Another Boring Day

I don't think I've ever had two such boring days right in a row. I did end up puking a couple of times last night. The only good thing about that was after standing by watching me puke, Hayden felt so sorry for me he said, "I love you, Mom." I guess that makes up for him making me clean up his vomit in the middle of the night last week.

I have to complain about the biggest toy retailer in the country. They suck. There was an ad in the paper today and something that we want to get Amaya for Christmas was on sale. Since I was still feeling a bit under the weather I sent Mike over to get it. He comes home a while later saying they don't have any of the item. They did call another store and said they had a bunch over there. I told him he'd better go get one because it seems to be a popular item and if he didn't we might have a hard time getting it. He wasn't too happy, but he ventured out again. He drove across town and guess what? They didn't have any either. They didn't even have a spot on the shelf for them. He first looked for them on his own and then asked an idiot employee if they had any. The guy left to go look something up and said they didn't have any. Mike was pissed. He called me and I was pissed. He said he would just come home. I got on the internet to find a phone number where I could call and bitch someone out, and just in time Mike called me back to say they actually did have it. Just before he was walking out the door he decided to ask one more person and they found one for him. So it wasn't a wasted trip after all. I hate to say that this is the first gift we have bought for Christmas, so we have a lot more shopping nightmares ahead of us in the next couple of weeks.



Earlier this morning, before his fun shopping trip, Mike took a quick trip to the store. When he came out from the store the truck wouldn't start. Luckily he was right next door to his work at a convenience store where he has known the guy who was working for years. The guy jump started the truck. It has been having a problem lately and last week we took it in to get an oil leak fixed, the battery checked and a tune-up. For some reason, even though it was written down on the work order, they only fixed the leak. We have to make another appointment for the other two things. Gee, they must get their employees from the same place the giant toy retailer gets theirs. Now we have to deal with the truck having problems for a few days and I have a job tomorrow that is about 45 minutes away from home. I hope I don't get stranded there. At least if it was in town I could call Mike and he could come and help me. I guess I'll figure something out between then and now.



On a happier note, Spot loves the snow. He is such a goofball. The boys played outside for a while today and worked on their snowman they built yesterday. Amaya was taking a nap again. I guess we'll have to start planning outside play when she's awake because she was pretty upset when she found out the boys got to play outside and she didn't. Mike hasn't pulled our tomato plants out yet and there are still some red cherry tomatoes on them, even though they are frozen. Carson got a couple of tomatoes and put them on the snowman for eyes. Spot saw them and he jumped up and ate the eyes. Carson went and got more and gave the snowman eyes again. Spot ate the eyes again. Then it became a game. Now that I'm thinking about it, it probably wasn't a good game. I hope I won't be cleaning up tomato barf tonight. I guess it would be better than cleaning up poo barf, but that's another story for another time.

Halloween Party

I know I'm a little late but here's an update of our Halloween party. It turned out really good and the kids have fun. I want to have a Halloween party every year.


Here are the witch, the dragon and Darth Vader.




This is my nephew dressed up as a butterfly. I think he lost his wings somewhere.

Here is Grandma helping with a game that Carson made called "Pin the Head on the Three-Headed Dragon."

Here's everyone eating. I did forget to take pictures of the food. We had ghost-shaped sandwiches, lady fingers, eyeballs, bat chips with monster guts, witches' brooms and bug juice.

After playing a few games and eating the kids decorated pumpkins.

Then we ate cupcakes. Yum.

At Least Some People Are Having Fun...

but it sure isn't me. I hate to say it this way, but work is totally kicking my ass, and I'm not very happy about it. I have way too much work to do and not enough hours in the day to get it done. Of course, since I can't keep up with work, everything else is suffering, too. I am really stressed out right now. The only thing that keeps me going is thinking about the money I'm making, especially since Christmas is coming up.

Carson's birthday is on Saturday and I haven't really even planned much for it. We are going to take the kids (he invited three friends, but since nobody knows what RSVP means I have no idea if they are coming or not) to do something fun and then have ice cream and cake, but I haven't even invited any family over because I don't have time to get ready. I'm thinking we'll have to have a family party maybe next week. That should be okay since nobody in our families is going out of town.

I am getting my hair cut and colored tomorrow morning (8:00 a.m., yuck) because my birthday is on Saturday, too, and I would like to try to not look my age. I'm depressed enough. I'm not depressed about my birthday. I love having birthdays. I'm not depressed about my age. I could care less about that. I am depressed about my hair, though, because there is way too much gray in it. I got my first gray hair when I was about 20 years old. I have to blame it on my dad because he got gray hair at a very young age. He always said he didn't care how gray it was, as long as he had it. The funny thing is that even when he had cancer and went through radiation and chemo he never lost a hair. I hope my hair hangs on like that when I'm older.

My house is a mess. I know my goal was going to be to have everything organized by my birthday, and I was on a good track, but work derailed me and now it's worse than ever. Since I'm doing to Organizational Challenge, though, I've got to get my butt in gear. I have been working on that room slowly, very slowly, so I've got to step it up a bit. I still have half a month left, but I have more than half the room left to do.

All right, I'm done complaining. Here are pictures of the people that are having fun.

Soccer, Shopping and the Library

Today was very busy. Carson, Hayden, Amaya and I watched a movie this morning, Everyone's Hero. It was a really cute movie. We all really liked it. I think it might be one movie I wouldn't mind buying.

Carson had soccer orientation in the early afternoon. He and I went and met his coach (who had to volunteer on the spot because there was no coach), got his uniform and schedule and saw who is on his team. So far there is only one other boy. All the rest are girls. That is really strange. Usually there might be one or two girls and all the rest boys. I told him with all those girls that he will probably be the best player on the team. Then I remembered that he's been on several teams where the best player was a girl. We'll have to see how it goes. He loves soccer so he's excited to play, but not excited about the baby blue color his team is.

Then Carson and I went shopping. He so didn't want to go with me, but I told him he had to. We went to a dollar store. It's the first time I've ever been in one. I have been somewhat of a dollar store snob in the past, not because I'm rich, because I'm not, not because I think I'm better than anyone else, because I'm definitely not. I guess I always felt that I didn't "need" to shop at a dollar store. The only reason I went there was to look for some cheap storage items. Carson and I went wild in that store. I can't believe the stuff you can get for so cheap. Of course, there are is a lot of junk, but there is a lot of pretty good stuff there, too. It was fun. The most expense thing I bought was a shower curtain liner for $2.50. They had the cutest hair accessories. I've wanted to try headbands for Amaya because I don't want to cut her bangs and it's a pain to always put it up with hair ties. They had a set of six for $1.00. At least if they don't work out, they were only $1.00. I also bought some cute hair ties with wooden flowers on them. I bought each of the kids a placement so they can keep their meal area clean, only $1.00. Mike and I have been talking about implementing a small reward system for good behavior and I got 500 stickers for $1.00. I did get ripped of on two items, however. I got two sets of three small baskets. They were supposed to be on clearance for $.50 but they charged me $1.00, so I got ripped off $1.00. I didn't feel like I should complain thought, because I got such a good deal on everything. It sort of reminded me of when we were in China and everything was so inexpensive.

Then we went to another discount, but not dollar, store and I bought a really cool collapsible, canvas basket. When I got home I realized how cool it was and decided I needed another one so I went back and got another one. They only had three and now I think I want the other one. They weren't really cheap, though. They were $10.00 each, but they are worth it.

Then we went to the library to get the kids some books and sign up Carson and Hayden for the summer reading program. We have two library systems around here and in the other library system both Mike and I have fines on our cards. Mike has a fine on his card from the library system we went to today, and I didn't have a card so I applied for one. We love to go to the library, we just aren't so good about keeping track of our books and returning them on time. There really is no excuse for that type of behavior, especially since we can renew books or check due dates on line. Hopefully our new library basket will help us be more organized. We really need to pay off our fines, though, so we can use those cards again. I don't feel too horrible about paying the fines because I love the library and figure it is kind of like a donation to the library; however, I would rather not pay to borrow books. Anyway, the kids are excited about the summer reading program and it is one thing to keep them busy.

Mike went to a beer club meeting tonight. They all take food and judge each others' homebrew and whoever wins gets to send their beer off to a national competition. Luckily it is not too far from our house because Mike drives to it and then leaves his vehicle there and rides his bike home. He doesn't get really drunk so I'm not worried about him riding his bike home, but he probably would be slightly over the legal limit so he doesn't drive.

After Hayden and Amaya go to bed Carson and I are going to watch Revenge of the Sith. According to Netflix, they don't recommend this movie to kids under 11, even though it is rated PG. The main reason is because it could be upsetting to kids to see a beloved character, Anakin, turn to the dark side. Carson already knows that Anakin turns into Darth Vader, and I explained that in the end (at the end of Return of the Jedi) Darth Vader does show that he has some good in his heart because he saves Luke. I am usually pretty strict on what my kids watch, so this is going outside of what I would normally let him watch, but we've been watching all the other Star Wars movies and he handled it just fine. Hayden is mad because I won't let him watch them, but he is only four. He does know kids his age who've seen the Star Wars movies, but to me he is way too young. One movie I would love Carson to see is Jurassic Park because he loves dinosaurs, but I still think it would be way too scary. I might have to research it a bit and then decide. It's been so long since I've seen that movie that I can't remember that much about it, other than that is was scary. Carson is getting to the age (7) when he wants to watch some of those movies that I'm not sure I want him watching. It's a hard decision sometimes. Oh well, there are a lot of hard decisions when you're a parent and usually everything turns out fine.

Everybody's Doing It

Today is the first time I've heard that phrase from one of my kids. Carson said it today when I questioned something he was doing. Luckily all "it" was was to take a bottle of water, poke a hole in the lid and squirt the water out and into his mouth instead of taking the lid off to drink it. What a relief.

I'm a Slacker

Okay, I know I have been totally slacking on this blog, but I have been very busy. The next two weeks are going to be even busier since it is the last two weeks of school and there are a ton of activities to go to. I can't wait until school is over so we can relax. I have a lot of good ideas of things to do this summer, I just need to write them all down and make sure we do them. I tend to get a little lazy when I don't "have" to do something. I love the end of the school year because there are so many fun things to do, but it is kind of overwhelming. The kids are having a great time with all the school activities, but they are both a little sad that school is almost over. They love school. They love their teachers. They love their friends. They love doing all the fun projects at school. Now, I realize they are still young, preschool and 1st grade, so these feelings may not last long, but for now they love school. Carson even went to school a few weeks ago when he was sick. He woke up and said he didn't feel well. I asked him if he thought he should stay home and he said no. I asked if he was sure, if he felt well enough to go to school and he insisted he did. He went and I got a call a few hours later from his teacher saying he was in the nurse's office and needed to be picked up. It's funny when the pretend to be not as sick as they are so they can go to school. I know there will come a day when they pretend to be sick so they don't have to go. Anyway, I am going to make an effort to keep up here so this doesn't end up being the lamest blog ever, which I'm sure so far it is.

One-Eyed Freak

So many times one of the kids says something we think is funny and we always think to ourselves, "I need to remember that one." Well, I usually don't remember (until a few years later something might pop into my head) so whenever one of the kids says something I think is funny I am going to write it down so I don't forget. For each new thing, I might have to add an old one that I remember so I don't forget those either.

Now I realize these might not sound that funny, but for me they are because I can see Hayden's cute little face and his funny expressions as he's telling me these things. He is so serious when he says things that that makes it even funnier.

This morning Amaya was watching Baby Mozart. At one point there are some toy seals that have balls balancing on their noses. I was telling her what they are and Hayden was listening. Then he said, "Hey, I never knew those were seals with balls on their noses." I said, "What did you think they were?" He said, "One-eyed freaks." The good news is that since he has watched that video since he was a baby and thought it had one-eyed freaks on it he was never traumatized or scared by it. He just thought that was normal.

He also informed me that at his preschool they have a piano that is so loud that everyone on the whole, wide earth can hear it, except for me because I am too far away.

When Carson was about two years old we were driving around and he told me, "My thumb toe hurts." He meant his big toe.