It's Real Life

Ok, Farm Fresh Iowa is doing an It's real life Fest, and well, I'm participating, more fun for you.

The thing is to take pictures of certain things around the house without prepping them so it is really real life, get it?

First- The Toilet, I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be lid up or down, but this is how I found it.(lucky me)

Next up- Laundry (beautiful ain't it?)

A closet, ours in the master bathroom. It's bigger than this but I couldn't fit it all in and I'm too lazy to add another picture.

Lady Bug getting in some beauty sleep (it's way to hot to bother with pj's here, plus my kids sweat buckets when they sleep)

Spidey- looking for the kitty

Self portrait- Why dry your hair when mother nature will do it in less time?

The fridge...

I'm sure that was supposed to be the inside of the fridge...

Favorite shoes...

Least favorite but most worn (and of course stinky)shoes...

Favorite room in the house (with few to choose from)

And how could I forget the kitchen sink...

The case of the dislexic clerk

Yesterday I brought some mail to my supervisor.

It was in the "Hot Case" (where we get mail as we walk out the door, so it really should be accurate).

It was for another route.

I had already given back the same exact pieces to the clerk to rethrow once.

My supervisor's response was "Well, where's your yellow card that says "not 31" on it?"

Since I didn't use it then it must be my own fault that I've gotten the mail back again, not because the clerk doesn't know what he/she is doing.

So today I had a whole stack of mail that wasn't mine.

I dug out my little yellow cards. They look like this.....(we are very high tech)

I placed one on each stack (2) of mail that wasn't mine with a rubberband.

I later went to the letter case and found 1 letter that was correctly given to my route, and about 8 things from the stack I had previously returned (with the card). And, I also received one of my yellow cards back.

So I went to the supervisor, and let him know about the situation. He took the mail and the card.

About 5 minutes later one of my co-workers came over. He knew of my conversation of the day before.

He had my other card.

The other one that said "not 31".He was thinking he should put his "not 13" card with it and give it back to them.

**You'll have to forgive me if this isn't funny to you at all. At this point in time I have to find something to laugh about there or I will either get myself fired, or quit.**

Am I all alone in this?

I'm sure I'm not. But I really feel like it.

I feel like an outsider. You know, the girl who sits at the cool kids table, but doesn't really say anything because I have the totally opposite opinion as everyone else.

I admit that when I was younger I probably liked NKOTB for about a month. But I have this seriously damaged long term memory (to go along with my hearing problem). I can't remember which song I liked. I know there was at least one I listened to, but I really can't remember what it was.

So, maybe since I can't remember being super obsessed, that's why I really couldn't care any less about them now.

I won't be going to their concert.

I won't be listening to their songs, unless it's on the radio, which I rarely listen to.

I definately won't be buying their cd.

And I guess I won't even care who's talking about them, or if they care that I don't care, because I'm an adult, and I am allowed to have my own opinion.

And if you are indeed one of the NKOTB obsessed out there, you're very welcome to like them all you want, you can have my share.

How to eat a corn dog

A few years ago (before we had kids) we lived far away from work (at least 30 mins).

We were responsible and frugal, so we carpooled everyday.

Our house was brand new and there was nothing around for miles, not even a gas station.

One day we stopped at the store by work and got our groceries and since it was about lunchtime we got something from the deli.

I don't remember what I got, but Seth got a corn dog.
He was driving (he always drives) and eating his corn dog.
About halfway through he hands it to me and says "I can't eat anymore, throw it away."
I said "Seriously, you only ate down to the stick?"
He said, "Well, I don't want to mess with eating around the stick, I'm driving."
So I said "Why don't you just push it up?"

Now imagine that lightbulb turning on, cause that's exactly what it was like.

We must have laughed the whole way home after that. And like a good wife I still remind him how to eat a corn dog, (although, I'm not even sure he's had one since then)

The Accident

Here's how it went down.

I was talking to my Aunt about very important stuff while the kids were in the bathtub. (very nonmomish of me, but really sometimes we do have to multitask)

I got Rylie out of the tub and her diaper on while she squirmed like crazy.

I go back to get Hunter (um, yeah, my 3 year old is really not going to drown in 5 inches of water while I'm literally 10 feet away, because he's way too smart to put his face under water), and I find him throwing water out of the tub by the cup full (it looked like he was trying to bail water out of a boat). I told him to stop, but he continued, thinking "oh she's on the phone, I won't get in trouble". So I pulled him out of the bath and put his ho around him. By the time I pulled him out of the tub, the rug in the bathroom was soaking wet, which I didn't notice. (Have I mentioned our entire house is ceramic tile, except for the bedrooms and living room?) I guess when Hunter left the rug, his feet were still really wet. Instead of just crossing the hallway to his room, he went towards the living room, and on his way he slipped. All I heard was the thunk, and then him screaming. Seth picked him up and he was already bleeding from the mouth.

See, when I wrapped his ho around him, his arms were all tucked inside, so he couldn't catch himself when he fell. He was bleeding from his upper lip so bad it left a little trail of blood all the way to the kitchen. I sat him down on my lap and tried to calm him down as I was also trying to stop the bleeding. We must have sat there for at least 10 minutes. Finally I gave him a little piece of gauze rolled up to shove up under his lip, just like the dentist.

The poor kid looks like he got in a huge fight. I can't wait to see what it will look like tomorrow.

So sorry auntie, I really did have to get off the phone right then, (I'll call you tomorrow night, same time, K?)

Father's Day

This morning Rylie was up bright and early. Once the boys got up we started talking about what to do today.
We had taken Hunter to see Iron Man on Thursday (yeah, we're bad parents PG-13). So today we decided to take both of them to see Kung Fu Panda.

Can I just say, 14 month old+movie in a theater = not good.

We got there as the previews were starting, and being a Sunday it was pretty full and our only choice was to sit closer to the front. At first Rylie seemed to be interested, but about 15 minutes into the movie she started squirming (and of course talking). I got up and took her out, spent way too much money at the snack bar, and brought the guys back some popcorn, a pretzel, and a drink. She sat for about another 10 mins until she started squirming again. I took her out again. No snack bar this time, just took her. We went back in a few minutes later, I kind of thought she should be getting tired, maybe I could rock her and get her to fall asleep. No such luck. All together I probably spent over half of the movie in the lobby not watching the movie.


And the little angel finally did fall asleep on the way back home.



Later on after Rylie woke up from her nap, we went to the Arizona Museum of Natural History, aka the Mesa Southwest Museum. This was actually only the second time we've been to any of the museums around here. In the 10 years we've lived here, the only places we've been to are the Phoenix Zoo, and the Air Force Museum. I think we will be trying to get out more to see some of the things around here. We had a lot of fun today.



The outside of the museum in downtown Mesa.






Hunter and Seth checking out the dinosaur statue, Hunter looked like he wanted to climb up on it, but it was so hot it would have melted his skin off.






One of the cool dinosaurs.






Another dinosaur, they had him set up to move his head and mouth. There was a whole mountain scene with different dinosaurs, and a waterfall that flash flooded every little bit.


The waterfall during the "flash flood" which only lasted about 2 minutes, but was pretty cool.

Supernanny, Where are you?

I'm thinking of putting my 2 children and the cat up for adoption. Is this too drastic?



Today was a little piece of absolute insaneness (is that a word, cause I'm making it one)



Work is bad enough. Coming home is worse somedays.



Things that drove me crazy today:

8:15 am-Cleaning up cat poop off of Hunter's anywhere chair (for the 2nd time this week, thank goodnes it's washable).

1:35 pm- The 1st 5 minutes I was home from work I got to hear "I want to go swimming" about, oh, I don't know, maybe 30,000,000 times. And that was even after I said we would be going as soon as I got some lunch.

Also in that 5 mins I got to listen to Rylie whining and climbing up my legs. My guess is that she was hungry too, since she ate about half of my lunch (Hunter ate the other half, after he said he wasn't hungry)



2:30 pm- We went swimming, but it seems that Rylie is deathly afraid of the pool, if you get her near it she clings for dear life.



4:15-6:30pm- Hunter being on time out about 50 times (I'm starting to think I need to come up with something else).



5:30-5:50pm- Searching everywhere for the cat (literally) for 20 mins just to find out that she likes it under the armoire in the bedroom. I wonder why?



6:30 pm-Getting Hunter to sit down for dinner, after picking up all of Rylie's food off the floor, (because it just tastes better with floor scum on it)



6:32 pm- Hunter getting up from not touching his dinner, and promptly telling me "Mommy, kitty's poopie" and seeing her in the middle of pooping on my couch (of course as I'm getting my own plate of food, loss of appetite anyone?)



7:15 pm-8:00 pm- Coming home from Wal-Mart (which I was superbly dressed for by the way, I really did fit in) and trying to clean the couch with 2 kids trying to get the spray bottle, climbing on everything, knocking over the lamp.



8:30 pm- Deciding Hunter was being a little too quiet, and finding him standing on a chair next to the fishtank with an empty bottle of fish food (which was previously full). And yes, the food was all in the tank.

This was the point of the "I've had it" moment, and just as quickly, both kids were in bed for the night. If I had known they would go down as easily as they did, I would have put them in bed about 2 hours earlier.

Anyone have the number for Supernanny, and does she do cats too?

Parker

Hunter has a new best friend.

Her name is Parker (after Peter Parker).

She's about 8 weeks old.

Rylie likes to play in her water dish.

And eat her food (which really grosses me out when I catch her).

They both like to chase her around.

And scare her.

And try to pick her up.

And shut her in the cabinet.

Stay tuned for more about Parker.......

Random Thoughts 2

If you wash one of those little USB flash drives it will still work, I tested it out. (it only went through the washer, I didn't test the dryer too)

If you wash a cell phone , and find it when it's in the dryer, it might work too, and possibly better than before.

If you're at any store with lawnmowers, your 3 year old will see them, and you won't be able to leave until he gets to sit on them.

Kids actually do eat better if they aren't distracted by the t.v.

White trash is white trash, no matter how it's dressed up.

You can put inexpensive stuff in a nice house and it will usually look ok, but you can't make a house look better just by buying things from an expensive store.

Wordless Wednesday?

Well, not so wordless. If it was wordless you'd never understand the signifigance of this box of Puffs.

About 4 and a half hours before this picture was taken, this box was full. I had even transferred the remaining ones from another box to this one. I am the only person using this box, so as you can see I've been blowing my nose a lot this afternoon. I thought it was a really bad day of allergies, but I'm sadly starting to think that it may be a cold, blech.

The Amazing Dog Rescue

I was having one of those days. Time was dragging along. I started work early, but I couldn't seem to find what I was looking for all morning (even my vehicle keys were missing). I was amazed that I still got out to my route by 10:45.



The beginning of my route is all boxes where I have to get out and the box is on the other side of the sidewalk. So I was on my second street, and as I got out to put the mail in the box, I noticed a little dog walking up to me. I slowly turned around to get back in the vehicle, because who knows when a dog is going to bite, even the little calm looking ones. So I sat down and I was going to pull away and the little dog walked up and stuck his face in the door. I didn't want to go because the dog was so close, so I sat there to see what he would do. I didn't think to close the door. He actually got in my vehicle, and parked it behind my seat. This has never happened to me before and I didn't really know what to do.



The first thing I did was take a picture with my phone. I always carry my camera with me, but I didn't have it today. Then I called Seth. He laughed and said "take a picture with your phone", I said"I did that already". So now what? He didn't know. I couldn't get him to come out, and he was panting. I went up to the house I was in front of and knocked but no one came. So I went back one house (to the one on the corner) and knocked. The guy came to the door and I knew they had dogs, so I asked if one was missing, he said no, but he'd look to see if he recognized it. This guy lives on the West corner, and there are houses across the street to the South, but to the East is a school, and to the North on both sides (E&W) is vacant lots for new construction.



Anyway, as we were walking back to my truck the lady from next door was walking down to get her mail and I asked if it was her dog. We looked in and he had gotten out of the truck, and was sniffing around the house to the West of the lady's house. But then that quick he came back and jumped back in. It wasn't the lady's dog, and neither one of them recognized it so they left me there with the dog to figure out what to do.



Did I mention that it was 8,000 degrees today? I think the high was predicted to be like 102 or something. This poor dog looked like he'd been wandering for awhile, and there was no collar. I tried to give him some of my water, but I didn't have anything to put it in. So I finally decided to take the dog home (since I'm only about 2 miles from home) and put him in the backyard, he seemed really nice, and thirsty, I figured I could get him some water at least.



Since Seth's route is between my route and home I thought I would stop and show him the dog. As I was driving up to the box he was delivering (a set of boxes) there was a poster on the side.

I could tell right away it was a lost dog poster. so I get up there and the picture looks a lot like this dog. I called the number and said "I think I have your dog".



Turns out, the people lived on Seth's route. How weird is that? The place I picked up the dog was about a mile East (across one major street) and another mile North of were the people lived. In doggy distance that's a long way. They said he had come up missing last night, and they had put up the signs about 20 mins before I called.



They were so happy to see their dog, I can't even tell you. I have never had anything like this happen to me. It definately made my week.



Here's a picture of my little hitchiker.

Rylie's New Groove

Rylie has been starting to dance lately, along with climbing. I realize the song is probably not appropriate, but it was really the only dance song we could find at the time.



And in other news, check out Mama's new(used) grocery getter...

We have been talking about replacing our truck (the one we sold a few months ago), and this gets around 30 mpg. Now I'll really have an excuse to not take the kids with me to the store.

To My Stalker...

Dear Stalker,

I know who you are, and you should know too. I have one thing to say. Get over it. Please don't check in on me. I have a life, it is good. I know I said let's be friends, but who means that? If I wanted to catch up I would let you know. I don't. If you don't hear back from me it's because I would rather not hear from you, and I actually thought that you would have gotten the hint by now (after all, it's been 15 years). I don't mean to be rude, just honest.

To any of you "blogger stalkers" out there. If you'd just comment once in a while you wouldn't be considered a stalker anymore, just a "friend". Of course, I probably don't have any of those anyway.....just the real kind ;).

The Best Baby Tip You Ever Got......

Ok, we've really scared the heck out of Alex, so I thought we could share some really good tips for when she does have a baby, you know, sort of payback, to her and some of the other scared to death (and maybe even pregnant) ladies out there.

I'll start

*Buy some of those puppy training pads(make sure they have adhesive) put them on top of the matress pad, under the sheet, then do another layer on top of the sheet, and a sheet on top of that, so when you have one of those inevitable nights where there's leakage or other issues you can just take off the top layer and you'll already have clean sheets.

*Teething- There are these things called Teething Tablets by Hyland's, (they also have ones for colic) they are like baby crack. Seriously, they are goooooooood, and homeopathic.

ok, that's really all I can think of right now (sad isn't it), who else has one?

The Secret List

For some reason today I kept coming up with more additions to Mcmommy's Secret List.


Here's the list as of now (click on the picture)





A few of the things I thought of today were:

*You will always be the last one to start eating, and the last one finished. And if you're lucky you'll get to eat without getting up 15 times.

*You'll never shop alone again, and this is not a good thing.

*When you do go out it will take you no less than 20 minutes to get out of the house, after you're actually ready to leave. Getting ready will take at least an hour.

*Your newly potty trained child will always tell you he/she has to pee while in the car with no bathrooms, and no time to get to a bathroom, and nowhere to pull over anyway.

I really had more than this, but my time is up.

We officially have the smelliest house on the block!

It was trash day on my mail route today.

I usually hate trash day.

Today, I was (dare I say) jealous.

All of those people getting rid of all that smelly trash (and believe me, it's smelly, and they insist on putting their cans right by their boxes)

I'm sure all of this has got you wondering.

This is my problem......





That's our trashcan by the curb.

It's there right now.

I put it there yesterday morning.

It's really heavy, and I'm not moving it again until it gets dumped.

The next trash day is next Wednesday!

We didn't put the trash out before we left for vacation, because we left really early Tuesday morning, and there wasn't that much trash, and we figured that since we'd be getting home on Tuesday night we'd be able to put it out for the next day's pick up. If you've been reading, you'll know that we missed our flight, and didn't get home till Wed. night (and of course the trash was the last thing on our minds). If you do the math (which I've already done, so you won't have to) it's already now been 22 days since we last had our trash picked up. We only have 1 trash day a week.

Tuesday night Seth asked if it was trash day the next day and I said yes. I thought that meant he was going to put it out. Yesterday morning I must have been in the shower when the truck went up our side of the street, because I never heard it. I did hear it coming later though, just as Seth said, oh yeah, it's trash day(meaning, oh cr@p, I forgot to put out the trash). I ran out and around the house to get it to the street. I'm not sure why I bothered, because the truck was on the other side of the street, and they do our side first. But I struggled with the massively heavy thing, through the rock and down the driveway. If you notice the picture, it has no lid. Which means that there is nothing to keep the smell of what's in there from overwhelming you. And remember, it's been 3 weeks, we've had 110 degree temps, and rain (some of which I'm sure has collected in there) and we usually have pretty smelly trash anyway, with having a baby in diapers.

So, we now officially have the stinkiest house on the block with our month's worth of trash sitting out on the curb. If you happen to drive by here, plug your nose.

If you read this today leave a comment......

even if it just says hi.

Try it. I dare you!

(for the computer challenged out there, there's a commment button at the bottom of this post, click on that.)

Out of the mouth of Hunter

I was sorting laundry (yes, I was really sorting it, I'm trying to change my ways) and the little lovebugs found me. Here is the actual conversation.

Hunter:"Mommy?"

Me: "yes, Hunter?"

Hunter:"I lud you"

Me:"I love you too"

Hunter:"Do you lud Rylie?"

Me:"Yes, I love Rylie, do you love Rylie?"

Hunter:"Yes, I lud Rylie too"

Doesn't that just melt your heart?



I love his words. Other things he says:

Drapboom- Bathroom

Taptoo- tatoo

Waywader-Refridgerator

Hopicle- Popsicle

Bish- Fish

Can't want to...- Don't want to

I too hungry/thirsty

I too hiccups

By-saur- Dinosaur

Some things he really can say the right way, he is just in too much of a habit of saying it the wrong way.

Oops, I got sidetracked.

May 2008

Here's a few of the pictures from our trip (again, click on the picture). I have been having too much fun on my computer tonight. I totally ignored my kids this afternoon (of course not, what kind of mother do you think I am?). They were happy though, they got to play in the backyard. Unfortunately, Hunter lost control of his gator and ran over Rylie. I was outside with them and he had been doing a good job of avoiding her, but I guess she must have dove in front of him at the last second (you can picture that right?) He jumped off his gator, I know he felt really bad. He was crying, she was crying, but as soon as Hunter gave her a kiss she was giggling again. No scratches, bumps, or bruises, just a little grass in her hair. And of course she went right back out and climbed up on the stupid thing. Anyway, I managed to add some nifty new features to my blog. Now you can subscribe and get a daily e-mail whenever I write something new, all in the name of simplicity, for those of you computer challenged.

Hunter- Future pilot?

Hunter got to go in the cockpit on the plane after we landed in Des Moines. He was too shy to actually get too far in, so I barely got a chance to get this picture. When we were waiting in Denver for our connecting flight to Des Moines, the pilot came by to board the plane and saw Hunter and asked if he'd like to go up there. I was shocked that it was even a possibility. I didn't know they even did that anymore. On our flight back home, from Denver to Phoenix, I wondered if they had let some other 3-year-old kid take a look, and even fly the plane, it was the bumpiest flight I've ever been on. I think Seth was white knuckled from hanging on to the armrests! (Note the newspapers right next to where Hunter is, I guess you can fly a plane and read the paper at the same time!)

Brooke's Wedding

Our recent trip to IA was for Seth's sister's wedding.

Here are the pictures (click on the picture to see the full album)

Brooke's Wedding

Here are the pictures from the Bachelorette party (plus that special little video that I just know you want everyone to see ;) .

Brooke's Bachelorette party

Nursemaid's Elbow

I'm a reader by nature. If I'm going to do anything, I'm going to read about it first. When I was visiting my sister after she had my neice, I thought, "Oh how cute, maybe someday I'll have a baby too." So I brought home with me her copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting. You know, just in case. Well, just in case, or not, I wanted to really know what to expect, before I got myself into that situation.

The thought of being pregnant had always given me the creeps. Maybe it's because I was the youngest child, and no one close to us had been pregnant. Who knows. Anyway, I read it. I can't imagine how anyone can get through being pregnant and having kids without reading at least one book. Oh wait, let me um, rephrase. I'm a control freak. So I can't imagine going through pregnancy and childbirth without reading everything there is out there about what could possibly happen, so I know what the "range" of normal is. That being said, I'm also a closet hypochondriac. You know, the "get a headache and it's got to be a brain tumor", kind of hypochondriac, not the "go to the dr. every week with a new symptom" kind.

Anyway, I'm tired so I'm rambling a little bit. I'm a reader, it's what I do. Of course I had read the book What to Expect the First Year, and yes, the Toddler Years too, all before I had Hunter. (Now, I'm not that crazy, I read them while I was pregnant). I've still got them and I will refer to them on occasion when a situation comes up and I really don't know what to do. If I still don't know what to do after I consult the book, I call my sister.

Yeah, it may sound weird, I call my sister before I call my mom. Two reasons-

1) My sister has a 7 year old, and a 2 1/2 year old, she's fresh. My mom on the other hand has a 33, 31, and 29 year old, so it's been a while (not that she doesn't remember, but things change), plus half the time she tells me to call Erin anyway.

2) My sister works in a pediatrics office with about 10 pediatricians, plus nurse practitioners, and assistants, so if she doesn't know the answer, I bet she knows someone who does.

I read all about nursemaid's elbow. It was in at least 2 of the books I've read.

We were on vacation. I didn't have my books handy.

I was giving the kids a bath one night, I got Rylie out, wrapped her in a towel, and set her down on the rug so I could get Hunter out. She leaned forward a little and fell over, I assumed because she was wrapped in the towel. I thought she bumped her head on the floor, she was crying, but not more than usual. I went to put her pajamas on and she was really fussing when I went to put her shirt on. Like all out pain crying. The only thing I could think of was that she had fallen when she got out of the tub, and maybe she had hit her shoulder and dislocated it. I didn't think she hit it that hard, but you never know. Since I was at my parent's house I took her to my mom. Neither of us could tell anything, except she only seemed bothered when she had to move her left arm. She wouldn't even bend her arm to hold her cup. Maybe that should have told me something. We called Dr. Erin (yeah, my mom even said it that way).

She said we should watch her, and since it wasn't like unbearable pain, let her sleep and see how she acts in the morning. She slept good. In the morning it was the same thing, fine except holding her cup. So I made a few phone calls, there was an appt. available at the dr's office. My insurance would cover it even. So we took her in. We got there and went in to Erin's "office" (more like closet) and waited. I'll have to admit, closet or no, I felt important. I didn't even have to wait in the waiting room like the commoners. "Dr" Erin said she was diagnosing her as having nursemaid's elbow. I knew I'd heard of that before. Then we got to the exam room, and the dr came in. He asked a couple of questions, looked at Rylie, turned her hand palm up, put his thumb and finger around her elbow, and bent her arm (like he was trying to make her touch her shoulder). She cried so hard. Poor girl, I felt really bad for her, but he said he heard it pop back in when he bent it, and lo and behold, two minutes later she was just fine, grabbing her cup, and everything. Then he told me how to pop it back in, just in case. I hope I never have to do it, I get the creeps just thinking about it.

She either hurt her elbow when she fell after the bath, before that, when Seth picked her up wrong, or even before that when she took a tumble down 2 steps. We don't really know, but the most common way it happens is if you pick them up by their arms.

8 Years

Eight years ago today, on a Friday, Seth and I got married. Some days it feels like 80 years.



We had been in AZ for 3 years then. Seth had "proposed" in August of '99. We didn't really have a plan, but after being Maid of Honor for my sister, who had 6 attendents, I decided I didn't want a wedding. The added stressing thoughts of where to get married when you're families are 1,5oo miles apart was more than I wanted to deal with.

I don't even remember why we picked the day we did. There is nothing significant about the day. We both managed to get the day off, along with Seth's mom, who was our witness. We were going to go to the Mesa Wedding Chapel, no appointment necessary. It sounded easy enough. When we got there a sign on the door said they were closed. There was a couple looking at the sign, they had made an appointment, but apparently it was closed for good. Most people would think this was a bad omen. Not me.

We went home and started looking in the yellow pages for a Justice of the Peace. Finally we found a place, it was the Justice Court. The lady on the phone said come at 4:45, the judge will marry you after 5:00 bring $50 cash. We got there and waited. There were a few other couples there too. We only had one witness, we needed 2, so a lady who had gotten married before us signed as our 2nd witness.

After that we went out for dinner with a few people from Seth's family.

Flash forward eight years. Two houses, two kids, one dog and two cats later. I'm still glad we eloped. I don't regret it at all.

Pictures

While we were in IA my sister had a friend of hers from high school come and take pictures of the kids, and us. If you'd like to see them here is the link http://innocentmoments.blogspot.com/2008/05/houk-family-may-2008_1674.html

There are a ton of pictures, all alre labeled with the Houk family

Another "Meme"

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1) What was I doing 10 years ago? I was at the end of my one and only year of community college in IA, getting ready to move to AZ to start my job at the post office. My goal was to work for 6 months and save up some money while I became a resident of the state so I could go to school here for Landscape Architecture. I guess real life got in the way of my school plans, and I liked the money too much to quit.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order): Nothing, cook dinner, bathe my kids, post this on my blog, post about my nightmare return home from vacation on my blog.

3) Snacks I enjoy: Chocolate ice cream with cornflakes (yum), homemade chocolate chip cookies, most sweet things, definately nothing healthy.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Live close to my family, Hire a maid, give a lot of money away to charities.

5) Places I have lived: Iowa and Arizona

6) 6 peeps I wanna know more about: Erin, Damian, Megan, Chuck, Melissa

What not to do while traveling with kids

Don't miss your flight.


Yeah, it sounds simple enough. Apparently I was too sure of our ability to get to the airport in time, I let time get away from me. It is all Seth's fault of course, since he wouldn't get out of bed, and then we had to go see his family before we left town. It didn't have anything to do with me not knowing exactly what time our flight left, and that there was a shuttle involved in returning the rental car.

In 10 years of flying back and forth (at least once a year), this was probably only the 3rd time we've flown to Des Moines instead of Kansas City. Usually we fly in/out of KC because it's much cheaper. This time DM was cheaper, and the 100 miles less to drive was a big plus. We had rented a car, and when we picked it up it was in a little lot just outside the airport, very convenient. Of course we had as much luggage as we were allowed to in this day and age, meaning 3 checked bags and 3 carry on bags, plus an umbrella stroller and 2 car seats. Since Rylie was just a lap child she didn't get her own bag (as if we could have handled one more bag anyway).

Usually we are at least an hour and a half early, so I couldn't believe it when we were getting to the airport just 30 mins before the plane was supposed to take off. I had even read that you have to be there at least 45 mins prior to takeoff to be able to check in. I still thought we'd be OK, that is, until the little kiosk thingy said we were unable to check in. The nice guy at the counter explained how we would be put on the standby list, and helped us take our bags over to the Xray machines. Of course we thought we were going to get right on the next flight since he checked our bags for us, and you know, the bags should stay with the travellers, right? Nope.

As we were trying to check in, I noticed a girl standing beside a camera, like from a tv station or something, it was pointed right at us. As we were leaving, to go take the rental car keys back, she asked if we could spare a few mins. I bet she was secretly laughing when I told her we really didn't have time because we were about to miss our flight, which by that time was probably out on the runway. I still wonder what she was going to ask us about.

We, get ourselves through security and decide to stop and eat, since we have plenty of time before the next plane boards. Both kids were still being pretty good at this point. Then after wasting a good bit of time and money at the restaurant, we headed up to the gate. It looked pretty empty so I figured it would be no problem for them to get us on. Unfortunately, everyone else must have been thinking about the same thing as me, except they still made it. About 10 minutes before the flight started boarding the people in the gate started multiplying. Seriously, there had to be about 60 people show up in that amount of time.

Standby was a joke, they had oversold the flight, and started asking for people to give up their seats. After the flight boarded I finally got up to ask the lady how many other flights there were. She looked at everything available, even the ones that went through Chicago, and all of them were overbooked. After 4 hours at the airport with 2 rambunctious kids I was ready to scream. I managed to keep my cool, and ask about getting confirmed on a flight the next day.

4 hours later- $ 330+ spent, no luggage, 2 really cranky tired and hungry kids, and 2 exhausted adults. We, at the very least, had a free place to stay, and someone picking up our luggage for us in Phoenix so the $100 worth of frozen meat in our suitcases didn't spoil before we would get there. (Yes, we buy meat when we come home, it just tastes better)

We got up extra early and to the airport, and let me tell you how much easier and quicker it is when you just did it all the day before and you have no luggage to check. We got right on our flight to Denver, and then we had to wait. The only flight out of Denver that had seats available the day before was the 3:45 flight. The nice lady that helped us put us on standby for the 11:42 flight so we could possibly get on that one. We waited at the gate, and of course found out that they had overbooked that flight as well. So we headed on down to the gate for the next flight, since the standby list is transferred automatically. (They are so helpful, why do they overbook anyway? Somehow it just doesn't make sense to me)

When we sat down at the next gate it was pretty full, and there was a girl sitting right next to us. She asked if we were going to Phoenix, and I said yes, and explained what happened and that we were on standby. She was too. She also said she had overheard the lady at the last gate say that there were about 20 people on the list. This was about the time when I decided it had been worth it to pay the extra money, because I sure didn't want to be stuck in Denver overnight.

We finally made it through the 4 hours in the airport, and made it home at long last. We ran into the girl as we were waiting for our ride to pick us up, she had paid to buy a ticket on another airline, and probably made it before us, but had to pick up her luggage that had come in on the airline we had flown.

I have definitely learned my lesson, and I will get to the airport at least 2 hours before the flight in the future (even if I have to leave the sleeping husband behind ;) ).

Hunter and Jake reunited

Our wonderful friends Lauren, Jake, and Andie drove the 3 hours from their new home in IA to my parents house in south central IA. The boys were excited to see each other. They played pretty good for the most part, only fighting on the toys that were identical to each other, instead of fighiting over a one of a kind item. We'll miss them until next time. We hope to see them in AZ soon (after the end of the long hot summer, of course.)


below: my nephew Drew, Hunter, and Jake





Hunter and Jake playing in the field behind Grandma Hunter's house.

Family time

A picture of us at the hospital visiting Grandma Helen. Amazing that we were all looking at the camera on the 2nd shot.

Right to left: Hunter, Andrew, Erin, Rylie, Grandma, Me, and Avery.

We will have to go back I think on Friday when Damian gets down, and Alexis is not in school.

Don't judge me, but.....

Ok, I realize that there's a right and wrong way to do laundry. I choose to do it the wrong way.



This......











is one load of laundry. Yes, I know it's all kinds of different types and colors, but that's my way. Also this is a very large load. Thanks to my outstandingly large washer and dryer, I can do loads this big, and I usually do. I know it's wrong, but I don't care.
Seth's aunt would pass out if she saw this. She is great at laundry. Our old washer broke one time and I took some clothes over to use theirs. I was just going to throw them all in, and I swear, she wouldn't allow me to do it. She actually sorted all of my laundry for me. I think if I could hire someone to just do my laundry, and fold it all and put it away, I would most definately do it.

Why I love blogging

I love having a blog because I have at least 2 hours a day where I'm all by myself (no, it still doesn't count as alone time) with no option for music, and only my random thoughts to entertain myself, all whilst delivering the mail and making no mistakes(ha, ha).

So today my random thought was, how wonderful it is that someone invented blogging for those of us who could otherwise write books full of ramdomness that would never sell because they just wouldn't make any sense. Someone give that person an award.

You know you're a mother when....

It takes you 3 hours to make it through a 2 hour movie.

It takes you at least 20 more minutes to get out of the house after you're ready to go (what am I saying, you're the last one ready)

Your car has more clothes in it than your closet.

The first section in the department store you visit is the kid's section, (and then of course you don't make it to the adult section).

You never make it to work on time, and the shirt that was clean when you put it on winds up with booger nose wiped all over it (and that was the second clean shirt, after breakfast was smeared on the 1st one.)

Your dress shoes (yeah, those ones you never wear) always find their way onto the hard floor, because they sound so cool.

Your idea of a great evening consists of watching Grey's Anatomy and LOST back to back.

You can't remember when the last time you had 3 hours to yourself was (outside of work and sleeping).

You can't remember the last time you left the house completely put together, hair and makeup done, and spot-free clothes.

You have $100 of blow money just for you, and $60 of the $100 (or more) winds up being spent on something for the kids.

I was feeling guilty....

The key word there is was.

Now, let me tell you why. I've had all these things running through my head the last couple of days.

Yesterday I started making my mental list of things I wanted to get done this week.

Today's chore was to get out the suitcases and actually start laying out things to pack. Yes, I know, we don't leave for another week. I was simply thinking that there are things we'll be taking with us that we won't be using before then.

What happened to my plan? you ask.

Well, here's what happened, get ready, it's a big one........



I came home from work.


There it is. It's the same thing that happens every time I have a big vision of actually getting something done. I know, it sounds like a really bad excuse, right?

Ok, I'll elaborate if I must.

Seth got of work earlier than me today so he decided to pick up the kids from daycare and let me find a ride home. That was the easy part for me. He called me when I was almost done with the route to tell me that Rylie had been asleep, but was in a good mood. They were both fine at that point, no big deal.

Something happened to the angel children between the 1:45 phone call, and the 2:30 arrival at home. When I walked in the door, Rylie was whining. Hunter looked like he was being good, watching tv. I swear the minute we are all at home is when the whining starts. It's a sort of "I'm hungrythirstytiredandgrouchy" sort of whine. The kind that no matter what you try, the only thing that stops it is the inevitable - pick up. Once you pick up the whiny child, everything is hunky dory. Except for the fact that I had plans, big ones.

I had chicken in the crockpot for dinner, and I was going to fold Mt. Saint laundry, and put it all away. I was going to go in and clean Hunter's room so the toys would be put away for a few hours (ok, who am I kidding, a few minutes). I was going to start packing little things in my laptop bag so I wouldn't have to do it later.

I think there may have been a few other things on my list. I have abandoned all hope of getting any of it done. It will have to wait.

"Where are the little darlings now?", you ask.

Let me tell you. They are both asleep. Yep, it's 6:38 pm, and I have been on my laptop since around 5:00 ish. Dinner was ready super early this afternoon, around 4:30. Neither kid ate anything (not for lack of it being put in front of them). Rylie threw most of hers on the floor and whined, so I took her in and rocked her to sleep. Hunter was watching his beloved Spiderman, and just couldn't resist the forces of sleepyness that invaded his eyes. I got Rylie down, and I think Hunter was asleep not 15 mins after that. Thank goodness for the anywhere chair.




This brings me back to my title. I was feeling guilty for not doing anything while the kids were both sleeping, but I don't anymore. It will all get done...later.

Random thought #1

Yeah, I sometimes get these random thoughts. They don't all make sense, but sometimes they have the potential for greatness.

I was taking Rylie to change her diaper when this thought occured to me. I guess it was because in the last couple of months she has gotten to the stage where it's almost impossible (unless she's mostly asleep) to have her lay still when I'm changing her. So I'm thinking to myself, "I wonder if you could hypnotize a baby to be potty trained?"

Yeah, I know, people say it's possible to potty train an infant, but who are they kidding, they've just trained themselves to read their baby's cues that he/she has to go. But really, think about it. They can hypnotize people to stop smoking, stop drinking, and stop eating too much right? And those people are all people with habits so bad that they resort to letting someone invade their unconsiousness in order to get the help they need.

Aside from the obvious morality issues of hypnotizing someone who coudn't consent, wouldn't it be great if it could be done. Even if it was just to tell you (with sign language of course) that they needed to go. How great would that be?

Disclaimer: I'm not suggesting that anyone do this, and I would never do something like this to my own child, it's just sort of an Ally McBeal moment (not that I ever watched that show, I don't even know if it would qualify as that.)

English Class

Ok, really. I knew that our kids learn from observation, but you don't really get it until your child says to you "Mommy, stop talking, I was talking to daddy!" I wonder where he got that?

Lately, whenever Seth and I are having a conversation, Hunter will come in and just start talking to whichever one of us he needs at the moment. I started telling him he needs to wait, because daddy and I are talking.

He's also started telling Rylie "Don't do that Rylie" and "Come here Rylie" just like he hears us say. One of his other recent sayings sounds a lot like "Oh damnit!" he uses that one a lot. I like to think he's really saying "Oh, darnit!" It sounds close, really.

And, another thing. Thank you so much to the person who gave us the very cute seasonal hooded santa clause towel. One night we were getting ready for bath and he said "I want my Ho!" I'm like, "Excuse me mister?!" He said "my Ho". For a second I thought he had seen something he shouldn't have on tv. I was really relieved to find out he was referring to his towel, he just thought that was what Santa was, I guess all the Ho, Ho, Ho, and stuff is pretty confusing for a 3 year old.

Another Ear Infection

I guess the title says it all. I took Rylie to Urgent Care this morning because she started havng a fever yesterday. She was still really warm this morning, and had a couple of pretty nasty diapers, so I figured I should get her checked. She had been pulling on her right ear, and sure enough it's infected. I will be taking her to our regular dr. this week. I think this is the 4th one in the last 3 months.

My most embarassing story ( I thought it would be more entertaining than my last few posts)

Anyone who knows me should tell you that I would never imagine shoplifting, it's just not something you could imagine me doing. I don't drink alcohol, never have. I have never tried pot, or any type of illegal drug (wouldn't know what pot smelled like if someone knocked me over the head with it). I won't even take painkillers, except for when I had my miscarriage. If I see money on the ground at work I just walk right on by like I never even saw it because it belongs to the post office. I'm just that way.

So, this is what happened.

We moved to AZ in 1998. I was 19 and we had both gotten hired on at the post office. We lived in an apartment in Mesa for the 1st 3 years we lived here. Seth bought a motorcycle in 2000, I think. He couldn't keep it at the apartment because there was no where he felt safe parking it, so we kept it in his aunt Lori's garage. In the fall of 2000 we finally got serious about buying a house, so Seth decided to sell the bike. He asked me to stop and pick up a cycle trader magazine.
I didn't realize it was an actual magazine. At the grocery stores and gas stations here almost all of them have little racks of free magazines and apartment finder books. I thought that's what the cycle trader was. So one evening I was driving home from work and he had reminded me again that he wanted me to stop and get one of those. I was in a hurry because it was late and cold, so I thought I would just run into the corner store and grab one. I walked in and asked the clerk if they had the cycle trader. She pointed them out to me on the office door towards the back of the store which was about the size of a closet. I grabbed one and walked out. She never said anything to me as I was leaving and didn't come after me (of course I was in a hurry.) I think I may have even left my car running, where I could see it of course, which just made it look really bad.
I pull in the parking lot of our apartment complex and as I'm driving down towards where I usually park, there's some guy with his door open taking up the space that was open where I would have normally parked, so I backed into the spot across from it. Anyway, I went inside and got ready to go to bed, since this was during the days when we worked about 60-70 hours a week. About an hour later I was ready for bed watching tv or something and there was a knock at our door.
Well, no one ever came to see us, and I mean no one. So Seth goes to the door and the person who knocked had their finger over the peep hole so he couldn't see (never quite figured out why). Seth is the type of person who can, and will, own a gun for protection, and since we were living in the middle of Mesa he grabbed his gun when he went to the door. We were both a tiny bit paranoid. They knock again, so he said "Who is it?" and the guy says "Mesa Police Department" Seth is freaking out! He cracks the door a little bit and it really is the cops! He asks if I live there, and Seth is like "Yeah, hang on". I don't remember exactly, but he yelled at me and then he made sure to tell the cop that he owned guns and all that. The cop takes Seth's glock and gives it to his ride along to hold (the guy wasn't even a cop). So, I come into the living room and he's asking me where the magazine is. Well, I don't read magazines, and I had totally forgotten the cycle trader already, since it wasn't for me, and I didn't consider it a magazine(not to mention my short term memory sucks). I probably looked at him like he was an alien. Finally, after he asked if I had picked up a magazine or something that night I figured out what he was talking about.
I said "You mean the cycle trader? I thought those were free." And at this point Seth is looking like he doesn't even want to claim to know who I am. The cop asks "Is there some reason why you backed into the parking space when you came home?" Like I am going to try to hide my car! I told him the truth, some guy was standing in the space I usually park in and all that. So I finally ask how much the magazine cost. It was $1.50!!! The really embarassing part is that I offered to give them the money and of course I was already hooked on the debit card by then and didn't happen to have any cash on me, so they drove me over there in the cop car to pay for it!!
I told the cop the whole story and I guess he believed me, cause he seemed like he got a good laugh out of it. So when I walked into the store to pay for it I told the clerk I was really sorry, and I couldn't believe I did that, laughing at myself. She was not in a joking mood I guess, just rang it up real snotty like.
Obviously they didn't tolerate shoplifters there, I mean really, call the cops and make them investigate a $1.50 magazine like I'm a serial killer or something.

All was well, it didn't even go on my record or anything, so my shoplifting was never really official, but I did learn what was free and what was not. I also have to admit, it took me years to be able to pick up those free books in the grocery store.

Uh, oh!

I forgot to feed the fish this morning. If you know about my gardening skills (or lack therof) this would come of no suprise. It also ranks up there with why I don't pay the bills. I have a lot on my mind, so little things like feeding the fish are on the bottom of the list. Seth told me a couple of days ago that feeding would be my responsibility. This came after a few days of me asking him if he had fed the fish, to find out if I should feed them. So that was it, it's now my responsibility. I'm really going to work at this.

When I got home from work I went to check my e-mail on the computer in the den. It happens to be right next to the fish tank. I didn't notice anything at that point because the light was off. Seth doesn't turn the light on and leave it, the water is a tad bit cloudy and he just thinks it looks horrible. This is my area too, and we've already had a few discussions about getting something to take care of that. Anyway, back to the original subject. I went about my normal stuff after checking my e-mail, making lunch, dealing with whiny, fussy, sleepy kids. I got Rylie down for a nap, and in the process, I made myself rather tired. So I decided to take a little nap too. (I can blame it on being up at 6 am, and then working in the 90 degree heat, inside a vehicle that's actually 10 degrees hotter than outside, even with the fan blowing.) I woke up from my nap, and went to check my e-mail again. This time I decided to turn on the light. There was a dead crab laying almost upside down a the bottom of the tank. I said "Uh-oh! This crab doesn't look so good." Seth proceded to fill me in on the fact that the angelfish had been chasing him around all day. So it was labeled a homicide and determined that the murderer was the angelfish.

I must say that it was probably my fault. I know forgetting one time isn't going to starve them enough to prey on the others, but I have a feeling it was just overall underfeeding. I thought I was feeding them enough because it seemed like I was putting tons of food in there, but after inspecting the fins of the angelfish, it looks like he's not the only one that's hungry. This is actually our second fatality in the tank. The first was the little tiny plecostemus that the lady in the store insisted would ne the right size when full grown. I should have listened to my gut and gotten a bigger one. She promised that if I got the bigger one it would outgrow my tank. Well, better to outgrow the tank in a few years than get eaten by the bigger fish (or crabs). I'm really going to try to remember to feed these little guys. Maybe I'll check into some kind of automatic fish feeder.....

So Silly!

We are finally getting to a point where it seems like the kids will play well together. For the last few months they've been taking baths together. Why is it that when your 3-year-old is outside of the bath tub, he starts crying hysterically if your 1 year old gets too close, but if they are in the bath tub than she can climb all over him and it's just fine? Tonight after our very early dinner (4 pm) they were playing and laughing and having such a good time for almost an hour and a half. At one point Rylie was laughing so hard because Hunter was "tickling" her. He doesn't really know how to tickle, he just moves his fingers back and forth close to her tummy, but she laughed anyway. Then I decided it was time for a snack before bath. Hunter was eating some cheetos and Rylie was eating a cracker. I look over and Hunter is reaching way over the side of the table to give Rylie one of his cheetos, which she finally was able to get ahold of. Then he said "I gotta go potty, I'll be right back Rylie." So finally bath time. He so enjoys "washing" her hair. That's what he calls it, really he's just dumping the cup of water over her head.

It's so nice that they can play together (sometimes) and give us a break from the whining and crying that, so often, makes us wonder why we were crazy enough to think we wanted to have kids in the first place.

A new look.....

I finally found a place that had some cool layouts and figured out how to change from the basic one I had. It takes me forever to do things like this, because I'm way more interested in reading other people's blogs than I am about changing my own. However, I was browsing blogs and found one with a really cool flower blossom and at the top there was a link to this website to find other layouts.

Among some of the blogs I have been checking out was one of a young couple living in Hong Kong from New York. I don't know why, but it interested me. It's just about their daily life, and what they've seen and done over there. I guess it's interesting to me because it's not really a place I'd choose to go on purpose. Nothing about it makes me have any desire to go there. It sounds like there are way too many people for the space given (I'm only a tad claustrophobic), and even the thought of eating some of the things they've tried makes my stomach turn. It's no 3rd world country but I've got to give them some credit because that's a long way from home.

In case you'd like to check it out here's the link http://thesmithsinhk.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html

The new fish tank

We've been talking about getting a fish tank for Hunter since before his birthday(yeah, a couple of months is a long time to think). The other day when I went to pick them up from daycare he spent 20 mins looking at the fish and crabs in the tank that they have out in the front room. That made up my mind, so I went this weekend and picked out one for him. I started out planning to spend less than $100. I was way off. When I started looking at smaller tanks it seemed like you were spending more money than big ones (cost per gallon-wise). So I wound up with a 29 gallon tank (with a kit), and a mission style stand. I only bought some gravel to get it set up. Monday I went and let Hunter pick out some fish. We got a ropefish(Hunter calls it his snake) an angelfish, and a betta. I also let him pick out a decoration, which was a skeleton (pirate).
Today we needed some better housing for the ropefish and also better food, since he doesn't seem to like the flakes that came in the sample packets. Since we were going to the pet store we picked up a few more fish to add to our tank. 3 tiger barbs and 2 crabs and a plecostemos. They have a 14 day return policy if the fish don't happen to be compatible. There are also some new plants to keep things interesting.
Hopefully we'll be able to keep all of the fish healthy and happy.

More dentist appts.

First, a pic of Hunter driving Rylie on his gator.

Yesterday was Hunters dentist appt. He actually got his teeth cleaned and had some xrays taken. He was very good, not scared at all. He does have 5 cavities, and needs a root canal, because they want to save the tooth. He won't be having anesthesia, so at least it won't cost quite as much.

Rylie's 1!

Rylie turned 1 on Friday! We had a party for her tonight with the family over for a barbeque. It was a lot of fun, and Rylie did so well even though she hasn't been feeling good the last couple days. I got her a Tinkerbell cake, and it looked great in her hair.

Here we go again....maybe

Poor Rylie got sick at daycare today. Then after we got home she was pretty clingy and acting tired, so I made her a bottle and went to rock her, and before we got there she threw up her lunch. They had said she had a pretty messy diaper too, and then later she had another one. She did, however, keep down the water, bagel, and toast she ate. I took her with me when I went to pick up my computer from Best Buy, and she almost fell asleep on the way home. She was really good the whole time we were out. Seth put her to bed as I was getting dinner ready, and knock on wood I haven't heard a peep from her. I hope it was just something bothering her tummy, and not strep or an ear infection. We'll see how she feels in the morning.......

As I mentioned, I picked up my computer. I'm typing on it right now, no problems as of yet. Of course they didn't find anything wrong with it. They offered to send it out to the place where they could run more extensive tests on it, but I decided to just work with it and if I start having problems again then I will do that.

I also learned something about dentists today. A pediatric dentist is better known as a pedodontist where insurance provider directories are concerned. Apparently the woman I talked to from Blue Cross didn't know that either. So I now have an appointment at a Pedodontist for Hunter on Monday the 21st. I hope he can hang on that long.

We also managed to get our plane tickets for our trip. We even got a really cheap deal. Hopefully the rest of the week will continue to go better. It would be great if Rylie was feeling better tomorrow, and I could have a chance to clean for the party on Saturday. Plus, no girl should have to be sick on her birthday!

What a day.......

Here's how the morning started. Rylie always winds up sleeping like this. She's usually a very smiley girl in the mornings, even if we have to wake her up. I hear that she takes after her momma. This is a nice break after having Hunter, who always started the morning way earlier than we really needed to, and would cry immediately if we didn't come and get him as soon as he was awake.

I hurried up to get through my route so I could get Hunter to the dentist, only to find out that the insurance person I talked to the other day gave me the number of a pediatric dr, instead of a pediatric dentist. There's a big difference! I got to the office and sat there for a minute in the waiting room, and at least I figured it out before I waited too long. I'm thinking I'll probably wind up taking him to the one that our insurance doesn't cover. It's not like the insurance pays that much anyway.

On top of that, my new laptop that is only 2 weeks old+1 day, is back at Best Buy tonight in the hands of the Geek Squad. They have a 14 day return policy on computers. So since I'm 1 day past they have to diagnose the problem and possibly have to send it off to some more qualified people if they can't find out what's wrong. It's very disappointing to have a brand new computer with problems. I know it's not an operational problem, I'm no idiot when it comes to computers, and when you turn it on and the keyboard just doesn't work, there's a problem. Let's hope it's a simple fix.

And here's how the evening wound down (pic below). Hunter has just about used my treadmill more than I have since I got it (I haven't had it long). He likes to get on it and walk (on the slowest setting possible). I'm not sure how he can possibly find it a fun thing to do, but he does actually stay on for 5 mins at a time. I hope I can get caught up to him, with my 30 mins a day. Speaking of which, it's that time........

I feel Horrible!

Ok, I finally took Hunter to the dentist today. I feel like the worst mother in the world. He has a bunch of cavities, and needs the equivalent of a baby root canal. He said on the way to school that his mouth hurt, and I checked out his mouth when we got there and one of his back teeth has a brown spot, and almost looks like it broke. I feel absolutely horrible. I know it's all my fault, I'm the one who does the grocery shopping (no more sweets), and he always has juice (even though it's diluted alot). Combine that with how hard it is to remember to have him brush his teeth (let alone me remembering my own) and the fact that he grazes all afternoon. Just a combination for disaster. It's going to cost a pretty penny to get it all fixed. They are going to put him under to do it, so at least he won't have to suffer too much. I think it would be worse for him to be awake and drugged. I know one thing for sure, Rylie is not having juice at all for a good long while. I'm just getting her off a bottle, and the only thing she's getting is milk and water. And I'm going force myself to remember to brush their teeth, even if I have to do it while they sleep.

It's been a long day, I had to leave work to take him to the dentist, and then go back to finish. Seth had the day off and he went too. Hiunter did really well for his exam though, had to have 3 xrays cause it's hard to get the little biter thing in there. He always does really good at the dr office, so I wasn't too surpised. I'm glad Seth was there though too, he was able to keep him distracted while we waited for the dr.

Obsession

Hunter recently (about 2 months ago) developed a liking of Spiderman. Since he's only 3 it's really the first time he's had a specific thing he likes. He's had general preferences, sure, but nothing where you could say "look Hunter__" and expect him to really care, (except candy of course). So sometime in the last couple of months, he expressed an interest in Spiderman. We thought this was really cute. So one day I took him to the store with me, and I thought he'd really like to watch the Spiderman movie. Well, what's better than buying the DVD for $20? Buying all 3 DVDs for $30, of course. Since then we've seen all 3 movies more times than I could begin to count.

Hunter started running around the house pretending to be Spiderman. It's really rather funny because he goes up to the wall and acts like he's going to climb it. For Easter Hunter got a Spiderman costume. The first day he had that thing on and off about 50 times. Of course he can't do it himself, so he has to bring it to one of us to put it on. At least he didn't insist on wearing it out of the house. We explained to him that Spidey stays home, and that seemed to work. We're finally down to putting it on only a couple of times a day. Hey, at least we're already set for Halloween!

Our baby turns 1!

Well, in less then a week Rylie will be one year old. She's walking all over the place. I've almost got her off of formula, and they are transitioning her to the toddler room at daycare. Pretty soon she'll be driving, wah!!!!