So Not Ready for This...

My 3 year old little girl just told me that she does NOT need to sit in her booster seat ( at the kitchen table, not the car seat) anymore because she is too big...SIGH. Where did my baby go?

And when I've been gone running errands and I get home, she gives me a big hug and says "oh mama, I'm so glad ur home!". So sweet.

And Alex just asked me for a dessert, and Ellie answered him with "maybe tamowo (tomorrow) Alex, maybe tamowo". She's such a little mom to Alex. It's pretty comical.

So Ben got the dreaded "pink slip" from school yesterday...wanna know what for?!?! Sticking his tongue out and blowing a raspberry at the teacher! Yes, my soon to be 13 year old son did this, no joke. WTH!!?!? OY...C'MON Ben...really? That's the best you got? I mean, if you are going to get a pink slip, at least make it for something good, like punching your bully or something! LOL! JUST KIDDING. Sort of...anyway.

Greg had checkup yesterday, and he's way too skinny for his height. Think we all already knew this. The Dr.'s like, well, how are we gonna pack the pounds on this kid!?!? I'm like, can I give him some of mine??? I've got plenty to spare! He thought that was a great idea, but didn't know how we'd execute that plan! LOL! Can you believe that?!! Who would have ever thought I would have a kid that needed to PUT ON weight!!??? Oh well, this will be a lot more fun than trying to get weight OFF, huh?!

More Big, Hot News!!

Alex, my little Alex...lost his first tooth (a few days ago, I'm a little behind)!!! It was a long time coming though! The thing has been loose for like 6 months!! OK, maybe not quite THAT long, but it seems like it. I finally had to pull it out because he wouldn't do it, and it was just hanging on by a...well, anyway, I just grossed myself out so I won't say it. But you get the picture. He was not terribly thrilled with me, as I pulled it when he least expected it. He was engrossed in watching Spongebob, and I told him I just needed to check it and see how loose it was. Gave it a yank, and out it came! Ew.

In fact, as you can see, his new tooth is already growing in! It was already coming in behind the old tooth! That couldn't have felt very good, but he never complained, so I had no idea.

So he got $1.25 from the tooth fairy. Is that a good rate these days, or is my tooth fairy cheap!?!? Oh well, he was happy that he got "one dollar and one coin"! He went and woke everyone up to show them. Ben and Greg were not impressed...

Ok, new funny Alex story...our church has children's bulletins, and at the end of mass, before the priest walks out, he is supposed to call the little kids up to the front to get one. Well, he forgot today, so he was handing them out as he walked out. The priest saw Alex and handed him a bulletin, which has word puzzles, mazes, etc. So we get into the van and Alex tells me "mom, these games are going to be really easy!" And I said "what games, Alex"? And Alex says "the games that GOD handed me today"! HA HA HA HA HA!

Well, I think that's all for now. I'm going to go bake some M&M cookies. Aunt Bonnie's recipe out of the Remsen cookbook. I just found it a few weeks ago, and it is WONDERFUL! Best cookies I've ever made. I'm sure they are not quite as good as Bonnie would make them, but they don't last too long around here, so they must not be too bad! Thanks Bonnie. I'm addicted. Seriously, have a problem. I've got ten cookies hanging out on my left hip, seven cookies on my right hip, seventeen on my stomach...I seriously even made a special trip to Hy-Vee one week to specifically get M&M's and butter flavored Crisco. That's a PROBLEM...but a tasty one!!!

Love ya,

Lisa

BIG, HOT NEWS!!!!

(Disclaimer: for those of you who are not parents to toddlers or older, this may be a bit much for you. Continue reading at your own risk.)

Well, she's finally done it. The task at hand is complete. Dare I speak it, will I jinx it...hmmm, well, ok, well, here goes...I think...Ok, I'm not going to speak it for fear of jinxing it, so I'm just going to think it (and type it, but typing is not the same as speaking. What?! It's not!) OK, I think ELLIE.IS.FINALLY.POTTY.TRAINED! There it is folks. It only took 3 1/2 years, but I think she finally has got it!

I know, I know, you can hardly contain your excitement, but please try.

We've had #1 down for a while, but #2, well, not so much. However, apparently she was only saving those doozies for me! She's been going on the toilet at daycare for several weeks, little stinker! But tonight, ah, on this glorious night, I asked her to go potty before bedtime, and she went in all by herself. She took a little longer than usual, so I got up to go check on her and she came out and proudly proclaimed "Mama, I POOPED!" and went on with her business. I, on the other hand, began jumping up and down and gushing all over her and praising her. She said "Aw, thanks mama. Uh, mama, why you jumping up and down??" HA HA Ha!

I'm so excited. And yet so sad...my baby girl is growing up. She doesn't let me rock her much anymore, she only wants barrettes in her hair, she wants to comb her own hair, tucks it behind her ears...She sings and appropriately interacts with the song "Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar" (which I will record and post for you soon. It is hysterical!), jumps right in and plays with the boys, and is soon going to go to PreSchool at the big kids' school.

(Sigh) Where did the time go. Why it was just yesterday that I wore a path in the carpet around the dining room table trying to get her to stop crying, only yesterday that I carried her everywhere with me because she SCREAMED when I put her down. Only yesterday that I threw out 14 jars of opened baby food that had one bite taken out of them because she hated them all...hmmm, well, maybe I'm not so sad that she's growing up! LOL!!! JUST KIDDING!!

She was a wonderful baby (minus the aforementioned parts!) and she has been such a joy and blessing to us. The boys all adore her. She makes all of us laugh every day. Her teachers at her daycare call her their little ray of sunshine (good thing I didn't take her there when she was an infant. They might be calling her something else! LOL!)

Ok, I'm done cheezin' now. Just wanted to share my joy and excitement...the boys didn't really quite get it (cuz they didn't have to change her poopy pants every damn night)!

Oh, I do have a funny little quip from Alex...picked him up from after care, driving to go get Ellie, when out of the blue he says "Mama, why don't you drink milk?"

Me-"Hmmm, well, uh, that's a great question Alex. I guess it's because I don't really like it very much."

Alex-"but Mama, it's very good for you".

Me-"yes Alex, you are right...well, I put it on my cereal. Does that work for you?"

Alex-"well, I guess that's alright."

The end...

Peace out.

Lisa

"Oh, by the way, the tree is down..."

and it's still up!

Yes, the tree has survived, 2 whole weeks now!!! Or should I say the candy canes have survived 2 weeks now! I love my tree...I will be so sad when I have to take it down...ho hum. Oh well, I'll enjoy it while it lasts...

Had a very nice birthday today. Thank you all for the birthday wishes.

Yep, I am livin' the dream baby, livin the dream...and I'm tired. Sorry, no comedy or priceless pictures today. I'll blog more another day. Off to bed (said Ted. Off to bed, said Fred...oops, I was channeling my inner Dr. Suess...OY I'm tired)

Lisa

The Tree is Up

It only took THREE HOURS, but the tree finally made it up! And it's very pretty (I think anyway) and was worth it. In case you are wondering how in the hell it could take 3 hours...well, I was enamoured by it's beauty (and slightly lower price) in the store, so I failed to look at how you assemble the stupid thing. It's a seven footer, and each branch has to be placed, on like 20 thousand different levels!! Ok, not really that many, but you get my point. And so, for three hours, I fluffed, and pulled, and yanked, and twisted, and got every stinkin' branch shaped and positioned so my tree appears to be nice and full.

And then there were the lights...oh, the lights. I think every year I have a set that is burned out. Grrrrrr. Luckily I had to enough to get us by (just don't look at the very top of my tree!). The red lights really don't show up in that picture. I wonder why?

And then there was the joy of trying to keep 4 children from eating all of the candy canes...oh the joy of the Christmas season!!! Fun times, fun times...

It's Been a While...

about a year, by my last posting date. Wow! Sorry to all our fans out there. Been keeping you updated by Facebook over the last year. But I've had several requests to go back to blogging, so I suppose I shall indulge you...

Ah, where to begin? Well, let's see...let's start with letting you know that we are all fat, happy and healthy...well, some of us are fat...well, OK, just I am fat, but we are all happy and healthy (for the most part)! We've been lucky enough (so far) to elude the dreaded H1N1 flu bug, though we've had our share of other maladies it seems like! But relatively mild as a whole.

Since we've last visited, my children have grown quite a bit! See above...this is what happens when I try to take a nice Christmas picture...sigh. I did get a couple of good ones though.

Ben is 12 now, going on 16. He's a great kid, but is getting the teenager attitude at times. I so am not looking forward to that!! He stays very active, and wants nothing more than to be bigger than someone in his class!!! He's not small for his age, but is small for his class I guess. Poor kid. Anyway, he plays football, baseball, basketball, and ran track last year, but it really conflicted with baseball, which is his passion. So probably no track this year. I can't say that I'm heartbroken. :-)

Little Greg is 11, and is still our little thinker. Always full of questions... weird, random questions, but thoughtful nonetheless! Most of the time I cannot answer him. He plays soccer still, fall and spring. He also ran track last year, but I don't think he really enjoyed it too much. I'm guessing track is out next year altogether. Oh darn. No more sitting for 4 hours to watch your kid for 4 seconds...again, heartbroken. Although is really is good for them. Oh well...

Alex is 5 this year. I'd say my "little" Alex, but I already used that title for Greg, and Alex probably is almost as big as Greg, so I can't use it for him! Alex is a mover and a shaker. Never sits still, and like Greg, is always thinking...about how he can con myself or Matt into giving him what he wants that is!! He's very artistic and creative. He started kindergarten this year. We had a few rough days the first couple of weeks, but I think he's getting the hang of it now. He even told me last night that he "just lo-o-o-ves homework"! HUH!? Alex will play T-ball in the spring. He is always telling me how he is going to "SMACK that ball in for a touchdown!!" (that would be a quote from the movie Chicken Little, he really does know it's not a touchdown...I think).

And then there is little miss thing. Princess Ellie, or BusyBella as she calls herself. And she'll let you know too. Don't try calling her Isabella. She WILL correct you. "No, it's BUSY-BELLA!" She's a girlie girl, but she likes to play with the boys too. Though she's not really rough-and-tumble. Really she's just very moody actually. But she can also be such a sweetie. She loves drawing on her Magna-Doodle, and she likes to sing and dance (again, if she's in the mood). She also likes to read books to me. It's quite entertaining actually.

Matt and I are still hanging on in the office furniture business. Matt also stays busy with running a Sunday night men's basketball league at our church, and he plays softball, and he does a lot of the running of kids to practices while I tend to the little munchkins at home!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family, and are looking forward to a nice Christmas. I got all of the little decorations out, so we are ready to put the tree up...tomorrow. I'm beat! Time for bed!

Love ya

Lisa

Funny Stuff...

Ok, so, for those of you who have been here, you'll know what picture I'm speaking of...for those of you who haven't been here...we have lived in this house for over three years, and have quite an accumulation of kid pictures on the walls. However, in our bedroom, there are five pictures on one of the walls and they have been there the since we moved in. One of these pictures is of Ben and Greg, when they were 2 and 1 year old.

So, a couple days ago, Alex was laying in our bed around 6:30 in the morning. I had just gotten out of the shower when Alex nervously called my name. I came out of the bathroom to see what was wrong. He looked very seriously at me, and with great consternation, proceeded to point to that picture of Ben and Greg and tell me "mom, those little guys are LOOKIN' at me"! LOL! After I regained my composure (Alex was not amused by the way), I explained to him that that was Ben and Greg when they were little, just like you. He didn't get it, and quite frankly, looked at me like I was on crack. Poor little guy. I think he was traumatized. He actually has slept all night in his own bed since that day (he usually comes into our bed in the middle of the night. For those of you who don't believe in the family bed, I know, I know (I used to be one of you, now move on). So anyway, that's my funny story for the day.

On another note, Ben's last football practice was tonight!!! YEAH!!! WOOOOHOOOOOO!!!! Except basketball practice has already started. But that's not EVERY FREAKING NIGHT like football is, so I can deal. They play the losers bracket of the championship tomorrow. Exciting stuff you know.

Oh, and did you know that kids in 6th date? I said, Ben, what do you mean by "dating" exactly? He said, you know, they meet at Wal-Mart or McDonald's. Whew, that's hot. Sounds like my kind of date...LOL!!!

But anyway, I digress...What in the hell is wrong with parents these days???? Kids are NOT supposed to be flippity-flippin dating in the 6th grade!!!! And I say parents because clearly, if the kids are meeting somewhere, the parents had to take them there, thus encouraging them... unless the kids are sneaking out and catching a bus or something (in the SIXTH GRADE), which leads me to a whole 'nother issue. This is a problem. Oy, I'm getting old.

Alright, I'm going to go. It was a looonnnnngg day at work, and of course, Ellie is sick AGAIN. Just a cold, but all the same, we will be up many times tonight you can be sure. Here she is in healthier days (well, if you consider eating a doughnut 'healthy'...we do around here. In fact I'm sure doughnut is a food group in our home). Love the witches hat!!!

Talk to you soon!
Love ya,
Lisa