TROUBLE=KMae

I'm quite certain that if you look up the word Trouble in the dictionary there will be a picture of my youngest KMae right next to it. I think it is her mission in life lately to make sure we do not get our house in perfect condition before we sell it. In the last couple of weeks she has managed to:

• get into wet paint and paint her bedroom furniture.
• paint her body.
• Draw on my bedspread with a purple sharpie.
• Draw on the recently painted wall with a ball point pen.
• Pee on pretty much every surface in my house (been my worst yet to potty train)
• Put gobs of shampoo on her hair and all over the bathroom floor sans bath time
• Dump gold nail polish on my bathroom floor.
• Dump out Grandpa's pill box (fortunately she only partook of the Vitamin E)
• Color with oil pastels and crayons on Na's bed spread.

Kmae and KBaby six months ago getting into my Scentsy testers.

Yesterday I was folding laundry and enjoying the company of my parents who are in town.

Kbaby (KMae's best friend) and KMae were upstairs playing with the doll house and their baby dolls....or so I thought. My dad went upstairs and discovered the girls had dumped the contents of his daily pill box all over the floor. Pills were scattered across a 3 foot patch of carpet. There were big brown ones and itty bitty pink ones and a slew of colors and sizes in between. A few we could tell had been tasted (they were slobbery) but not consumed. I count my blessings only a Vitamin E was not recovered.

While my dad was cleaning that up I was on my way to put the girls in time out when I discovered they had taken about 20 of my Scentsy bars from inventory and had them all open and arranged on the floor so they could smell them.  I am glad I have such little fans of my business but, I wish they would wait for me to assist them in smelling the scents. When they got done cleaning up that mess I see Na's art kit open and laying on her bed. Next to it were scribbles in crayon and oil pastel.

I am sure there are many more things I have yet to discover. This child is a walking tornado. It is compounded when Kbaby comes over to play. Most of the above occurred with her friend. These two should not be left alone together.

I should add that, with the exception of the pill box, I take some responsibility. The items gotten into should have been placed out of reach of tiny hands. The pill box was placed on the top of a dresser but the girls flipped over a tub and climbed up to get it.

Click here to read about a lesson learned.

Choose a prompt, post it on your blog, and come back to add your name to the link list below. Be sure to sign up with the actual post URL and not just your basic blog URL (click on the title of your post for that URL). For good comment karma try to comment on the three blogs above your name!!

The Prompts:



1.) Lesson learned!

2.) What did they get into now? Describe a time your toddler got into something they shouldn’t have.

3.) Describe a time when someone was proud of you.

4.) Write a poem about something you are looking forward to.

5.) Watcha’ cookin? Share a recipe.

OWOH Winner Winner!

I am so sorry for not announcing this yesterday. Things are a little crazy in my house right now. We are having the carpet replaced in the entire house and I have been boxing up all the loose ends as well as trying to clean because my in laws are coming in town today. So, for the moment you all have been waiting for. The winner of this lovely hat is....

Number 111

CathyH from Cathy Horner Collage Art.

I have notified Cathy so hopefully she will contact me. If I don't hear from her in the next couple of days I will draw again.

Our Love Story

BYU Preference March 2000

In honor of Valentine's day I've decided to share "our story". It all started one fall semester 12 years ago at BYU. I was a sophomore and The Doctor was a fresh returned missionary. For some crazy reason I was a declared Biology major which meant I was taking 2 Chemistry and a physics class in one fun semester. I'm sure any of these classes on their own would be fine but when your first priority was a social life it made studying and learning quite hard. The Doctor was a pre med major so naturally we had to take some of the same classes.

I sat nervously in the middle of the lecture hall of my first chem class on the first day of school and in walked this tall, handsome, lean machine. And I mean tall...6'7" tall. Compared to my 5'4" he towered over me. After mentally taking note of how good looking this man was I chided myself and said "you wouldn't have a chance. Tall guys go for tall girls".

Later that day I settled into my seat in physics and low and behold the same guy walked in. Once again I told myself he was out of my league.

Wouldn't you know it, the next day I found myself passing him on some stairs, he was going down and I was going up, and he smiled and said hi. I held composure even though my insides were jumping all over the place. I was on my way to get a drink. When I made it back to the classroom who was sitting there? The Doctor. I couldn't believe it. This class was a much smaller class so I knew we would have to meet and talk. Well, as the semester progressed The Doctor and I became good friends (after all, he was out of my league). He, another guy, and I ended up having 4 classes together that semester. The 3 of us became study buddies. Because I did not feel I had a chance with him I totally let my guard down. During study sessions we would talk about people we were dating and give relationship advice back and forth. If he had a bad date I heard all about it. By mid semester I had a steady boyfriend and I went as far as setting The Doctor up on a date with my taller roommate. We doubled and went and saw some Disney cartoon I believe at the $1 movie. I didn't find out until later but it drove The Doctor crazy to see me with my boyfriend. At the time he didn't understand it either because he had told himself that I was too short to date. He had a strict 5'7" or taller rule.

Shortly after Thanksgiving my boyfriend and I had broken up. The day after we broke up The Doctor took me on my first snowmobiling adventure. It was a blast until I crashed. That is another story all together. This little adventure was the first time the thought of me and The Doctor dating popped into my head.

Christmas break came and a guy I dated in HS was getting home from his mission. The Doctor of course new all about him. As is typical for most foreign return missionaries the guy was a little weird (sorry if you are reading this but you were). I remember calling The Doctor the first night I saw this other guy. I didn't know it at the time but he was on a date with his girlfriend but he still spoke with me.

After Christmas I changed majors which  meant no more classes with The Doctor. I assumed our friendship would wither. One time in January I remember running into The Doctor in the library and asking him when he was going to ask me out. He replied "when are you going to grow taller".

In February there was a holiday weekend. HS guy drove me and another friend of his home for the weekend. We had a great drive and I thought finally the weirdness was ending. The Doctor took his girlfriend to the family cabin (with the rest of the fam of course) for a weekend of snow mobiling. When I got back in town The Doctor called me and said he had just had the worst weekend. Apparently his girlfriend stayed inside the cabin the whole weekend knitting and didn't go out and play. I told him that's what he gets for dating someone 9 years older then him. He then told me he needed to go have some fun and he was coming by to pick me up and we were going miniature golfing. We told ourselves this wasn't a date because he still had a girlfriend. We were just 2 friends going to have fun together. For the next 2 weeks we "had fun" together. We went bowling, played pool, went roller blading,....basically everything his girlfriend wouldn't do. 

March brought Preference (BYU's girls choice dance). All of my roommates were going and I wanted to go to but didn't know who I preferred. I couldn't ask anyone from church because tongues would wag and my last boyfriend was in the same ward (congregation). I decided to ask The Doctor because we were just friends and he wouldn't read anything into it. Plus, he still had a girlfriend. I knew The Doctor didn't like to dance so I picked the Heber Creeper for our date. The Heber Creeper is a train that moves slowly around the mountains by Heaber and Dear Creek. They had a couple of cars set up for dancing and a couple passenger cars for sitting and talking. The Doctor and I spent most of the evening sitting and cuddling on the passenger train. No kissing, no hand holding. We just sat with his arm around me and talked non stop for hours. This night I knew there was chemistry between us and I wanted more then friendship. I found out later he felt it too.

The next day was a Sunday. I was in my apartment and really wanted to see him again. My roomies were there along with some of the guys from another apt. They all told me I should call and invite him over. So, I did. He sounded distant and pre-occupied while I spoke with him. I invited him over and he hesitated and then said sure. I hung up feeling deflated. When he arrived an hour or so later he told me he was in the process of breaking up with his girlfriend when I called.

Tuesday we skipped classes and went to Nutty Putty Caves together. We had our first kiss in the middle of a dark cavern. It was an awkward first kiss that left plenty of room for improvement. We practiced a few more times in the cave.

Friday I remember doing dishes in the kitchen and he was sitting at the table. I was discussing how excited I was that I got into an Apartment with my freshman year roommate that was close to campus and affordable. He looked up and asked "what if I ruined your plans?" He then told me how he has been getting the impression he should marry me. A couple weeks later I took him home to meet mom and dad. He asked Dad for permission to marry me. We got engaged officially engaged one month later on April 13th.

Nov 2010

I am so glad he decided to change his rule about dating 5'7" girls. I did however receive many bad looks from tall single girls on campus when we walked hand in hand. The way I see it, my sister married a man who was shorter than her so I was completely justified in marrying someone taller. The best part of the whole thing is we were always just naturally ourselves together. There was no awkward new dating because by the time we started dating we already knew so much about each other. He had even seen me in my glasses which is a very BIG deal. Things just flowed naturally and they do still today. We complete each others sentences and speak just what the other is thinking.  I now know why I was a Biology major for 3 semesters. Had I not been I may have never met the perfect man for me.

I Survived Paint Ball

We went paint balling on Saturday and I survived. It was fun. All the girls in the group were pretty apprehensive at first. It of course helped that the first person we talk to said it hurt way worse then she thought it would. Once we got the safety training and geared up it was game on.

Our group of 6 got mixed in with a bunch of other small groups making one large group between 30-40 people. We divided into teams and went to battle. At the location we went to you have 10 minutes of play where you try and shoot other people while they are taking aim at you. One hit and you are out. What really stunk was the fact that my gun got hit to knock me out twice. I suppose I should be grateful it was my gun that got hit and not me because one of the times I was walking to the dead box and I wasn't paying attention and I got hit by "friendly fire" on my mask and my hand. Getting hit on my fingers hurt worse then child birth. It stung and bled. My little pinkie is still bruised and tender today.

I wish we had more time to play and I wish we had purchased more paint balls.  It would have been more fun had I known everyone playing. It also would have been great if there was more of a point, like play capture the flag at the same time. I wouldn't think twice about going again. I highly recommend wearing baggy clothes as a beginner. They tend to cushion the blow.

WW Points Plus is Still a Plus

You know how sometimes you are so excited about something in the beginning but then the "honeymoon" phase wears off and you are not as excited? I have previously written about Weight Watchers Points Plus program and how I loved it. Well, I have been doing it for just over a month and I still love it. I started the program on Dec. 28 and since then I have lost a total of 16.4 lbs.  I have been losing on average 2.3 lbs per week. I haven't even started exercising yet. I was going to throw fitness into the mix 2 weeks ago but then my kids got the flu and then I did. As soon as I'm recovered I'm going to start Zumba and biking. I need to get my body toned for the beach in March.

The reason I'm still excited about WW Points Plus is it works. I don't feel restricted. I have the power to choose what I eat and how much I eat of it. I don't know about you but if I tell myself I can't have something I want it even more. So, instead of telling myself I can't I say I can but just a little. I'm really learning what foods I can have self control with. My homemade chocolate chip cookies are dangerous. I have a hard time stopping at one portion. I did however buy Girl Scout Cookies and I have found that because they are in a box I can seal up and put out of sight I can handle stopping after just 2.  We still order Papa John's Pizza every weekend. Instead of eating the Hawaiian BBQ (which happens to have one of the highest point values) I eat the Garden Vegetable pizza. And not just one slice either because, who can stop at one slice? I have 2 slices then I usually eat a small salad or some fruit along with my pizza.

Adding flavor to food helps too. Every morning I eat an English Muffin with a scrambled egg inside. To add a little flavor I substitute flavored Laughing Cow Cheese (usually chipotle or sun dried tomato) for butter on my English Muffin. Before I baked Sweet potato wedges the other day I drizzled a little olive oil on them and then sprinkled them with Italian seasoning. So much better then plain sweet potatoes.

My point is, it is totally doable. You can have your pizza and cookies. The choice is yours.

Snow Day

I would never have thought I would have lived to see a snow day in south Texas. Hell really has froze over. It only snowed a 1/4 of an inch but it was the layer of ice beneath the snow that caused the problem. I guess there is no real need to have plows and sanding trucks when you only get measurable snow once every 20 years. Needless to say, my kids were thrilled to not have to go to school. The added bonus was The Doctor was post call so he got to spend the day playing with us.

Unfortunately I pulled my camera out only to realize the LCD screen had been busted and the thing won't take pictures. I believe my kids were using it to stand on to get a little taller. So, I had to take pics using my daughters camera which is not the best quality.

First we bundled up in our warmest clothing and took a picture to prove that we did actually have snow. See how my son isn't wearing a coat? Crazy head. He did put one on later.

One of the kids came up with the idea to have a snowball fight. That lasted as long as it took for one of them (Bubs I believe) to get hit in the neck (on the first throw). He came in crying about it being cold. The snowball fight was his idea too.

Na gave making a snow angel an honest try.

Then when the Doctor got home he made a little ramp at the bottom of our driveway. The kids took turns riding their tricycle over it. Then we pulled out and under bed storage bin and tried to sled. Didn't work out so well. But you know what does make a good sled? The huge city issued recycle bins. The Doctor took pics with his phone and they haven't been uploaded yet. But, picture flipping the big blue recycle bins on their sides with the wheels facing down. Hop on like you are riding a horse and you are good to go. The kids did that down our driveway for around 45 minutes. Great times.

I did burst Na's bubble though. We are moving to Alaska in June and I had to make sure my kids understood that this would probably be the only snow day they got in a really long time. When it snows in AK they don't cancel school. Na started crying and stomped up the stairs yelling "stupid Alaska. Stupid snow, I don't want to move."  She has been so excited about the move until this point. Hopefully when she sees they make ice rinks with the basketball courts on the playground she'll be happy again. Here is one more difference. When the weather is below 40 degrees F. here they make the kids stay inside for recess. In Alaska, when the weather reaches -10 degrees F. they cancel recess. I am definitely going to be spending some big money on winter weather accessories next fall.

Everything was of course melted by noon but it was great having an extra day to just play together.

One World One Heart

Last year I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in One World One Heart: OWOH. It is and event where bloggers from around the world get a chance to meet each other by hopping around from blog to blog. To encourage people to travel the WWW participants do a giveaway or a door prize for those who leave a comment. I found so many wonderful blogs last year and am always impressed with the creativity and the writing styles of so many. I am very excited to participate again this year. This is the fifth and final year though so hopefully it will go out with an incredible amount of participants. Lisa over at a Whimsical Bohemian is the creator. If you are interested in participating please visit her blog and follow the instructions. The event only goes until February 17th so you better hurry along.

For those who have found my blog via OWOH, welcome. Let me introduce myself. I am a stay at home mom married to The Doctor. We have 4 beautiful children ages 3-9, Na, Bubs, LuLu, and Kmae. This blog is really my way of sharing my random thoughts on motherhood, housework, and everything else associated with my home and family. Some stuff is just my opinion and other stuff is fact based. If something I share helps at least one person then I am grateful. For last years event I had just learned to Knit so I gave away something knitted. This past year I learned to crochet so guess what? I will be giving away something Crocheted. How about this cute hat? Actually, not this hat but one just like it.

So, here is what you need to do if you would like to win a hat like this one.

Leave a comment by 10:00 PM CST February 16, 2011 and include and email address where you can be reached should you win. I will announce and contact the winners on February 17, 2011.

 If you would like, please specify the size you would like the hat to be.

Happy blog hopping!

The 5 Senses

 

Taste, touch, see, hear, and smell make up the 5 senses. It isn't until one or more is impaired that I truly appreciate the fact that most days I have all 5 senses. I had the flu this last week and the only sense that remained fully intact was my sense of touch. I have severe congestion so I haven't been able to smell and oddly enough, the congestion has affected my ability to taste as well. Food just doesn't have the same flavor. I'm blind as a bat with out my contacts and I managed to get pink eye so I wasn't able to wear my contacts. I have a pair of glasses but they are the wrong prescription. They help some but I would not trust myself to drive with them. I also lost a bit of my hearing to the congestion as well. I feel like I've had earmuffs on all week.

These senses work hand in hand to allow me to enjoy life. They can also keep me safe.  I learned a lesson this week too. If I don't have my sense of smell or sight, sometimes taste is not my best option.

It was a very cold (for South TX) morning. Around 20 degrees out. My neighbor's cat, Pumkin, looked so cold so I let him come in to warm up. He promptly ran upstairs and made himself comfortable on my bed snuggled up to my sleeping toddler. Because I was sick, once my older kids got on the bus I went back to bed. I didn't want the cat in my bed so I carried him into Bubs room and placed him on his bed. 5 minutes later Pumkin made his way back to my room and snuggled in by my feet. Whatever, I was too cold and sick to care.

An hour later I jumped in the shower and got dressed. My eyes were feeling better so I put my contacts in. I went downstairs to turn on the TV. We got a nice big TV for Christmas and an entertainment center to put it on. The rule is, nobody touches it or placed anything on the entertainment center. Well, I was horrified to see something wet and dripping down the right side of the screen. My thoughts immediately turned to my kids and the bubbles they were blowing in the house the night before. I suppose I could have easily missed it if I had my glasses on. I went up closer and couldn't visually tell what it was so I decided to touch it. It was not the consistency of the bubbles. It was a little thicker and maybe a little sticky. I then thought maybe it was cough medicine. Why would cough medicine be on my TV you might ask? Well, with KMae anything is possible. I tried to smell it but with no luck since I was all stopped up. So, I couldn't tell what it was by touching, seeing, or smelling. Obviously I couldn't hear it so I decided to taste it. I stuck my finger in a little bit and licked my finger. I can't really describe what it tasted like because gratefully my taste buds were clouded but I can tell you this, it was a little bitter and I knew instantly that it was not anything my kids had put on the TV. I had an image pop in my head from something I witnessed a couple days prior.

We had a garage sale and were cleaning up. In my lawn were some boxes. Pumkin walked up to the boxes lifted his tail and sprayed the box. He was marking his territory on the box. Never in my life had I seen a cat do this before.

With this image in my mind and a bitter taste on my tongue I knew instantly that what I had just tasted was not bubbles or cough medicine, how I wish it were, but in fact cat urine. What solidified my discovery was when I let my cat in the house she went over to the spot (post clean up) and was sniffing it like crazy. Apparently Pumkin was not too happy with me removing him from my bed so he decided to let me know by marking my brand new TV. Well my dear Pumkin, you are no longer allowed in my house no matter how cold it is outside.

Paint Ball

Watch this little clip....


It was my memories of this scene from the movie 10 Things I hate about You that was in my mind when I purchased a Groupon a couple of months ago to go Paint balling. What was I thinking? I'm sure I was thinking something along the lines of "won't my husband think I'm cool if I take him paint balling? It will be so fun and romantic. After all, we can make out while we are covered in paint." It was such a great idea I talked two of my besties into buying tickets as well.

So, this weekend we are finally going to redeem these coupons. The place we are going to does not provide balloons filled with paint but actual paintball guns with paint balls loaded in them. Since it is an outdoor field and it has been cold I'm pretty sure I'm going to be calling them "pain"balls. So, I will be stepping out of my comfort zone this weekend and stepping into the unknown. At least I won't be alone. My girlfriends will be just as uncomfortable. My only advantage is my experience shooting shotguns.

I'm sure we will look just like this as we are playing.