It's sad really because if I had an office I would open the blinds and enjoy the beautiful site of clouds and rain.
I really should live somewhere else. Rain and Phoenix generally are not used in the same sentence except maybe 4-5 times a year...

The Love of Little Man

Little Man loves me. He is such a sweet boy and will apparently do anything for me. He accompanied me to the bathroom yesterday. I was happy because I would be more then elated to get the kid potty trained and be rid of diapers forever (or at least until a third comes along. It hasn't been ruled out YET...). So as I finished peeing, I got some toilet paper and he does the same. I thought he was going to just throw it in the toilet but when I leaned up he proceeded to try and wipe my bum. He wiped a cheek and then throws it in the waste basket instead of the toilet. I thought it was funny because he was so focused on his task. He also caught me a little off guard.
Now if he would just move on to peeing in the potty himself, we would be all good!

Nasty Cereal

I have a fond dislike for chocolate cereal. This is probably due to my mother's refusal to buy it for us as kids and the constant reminder that chocolate cereal is gross. And so I now think this way too. Chocolate cereal IS gross. This is probably how my strange obsession with healthy fiber filled cereal began. I LOVE a cereal that has fiber in it but it has to have a lot of fiber in it. Actually I will admit I love ANYTHING with fiber in it. I just basically love fiber. I enjoy, despite much ridicule from my friend Michele and sister in law Liz, fiber filled yogurt. Yes it's really good, although they do not agree. Woohoo 6 easy grams of fiber in that tasty little cup. Ok, well sorry for my fiber tangent and we'll go back to chocolate cereal (it has no fiber I might add as my last fiber comment).

Leo bought the kids Coco Puffs, shockingly they were on sale for $1.68 which is unheard of for a box of cereal these days, (hmm..I wonder why...). I thought well surely the kids won't like this cereal, because hello!!! it's gross. What the hell was I thinking? What kid wouldn't like chocolaty goodness filling their breakfast bowl changing the milk to some nasty color of brown resembling the color of my previous wall paint? Oh certainly not my kids...WRONGO. They loved it, they welcomed it into their morning routine with love. I am grossed out. Why can't they like Fiber One? I might have to turn into my mother on this one and refuse to buy it again. Maybe their love of it will wear off quickly as with everything else they run into these days. I can only hope...I must begin my plan of making them love fiber as much as I do.

The Lonely Pool

We are back to being on our own again. My parents left on Saturday and despite my best efforts I did cry (and in front of people!) which wasn't fun at all. I hate that they had to leave and it feels all lonely and weird now at our house.
Sweet Girl misses Gaga a great deal and keeps asking for her. I feel bad for her but she knows they are coming back so that is good.
The pool is also lonely. My father was a permenant fixture in the pool for the last almost four weeks so when we went swimming yesterday it was sort of quiet and strange.
I'm sure in the next few days to a week we'll be back to our normal routine and everyone will be happier again.
Send lots of good house selling thoughts their way so they can hurry up and get out here!

A Peek Into The Teenage Years

I think we're in trouble. I think we're in BIG trouble. Sure Sweet Girl has been talking about her former love at the preschool in Tennessee but now there are some here too. The only difference is we seem to have advanced a little bit. When she talked about the previous little boy, she wanted him to come over to play. The new boy, Matthew, she wants him to come over to her house and play too, but there's more. Oh yes, more. She also wants him to spend the night and sleep in her room. Of course yes it's sweet little 3.5 year old innocent love but still, holy smokes. Poor Leo.

Earlier this week when I picked her up from school, as soon as I got in her classroom Matthew gets up and requests his hug. She shirks him off much to his dismay. So we're leaving but she doesn't want to leave yet...she had to go back and give him a hug. Cute I'm thinking. Until yesterday when we're driving home, she suddenly realized that she didn't give Matthew a hug OR A KISS. Yes we went from hugs only earlier in the week to kissing at the end. Kids these days sure move a lot faster. That does frighten me a little bit. Will things change so much that when it's sleep over time, they will be co-ed sleep overs that are the norm????
She seems to be a boy magnet at her school, this she apparently didn't get from her mother. I was the exact opposite in school.

So now my friends, I shall start to prepare myself for the teenage years of boys and sleep overs and heartache of all sorts.

Bad Timing...AGAIN!!!

While I know I haven't blogged about it too much, I have really enjoyed the past few weeks with my parents being here. We've had a really great time and the kids have really enjoyed having Gaga and Grandad around again. As have Leo and I. The visit with my sister and her family was wonderful as well. It has been really fun. We did have a small little issue due to my weird issue of not acting happy when people are around to the point I actually act the opposite. I AM happy but don't act like it. I'm not really sure WHY I do this but I apparently do, but not on purpose (yes I know you're thinking gosh she needs some therapy and you're probably right...). But I have REALLY enjoyed having them around, I have missed them terribly and am totally depressed that they are leaving. If I am not careful I will probably start crying but since I also have weird issues of crying in front of people it is unlikely anyone else would know.
They have done a crapload of work on their house, probably more then they should have at their tender young ages. They have busted their ass to get their house ready to sell to be able to move out West to be close to us and closer to my sister and her family. It is a nice feeling that they will be here soon. But since this posts seems to be highlighting some of my issues, I have another one to deal with here and that is instant gratification. I want them here NOW. I am tired of waiting. I am not good at it.
If you remember last time they left, it was PMS week and guess what it's PMS week AGAIN. They really need to work on their departure days. But hopefully next time they come visit, they won't leave so that will be a moot point.
(I can't believe I just used the word 'moot', I find it such a funny word and for some strange reason it reminds me of the Rick Springfield song 'Jessie's Girl'...I know I know, I'll call the therapist).

Lost In Translation

Here are some translations in case you're around our house and wonder what the heck the kids are talking about:

Sweet Girl's slang:
Coconuts - Polka Dots
Putier (prounounced pu-tee-er)- Computer *I'm not sure where she came up with this one.
Yeg - Leg


Little Man's slang:
Jute - Juice
Baby suit - bathing suit
Topit - Stop It

Just a few of them. I shouldn't really exploit their mispronunciations for the enjoyments of readers. I wish you could HEAR them saying these words, it is pretty funny.

My Current Obsession

I like to read. I haven’t read a lot of my own kind of books since Sweet Girl was born almost 4 years ago. I would fit in a regular book now and then but nothing like I used to read before kids. I admit it I love a good book that I can become totally absorbed in. An easy read that gives me a moment to escape my daily duties and kids that has become my life these days.

I have been reading the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. A book I had been hearing about but never really wanted to read. Although as I read more reviews of the book, I thought what the hell I’ll read it. So I ordered the first book Twilight from Barnes and Noble. I didn’t expect to be taken with as much as I was. Holy smokes, I flew through the first book totally captivated and engrossed in the story. It is a young adult book and is therefore pretty easy to read. It is really nicely written, it has wonderful character development and it’s easy to “see” the main characters and feel their emotions and reactions. Again I was captivated and quickly moved on to the second book as soon as I was finished. To tell you how captivated I was, I made Leo stop at the Barnes & Noble in Flagstaff to pick it up so I didn’t to wait until I got home to keep reading even though I already HAD the second book at home waiting for me.

I have wanted to read these books every possible waking minute I can without neglecting the fact that I do have kids and my parents are still there. I am now on the last and final book. (I think I read book 3 in a day and a half). I will try to pace myself so that I can still visit with my parents the last week they are here. I am somewhat obsessed with reading them. If only I could be this obsessed with working out…

So if you like to read I would suggest this series to you, especially if you enjoy a good vampire romance!