Brrrrrrrrrrrr

Morning fun in the snow. I let them go out as soon as they ask me. (which was 8:30 this morning) We go through the whole 20 minutes of putting on snow gear for about 5 minutes in the snow. But then its out of their system, and we're good for the rest of the day in our cozy house.

dinner entertainment

This was our dinner entertainment last night.
Instead of eating her taco soup........

The boot to the head award

I get it today. So Rene' suffers from dry scalp. I asked the Dr. what to do about it. He said put baby oil on her head for 15 minutes before her bath. So this morning I take on the task of bathing all 3 children. And I have the bright idea to do the baby oil thing. Have you ever tried to get baby oil of of hair? Let me just tell you that after 10 washes with all kinds of things like the bar of soap, vinegar, and adult shampoo, her hair was still an oily mess. I was at a loss and her patience was gone. So I scooped her out of the tub and put her down for her morning nap, oily hair and all. When Andy came home from work, he suggested dishsoap. And wouldn't you know it, after one wash it worked. And now, her hair looks the best its ever looked. Beauty takes work people. But I will not attempt that again.

I love this age.

I've been tagged

So I've been tagged by Cristina. And it looks like a fun one, so I'll participate.


Five things I was doing 10 years ago

1. Playing with my new kitten, Montgomery
2. Working for a group of physicians and loving it!
3. Living on the 3rd story of an apartment building
4. Being a "newlywed" (9 months)
5. looking to buy a house

Five things on my "to do" list today: (since today is basically over, here's tomorrow)

1. Go to the bank
2. Go up to the church and work
3. Go to Walmart for some mushroom soup to make roast
4. Finish the REST cookbook
5. watch American Idol and catch up on Guiding Light

Five things I will do when I'm a millionaire:

1. buy new clothes (my growing kids suck the clothing budget dry)
2. buy a vacation home
3. Donate to Focus on the Family
4. buy my family new houses
5. start a coffee shop

Five things I will never wear again:

1. panty hose
2. legwarmers
3. tapered legged jeans
4. pink and blue eyeshadow together
5. big bangs

Five of my favorite toys:

1. blogger
2. makeup
3. any kitchen gadget
4. ipod (even though I don't have one)
5. dvr( yeah, don't have that one either)

Five banes of my existence:

1. negativity
2. walmart
3. cleaning the bathroom
4. sweets (love hate relationship)
5. braggadocios people

And now anyone reading this with a blog has been dually tagged.

Say what?

My kids have been cracking me up this week. They've actually been playing together. Zak's new thing was telling Paige (when she made him mad) that he was not going to play with her for 3 days. Well today, Paige told Zak she wasn't going to play with him for "60 months".

2004 was a good year for cream of chicken soup

We're eating out of our cabinets this week. Meaning, I did not go to the grocery store. Scarey - I know. I'd love to say its just because we want to, but its not. We've tightened the budget strings, put away the credit cards, and are buckling down. We haven't eaten out in 3 weeks and I've lost 5 pounds. So realizing I have 7 days until our new budget period begins, and no grocery money, I decide not to beg the husband for the credit card, but be resourceful. So into the pantry I dove. I had it all planned out last night. It was night 3 of this, and its getting worse and worse each night. But last night, I though I had a good plan. I had some rice, a can of chicken, and a can of cream of chicken soup. Perfect. A little chicken rice casserole. As the rice is cooking, I open the can of soup. As I'm about to pull off the lid, I notice the expiration date. January 2004. 2-0-0-4. It is now 2008. That can of cream of chicken soup had inevitably been with me at 3 houses - one in Colorado, one in Wyoming, and the house here. Tip of the day: when you move, read your expiration dates before packing or just start all over at the new place. So I was up a creek. I had rice cooking, and the can of tomato sauce or asparagus was not going to work. So I opened the refrigerator and had a stroke of genius. Ranch dressing and chicken and rice. Now I am not kidding when I say that my children went on and on about how good dinner was. Paige nearly licked her plate clean. Even Rene' ate it. I had to force it down, and Andy just shook his head (but was so proud of me for not begging to go to the store). We haven't gone hungry, like I was afraid we were. And like Andy said - "What did people do before there were credit cards? Lets do that." We had to eat Ranch chicken and rice casserole last night, but I got to help my 5 year old learn to read, watch my 11 month old practice walking, and spank my 2 year old 3 times in 3 hours. A better alternative, in my opinion, to sitting at a desk all day and coming home to cabinets full of food.

Changes

We have a lot of changes going on here in our little family. For starters, Andy starts a new job this week at a new dealership. This was huge since he left the old dealership that brought us from Colorado here in the first place. But the change was imperative. Now instead of an hour commute a day, he'll be 4 minutes from our house. I've also got a new little job waiting in the wings that's not quite final yet. I'm getting ready to drastically revamp my schedule in order to make a few things priority that haven't been. That requires me to cut out things I don't want to. But for some reason, 3 little children who depend on me for everything make it a lot easier. I need to be at my best, not stressed to the max. So here's to a new week, new job(s), and refining life.

Snack Rut

3:00pm is my absolute least favorite part of the day. Actually 3-5:30. Besides the depressing look of the sun going down, for some reason my kids go into their alter egos that like to torture me with lots of whining, crying, and the like. I am usually trying to fix dinner - which is something I enjoy, just not with 3 children in the kitchen hanging on my leg, or sticking their fingers in our "not yet done" dinner or playing/fighting cars under my feet. Most of all, we're in a snack rut. I usually try to do healthy things like fruit, granola bars, etc. Well lets be honest, fruit just doesn't tide you over until dinner, and we've already had fruit at 2 of our meals so its a little redundant. There's the usual crackers, that is so bland and boring. And yogurt. And then, they are always wanting more. That's about all I can come up with. So, I'd like for you to use your most recently acquired skill of commenting on my blog and tell me what is your surefire afternoon snack you give your kids. I'm depending on you now. Its time to give back.

One of those rare days

Today is grey, cold, and misty. My oldest is off at school, my middle one is at Mother's Day Out, and my youngest is fast asleep in her snug crib. I've got a pot of coffee on, cookies in the oven, and am getting ready to actually sit down and read my bible. I have this new beaded bible bookmark and for some reason, it makes me want to read it all the time - I realize how odd that is, but hey, however God can get you to read his Word, right?

The power of a good song

I'm sure if you have your sound on your computer, you'll notice my new blog soundtrack. I just want you all to know that Unwritten, by Natasha Bedingfield makes little 11 month old Rene' boogie down like I've never seen.

Enjoy!

You'll be smarter, once you read this.

My jumping into this blog thing with both feet has been quite the experience. And I am happy that in my little world of friends/family, some of you, too, have begun your blogging journey. So I've got a little housekeeping to talk about today. Many of you have said you couldn't figure out how to comment, so you just don't try. I'm going to tell/show you how easy it is to do this. And its smiled upon in the blog world to comment, so have fun with it. Not at my expense of course. So follow these steps, and we can have a little mini dialogue, if we want. First, click on the word comments at the bottom of the post. Then there is a little box where you can write your very kind, encouraging comment to my most recent post. After that, you need to type those wavy words into the box below it. This is so there are not spam comments. I don't claim to understand how that all works. Then you can choose an identity. If you have a blog, you can sign in like you sign in your blog, and it will add your profile to the comment. But most of you will want to click on the little circle next to Anonymous. Just be sure to sign your name up in the message box, so I'm not wondering who wrote that great comment. Then click publish your comment. That's it. It is that easy. And it makes me feel like I'm not just talking to my mother.

I realize this is my most riveting post and I have you waiting on pins and needles as to what I'll write about tomorrow. You'll just have to wait and see.................

Now I'm home with a baby who has been throwing up for the past 2 days. I've got Andy and the 2 older ones off to church, so I'm off to actually have a little church by my lonesome. I can't wait.

A rare quite moment

That only Dora the Exporer can provide

The Playdate

For some reason, most of my friends have girls. Its just weird. While I'm not worried about Zak becoming feminine in the least, I worry about later. You know, when they start realizing there's more to friendship. I think the reason I'm worried about all of this is because I was WAY TOO boy crazy. I have theories as to why this was, but when I write my book on children of divorce, you can all read about it.

So yesterday, Zak's friend Hailey came over. I have known Hailey's mom since the 7th grade. Zak and Hailey are in the same pre-k class so it was very easy to pick them both up from school. And by the way, they both planned this little play date minus their moms. I'm not always going to go along with his plans, but for yesterday, it was fine. So of course, Hailey digs into the princess dresses and accessories and decides they'll play princess. Since Zak has no prince attire, he settled for the pirate costume. Now the music was on in the living room and the princess was twirling around like a fairy. I was very impressed with her moves, actually. She opted for the princess dress that had the see through tulle. I gently suggested she put her pants on with the dress because of course Zak could see the cute fairy panties, but she informed me that princesses don't wear pants. Okay - they're 5. I'll let it slide. So I catch Zak sitting on the couch, just watching her flutter, and twirl, with this far off look and slight smile. And honestly - I got really scared. I don't want him to date - ever. I want to keep him to myself - forever. I want him to always love his mama first. I'm not naive enough to think this will even partially come true. And since I've had a boy, I've had a new understanding for my mother-in-law. So I will have to settle for enjoying the next few years where I will be his world, and then hit my knees when he gets to Junior High. Maybe I'll start homeschooling in Junior High.

Independence

Some little girl decided to "paint" her nails. (that's marker)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDY!

Today is Andy's 33rd birthday. Gettin' on up there. I videoed us all singing a very inspiring "Happy Birthday" I had intended on posting, but after I watched it, I realized it would provide for some pointing and laughter. And our camera is so pitiful I didn't get one picture that is postable. So I'm going to settle for the big news of the night. See the attached very dark video.

Part 2 of 2

I'm impressed your back to see my resolutions for '08. Wow, that's a lot of pressure.

1. I am going to yell less and play more. Due to my inbred task orientedness (yeah, that's not a word), I tend to get slightly bent out of shape when I don't accomplish what I want to in a day. Therefore, I yell out of frustration. My kids are little, and I usually just get blank stares. So this year, I'm going to schedule lots of play into my day so I don't get bent out of shape.
2. I am going to get back to my prepregnancy weight - before Zak. That was 5 years ago and I was working out nearly everyday. I'm not going to post it. I'm not that confident, but I am going to do it in '08 if it kills me.
3. I am going to make sure everyone in our immediate families gets a gift/card on their birthday. I'm so bad about missing people's birthdays. And really, there's no good excuse for that. And I know how pleased I would be with a huge chocolate bar from Wal Mart on my birthday.
4. The Bible Study is not optional, yet I tend to make it that. This year, I'm not going to strive for 30 minutes of quiet time with God. I'm going to strive for a couple of verses in the kitchen while I pour my coffee and make the kids breakfast. Surely I can set my Bible by the toaster and read a couple of verses waiting for the bread to pop. Much more attainable - and it may only be a verse, and I may read it 5 times because I keep losing my place and getting interrupted, but that will spur me into scripture memorization. Its a win win situation.

There you have it. 4 is the max for me. I'm success driven. I wish you all a successful 2008.