Wordless Wednesday

bathtime is never boring here!

more wordless fun at 5 Minutes for Mom!

Superman

I had one of those days yesterday.

The boys broke my favorite lamp. The Drama Queen took 2 hours to clean up a ten-minute mess. Ungrateful children sat at my lunch table. The Beast ruined a painting I had done for a customer. I lost my favorite drawing pencil. The boys howled like Indians through their entire nap time, despite repeated visits from Momma. The rain poured down all day long.

When the Nerd finally came home that evening, three kids were chanting "We want Little Einsteins! We want Little Einsteins!" while my brain searched desperately for coherent thoughts on what to make for dinner.

And then he asked THE question: "How was your day?"

I burst into tears, unexpectedly but with some relief.

The Nerd, aka Superman, did not say another word. He quickly surveyed the remains of the broken lamp and the ruined painting and took action. He marched the kiddies into the living room, put on their favorite TV show, and admonished them to be quiet. Then he went out to the kitchen and began making dinner! After a satisfying dinner of sausage, pancakes, and fried potatoes, he cleaned up the dining room and kitchen while I herded the kiddies through their bathtime routines. I mentioned that I really needed a new drawing pencil to get some projects done that evening, and he encouraged me to go out and get one - and stay out for a little while and enjoy the solitude.

Yeah, he is definitely Superman in my book! I feel blessed, fortunate, thankful. . . and ready to have a much better day than yesterday!

Pantry Thief

So. Our new home has a lovely double pantry right at the entrance to the kitchen. I say lovely because it has plenty of space for all my stockpiling tendencies and because it is so convenient while making meals.

However. Certain little rascals figured out very quickly how to get into this pantry and have located the snack shelf.

Which is why, when I went out to the kitchen the other day, I found this:

My little chipmunk loves him some cheese crackers! Even with his mouth full and the evidence scattered all over the floor, he still tried to appear innocent.

On the plus side, when he's all finished, it makes for a very clean kitchen floor! :) (just kidding)

A Blank Marks the Spot

Happy Friday! The kiddies are busy watching Toy Story 2, drinking chocolate milk, and eating cookies; and it's time for me to have a little fun with some fill-in-the-blank posting. You can join in the fun at The Little Things We Do...

1. The best piece of advice I was ever given was when in doubt, go to God. He never fails to give an answer! .

2. If I had a million dollars to give to one charity I would give it to my church. :)

3. If I got to choose my "last meal" it would be salad, my mom's lasagna, and Tillamook Udderly Chocolate ice cream for dessert.

4. My hair is Kool-Aid red right now and very short and wild. It never obeys, so I just go with it!

5. If at first you don't succeed google it, go to Starbucks for some motivation, and try again! :)

6. I have always been very gabby. I have a very hard time shutting up! Poor hubby will be asleep at night and I'll still be talking to him about random stuff...

7. Oh....and by the way.... did you know that the Beast is turning THREE in a little over a week! Look out world!

Enjoy your weekend everyone! Don't forget to get all your Easter basket stuff for next week!

Toy Story Fever

Yep, we are pretty excited! We have been talking about Toy Story 3 coming out in theaters for a long time now. It's been quite hilarious how the Beast goes around talking about Buzz Lightyear as if he knows him personally, when in truth the kid has never seen Toy Story or Toy Story 2.

We have quite a few friends that have the TS movies on video, but no one had them on DVD. We had to wait until Disney released them "from the vault" (ah, you clever marketing machine!) on Tuesday.

There was no backing out - we were going to buy these movies. On blu-ray, of course. I knew they would be watched many many times, making it worth the extra cost. But still? $30 each??

And then some very thrifty friends alerted me to a deal in which I could print out some $10 off coupons, one for each movie. Woo hoo! I headed off to Toys'R'Us to procure the greatly desired movies. I am not sure who was more excited, the kids or us!

Unfortunately Toys'R'Us was already out of stock when we arrived; next we went to Target. They had plenty of the movies with a great deal - $10 off if you purchased both movies on blu-ray, with the movies already marked down to $22.99 each. I ended up spending about $8 for each movie, but considering that each movie comes with a free theater ticket to Toy Story 3, the DVDs were practically free! Woot!

Next, we overheard someone talking about Free Ice Cream Day at Ben and Jerry's! Of course, we made a detour to the mall and enjoyed some delicious cones - chocolate for the kiddies and Coconut 7-Layer Bar for me. Yum!

Nerd Boy brought home some McDonald's for dinner, and we picnicked in the living room as we watched Toy Story with the kiddies for the first time. Grand memories for sure! (as we sat there marvelling that Toy Story had come out 15 years ago! what?! seriously?! wow!)

Wordless Wednesday - my little catalog model

We are so glad that spring is here!

More wordless fun at 5 Minutes for Mom...

Tackle It Tuesday - Entry Way Panels

Our "new" house has a lot of character, and while I may be embracing some of its more quirky features, these lacy things on the entryway windows had to go. The faded white lace pieces had been attached to the windows with string and thumbtacks, a "mistreatment" that even the Nester would not ignore.
I decided to choose a fabric with some robin's egg blue in it, as the front door and all surrounding paneling are painted that color. I fell in love with this gorgeous chocolate/blue damask from JoAnn's and used a little over a yard of it to make double-sided curtain panels with brown pom-pom trim. I love the new look - it feels completely different than the lace and thumbtacks!

And although we are still unpacking and trying to figure out where everything goes, at least the entryway looks polished and completed. Task tackled!

More tackles at 5 Minutes for Mom...

I Love this Face

Pink Frosting

GTKY #3

Time for some more random information about me! and then you can go to Mannland5 to read more trivia about other people. Or you can post some of your own. And then we can all be the proud possessors of random knowledge and useless facts...

The questions..

1. What year did you graduate high school? 1998, wow that's twelve years ago already

2. What part of your body do you neglect the most? my feet, probably. I look at them often and think, hmm, I should take better care of those poor things. But it's habit, after not being able to see them at all during three pregnancies...

3. Beach house or Lake house? beach house, definitely.

4. Mac or PC? depends. for straightforward stuff like documents and internet, I say PC. for art and graphic design, I say Mac.

5. Did you wear braces? nope. should have, but the money wasn't there. Oh well, gives me a great "in" with little kids - they always ask, "Why does your tooth stick out like that?" and I tell them that I am related to Dracula, and poof! we are instant friends!

6. If you could be one person for a day..living or deceased..who would you be? Martha Stewart. I am dying to know what goes on in her head all day...

7. How many times have you moved in your life? nine, I think.

8. Would you rather cook or clean? cook! definitely not one of those people that think it is fun to clean...

well there you have it.

Oh, and here's a little clue about tomorrow's post.

Pink. Lots and lots of pink...

A Girl Walks into a Blank

Time to fill in the blanks again! Lauren of course has come up with some wonderfully interesting statements, and as usual, hang on to your seat as you catch yet another glimpse into my wildly exciting life. (Excuse me a moment. The Spud just put his cereal bowl on his head, and Crunch Berries and milk are cascading down his face...)

1. Today I am wearing an OLD Old Navy T-shirt, an ancient denim skirt that I have had forever, and fuzzy green/purple slipper socks. It is going to be a day of painting for me... .

2. My favorite childhood food was ketchup and macaroni (my mom called it "poor man's spaghetti") and my favorite food now is sushi or lasagna or pizza or pad thai or a really yummy burger from Red Robin. Okay, so I have a hard time choosing....

3. A day that I am too busy to read a book with my kiddies or laugh hysterically at the Drama Queen's latest knock-knock joke is a day that I am too busy.

4. The last movie I saw was "The Blind Side" (in theaters anyway) and the next movie I want to see is "Toy Story Three." How sad is that? I guess the mom haircut is not far off now... .

5. My favorite smell is coffee, especially when you first walk into the coffee/tea/baking aisle at the grocery store because, it speaks of a great caffeine rush to come, the incredible comfort of holding a steaming mug of goodness in your hands, and the promise of a new day, new things...

6. A weird little quirk I have is to look at license plates and billboards and rearrange the letters in my head to make new words. The word puzzle part of my brain never sleeps. Poor hubby! he has to listen to things like "Hey! Did you know that diaper spelled backwards is repaid?" .

7. When I take personality quizzes they always say I'm the female version of Dr. Phil, and that I should take over the world. For now, I shall conquer this cup of coffee and the breakfast dishes...

And on to painting! I have five lovebird paintings to complete today as well as a baby shower cake. :) Happy Friday everyone!

Ultimate Recipe Swap - Eggs!

Life As Mom is hosting her weekly recipe swap as usual, and this week's theme is eggs. As I happened to create an egg dish just the other day for dinner, I thought I would participate. That, and I don't have enough brain cells today to come up with a more meaningful post. :) haha

So my recipe is for Scrambled Egg Pizza.

You need:

* 5 eggs

*a little milk

* can of refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (10)

* maple syrup

* your favorite cheese - we used Colby Jack

* some cooked slices of bacon, or a cup of chopped ham

To make:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Take out an ungreased cookie sheet or pizza pan.

2. Open your can of biscuits and arrange them on the pan, with sides touching and in the shape of a long rectangle (2 biscuits in each row). Lightly glide a rolling pin over the biscuits to push them together. Pinch shut any "holes" between biscuits.

3. Drizzle the biscuit dough with maple syrup - the more, the better, of course.

4. Scramble the eggs with a little milk in the microwave. Remove eggs from microwave and spread over the biscuit dough.

5. Sprinkle bacon pieces or chopped ham (or both!) over the eggs.

6. Finally, shred your cheese over the whole thing until it looks sufficiently cheesy.

7. Bake at 400 degrees for 11-13 minutes, until edges of biscuit dough are lightly browned.

8. Serve immediately.

I actually made two of these the other night for dinner, expecting my family's appetites to be greater than they actually were. And thus I discovered that this recipe does not reheat well, but is best served right away.

My picky picky toddlers loved this and ate all of their pizza slices, including the Beast, who has strongly professed his disdain of scrambled eggs. Go figure!

You can find many more eggy recipes at Life as Mom, and of course share your own.

The Battleground

There are some days that I don't feel like a mother at all.

A soldier perhaps. General maybe. Referee most definitely.

Why does it feel that my house is always a war zone?

Two areas in particular have seen some heavy battle lately - breakfast and bedtime. It seems no matter what I serve these kids for breakfast, they whine and complain about it and refuse to eat it. I have tried pancakes, cereal, toast, oatmeal, you name it, but they always want the item I don't have. Naturally. The Spud is my only good eater and will cheerfully eat whatever I put in front of him.

Today the Drama Queen and Beast begged for oatmeal with brown sugar and cinnamon. I obliged, but of course both of them refused to eat any of it after it was made. "Yucky", "Too hot", and "too cold" were some of their responses.

Bedtime is worse. I can't even count the number of times I went into the boys' room last night, telling them to quiet down and get back in their beds. Last night, they collectively figured out how to get the heat vent off and had managed to stuff several of their little animal friends into the heating duct. It was 11:00 pm before the Beast finally settled down and fell asleep. The Drama Queen keeps popping out of her room to "go to the bathroom" or "see what we're watching on TV" or "report a funny noise in her room."

I am pretty sure that these battlefields are related. It is taking so long for the kids to fall asleep at night that they are super cranky in the morning and therefore completely obstinate to any breakfast choices laid before them.

I am tired of fighting these battles. Tired of being starting off the day on a bad note and ending it the same way. Can't I just get to be a mom for once?

Anyone have any breakfast/bedtime suggestions?

Who Knew A Day At the Mall. . .

. . . would be full of such details as stolen goods, freshly "painted" walls at the bookstore, and playground bullying?

Yeah, not me, obviously. I should have realized that taking the three munchkins by myself to the mall on a busy Saturday was not my most brilliant idea ever. But just the thought of spending yet another day in the new house, unpacking boxes, cleaning, and organizing while keeping an eye on the kiddies motivated me to go ahead and take the aforesaid trip to the mall.

We started off our shopping trip by sitting in the food court and munching on Carls Jr. Grilled Cheese Burgers. I let the kiddies have their favorite treat - a little root beer- and things seemed to be going well. We then began wandering from shop to shop, looking at all the lovely things to buy and of course keeping our money in our pockets. Well, mostly - I just couldn't resist some great deals at Childrens' Place.

And then the real fun began. The kids were begging and pleading to play at the mall's indoor play area. I was a little hesitant to consent since the play area was so crowded and it would be difficult to keep track of all three kids, but I agreed. The kids seemed to be having a blast as I tried to keep from being too anxious ( I always envision some stranger reaching over the low walls and grabbing one of the kiddies without being noticed). Suddenly I spotted some kid just beating away on the Spud, and my momma blood boiled over. I raced across the playground to confront the bully and realized that the kid hitting my son was also my son. Yep, the Beast apparently got annoyed with his little brother and had taken out his irritation by hitting him repeatedly. Embarrassed, I quickly gathered my charming little angels and herded them out of the playground.

I was not, however, to be deterred from my mission to have a good time at the mall with my kiddies. As their behavior improved, I promised the thirsty little ones a satisfying apple juice at Starbucks. At my favorite coffee place, I opened my purse to pay the barista and discovered a toy shoved into the side pocket. I recognized the toy from our stop at a store earlier - a toy we had definitely not paid for. After the Drama Queen fessed up to the crime, I loaded the Spud back into the stroller and marched the kids back to the store, where I made the Drama Queen return the toy and apologize to the manager, promising to never steal anything again. I hated doing that to her - she can be quite shy and was devastated to have to do that - but I wanted it to have enough impact to keep her from ever stealing again.

At this point, I considered packing up the kids and going home. Then I thought perhaps a quick stop into Barnes and Noble. The Beast and the Drama Queen preferred to go into their own corners and "read" books to themselves; so I sat with the Spud and read some of his favorites. Seeing the delight on his face made my day, and I finally felt ready to go home. As I called out to the Drama Queen and the Beast to come, I noted a peculiar odor coming from the Beast's corner. Upon closer inspection, I found that he had had a "pooplosion" (my term for explosive poop that runs down the legs and up the back). Apparently, he had tried to clean up his mess himself by using his hands and then wiping them on the walls of the bookstore. Oh joy! I desperately used the case of wipes in my purse to clean him and the walls up a little. I have not had to pack an extra outfit for the Beast for quite some time, and so I had no clothes for him. Once again, I packed up the kids and hurried to the nearest department store to buy a new outfit for the Beast. People gave us a wide berth - the smell was pretty bad! I purchased a shirt and shorts - the shirt fittingly said "I Do My Own Stunts". :) Then it was off to the closest bathroom to wash the boy down and change his clothes.

Yeah, it was definitely time to go home. I gathered the troops and wearily drove home in complete silence. As I tucked the last child in bed, the Drama Queen sleepily opened her eyes and said, "That was the bestest day ever, Momma. I love you."

So maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to go to the mall that day!

A Blank Look

It's time to fill in the blanks! Well, time for ME to fill in the blanks - all you have to do is read what I put in the blanks. And then of course, if you feel you have better answers than me, you can fill in your own blanks. Ha!

1. The best day ever was that Christmas eve when NerdBoy and I talked for 4 hours and realized that we were no longer "just friends." I still remember sitting close on the couch, clutching a pillow, and talking about our future together .

2. My favorite meal of the day is fourth meal because around 9:00 pm I get unexplicably hungry and greatly desire a 7-layer-burrito, a chocolate milk shake, or a fat juicy cheeseburger. Thanks Taco Bell for the fourth meal concept!

3. This weekend will involve more foraging into cardboard boxes to discover all the STUFF we own and never knew we had until we moved .

4. Never in my life have I driven a stick-shift. Nerd Boy insists I should learn "just in case" but I am not interested in something that requires that much attention. haha, I am too ADD to drive a stick-shift... .

5. The only thing better than coffee is ??? Uh Oh, I can't think of anything better than coffee. Sad day indeed for this caffeine addict .

6. I could really do with some more coffee. And a donut sounds yummy, Lauren! Let's meet up at Voodoo - I love their voodoo doll donut the best!

7. The most recent thing I bought myself was some blue/brown damask fabric to make little curtain panels for the windows in our new entryway.

Farewell to the Condo

Four years ago, a young couple madly in love and pregnant with their first child purchased their first home - a lovely condo just minutes from his work and in a safe, happy neighborhood. The wife pictured their life there, carefully decorating each room to feel like home and going for long walks with the angelic baby and dog in the neighborhood. Every room was painted the exact colors she wanted before they even moved in. They knew that with the baby's arrival date in just 3 1/2 weeks, they were cutting it close, but they were confident that they would be able to finish the nursery and make the new house a home in time.

Three days later, at a routine doctor's visit, it was discovered that the wife had lost all her amniotic fluid and the baby was in danger of strangulation via the umbilical cord. A C-section was immediately scheduled for the next morning, and two very overwhelmed and under-prepared new parents took their tiny baby girl home to the condo. Between the physical complications of the C-section and the emotional complications of new parenthood, decorating and finishing the condo got put on a back burner. Poor Baby Girl didn't even have a finished nursery until she was four months old.

However, the condo was still the perfect home. Baby Girl had her very own room with attached bathroom for lots of bubble baths and playtime. The condo felt roomy and cozy, and the new father could even come home from work for lunch to see his wife and play with his little girl.

Then, life happened. Two more unexpected pregnancies suddenly made this a family of five. Now three rambunctious little ones shared Baby Girl's room, which seemed a lot smaller with three beds in it. Instead of roomy and cozy, the condo felt stifling, with the walls closing in. The perfect home was not so perfect anymore.

The family decided something had to be done. In the shaky real estate market, it didn't look like selling the condo would be an option, as they would lose a lot of money. Decisions had to be made, and the right opportunities had to be there. They theorized that if they could get someone to rent the condo for the same amount of money as they would spend to rent a bigger home for the family, they would not lose any money each month and be able to maintain and improve the condo until the market was better for selling. It was a nice plan, but it was certainly not the easiest one to work out. Timing was crucial - finding the renter and a place to rent at the same time was challenging.

To make a long story short, it did happen. The husband's parents ended up renting the condo. After a LOT of house searching, the family found a bigger, three-bedroom house with a backyard to rent. The most chaotic week ensued, with the moving of two families, cleaning of two places, and doing some renovations to the condo. It wears me out just telling you about it!

And I still have a bunch of boxes to unpack and rooms to organize. . .

We Are Here!

The Drama Queen is a movie fanatic - she has several favorites that she watches over and over again. Wall-E, Meet the Robinsons, Monsters Inc, and many others have been practically memorized by her (and us, her ever grateful family that gets to endure the same movie over and over again.)

One night at her grandparents' house, she got to watch "Horton Hears a Who", and it quickly became a new favorite. She would go around reciting lines from the movie and begging to watch it again. She loved the microscopic Whos living quite content in their own tiny speck of a world, unaware that a much larger and more dangerous world existed.

A few nights later, I put the kids to bed and went downstairs for some much needed me-time. It was not long before I heard "Momma, I need a drink" and "Momma, pleeeeeaase can I have some juuuuuuuice?" I ignored them, as we have a no-drinks-before-bedtime policy at our house. The pleas got louder and more drawn out as they got more desperate for Momma to come to their room. Then there was silence.

"Good," I thought. "They've given up and finally gone to sleep." And then I heard a very quiet "we are here." There was more silence and then: "we are here! we are here! we are here! we are here!"

The Drama Queen had not given up on getting my attention. She remembered that the Whos in "Horton Hears a Who" realized their dangerous situation and had to come together as one, shouting "We are Here!" in an attempt to get the attention of the outside world before it was too late. :)

And so I say, "We are here!" I have not been blogging the last few weeks due to moving, house renovating, catching up on Etsy orders, etc. But I am back, I am still here, and have many things to share in the coming days.

I sit here now in my new living room. On one side, I gaze out through the sliding glass door at the bleak Oregon clouds, with the sun trying its hardest to get a peek through. On the other side, I survey a mountain of boxes yet to be unpacked and a pile of laundry waiting patiently to be washed.

I must get busy, but I just wanted my bloggy friends to know, "We are here!"