Tuesday, February 10, 2009

"FOUR!!!!"

Four tag....

1. Go to where you store your digital photos and open the 4th folder

2. Post the 4th pic in that folder.

3. Explain the pic.

4. Tag 4 people.



This is what happens when my kids get my camera....I get cute (and sometimes crazy) pics like this!

I tag.....Niki, Callie, Alisha, Kathryn, and (and I'm gonna put a 5th person in just for kicks and giggles...) Jenn!

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Horse-Play


Just had to share this cute pic of Chris and the kids rough-housing...it was too cute NOT to share!


NASTY!!!!

You guys will NEVER (and I really mean it when I say NEVER), guess just what the perfect thing to place on a mouse trap to make it most effective...(you'll laugh when I finally tell you....but I'll wait, just to make this suspenseful).

Living out here in the country, we get frequent "visitors" from the fields, which I hate terribly!! Our cats are earning their keep very well though, so I'm not going to complain (very loud). Someone that I know that used to live in this house told me that they only had 2 mice every winter season actually show up in this house and their cats would corner them in the bathroom and then her hubby would catch it and throw it outside. I'm sorry, but I don't do the catch and release program....they just come right back in!!! I don't even do the catch and relocate program.....no sir! Them showing up in my "space" is a crime that is very much punishable by DEATH (be it by trap or by cat...doesn't matter, they just MUST die).

Well, the other day, Celeste was having a problem and I went into the bathroom to look at my monestat cream to see if it was safe to put it on her (never did find out OR put it on her) and I got distracted by something. I bumped a new (well, not so much new, it's a few months old, but I got it around the time Celeste was born for reasons we just won't go into here) box of suppositories. It fell out of the cupboard and was completely empty. Underneath that box and one other box, there was a bunch of mouse dropping and aluminum shavings. I dug a little deeper and discovered the rest of the aluminum wrappings....all of which were empty....completely void of any contents! I couldn't help but crack up laughing thinking that we MUST have VERY regular mice running around here. They had eaten the whole box.

So, the next time you need to catch a "killer mouse" in your house, make sure you get suppositories and place them in the traps. I hear it's a delicacy in "Mouse Land"!!
(LOL, sorry, I couldn't help but take a pic of the incriminating evidence!)

Friday, February 6, 2009

Everyday Life Around Here

Over the last couple of days, we've had some strange moments that have caused concern for us, but things are fine now (that's my disclaimer before you read anything - and I mean ANYTHING - in this post).

A couple days ago, Tyler fell down the stairs here (only about half way, but that's still about 7-8 stairs). And after I got him calmed down, I'd see him sit down every so often and just sit there talking to himself and playing with toys, sometimes laughing at the other kids when they'd do something funny. So, I sat and watched him during one of these "sitting episodes" and discovered that he was shaking (almost like Parkinson's patients do...) while sitting there, and as soon as the shaking stopped, he'd get up and go on with life. He didn't do this often, but it was often enough that it caused me to worry (when do I NOT worry, I know). I made sure I watched him really close and the next time he sat down, I was right there, making sure he made eye contact, could still "talk", move his hands around....all-in-all, just making sure he wasn't having seizures. He was totally coherent during all of this. I put him in bed that night and watched him after he fell asleep, and from what I could see, he wasn't shaking, so I went to bed myself. The next day, he did it only a handful of times, once when Chris was home and could see it, and today, hasn't done it again (that we've seen).

Celeste has had some diaper issues (smelly....not normal smellies....), so we gave her a warmer-than-normal bath and that's seemed to help kill whatever bacterias that were lurking around that region and she's fine and happy now.

Now, on to today's events.....

My day started out like normal, kids fighting over where they get to lay down on our bed at 630-7 am, Chris gets up, gets the kids breakfast while I feed and change Celeste, and then he leaves for work. Then I get up and dressed and start a load of laundry, log into my computer, sometimes join my cleaning chat support group (other times, just "clean" with my sister so we can give more personal moral support), and then take on the rest of the house....and kids. My washer has been acting up. It's taking longer and longer to fill up on the rinse cycle. It takes, on average, 3 hours to just wash it (another hour to dry it after that)! It's frustrating cuz I only fit in 2-3 loads a day with that (there goes the laundry DAY....everyday will be 'laundry day'). So, that was frustration #1. The kids are SO smart and creative when they get bored....its sometimes annoying how smart they just CAN be.

I told the kids they needed to help with their laundry (I'd already sorted it into piles so they could just take it to their rooms and learn how to fold and put it away....don't ask me what I was thinking). They both drag their designated laundry baskets off to their rooms, and what follows, I can only blame myself. Terra dumped out her laundry, didn't fold a thing OR turn things the right way, and shoved them into drawers....they were put away, what else matters, right?! James took his into his room, Tyler grabbed a few pieces of clothing and ran around the house, with James running after him, crying because "he's stealing my clothes!" Tyler runs back into the bedroom, throws the clothes at James, so he pick up more out of the basket, throws them back (yes, I was watching this and couldn't help but laugh), so then it turned into a clothing fight (much like a food fight would look....just with clothing flying everywhere).

Then, they kept dumping out the dvd's all over the living room, I told them to pick them up and put them away and gave them many opportunities to do so. Finally, I told them that they had better pick them up by the time I came back up from the basement, or they were MINE. They failed to do that, so now the dvd's are in boxes in my bedroom. They cried and cried while I was taking them away, and when I got done piling them on my bed and was getting ready to put them in boxes, James came in bringing with him the VHS movies, so I told him to go put them back because the dvd's were the only thing I was taking away and he cried because I was making him put those back (wish he would make up his mind, he was distraught with me taking them away and is now mad that I'm giving those back....).

And, finally, for some reason, they have this gravitation to water. They can't seem to get enough of it! They plugged up the sinks in my bathroom (luckily they didn't over-flow them this time) and then got out my new-ish can of mousse and emptied it all over the bathroom (I really SHOULD buy nicer smelling stuff...). Then they got cups (all my cups and bowls and sippies are disappearing fast....soon we'll just have to go drink out of the faucet if we're thirsty) and filled up those cups and got the couch wet, and dumped them out on their step-stools....the foam was their favorite part, I'm sure.

So, yes, I'm tired, and SO ready for bed (which is where I'm heading as soon as I hit "publish post".

Oh, yes, and I must not forget to tell you about this one. The cats and kids alike keep trying to climb into the bassinett while Celeste is in it, so I had to move it to my closet to keep them away from it. So far, so good. Wish me luck there!

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Moments Like This...

...Is what makes life so memorable!

This week, Terra is learning about caring for her teeth. They've taught them how to brush them properly, and even had a dental person come in and teach them some to floss and she gave them each of them a tooth brush and tooth paste (which, normally, gets hidden in my house, especially with my kids' past track records at making messes). Well, Terra didn't mention that she got the tooth paste, only the tooth brush and floss/picker. Yesterday afternoon, the kids were finger painting, and you'll never guess what they were using?! Where was I? Laying miserably on the couch (and for those of you who don't like female issues or have weak stomachs, skip to the next paragraph) while "auntie flow" came a visitin' bringing with her...cramps from He**.....and when they get that bad, I get sick to my stomach and can't keep much down.

James came running by me, stopped, and ran back to his room. I smelled something odd in the air as he ran past the second time. I sat up and thought, that smells oddly familier! So I went to investigate. I found the cats...their fur matted down with something and they're trying to clean themselves off and not really enjoying the flavor they're licking off themselves. Then I round the corner into the boys' room, and the kids had used the toothpaste that Terra got from school to finger paint the bed, the dressers, the floor, the cats and TYLER!





The paste and ALL their toothbrushes (floss/pick thingy included) got confiscated and are being held hostage by the ever-so-mean-mommy that lives here! They must ask and be supervised when they brush their teeth for the next week!!

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Collages

See who looks like who in these collages...LOL, I found these pics while sorting out the picture box into piles the other day, and just laughed at how much the kids look like Chris and sort of like me!!

Trying To Stay Awake

Tonight while watching the Superbowl, James got so tired that he asked if he could go get his pillow and blanket from off his bed. I said yes and then the next thing I knew, Chris was nudging me and telling me to watch James. These next two videos are what I saw....he did this for about 15 minutes before actually waking up and playing around with the other two kids. I just had my regular digital camera, so the picture isn't that great and lighting is terrible, but you can still see (well hear) most of what's going on! James is sitting up because we told him if he went to sleep, we'd go put him in bed. He keeps nodding off and almost falling over...I really wish we'd had better lighting so you could all laugh with us!!