Bowls Buckets and Baskets

For some reason in our house, it is funny to put bowls and buckets on your head.  I am not really sure why.

Some day C will seek revenge on S.  And yes, we put our children in boxes to entertain them.

Even daddy gets in on the fun!

Recipe of the Week

Blueberry Muffins with AWESOME TOPS!!

I don't get it

I am not the perfect mommy.  I have never claimed to be nor will I ever claim to be.  To be perfectly honest, I am just making it up as I go along.  Nearly every day, I come across a situation where I think, "and now what the heck am I supposed to do?"  For example, S is going through this independent streak where he was to "do dis (this)" all by himself.  Wednesday, for example, we left the house with him wearing his coat backwards because he insisted on putting it on by himself.

I do draw the line, obviously, he can not make his own pancake in the morning and he can not (God help us all) drive the van to the doctor himself while mommy sits in his car seat.  Yes, he wanted to drive himself this morning.  Oh dear.  Anyway, I am not the perfect parent.  I make mistakes, I occasionally give in and let him have another cookie, even if it will spoil his supper.  I let him jump on the bed, I let him watch cartoons and yes, we do go a few too many days without bathing him sometimes, but overall, I think I am doing an OK job.

Baby Einsteins

So, the point of this rambling?  Well, maybe I don't have a point (I rarely do).  I just want to point out my observations on a trip to the store on Wednesday.  In fear of hearing a lecture, I will call this store Floormart.  (OK, that was kind of witty, floor instead of wall.  I really need to get out more if this is the most funny thing I have said all week, well all year).  Anyway, here are my observations:

1.  Walmart, whoops, I mean Floormart has kids hats for $1.00, for the love of God people, BUY YOUR KID A HAT!  WE LIVE IN NEBRASKA, IT IS COLD HERE!

2.  Also, Floormart sells cheap car seats for $20.00, yes, $20.00.  I realize that is a lot of money for some people, but when you have a cart load of beer, I am pretty sure you can spare $20.00 instead of letting your kid run around the van while you are driving.  Also, please do not let your small child lay on the dashboard while you are driving.  That is just really a stupid idea.

3.  Carrying said child to the van while smoking and blowing the smoke in her face is not a very good idea.

Ugh.  OK, I feel better.  I actually witnessed a couple doing all three of these things.  Again, I don't want to judge, but obviously these two were dropped on their heads as children.  In hindsight, I wish I would have called the cops.  So, if you are reading this and you can not afford a hat for your child, please send me a message.  I will buy you one.  If you are smoking and blowing it in your child's face, please tell me that so I can smack you.  I am not a violent person, but if the need should arise, I will rise to the occasion.

Thank you and have a nice day!

Returning to the scene of the crime

If you haven't figured it out, we live in a super small little town in the middle of no where, Nebraska, so we have to drive about 20 minutes to get to a decent sized store.  Anyway, both of our boys are involved in Kindermusik, which is in that town 20 minutes away.  C goes on one night and S goes on another.  To save a few gallons of gas, hubby and I try to schedule things on those nights to save a trip.  So, last January, hubby had his annual dental checkup.  S and I came along, as he had Kindermusik that night.  The appointment was at 4:15 and class is at 5:15.  The dentist office that we go to has a nice little play area, so I thought he would like to play while daddy was in his checkup.  All was going really well until I smelled a horrible stench.  I took S into the bathroom (as he was kicking and screaming because he wanted to keep playing).  Of course, no changing table.  So I put some paper towels on the counter by the sink and pulled his pants off.  As I got them off, poop flung EVERYWHERE!  I am not talking a little bit, but A LOT OF POOP!  Ugh.  I dug around in the diaper bag and used every single wipe I had in there.  I then started wetting down paper towels to keep cleaning.  By this time, there was poop on the mirror, my coat, his socks, his shoes, his shirt, his coat, his blanket and his shirt.  I got it cleaned up the best I could, looked in the diaper bag and realized I had no spare clothes.  I looked at this horribly smelly nasty child, who was by this time laughing hysterically and wondered, what do I do?  I had to go back into the waiting room to get my keys, which I idiotically left on the chair.  So, I carried this naked baby, wrapped in my poop covered coat back into the waiting room.  It reeked in the waiting room and there was poop on the floor and the chair he had been sitting on.  He immediately saw the play area and FREAKED out because he wanted to play.  I told the receptionist to tell my husband that I would be in the car.  I used the clean part of my coat to clean the chair and the floor.  I wanted to cry, but instead, I was laughing until I cried.  Well, on top of all of this, it was snowing and freezing out, to I turned the car on and blasted the heater as high as it could possibly go while my baby sat in the back seat naked having a great time.  To make matters worse, an old lady parked next to me and gave me a very disapproving look.  So now, I had to decide, do I wait for hubby, or do I go to Walmart and carry naked baby in and buy him clothes?  I decided to wait.  Well, our dentist happens to be a friend of ours and hubby was his last appointment for the day, so they sat in there and chit-chatted FOREVER about drums or something.  By the time he got the car, I was sweating profusely because the heater was so frickin hot!

Moral of the story, I now keep spare wipes and clothes in the car.

Hubby has another check up today, so we are returning to the scene of the crime, with not just one child, but two.  Lord, help me.

Yummy!!

A friend on facebook has resolved to try a new recipe once a week this year.  I stole your idea Michelle!

Here are the ones I have tried so far:

Vinagrette Grazed Carrots

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Water...in there!

S came into the family room today with water all over his head.  I was about ready to lecture him about playing in the sink, when he goes, "no mom, water in there!" and pointed to the laundry room.  My next thought was, great, he knows how to turn the washer on now.  But no, the water he was referring to was the water coming out of the ceiling.  Yes, the ceiling.  Just great.  There is a huge ice dam on the roof and the water is backing up and running into the attic and running through the ceiling.  That is awesome.  Luckily, I was able to get ahold of someone to come over and help hubby break the dam down.  We had to drill holes in the ceiling to help the rest of the water drain.  So now, we have a water stained ceiling and holes all over.  It is very classy.  I guess we get to spend money on a new roof this summer.  I think I would rather go on vacation.  Moral of the story, being a grown up is not so much fun sometimes.  Sometimes I wish I could go back to the day that my parents had to worry about all of this stuff and all I had to worry about was what I was going to play with.  But then again, when I was little, I couldn't eat Reese's Pieces for a bedtime snack, well, truth be told, for supper too!  :-)

Ahh...the warmth!

Yesterday, I mentioned my trip to Hawaii.  Since it is beyond cold in the great state of Nebraska, I thought I would think back to that trip.  It truly was an awesome vacation!  Loved it!!  Since we did a lot, I will break it into a few blogs.  This one is by far the best part of the trip.  I think my sister and my husband would agree.  Hubby has his pilot's license.  We decided to rent a plane for an afternoon and fly around the island.  Since he isn't current, we took another pilot along.  I think his name was Jim, sometimes I wish his name was Charlie, but it wasn't, so I will continue.  (Admit it sister, you wish it was Charlie too.)  The flight was amazing!!

Ready for takeoff I guess.

We were not allowed to fly the plane.  They stuck us in the back seat.

It was like flying first class.

My beautiful sister.

I think was Diamond Head.

Me and hubby.

Gorgeous!

The valley where most of "Jurassic Park" was filmed.  Also the filming site for "50 First Dates."

Shrimp farms.

Battleships

Going in the for the landing.  Kind of looks like a video game.

It was a very small plane!

We survived.

We have another sitter!

Is that really......

I look gigantic.  The camera adds ten pounds, right?  (or 20 or 30)

Nothing makes me more proud than to see my hubby in his uniform.  I am not always a fan of him being in the National Guard, but it does have its perks.  Hubby has been in the National Guard for 12 or 13 years (can't remember for sure) and plays in the 43rd Army Band.  He was recently promoted to Sergeant.  A few summers ago, my older sister and I went to Hawaii while he was touring there for a few weeks.  We had and awesome time and ate a lot of great food.  If you know me, my life revolves around good food and eating!  :-)  Anyway, I will blog about that trip another time.  This post involves the perk that the National Guard gave us this past weekend.  Hubby's unit was invited to play at the Governor's Inaugural Ball at the Qwest Center in Omaha.  They played at one a few years ago, but this time, the spouses were invited.  I decided, why not?  Now, you have to understand, I am not a fancy person at all!  For example, right now, I am in my recliner with my hair thrown into a pony tail and I am wearing a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt.  I also have baby barf on my leg and I think the mystery fluid on my shoulder is snot, but I am not sure.  I could go change, but that would create unnecessary laundry.  I have enough of that.  Anyway, I digress.  This ball is a black tie affair.  Hubby wore his Dress Blues (which I might add make him look super handsome).  What the heck was I going to wear?  OH YEA!!!  MY BLACK DRESS!!  If you haven't read my black dress saga, you should read it.  Anyway, I decided on the black dress and my clearance black dress shoes.  I also sprung for some $5.00 earrings at Target.  After I decided on the black dress (as if I had anything else to pick from), I realized I do not have a black purse.  Ugh.  I usually just carry a diaper bag!  Oh well, I carried a brown one.  Looked awful, but who cares, right?  OK, so we get to the ball and I decided to change in the bathroom because we had to be there super early.  Well, I snagged my dang panty hose within 30 seconds of putting them on.  I sprayed a ton of hair spray on them so they would stick to my leg (which were shaven - huge shocker, I know!).  After I sprayed them, I realized, "crap, I can't go to the bathroom all night now."  I went out into the lobby area and waited for one of the other wives who I was going to sit by.  While out there, I was chatting with a lady who asked me where I got my dress.  I wanted to badly to shout out some fancy boutique or designer, but I didn't even know any and the truth came out.  "JCPenny's."  I believe she was not impressed.  Oh well.  Once Kindra arrived, we went into the reception area and had a glass of wine.  After half the glass, the room started spinning and I felt like I might either burst into uncontrollable laughter or I would tip over.  I am not a drinker at all.  I could handle it back in the day, but I am obviously too old for that now.  We went and found our table and were sitting by very nice people.  Very interesting people who had much more exciting lives than I, but it was still fun.  The food was fantastic!  I told Kindra it was like the meals you see on Food Network.  Check out the cake that was part of the dessert:

Did I mention how not fancy I am?  :-)  After the meal, we got to meet up with our hubbies and watch the rest of the program.  After the speakers, there was a dance.  So hubby and I decided to share a dance.  The band (who was awesome) played "At Last," which was the song that hubby and I had as our first dance at our wedding.  It was perfect!  We were dancing on a very crowded dance floor.  As I was looking around, I wasn't sure who all of the people were, but they sure looked important.  Well, in the middle of the song, I backed into someone and turned around to apologize.  Yep, it was Warren Buffet.  Yep, I literally plowed into Warren Buffet on a dance floor.  Geez.  I am so graceful.  I wanted to say something, but what do you say to the one of richest people on the planet?  So I just giggled like an idiot.  I am so not fancy.

The First Lady

Aren't they a great couple?

My wonderful hubby and I.

Governor Heinemann

Hubby on the big screen.

God Speed!

I requested this earlier, but again, please keep my brother in law and my sister in your prayers!  His deployment ceremony was last week.

Clutter is my nemesis

I HATE CLUTTER!  Unnecessary clutter in my house makes me nervous.  No joke, it actually raises my heart rate and makes me crazy.  My kitchen, for example only has the following things on the counter:  my NuWave Oven (only because it is heavy and I use it several times a week), a jar with spices in it, and the phone (which I wish was hanging on the wall, but it doesn't).  I got my hubby on board this morning.  We went through our giant walk in closet this morning and cleaned.  We got rid of four trash bags of clothes and bags and threw about three bags away.  I can only imagine that this is what it feels like to be high.  I just want to go into my closet and sit on the floor and admire the cleanliness of it!  Is that weird?  I think it probably is, but I guess that's OK, because I am kind of weird.  I mean, I am blogging about a closet.

Next on the cleaning agenda is (insert huge gasp here), the toys and the boys' closets.  I feel like I may have a nervous breakdown before that is complete!  I am thinking they will need to be shipped off to grandma's house when we do this one.  We got rid of half of a garbage bag in the family room alone.  I don't know where we stored all this junk, because generally, my house is pretty clean.  I feel bad getting rid of toys, but good Lord, we have enough toys to give one to every child in a small country.  Really, how many plastic hammers does one kid need?  Well, mine had nine, that's right, you read it correctly, nine plastic hammers.  Insane I tell you.  Does anyone have any creative ideas on what to do with the toys we get rid of?  I thought about having a garage sale, but let's just face it, I am WAY to lazy to drag all of that crap out to my garage, price it and sell it to make a hundred bucks!  :)

Anyway, I better keep cleaning!

"Mommy of the Year"

If there was a "Mommy of the Year" Award, I would win it.  This afternoon, my mom called and wanted S to come over and play.  I loaded him up in the van with his snow pants, winter coat, hat and mittens.  I must add that the temperature is hovering around zero here tonight.  I threw him in his car seat (I know, they aren't supposed to wear their coats in the car seat, and strangely, he very rarely does, but today, he did, thank God!)  Anyway, I buckled him in and threw his two bags in the front seat with me.  I got to my parent's house and grabbed the bags, and left the key in the ignition because I didn't plan on staying very long.  I must have hit the lock with the bags, because guess what?  I went to open the back door to the van and it was locked.  Great.  Now what the heck do I do?  I stood there in a panic for a little bit, then ran in and yelled at my mom.  My dad came home shortly and I sent him to our house to get the spare key.  In the mean time, Sp thought this was hilarious because my mom and I were running around the van playing peek with him.  When he was tired of that, we threw snow balls at the van.  When my dad got home, we got him out of the van and he got kind of upset because he wanted to play peek more.  I am officially an idiot.  I can't believe I did that!  Thank God he was bundled up and he didn't panic!  It made me wonder, have any of you ever done anything stupid like this?  Not even necessarily with kids, just something dumb?  Come on, tell me, it will make me feel better!!  :)