Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Hope You Had a "Hoppy" Easter!!!

Christ the Lord is risen today...Allelulia!
















Our Easter Morning started out the same way it usually does. Kids waking up way too early after Mom stayed up way too late! Hunting for eggs never seems to bore the kids and it was extra fun this year to watch little Abby running around collecting eggs. The kids were so sweet to her and let her gather more eggs than they did. Even Jack showed her where some were instead of taking them all for himself. I guess that's what it should all be about. Selflessness. Just as Jesus died on the cross for us. Thinking of others before yourself. I'd like to think that was the main motivation behind my little "bunnies" behavior, but I'm sure knowing that they would get most of Abby's candy when it was all said and done didn't hurt!

After egg hunting came the mad dash to not only get to church, but to make it to church EARLY! That seems to be a near impossible task most Sundays, but we managed to arrive 15 minutes early. We still had to sit in chairs so we could be together, but that was okay. If only Chloe hadn't decided she suddenly hated her dress and pout the entire mass, it would have been a much more joyous time!

After church we were on to lunch at Barb & John's (Doug's parents). It was nice to get to sit and chat while the kids played. Abby actually took a rare nap, so I got extra time to relax. That was MY Easter present! Then, we were on to my parent's house where chaos usually abounds. I guess you'll have that with 13 kids under the age of 13 all hopped up on sugar! My Mom still loves to spoil us with Easter baskets filled to the brim with candy she's spent all week making and little gifts for the kids. I often wonder if she knows just how much we appreciate all the extra effort she goes to! She's also like that on St. Nick's...she always finds just the right things to fill our stockings. Those are the memories I hold dear and hope my kids will always remember.
We hope you had a wonder-filled Easter, too!


Tuesday, April 14, 2009

My "Sweet" Little Man...

Okay, so you know there's a boy in the house when the dinner conversation goes something like this:

Out of the blue, Jack says "Hannah, you're a boobie. Boobie boobie boobie. You are a boobie." I tell him to stop. Hannah proceeds to chase him around the house for a minute. She then says "Jack's a nincompoop." He doesn't know what this means, but knows it probably isn't nice. A few seconds later he comes back with "Wiener. Wiener wiener wiener. Wiener." Of course, inappropriate laughter follows even though we're trying not to let him see. Hannah follows with another name (can't recall what it was but it was pretty harmless).


Now, if you've ever been in a name calling row with Jack, you know he runs out of names pretty quickly. He then looks around the house for some random thing to call you. Normally it would be something like "chair" or "fork," which are funny just because they make no sense, right? Well, on this particular evening he happened to be sitting by the window. We watched as he was looking around for something to call her and wondered what he was going to come up with. We see him looking out of the window towards the swing set. Then he says "Swinger...Hannah, you're a SWINGER!" I practically choked on my tuna casserole and the girls burst out laughing. I'm certain I saw milk shoot out of Chloe's nose. Fortunately, the kids had no idea what that actually meant. They just thought the RANDOM name he came up with was hilarious. Makes me glad they're still naive and I didn't have any explaining to do!


Ahhhhh...life with a boy is definitely unpredictable! And on Good Friday and all. I wonder if it's too early to start bringing the boy to confession?!?

Friday, April 10, 2009

I've added Lion Tamer to my resume'...

This is what I wake up to every morning. Yes, she IS usually as grumpy as this picture indicates!


Once I feed the little lion cub some breakfast (rice crispies is her cereal of choice these days...probably
because it makes the most mess possible) and pull that mane out of her face, she is usually in a much better mood, as THIS picture indicates. Watching her favorite tv show also seems to help and gives me a few minutes before her "curiosity" gets the best of her and she finds trouble (and undoubtedly a mess) around every corner!

If anything ever happens to me...please, can someone take care of this girl's hair?!? Hubby doesn't usually touch it if I'm gone and the poor girl walks around pushing it out of her face all day long! I keep trying to train him to just spray it with water and comb, but he just doesn't take the time. It looks as if it should take a bunch of stylists (aka mane tamers) to take care of her wild mane, but spritz and fix is all you have to do! ANY TAKERS??? I think men just don't have the ablilty (or don't give a $
*#!) to deal with hair more than 1/2" long. Must be something about that opposable thumb thing!

Pink is her favorite color~part deux


I didn't think that first picture did justice to how great of a job Abby did in coating the entire top of her foot with that lovely shade of pink!







Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Pink's Her Favorite Color!

Okay...I want to prepare you for what you are about to see. It is just the latest in the Adventures of Abby. Actually, this happened a couple of weeks ago, but since I didn't have this blog then, I thought I'd fill you in. I figure it will, at the very least, give you a big laugh, especially if you know this little sweetheart and all the antics she gets herself so joyfully into! If you don't know her, you soon will! I'm pretty sure 90% of what I post on this blog will be about her!

Generally Abby gets into the majority of trouble when I am on this computer for any extended period of time, which is often. You would think her brother would alert me to what she's doing, but he generally doesn't think to utter a word until the deed has been done. Her trouble making usually goes in spurts. I think she's part werewolf and gets ornerier as the moon gets fuller. Seriously, it seems like she has a two or three day span where she is getting into one thing after another. Fortunately, we usually have the other 27 or 28 days to recoup before another bout of mischievous madness hits. Don't think she doesn't get into any trouble the other days of the month, it's just usually one or two things a day instead of the countless things that the full moon brings on!



Okay...so check out this picture:


Any guesses as to what that bright pink stuff is all over her little body? Marker? No. Paint? No. Blood? No (but it almost was when I realized what it REALLY was!!!). Finger nail polish? DING DING DING! You are a winner! Seems the little stinker...er...I mean cutie finally figured out how to both turn the doorknob and push the door to enter a room. Her room of choice on this day was Tween #1's room. Tween #1 is into painting her nails. Tween #1 swears she screwed the cap on tight. Mom JUST SWEARS!


Initially I thought it was marker and wondered how on earth she found one since we'd taken such care in confiscating each and every one of them around this house after the permanent marker incidents (I'll have to fill you in on a later post). So, I started to rub her hands with a wipe when I realized this was no marker. It was thick and had a distinct odor. One I've smelled many times before...what was that smell??? Horror when I realized it was nail polish. Absolute horror when I realized it was all over her little body, even the bottoms of her feet. Terror when I realized she'd walked all the way through Hannah's room, through the hallway, down the carpeted steps, over the hardwood floor and into my bedroom. With nail polish coating her hands and feet. What had become of my floors and my walls? Worse yet...where was the nail polish bottle and it's remnants?!?!?!!
I dashed up the stairs and into Hannah's room. No hot pink trail leading in or out. That was a good sign. No crime scene looking fingerprints on my walls. Another good sign. Then I spotted the nail polish bottle. Laying on its side. On the carpet. My heart started to beat a little faster. My brow started to sweat a bit. The brush lay beside the bottle on the carpet. And there, on the carpet was...a few spots of polish! That was it! RELIEF is an understatement! It's strange to think that I found any joy in those spots on the carpet, but I really did. I don't know how she managed it, but she kept most of it on her body. I went back downstairs and then got a really good look at her...polish coating the top of her feet, her fingers and nails, her chin and lips (she must have thought it would make good lip gloss!). I laughed out loud. Then I thought...if she got it on her lips...LET ME SEE YOUR TEETH!!! Sure enough she gave me a buck-tooth grin and her front two teeth were PINK! Good thing it's her favorite color!
So, I decided a call to good ol' Mom was in order. I calmly asked her "So, how do you suppose I should go about getting nail polish off a little girls hands and feet and mouth and lips and...TEETH?" Mom's response was "Oh no, what did she do now?" She decided to come over to help me with this little dilemma. When she walked in the door, I was videotaping Abby because I needed proof of just how extensive her little polish episode was! Mom scolded me when she saw the video camera and said I really shouldn't be drawing so much attention to it. Then Abby turned around and Mom got a good look at her. Laughter (even though she was trying hard not to let Abby see) ensued and she totally understood why I needed to document this for future blackmail...ahem. I mean use.


A few dozen cotton wipes doused with nail polish remover and a good soak in the bathtub later, we got her skin color back to it's normal shade of pink. Thank goodness! It actually came off easier than the permanent marker...but that story is for a future post! Stay tuned!


Oh, by the way...are you wondering how we got it off of her teeth??? Yeah, turns out it scrapes off quite easily with a few swipes with my good old fingernail. Who'd of thunk it?!!! ;)

Monday, April 6, 2009

Errrrrrggggggh!

Have you ever had a day that's chugging along just fine? No toddler getting into any trouble, no preschooler asking question after question until you want to change your name from Mom to I'm not here? No tweens ripping each other's hair out? Everything is peachy-keen. One of those days when you should just KNOW something's lurking around the corner waiting to burst the little bubble you've managed to create for yourself.


Then along comes Hubby. Hubby with an agenda. Hubby with a million and one things to do. You try to ignore the under his breath mumblings and hang onto what's left of your day in your little bubble.

Then you're so innocently trying to go downstairs to the basement to put some things away and the bubble not only bursts, it explodes. Immediately when your left foot hits the top stairs and lands on a very hard metal thingy that Hubby put there. Right in the middle of the stairs. I think he was trying to do me in for the insurance money...why else would he have put it there?!?! He claims it was because he was in a hurry and forgot to move it. I say he wanted the $$$$! He says I'm worth more alive because the amount of insurance $$$$ he'd have coming wouldn't pay to hire a nanny and housekeeper. Ain't love GRAND? Hahahahaha! (We really were joking when this conversation was going on...please don't call the police!!!)!


Needless to say, I managed somehow to NOT tumble head over heels and break my neck. I think my left foot fared the worst and I have a distinct bruise the shape of said metal thingy on the bottom of it and a bruise the size of a dinner plate on my right cheek (and I ain't talkin' about my face)! The right ankle is trying to decide whether or not it wants to be sprained and my left elbow looks a bit worse for the wear. Not to mention my bruised PRIDE when my tweens and their tween cousin poked their head around the corner of the doorway and burst out laughing. I can't imagine the sound I must've made, let alone the metal thingy as it bounced down every single step (after I threw it)! Then my oldest tween says "Mom, you really ARE getting old!" Just what a poor injured mama wants to hear.


Hubby sorta apologized in his own way. Basically said he got busy and forgot. Hmmmm. I think I should get busy and change the locks! I'm sure it will all be funny to me after my back quits hurting and I can walk without a limp again. Until then...please don't mention it, k?!? ;)

Day One of my Blogging Journey!

There are some things in life that I've always wanted to try.

Ride a roller coaster with my kids-CHECK
Take a vacation to a fabulous place-CHECK
Work from home-CHECK
Drink Wine from a box-Nope, haven't done that yet but think about it daily & hope to soon!

High on top of my list is journaling my life and the crazy "ride" that my kids take me on DAILY! Since I've been a terrible mother when it comes to filling out baby books and making scrapbooks chronicling my children's lives, I figure this is the best way to do that since I'm on the computer for hours a day anyway. Now I can at least be productive at the same time! Also, I hope it will help family members and friends who I don't see often enough to keep in touch, hopefully providing you with a good laugh along the way! So sit back and enjoy the ride...the Good Lord knows I'm trying to!