My Baby

In 7 short years we've gone from this:




To this:








Happy 7th Birthday Miss J!

Real Ant Farms Have Dirt...

So the other night, after a Geo-Caching adventure, The Hubster and J noticed tons of Queen Ants flying around.

For a while now they've been blabbing about an Ant Farm, but I guess when you send away for the ants, you don't get a Queen.

So they collected one or two and are keeping them in some Temp housing outside.

SO despite the fact that I had 8 million errands to run today (I was basically gone from the house from 10am-3pm!) I made a point to run to TRU to find an Ant farm from them. I got the LAST and ONLY one they had.


My ever grateful 6 y/o showed it to her Dad, and then started BAWLING. "It's GROSS!" "Look at the BACK?!" "It looks FAKE!"

I'm apparently an idiot, cause i'm failing to see the problem here.... I said, It's gel, all the Ant farms are gel now!

In between sobs, she tells me "REAL (sob) Ant farms (sob) have DIRT! (sob)"

OY VEY!

I informed her fine, I will just take it back then. Fortunately for both of us, her Dad was then ready to take her and her Sister on another adventure, so hopefully he's talked some sense into her by the time they get home.

Yeah I'm SOOOO looking forward to the teen years! :-P

Some things are just timeless...

I've always LOVED this routine, but after having kids, I love it even more! :)

Ok...

here's a story for you...

Ava's never been one for change. Things change, and it's like a National Catastrophe. A far contrast from J, who was all "go with the floooooow".

Sunday, I sorted through the girls' closet. I got rid of a lot of summer stuff, and drug out the fall stuff, incl. some longs sleeved things! ACK!

Anyway... since I was able to thin out the drawer that contained Ava's swimsuits, I was able to put her unders in that drawer, as opposed to the basket where her socks are. The poor basket was overflowing and it was just a PITA to try and find socks, since they were buried under the undies (not that we needed the socks during the summer, really).

So, Miss "Change is Evil" for the past few days, has taken to taking her unders OUT of the drawer, and putting them back in the basket, and then getting REALLY mad when I put them back in the drawer. :-P

It will be interesting to see how long of a battle I have on my hands.... :)

Potty Chairs... Friend and Foe...

So, Ava's been pretty much PT'd since Early July. She decided right before we left for our vacation this summer that it was time. That was interesting. I managed to convince her that while on vacation we needed pull-ups and not undies.

Once we got home, we were good to go with the undie wearing. :)

PT-ing, at out house is a long process. As soon as we see interest in the whole using the potty thing, we get out the small potty chairs. Generally there's a lot of just sitting on the potty chair, diaper on possibly even clothed at that point.

As we get further into the process we ad the soft potty ring to fit over the big potty. We still have the little chairs around too, because well, they can be handy...

I don't know about anyone else, but around here it seems like whenever *I* am using the potty, Ava needs to go too. Potty chairs are a big help in this situation, especially when it's not really convenient to say, get up OFF the potty so I can help her get onto the big potty. :-P

I'd say that's the biggest plus to the potty chair around here.

The Hubster is allergic to them, to say the least. He'd much rather bag the things up and toss them in the trash, than to empty one out. :-P

In a former life I was a CNA at a nursing home, so I have a pretty high tolerance for bodily fluids/function. Especially when you add almost 7 years of parenting to that too. Emptying them out is not pleasant, but I don't usually mind.

Unless of course, say you are in the potty having a not so great time, and along comes your toddler, who is having the same issue, and then completely fills that puppy up with her not so great issue... all while you are feeling not so great and just the smell emminating from the potty chair, that she's still sitting on is enough to make you want to hurl right then and there.

And trust me, I was really not wanting my 3 course Thai meal come back for an encore!

I LOVE the potty chair, and I LOATHE the potty chair...

What do you think? Friend or Foe? Or both?

Good Grief

I really need to update my user-pic over here. Ava looks SOOO small!

I was clearing out some thing sin my Photobucket account yesterday. I found a bunch of videos I had made when Ava was about 6 months old! That seems SO long ago. Even hearing Johanna's voice on the videos, she sounds so different now.

These children are certainly growing up so fast. Lost teeth, language explosions.

How do they keep getting older while I stay the same age? ;)

This, I want to know. :)

11-11 - 11:11am

I just noticed that's it's 11/11 and I'm writing this at 11:11am. LOL

I always notice weird times like that. I'll just happen to glance at the clock and it'll be 4:44pm or 10:10am, or 2:22pm. That one is a favorite, since Johanna was born at 2:22pm. :)

WHY I notice the odd times, is beyond me. Maybe it's just because they are more noticeable. LOL

Hope everyones Sunday is going well. The Hubster is off taking pictures. I should be clenaing something, or maybe taking down our H'ween decorations. LOL I've been too sick to take them down, and I'm better now, plus it's nice out, so I really should. LOL


I've been busy playing Webkinz and d/l-ing the beta version of YIM. Hopefully this version will solve my YIM issues. More often than not, I've had to use the web version. I can send messages on the old, regular version just find, but I don't always receive them. Then everyone thinks I'm being a snob and ignoring them. LOL

I've also got all caught up on Facebook, and successfully Mass Poked everyone, so I think I'm good with my online activities after this post is done. :)

They girls are busy playing "summertime". Well, I'm not sure what Ava is doing, J's trying to get her to go along with her ideas, but Ava's not to reliable. LOL So far, J's set up a beach, making summer pics and now wants a "summer snack" so I guess I should go work on that for her. :)

Have a Summery Day! ;)

Grrrrr

Blogger has been taking fooooorever to publish my posts. So now watch, this one will fly right through! LOL

My antibiotics are slowly kicking in and I've been feeling more like myself every day. The Hubster on the other hand... after 3 days of staying home from work, I suggested he go to the Dr. too. :) He's now got some antibiotics too. :)

Johanna has a long weekend. We had a fun day at the mall yesterday. She got a haircut and a new Webkinz, I also bargained with her. She could get the Webkinz, if I got to yank out her VERY lose tooth. So she now has now front teeth! :)

She's been running around singing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!" LOL

I told her her classmates will think they have a new studen tin class when she returns to school on Tues. LOL

It's a Miracle!

Wow, Look who's actually posting??

ME!


LOL


I apparently really suck at keeping up here, don't I?


I think I got a little too addicted to Facebook. :-P Between that and household, uhhh, "duties" and my boards and email, I don't seem to get over to the ole blog too much. :(

Not to mention I'm now a Webkinz addict. LOL


Things here are going pretty well. I'm just getting over a fun old chest cold. The Hubster seems to have it now. Lucky him.

Johanna's turned 6, lost 1 of her front teeth, and the other one is about ready to fall out. Actually, it won't surprise me if she comes home today w/o it. LOL Her teacher yanked out her first one. She was afraid J was going to swallow it. I tried to yank out the other one for her yesterday, but she wasn't going to let me. I think she wants her teacher to do it again. LOL

She's loving Kindergarten! It's just amazing to me what they learn in K these days.... I remember going 1/2 day and having a nap time and snack time and story time. Johanna is READING.

So umm, there goes the days of spelling out stuff we don't want her to know! Dammit. :-P

Ava's 21 months old now! She's back to being interested in the potty, and she's talkign up a storm. I probably hear a new word from her every other day! It's fun that I can have little conversations with her now!

Of course my having the chest cold has made that a bit challenging. I lost my voice completely one day and I still don't quite sound like myself.

We we're getting ready to go to the grocery store this am, and I told her to go find her socks. She had her shoes, but needed socks.

She comes back, hands me a piece of double bubble (from TOT-ing) and says "Suck". I look at her and I say. OK. A) that is gum and not a sucker, and B) I said SOCK not Sucker! LOL

So, Yeah... LOL It's Monday here!

Hope you've all been doing OK out there in blog-land, and I'm really sorry I stink at updating! :)

DONE

Done Done Done

D-O-N-E Done

Done Diddy Done Diddy Done Done Done


Someone hand this Momma her time card, she wants to clock out!


It wasn't even really that horrible of a day, really. Maybe it's cause it's Friday. I had to run some errands. I didn't feel like going but I went. Ava slept through two of them. Ten minutes into our Sams Club errand, I started having some intestinal distress. That was fun with J blabbing on an old cell phone to her imaginary friend, while Ava tried to stuff TP between my bottom and the toilet all while flushing for me.

Someone tell me one day I'll actually get to potty in peace, please? lol

So I'm hot, tired and not feeling well and Ava's being a toddler, and J's whining about playing Webkinz and I just want Ava to take a nap, but she won't.

The hubster comes home, and I look at him and I'm like.. I'm done. I want to be done being Mommy today. He said "Good luck with that" LOL

So after supper I'm feeling similar to how I felt in Sams Club today, only the minute I sit on the potty, Ava starts pointing to it, blabbing about "Elmo" (we have a Sesame Street soft potty seat thing) and saying "sit sit sit".

Yay.

She wants to sit on the potty, and she wants to do it NOW. So I take her to the other bathroom and set her up there, only she doesn't want me to leave and she's busy taking paper off the roll and stuffing it in the potty while saying "poo poo poo poo".

At this point I really need to get back on the potty.

So I grab her and the big potty chair and we head back into the master bathroom.


Things seems to be going pretty well at this point, I'm thinking. I'm where I need to be, she pushes her chair to where she wants it to be... she backs up, and sits down. We're good!

Nope, she's getting up...

She's walking into the shower.

She's now standing, naked from the waist down, in the shower, pee streaming down between her legs, saying "uh oh, poo poo, uh oh".

Greeeaaat.

here's a simple multiple choice question for you...


Your Toddler is standing in the shower, peeing, saying "uh oh, poo poo, uh oh".... what does she do next?

A.) Bend over and play in it, rubbing it all around the shower floor with both hands, while exclaiming "oh-oh"?

B.) Stomp in the puddle with both feet?

C.) Bend down and lick said puddle?

D.) All of the above.



All this while I'm stuck where I'm at, yelling for the hubster who can't hear me because he's down here, tv on, a/c running.

THAT led to shower #2 of the day.

Showering is a whole 'nother circus act. Involving a certain toddler getting in and out multiple times, playing peek-a-boo with the curtain while soaking the floor of the bathroom, and coming into the shower, wearing her towel.

So yeah, someone clock me out, I am D-O-N-E!

Diaper Covers

Anyone know where I can find some Elmo diaper covers or maybe even an AIO?

We used pampers on vacation, and Ava was really digging having Elmo on her tush. LOL I checke don ebay last weeken and didn't find anything (tho I won an auction for a Dora one... LOL)

Memories

I've been reminded of something this week. It's been a HUGE wake-up call too. I've been reminded of what daily life is like with a VERY busy 17 nth old. LOL Holy cats! Ava's always been busy. She finally realized she could go down the steps in the house. She's been able to crawl down steps for a while now. I think it's because we mostly would carry her up and down here at the house, that she didn't realize she had that option here until this past week.


It's now ALL she wants to do. If I dare close the door down here so I can try to get something done, she has a complete fit. Full on screaming and all that. yay. If this keeps up, I may be drinking heavily by the time she's 2.5. LOL

It's interesting, having a toddler and an older child. Ava wants to do everything her big sister does. So I think that makes her 10x braver than Johanna was, which is scary. lol

We've been doing some "Spring Cleaning" around here. It's been good, but stressful, since like I said, trying to do anything with Ava awake is near impossible. LOL

Today I have to run errands. I'm looking forward to getting out of the house. I really don't do the 90+ degrees and humid thing very well! It's been like that for a good 4 days maybe. ick. So it was good weather for me to be cleaning... inside... with the a/c. lol

TGIF

Yeah, it's a bit cliche', but Owell.


I AM happy it's Friday. Despite the fact that I still had to run out and do some errands. Apparently, the dogs like to have food. Dang them. ;) If not for the fact that there wasn't enough food to last them until Monday, I would've totally stayed home.

Traffic was bad enough today. I wouldn't want to have tried it tomorrow. Plus we are jam-packed with things to do tomorrow too.

As I was standing in LINE at the self Checkout at Wal-Mart (yes, you heard me right) I was thinking that I was glad it was Friday, and that we were about ready to be DONE and on the way home.

J got her 1/2 way progress report for swimmign yesterday. She's doing really well. She needs to work on a few things tho. I told her her teacher said she needs to practice those things, and she says "Mom, how can I practice when we don't have a bog pool"?

Uhhh, ok good point there.

Being the clever Mom I am, I told her she needs to practice them AT swimming lessons. That while her teacher is helping the other kids in her class and she's waiting for her turn, that she can work on some of the things she needs to do.

"Oh, Ok."

I have more to post about T-ball last night, but the hubster is out scaring the killdeer Momma with the lawnmower and needs me to find a clean shirt for him. :-P These are HIS shirts, surely you think HE'D know where they are. That's where you (and I too appparently) would be wrong. :-P

New Song

I put up a new song for the blog. The Family has declared this as being my theme song. :snicker:

Pre-K Grad

Uhhhhhhhhhh

Hi there! You might remember me, My Name is Cyndi and this is my blog! LOL

Holy heck did we have a busy week here. A busy week with nice weather! I kept forgetting things I needed at the store (I know, I know MAKE A LIST)So I spent almost all my am's when J was at school running around.

Her concert/Graduation was on Friday. it was really cute! I'll post the video of her graduating. It's a little long, but it's really funny cause another little boy had to potty, and I didn't notice it at the time, but he starts jumping up and down, hopping and holding himself well before anyone noticed, the poor guy. LOL

I also need to get majorly caught up on the scavenger hunt!! (BAD ME!)

Hope all my fellow Mom's had a nice Mothers Day! I was taken out to breakfast, got to watch some TV while Ava napped. Then we ordered Chinese and lounged around the kiddie pool the rest of the afternoon. It was a nice day!!

Yikes!

So the other week I was at the mall and I picked up a couple pairs of Sandals for Ava at Payless. They were BOGO 1/2 off. So, being the smart Mom I am, I got her 1 pair in a size 5 and another in a size 5.5, figuring we would be set for the summer or at least a couple months anyway.

So I put her size 5's on this am, and I swear her feet grew overnight! Her toes are thisclose to hanging over the ends of the sandals now! ACK! They were NOT like that yesterday!

At least I can be thankful we have a bigger pair on hand and Payless generally runs their BOGO sales pretty frequently, huh? ;)

T-ball

So, J started T-Ball on Thurs. You know how you have to sign up for these things MONTHS in advance? Well, like good parents we did that.

We were sure to ask her if she wanted play before signing her up. She said "Yes" and "Sign me up for whatever you want".

So, we did.

Problem is, while she can remember some minute detail from 3 years ago, she doesn't seem to recall agreeing to sign up for T-ball.:-/

So, it's been interesting. We don't want to push her, yet she's signed up and needs to make an effort/stay committed. Plus she wants to sign up for Fall Soccer. So we told her she needs to do this and stick it out, or there will be no signing up for soccer.

They had a practice yesterday as well. We left early and got her a new (pink) tball glove and a hat. She liked that.

This am, we practiced hitting and a little catching. She likes hitting better, and I think she's a little afraid of catching 'cause she doesn't want to get hit in the face. Can't say as I blame her, but she still needs to try it.

She's the ONLY girl on her team. At least she's easy to spot out there on the field. She's the one with the pink mitt. ROFL

Ava's not happy to hang around for an hour during practice. Instead, I load her up in the stroller and we take a nice, looong walk. I walked 40 minutes yesterday. Holy cow am I outta shape tho! LOL I need to get out and take walks more often! I think we'll do that every practice. I'm kinda bummed they decided to only practice once a week now. I could use 2 40 minute walks a week. LOL

Now if i can just cut out my donut habit, maybe I'll drop a few pounds. ;)

I'm Melting!

Ok, maybe just the snow melted. :) It was mostly gone by Sunday. Totally gone yesterday. It hit 76 here! YAY!!!!

Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

The Hubster spent most of Sat on the phone, computer or both doing some work stuff. Thankfully that doesn't happen too often.

Sunday we worked on cleaning up the yard and hung out outside. I pulled up some scary looking dandelions that were sprouting already (just leaves).

Monday I did my shopping and we planned a picnic at the park for supper. That was really nice. the girls played and we ate and then took a little hike along the bike trail.

Today I ran errands and brought some stuff to OUAC (where I ran into a friend and her two girls, that was a nice surprise!!). Picked Johanna up at school and then dropped what they didn't take off at a local shelter type place and then we ran through the DQ drive-by for lunch. They have a pretty good (and reasonably priced) kids meal there.

I had to order a new battery for the Roomba. That arrived today. They only seem to last a couple years. It still holds a charge, it's just not as strong as it was. I've been doing wash too. I had weeded out a lot of J's long sleeved outfits when I drug out the spring stuff. There's only so much room in her 1/2 of the closet. lol Then w3e had all that cold weather and she's out of longs sleeves. it's supposed to get a bit cooler here, so I wanted to make sure she had clothes to wear the rest of the week.

That's pretty much it around here. It just seems I haven't had a free (quiet) moment to hop on and get a post written.

I think we have all caught Spring Fever! :)

I should be feeding the girl...

instead of sitting here typing. :) She woke up and came down here about 15 minutes ago. I told her to give me a couple minutes and I'd help her with breakfast.

Whoops. LOL She's happily watching Curious George anyway.

Busy day all around here. I need to go pay the taxes/register the van now that they FINALLY sent our title. :-P

J has a school field trip (I think). It's on the calendar for today. Her Teacher didn't send a reminder tho, and J thinks it's next week. So, either I missed something or J's just mixed up. Either way, I'm sending her in her school shirt. LOL

Tonite is Kindergarten registration! Ack! I cna't believe I'm signing her up for REAL school already! Where did the time go??

Best news! NO MORE SNOW! YAY!

Have a great day, everyone!

As promised...

Easter pics....






















So ya, that went well, don't you think? ROFL

It could be worse...

My friend Heidi and her family are just gettng over a round of rotovirus.... so it could be worse. I keep reminding myself of that.

I ended up bringing the baby into the ER last night. I was pretty sure it was Croup. I was right. I wasn't the cough that bothered me, but how she sounded while nursing. A couple few hours and a steroid shot later and we were home in our own bed. yay.

Unfortunatley, we all had to get up and take the hubster to work this am. His car's in the car ER today. lol Wonder which bill will cost more, the babys' or the cars'? lol

Super Mom that I am, I managed to get us girls home, fed, showered dressed and to J's school only a few minutes late.

I stopped at Caribou for a "wake me up" thanks to Kelli . Then we hit Wal-Mart. I've learned I really should NOT go shopping while I am this tired. I forgot several key ingredients for the things I planned on making for suppers this week. :-P I will pick them up tommorrow. Tonite, i guess we will be having Chicken nuggets and fries. lol

Hope everyone is fairing better than we are.

Oh, I also forgot to mention I've put a call into my Dr. 'cause I'm pretty sure I'm working on Mastitis. Always happens when Ava has a yucky, snotty nose. Whee..

But, like I said, it could be worse....

"Mom My Ride"

Have you seen this? My BIL sent it vis email. lol

The Sickie Family

Why am I resisting the urge to write lyrics to the tune of the "Addams Family" theme song? LOL

I woke up Thursday with a tickle in my throat and spent a lot of the day coughing. I had signed up to be a driver for J's field trip that day, so there was no rest for the weary that day.

If not for the fact that J's class had spring pictures on Friday, we would have definitely stayed home.

It's been raining here since Wed. Friday it started pouring. I picked up 3 movies on my way home from taking J to school. 2 for us girls to watch and 1 for hubster and I to see later. That was the best idea I had all day. I managed to get to rest on the couch for about 4 hours. I didn't get a nap, but I didn't have to move too much. J was entertained and Ava had a nap for a good part of that time.

I'd have to say this is the most miserable cold I've had all season. It just drags you down to the ground and stomps all over you. You have no energy to do much of anything. I feel like I've been run over by a semi and someone's slammed my head into a brick wall. The sad part is, I feel better today!

So that's what's up with us. Bah. It'll be interesting to see if the hubster can last the whole day at work. I suggested he take some cold meds before he left, I'm not sure if he did or not tho.

I'm keeping J home today, cause for one I don't feel like taking her, and more importantly she's still asleep. I gave her a dose of Children's Nyquil last night. She'd had horrible coughing fits the night before that were keeping everyone awake. Man that stuff works great! She didn't cough AT ALL. Of course, she's still asleep... but goodness knows she could use the rest. Now If I can just convince Ava it's nap time, maybe i can catch a few winks myself.

How's the weekend going for everyone?

Yesterday was pretty busy. I took the girls out to the Washington Pavillion. It was AG day there, and our 4-H group was meeting there instead of the regualr venue for our meeting. They had a lot of fun activities for the kids. Johanna got to make butter and rope (both activities about wore her arm off LOL). There was a puppet show and puppet making and coloring and learning and lots of free stickers too. They even had free lunch.

Just as it was time to stand in the lunch line, Ava had the mother of all meltdowns. That was fun. Of course She was overtired and had pretty much had enough of being in the stroller.

It was POURING out when we left. Thankfully I was just parked across the street, and it wasn't cold our or anything. It WAS great tho, to stand inside the van and strap the girls in. No more half hanging out of a car to get them buckled in while I get soacked! YAY!

I made some cookies later on in the day. It was a nice treat on a rainy afternoon!

Ava fought her nap ALL day, until about 5pm. It was then I IM'd the hubster (I didn't dare yell out to him) that we should order pizza or something, cause there was NO WAY I was going to move and risk waking her up, just so I could cook. LOL

Today's been kinda lazy. I've been working on laundry and picking up... but we havne't done anything outside the house. It keeps trying to be nice out, but then it gets cloudy and looks like it's going to storm. I vegged on the couch and watched some VH1 while Ava had her am nap.

JOhanna decided to put on a "Fun Carnival" for us today. There were games and activities and we got ziplocs to put our treats in. LOL We also got to taste her "Secret Smoothie recipe" Thankfully I helped her make that one. We used a couple bananas some mandarin oranges some pineapple juice and some ice.

That's pretty much been our weekend here. It's supposed to be 72 here tomorrow! I'm gld I bought a few shorts outfits for the girls last week. They might need them!

New Ride!

There I go being MIA again!

Vans, Vans and more Vans! I was Vanned out!! We spent the weekend looking at Vans, We spent Monday looking at Vans. We went to dealerships to look at Vans. We went to small, used car lots to look at Vans. We got online and looked at Vans. I DREAMT about looking at Vans.

Tuesday, we drove an about an hour away to Madison, SD. We got an email from a guy at Cars For Les up in Madison about a 2005 Town & Country they had. I emailed him telling him how much we had to spend and if he thought that was doable before we hauled both kids an hour away or not. He replied and said "it was close" we took that as salesman talk for "yes". LOL

So after an hour or so of the usual cat and mouse games, we left my grand-am with them, and brought home a van!

YAY! I'm SO glad to be done car shopping, at least for maybe another 10 years or so. LOL

So, I now have a Mom-mobile! Isn't it purty? Go Me!!

Date night, according to Johanna

So J tells E he should ask me out on a date...

the following is the play-by-play I'm giving to Kelli on IM as they talk.


Cynthia Merrill: j trying to set me and e up on a date

Cynthia Merrill: she's telling him car dealers aren't romantic

Cynthia Merrill: she's suggesting he get me chocolates

Kelli: So she knows all about romance, eh?

Kelli: Good girl!

Cynthia Merrill: he has to take me to a diner

Cynthia Merrill: not a food court

Cynthia Merrill: perkins is not romantic

Cynthia Merrill: cause he had "messy sloppy food" there last night

Cynthia Merrill: he got sausage gravy

Cynthia Merrill: ice cream is romantic

Kelli: I agree

Cynthia Merrill: oh and he has to feed me a cherry

Kelli: :sorry, mind wandering:

Cynthia Merrill: she says

Kelli: :reeling my mind back in:;:::::

Cynthia Merrill: "put the cherry in her mouth and tell her to shut it"

Kelli: WTH has she been watching?

Cynthia Merrill: i'm in tears

Cynthia Merrill: e says so i take her out and shove ice cream in her mouth?

Cynthia Merrill: J says no you don't shove it

Cynthia Merrill: you say"oooohhhhhh honey"

Cynthia Merrill: he says you have to be romantic and wear a tie

Cynthia Merrill: and no ripped clothes

Cynthia Merrill: :dying:

Kelli: Craig wants to know whats wrong with ripped clothes+
Kelli: ?

Cynthia Merrill: lol

Kelli: C & I are rofl

Cynthia Merrill: he has to tell me he loves me and gives me a smoochie

Cynthia Merrill: oh

Cynthia Merrill: whats a smoochie

Kelli: If she tells you to Woohoo, then you need to cut off her MTV

Cynthia Merrill: she says

Cynthia Merrill: laughing too hard



at that point, I can barely see through the tears I am laughing so hard, so I call Kelli to tell her the rest of the story.

A smoochie, according to J is when a boy and girl get naked, in bed and kiss. Oh and then he's supposed to wrestle me. ROFL

Colds, Car Shopping, and Cats, Oh MY!

The girls are still snotting around. Fun times. LOL Thankfully the weather's warming up, and I've even opened a window or two during the day. We still have quite a bit of snow on the ground that needs to melt, but it's getting there.

Since it was so nice out yesterday, the Hubster talked me into going out to look at cars. It was less than successful. I seem to have champagne tastes on a beer budget! LOL I'm sure we will find something at some point, even if it means pitching in my PayPerPost money to help out! LOL

We also FINALLY got Ava to Stride Rite for her first real shoes. She's less than impressed. Oh and since we had to take the girls' seats in and out when test driving, when we put Ava's back in my car, we put it in forward facing. She was NOT dealing with all this change very well. By the time we headed home from supper last night tho, she seemed to be enjoying her new perspective.

We stayed up way to late last night. I was chatting with Laura and looking at cars online (I even dreamt about cars... UG!) There was some sort of big scuffle between the Dogs, and Wolfgang. The end result was a fluffy, wet cat, and two fluffy dogs. Wolfgang spent the night hiding out under our bed, despite the fact that the dogs are locked up in their crates all night.

We may go car shopping again today, if anyplace is open. I'm not sure if they are ot not. At the very least, Eric will be getting a Sunday paper when he heads over to Walgreen's to pick up a few pictures he had printed there.

I've got a good case of spring fever and decided to break out the girls' spring clothes. I've gotten Johannas' out so far, and am working on washing them. I weeded out some of her size 6 stuff, and put it a bag to bring to OUAC when they start taking Fall clothes. I'm sure she has more things I can weed out too, I just haven't caught up on her regular wash yet. lol

Hope everyone's having a good weekend, and I'm going to try and work on the Blog Party post too! I hope they plan on making it an annual, or even semi-annual event! It was a ton of fun!

Lots'O'Stuff

First off, thanks for all the great comments, everyone! I've read them all via email, and I need to go and visit some blogs still. I'm hoping to get to that before the party is over. :)

Wednesday, I stayed in and worked on cleaning up down here. I had intended to do it Tuesday as part of Tackle It Tuesday, but that didn't happen. I was even prepared to humiliate myself and take pics to show you all of just HOW bad it was down here.

Let's just say I ended up with several trash bags and 3 bags of toys and clothes and shoes to take to GoodWill.

I still need to do so minor picking up and run the Roomba and the Scooba. I'm hoping to do that tomorrow.

Sadly, we still have way too many toys down here. We seem to have fallen into a vicious cycle that is thrift store shopping and garage sale hunting. "Momma, can I have THIS?" Oooh, look a cute barbie car for $1. "Sure, why not" and before you know it, you are drowning in stuff.

At least, buying used toys, it seems more like recycling or at the very least a cheap rental. LOL I buy them something for a few dollars or less. They play with it for a while, and then it goes back to be resold again to someone else. :)

The bad side is there's just too much stuff and I think they get overwhelmed and there seems to be a certain lack of respect for the toys happening here. I'm thinking that if there's only 3 barbies instead of 30 (not that we actually have THAT many, but it's probably close.. LOL) that she will take better care of them.

So that's where I've been. That and dealing with snotty-baby. She doesn't seem to have a fever, and overall, she seems less congested. She's in that gross snot stage tho, and I'll be happy when she's feeling better!

Today I ran errands, and picked up pictures of Johanna with Clifford for her school journal. She's bringing in a special treat (suckers) for the class tomorrow. I may attempt to go in and read the class a story too. She really would like me too, I'm just not sure how well that will work with Ava running around.

Hope everyone's had a good day, and if you've made it through all this, thanks for reading! I'm off to watch the rest of Idol!

Sickie Baby

So Ava has a cold. So does Johanna, for that matter, but at least she can get up and get herself a tissue. Ava, on the other hand, not so much.

The poor thing has been miserable half the day with a stuffed up head. She woke up a few times during her nap, and I was having a hard time settling her back down. She didn't want to nurse. Plus her head was stuffed, so that made it hard. I think she just wanted to be able to breathe out her nose. I ended up with her napping with her head on my should while I sat here and read boards and blogs.

Hoping she's feeling better tomorrow and I don't have to deal with flying snot-sneezies.

Our Star

Well, Johanna is BESIDE herself. She's star of the week this week. Generally, they find out on Friday, that they are the star for the next week. Since school was cancelled Thurs and Fri. we are just finding out now.

She gets to bring their school mascot home (Clifford) He comes in a red backpack, along with 2 books and a journal. We need to write a pic of Clifford's adventures at our house and include a pic.

I had to ask Johanna some questions to fill out the Q&A sheet for Star of the week. I also quickly uploaded some pics to Walgreen's online. They should be ready to pick up in an hour. lol

She also gets to use the computer at school , and gets some other privileges.

Currently, she and Clifford are watching Blues Clues. Apparently, being a dog, Clifford is a big fan of Blue's. lol

Photo Tag!

What's Mom Blog Party without some Pregnancy pics?

Go sign the Mr. Linky over at Stephanie's Place, and show us your baby belly!


Here's one from when I was pregnant with Ava.






I'm re posting this with one of my favorite pictures of me from when I was PG with Johanna.




Eric took that one hot day at the zoo. I love it.

I suppose I should throw in a painted belly pic too! This was done the end of Aug, and J didn't arrive until the beginning of Oct. To say I was HUGE would be an understatement. LOL

Yay For Friends with Coupons!

The Hubster has been wanting me to pick up a couple baby gifts for some friends at work. I meant to get to it last week, but I never did. My friend, Bobbie Jo sent me a 20% off coupon for Gymboree in the mail around the end of last week.

So yesterday, I took the baby over to the mall while J was at school, and we did some shopping.

Momma got her favorite Caribou Coffee drink, and then we hit Gymboree. They happen to have just started a 50% off sale too. Not only did I find the gifts I needed, I picked up some spring outfits for the girls (mostly J).

Then Ava and I hit B&BW for some soap and wallflowers re-fills.

Ava was SO funny. We had been to Wal-Mart to pick up some boring essentials before we went to the mall. She was just chatting up a storm with anyone who would listen. She was the same way at the mall, and continued chatting to me when we got home.

Later in the evening, she pushed a little chair over to mine, climbed up on it, and decided to have a talk with me. I grabbed the camera and made a little video. :)

Future Furniture

I'm a planner. I'm not an obsessive planner, I don't think, anyway... lol

I do like to start thinking about things, and looking at things long before I need them.

Take for example the whole situation with the girls, and are they going to sleep in the same room, or separate rooms. Right now, Johanna is wanting to share a room with Ava.

This has me looking at bunk beds, despite the fact that we won't be purchasing their Furniture for at least a year.

I really like the kind that can also be separated into two, individual beds, I know I want them to look more girlish. White and cute. lol

I'm not sure tho, what style I like best. I suppose I should let Johanna have SOME say tho, huh?

This one is pretty neat, despite the fact that it can't be seperated into two beds.



It's called "The Getaway". Johanna's room isn't huge and this would really help with that issue.

I also like a more traditional look like this one:



I found these sets at a site called Great Priced Furniture. They have all sorts of great kids furniture, from room sets to chairs to corner units (thinking we may need one of those too!) LOL I found their site really easy to use, and the selection is great!

Busy... sort of....

We were back to the grind today. I managed to get J to school on time this am. Ava and I grocery shopped and we came home after that and I put stuff away while she had a cookie and watched baby crack Einstein.

Yesterday or so, my board gals and I started up an old discussion. It's been quite refreshing. So I spent time this am, and later this afternoon chatting with them. Almost a year has gone by since there was a big change over there, and it's just nice to talk about it as a group.

We went out to Bk for lunch and then went to WM to do some additional shopping.

Ava fell asleep on the way home and after I brought that stuff in, I sat here, holding her and read my boards.

I hadn't even thought about checking in on PPP until now.

Eric came home and I realized I had totally forgotten about supper. LOL Looks like we're having fish sticks and fries instead of the chicken and rice I had planned on. He has a meeting tonite, so quick is good.

Ava's finally awake and wandering around. J's been doing classwork she missed when she was out on Friday.

AI tonite, and I'm pretty darn excited about it too!

Hope everyone is having a good Tuesday!

Bulimia Baby

Alrighty.

So Ava's been trying to see just how far she can stick her entire fist down her throat before making herself throw up.

Repeatedly.

Ick.

Gag.

Yuck.

WTH is UP with that, anyway?


Yeah, this is fun, lemme yak alllllllllllllllll over myself and then do it again.

Let's now PLAY in what I just yakked up after supper, since i'm still sitting in my highchair.

Better yet, lets try it AGAIN while Momma's trying to get me cleaned up from the first mess.

Then maybe I'll start bawling when Momma has the audacity to yank my fist outta my mouth while saying "NO!"


(GAG)

Hope you all were well done with supper... LOL

Monday, Monday

So, I had plans to get out of the house today, finally. I was going to take the girls to Wal-Mart. Niece #1 is turning 5 next week-ish. We generally send an outfit and a toy. We got word yesterday that she is really wanting some Barbie stuff, and I figured J would like to have a say in what we send her cousin for her b-day.

We got in the shower a bit later than I had planned.

So we ate lunch at home.

Then J's buddy rang the doorbell. J went next door.

I had planned to run over there after an hour and a half to go get her or see if she still wanted to go with me or what.

Right about then was when Ava decided to nap. LOL

So now it's 3pm and the baby's awake, but I really don't feel like going out now, not to mention J's still playing next door. LOL

Ah well....

I need to try and make a phone call anyway.

Ava's Camera

Isn't that a cute camera Ava has in here pics down there? It was a birthday present form her Daddy. I think it's by Gund. When you press the shutter button down, it makes this realistic shutter noise.

I keep trying to get her to hold it up to to her eye to take pictures of Dada, but she doesn't quite get it. lol

Yaaaaaaaaaaawnnnnnnnnnnn

Ava was up most of the night. She's apparently caught J's cold. Imagine that. Sticking your fingers into your big sisters nose and mouth will result in your getting sick as well. Who'd have thunkit? :-/

We got up about 7am. Late for us. I thought for sure it was 5:30. I was way too tired for 7am!

We've dined on Drakes Cakes, started wash, talked with all the Grandparents and Eric's taken pictures.

Ava keeps thinking she wants a nap and then changes her mind. I think she's so busy with walking around, she must think that she's going to miss something if she goes to sleep. :-P

I saw over on Kat's Blog that Our Seven Qtpies is having a Birth Story Contest. I'm thinking maybe I'll work on doing J's Birth Story. She said no scary ones, so that kinda leaves Ava's out! LOL

Hope you all have a nice Saturday!

Quick!

someone remind me how cute and adorable my baby is!! It's almost 4:30pm. She's had NO nap to speak of.

I haven't managed to get a shower in either.

Hopefully Eric should be home in a bit.

Actually there he is now! YAY!

Well

We're home again today. Johanna woke up sounding like she swallowed a frog. We were supposed to hit todays lowest temp of -16 at 9am. Between that and her snotting around, I decided we'd stay home.

I think this is the most school she's missed all year!

Of course now she's acting OK. :-P Figures. I was up sneezing a bit last night myself and we were up a lot during the night. Not because of the baby, but the dog, and then hubster couldn't sleep after that.It was a long/short night here.

I'm planning on trying to catch up on housework today.. The girls' hamper is overflowing. My floors look like a fur-bunny desert. I have no clean mugs for tea.

Need to get this place whipped into shape!

Look Out!

You see that glint in her eye?

My Friend, Chris warns me that her son had that same look when he was Ava's age and I should LOOK OUT!

I'm in trouble, aren't I? One minute she will be getting into everything and the next she will flash you a cute smile and you can't help but laugh. She's going to walk all over us, isn't she? LOL

BIG NEWS!

Our big news of the day yesterday was that Miss Johanna lost her first tooth!!!!

Her bottom two were wiggly. Silly girl decided to try and use her teeth to open her water bottle. (ack!) and POP! Out came 1 tooth.

At first, she was pretty upset about it. This wasn't according to her plan, and she didn't like it. LOL

After a while tho, she got over it, and now she thinks it's great. In fact, she was trying to convince us to let her eat and apple yesterday in hopes that the other one would pop out too. LOL

The Tooth Fairy stopped by last night. We weren't quite prepared for her, since we figured it would be a little while before a tooth came out.

We have a Pillow on order from ebay. I'm hoping it will get here in time for tooth #2.

Nonetheless, we put the tooth in a sealed envelope, and apparently the Tooth fairy used her magic wand to remove the tooth and put in a gold $1 coin, because the envelop was all sealed up still this am!

That Tooth Fairy is pretty cool!

I'm hoping to get a pic of "Less" as we've been calling her... with her holey mouth and her gold coin today!

Yay for picky eaters!

So earlier this week I bought a bunch of POST cereal that was on sale, cheap. LOL I got a couple boxes of Cocoa Pebbles. I love Cocoa Pebbles... I have ever since I was a kid.

Johanna asked to try them. She took two bites and declared she didn't like them.

This made me happy!!

Rarely is a person happy about a picky eater, but I'm sure glad I got to have 2 boxes all to myself! LOL