when life comes at you fast.....

what else to say besides screw it?

I did some work at BBW until about midnight last night and then the gang headed to our usual IHOP to rehash. So, I pulled in around 2:30 this morning and was just itching to watch Grey's, knowing fully well that would give me around 4 hours of sleep. But, I'm so glad that I did :)

Unfornately, it was off to see the oral surgeon dentist today. Since December I've had this bump form in the roof of my mouth. It gets really hard, significant in size and filled with fluid. It comes and goes but it is bothersome. My dentist wanted me to see a specialist. After all I've been through, I was hoping for the best. My appointment is at 10:15 and I arrive, with the boys in tow, around 10:05. I'd promised the boys if they were on their best behavior, we'd head to Toys R' Us for a new game. They or shall I say, Jayden lasted until about 10:20 when we were still in the waiting room. After asking him several times to please sit down, he proceeded to walk over and hit me. Trying to stay calm I take away his new Lightening McQueen wallet which causes him to drop to the floor kicking and screaming. I'm trying my best to ignore the situation, hoping it would be resolved fast. After 2 minutes of jumping up and down and throwing himself down again, Hunter decided to get down on the floor with Jayden to talk to him. That only makes Jayden madder. I pick him up and take him outside where he then kicks and hits me. I'm still trying to stay calm. He's screaming for his wallet, but I am not budging on it. I'm not happy about the hitting and the fits. I spend 5 minutes trying to unsuccessfully calm him down. Since it is only about 30 degrees outside, we head back in. I try to hold him in my lap but he his kicking and waving his arms like a mad man. I finally get a death grip on him and calm him down. It's now about 10:45 and we are STILL in the waiting room. Hunter is sitting, trying to be good so he can get his game. Well, Jayden gets in his mind he wants Hunter's chair and Hunter doesn't want to move. I'm still just trying to take deep breaths. Thankfully they call my name and we at least get out of the waiting room. The nurse tries to make the boys better my offering to take them to the treasure box. Hunter is jumping with joy and Jayden acts like this poor shy, innocent child and doesn't want to go. Hunter assures him, he will get him something. So Jadyen sits in his chair pouting. Hunter returns with a slimy bug for him and a book for Jayden. Jayden immediately lets loose. I'm about cashed. I try to rationally explain to my almost 3 year old that he didn't want to go pick out something so he get what Hunter brought him. He's not having any of it. After waiting in this tiny little room for another 15 minutes, in finally walks the Dr. I'm trying to ignore the screaming and pleading coming out of Jayden to explain what's been going on with my mouth. Of course, it's time to take a look. As the Dr. has his finger, mirror and tools in my mouth, the boys start to tackle one another. I'm trying not to gag and break up the fight. I finally succeeded at both. But...................turns out they have to biopsy this little bump in my mouth. Which means, they get to shoot some needles into the top of my mouth and then cut away. Oh, I'm so looking forward until the 27th. And what's really great, dental insurance considers it medical and medical insurance considers it dental. So I will end up paying. When will it end............

so we get done there and I really want to go home and crawl back under the covers but I now have to head to the bank to pick up the Sesame Street vouchers that Matt brought to Becki to get to me so I can go and get tickets. I swing into Taco Cabana to grab the kids some lunch a.k.a. quesadillas. I promptly give my order when I am informed they don't have any quesadillas today as the grill is broken. Panic. The kids start with the but mom, that's what we want business. Jayden freaks out yet again and I finally just order nachos and let them know they can deal with it. I'm still breathing deep.

With vouchers in hand, I now head down to the Erwin Center. Right at the time the morning show of Sesame Street is over. People everywhere. I just need to park and get tickets. I find the box office and parking and unload us all. Telling the kids they'd better behave. What do they do? Start chasing one another and acting like nuts. Why am I getting these tickets again? Oh yeah, they were free and I must put them to good use. We are finally loaded back up, tickets now in hand but I've got to run by one of my stores to get a check. So, we get there, I pull up to the back of the store, give them a call and ask to bring it to me. I step out of the car to talk for 2 minutes. I get back in to Jayden screaming, yet again. Turns out the boys decided to take their bottles of water and throw them at each other. They are both soaked and so is my backseat. You've really got to be kidding me. What am I to do? I bow my head and shake it. I really don't know what to do.

Jayden just seems to be the most unhappy kid in the world. Pediatrician noted he hit the terrible 2's at 18 months and I thought since we are approaching 3, they end soon. But each day just keeps getting worse. The tantrums, the biting, the hitting, the screaming.........it's constant. Well, except at school. He's this shy, innocent child. I told his teacher it was a world of difference and she couldn't believe it. Though lately, he's bitten once at school. I understand that moving is taking it's toll on all of us, but why him the most, possibly?

All I can say is thank goodness for Dove dark chocolate today................................................

Normally, when mom doesn't feel too hot, we have movie day in bed. well, since my bed is divided into 3 rooms at the moment, we had to comprise yesterday. after the boys finished their frozen waffles for lunch, I had to catch some zzzz's or we all were going to be in trouble. I went to the garage, climbed up the shelves and fished down Kreg's oversized sleeping bags. We were going to have a slumber party down stairs on the floor. The boys were excited and so was I. Jayden fell asleep pretty quickly and as Hunter started to nod-off, I was out. Almost three hours of naptime seemed to make me feel so much better. I grogily woke up to find my phone to tell Kreg to pick up some dinner on the way home. He had left me a message saying, let's do dinner out. Huh? On Valentines Day? Under one condition, we meet @ 5:00. Alright and let's make it fun for the boys so that we can enjoy ourselves. One place came to mind, Benihana's. Hunter was so excited. He's been there once and loved in. Jayden didn't know what to expect. We made it there, with NO wait. Enjoyed sushi, the chef's show, and made it home to be able to go to bed early :)

I had my teeth worked on again this morning, praying this would be the last time. A lady my mom works with won tickets to Sesame Street Live this weekend and won't be able to go. She passed them on to us! I've got to pick up the vouchers tomorrow and redeem them for tickets, but the boys are super excited. They deserve it for putting up with our house being a disaster area and being good sports.

busy little bee

yes that's me! so things around here went from calm, to crazy all with one phone call. but let's back up.....

Garage sale on Saturday went well. We managed to get rid of quite a bit of stuff. What we have left we are passing on my aunts to do a garage sale to raise money for the Race for the Cure that they do in memory of my MeMe.

Sunday we headed down to La Grange for a very successful trip. We found a rent house!
Don't pass judgment just yet :) I'm going to be completely re-landscaping the outside. It is a 2-1 but has an additional room for use as an office/playroom.

We managed to snag the boys bunkbeds for a heck of a deal at Ikea so they are set. The house is about 2 blocks from the public school playground, which was huge and the boys were in heaven. It is an old home so the bedrooms are HUGE and the closet space is plenty! The kitchen is about 4 times the size we have now. But, like in any old house, the bathroom is small. But it has a separate bathtub and shower. The utility room is about as big as the one car garage and these are the floor throughout except for carpet in the bedrooms. It's small, it's cozy and it's better than we thought it would be and we are terribly excited!!!! Hunter has been officially accepted to the Catholic School for kindergarten and Jayden has a 3 day a week pre-school. All in all, things are moving quickly.

So as I'm enjoyed my peaceful drive back to Austin, the kids are enjoying a DVD and I'm thinking how I'm going to be decorating the new house when the phone rings. My darling brother has been off from work and sitting around the house and decides he's bored and has to do something. That something being to come to my house and redo my flooring in the bedroom. Which is all fine and dandy except for the fact that I haven't moved anything out of the bedroom. So, now it's a race against the clock. I've got to get home and get the bedroom somewhat empty before he gets there and decides he doesn't want to do it. While we were snagging our Ikea bunkbeds, we also managed to checked out some hardwood flooring. Well, you know the laminate kind like in our living room. After realizing carpet was going to cost us an arm and both legs, we wanted to go this route in our bedroom. So I deterred my brother there to get the flooring while started throwing things out of the bedroom. Needless to say, our bed is in Jayden's room, they computer was in Hunter's room. The dressers are in the playroom along with the TV, and whatever else can fit. My house is in complete disorder. Kreg is sleeping in Hunter's bed. The boys in sleeping bags on the living room floor and I on the couch or recliner, whichever my back can handle. I WANT MY HOUSE BACK. But the floor turned out beautifully.
before, an that's SCARY carpet:

after:

Granted, I still have nothing in here and can't wait to see what it looks like then. But we are quite happy.

And at last, I awoke this morning, in so much pain in my back and freezing my ass off. I headed upstairs and glanced at the temp. inside, holy heck, 56 degrees. Thankfully Kreg was still home and I questioned our heater working properly. Yea....it was blowing out cold air. Thankfully, he was able to get it blowing hot again. We are now at 65 degrees.

In honor of Valentines Day, have a LOVELY one :)

it sucks to be 27 with arthritis

I thought I had it bad until I met someone who was 26 with a permanent handi-cap sticker. (yes, your sister Amy!) finally, someone else so young to pity :)

what sucks about my type of arthritis, lumbosacral arthritis, is that weather seems to have an impact on it. And since the weather here is changing like mad every other day, the spasms are getting worse. And the fact that I'm trying to lug around boxes doesn't help.

so I used to find some solace in soaking in a really hot bath with espom salt. well, since we are working in our bathroom at the moment, we are having to use the kids. I never notice how much I love my garden tub and how much the kids tub sucks. damn it. I have had a decent long, hot bath all week. my body is aching.

I've been getting deep tissue massages every Tuesday to try and help the inflammation and according to the therapist, it is getting better. time will help. and since I lived on steroids last fall with the dental work, my chiropractor doesn't want me to have the injections along my spin right now. he thinks I should tough it out. yea.....he isn't living with continuous low back pain and spasms that leave you curled up in a ball.

and to think........there's really no cure...............I'm sure the chiropractor is tired of my asking, why? why at 27 do I have arthritis and how did those 2 disks get pushed in towards my spin? will I never, ever have back pain?

texas weather

gotta love TX weather.

the kids and I met Wendy and her kids at Central Market yesterday for lunch. The weather was BEAUTIFUL and we enjoyed sitting outside yesterday for about 2 hours while the kids played. The sun felt so good. And I didn't notice until last night that I actually got sunburned!!!!!!!!! My face and neck are quite a shade of red.

I can see it now.....

so I'm on ikea.com looking @ bunkbeds......yet I can see it now.

"I'm sleeping on the top."

"No, mom said I could sleep on the top."

"But I want to."

"But I am."

"No, I am."

"No, I am."

"Mom, he won't get down."

"Mom, he's pushing me."

"STOP! pushing me."

plunk.............................following by screaming........

sigh of relief......somewhat.

last Tuesday I went in to get my hair done. I was sick of the at-home black hair dye. I was intially going to go back blond, slowly, but then spotted some red highlights I just had to have. Not knowing what and how much junk was on my hair, the outcome was just as unknown. But, they turned out beautifully! That is until I washed my hair on Friday. Yep, they turned orange. No biggie since we were expecting it. So I went back in Saturday to get some more red put back on. Not knowing how long it would last. I ended up putting bright blood red in and it look GORGEOUS!!!! I was so happy. But the final outcome would be when I washed my hair. So I hopped in the shower this am and prayed it wouldn't wash out. I stepped out of the shower and YES! it was still there. I could breathe a sigh of relief.

We've come to the conclusion, finally, that we are going to rent for a while when we move to La Grange. We really want to take our time and find some land down there. So, for the past week I've been trying to find rent houses. And since I'm not there, I'd have to call my good 'ole dad to do some work for me. Every house I've found thus far, he's shot down. "You can't live in that part of town." "That's not the best neighborhood." "That house is in real bad shape." "I think you can find something better." "They are asking too much." I am about at wits end. But my luck is turning arond! I found one yesterday that sounds nice and since the lady knows my mom and dad, she offered us 1st pick. I made the call to dad who was worried because "part of that street isn't so nice looking." Well, I just got the call from mom who states the house is old, but the rooms are huge, new flooring, paint and a nice fenced in back yard. I can breathe a sigh of relief, somewhat. The bad part - -- - it's a 2/1 BUT has an additional room. HOLY CRAP!!!!! Kreg and I are still really worried if we can do this. We are moving from a 3 bedroom, playroom, 2 1/2 bath house. But, as of right now, we only use 1 bathroom. The kids have NO interest in theirs. The boys really want bunkbeds but I'm still not keen on them sharing a room. We shall see........

why and where

why is it whenever you look like utter shit and what to make a quick run somewhere you always run into someone you know? like tonight, for instance. at 8:00 Kreg pulls out the bathroom tiles to start working and about 8:30 we realize we don't have enough. no problem, I'll make a quick trip to Home Depot in my scruffy clothes looking like hell. lo and behold I run into someone I went to school with. I'm sure she wondered what I was thinking when I left home. Granted I just wanted to get the tiles and get home.

where in the world are these lovely hives Jayden and I have coming from? I'm utterly clueless. why aren't Kreg and Hunter getting them? I hate hives.

Football Fun

Our hostess with the mostess threw a Super Bowl Bash. I won't even try to re-hash it, as I didn't get there until late due to work and evidently missed out on all the fun! You can read about it here.

I will go ahead and plead the 5th since the boys were under Kreg's supervision :)

Just know that anytime Amy and I get the kids together, there is NEVER a dull moment.

Our trip to the mall.

Monday has left Jayden and I with nasty cases of hives. So much fun.....

just what every family needs.....

Thanks to Consolidated Credit Counseling Services. A client of Kreg's @ Dell!

and just cause:

and I should be.....

every day at school, Hunter's class sits down for a prayer circle. Each person gets to add their own suggestion to the prayer board. Low and behold, for Hunter it's always a different batman everytime. Some kids pray for their parents, siblings, pets, but not mine. So today, his teacher decides she wants to get him to say something else. So she tells each of the kids to think of someone in their family they would like to pray for. Of course, Hunter tries to pull the whole "Batman is in my family" but his teacher tries to get another answer. She tells him to think about it and she will come back to him. I can so see that little boy thinking. As she goes around the room and adds mom and dads to the board, it is now Hunter's turn and he can't sit still because he has thought of someone. He's giggly and squirming as the teacher asks:

"Hunter who in your family would you like to add"

"ME!"

as I just shake my head....

Kid's bathroom

Before:


Almost done:



All's okay but Kreg's scared of this excerpt from our selling guide:
Consider painting your walls neutral colors, especially if you have grown accustomed to purple or pink walls. (Don't give buyers any reason to remember your home as "the house with the orange bathroom.")

yea.....that walls a shade of orange. <---- don't ask. it was only $2 at Lowe's!

when life hands you lemons................

Pull out the tequila and salt!

Just don't do it after receiving a deep tissue massage for the re-occurring low back pain early that day.

You see the pain that lies in her eyes,
But, alas, her eyes are dry,
She won't cry.
No, she won't cry.

You see the anger that burns from her gaze,
The madness that sets her eyes ablaze,
She won't cry.
No, she won't cry.

You see the fear that closes her eyes,
The smile she wears is but a disguise,
She won't cry.
No, she won't cry.

You see the hope that is finally dead,
She cannot trust for her heart has been bled,
She won't cry.
No, she won't cry.

You see the love that lies within,
But she shall never love again,
She won't cry.
No, she won't cry.

You see death's hand that has glazed her eyes,
No one saw her die inside,
They won't cry.
No, they won't cry.

yep

Hunter spent most of the night throwing up.

frustration has turned into anger.

anger into resentment.

why?

we just returned from our trip to La Grange where we celebrated my moms 48th b-day and Kreg and I managed to snag an outside look at some homes. but, we are now living the weekend in hell bit.

so this afternoon, after a hearty BBQ meal, Kreg and I managed to sneak away for what we thought would be a productive afternoon looking at houses. we did manage to sneak a few peaks and gather more information. all the while, back home, my darling bitch of a sister decided to stuff both boys full of chocolate candy, strawberry cake, kool-aid, and cupcakes. most of that going to Jayden. she, and apparently my mother, thought it was so wonderfuly funny. we did not. poor Jayden has been throwing up for the past little while. poor guy is miserable and keeps grasping his little tummy and crying because it hurts.

sersiouly, the nerve of her. what person does that? why would a person do that? why the heck would someone think that was funny? why, why, why??? but don't forget, this is also the person who stole over $200 worth of stuff from me on what was suppose to be our family christmas trip. any my mom and dad wonder why I did not choose her as the boys god-mother. as least someone in the family has brains.

Kreg wonders why we are moving to La Grange. at times, I doubt myself. it's sad to say, but I vow to keep my kids away from her. no kid deserves this. no parent deserves this. yet, I will be seen as the bad person in all of this. how ironic is that?

when I manange to get all the puke cleaned up, my sheets and Jay's sheets washed, and the pictures up, I'll post more about the house hunt. we've also re-done the kids bathroom flooring and it looks kick butt!!! we obviously have quite a bit of frustrution to work out......thank goodness we have a lot to do around the house.....

it's always nice to walk downstairs and see puddles of water. my first thought, Jay has had an accident.

"Jayden, did you pee on my kitchen floor?"

"NO"

hmm......open the bathroom door to see puddles of standing water.

"Boys, why is the bathroom all WET?"

To which Hunter replies: "Mom, it was the coolest thing ever. We kept flushing the potty and water kept running all over the place. (as he is making water over-flowing motions) Here, let me show you."

"HUNTER MICHAEL, NO!!!!!" noticing that the floor isn't covered in water......"Hunter, when did this happen and why didn't you come and tell me."

"It was a little while ago and it was just so cool. Can I please show you?"

"Boys, I'm locking the bathroom door down here until your father gets home. Use the upstairs bathroom and NEVER EVER should water come out of toilet."

"mom, you really aren't that much fun."

more memory - woo-hoo!

so it's been kinda quiet for a while. my computer has been having some 'issues'. well, we finally got some more memory installed in it last night and we are rocking-and-rolling again! if I could only have more memory installed in Kreg..............

after a week of the weather from hell, I could never live somewhere where this is the norm. actually, I could because the whole damn town wouldn't shut-down. the only good thing to come out of the ice storm is Jayden is now potty trained. about time. now, if I could just get him over the fear of public restrooms, I'd be okay. Hunter was the child that wanted to stop at every gas station to leave his mark. Jayden won't go near them. but, who can blame the kid?

I had no idea that putting your house on the market wouldn't be fun. I have boxes everywhere. not only is the garage my work-shop, but I also have all my plants in there do to the wonderful weather. which means the boxes are backing up in the house. and during the inclement weather, since trash pick-up was suppose to be delayed, we didn't bother putting the trash out on Friday. BIG mistake. it came. when we moved into this house six years ago, Kreg and I, not even married, came from a one-bedroom apartment that was maybe 700 sq. ft. we moved into a 2100 sq. ft house with 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths and managed to inquire 2 kids along the way. not planned. I've never had to deal with so much stuff.

crap.....I am being summoned with an emergency of "Moooooooooooooommmmmmmm. There's something in my tooooooooiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilet." Be back later.

oh no he didn't.

Kreg is to report to work at noon today. damn, don't I wish I had a job.

so at 10:00 he retorts to take a bucket of water outside and begins to pry all the ice off his car and windshield. he sets the bucket down and goes at it with an ice pick. 45 minutes later, the bucket of water is frozen and he still can't open the door after several unsuccessful pulling attempts. can you believe the ice is that thick? it isn't. he never unlocked the car door prior to trying to pull it open.

rare Texas snow

Cold weather blows.

Seriously.

Last time it was cold, I went out and bought a trunk full of firewood. We enjoy burning fires and the kids love to roast marshmallows. Well, you know Kreg unloaded the trunk of firewood, knowing we would use it when it got cold, so he put it in a pile outside. Let's see, we've had about 7 inches of rain and it's 20 degrees outside, how good is that firewood to me now? Maybe he enjoys having to stop and buy more.........

Seriously.

The kids enjoy making my life heck when we have to spend all day cooped up in the house. They won't stop fighting. Nothing I say or do can stop them. I separate them. They yell back and forth at each other until they get so worked up they make mad dashes to pound on each other. I've about run out of activities, but each one ends in a fight. There always has to be a winner. Need I say, I HATE COMPETITION. Seriously, they or I are going to end up in an institution. Kreg enjoys making everything competitive. I don't think he realizes what he is doing.

Seriously.

People around here are nuts when the 'threat' of cold weather looms. Saturday night after our movie, we headed by the grocery store because I was out of Diet Coke. Heaven help me. Might as well grab a few groceries while we were there. Except they had no meat. The whole meat department was empty. no bread, spaghetti sauce, tortillas, eggs, french fries, chips, beans, frozen pizza. I did luck out with the diet coke. I mean, seriously people. Maybe I'm the nut for not freaking out.

Seriously.

I'm getting old :) My cousin came into town on Thursday night to shack-up at our house since he had to do some work in Austin the next day. In good 'ole Grubert tradition, we break out the booze and spend the night catching up, chit chatting, reminiscing, and having a darn good time. Granted, I only had 3 beers so I'm not sure if it was them or staying up until 1:00 that made me feel like hell the next day. Seriously, what the heck? I am only 27. Must be the kids.

Seriously.

How have I lived in this house the past 6 years? We spent all day Saturday working on cleaning our bedroom. I have about 15 garbage bags of garage sell stuff. 15!?!?!?!? I haven't even touched the play room or the boys rooms. But I can now see the floor in my closet :) It's amazing how much work you can get done without kiddos around.

Seriously.

My cousins have the cutest little girl ever!!!! And that's just from the pictures. I haven't even seen her in real life yet. The little cheeks.....and toes......and that smile. Oh.....it almost makes me want another baby. But only almost. Seriously, my life is brought back to reality fast as the boys just spilled grape juice all over the kitchen because they were fighting over the towel. Yea....we do own more than one.......of that one.......and now Hunter is screaming because Jayden has tackled him to the ground and is sitting on him in attempts to cut his hair because evidently Kreg gave him scissors last night and never took them back.

Seriously.

Gotta love my life :)

date night

so the kids are in La Grange for a long weekend with the grandparents, so Kreg and I made plans to go to the movies. We both have been wanting to see the The Pursuit of Happyness We get to Alamo Drafthouse around 7:20 for the 7:40 movie to find it and every other show SOLD OUT! Well........we decided to buy tickets for Saturday night and are told to show up an hour early for seats. But what the heck are we going to do now? No kids for 4 days, we must do something. Let's head over to Buca di Beppo's for a nice dinner. 2 hour wait. Okay.....Dave and Buster's. Not a seat in the house. Darn. What are we going to do already? Finally the lights flash in our heads and we decide to head out for a night of sushi! Sushi Sake. The wait was only 15 minutes, not bad. And the sushi was super yummy!!!!

Now it's on to more fun stuff, like packing up stuff around the house.....

a mear few miles away......

we could be getting a water park.....hmmm.....don't you want to buy our house?

Busy as a Bee

Things have been super crazy over in our world. If the darn smoke alarms aren't keeping me up all night, it's the demanding son that I have. but that's another story.............but I've finally ripped the smoke alarms out of the wall. we will let the new owners deal with that. yep, folks, we are selling our house.

okay first let's start with........

this is my last week of "full-time" work at Ann Taylor. Having the kids with a nanny is killing me and the week I had off and spent in Ruidoso with them made me realize how much I actually do enjoy being with them. Plus, Hunter's teacher has told me the kid is ready to start reading. She wishes she had the time to work with him, but has left us with encouragement. I want to be able to spend time with him. And, well since we made the decision to put the house on the market, I have SO much work to do. It's not funny. So I need my days to start packing up this mess and cleaning out all that baby stuff to sell. so, instead of spending my time away, I'm going to spend it at home working diligently to get this house ready to sell. I'm going to work sporadically at Ann Taylor to keep the good discount :)

we always knew we wanted to move before the kids started kindergarten. but we never knew where. well, La Grange is going to be where we end up. Crazy, huh? at least my parents are there and we are hoping to get the kids into the Catholic school. something I've wanted.

so if things weren't already crazy enough, they are about to get crazier. tiling, carpet cleaning, boxing up stuff and more stuff is how I will be spending my days.

in other news..............

Kreg decided to shave off his goatee for the 1st time in YEARS and the kids didn't recognize him. Hunter asked, "Dad, is that you?"

since buying this Sonic game for the playstation, I've had a hard time pulling Kreg and the kids away.

since all the toys the kids got for Christmas are now 75% off at Target, I think we are going to have Christmas in January next year. Just think of all the money we could save!!!

my dad, who turns 50 in April, had so much fun skiing for the 1st time in Ruidoso, he's already looking for somewhere new to go next Christmas.

I still have yet to find my Chi iron and blowdryer I took to Ruidoso. damn sisters. it's really not funny any more.

how 'bout those Cowboy's?

december was an EXCELLENT month as far as my store were concerned! candle sales were fantastic. I even managed to sell a few scarves. not bad!

my mom is taking the boys for 4 days this weekend so Kreg and I can actually get to the movies and start packing up. wish us luck :0)

I've got to get to the grocery store tonight before it closes.........darn boys are eating me out of house and home.

Christmas in Ruidoso

but here's how the "trip" turned out.

reg did a darn good job of fitting everything into the car the night before we left. we just had last minute stuff that there was NO room for. it was bad. but we managed to get everything loaded, the car started and wisked the kids into the car around 4:45 to leave. our intentions were for them to never wake up and spend the first couple of hours sleeping. yay.....we were dreaming. they spent the first hours of the trip talking non-stop. only to fall asleep when we hit Fredricksburg and we were meeting the rest of my family in Kerville for breakfast. that was a 20 minute nap. we arrive in Kerville around 7-ish to find out my brother had turned the alarm off and were running about an hour behind. GREAT.

we arrive in Ruidoso around 4:45 that afternoon after a dozen stops. we find our cabin without too much
trouble and discover it with snow all around. about 6 inches of snow. and why it was called Deer Friends.

the boys were in heaven. they hit the ground immediately for snow angels and the snow ball fights began. the deer ate anything and everything we would feed them.

on Christmas Eve we decide to make the 12 mile trek up to Ski Apache to check things out. our cabin was about 2 miles up the road from Ski Run Road which took you up to Ski Apache. we went about 25-30 miles up the twist and turns of the mountains. it was a beautiful drive. we arrive to a breathtaking mountain covered in snow. I actually get excited and looking forward to skiing. and I've never before skiied in my life. we check out lessons for Hunter and really want to put him in a class but he won't do it. so we all decide to come back on Tuesday for skiing and head off to an area to 'play' in the snow. you have to climb up the little hill covered in snow. well, of course, the guys make it up first and blast us with snow balls as we are trying to make it up. we spend about an hour having fun.

on Christmas Day the kids awake full of excitement. it take them about 10 minutes to rip through their gifts. when they are done, Hunter proudly exclaims, "wow.....Santa brought me so much stuff and I wasn't even that good this year."

we spend the day lounging around the house before heading off to Winter Park for some tubing! you get there, get your tube and then head up a magic carpet lift to take you up to the top of the hill. they have paths carved out in the snow to take you down.

I head down first and learn very quickly to lift my butt since it dragging down the hard packed snow isn't fun. it also gives you more momentum going down. kreg takes both the boys down and they are loving it. after about an hour and a half of packing the tubes and the kids, I grab Hunter a little tube, put him in it and push him down all in one swift move. the kid LOVED it. he couldn't stop laughing. and he knew exactly what to do. he got to the end of the trail, picked his tube up and ran to get back up the hill on his own. Jayden screamed the whole way down because he wanted to go on his own. so the next time, we sent him down and he LOVED it. Hunter couldn't get back up the hill fast enough. he'd get into the tube, spin the whole way down and then couldn't walk when he tried to get out. after about 3 hours, we were getting tired. we roasted some marshmellows down by the fire and then headed home to get warm.

skiing is another story :) better left for tomorrow. here's a few more pictures and a slide show to enjoy:

Giant Gingerbread House:

what happens when you get bored:

and the slide show's:

we're B A C K

what I learned (while in Ruidoso)

1. as long as you are with your whole family & your kids, it isn't a vacation. it's only a trip.

2. 10 hours in a car, is just too much.

3. we never needed as many clothes as we packed. we wore the same thing every day, A SNOWSUIT.

4. we need a bigger car. riding with my knees at my chest, covered with pillows and blankets, is NEVER fun.

5. no matter how much padding is on my body, it still hurts to fall.

6. skiing is not my forte`.

7. in my family eyes, I will never be raising my children correctly. it's either too much or not enough. and they will show their disdain for both and give you the uttermost hell for it.

8. my sister has SERIOUS issues. but in everyone else's eyes, she is perfect.

9. when in a higher elevation, EVERYTHING expands. hands, feet, lotion, chips, waist, diapers. you name it.

10. ziploc big bags and a case logic case were BIG space savers. anything you put in a ziploc you could compress down and the case allowed me to take all the kids videos so we were assured no meltdowns regarding movies.

11. I love how in New Mexico you can get snow gear, gas, milk, medicine, and alcohol all in one place.

12. tubing rocks. but no matter how hard you hold onto the tube, you can still fall out.

13. you can never take too many pictures.

check back for the blog about our trip! I have around 6500 pictures on my computer to back up and about 400 to add. plus some awesome video of the kids skiing and tubing!!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL :)

it's going to be a long drive.....

had to make a trip to Target today and since the highway (183) was a mess as usual, we cut over through the neighborhood (Lakeline). I decided to take the same way home when Hunter informs me that this was so boring. All he had seen today was bushes, trees and houses. Boy is he going to love that drive through West Texas.

in other news, my sister is engaged, FINALLY. it will probably be another lifetime before a date is set. but I say she should get married on an island so dad has to rent a house or condo for all of us to stay in again and we have another vacation. well wait........we will see if I say that again in a week.

for those who didn't even know I had a sister, here's pic with my future brother-in-law:

Thank you Aunt Kara!

and Dave and Brooke :)

you made Hunter ( & my mom) the happiest person in the world! he's been asking his Nana for a white batman forever and she was down on her luck not being able to find one. well, now her mind can rest at ease and Hunter can be super happy with his white batman. THANK YOU!

when it rains, it pours.

get ready for this one!

what I was expecting to be a low key Saturday didn't much turn out that way.

woke up this morning and knew I had to make the candle deliveries I was suppose to do yesterday. It was going to be a busy weekend for my stores and they wanted more, more, more.

so, I am about 10 minutes from home when I get this frantic phone call from Kreg. evidently he need some medical TLC. something about he was sweeping, the broom broke, blood was everywhere and to hurry home. after all my hell and wanting to go to the ER, I told him to suck it up. he ain't going either. okay....so then I called back and said if you really need to go, go and I'll stay home with the kids. I still really couldn't figure out what happened. and luckily, neighbors across the street are a doctor and nurse. I told him to go find out from the doctor if the minor emergancy room the nurse worked at was open. he ran the kids to another neighbors house and went to see the doctor. doctor said yep that he was going to need stitches and the minor ER was open. so I get home and realize that our broom was metal and somehow, when he was sweeping, the broom broke and his finger got stuck inbetween the pieces and sliced about a quarter sized round piece in his ring finger pretty darn deep. his finger was about 5 times the normal size and blood was everywhere. him, floor, sink. so we rush off to the minor ER. he ends up with 7 stitches, hydrocodone and an antibotic.

needless to say, since we are all on antibotics now, we should hopefully have everything out of our system before next weekend.

What's worse than 2 sick kids?

a mom who is even sicker.

so when my throat ached a little last night, I thought nothing of it and popped some advil and went to bed early. I have been going 90 to nothing these days.

woke up @ 7 am with body aches, headache, no voice and my throat sore and swollen that it hurt to breathe, cough or even try to talk. I thought I was going to die from the pain. Oral surgery, kids, + everything else never hurt as bad as my throat did. every breathe sent waves of pain. I couldn't drink because it even hurt.

kreg had to schedule me a dr.'s appointment. I was the only person out in 80 degree weather in a sweatsuit and jacket. and liked I guessed, STREP. my throat was so swollen it was close to closing up. they gave me a steriod shot right away to try to ease the swelling. painkillers and antibotics for the next 7-10 days.

kreg took jadeyn to the dr and turns out he has a sinus infection. so, at least the kids and I are on antibotics and should feel great for next weekend. well....we at least pray that we are.

Look mom!

I'm an astronaut:


And I'm FINALLY ASLEEP:

It's so NOT the most wonderful time of the year.....

Thank goodness for the Lindemans Framboise. It's keeping me sane. One glass & the anxiety is gone. Two and I sleep like a baby with no cares in the world.

The countdown has begun. 7 days until we leave for our trip. I hope I make it until then.

Everything in the world is a competition for the boys. Hunter coughs and Jayden coughs. Hunter coughs longer then Jayden coughs longer. Hunter coughs harder....get the picture. Even being sick is a competition. They fight over the neb treatments. They fight over the meds. ARGH. Someone save me. And to think I'm going to travel 10 hours in the car with them. Ha, think not. One of these darlings is getting passed on to Nana & Popo. This trip was their idea and all.

Hunter has to eat to take his antibiotic. And....he's refusing to eat at the moment. What's a mom to do? Well, going to make his favorite dinner tonight, shrimp alfredo pasta. Let's hope it works.

Found a new really funny blog:
http://www.dadgonemad.com/

Check it out & pray for me.

These are the days of our lives.......

Hunter has pneumonia and Jayden now thinks the "Big Bad Wolf" is hiding around every corner of our house.

We took the kids to the trail of lights on Sunday and we all had a blast. Since the weather was cool and damp (perfect weather to get sick in, I guess) there weren't many people there at all. We didn't have to wait in any lines. Got some great pictures, but until I get all the Kodak ones backed up, I'm not hooking up the new camera.

Tuesday night was the kids Christmas recital. This has always proven to give us a good laugh. Of course, as soon as Jayden saw me, he started crying and reaching out. He lasted through 2 of the 3 songs. Hunter charmed us with some serious dance moves.

Now it's on to more serious things, like keeping the kids well for the trip next week. So it's breathing treatments every 4 hours, movies in bed all day, and tons of meds.

Say Thanks to a Soldier

Visit the "Say Thanks" website and Xerox will send a postcard this Christmas to soldiers in Iraq.

Friday was my first day in 2 weeks that I didn't have to wake up and rush off to work or take the boys to school. The boys were able to sleep in until about 9:30. I could relax and take my time getting ready. It was absolutely wonderful!!

We started our day with a visit to the new Leander library. WOW! What a change from the old library. But, of course, Jayden screamed when I attempted to take his movies and books away to check them out. He then screamed the whole time during the checkout process.

We then proceed down to Barton Creek Mall for pictures with Santa and a train ride. The train ride was as fun as usual and the line for Santa was a mile long. But we had time to kill before the ENT appointment, so we decided to wait and enjoy ice cream. All was great until the kid about 3 people in front of us threw up. The mother and grandmother proceed to clean the kid up and change her clothes, all the while moving up with the line. It was then I decided that sitting on Santa's lap behind a sick kid wasn't worth it. I was really just in shock.

We headed off to the ENT for Jayden's post-surgery check up. As the nurse proceeded to check Jayden out, Hunter had a million questions and finally exclaimed "Our mother never cleans our ears out!" Much to his surprise, the nurse told him that was okay and you should never stick anything in your ear. Hunter replied with a much devastated "oh...." (at Thanksgiving his aunt picked on him and gave him a hard time because his ears were dirty. what a b!tch.) Jayden looks great and hopefully should stop snoring soon. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

It's a dreary day here but we are off to Wolf Ranch to see Santa there!

Hunter's wish

In Hunter's words:

"Mom if I could make a wish like on the Fairy Oddparent's, I'd wish my mom would answer every question I ask correctly. And that I'd always be right. And that I could get a job at Chuckie Cheese so I could make money to buy me an Ultra Blast Batman. "

She's B A C K

Oh Amy how I have missed you. Prays are being said for ChunkyRhino to be back up soon. Darn blogger.......

phew.....

(as I wipe the sweat from my brow)

Boys Christmas is done. Around noon today I made my daily stalker call to Best Buy. I was informed they got their delivery in 30 minutes ago and only had 2 DS' left. Thankfully Kreg was able to leave work ASAP and head to the store. And he nabbed me my new digital camera!

why?

Things around here have been hectic as ever. My anxiety levels are on the rise.

December 5th has always been a tradition in my family as the night St. Nick fills your stocking. It's a very old Czech tradition. It's funny, living at home, I never questioned this. Hey, we always got socks, underthings, candy and fruit early. No complaints here. I knew the story that back in the day, children would leave there shoes out and they would either be filled with candy if you were good and coal if you were bad. St. Nick came to check up and give you a 'forecast' of your Christmas. But now as a parent with a very curious child, I'm forced to learn facts. Hunter wants to know who St. Nick is, why he comes, where does he come from and so on. My story didn't satisfy his curiosity. And of course, we didn't start taking about St. Nick until Saturday the 2nd, not to get the kids too anxious. So, at church on Sunday, I decided to do some poking around the gift shop for a book. No luck. No one knew where to even find anything on this. There have to be more Czech's in the world. So, what do I do next, call mom. She had to have dealt with this. She luckily gave me the advice to tell Hunter that St. Nick arrives on the night of the 5th to pick up your letter to Santa. He leaves you a treat and then delivers your Christmas list. Phew, thankfully that kept the kid quiet working on his Christmas list. Both boys woke up on the 5th to stocking filled with Batman's galore, candy, socks and new slippers. They were happy for about 2 minutes, then the fighting came over batmans.

On to Christmas gifts. Since we are spending Christmas in Ruidoso this year, we are exempted from buying Christmas gifts for the family. It's always great to cross off 7 people at once from your list. And that leave the 2 boys. Woo-hoo! And since I have always done my shopping the day after Thanksgiving, I always fill ahead of the game. Yeah....this year I didn't. B r e a t h e . . . So on Tuesday while the boys are at school, I finally convince Kreg to meet me at Best Buy. We've decided to get the boys Nintendo Ds'. Really, I want to get Hunter one and I just can't buy one so I'm preparing myself and getting 2. Plus, I know Kreg and I will enjoy playing :) I've been pleading my case for a new digital camera. My old clunker is 5 years old and fading fast. Alright, we get to Best Buy and start discussing camera's. My technology has changed. Okay, let's go talk while we grab the Ds'. Well, I'm not seeing any, let's ask the friendly associate heading our way. Hummm...doesn't think he has any. Nope and all Best Buys in the area are sold out. B r e a t h e.....Any chance they might get more? They are schedule to arrive any day and will go quick. We just have to check back. No problem, yeah right. Hey, I can always order online. Nope. Sold out. So now I have to resort to calling Best Buy for the next (oh my god scary) next 2 weeks because we leave in 2 weeks (that's what's scary!) Just when I thought the anxiety was over.

Then's there's Jayden. My sweet, loving, adorable, MONSTER. The kid decided for himself he wanted to take up resident in our bed again. Not gonna happen. So, for 4 days now, we have been fighting. Morning, noon and night. He takes us about an hour to get the kid settled down at night. He goes to bed screaming, wakes up at least 2 times a night screaming and gets up in the morning screaming. God help us. Last night I told Kreg, maybe he's retaliating against us for me working or he's not feeling well. We've got our 2 week check-up tomorrow with the ENT. We pray he's not feeling well and this nightmare will end soon. Because we never seen such a mean streak in a child. He screams, throws himself and everything in sight at you. He throws himself on the ground, he slams doors, he pounds on things, and yes, he's only 2, almost 3. I don't know how to handle it. His strength is scary. Kreg and I are both exhausted from dealing with this. HELP!!

marshmellows roasting on an open fire....

never knew it could be so much fun!!!

Hunter just liked to burn them so they would glow and he could blow them out. Jayden just kept eating them like crazy.

(please excuse the terribly dirty fireplace)

Baby, it's cold outside.....

We woke up this morning to 30 degree weather, sleet, frozen porch, driveway & windshield's, and icicles hanging from the outside lights and our landscaping. Hunter spent 10 minutes fighting with me that he didn't need a jacket and Jayden spent 10 minutes fighting with me to find his missing glove. Once Hunter walked into the open garage, he realized a jacket was a good idea and I finally gave Jayden Hunter's gloves.

Both boys were begging for a fire in the fireplace tonight so that they could roast marshmallows. And I'm such a GREAT mom (hold the sarcasm) that I picked the boys up from school and we headed to Target for all of our supplies.

We've lived in the house for 5 years and have done fires every one of those years....but no chimney sweep. Hey, no problem, they make those logs for that. And Target has them! So, we pick up a chimney sweep log, real fire wood and a box of duraflames to get everything going. Yep, we forgot the marshmallows. Thank goodness I had some at home.

Get home around 3:30 and I throw the chimney sweep log on 1st just to be safe. Okay, it says it will be done in 90 minutes, 5:00, then you need to wait an hour to start an actual fire, 6:00. Okay, so then I have 45 minutes to spend with the boys in front of the fire, roasting marshmallows before I head out to meet Wendy for the Babes meeting. See, I can spend quality time with them and have my fun too :)

In a perfect world.........

Well, it's now almost 6:00, the damn sweep log is still going and I still have to get ready.

So much for trying to be that great mom.

and yes, we STILL have icicles.

O Christmas Tree

Kreg and the boys managed to get the tree up on Sunday. Since I have 2 very sneaky little boys, I decided NOT to put any ornaments on the tree. So the boys took up decorating the tree themselves:

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

A good friend just sent me this in a email. People judge us because are kids believe in Santa and this was refreshing.....

Editorial Page, New York Sun, 1897

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus? Virginia O'Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a sceptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus? Thank God he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Elves

My conversation with Hunter:

M: Hunter, what would you like Santa to bring you this year?

H: Ultra blast batman, of course mom.

M: (thinking, he's told everyone that. Give me some more ideas son) Hunter, what if santa's elves don't have time to make you one of those. Is there something else they would make you?

H: (you can see him pondering) No, I'll just take an elf then.

Gee, glad that converstion was helpful.

So, Thanksgiving was eventful as usual. (why oh why am I looking forward to spending 5 days in the mountains with my family?)

The boys spent most of Thanksgiving morning cutting any and everything out of all the “Black Friday” ads that arrived in the paper. Only to bring all those lovely little pieces of paper home to scatter them around the fireplace so that, in Hunter’s words, “Santa gets their message.” Back when the 1st ‘cool’ spell hit, Hunter asked to toast marshmallows in that place where Santa gets into his house. So now our fireplace is associated with anything Santa.

Mom, Marsais, and I spent all morning slaving in the kitchen to prepare all the side dishes and deserts, and the men only had one job, FRY THE TURKEY. Well, they throw the turkey in the fryer and sit down to a game of dominoes and beer. Needless to say, the turkey fried all right. Fried itself BLACK. Thankfully, not all was burned and we were able to enjoy a little.

I drove home Thursday night to get some rest before the dreaded black Friday weekend. Must have been too quiet in the house because I couldn’t sleep. The boys and Kreg spent the weekend in La Grange fishing, hunting, and having a blast.

Jayden’s surgery went smashing, but he was a little fussy. We figured the ENT gave us that big bottle of Tylenol with codeine + a refill for a reason. By Thursday, Jay was still very fussy. Finally, he dawned on me. Umm……Tylenol with codeine will make you constipated. The poor child hadn’t pooped in almost a week. Hell, no wonder he was fussy and wouldn’t eat. I felt like such a great mother. After pumping him full of V8 and straight apple juice, the kid finally is himself again!

While at Nana and Popo’s house, Popo pulled out the go-kart for Hunter to ride. The kid was in heaven until him and Nana ran into a tree that he swears fell from the sky because it wasn’t there before. Hunter popped up and hit his cheek and just said his butt hurt from hitting the bar in the seat, until further investigation. Nana was worse off with a sprained ankle. Sunday night as Hunter was swimming in the bathtub, I noticed a very nasty looking bruise in the place no man wants to get hurt. The poor child is black and blue and red. He swears it doesn’t hurt, but man, I’m just worried the kid is now sterile.

Yesterday was the 1st day to take the kids to the sitters. I was an emotional wreck. My anxiety levels were super high. It didn’t help that I overslept, the kids didn’t want to get up and I still hadn’t had a chance to do their laundry. We arrived and Hunter ran in to never be seen again but Jayden clung to me. He was still screaming when I got into the car. It didn’t last long though and both boys enjoyed themselves and even took naps! Woo-hoo!!

Soup Day

we had a blast up @ the kids school enjoying "Soup Day"

as usual the soup was super yummy & so were all the deserts.

here's a little slideshow with the highlights:

Bed Bugs.

so they aren't really bugs....or a bug....it's JAYDEN!

when Kreg went hunting I allowed Jayden to sleep with me. no biggie. until it turned into something he wanted to do EVERY night. we've been pretty good with convincing him to get into his own bed and he tries at least 3 times every night to crawl in with us. each time Kreg marches him back into his own bed. but last night, niether Kreg or I could put him back due to his excuse.

of course Jayden comes in and crawls over Kreg without Kreg even flinching. I have to nudge Kreg and Jayden looks over at me. I ask him why he is in my bed. His response: "Your bed warm, my bed just too cold."

we figured we couldn't put the poor baby back into a cold bed. that kid has our number. DAMN IT.

Parenting.

being a parent and a mother is one of the greatest gifts one could ever ask for but no one ever told me it would be this hard :(

why do I feel so bad for finally putting myself first? I've been a stay at home mom for the past 5 years. It's wonderful and something I feel truly blessed to have done. Even though the kids and I want to kill each other half the time, we do enjoy being together. I never imagined what it would be for me to go back to work full-time and the agnony I would feel.

I really enjoy my job these days. It's so wonderful to *have* to get dressed up, put makeup on, fix my hair, so that I'm able to spend time with women co-workers and clients. The adult conversations, the time away, the female friendships, I love it all. The thought of doing it full time is wonderful and I didn't think twice about it.

But then, there's the kiddos. Who I love dearly, enjoy picking up from school, and all the giggles we share. I can't imagine spending my day away from them.

But the more I thought about and agnonized, I realized it was time to put myself first and it was hard to come to that. But as the kids get older, they enjoy time with other kids. They enjoy being away from me and dad. So I think finding a nanny is the right choice. I should have 2 days off during the week I can spend with them. And we will just have to vow to make the most of them.

But then comes the fact that I'm homesick as hell. My god, I never though in a MILLION years I would say it, but I have. With Hunter going to school next year, I want to have someone to depend on if something happens. I don't have that here. I don't have someone in the family I can call at the drop off a hat to help me. (I know my girlfriends would help, but they all have kids of their own to worry about :)) And I really need that. I want to move close to my parents and family so I know I do have someone I can depend on. The boys adore going down to La Grange and spending time at my parent's house. I remember the days of riding the bus home and spending time with my Grandpa. I want the same for the boys and they want it to.

Right now.....so much is in the air. It's amazing how one day your life is going calm and the next day a bomb drops, causing so much chaos.

There are so many descisions to be made. Things are going in the right direction but it looks like major change is what we have been needed.

stay tuned for more......

surviving our stay at children's hospital

we survived surgery and staying at the hospital without too much drama!

kreg and jayden headed down to children's hospital, while hunter and I went shopping for our little guy. surgery was over by about 9:30. children's hospital was full so we were placed in a room over a brackenridge on the children's floor. it was terribly sad. but from the moment hunter and I walked into the doors, we were greeted with the most wonderful people and the boys were given so much. from new cars, books, movies, games, snacks, and more. it was so wonderful to be in such a caring place. the hardest part was seeing the terminally ill children and the children who had been in and out of the hospital their whole lives. the gut-rentching stories parents had, you see the pain in their eyes and you couldn't do enough to reach out to them. children who had had more surgeries than birthday's. it was hard but we understood just the company and talking was doing them some good. both boys had such a wonderful time in the playroom, library, and at movie night. who wouldn't love a movie night were you are treated to a FREE snack bar just like the movie theater offers. kreg ended up spending a tough night with jayden and they were able to come home today. overall, it was fun, but pretty rough for jayden. some nurses didn't believe in round the clock pain meds, but one we found one who did, things got better. though, we are still looking at a 7-10 recovery period. let's just pray all goes well.

keep us in your thoughts....

Jayden and Kreg are at the hospital already. Any minute will be going under to have his tonsils and adenoids taken out. We are all praying for a fast recovery.

Tonight I have an interview with a nanny. I'm very excited and can't wait to meet her. Let's hope she's wonderful!

how guliable does he think I am?

As I'm getting ready for work this afternoon, Hunter runs up stairs to tell me this:

"Mom, all of a sudden Jayden woke up off the couch, colored on the middle of the floor and then went right back to sleep."

Yeah.....I'm going to believe that one.

Yep.....red color scribbled all over the floor.

Thankfully things scrub off very easily from the laminate wood.

What I learned while shopping with my children this weekend.

so all the boys are off at deer camp and mom and I decided to do a little shopping. but here are some things I've learned in the past 2 days:

1. If we decide to try anything on, we have to pick a dressing room near the end, next to one another. If not, the boys go crawling under all the rooms searching for us. Not giving a care who's in them.

2. Boys think all balls and balls. Especially the very pretty, hand blown, hand painted ones in the beautiful Christmas section. The sound of them hitting together and falling to the ground in pieces is not a pleasant one.

3. If there is any money to be seen, the kids want it. That includes the little boxes set up to donate to. It's amazing where their little hands can fit.

4. Mannequins aren't very strong.

5. Hunter feels the need to clean EVERY public toilet before he uses it. (yes, he stands up)

6. My voice is not loud enough to cover every square inch of a department store when searching for a lost child and when you tell people working there you've lost a child, they don't offer much help.

7. Hunter says the santa at the mall is NOT real. Real santas don't wear glasses. Why would the mall have a fake santa he would like to know.

8. When you tell Jayden to drop the toy, he will, right there. And everyone just laughs.

9. As horrible of a mother I think I may be, I will never be as bad as the woman literally beating her child's naked rear in the women's restroom. I've never seen so many women shudder in my whole life. I make the promise to never do that. I can still hear the sound in my head.

I'm sure there is so much more, but I'm tired and headed to bed. Shopping with the boys will wear you down.

This week....

has been a crazy week. I've been working my tail off and Kreg's getting ready to go deer hunting. Fun for all.

I've been given the opportunity to take on a full-time job and I'm actually terribly excited about it. (more details to come later!) But the hard part, is I am now on the search for a 'Nanny.' So if any readers know anyone who's looking to take on some boys, let me know.

Kreg and I have been thrown a loop and are trying to figure everything out. It's amazing how quickly your life can change.

this left me speechless this morning:

http://www.komotv.com/news/4533931.html

don't ..... know what to. . . . . say

randomness

you know you are a shopaholic when you enter CVS and the lovely sales person hands you a flyer to which your 4-year old promptly replies, "No thanks. We are just looking."

and why is it people STILL try to drive down parking rows the wrong damn way and they get upset at you when they think you are in their way. come on people! look at the way the cars are parked and the fact that I'm coming up the row. don't honk your horn at me and flip me off because YOU are going the wrong way. some people just shouldn't have a license. I'll hop off my soap box now.

the tooth from H-E-L-L strikes again.

yep, I landed myself back in the dentist chair again today :(

last Tuesday I went in to have my stitches removed and still had quite a bit of swelling. they put me on another steroid pack but said things would improve, just be patient. that night, the crown on the tooth cracked. no biggie, dentist said when I am up to it, they will replace the crown.

this Tuesday I started having some pain and noticed the tooth was cracked in 2 places. by this afternoon the pain was getting intorable so I made the dreaded call.

anyone who has ever had anything stuck in their teeth can feel my pain with this one (or at least try too). turns out a part of my crown actually broke off and was jammed up in my gum, causing pain. imagine something stuck in your gum for 2 days, except mine was porcelain. needless to say, my gums have taken a massive beating.

after 2 root canals, a crown, an apicoectomy, and now this, I hope my troubles are soon over.