Going Bananas

for banana pudding.

(even pretty upside down)

1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups milk
1 (3 oz.) box vanilla instant pudding
1 (16 oz.) tub Cool Whip, thawed and seperated
1 box vanilla wafers
4-5 bananas, sliced

Mix the first three ingredients until smooth. Fold in 12 oz. of Cool Whip. Layer wafers, pudding mixture and bananas. Top with remaining Cool Whip. Keep refrigerated.

*note-It is best when made ahead of time.

Dusting off my domestic side

Last week when I dropped the boys off at preschool, I passed by all these cute young moms that had their children all dolled up and had cute little nap mats for their little ones. My poor boys rested on sticky vinyl mats that day. I promised myself that the next time they went to school they would have their very own cuddly nap mats. I had to pull out my dinosaur of a sewing machine and reintroduce myself. I haven't had time for crafting or anything domestic in a long time. I was surprised I still had it in me.

I picked the boys up this afternoon to find out that neither of them took a nap.

Don't they know I made those cute nap mats for sleeping?!

Silence is Golden

Today Hilton and Jackson started preschool.

They loved it! I loved it!

Jim was at work, the girls were in school, now the boys were too. I was all alone for the first time in years. I had eight loads of laundry waiting for me and I looked forward to knocking it out without being pulled into all sorts of directions. Instead, I curled up on the couch and watched mindless shows (my mindless shows) in the silence of the house. The eight loads of laundry are still waiting for me in their baskets-just more wrinkled than this morning. Next week, I have big plans to tackle the closets. Unless, something more fun comes along. :)

Momma's Boy

Who won't say, "Momma"

(at least for me)

Jackson has a growing vocabulary, but I have never heard him say Momma. Never. Jim and the girls say he says it while I am away calling for me while he is looking for me. I think he won't say it for me because he is stubborn. And, he knows that I really really want to hear him say it.

Jackson ♥s his blankie and ♥s his binkie. He carries his favorite stuffed toys around with him all day to protect them from his older brother the Hiltonator. ☺

Not in the swing of things

This week the girls went back to school. I have been limping along all week. I am not a morning person. Unless you consider going to bed around 2 a.m. every night a morning person. I transitioned the kids into going to bed earlier. I should have transitioned myself.

I wanted to post on how clothes shopping this year was a disappointment, and that I still am not done with that. I wanted to post that my oldest daughter is in junior high now, and that scares me. I wanted to post how I cried when I dropped off my fourth grader. I do this every year. Why?! I wanted to post how I went back to work as a sub bus driver and the 5:30 a.m. clock-in feels like torture.

BUT. I am just too tired.

I'm not too tired to post first day of school photos of the girls.

I hope everyone had a great first week of school!

This is what I was afraid of-

Little boys.

We tried to child proof our home and the boys find ways to get past them.

We put plug covers on all of the electrical outlets only to see Jackson toddling around sucking on them. Not their intended purpose.

The child locks for cabinets/drawers-the boys double teamed the drawer and hung on it until the drawer front ripped off.

The door knob covers worked-for awhile. Hilton would spend hours trying to work the knobs. Finally, he realized that if he hung on the door knob long enough the door would pop open. After finding him coloring with Sharpies in the girls' room, we knew we had to step up our game. Jim removed the door knobs and replaced them with knobs that can lock. We told the girls that they need to always lock doors behind them and carry a coin around with them. A few days after installing them, we found Hilton getting into the rooms again. How was he doing this?! I quietly followed him around the corner to see him get into the laundry room. I have a pile of coins that I pull out of pockets during laundry. Hilton picked up a coin, unlocked the girls' room, and then put the coin back. He was so upset when he saw that he was caught!

Next we saw him carrying around his fan.

We thought it was crazy until we saw why.

He opens doors with the plug.
See the toothbrush in Jackson's mouth? How did he get that out?

Child proofing is tiring!

What is YOUR vote?

I took my girls to the mall for some pre-back-to-school shopping. Ever since Easter, my girls have been begging for these wedges.

What do you think?

Would you let your 11 & 10 year old daughters wear these shoes?

McKenzie wears a women's size 8 1/2-9 shoe. Kaylee wears an 8. It is hard to find shoes for them that look like their age.

Please leave us a comment and let us know what you think. I told them I would let the comments determine if they get these shoes.

McKenzie wants everyone to know that this is not her only outfit.

She has worn this outfit in 2 other photos on our blog. Just a lucky coincidence. :)

As Seen On TV

I suffer from insomnia. Maybe that isn't the right term. I sleep best from 2 a.m. to 10 a.m. It is after 2 right now. I have just finished watering the yard, I have a load of laundry in the washer, and a movie is playing in the background. Usually there is nothing on t.v. at this time and I find myself watching brain numbing infomercials to bore myself to sleep. I recently fell for some of the sales pitches and bought a few things.

Our dish washer broke a few months ago and we didn't replace it. It was a rough month where our microwave broke (Jim was able to fix it), our stove died, and I blew a tire on the Suburban. We had to replace all of the above, but even in this modern day, we can live without a dishwasher. So I saw the infomercial for the Sham Wow.

I needed the Sham Wow. I thought of all the paper towels I would save while hand drying our dishes. The Sham Wow claims to do the work of dozens of towels saving me money and time on laundry. What I didn't take into account was that it doesn't work. Plain and simple. They also trap all sorts of fuzz, lint, dirt, etc. in the fibers. I wouldn't dry my clean dishes with a towel that never gets clean. So, save your money and pass on the Sham Wow.

Next was the Shark Steam Mop. With almost 2000 square feet of tile, I wear out regular mops and I was looking at making this chore easier. After my WOM (waste of money) in the Sham Wow, I did some online research. The reviews were split, but when I saw my local Wal*Mart carries it, I was sold. I could easily return it if it didn't work. I actually use this product, but the infomercial is misleading. 1) It doesn't dry that fast, and 2) It isn't effortless to remove dirt from tile. I use it regularly and it does a great job, so, give it a try if you want a $75 mop.

I can't end this post with out a shout out about my new favorite product Febreze Air Effects. I love burning candles, but with 2 toddlers, it is too dangerous. One was always trying to blow it out while the other was throwing balls at it. I found that Febreze Air Effects gives me the aroma that I love from candles and lasts quite a while. I recommend it.

Have you baught anything from an infomercial? A juicer? The Quick Chop? Bump Its? What did you think?

Our Apologies

Dear neighbors,

We apologize for letting our yard get so unruly. We were not neglecting it (although I admit it looked horrible), but we were letting it grow on purpose. As you know, it has been super hot and super dry. The longer grass required less water (we were doing our part and conserving ;D). We tried to avoid the dead brown spots that most yards have these days, but as you see, we failed. We have now cut our yard, and weeded the flower beds. We hope you can forgive us for the ugly sight.

& to our friends at church,

We apologize for the distraction our little boys create during church. We are trying to teach them reverence. We are very aware of their noise and we worry about disturbing others, but we don't want to take them out too quickly (so they play in the halls). We bought new quieter toy cars for the boys and it was a success for boy #1, failure for boy #2. We are working on it.

Love,

The Mortensen Clan

What is in a name?

I am the second daughter in a family of five girls. Our names are Colette, Jeanette (me), Annette, Lynette & Suzette. Did I grow up liking that my name rhymed with my sisters? NO. It was confusing. When Mom and Dad would get upset at us they would a) stutter out our name, or b) just get our name wrong like calling Colette Suzette (or any other combination). I longed to be named Catherine. I think I even introduced myself as Catherine a time or two when I was really young and being silly. No one would have bought it because many people knew about the "Steward Ettes." Neighbors, teachers, church members... Our town was much smaller when I was young.

As I became a mother, people would ask if I was going to rhyme my kids names and I always answered, "No." It wasn't until after I had all of my children that I realized I had unintentionally rhymed my kids names. The girl's names both end in a long E sound and both boys end in ON. The other night at Chuck E Cheese, I felt the frustration that I am sure my parents felt. I was meaning to call after McKenzie and said Kaylee and then later stuttered when I was trying to call Hilton, but meant Jackson. I had to laugh out loud at myself. I was passing it on. Maybe that is why Hilton calls both of the girls Kaylee. It bugs McKenzie so much! Sometimes she will ignore him seeing if he will call her "McKenzie." He never does. I guess there are worst things a parent could do.

Wilting

It has been hot in Houston! Being a native, I am used to hot summers, but this summer has been extreme. We have had several days of heat indexes well over 100 degrees, and tonight at 9 p.m. it was 96 degrees. Whew! Now that's hot. Our area has had no rain in over a month and I feel like googling rain dances. I hate to think of what my utility bill will look like.

We have been keeping busy here around the house doing random things. My favorite is cleaning out the closets (said with a little sarcasm). I received a little resistance from Kaylee until we watched Clean House Messiest House in America 3. Being in the house so much, the walls felt like they were closing in. It seemed only natural to sort and purge all the clutter and excess. How can these little people accumulate so much?

We have become nocturnal people. The girl's usual 9:30 p.m. bedtime has been extended to 11p.m. I enjoy it because I get the chance to sleep in, and Jim enjoys it because the house is quiet while he gets a few hours of work done (before children wake up). I love the lazy days of summer!

From colic to character

Jackson is 17 months old now. His first year was full of crying (and yes, some of it was mine), but he has become a little character. We have found him to be a funny little guy, and now he has us all laughing. This morning he was entertaining us all while he was entertaining himself.

Look at his fuzzy hair. It has a mind of it's own.

School's OUT Summer's IN

School has been out for a week now. I am not used to having the girls home and I'm behind in posting.

The girls had a wonderful year this year in school. Kaylee was in the 3rd grade, and she did great. It is amazing what good teachers can do. Kaylee has had a few teachers that were not good matches for her and it showed in everything from her feelings towards school to her grades. We are so thankful for her fabulous teachers this year and all their hard work!

Kaylee has always been very social. These are her closest friends. They are a happy bunch of kids.

McKenzie is done with elementary school. She is looking forward to junior high. I am not looking forward to having a child in junior high.

McKenzie was in the same class as CJ her cousin this year. I worried that it might not be a good idea, but it ended up great. The two of them have a bond and great friendship.

Summer is official here in our house. I have heard, "I'm bored" several times. I always meet it with the same response, "Well, you could do the laundry, or clean the bathroom..." So far it has cured all boredom. :)

Welcome

This is my blog. I enjoy the fact that people visit my blog. I'm sure I don't know everyone that visits my blog, and that's okay. Because of this, I have been hesitant to post some of my personal feelings. When Jim was laid off, I posted about it right away. We didn't know what the future would hold, and we didn't know how hard this journey would be. Two years before Jim was laid off, they laid off a boss of his. I am a realist and saw this as a sign. The company didn't want their employees panicking so they told a story. I didn't buy it. We began to tighten the budget and tried to save money. It was hard seeing that we also added two children to our family during this time. Even though I feel we were preparing financially, there is no way to prepare yourself mentally unless you have been through it yourself. Emotions are on a roller coaster riding up and down and at a fast pace. Jim can be up and I can be down and vice versa. One day I think I have strong faith and the next I find myself pleading just to hang onto hope. While up in the middle of the night, I found this video that gave me hope, and let me know that my prayers are heard.

Two years ago, when Jim's boss was let go, I thought Jim needed to have a plan B. Six months before Jim lost his job, he had the same impressions. Jim enrolled in classes to become a state certified professional property inspector. He would work all day, and study until the wee hours. When he lost his job, he put it all to the side. To find a job. His new job was trying to find a job. It was a full time job in itself. Finally, it came to us that Jim needed to finish his state certification and work for himself. It is a huge leap of faith. Faith in the economy. Faith in Jim. Faith in Heavenly Father. I will say that Jim loved his job with Pulte Homes. One of the things Jim did for Pulte was inspect homes. His eight years of experience made this a logical leap for us.

Our Sunday's paper had an interesting article on Life after the layoff.

It was the front page of the business section. Our story could have been one of them. We are adapting and reinventing our path to create a future that we pray will be profitable. Jim has been able to do many home inspections so far and enjoys the work. We see the answers to our prayers, and we are grateful.

By the way-If you or anyone you know of are buying or selling your home, Jim is an excellent home inspector!

Give us a call! :)

Sugar Rush

Tonight ends the sugar rush in our house. It started last Monday, when I made a cake for a client. I sold the cake, but we had the tops left over from leveling the layers and leftover icing.

Hilton was so upset that he couldn't eat the cake. As a two year old, it was more than he could understand.

I love the picture with Jackson in it. It is as if he was saying, "What's the big deal?!"

Wednesday, was McKenzie's birthday and I made four dozen cupcakes. Two dozen went to school with her and the other two went to a church activity with her later that night. This time, we had extras to share with Hilton. :) Saturday, McKenzie had a close friend over. They have birthdays close together and celebrated by making tie dyed cupcakes. (Cute idea and I recommend it to those wanting an easy and fun birthday cake.)

Jim was checking on the sleeping kids before we went to bed last night. Jim bent down to give Hilton a kiss, and while talking in his sleep Hilton asked, "Dad, can I have a cup-a-cake?" Sweet dreams child.

Tonight, we had my family over to celebrate McKenzie's birthday. The final cake.

It was a sweet week!

Eleven Years Ago

I became a mother. Today is McKenzie's 11th birthday. In some ways I can't believe it, and in some ways I am surprised that she's only 11. I dreamed of being a mom since I was little and McKenzie is a dream daughter.

Happy Birthday 'Kenzie

p.s. My mother will be soooo happy that I have posted something new. Something more than me being a pessimist. She has also informed me that I am a realist, not a pessimist. I like the sound of that. :)

I am what I am.

I am a pessimist. Not an optimist. I am married to an optimist. I think he may enjoy life more as an optimist. I have tried to be an optimist, but the pessimist in me is too strong. I think I was born a pessimist. Sometimes, I think it serves me well. Others, I think it makes me depressed. I do think that I am a cup is half full type. I am able to see the blessings in things, and sometimes that blessing is that I'm a pessimist.

So what are you? An optimist? Pessimist? Half full? Half empty?

I Love Texas!

For so many reasons.

The weather here has been beautiful. We had rainstorms earlier this week and then the clear blue skies rolled in. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to take the kids out and look at the bluebonnets and take some photos. The skies were so brilliantly blue and the sun was shining. Made for a perfect day, but it will have to live on in our minds. Our photos didn't turn out very well. I will share them anyway. :)

The local news caught us taking pictures of the kids and we were featured on the 9 o'clock news.

UPDATE: Thanks for all of the compliments on the photos. We took over 100 and these are the only ones that turned out decent. I had to play with them on flickr for a long time to get these to look like this. Thanks ladies. :)

DVR Therapy

I had a bad day today. I am sure we all have these kinds of days. The kind where someone upsets you, but you were raised that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. I have bit my tongue till it nearly fell off. When I have days like this, I watch People's Court with Judge Marilyn Milian. I set this show up to record on my DVR for days just like today. I watch it because Judge Milian is a Cuban-American judge that let's the bad guy have it. I will often yell along with her at the idiots on t.v. They can't hear me, but it's my therapy. Something about the wrongs being righted and watching the bad guy getting theirs. It helps that she is a fiesty woman that speaks her mind, not censoring herself to protect people's feelings. Although I will admit, it is time she gets some new catch phrases. I'm just sayin'. On frustrating days like today, I watch 2 episodes. It's cheap therapy.

Sometimes I Surprise Myself

We are back from camping, and I survived. I even enjoyed myself! Shock! I should have counted how many times others said, "I'm just so surprised you're having a good time." I would have been offended, but I was surprised myself.

We went to Lake Sommerville, Texas and had the most beautiful spot. We got a site right by the water. We had beautiful weather the whole time.

A fun time was had by all.

Pass the Potatoes

We have a favorite side dish. Tonight it was the only dish.

Hope you try it and enjoy it as much as we do.

Roasted Red Potatoes with Bacon and Cheese

2 lb. small red potatoes quartered

1/2 cup Ranch dressing

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese-divided

1/4 cup real bacon bit pieces

1 Tbsp. chopped parsley

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Dash of salt and pepper, or salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix potatoes, ranch dressing, garlic, and parsley. Mix in half of the shredded cheese.

Spoon into lightly greased 9x13 dish. Add remaining cheese and bacon to top. Cover with foil.

Bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil; bake an additional 15 minutes or until tender.

Jackson ate as much as Jim did tonight.

I feel as if it was almost the Last Supper. We are going camping for the next few days and I don't camp. Me in the open outdoors with 2 babies-Wish me luck!

13 Years of Wedded Bliss

Today Jim and I celebrate our 13th anniversary. Last night I made the comment that, "It's been 13 long years." Jim responded, "You make it sound like a prison sentence!" Guilty. And I'm happy to serve the longer than life sentence. :) I am going to go and enjoy the brownies McKenzie made us. Cheesecake brownies. A bit for Jim (cheesecake) and a bit for me (chocolate of course). Looks like we have another baker in the family.

A year and a half ago, I was tagged about my marriage. Here it is again for my new readers-

Jim & Jeanette

What is his name? Jim (not James)

How long have you been together? 12 years this November

How long did you date? 3 1/2 months

How old is he? 35 on December 4

Who eats more? Me, but to be fair I am eating for two!

Who said I love you 1st? Jim. He said I love you on our second date. Bold baby bold. I knew I loved him too.

Who is taller? Jim thank goodness! Jim began writing me while I was on my mission for our church. We hadn't seen each other and he described himself as over 6 feet tall. I stand over 5' 10" & have heard the "Oh, he's over 6 feet" before about other guys only to find out I was taller. When I began having feelings for him, I asked my younger sister Annette (who is taller than me & around 6' tall herself) if Jim was really over 6'. She said yes-thank goodness because those feelings may not have grown otherwise. Jim is at least 3 inches taller than me and loves it when I wear high heals.

Who sings better? Jim. I love it when he sings Hootie & the Blowfish songs. Reminds me of our early days.

Who is smarter? Jim. He has a wide knowledge of facts and tidbits in that beautiful brain of his.

Whose temper is worse? That will have to be an even call. When he gets mad-he gets mad, but I can hold my own too.

Who does the laundry? ME. I did 8 loads on Monday and had to wait to fold them all until Hilton went to bed. He thinks it's a game to knock down the stacks and drag the clean laundry around. I was folding until 11:30 p.m.

Who does the dishes? Usually me, but Jim has been doing them this week. You're earning brownie points sweetie!

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Jim. He likes sleeping by the door. I thinks it's a masculine thing. If we are sleeping anywhere where the door is on the other side, Jim switches sides.

Who pays the bills? Me-yuck. I'd gladly pass on the chore.

Who mows the lawn? Me, unless I'm pregnant. Jim has been filling in for a while now with the 2 pregnancies back-to-back.

Who cooks dinner? Me and these days that consists of heating up frozen Marie Callendar dinners. The girls call them "green boxes".

Who drives when you're together? Jim. Another masculine thing.

Who is more stubborn? Another tie. It really depends on the subject.

Who is the 1st to admit when they are wrong? We are both really good about that. I always admired that my dad could admit when he was wrong and say he's sorry and I wanted that quality in my mate too. Lucky me.

Who kissed who 1st? Jim kissed me 1st, but he'll tell you I kissed him 1st. I had been living in Buffalo NY where we were having blizzards. I came home and we went on our first date, and here in TX the temp was dropping into the 50's. I walked Jim to his car at the end of our date and he said he was cold. I pulled him in for a HUG and that's when HE went in for the kiss. Bold!

Who asked who out? Jim asked me out.

Who proposed? Jim-on our second date. I told you he was bold!

Who is more sensitive? ME! Thanks to these hormones.

Who has more friends? Jim. I don't leave the house much these days. Sad for me.

Who wears the pants in the family? Jim. When I let him. He's so laid back he doesn't mind.

UPDATE: I think most of these answers still apply even though I am NOT pregnant. I hope no one missed that this was a reprint from when I was pregnant with Jackson.

Don't miss out

Heidi has a fun giveaway.

Go here for details, or just to enjoy her blog.

While the cats away...

Jim left for Colorado last Thursday. He woke up early and left that day at 5 a.m. and will be home late tomorrow. His grandmother Dorothy passed away and Jim went with his parents to her funeral and to visit family. I only had the pleasure of meeting her twice. We feel bad that we weren't able to go visit them more over the past 13 years and felt it was very important that Jim be able to attend the funeral. The first time I met grandma Dorothy was for Tamara's wedding. She was so full of life! I wish I had her energy. Somehow during her stay, she slipped and fell and was in a good bit of pain. Jim was so concerned for her and was diligent at making sure she was being taken care of. Jim and I were still newlyweds at the time, and I found this very attractive.

While Jim has been away, the kids have been going crazy. I think it was Saturday when all of the children stopped hearing my voice. The time has crawled by at a snail's pace. Hilton has had the hardest time with Jim's absence. Two weeks ago, we weaned the boys off of bottles. Hilton loved his bottle and so did I. I was guaranteed 20-30 minutes of silence when they got their bottles while they quietly drank milk. The day had to come that we got rid of the bottles and that day has come and gone. He asks for his bottle every day. I always respond, "No. The bottles have gone bye-bye." Hilton woke up Thursday morning and kept asking for Dad. I told him, "Dad's gone bye-bye." I didn't think anything of it until later when Hilton was kicking and screaming. Poor little thing. We are all looking forward to Jim coming home tomorrow!

I'm Still Here

I'm still here! I have taken a little hiatus from blogging. Reading and posting. I have missed it. So much has happened in my friend's lives. Debie had a sweet baby girl, Brigette solved the mystery, Lynette made an album, I almost missed Susan's giveaway, and even my husband posted! I have been away for about 2 weeks and I've been suffering withdrawals. Tonight, I put on my pj's, slipped into bed, logged on and began to loose myself in the wonderful world of blogging. I have missed so much.

My hiatus began while I was paying bills earlier this month. I found myself finished and covered in hives. I tried to tell myself that it was seasonal allergies, but I knew better. Jim is still unemployed and I saw money going out and little coming in. Stress. I'm feeling it. I began to physically feel the mental stress that I'm under. Everywhere I turn, bad economical forecasts. The news, the paper, the Internet, emails, friends, coworkers. Bad news following bad news. Who knew it would be this physically stressing to keep the faith?! When Jim lost his job- Jim hates it when I say he "lost his job." He has informed me that he didn't lose his job, he knows exactly where it is. It's just not his anymore. So, when Jim was laid off, we felt such a feeling of peace enter our home. That feeling is still here. It is just more work to keep that feeling here. I struggle to not let fear enter in and overcome me. I wanted to bury my head and fall asleep just to wake up and have Jim back at work and everything back to "normal". That didn't get me anywhere and hasn't helped with the hives. For now, I'm still here. Enduring this trial and trying to learn first hand the meaning of the words in 2 Timothy 7

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Now, if anyone has a cure for hives, I'm listening.

Tag

I have been tagged a few times recently. Susan tagged me with a real fun one, so here it goes-

The First Letter Of Your Name Tag.

Rules: It's harder than it looks!
Copy to your own. Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real. . .nothing made up! If the person before you had the same first initial, you must use different answers. You cannot use any word twice and you can't use your name for the boy/girl name question.


1. What is your name: Jeanette
2. A four Letter Word: jump
3. A boy's Name: Jim (of course)
4. A girl's Name: Jenny
5. An occupation: Journalist
6. A color: Jack Black (name of color I painted my ent. system, kitchen set, and headboard. See here)
7. Something you wear: Jersey
8. A food: Jell-O
9. Something found in the bathroom: Jet tub (Love mine)
10. A place: Jupiter
11. A reason for being late: Just forgot
12. Something you shout: "Just a minute!"
13. A movie title: Juno (but I haven't seen it. Heard too many mixed reviews)
14. Something you drink: Juice
15. A musical group: The Jetts
16. An animal: Jackalope
17. A street name: Juniper Lane
18. A type of car: Jaguar
19. Something scary: Jumping from a plane. (A college friend of mine died when his chute didn't open. So sad)
20. Ice cream flavor: Java Chip

I'm going to tag Heather, Lynette, and Lissa. Have fun ladies. :)

Smoooch!

most creative

Tonight, our ward had a fun family game night. There was a cake decorating contest and my families cake won the most creative. Our theme was the Candy Land board game.

This was my first attempt at sculpting with fondant.

I sculpted him to look like this-

We had a great time making the cake & Jim and I will have a great time spending our prize-2 tickets to the movies.

Achoo... Ouch!!!

I snore. Poor Jim has to put up with it at night and he is so sweet that many times he won't wake me to make me roll over. When Jim snores, because it is so rare, he wakes me up. Sleep is precious to me. I don't sleep well so when we both became congested with the local virus, we set out for a solution.

Have you seen these things?

We bought a small box to try out. They made us look very comical. {Sorry, no photos were taken with the strips on.} At some point during the night, Jim woke to sneeze and felt a pop in the bridge of his nose. The breathe right strip was on so tight that it broke all of the blood vessels in the bridge of his nose. Jim let me take a picture of it.

He sort of looks like he was hit square on the nose.

The moral to the story is-Yes, the strips helped us sleep without snoring. Be advised, if you are going to sneeze, you may injure yourself.

Getting Up

5:00 a.m. is too early if you ask me. I hit snooze this morning to get that extra 9 minutes of sleep. I shouldn't have. I was 5 minutes late to work. I was in a bad mood.

I found this today. I was amazed. I laughed. I cried. I was inspired.

Tomorrow, I will "Get Up" and not complain about the time of day. Or my aches. Or my pains. I will "Get UP" and be thankful for the new day.

"The driver on the bus says move on back..."

Today was my official first day back as a school bus driver. I drove the bus for 5 years and left 3 years ago to get my health in order. I didn't get my health in order, but had two little boys. I guess the break was a different type of success. :) My background has been checked, recommendations filed, fingerprints taken and scanned, and I have been drug tested all to get the "Welcome Back." As my start date approached, I was so nervous that maybe I had forgotten how to drive a bus. I had one of my old lead drivers go out with me yesterday and help me dust off my skills. I was amazed how quickly it all came back to me. I'm thinking that maybe driving my suburban has helped?! ;) I am not a morning person, so today's 5:45 a.m. clock-in was somewhat brutal. After my first official morning back, I can proudly announce that I safely delivered (about) 75 junior high students and 80 elementary students to school this morning on time & accident free!

Ladies, he's a tease.

This little man has been messing with my mind. He constantly talks about needing to go to the potty

getting my hopes up that he's ready to be potty trained. Only I am beginning to think that he has found it a huge game. I think my little two year old (27 months to be exact) finds my enthusiasm for his potty training amusing.

How can someone this cute play such a mean trick on a hopeful mother like myself?!

Our Baby is One

Happy First Birthday Baby!

Today our youngest turns one. Everyone calls Jackson "Baby" because Hilton calls him that. I wonder if we will still be calling him that when he's 12, 16, 20 or 30...? (What do you think Sugie?) I look at my little son and I know that he loves me more than any of my other children do. This little boy is truely a momma's boy. He was my worst pregnancy, worst delivery, and then he had colic-so my worst newborn. Through every step I told myself, "Because it's such a hard pregnancy, it will be an easy delivery. Okay the deliver was horrible, he will be my best baby..." I gave up on those type of thoughts because it became so depressing when he had colic and the none stop crying...Wait. I was going somewhere with this, and yes I remember that this is a birthday post about Jackson. Okay, here is where I was going before getting off track-Through all of the hard times and trials that have come with Jackson, I have learned what unconditional love really is. Little Jackson has brought stress and challenges to our whole family, but we love him so much. His laughter fills the room and fills our hearts.

Happy Birthday Jackson. May this be a better year for you.

Losses

One of the things I am missing most (other than the salary of course) is Jim's work laptop. Jim had a sweet IBM Think Pad tablet that was issued to him and sadly had to be returned when he lost his job. I loved putting the kids to bed and then snuggling up on the couch with Jim to watch tv while I would check on blogs to my heart's content. I have missed that.

On the other hand, I absolutely love having Jim around. Should I feel bad that I am so excited to be able to spend so much time with my best friend?

Peace in this Season

This morning as I was getting the girls off to school, the phone rang. I answered it quickly so it didn't wake Jim and the boys. Jim was sleeping in because he was taking today and tomorrow as vacation days. The phone was for Jim. It was his boss. Jim has been laid off. The feeling of peace has filled our home with the new news. It was shocking, and yes, devastating, but the feeling of peace has been undeniable. The future is filled with uncertainty, but our present is filled with the spirit of peace. A gift we are truly grateful for this Christmas season.

The Gentle Healer by Greg Olsen

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27

Bah Humbug No More

The last two years we haven't had a Christmas tree. Two years ago, I had just had Hilton and I was exhausted. Last year, Hilton was just over a year, and I was days from giving birth to Jackson. There was no way I was going to 1) Manage to put up a tree, or 2) Fight with Hilton to stay out of the tree. My mom said not having a tree was like giving into the Bah Humbug spirit. I didn't agree with her-until recently. I took the boys into Sam's Club, and Sam's had their trees all decked out. Hilton's eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped open. He had the most angelic look on his face. I turned to see what he was gazing at and saw the trees. I realized the beauty and awe that even children see in Christmas trees. So here it is. Our Christmas tree. Nothing fancy.

It has been redecorated many times in the past few days and I hope it makes it through the holidays. My mom was right. The house feels more like the Christmas spirit this year.

{BTW-I find myself saying "Mom was right" more and more as I grow older. :)}

I love decorating the house with Nativity sets. I have a collection of them displayed on my grandfather's piano. I added this one this year. It is a tall set at almost 20 inches tall. I love it. I absolutely love Mary and the baby Jesus.

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So, how do you decorate your tree? Before December? With your spouse? With children? All in white? With colors? With music on? With an old movie on?

What gets you in the spirit of the holidays?

Our Big Day

Yesterday, December 4th, was a busy day in our home. McKenzie had entered the school's spelling bee and was 1 of the 20 finalist that had their spell off yesterday. I kept asking her when she was going to practice and her reply was always, "Later." Later came and went, and she only practiced two times (when I made her while she exclaimed it was a new brand of child abuse). The night before the bee she was very nervous, but more so about how she was going to look. She ironed her outfit, had her hair braided to have lovely waves in it, and we painted her nails black with red flecks in them. Funny note, while painting them she wondered if Granna would approve of the color. After painting them I wondered if I would approve of them. They seem so mature in black. The spell off was smack dab at nap time for our two little terrors. And man were they little terrors! (Thanks again Mom for coming and helping me:) ) The spelling bee began, and I was so nervous. I didn't care if she got out, just not on the first word. For some reason, that's more humiliating for the kiddos and crying usually follows. Up went McKenzie, and she got it right. Again she got up, and got it right. Tick-Tock, 20 rounds, and 40 minutes later-McKenzie was the winner! I didn't hear most of it because I was in the back with the boys, but I heard them call her name as the winner and I shouted for joy. I am so proud of her.

The winner!

McKenzie and the runner up.

Her dark nails. Her lucky charms.

*******************

Yesterday, was also Jim's 36th birthday. When we were first married, he always celebrated birthday week, and took the day off work for his birthday. As time has gone by, and children have been added, sadly-birthday week is no more. It is just birthday day. When he got home from work, we celebrated by opening gifts and cards, going out to dinner and having some divine cheesecake.

Happy Birthday Jim!The birthday boy & the spelling bee winner!

The divine cheesecake

When we were first married I learned that my husband doesn't like cake. Now, he will eat it (with a big glass of ice milk), but he prefers cheesecake. So, for his birthday the first year we were together, I made him a cheesecake. He ate so much cheesecake that he had a hard time kneeling to pray that night. His stomache hurt so bad. He has learned to pace himself. I on the other hand, have struggled having the rest of that cheesecake tempting me all day in the fridge. ;)

This old dog learning new tricks

Tonight was my final class in fondant and gum paste flowers. Here is my final piece.

BTW-I am not fond of the taste of fondant. I love the finished look of it, but the taste is odd...

Feeling like a "Good Mom"

Kaylee is not a morning person. I am not a morning person. I put her on the bus twice this week in sobbing tears. As she got on the bus yesterday, I hear the driver say, "Oh my! What is wrong sweetie?" I hurry to the house not wanting to catch the bus driver's glare and "that look" like I am a horrible mom for letting Kaylee get so upset. Of course "the look" is imaginary and I am only thinking this because I feel so bad about her being upset and crying. She was upset because she forgot to make a lunch the night before while I was away at my cake decorating class. By the time we realized it, the bus was here and of course the cafeteria lunch that day was, "the most horrible meal ever Mom!" I had two sleeping babies that were both sick, so I tried to tell myself that this would be a good lesson for her. She will be more prepared next time. The hours ticked by and all I could think of was, "Three more hours and she'll be at lunch..." Finally, I made her a lunch, packed both crying boys into the car, and took her lunch to school. I dropped it off at the office and noted that her lunch was still an hour away. As I left the school, I smiled to myself and thought, "This is one of those moments when I feel like a good mom." I drove away and that feeling followed me. I imagined Kaylee's little face when they take her her lunch bag and she realizes Mom came through for her. Good feeling. Flash to five hours later, Kaylee gets off the bus and says, "I had the worst day!" Not what I thought I would hear. Come to find out, her teacher forgot to give her the lunch box and only remembered as they were cleaning up from lunch. Feeling gone. There's always tomorrow.

Hold Please

This morning I was on the phone with the insurance company. First, I was greeted by a computer asking me to say what I was calling about, then routed through several lines, and then placed on hold. The boys baby jabber was throwing off the computer (it kept picking up their voices too) and I would have to start all over, so I moved a little further from them to finish the call. By further I mean out of line of sight too. As the musac is playing, I am noticing the boys are too quite. This is what I found.

Let's examine the many things wrong with this picture.

I could go on, but I think you get the point.

Hilton wasn't concerned that I wasn't happy with the Oreo's all crunched into my carpet. He was so proud of his new garage for his cars and wanted to show it off.

Jackson was in heaven.

Shampooing the carpet just got moved up on my Things To-Do List.

20 little fingers & 20 little toes

On my "Things To-Do List" today was to cut the boys nails. I hate that chore. It's like wrestling a pig to get Jackson to sit still long enough, and then it's time to do Hilton's nails. So this morning, I bathed the boys, dressed them and turned the TV onto their shows hoping to distract them and get the chore done as quickly & painlessly as possible. I must have cut three of Jackson's nails before all the crying and jerking around started. Hilton was watching TV, but quickly ran over to me, pushed Jackson's hand away, and offered me his hand. I looked at his face and he was so brave and firm. I pulled him close and gave him a big kiss and hug. What a sweet big brother.

(This post would be even better if I had a picture of the two of them together. One of them is always crying when I attempt getting a pic. of the two of them.)

Tonight, I completed my second course in cake decorating. I learned more flowers, royal icing, and borders.

I was totally bummed that all my daisies were crushed on the ride over to class tonight. Oh well. On to course 3!

Happy Halloween Y'all

We had a ward Halloween party tonight. Chili cook off, carnival, and trunk or treat. It was a huge success! These were my contribution to the cupcake walk-

Kaylee dressed up as a Tween Socialite (attitude and all), and McKenzie dressed up as a Tween Barbie (notice the Barbie doll pose?).

I wanted Jackson to be a pumpkin, but I didn't figure in how hard it would be to paint a 9 month old's face. I was able to get the orange on and was satisfied with that.


Hilton was not happy about any of it. I wanted him to be a skeleton, but he wouldn't cooperate at all. We got one cute picture and I'm grateful for it.

I love the look on Jackson's little orange face!

I should have tested the orange paint first. It was so hard to get off. We took him to my mom's house and had her help scrub him off. I think it took 4 washes to get it off. Jackson was actually a pretty good sport about it. He was just happy to be playing with all the shiny things in Granna's bathroom.

Thanks Mom. He doesn't look like he has jaundice anymore. :)

My Sweetest Surprise

Kaylee turned 9 on October 19th. We celebrated her birthday with family, cake, and ice cream.

Nine things about Kaylee

1. She is a sweetheart. She wants everyone to be haPpY.

2. She loves movies. She will gladly watch "chick-flicks" with me (the tween kind). She loves watching shows with Jim too. Their favorites are Avatar: the Last Airbender and the Star Wars: the Clone Wars.

3. She is a confident big sister. She had practiced so long with her dolls, it was so natural for her when we had Hilton and Jackson.

4. She is not a morning person. Since kindergarten, our morning schedule is pretty much me hurrying her along making sure she doesn't miss the bus.

5. Kaylee got contacts. Since getting glasses (& wearing an eye patch) at age four, she has begged for contacts. She has shown the responsibility necessary and is doing great with them.


6. Kaylee easily gets attached. She had a dog named Chi Chi for all of 5 days, and has missed her every day since. She loved this little dog so much, but the rest of us were "allergic". I was allergic to all the poop and chasing her down the street every time the door was opened.


7. Kaylee has a fantastic memory. If you lost something and she saw it, she can find it for you. Thanks again for finding my drivers license.

8. Kaylee's favorite color is pink. I do a whole pink load of laundry where all the clothes are different shades of pink.

9. Kaylee lives in Kayleeland. In Kayleeland there are princesses, fairies, everyone is best friends, and there is no such thing as the words "No" or "now". I mean this in the kindest way possible.

HaPpY number 9 Kaylee!

Goodbye & Good Buy

Sadly, we sold Jim's truck last month. If it wouldn't have hurt Jim's feelings, I would have took a photo of Jim hanging out on the couch that night. He looked so sad, like he lost his best friend or something. Jim loved his truck and it was in great shape with really low miles, but our family out grew it. We sold the truck before we found something to replace it. After 2 1/2 weeks without a car, we bought a family car that we now comfortably fit in.

I looked at over 500 cars online and Jim spent two weeks driving all over Houston (after working a full day) and looked at over 16 vehicles. We finally found the perfect car for our family!

If you look really close, you can see Hilton "driving" the car. :)

Happy Birthday Hilton

Hip

Hip

Horray!

Today's Your

Birth*day!

Hilton turned 2 today!

Hilton is truely our little miracle.

He is our tangible evidence that our Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers.

Our family wouldn't be complete without our "Hiltonator".

Happy Birthday son.

While Mom's away-

I was icing the cake for my class and I stepped away to go to the bathroom. I was gone no more than 2 minutes. I came out of the hallway and saw this-






Immediately, I knew something was wrong and then I saw this-

I followed the trail of chocolate frosting in the carpet and found this-

I took the frosting away from Hilton and lead him kicking and screaming to the bath tub. This is what the tub looked like after-

This was for ME.

Poor little Jacksoon still cries hours on end day after day. I no longer have the girls home to give me a little break, and honestly-it's getting to me. I saw that Michael's was offering cake decorating classes and signed up. Two hours a week out of the house with no worries. Where do I sign-up? I just completed the first course and signed up for course two.

Jim walked in from work today, picked up both crying babies, and rushed me out the door to my class. Thanks honey.

The Power of Ike.

Jim had a 3 day weekend courtesy of Hurricane Ike, and now the kids are getting a weeks vacation from school from him! Jim's weekend wasn't as restful as we had hoped, but not as disastrous as it could have been. After Jim spent all day Friday helping others board up their homes, and then finally boarding up our home, we settled in to see what Ike would bring. We were blessed that we were only without power for 16 hours Fri/Sat, and then lost power again Sunday morning for 7 hours or so. Saturday morning, 2.1 million local houses were without power. My parents are still without power along with my grandfather, aunt and uncle. There are crews of over 7000 working on restoring power to more than 1.4 million in our area and estimate that it may take 3-4 weeks. Texans weren't the only ones feeling Ike, more than 1 million households and businesses in Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Ohio are without power because of strong winds associated with the storm. My sister-in-law, Juliann, lives in St. Louis and had a couple of inches of water in her basement and leaking ceilings in her bathroom, bedroom, and a closet from water thanks to h. Ike. Effects of the hurricane were also seen as far northeast as Buffalo and Albany, N.Y., where more than 60,000 people were left without power Monday morning.

Ike came blowing into Galveston, Texas with wind speeds of 110 mph. I don't know what the wind speeds were here on the west side of Houston, but it sounded intense. The only damage we had was about 3 dozen lost shingles. Jim spent most of today on the roof removing damaged shingles and replacing them. My handy man!

Driving around town, we see the damage that Ike caused and we count our blessings. We continue to pray for all of those who are still without power and who had damages due to Ike.

Three Day Weekend

Jim is taking his third 3 day weekend. Jim took the previous two weekends of vacation days, but this weekend comes courtesy of hurricane Ike. He took off early yesterday and helped friends, family and neighbors board up their windows and he will spend the rest of this morning boarding ours up. We are due to get heavy rain (which my yard needs), and high winds. I'm going to think positively and be grateful for another three day weekend with my hubby. :)

Driving Violation

Hilton, it is illegal to drive naked in the state of Texas!

A family that blogs together stays together.

With exception of Hilton and Jackson, we all have a blog in our family. McKenzie and Kaylee shared a blog until McKenzie convinced me she needed her own blog to give it her personality and thoughts. She's right. I set Kaylee up with her own blog, but she is still a little young and doesn't update it as often. McKenzie on the other hand ♥LOVES♥ her blog. She has had an opportunity to meet several young tweens and become the modern day version of pen pals. McKenzie has learned how to post links, pictures, video, etc. all on her own. She is constantly changing her background and recently designed her blog background and header by herself. Many times she would get stuck and I thought it would just be easier to call Aunt Sugie, but she persevered and figured it all out. I think she did a great job. It fits her personality to a T. Give her a visit here and see for yourself. Leave her a comment and it will make her day! Even better, if you know a tween that loves to blog, send her McKenzie's way.

Jim has a blog too and has recently opened it up to others to email him questions. He posted pictures of some of the furniture he has built and gets many visitors viewing them. Some have emailed him questions and he has gladly responded with help and ideas. So he decided to open his blog up to help others with any question they may have from building furniture, to problems they may be having with their home. I have to brag a little here, I know I'm partial, but Jim is Mr. Fix It. For the past 8 years he has worked in this field professionally, but he gets many calls from friends, relatives, and neighbors with questions and loves to share his knowledge and teach others to do it themselves. If Jim can't answer the problem, he'll lead you to someone who can. So, do you have a question for Jim? A leak in your shower, an outlet that doesn't work, want to add a phone line...Visit him here and leave him your question.

It seemed like everyone in my little family was changing their blog, and I couldn't be left out, so I changed the look of mine. I gave it a slight back-to-school look. What do you think?

Quoteable quotes

"Gray hair is God's graffiti."

-Bill Cosby

I saw this quote and it reminded me-it's time to color my hair! I have been going gray since I was 20 and coloring since I was 21. I have a theory that curly headed women gray earlier, and it shows more on my dark brown/black hair. When I was a newlywed and wearing my hair really long, I colored it and asked Jim how it looked. "Great. But you missed this section." After much neck craning I realized I had indeed miss almost all of the back of my hair. Then a few years ago, I colored my hair and finished fixing it only to have Mckenzie say, "Mom, you look like an Easter egg." Sure enough, I used a color with a blue base instead of my usual red base & it turned my hair bright purple! I wonder when will I stop coloring my hair and let myself go completely gray? Well, for now, I'm going to continue to color. In fact, that's my timer for my hair. Time to lather and rinse. Goodbye grays for now.

Back to School Shopping

WARNING: Long post to follow

***

Well, school starts in just a week so that means that we've been busy getting ready for school around our house. I have all of their school supplies-except the graph paper, but I am hoping they don't need it on the first day. My mom took the girls shopping for a preview a few weeks ago and we scheduled our shopping days for this past week. Two years ago, while I was 8 months pregnant with Hilton, my mom went along with us. I realized at that time that my girls had grown to an age where I couldn't just walk into a store and buy this and that in their sizes and be done with it. Last year, we started a new tradition of going shopping one on one. [side note: I was pregnant with Jackson then. That make two summers in a row pregnant. Crazy.] I took the girls out to dinner before hitting the mall. McKenzie had earned a free children's meal at Hasta La Pasta so that' s where we ate. FYI-It's not a family budget friendly place. My dinner was $16 for a bowl of pasta. No side salad. No side veggies. Just pasta. McKenzie's children's meal was $6 for four small fried cheese sticks. I felt like she was kinda ripped off with the dinner out part. Enough of that. We then headed out for the fun part-the shopping. McKenzie has a very specific style. She likes fitted clothes that are very trendy. She has a good way of picking out an item and then saying, "This top can go with this skirt, those shorts, and these jeans..." She is also great with money. She can add her items up and then divide them out to a must have pile, maybe, and a NO pile. Once all her purchases were made we headed over to TCBY for a yummy treat. McKenzie had never been to TCBY so that made it even more fun. Kaylee patiently waited for her turn the next night. She watched the clock all afternoon for her turn to come. Jim had planned on being home early, but a work meeting went WAY over and poor little Kaylee had to wait and wait. Once he was home, we were off. We went to our favorite local Mexican restaurant La Maria. The prices are great and the food is generously portioned and good too. I am beginning to feel a little like a restaurant critic :D Kaylee enjoys the one on one time, but she does not enjoy clothes shopping. We will pick out items and she will say, "Do I have to try it ALL on?!" "Yes, Kaylee you do to make sure it fits." She is a good sport about it though. I did have to remind her many times that once we were done we would go for ice cream. That was enough to get her through! They both came home with many cute things and are well stocked on clothes for the new year. Below is a fashion show they put on. That's a family tradition that goes way back to my younger years.

As we were eating our ice cream, I took the opportunity to tell both girls, individually, how much I love and appreciate them. This has been a hard summer. Some days, it's really horrible. Most days, we just try to survive. In an earlier post, I wrote about how Jackson had colic, and then I wrote how he had outgrown it. He did, but that just meant that he would stop crying IF HE WAS BEING HELD. I used to hear mothers talk about their child and I always thought you could just let them cry it out. Wrong. Jackson has no problem crying hours on end. I on the other hand, can't stand it. Feel free to judge me. My nerves just can't handle it, and neither can my family. McKenzie and Kaylee have had to take turns helping me with the boys. Hilton has hit the terrible two's (early), and can pitch a pretty good fit, as well as he finds destruction much more entertaining than any toys I could ever buy. Jim spent hours baby proofing our home just to find Hilton has found a way around the gadgets. Jim would find some other tool to keep Hilton out of harms way just to find that once again, Hilton has found a way around it. Now our house is true white trash fashion with duct tape on many cabinets, doors, electrical cords, light switches, and sometimes you can even find Hilton wearing the duct tape-on his diapers. You can probably figure out why. Between Jackson's constant crying and Hilton's constant trouble making, I am exhausted and have had no time to entertain my older girls. McKenzie is 10 and Kaylee is 8 1/2. It was just the four of us for so long. We had a little routine down and life moved along pretty easily. Then I had the boys. Our home turned upside down. It hasn't just changed for me, but the girls too. I explained to them that I was aware that they didn't get a say in if we had more kids or not, but it still effected them. Jim and I are proud of how the girls have handled the changes and how they have helped out. I am actually a little scared of how my day is going to be when they go back to school next week. Both girls really deserved a night out and a shopping trip. I think I enjoyed it more than they did. I actually had a chance to talk with them and had time to just relax. I am already looking forward to next year's trip!

On the really hard days, I pray for a sign that I can make it through.

At the end of the day, I get my answer.

It makes it easier to rise the next day &

hit the challenges head on.

***

Thanks McKenzie and Kaylee for all of your help. I love you.

Love, Mom

{Thanks for reading the long post. The end. }

100th

This is my 100th post!

PET peeve

Two words: DOG POOP

I mowed the yard today, and spent the entire time mad at my insensitive neighbors that let their dogs use my yard as a toilet. My neighbors don't keep up their yard, and their dogs prefer our yard. I also prefer a clean toilet to a dirty one, but this is my yard. It ticks me off that my kids can't play in our front yard because other's pets use it as a potty.

Two weeks ago, as I was getting everything ready to mow, a little dog ran into my yard to do his "business". His owner (someone visiting my neighbor) walked over and said, "He's coming to visit you." I politely replied, "As long as he is visiting me and not doing anything else." The man got upset and said, "He doesn't know where he is and what spots are appropriate to go." I tried to stay calm as I explained that I have a little one that doesn't know how to look out for the spots. I tried to add in some humor and said, "I have enough poop to deal with having two in diapers." He was totally disgusted and said, "That is enough! Yuck." He picked up his dog and walked away in a huff. At first, I felt bad that I had offended him, and then I realized that he was perfectly fine with letting his dog do his stuff in my yard, but he was disgusted that my babies go in diapers-that get thrown away in the trash.

This is a picture-less post for many reasons.

Hopefully, this post doesn't offend any readers that may be pet owners.

Read the directions

Kaylee had made herself a frozen entree for lunch yesterday. She kept asking me, "Mom, how long does this need to cook? Mom when will I know..." I finally said, "Kaylee, read the directions. You can do it." She got out the box, read the directions, popped it in the microwave. Good for her!

Four or five minutes later, I walked by and said, "Kaylee what are you doing?!"

Kaylee replies, "The box said to warm the brownie and macaroni to 140 degrees."

I tried to be calm as I said, "Well Kaylee, did you read what the 'thermometer' said?" She pulls the thermometer out of the food and says, "I thought it said 'regular'. What does 'rectal' mean?" This time I wanted to laugh out loud as I said, "It means it is the thermometer I use in your brother's butt to take his temperature!" then I followed it with, "I wouldn't eat that."

We all had a good laugh, but Kaylee. Sorry child.

****

{I always clean the thermometer really well after every use and have only used this thermometer maybe 5 times, but I still wouldn't eat anything that it touched.}

Fun in the Sun

We have been going to the pool often to stay cool in the heat. I took some photos to share-

One of the problems that we've had this summer is scheduling activities around the boys nap times. Today, we got too close to Jackson's nap time. He couldn't wait, so he laid his head down and napped right there in the pool.

Don't worry I scooped him up right after I took this picture and let him nap in the shade.

4 out of 4 stars

Last night, I went on a girls night out to dinner and a show and we saw Mamma Mia. I LOVED it! I didn't know much about the movie going into it except the fact that it was ABBA music. I love ABBA so I was excited and ended up loving the movie. What a great night. Thanks ladies.

Kids Eat Free

Does any one look at my "places to visit" on the left hand side bar? If you haven't, check out this site

(click on photo to go to the link)

I have to give thanks to Christina for this wonderful site. She has compiled a great user friendly list of local restaurants that offer free kid meals (and the nights, etc) as well as TONS of information and activities to do here on the west side of Houston, TX . Check it out!