a brother or a sister

Meet the newest addition to our family! Not our family, but my cousin Nona's. This is little Ms. Ella. And my darling Jayden has taken a very keen liking to her or the fact of being around a baby. The boys have decided they need a brother or sister. More a sister than anything. On the way up to the hospital on Friday, Jayden was nothing but questions and concerned about the baby. And the first thing Hunter asks when he sees her bundled up is, "Where are her feet? She has feet right?" My fiesty little devil child Jayden turned this pure, innocent little creature who just wanted to hold the baby. And kiss the baby. It was so sweet. Makes me almost think I could actually have another one. Then I snap back into realilty.

We are trying to get the house on the market in 10 days. Holy Moly! Do we have our work cut out for us. You know last winter I got this itch and decided I was sick of our shrubs in the front and spent a whole day yanking them out. It looked great.............until it was time to re-landscape today. But, I'm so happy with what we did. A nice rose garden and loads of annuals which equals lots of color. Then I took to pressure washing the porch. My hand is still shaking as I type this. That was hard. My arm is going to be sore tomorrow. But it's a small price to pay in order to make the house look gleaming.

Kreg put his phone outside today while I ran to Home Depot to pick up some stuff. The boys found it and realized it was a bit dirty. So they took it inside to clean it..........by running it under the bathroom sink. They were so proud that they cleaned Daddy's phone. But we are still waiting to see if it works.

I finally shook the funk that I was in and got down and dirty today making candles. Holy Moly I made 180!!!! But there's just something about part of my spring line-up:

Buttery Vailla
Vanilla Grapefruit
Vanilla Hazelnut
Vanilla Bean & Boysenberry
Coffee Bean
Caramel Macciato
Cafe Vienna
Orange Vanilla Coffee
Iced Orange Pineapple
Orange Honey
Chamomile Tea
White Tea & Ginger
White Willow & Tea
Red Currant & Thyme Tea

New stuff for sure............and most of it smells FANTASTIC!!! Tea & coffee lovers will be happy :)

getting back....

almost a week later and I'm still trying to get life back to normal. the pain from my lovely surgery just kept getting worse and worse last week. I finally called the doctor and was rushed in to make sure everything was okay. I was worried about an infection. Turns out I didn't have one but he took the stitches out and said the pain was coming from the exposed tissue. Lovely. He sent me on my way with stronger pain pills. If only it was that easy. I mean, how is one suppose to care for children taking pain pills? Yet, how is one to function without the pain pills? Let's say I somehow managed but it wore me down. My dad and brother along with Kreg spent Saturday laying tile in the kitchen. Which means we had to move everything out. Now my fridge, kitchen table and chairs are in the living room along with all my other living room furniture. My job for the weekend entailed keeping the kids out of the kitchen and out of the guys way. Which would have been easy except for the fact that 1. I was in so much pain I could barely speak to the kids and 2. to get rid of the pain, I had to take pain meds. But.....the kitchen turned out great.


Hunter had his 1st t-ball game which I sadly missed but he looked so darling.


And after living through a weekend of complete chaos and pain, I put another call in the dentist. Turns out a piece of a stitch was still in my mouth causing most of the pain. He took that out. We should hopefully have the biopsy results tomorrow.

Since we've pretty much been eating out since last Thursday, due to not being able to be in the kitchen, I took the kids to Whole Foods today for a healthy lunch. We made it through the store and up to the roof to eat and play. No minute we sit down and eat, Jay has to go potty. Which Hunter proudly tells him, go in the bushes. The men around us laughed. I trekked him to the bathroom telling Hunter to keep the birds away from our food. We make it back and our food is thankfully still there. Hunter tells us he was throwing food to the birds. Jay takes his bread and starts to throw it down on the ground. Hunter freaks out and yells, not the good bread and before I know it, Hunter is going behind Jay and eating all the bread off the ground. So much for eating healthy today!

hanging by a thread.

Just when I though dental work could get no worse, BAM, I'm hit with the worst of all. A biopsy.

I already knew it was going to be bad and I tried all morning to calm my anxiety. And I was doing great..............until the first needle hit. Holy Mother of God. My hands dug into the chair, my legs curled to my chest, I started shaking and yes, I was crying. I was shaking so bad, the doctor started shaking. Imagine........needles going into the roof of your mouth. The back part....near your throat. I had a total of 4 shots into my soft pallet. When you are numb like that, you always feel swollen. So I felt like my throat was swollen shut and I had the doctor's hand in my mouth attempting to cut out the bump, which he did successfully, and I now have 3 stitches.

I thought the worst was over but then the numbing meds wore off. . . . . before I could get my pain meds. WOW! Talk about uncomfortable pain. I was in tears again.

I now have some relief but it's pretty bad. I can't eat. Drinking feel weird. Yawning stretches my mouth open which brings tears to my eyes. Even talking is uncomfortable.

I get the results from the biopsy by the end of the week and go back next week to have the stitches out.

today's the dreaded day........

I've been dreading this day since I made the appointment almost a week and a half ago. And it dawned on me yesterday, this little bump has taken up residence pretty far back in the roof of my mouth. So far back, that yes, when you try to touch the thing, my gag reflex kicks in. Meaning that this morning, not only am I going to have needles stuck into the top of my mouth, but I'm also going to have some sort of instrument gagging me all the while the doctor attempts to cut this thing out.

and I wonder why I didn't sleep last night and my stomach is a ball of nerves..................

It took me about 2 hours last night to get our taxes finalized and about 2 minutes this morning to allocate where all the money was going. 3 months of saved mortgages, tile, roof, landscaping and possibiy carpet. UGH! Let's just hope/pray/cross fingers that this house sells quickly and the 3 months of saved mortgages can be put to other use.

the house is coming along fairly well. here's the scary before bathroom picture:

the nice yellow stain is what you get when you use rubber backed bath mats on white linoelum. Gotta love that.

And here's the after:


now I have the daunting task of trying to match up paint in the kitchen. we gave the paint away for someone else to paint their kitchen. can you say BIG MISTAKE?

the boys are rocking their bunkbeds:

and I'm rocking my new floor:

(if I could only figure out where I put that bedskirt!)

Our in depth conversation

Today would be Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. Following in the tradition in which I was raised, I abstain from eating red meats on Ash Wednesday and every Friday during Lent. And now I'm working on instilling these traditions into my children. So, our morning went something like this:

I spent about 20 minutes fighting with Hunter over what he could wear. Gym shorts & a t-shirt were a NO and the kid flat out didn't want to wear anything else. I finally just had to dress him myself. We grabbed shoes and rushed out the door at 11:15 making a quick pit stop at the Store for a coke. The boys started the mantra of "We want McDonald's." But I was holding my ground. We, meaning 'they' included, were not going to eat meat today. So I started with, "Boys, we are on our way to church for Ash Wednesday. There, we are going to get ashes on our forhead to remind us that Jesus died for our sins. Ash Wednesday also calls for us to fast and not eat meat. We also won't be eating meat on Friday's. Only fish. And guys, chicken nuggets are meat. We aren't going to eat them today." You can see the shock on Hunter's face and he panics,

"OH MY GOD MOM, did Jesus die because he didn't eat meat? I don't want to die. I just wanna eat meat."

"No, Hunter, Jesus died for our sins. Giving up meat is just a small thing compared to what he did."

"But can we still have chicken nuggets today?'

"Hunter are you listening to me at all?"

"Mom, I'm sorry for hitting Jayden. If I confess all my sins can we have chicken nuggets?"

"Hunter, lets go to church and listen to what they say about lent and Ash Wednesday."

"Mom, can I give the church the lint out of my pockets? Is that what they are going to put on my head?"

"No dear, we gave the church our palms from last year and they burned them to make ashes. That's what you will be receiving."

"But why do we have to eat fish?"

here's where I start to stumble..........................being a Sunday school teacher comes in handy.

"Well Hunter, remember last Sunday when we talked about James, Peter and John fishing. And they caught all those fish."

"Yep..............oh wait mom, are we going to be eating all the extra fish they caught? Cause that would be cool. I could not eat meat then."

Finally we are at church. Thank goodness. Praise the Lord. Now I just have to make it through with both kids. And I'm feeling pretty confident. Until I go to get Jayden out of the car and I realize he's missing one shoe. Turns out he threw it out the window when we stopped at the store for a coke.


As for giving something up for lent, I've made the brave descision to not only give up fast food but chocolate.

And after I spent all morning trying to teach the kids about not eating meet, Kreg calls to tell me he had Wendy's for lunch. There went setting a good example.

Been There & Survived It

I know God has a sense of humor: I have proof living in my house! They're ages 3 and 4 1/2, and they're the reason I invest in a different hair color every six weeks.

When that wonderful moment of life began and the doctor announced I was the new mother of a beautiful son, I looked into that adorable face (the baby's, not the doctor's) and I was filled with hope. How hard can raising a boy be? I thought.

That optimism started to fade the first time I changed a diaper without taking evasive action.
And when my second son arrived shortly after, it was obvious I was outnumbered and out of my league. Here are my top ten tried-and-true tips for moms:

10. Quiet isn't necessarily a good thing.
Quiet children are acceptable at nap time and bedtime. All other instances must be investigated. Like today, they were in their bedroom with the door shut, and they weren't making a sound. Intrigued, I walked over to the door and listened. I heard whispers and then soft giggles. How nice, I thought. The boys are playing together.

I decided to open the door gently so I could observe them in their innocent play. I pushed open the door to see my four-year-old wearing his pirate hat, sitting on top of the bunk bed and holding onto the magnetic strip of a cassette tape. As I watched, he tossed the cassette into the air, held onto the magnetic strip, and giggled as the roll of tape lofted into the air and unraveled out of the case as it headed to the floor. His younger brother sat on the bottom bunk (the dungeon), imprisoned by bars of unraveled magnetic tape strips. Thirty-five children's cassette tapes were hung all over the room.
Quiet isn't necessarily a good thing!

9. Be wary of small gifts.
Children delight in sharing treasures with the ones they love. Nothing warms the heart like a limp dandelion from the chubby fist of a toddler. But beware! One day my three-year-old came running up to me with a huge grin on his face and an outstretched arm. "Here, Mommy! Here!" he said as he dropped an odd-looking piece of lint in my hand. He then stood by to marvel at my appreciation.
"Why thank you, honey, what a beautiful . . . gesture," I said, trying desperately to figure out what it was. It looked like a tightly wadded roll of cotton thread with one loose string. I leaned closer to the unknown item in my hand, and that's when it moved. It took every ounce of restraint to keep calm and not fling the unknown thing against the wall.
I looked at my son, who was still standing there with a huge grin on his face, waiting for his praise. "Spider, Mommy!" he said. I finally realized what I was holding: a daddy longlegs with only one badly broken leg remaining.
Whoever said good things come in small packages obviously never has received a gift from my son!

8. Pictures speak 1,000 words (most of them inappropriate for small ears).
Photos of the grandkids are a must for every proud grandparent's coffee table. Getting a good photo of the child, however, isn't as easy as it looks. After spending three days battling traffic at the mall and ending up with a photo of a skinny Santa and two terrified, screaming toddlers, I decided to take our own family portrait. I dressed everyone perfectly, positioned each in front of the brightly lit tree, and set the camera on automatic. One child standing, Daddy in the middle, myself sitting. I even had the foresight to set the youngest on my lap where I could whisper sweet threats into his ear so he would smile. We took 17 pictures and then I rushed them upstairs to upload online and started signing Christmas cards.
I should have known something was wrong when my husband came down stairs looking gloomy and the boys vanished. Sixteen photos of the kids sticking out their tongues, crossing their eyes, and making goofy faces. Only one photo where the children flashed angelic smiles . . . and I had my eyes closed.

7. Washable markers are the only markers.
I never was concerned about making sure my kids used only washable markers for their art projects. After all, our kitchen table was old, and they had plenty of play clothes that could handle a few stray marks.
Big mistake. HUGE. I now have letters in random places all over my house. Mostly of the letter "H." What's great is when they are written on freshly painted walls and furniture.

6. Give specific directions.
If you say, "Go take a bath," be sure to add "and use soap, and fill the tub up with water, and take off all your clothes before you get in." You'd think these are obvious, but I've learned they aren't.

5. Let them pick their nose.
Every mom has a horror story about taking her kid(s) to the grocery store. My 20-month-old toddler was sitting in the cart, grumpy because he was late for his nap. I was eight months pregnant and struggling to maneuver the toddler, groceries, and a cart with one sticky wheel. I was nearly done when I noticed the little guy had pulled a rather nasty booger from his nose and was playing with it. Disgusted, I pulled out a tissue and wiped away the slimy treasure.
That was the final straw for him; he threw a full-blown temper tantrum. Between screams, his only distinguishable words were, "Booger! Back!" Of course there was a huge line at the checkout, and none of my sweetly whispered threats had any affect on him. Finally, out of sheer desperation, I said, "Oh for Pete's sake, just get another booger!" He stopped crying immediately and sat there contently digging in his nose. I was able to complete all my shopping in relative peace and quiet (if you don't count the hysterical laughter of the 40ish mother who stood behind me in line observing the whole ordeal).

4. Buy the warranty, no matter what.
This speaks for itself.

3. There's more to potty training than meets the eye.
I thought I'd taught my toddler everything he needed to know about the potty. But apparently I'd forgotten to mention that the bathroom is reserved for doing his business, not for monkey business.
One afternoon, my girlfriend and I sat chatting on my living room sofa. Our two toddlers were contently playing together. It wasn't long before our quiet time was interrupted by squeals of laughter. And why did we hear water running? Following the trail of giggles, we walked through our bathroom door just in time to see a Spiderman action figure shoot out of the toilet propelled by a volcano of water. Apparently 11 Matchbox cars and 1 action figure stuffed into a toilet bowl will create enough pressure to propel the six-inch Spiderman five feet. That commode still doesn't work right!

And little boys like to announce loudly, it's potty time. There's nothing like being in the middle of the store when your little one proudly proclaims, "I have to go potty now and it's poop." Even the little old lady with the hearing aid you've run into 4 times and thought couldn't hear your apology starts to laugh.


2. Teach them to pray.
Yes, it gives them a way to communicate with God, and teaches them to take their troubles to him, but it also gives them an example to follow. Then maybe when they're asked to give the Thanksgiving prayer at their preschool lunch they won't say, "God, I sure hope you have a nice turkey dinner. My mom dropped our turkey on the kitchen floor when she took it out of the oven. Please keep us safe from germs, in Jesus' name. Amen."

1. Enjoy them.
All of the gray hairs, broken dishes, and temper tantrums fade when you see them show affection, watch them share a cookie with their sibling (even though no one told them they had to), and when they say "I love you, Mom. You're the best mommy ever."

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)