My coolness status.... reality or fantasy?

Up until a few weeks ago I thought I was a pretty cool and hip mom, that is, until my nieces came to stay with me. That’s when I discovered my reality of cool and hip is more of a fantasy. The fact that I actually use the word “hip” should probably have been my first clue. I will say in my defense, that when Dora the Explorer, plastic jewelry, and catching frogs are the latest and greatest cool thing EVER to your kids… it’s not that hard to jump to cool status in their eyes. So you can see how I was confused.

My nieces are more into the “pre-teen” scene and I quickly caught on that I’m not. My first tip off was when they were listening to music and a song came on that I had never heard before, when I asked who the girl singing was, I was told it was Justin Bieber… ooops. Side Note: To further my point, I just had to Google Justin Bieber to find out how to spell his name. Also, I found that I couldn’t understand the words to most of the songs that were playing. I decided I couldn’t abandon my façade of being young, cool and hip… so I latched on to a few of the repetitive words and got down and boogied with the youngins. We had a fun time with lots of laughs, at my expense, of course, and in the end I was left with a headache - does that make me not cool or just old? Or both?

Later that night, I was thinking of how I should probably broaden my level of coolness to actually include things that are considered cool to the youngsters. Other than Dora, plastic jewelry and catching frogs, of course. For the record, I don’t really think catching frogs is all that cool, but sometimes ya just gotta fake it for the sake of the kid. I sure could have used my frog catching kid the other night at 1:00 o’clock in the morning, when I got up to use the restroom and almost stepped on the frog who was hopping around in front of the bathroom door. After two jumps back and a loud scream, I had to go wake up my husband (who was literally 2 feet away from me – he’s a sound sleeper) to chase down the little hopper and release him back into the wild. I’m still not sure of how the frog found its way into the house, but I do recall in the past, once at the dinner table and another time not at the dinner table having to tell Jase to get the frog out of his pocket and take it back outside. So I can only assume…

Ok, back to me trying to expand my coolness status. I want to be seen as a “cool” mom by my kids as they get older. I remember when I was a youngster, and I’m just being honest here, I never really thought of my mom as young, hip and cool, she was… mom - a grown up, who listened to the oldies, and crushed on Tom Selleck and that dude from Fall Guy. Soooo not cool in my “too cool for school” preteen years! The irony here is that now that I’m a grown-up (and a mom) I’m a fan of oldies music and I totally love ALL things 80’s (with the exception of big bangs and that Aqua Net hairspray stuff), so does that mean I won't be considered cool to my kids when they are in their preteen years? And if so, how do I change that?

As I sit here now and try to think of ways to become more cool, I'm realizing that the reason I can't come up with an answer is because I'm getting to far ahead of myself. My kids are really cool and what they like today is what they consider cool, so I only have to worry about what they think is cool at the moment. Who cares if I mistake Justin What's His Face for a girl or I can't understand the words to the latest POP song. At the moment, my coolness reality is telling my kids that our dinner was, in the words of Dora, delicioso, and wearing the pink plastic beaded necklace while I fold laundry, or giving a two-thumbs up for catching the biggest frog.

I’m pretty flexible and open to change, I mean, I spend more time watching the Disney Channel and enjoying it then I do anything else. And I know all the words to the Wizards of Waverly Place theme song, ooh and that Selena Gomez song, I Love You Like a Love Song, Baby - even though I always think, ‘what does that even mean?’ - it’s pretty catchy and I find myself singing it a lot. So maybe being a young, hip, cool mom isn't going to be as hard as I thought. I seem to be on track with being “in the now” with my kids and hopefully will be able to continue as they get older… either that or hope one day the awesomeness of the 80’s will rise again! 

Wish me luck!

Teaching Me Lessons...

Ever get the feeling God is testing you or rather teaching you, but you just can’t figure out what the lesson is? I’ve always been pretty good about reading things. I’m smart, quick-witted, have common sense, perceptive, great sense of humor – not to toot my own horn… ok, I’m totally tooting my own horn. My point is, at life I can think inside the box and I can think outside of the box, but when it comes to “hearing” God direct me… let’s just say I struggle a bit. I need HUGE neon signs!

Every morning when I say my prayers, I mostly pray the same thing… keep me & the family safe, help us make good choices and forgive us because we will slip up, be with those who need healing, and please lean a little more on Jase about making good choices. In retrospect, that last request is probably where I’m going wrong.

Sidenote: I remember my dad telling me one time that I should be careful when praying for patience, because I might not like how God answers me. Meaning He won’t just give me patience, He will “teach” me patience – yeah, it was then that I made a mental note to NEVER pray for patience. I’m soooo not a patience kinda person; in fact, you would be just in saying I’m extremely impatient, so I couldn’t see myself doing well at that particular lesson.

Jase is a great kid and I have to admit there haven’t been any Jase-catastrophes in a while (knock on wood). This is good, because I have had more than plenty of those in the past 7 years. Like when he poured the lawn chemical that had the skull & crossbones and the word “danger” in all caps on it into the dog kennels (with the dogs in the kennels), or when he was two and managed to open a red juice bottle and pour it on his me-maw’s white carpet, or when he locked himself in the upstairs bonus room, turned the wet bar sink on, and flooded the room (after that we had the wet bar removed), or when he climbed out his second story bedroom window onto the metal roof and was coaxing his little sister out as well, or even when he was in kindergarten and pulled his pants down in the lunch room and mooned everyone. You get the picture, right? I remember getting so mad at him when he would do things like that, but after the dust would settle I would always shake my head and chuckle. I think of how boring my life would be without my Jase. The kid keeps me on my toes and teaches me daily how to be a good parent.

Bryce and Sophie are just as great as Jase, and though they aren’t as extreme as Jase can be, they have their “make-momma-pull-out-her-hair” moments, too. Bryce is very sweet and kindhearted, but she has a tendency to have a smart mouth, talk back, and be extremely demanding and dramatic. Man, that’s one big lesson I’ve learned as a parent… up until this past year, I thought those were traits that came with being a teenage girl. Obviously, little girls start channeling their inner-teen around the age of four (or at least Bryce did).  Sophie is loving, funny and so darn cute, BUT she IS a two year old…need I say more? I’ve learned that when the dog goes missing to check the pantry, because that’s Sophie’s favorite place to “hide” him. I can already tell that once she masters the art of masking her “guilty” look, I’m going to have to really keep my eye on her… sneaky, that one is.

Being a parent is a “learn as you go” process and I have to remind myself that just as my kids are learning how to survive & grow in this world, as a parent, so am I. I have to let go of the notion of needing my kids to “make good choices” in order to continue to grow into a good person, and if I'm being honest... to make my life easier. It’s not supposed to be easy, you don’t grow & learn from easy, it’s the challenges that make us smarter, quicker, and to put it frankly… just better. I’m not sure what this lesson is that God is teaching me, maybe it’s patience, because even though I refuse to pray for it – He knows that’s just what I need.

So tonight when I pray, it will be one simple sentence… “Thank you for the lessons that came from these three amazing kids today”.

You Gotta Read This - Trust Me You'll Love It!... Trylle Trilogy

A great book, to me, is one where I actually care for the main character or characters, I feel connected to them in some way. I experience the story and not just read it. Some books are just a good story or a good suspense that keeps you reading to find out how it ends, I call those “good” books. But a “great” book is where I find myself loving the story, anxious to know what happens next, and absolutely loving the characters to the point of wishing they were real and I could hang with them. A “good” book I will read and put it away, but a “great” book I will read over and over again. Which brings me to my next book review, The Trylle Trilogy by Amanda Hocking!

I stumbled upon Amanda Hocking through a book recommended to me by amazon.com. The Trylle Trilogy sounded like something different from what I had read before, and since my motto is – Give It A Chance, I decided to do just that and I read it. That is when I became a HUGE Amanda Hocking fan. I have read all of her books and her blog - I love them all. I hope I can sway you into the world of Amanda Hocking, too – trust me, you’ll love it!

The Trylle Trilogy by Amanda Hocking – Switched, Torn, and Ascend

This series is an ebook, but I believe paperback versions are available if not through Amazon.com then go to www.amandahocking.blogspot.com to order. (click on the link to her blog found on the right hand side of my blog page)

Storyline:

I will give you the book description of the first book, Switched, as written by Amanda Hocking in the ebook:

When Wendy Everly was six-years old, her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. It isn’t until eleven years later that Wendy discovers her mother might have been right. With the help of Finn Holmes, Wendy finds herself in a world she never knew existed – a world both beautiful and frightening, and Wendy’s not sure she wants to be a part of it.

My take on it: (The Entire Series)

I think it’s best to let you read the series and find out exactly what unfolds, but trust me you will be hooked and won’t be able to put it down. I will say that Wendy is no monster. I loved this story and it had me from “Hello”. I fell in love with Wendy and the story itself and couldn’t wait to find out how it all turned out for her. The secondary characters are just as great and you find yourself pulling for them, as well.

With each book you become more and more engrossed in the story and falling in love with the characters even more. Wendy comes into this new world lost, confused and wilted. As the story goes along she questions, rebels, and fights back and in doing so she matures, accepts, demands, and prevails. While doing all of this, she is falling in love with Finn which proves to be a battle within itself. That’s all I’m saying… you’ll just have to read it and experience it for yourself.

I loved this series. I read it three times and will most likely read it again. Also, rumor has it that this series in currently being considered for a movie. Apparently, a screenwriter read it and love it, too!

Please add this to your summer reading list – you won’t regret it. Click on the book link below to buy this Trilogy.

You Gotta Read This - Trust Me You'll Love It!... Fallen

My first book review is going to be a series by Lauren Kate called the Fallen series. This series features 4 books: Fallen, Torment, Passion, and Rapture (not yet released).

Books are available in actual book and e-book. Click on book links below to purchase from Amazon.com.

The Fallen series is a Young Adult love story that is a little “out there” because it tells a story of a normal girl, fallen angels, and reincarnation. It sounds a little crazy, but as someone once told me… give it a chance!

First Book in Series: Fallen by Lauren Kate

Storyline:

There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori. Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price’s attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He’s the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move. Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce—and goes out of his way to make that very clear – she can’t let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret… even if it kills her. From the hardcover edition.

My take on it:

Fallen is a slow-building supernatural romance. It’s a love story between Luce & Daniel that you don’t really get to experience until the end of the book, but along the way you share the confusion with Luce and are anxious for the answers just as she is. The story is slow, as I mentioned before, but I think the story keeps moving you along as it goes, and you find yourself unable to put it down because you have to know what happens next. The secondary characters are great and very likable. I love sarcastic humor and this book has plenty of it. The book ends in a cliffhanger and leaves you immediately reaching for the second book.

I really liked this book and the story over the span of all four books is what keeps you hanging on!

Second Book in Series: Torment by Lauren Kate

Storyline:

This book picks up a couple of days later as Daniel hides Luce at Shoreline, a school in northern California, for unusually gifted students. Luce learns what the mysterious shadows are and how to glimpse inside them to learn more about her previous lives. While Daniel is off hunting down those who are out to destroy Luce, she is left at Shoreline feeling out of the loop and all alone. While Luce makes some great new friends at this school she is still desperate for answers about her and Daniels past, and future.

My take on it:

I really liked this book and the storyline. It moves a bit faster and opens up a whole new realm of questions that you find yourself needing to know the answers to. The backdrop of the school is awesome and the secondary characters are super awesome. I found myself really liking Luce’s new sidekick, Shelby. Lot’s of my favorite, sarcastic humor is in here, as well, I found myself laughing a lot. This book pulls you in deeper to the story and leaves you anxiously wanting to read the next one. At the end of the story, you are left with another cliffhanger, only this cliffhanger I tend to refer to as a “Who Shot JR” cliffhanger! A major cliffhanger that leaves you with a lot of unanswered questions, and makes reading the third book in the series A MUST!!!

I was so into this book that I started reading around 7:00 p.m. and couldn’t put it down. I tried to stop a couple of times as it became later and later into the night, but I just couldn’t get it off of mind and ended up reading the whole thing that night. It was 5 o’clock in the morning when I finished!

Third Book in Series: Passion by Lauren Kate

Storyline:

Luce would die for Daniel. And she has. Over and over again. Throughout time, Luce and Daniel have found each other only to be painfully torn apart: Luce dead, Daniel left broken and alone. But perhaps it doesn’t need to be that way…. Luce is certain that something – or someone – in a past life can help her in her present one. So she begins the most important journey of this lifetime… going back eternities to witness firsthand her romances with Daniel… and finally unlock the key to making their love last. Daniel is frantic as he chases Luce through their shared pasts, terrified of what might happen if she rewrites history. Because their romance for the ages could go up in flames… forever. From the Hardcover edition.

My take on it:

Many questions are answered in this book as you are taken through many of their different romances. This book is a little slower and there aren’t that many secondary characters to keep it super exciting, but you do learn, along with Luce, how much they really do love each other. This book alternates between Luce’s point of view and Daniels, so you get to experience the story through both of their eyes. It’s pretty cool to finally get to know more of Daniel’s feelings and his personality. As I said before, you do get most of your questions answered in this book and the ending is great. A perfect set up for the final book in the series, with a cliffhanger you can live with.

I thought this book took a while to get me the answers I have been longing for in this story, but I still really enjoyed it and can’t wait for the final book to come out.

My new adventure...

My most favorite thing to do is to read. Raising my kids makes it hard for me to find the time to read, but I manage. I usually read 1 to 2 books a week, depending on the size of the book, of course.

Because I love reading and I’m constantly pushing the books I read on to others. I have decided to add a new chapter to my blog, its title will be: You Gotta Read This – Trust Me You’ll Love It! Here, I will be writing a review about my latest, greatest read and recommending it to you.

First of all you should know what I typically read. Fiction books are what I read and my most favorite kind of story is a LOVE STORY!!! Every book I read must have a love story and be able to take my imagination to a whole new world. I like to escape my crazy life and live vicariously through the characters of the stories I read. That’s the hook or the addiction to reading! Because the farther the imagination has to travel the more fun the adventure, I tend to read books more on the paranormal or “out there” side. For a long time I wouldn’t go near anything weird like paranormal, always snarling up my nose and telling people “that’s not my thing”. Then one day while confined to the bed, to recover from surgery, my roommate (an aspiring reading teacher) brought me the first four books of the Harry Potter series and told me to just give them a chance. I did and I was hooked! My reading of the Twilight series is what opened me up to a world of having my two favorite types of stories, total imagination and a good love story all in the same book! Since then I have searched Amazon.com from top to bottom seeking out all paranormal love stories. Don’t get me wrong, I have every single Nicholas Sparks, good ol’ fashioned love story, in my library, too.

Over the next day or so I will blog a book review over 10 of my most favorite books. Some of these will be ebooks and can only be downloaded to an e-reader like a Kindle. If you don’t have an e-reader, most of them have free apps for your phone. Also, if you like to read, like me, I totally recommend getting an e-reader (you could put it on your Christmas wish list!).

You can look at the books I recommend at the bottom of my blog page. If you want to purchase one through amazon.com, just click on the book link.

So be sure to check back for the latest book additions to: You Gotta Read This – Trust Me You’ll Love It!

I just wanted to blog...

Hellooo, I’mmm baaack!

Spring is the busiest time of the year for me, and I haven’t had a chance to blog in FOREVER!!! No worries though, my blogging may have been on hiatus, but the craziness of my life has most definitely been rolling right along. Between the husband, kids, dogs, and t-ball, I have plenty of stories to share with you.

I was gonna tell the story of how when it comes to our dogs, we just can’t win, but just as I got started on it, the following events unfolded and I just couldn’t pass up sharing them with you.

As proof of this crazy zoo I call my life, I offer up this blog: 

Earlier this evening, I heated up leftover pizza for the kids dinner, tuned the kitchen t.v. to Disney’s, Good Luck, Charlie (the one t.v. show they ALL like to watch, and lucky for me, it’s on about 20 times a day), and escaped to my office/bedroom to catch up on my blog. Two minutes in, I hear Sophie crying her “I’m hurt” cry, and Jase running through the house yelling, “Call 9-1-1, Call 9-1-1, Call 9-1-1”.

Instantly images of Sophie on top of the kitchen table, falling, tile floor, gashes, cuts, blood and gore, bleeding to death, flashed before my eyes. My heart was racing and I thought to myself, “Oh My Gosh, I left my kids with the 't.v. sitter' and tragedy struck. Bad Mom, I’m a horrible, horrible mom”.  (For the record, I was just down the hall) As I ran from my office/bedroom preparing myself for the worst, I encountered Jase running in circles in the living room frantically looking for the phone… to call 911, of course. I yelled to him, “What happened?” He stopped circling the room and told me that Sophie had fallen out of her chair and hit her head on the floor.

Since the chair is much closer to the floor than the top of the table, I knew it wasn’t going to be as big of a fall as I had pictured in my head, and I was pretty sure I could rule out blood and gore. Also, doubtful, was the need for 911. As I went to assess the damage to Sophie’s head, I was thrilled to find it was nothing more than a red spot on the side of her head. No worries. I then spent the next 10 minutes reminding Jase of what warrants a call to 911. Hmm, I can’t image where he gets his impulse to overreact.

Speaking of calling 911… when Jase was learning “Emergencies” in Kindergarten, he brought me the phone one afternoon and said, “Here momma, the nice lady on the phone wants to tell you what a good job I did calling 911". I took the phone, said “hello” and the nice lady on the phone told me what a good job Jase did calling 911. Yep, he called 911 just to see if it really worked. It did.

So back to my story, once Sophie’s “near death” accident was all taken care of, I dove back into my blog. I got a good 4 to 5 minutes in before… this time it was Bryce yelling and Jase crying. Apparently, the dog reached up and snatched Jase’s slice of pizza right out of his hand and gobbled it up. Sidenote: some of you reading this probably remember my dog’s love for pizza and how he snagged many a’ slices at last summer’s Back to School Bash that we hosted at our house.

(Hang on... Sophie just came in with her pull-up pulled half way down telling me, “Mommy, here check, I poooooped”. Ugh yuck, I gotta go change her. Be right back….) (Ok, where was I, oh yeah, dog pizza Jase.)

After heating up another slice of pizza for Jase, I had decided to wait until things were more settled down to work on my blog. So I abandoned my computer and went about getting the kitchen cleaned and everyone bathed and in pajamas. As I’m sure most mom’s can attest to, pajamas before 7:00 p.m. usually means it’s been one heck of a day and it just needs to end, and end soon.

Once things became peaceful around here, I was able to get back to my blog. I had resorted to sitting in the living room and using the laptop instead. As I typed away, the kids were in there with me watching Planet 51, and with all the fighting and yelling over who got to use what pillow pet, Bryce asking me a gazillion questions, Sophie’s diaper change, and Jase stating over and over that he had butt sweat (don’t ask, something he heard on Good Luck, Charlie earlier… boys are gross) I was finally able to get this thing done. Amazing!

Hey, with three kids, as long as no one is bleeding and nothing is getting broken… it’s peaceful.

Be sure to keep checking back for some more entertaining stories of my life in this CRAZY ZOO!

there's a new sheriff in town...

As parents we have to deal with difficult things when it comes to raising our kids. Working parents, single parents, stay-at-home parents, or like me… stay-at-home parent with not a lot of patience. Each of these kinds of parenting comes with its own difficulties. The fact is, in general, kids are hard to raise and even harder to keep up with (at least for this almost 40 year old they are).

I can only speak of myself, the stay-at-home parent with not a lot of patience. I think I should start by saying that my kids are AWESOME and they are my life.  With that said… they can drive me pretty crazy most times. For me, the most difficult time of parenting is when I’m sick and that is how I spent last week. Sore throat, migraine headache, stuffy nose, itchy eyes, what I refer to as allergyinsanewindanitus.

For some reason when I’m sick my kids think it’s some kind of party vacation for them. It’s as if all rules put in place by me are temporarily suspended and new rules now apply. And who is in charge of making those new rules, well the self-proclaimed new person in charge, of course… Jase.  Once Jase has learned of my being sick he proceeds to tell his sisters that he is now in charge and they must follow his rules or else suffer dire consequences.

Jase-In-Charge looks something like this - he gets to decide what will be showing on the t.v., he will decide what food & drinks will be served, he will decide what toys can be played with and by whom, and from what I could tell, I think, he was implementing a bathroom schedule (either that or he was just forbidding Bryce from using that particular bathroom… ever). Of course, none of this sits well with Bryce and she loudly protests everything that Jase-In-Charge is declaring. She does this over and over and over and over again.

Jase-In-Charge declares a breakfast of sliced bread & syrup with teddy graham cookies on the side, Bryce concurs that this is a suitable breakfast, and the cookies win Sophie over. Now they are all happy and full of sugar. Side note: teachers do not love when you send your kids to school full of sugar. I know this from the number of calls I received from Jase’s teacher & the assistant principal last week. Good times.

My favorite was when Jase-In-Charge decided he would drive to who knows where and demanded his sisters get in my car and buckle up (I’m pretty sure it didn’t take much persuasion on his part). Fortunately, he knew better than to put the key in the ignition; but it didn’t stop him from repositioning every seat, mirror and air vent, turning the air-conditioner on full blast, blinker and interior lights on, and jacking up the movie player. I was one grumpy sick momma when I got in my car to take Bryce to school that morning, and Jase was one lucky kid because he was at school at the moment. 

I have to admit other than a few instances of Jase trying to pull one over on sick ol’ mom and one or two meals comprised of nothing but sugar or cheese-its,  things weren’t that difficult last week. Oh, I almost forgot, there was that one morning when Bryce and Sophie got a hold of the phone and called several people off of the caller-id list, in hopes of talking to their dad on the phone. That one was actually kinda funny… the first couple of times.

I’m just glad I’m feeling better this week and again I feel I should repeat, both for my sake and yours… I think my kids are AWESOME and they are my life.  With that said… they can drive me pretty crazy most times.

when i grow up

Yesterday, Jase told me what he wants to be when he grows up. He asked, "When I grow up can I be more than one thing?" My response was the typical "mom trying to be a good mom" answer, "Sure, you can be whatever you wanna be when you grow up." He then proceeded to list the things he wants to be, all FOUR of them. A cowboy, a police officer, a Texas Ranger baseball player, and the coolest of all... a "fire" cook (one of those guys who cooks the food at your table at a Japanese steakhouse, they make silly jokes, lots of smoke, big blazing flames, and train noises).

Of course, I had to go back and revise my previous answer to his question by stating, "You can be whatever you wanna be when you grow up, just maybe not all at the same time." To this, he replied, "Well, I will be a police officer and a Texas Ranger baseball player first. Then when I'm old, like you & daddy, I will be a cowboy and a "fire" cook."  All I could come back with was, "That's sounds like a great plan to me".

Bryce chimed in and said she wanted to work at Wal-Mart, that way she could see me while she was working. Apparently, I shop at Wal-Mart a lot. Then she asked me a question that should have been simple for me to answer, but for the life of me, I couldn't come up with one. She asked, "What did you wanna be when you got grewed, mom?"

I tried to picture myself, as a kid, daydreaming in class or beaming with joy as I announced to my parents what I wanted to be when I grew up, but nothing came to mind. Hhmm, I'm sure I wanted to be something. Now, as a grown-up, I find lots of things I want to be when I grow up... like Jennifer Lopez, or Jillian Michaels, or an author of fiction stories, or a movie critic. Those all sound like pretty awesome things to be when one grows up. But, thinking back now, the only thing that comes to mind was that I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, to pick my kids up from school and have homemade cookies waiting on the kitchen counter for them.

Yesterday's conversation with my kids made me realize something. Even though, staying home with my kids can drive me crazy most of the time, and almost daily, I consider getting back into the work field,  the fact is... though I don't bake the cookies, I buy 'em, I'm still living my dream!

being a kid cool/tooth fairy not so cool

SPOILER ALERT: If the tooth fairy still visits you, you should probably not read this!

My son, Jase, is seven years old. He's not a baby anymore... he's a kid. I'm learning that having a "kid" is really super cool. Don't get me wrong, babies are great. They are sweet, snuggly, and well... they're just a whole batch a greatness. BUT... a kid, that's a whole nuther kinda greatness. Kids can do things themselves, and coming from someone who has consistently been changing diapers, putting on shoes and buckling car seats for the past seven years... it's the sweet life.

Jase has always been more independent than my girls. He walked, talked and potty trained at a much earlier age. He likes doing things himself, and often times this led to some pretty scary disasters (not to mention a few calls to the Poison Control Center). I'm glad he learned to be strong and not shy away from things though.

This is especially true now that he has started loosing his baby teeth. I'm a total wimp when it comes to pulling teeth. My gag reflux kicks in and I'm completely useless leaving Jase to have to fend for himself. He does the wiggling and the pulling with no help from me. Most likely he will continue the role of official tooth-puller when his sisters start loosing their teeth.

The one thing I HAVE to be responsible for is being the tooth fairy. Sounds like it should be pretty easy, right? WRONG! I always forget to do it before I fall asleep at night, which means I have to try to sneak at it before I wake him in the mornings. And, as I've mentioned before, I'm a complete zombie in the mornings, so I tend to loose what little amount of gracefulness that I have. The 'tooth for money' exchange is not as smooth as it should be, so I find that I have to be clever which doesn't come so easy in the mornings. Like this morning, I left the money, but forgot to take the tooth. I told Jase that the tooth fairy probably couldn't find it due to all the toys he had on his bed. He bought my story and figured the tooth fairy would come back tonight to get it.

Awesome.... I get to be the tooth fairy again tonight.

I'm sharing this McDonald's commercial with you, because I think it is super cute and it always makes me smile. So check it out. 

One time, at band camp...

For the past few days I have been reminded of memories. I don't usually dwell on the past or try to bring up old times; it's just not what I do. But this week, one crazy memory turned into another crazy memory and then every time I turned around something would remind me of a "once before", or someone was talking about their "once before". It's weird. It’s like when you buy a bright orange Dodge Challenger, because it's super cool and not many people in town have one, and then once you get it home suddenly four of your neighbors have one...it's like that. Memories are surrounding me this week.

It's odd to me the things I remember so vividly vs. the things I should remember but can't.

Like for instance:

When I was kid (side note: when I tell something from back-in-the-day, I always want to start my story off with, "One time, at band camp". Does everyone do that, or is it just me?) most of my memories where crazy fun stuff that almost always were at the hand of my sister. Like when she spit on a cricket and it jumped on her nose. It attached itself to her nose and wouldn't let go. She ran in circles screaming and swatting at it to try to get it off. Of course, I was laughing too hard to even think about helping her and besides where would the fun be in that? To do this day, she freaks out around bugs... insanely funny! Ooohh, I, also, remember the first time I got a nose bleed. A bunch of neighborhood kids and I were playing hide-and-seek in the dark and I ran smack dab into a tree. I can remember it like it was yesterday.

I, also, remember my first full-on crush. Matthew Wells, 3rd grade. He was beautiful, just beautiful. Every day during recess while playing four square, I would profess my undying love to him. I would tell him, "Matthew, you know I really want you to be my boyfriend" and he would just shake his head and say, "I know you do". He never would be my boyfriend. I think I was to forward for him. I still crushed on him for years...in fact, I think I still have a crush on him.

Of course, I remember tons of fun things from high school, but I can't remember things like prom or graduation (and no, it's not because of alcohol). I remember going to see the Janet Jackson concert with my bff, Joyann and her mom. Her mom was an algebra teacher at our high school. Her classes took on more of the "serious" vibe, so it was pretty awesome to go back to school and tell everyone that I danced it up with Mrs. Schalk at the Janet Jackson concert.

My years spent after high school are what I can't remember the most, and that bothers me. I'm sure there's good stuff to be remembered, but for reasons unknown to me I can't seem to draw them out. I know there was a "first love" and "first real heartbreak" during those years, but since both occurred within the same relationship, it sorda puts a damper on those memories. I do remember buying my first brand new car (not used) all by myself...that was cool and seemed like a very "grown-up" thing to do.

Then there are the memories of my wedding and the birth of my kids — those things are still very clear in my mind. I can't remember how much my kids weighed or their inches in length when they were born, my husband can, but I can't. I, also, can't remember the exact age they were when they walked. But, I can remember the first time each one had their first "bleeding" boo-boo and every stitch, sprain, and broken bone they ever had. Needless to say, those last three mentioned were all Jase.

It's fun to remember things from the past and to be able to share my "One time, at band camp" stories with people. I need to do a better job of remembering the things with my kiddos. Those are priceless and I would love to be able to share those band camp stories with them when they grow up. Maybe I will start keeping a memory journal.

bugs, bugs and more bugs

The theme of my day today was most definitely.... BUGS!!! I have been haunted by them all day in many different ways. It's not that I really mind bugs (my sister HATES bugs - funny story for another time), but today was just too much.

It all started around 1:00 a.m. when I heard my dog, Jack, up wandering around. He's pretty old and ALWAYS sleeps through the night, so the sound of the little bell on his collar woke me instantly. As I was looking for him, I noticed a horrible smell coming from our entry way. Since this area is next to Sophie's room, I immediately thought she had a massive poop explosion...boy, was I wrong. Apparently, Jack had eaten a colossal amount of june bugs to which made him very sick. His "sickness" was all over my hardwood floors, and man, it was horrible. Thirty-five paper towels and a splash of Pine-Sol later it was all cleaned up and all was good again.

I had decided to put Jack in the laundry room for the rest of the night...just in case. This turned out to be the best decision EVER, because when I woke this morning the entire house reeked of the "sickness"! He had gotten sick, what appeared to be, many times over in the laundry room...massive, disgusting, funky stank...yuuucckk. While cleaning it I dry heaved and almost lost it twice. Jase was heaving, too, but for some reason he stuck around to watch (must be a boy thing), and Bryce walked around holding her nose all morning. Sophie was watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so she could care less about the chaos in the other room. I used an entire roll of paper towels, a sink full of Pine-Sol water, and mopped it twice to finally get it cleaned. However, the stank lingered. I had to keep the windows & doors open all day and burn my scentsy in every room to try to kill the funky stank. The house still reeks of funky stank, but eventually, all will be good again.

Since we don't have screens on our doors, when the doors are open, I use baby gates to keep the kids in and the critters out. Baby gates work well on kids and critters, but critters that fly...not so much. Which brings me to my second "bug attack"...grasshoppers! Two of those little suckers jumped right over the baby gate and into the living room, completely freaking Sophie out. It took awhile but I finally got them back outside and all was good again.

So far, my last "bug encounter" was when it was time to pick Jase up from school. This morning the "stank" from the massive attack on the laundry room, which opens to the garage, had made it's way into my car - at least to my nose it had. I left the windows down and parked it in the drive-way to let it air out. Getting in the car to go get Jase, I saw that in my car was a another flipping grasshopper. I spent a few minutes looking like a crazy person trying to shoo the dang thing out. Finally it worked, and all was good again.

Told ya....today was all about the bugs!

P.S. Bryce, who hates her name and is constantly re-naming herself, declared today that her new name would be Charlotte. As in, Charlotte's Web, the movie that has been playing in our car for the past 2 months. Charlotte was a spider...and there's another bug.

Zombies, Shoes and Carseats

I'm not a morning person. I wasn't a morning person as a kid. I wasn't a morning person as a teenager. I'm not a morning person as an adult, and I'm DEFINATELY not a morning person as a MOM.

I would say I'm more of a grumpy, don't talk to me, Zombie kinda morning person. It sucks for my kids because I'm grumpy, but since I'm in full-on Zombie mode they could pretty much get by with anything and I wouldn't notice...which is actually pretty AWESOME for them!

Case in point, as a walking Zombie this morning:

• I barely noticed when I woke Jase for school that he had slept in his school clothes last night. "So I can be the first one at school today", was his reasoning for this. Apparently, he overlooked the fact that his mom was in Zombie mode, thus, doing things at a Zombie pace. Much to his disappointment, he arrived at school with just minutes to spare. (sidenote: I wouldn't be surprised if he attempts the whole sleeping in his clothes thing again tomorrow)
• Also, it wasn't until Bryce was crying in pain that I realized I was cramming her feet into Sophie's shoes. My quick fix to this was to let her go barefoot. In her true Diva fashion, barefoot was unacceptable. Instead we dug her shoes out of the dirty clothes hamper (don't ask, I didn't) and this time the glass slipper fit perfectly.
• The Zombie moment I'm troubled with the most, is when we were all in the car and driving down the driveway.  The kids were in the backseat giggling profusely. When I turned to the backseat to see what was so funny... apparently, I had forgotten to put Sophie in her carseat. (can you say, Zombie?) It wasn't that bad, it's not like I forgot to put her in the car. Jase and Bryce thought this was a great funny mom moment, and Sophie probably thought she had pulled off the greatest sneak of all time.

Can a not-morning person ever become a morning person? You tell me.

blank paper as the new wall decor?

I spend so much of my day talking to myself, therefore; in a desperate effort to not feel like a crazy person, I have decided to channel my ramblings into a blog for the whole world to hear. Well, at least what few I can get to read it anyway.

My posts will mostly be about the crazy things my kids do and, on the rare occasion they actually act sane that day, I may post about the crazy things I did as a kid (probably more of what my sister did - she was the crazy one) AND since I tend to get super excited or put off by lots of things I will most likely post about those, as well. Oh yeah, also, all the things that I think are truely AWESOME and deserve some recognition. (see I'm rambling)  Basically, I plan to entertain you with my crazy world!!

So first things first, introduction to my kids:

• Jase - boy, 7 years old:  aka, "the destroyer". Most of the horror stories will most likely be about him. He loves to get into things he's not supposed to and gets a kick out of tearing things apart. He keeps me on my toes and I swear ages me in dog years.
• Bryce - girl, 5 years old: aka, "bossy flossy". Super sweet and says some of the funniest things EVER. She's quite the Diva and extremely bossy. Talking is her favorite pass-time and I find myself channeling my mother when I beg her for 5 minutes of "no talking" time.
• Sophie - girl, 2 years old: aka, "monkey". She's a mini-Jase but, also, is very funny and very snugglie & lovie. Being sneaky is her favorite game to play and she has already mastered the "oh man" response when she finds herself busted.

 Today was a normal Monday - I like to refer to it as "Potty Training & Laundry Day" since this is the day to which the entire day is dedicated to getting the week's laundry done and potty training Sophie. She basically runs around in nothing but a pull-up all day, pees in the potty a couple of times and the other million times in the pull-up...it's a work in progress.

My Jase moment today came at 7:00 a.m. when I went to his room to wake him for school. I found that at some point last night he had taken ALL the pictures, that were hanging on his walls, down. He re-used the nails to hang pieces of blank notebook paper on his walls. I'm not sure why he decided to "re-decorate" his room in blank paper....maybe, future abstract artist? Who knows. As for now, I have removed the blank paper and re-hung the original Lighten McQueen & football pictures. I think the originals pull the room together much better.

That's pretty much all the excitement of my day and I really want to go watch tonight's episode of  Mike & Molly (truely the funniest show on tv)...so I think I will end my post here.

Thanks for listening!