Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Wow, my Dad's gonna kill me!!

So Kristen tagged me, and here's how it goes...

I had to go to my pictures folder, go to the 6th folder in there, and then to the 6th picture in that folder Mine was a little more drawn out than that, as I have folders inside of folders...but here is the picture I came to:


It would be quite hilarious and/or interesting to just leave this picture without a description, but to save my dad at least a little bit of dignity, I'll explain it.


Apparently it was April Fools day (Last year or the year before, or maybe even the year before that...) and my parents decided this would be hilarious. I wasn't there, but one of my sisters found it a perfect Kodak Moment and then shared the photo with me, and now here it is on my blog! (Sorry dad!)

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Vehiculars...

In 1998 I bought myself a Plymouth Neon. In 1999-ish, Kamron decided to purchase a Dodge Stratus. Two years ago we purchased a Chrysler Town and Country. And 2 days ago we purchased a Suburban... (not to worry folks, it runs perfectly well and only cost $1600) We still have all four cars. Why the heck does a family with 2 drivers need 4 vehicles (oh, and a motorcycle) ?!?!?! But it gets better than that... Check out the vast variety of colors!!







Sunday, February 15, 2009

I'm Such a Good Wife...

I wrote this on Friday but couldn't get the pictures to work... today they suddenly worked, so here you go...

Kamron wanted a foot rub today. I obliged. Actually, I more than obliged, First, I used the Ped Egg (this thing is wonderful!! It works so well) Then we (we, as in - me and Kyndi) lotioned his feet... made them all nice and soft. He was fully relaxed by this point. Next we rubbed his feet. Me on one, Kyndi on the other. Then we switched and he fell asleep. Then we did this:





(And he has no clue we took pictures!!!)

Thursday, February 12, 2009

In the Middle of the Night...


Out of Disney Characters, I used to really like Cinderella when I was little. Then I moved onto Tinkerbell, I think she’s stinkin’ cute – but she’s become WAY too popular as of late (the last few years)- and it’s not that this is prevalent on my mind, or a giant concern of mine, (World Peace is far more important in my mind…) But, I think I decided in my sleep last night that I like Tarzan and Jane the best… Don’t know what else to tell you – I had a dream in which I had to decide which Disney Character(s) I liked the best and after much thought and consideration I decided on Tarzan and Jane. It’s good that after a long chaotic day, I can still continue my thought processes deep into my sleep. Perhaps this is how I will get my 25 page research paper done..

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

"Paw"


Paw is the Oaklee word for Potty. Oaklee is 21 months old, and she uses the potty. (no bragging intended) (okay, maybe a little)

Last week a friend at work was saying that her 19 month old was potty training and she was so proud (as she should be!) She mentioned that her little girl uses the regular toilet... that got me thinking... we have a little potty at our house that Oaklee sits on all the time - but mostly uses to hide her treasures in (I have found treats, dolls, things she has stolen from my room...) I thought maybe if I put her on the normal toilet, she might catch onto the potty-training thing. It worked. I put her there Friday afternoon - She went potty. I had to go to work that night so I put her in a diaper and left. A few hours later, apparently no one was watching her and they all went in search of her... where was she? On the toilet! She had removed her own diaper and had pooped in the toilet and was just waiting for someone to come along and get her down.... What a good girl!! (why was no one watching her?!?!?)

Fast Forward to today (Tuesday) - she had a bunch of accidents over the weekend, and "tried" quite a few times with no success. I thought maybe she was still too young, and the "new-ness" of it had worn off. I was getting a little bummed out. But today - she has stayed dry all day and gone potty twice!! Woo-hoo!! This may be a road that leads to the end of at least one set of diapers in this house!! ...anyone have tips on potty-training a 7 month old???

Reading, Riting, 'Rithmetic


So we are readers at this house. All my kids love books. I remember hating to read when I was little and I remember this was very upsetting to my grandma. She one day showed up with a new book series and told me "They all say these books will get any girl reading" First of all, who exactly is "they all"? Anyways - my cute grandma was worried enough about my reading to get me the first four books in the Babysitter's Club series. Well, it did the trick. I couldn't get enough. I ended up having something like 44 books in that series.
I am now a major-reader. I compare myself a little to my mom now. My mom has a notebook where she keeps track of every book she's ever read - then she goes to the library and adds to that list like weekly or something. She's always reading. I know there was a vacation to Hawaii or something that she took with my dad and grandparents one year and they still joke that she had her nose in a book the whole time they were there. She is a reader.
I too have a notebook where I keep track of books. My notebook has an aiuthor on each page, and then a list of all the books they've written. When I've read one of the books I check it off. I don't read near as much as my mom though (at least I don't think so) I'd love too - but I RARELY have down time that could be used as reading time. (Kids, a job, homework, the wii...). I read two kinds of books (give or take) They're almost always a factual book (random facts, how to books, how it's made, etc.) (I one time bought a set of encyclopedia's at the D.I. and read them all cover to cover... can we say geek?) or they're silly foofy who-done-it murder mysteries with some goofball female slueth who happens upon a case and then solves it.
My kids love to read, I started buying them books and they got hooked. Morrissa reads The Babysitter Club books (good thing I kept all mine) and other girly-ish books. (Hannah Montana series, etc...)
Tyson is just like me and reads books of fact. He and I can never get enough trivia. He has books about Sharks, baseball greats, and The Guiness Book of World Records. He loves the stuff. He also reads scary books by R.L. Stine (which are the same books I read as a kid, after graduating the Baby Sitters Club) (Good thing I still have all of those books too)
Tate is by far the biggest reader in the house. He is 6 years old and reads 400 pages in 1 or 2 days. He loves "chapter books" and reading seems to keep his attention span far better than anything else. He reads cute books that I wish had been around when I was little they're a series called "Magic Treehouse" and they're fantastic - they are about two kids (Jack and Annie) who go to their treehouse and end up in other places, time periods, etc. He learns about things like the pyramids in Egypt or the Great Depression while reading these fictional books about these two kids. He also reads a series called "Bailey School Kids" that are pretty fun. Now here's one that doesn't make sense to me: Captain Underpants. He LOVES that series!! Must be a boy thing.
I love that my kids love to read (Kyndi and Oaklee love books too) (Kamron won't read a book if his life depends on it...) Anyways, alot of Saturdays when we are bored we venture off to the DI and check out their book selection. We are always able to find books there in each of their interests for like 50 cents a piece. What a bargain! It keeps my kids reading and they love it.
On a bit of a turn in topics (a little) - Let me give everyone a recommendation - My favorite series in the whole wide world - Uncle John's Bathroom Reader(s) - I know, title sounds a little off-ish, but seriously, they're awesome! They are factual books with all kinds of trivia to learn - from random facts at the bottom of every page to short stories about how tennis began, or how to fix a leaky faucet, or is it true elephants are scared of mice... etc. There's even chapters about the dumbest criminals and how they got themselves caught... In this series there are also ones specific for children (these are what Tyson reads the most of) there are music specific ones, sports specific...etc. They cool , just trust me, you NEED to check them out! Just go to your local library and pick one up - then it's free and if you make it through the first page, you'll be hooked for life. (Don't get these confused however with the books titled "Bathroom Book" not the same books, and not even a comparison in overall awesome-ness.


I realize this is quite a boring post, but I had to get that recommendation out there.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Milk Mustache

So this morning I decided to be a bit ambitious and make a smoothie for breakfast. Yum, apple juice, berries (blue, black, straw and rasp) and vanilla bean ice cream. Oh, and peaches. Yum. Mixed it all up in the blender and voila! A yummy treat of a breakfast! I filled up my cup and went to drink it… it wouldn’t come and wouldn’t come, then suddenly it all came at once, and this is a small taste of that result:

Yes folks, it even got in my eye. And Kyndi was polite enough to tell me, “Mom, there’s something wrong with your face!”

Not to worry all, this happened a second time as well. Apparently I didn't learn the first time around...

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

What a Clever Child


Oaklee comes up with the best ideas to complete tasks… Kyndi has body spray in a bottle with a pump button top (you know, like a hairspray bottle that is non-aresol?) And she’s made many attempts to get it to spray but to no avail – until today that is when I found her smacking the pump-button on her butt and it sprayed every time! Too dang funny! (And she smells extra good now too!!)