and i thought layla was my climber...

this is how i found micah just now.
note to self: close all drawers. although they have handles on them so it probably won't deter him any.
this is what was so interesting:










and now for something completely different... this is what our nightstand looked like this morning after having layla spend most of the night in our bed. can we say SNOTTY???

pictures, pictures, and more pictures...

ah, yes. how were pictures? pretty good actually.

yesterday was our appointment to have EVERYONE'S pictures taken. we're about 7 months or more overdue for a new family picture. i wanted to do them every 2 years. well, layla is 8 months old in the one on our wall. so we did that. shane is 7 and layla is 18 months in the last picture we have of the kids together, so we did that too. a sibling shot including micah... novel concept considering he's a year old now. new individuals for layla and micah - way overdue on that one, he was 3 months in his last one. oops. we had shane's taken too, but didn't like any of them, so i'll make another appointment and take just him this week or next. he had this really weird fake smile going on.

it's actually amazing that we did that well. shane, micah and myself all had colds, so i was afraid that we'd be red, blotchy or miserable, but everyone looked fine. layla fell apart after the shoot was over and it turned out that she was coming down with the cold as well, but was kind enough to wait until we were done with picture day for that. she's the one that usually takes it the worst, and turns all red and goopy really fast. if the appointment were today, we'd have to cancel it. but yesterday she looked fine.

so it was almost entirely a success! we're getting them back on november 1st, and hopefully shane's soon after so everyone will be updated soon!

the book layla brought home from the library

dave and layla went to the library yesterday and layla chose a couple books and a thomas dvd. last night dave read the books to layla before she went to bed. when he came out of her room, he handed me the books and said they could go back to the library. i asked if they were lame or something, and he handed me one of them called SAM'S TEDDY BEAR. curious, i read it and couldn't decide if it was appalling or funny. i finally decided it was appalling as a book for children, but absolutely hilarious for the same reason... and therefore definite blog material. at the risk of being sued for plagiarism, i intend to present this wonderful piece of literature for your enjoyment.

page 1: there is a bed with a blue and white blanket jumbled up on it, a brown dog, with it's front paws up on the bed, and an old school ceramic 'potty' on the floor.

"Look, there's Doggie!"

page 2: a blonde haired boy emerges from under the blanket and the dog looks excited.

"Look, there's Sam!"

page 3: the boy pulls a brown teddy bear from under the blanket. the dog looks on.

"Look, there's Sam's teddy bear!"

page 4: the boy, still sitting on the bed, pulls the bear close to him. the dog is looking under the bed.

"Sam's teddy bear is nice."

page 5: the boy is kissing the bear on the nose. the dog has apparently found a pair of brown shoes under the bed and is laying on the floor sniffing them.

"Sam kisses Teddy Bear."

page 6: the boy is is licking the bear's stomach. the bear seems to be wearing some sort of pinkish bloomers or a diaper or something like that. the dog is licking the shoes.

"Sam licks Teddy Bear."

page 7: the boy takes a chomp of the bear's nose. the dog is chewing up one of the shoes.

"Sam bites Teddy Bear."

page 8: the boy has tossed the bear into the air. the dog is sitting on the shoe it just chewed, looking surprised.

"Sam throws Teddy Bear."

page 9: the bear is standing on it's head in the potty on the floor. the boy is still in the bed looking alarmed. the dog looks at the bear, surprised, and seems to be attempting to climb into the bed.

"Teddy Bear falls into the pottie."

page 10: the bear is still head-down in the potty. the boy is reaching for the bear and crying, the dog is laying in the bed, under the blanket, looking at the boy. one chewed shoe and one intact shoe are on the floor.

"Teddy Bear doesn't want to stay in the pottie."

page 11: bear still in potty, boy looking like he's pleading, and crying, still in the bed. dog jumping off the bed.

"Here comes Doggie."

page 12: the dog is holding the bear in it's mouth, over the potty. the boy is peering over the side of the bed, his nose running.

"Doggie pulls Teddy Bear out."

page 13: boy still in the bed, hugging the bear. the dog has his front paws on the bed.

"Sam gets Teddy Bear again."


the end. yup. that's it. seriously. apparently there are two other books about sam too. they are advertised at the back of this book so if you're just dying to read more about sam, let me know and i'll shoot that info your way.

Party time!

yesterday my baby boy turned 1. we had a fun little 'party' with some friends and my parents.

noah showed up wearing his new spiderman costume, which caused shane and layla to feel the need to dress up as well. i guess noah was so excited about it that he didn't want to take it off! it made for some funny pictures.

we ate pizza, opened some presents and then played in the big box.
after determining that there was nothing in the world that micah actually needed, we decided to get something practical. a new car seat. the bonus was that it came in a BIG BOX and that was the big hit of the party. of course.
then it was time for cake. micah really didn't know what to do with his cake. it took a long time for him to even touch it. but once he did, he thought it felt pretty cool. he ate a little too, but mostly he just squished it. but at least he was able to get himself approprately covered in frosting for the requisite 1st birthday photo opp.
you can see the rest of the festivities over at our WAdaps website.

warning! vent in progress!

i am feeling the need to vent a bit. today was THE MOST ridiculous excuse for a day of preschool i've ever experienced. thursdays are my work day at layla's school, so i had to participate, even help facilitate, this mess.

today was picture day.

now i understand picture day. don't get me wrong. i made a little bit of an effort to make sure that layla's clothes at least matched and that her hair looked decent. but it's 'school pictures'. a head shot against a blueish-grayish background, right? boy was i wrong.

so, because everyone was in their 'fancy clothes' for picture day, the kids couldn't do anything messy or go outside. okay, we've completed barely a month of school with 18 barely 3 year olds and this is a good idea? not only that, this photographer lady (whose gimmick to get the kids to smile was to sing elmo's world to them) had each kid in like 3 different poses and took about 10 minutes. but wait it gets better. the kids were not brought into the room when it was their turn to get their picture taken, they went in in groups of 3 or 4! and there were no toys or anything in this room, just camera equipment, tables and chairs and a bunch of stuff the weren't supposed to mess with. for like half an hour! so after 2 hours of being cooped up inside, finally being 'entertained' by the teacher trying to maintain some sort of control by doing songs and fingerplays in the circle room (where they were hopping around like rabid fleas on crack), they finally finish everyone's individual shots and decide that they need to take a class picture at this point. A CLASS PICTURE! so they discuss where to do this and decide they're going to do it in a classroom, with kids posing around the teacher who is sitting in front of this climbing apparatus that's made out of the cushy vinyl stuff like tumbling equipment. a thing they are regularly encouraged to climb, jump, slide, roll around on, etc. and they start posing these kids on it 5 minutes before the photographer is even in the room. kids were pushing, jumping, crawling through the tunnel, fighting over the top space, throwing pillows, hitting other kids with pillows, running away, switching positions, etc, etc. i don't even think they had any idea why they were there! not that they would have cared. they're 3 and they've been cooped up for almost 2 and a half hours at this point. and for some reason, i seemed to be the only one who thought this situation was at all ludicrous or even slightly inappropriate. well, it was going to happen, and i'm surprised it didn't happen to anyone else, but layla got whacked in the face right as the photographer finally showed up and sang her stupid elmo's world song. so she's crying hysterically. i asked once if she could smile for the lady to take her picture and she wasn't interested so i picked her up, sobbing, and took her out of the insanity. she won't be in the picture and honestly i could care less. even if she had been in it and was smiling, i would know how stupid the whole thing was that led up to that moment.

that was NOT something i want to have to remember.

i can't believe i paid tuition for her to be there today. what a ridiculous and inappropriate situation. when i want fancy pictures taken of my kid, i make an appointment to do so. i don't pay my preschool tuition so that my kid can wait around for 17 other kids to get their fancy pictures taken. that should be done on their own time.

grrr...

HOLDME!HOLDME!HOLDME!!!

when i was a kid - a little kid - i was scared of helicopters. if i heard one going over, i'd run to my mom yelling, "HOLDME!HOLDME!HOLDME!" i believe that, for a while, helicopters came to be known as "hold me's" in our house.

layla has developed her first irrational fear. (well, other than the imaginary lions she liked to pretend to be afraid of.) she's afraid of helicopters.

i can't say it's completely unwarranted. yesterday evening, we were sitting here in the house when a helicopter went over our house. it was very low, and very loud. i thought it was pretty exciting. well, it apparently scared the crap out of her because she spent the rest of the evening very close to either dave or myself and kept repeating, "i didn't like that." she mentioned it again this morning, but i figured she'd forget about it since she's never been afraid of anything. she was fine all day, but we were out all day. as soon as we got home, hello neurotic! i have never been followed so closely in my life! she would not go anywhere in the house by herself.

oh well, at least it's only at home that she's afraid... and hopefully she'll forget about it soon or we'll have to start finding a lot more interesting places to go!

in other news, our day was not entirely fruitless. i managed to find a pair of shoes for micah. i have found myself in an odd prediciment with him lately. because he's not walking, i hadn't thought too much about shoes. he wears the robeez all the time and i totally love them, but they're not exactly outdoor-safe shoes. he spends a good share of his time on his feet, and wants to get down when we're out at a park or shane's soccer game or whatever and the robeez aren't quite cutting it. but what do you buy for a kid in this position. i didn't want anything too stiff, nor did i want something designed specifically for walkers because then when he crawls on them it will ding up the tops of them and they look bad. so i finally found this:

they're from stride rite and they're so soft and flexible - barely shoes! but they have the rubber sole so they're perfect for our lovely northwest weather around here. and they'll still work when he actually is walking. they're the 'early walker' line - i believe it's new. i love them. i went to nordstrom first (because there were a lot of customers and only one employee at the stride rite store) and this very nice young man helped me out and sized him and even watched over our stroller while i appeased layla by taking a trip down the escalator and then back up again - things you can't do with a double stroller. but they only had 2 styles of these shoes and both were brown. i really wanted blue because most of micah's clothes are blue right now and because he's having his pictures taken on sunday and he'll be wearing navy pants (so picky, i know). so i felt bad after this guy had been so helpful, but i went back to the stride rite store and bought them there. i did apologize to him. seriously, i felt bad.

layla also has a cute new 'laylaism'. i discovered today that she calls elevators "alligators". it's pretty cute and this nice lady we met on our way out to the parking garage said that she was going to ride the alligator too instead of taking the stairs. funny funny.

party planning - from a 3 year old.

with micah's birthday coming up on friday, there has been a lot of discussion of party themes. for some reason, layla has become completely convinced that micah should have a princess party. this totally cracks me up because she's been talking since july about how when she turns 4, she's going to have a pirate birthday.

so she brought this up again this morning while she, micah and i were all flopping around in the bed waiting for the house to warm up (coffee to finish brewing). i said that micah didn't really want a princess birthday, at which point he crawled over me and farted.

so layla, in true layla fashion, said, "maybe he should have a fart party."

Football!!!

so last night at 10, we got a pleasant surprise. a coworker texted dave and asked if he wanted 4 tickets to the seahawks game. after some quick thinking about who and where and how and all that, we got it sorted out and definitely accepted. so today after church, shane,my dad, myself and micah all experienced our first professional football game. (it was dave's second). if you're doing the math there, micah doesn't require a ticket which is why he got to go. layla was happily deposited with my mother for a nap and some 'school'. the first half of the game was great, but the second half got boring because the packers were the only ones doing anything exciting. micah napped through the whole second half - dave did too. well, not the whole second half, but parts for sure. shane decided that seahawks games weren't quite as exciting as he thought they were going to be (he's been lobbying to go to one for a while now), but it was a pretty good deal because he got a hot dog, some popcorn and a blue jones soda lemonade. he rates all sporting events on the amount, diversity and quality of the junk food he consumes while in attendance. dave was happy the seahawks didn't win (same division as the 49ers), my dad seemed happy just to be there, and i thoroughly enjoyed myself, although a little more action on the seahawks side of the field would have been welcome. apparently i really like football games. who knew?! of course we forgot the camera, so there are no pictures. oh well, how typical!

does home ec even exist anymore?

my last post got me thinking about how i somehow missed 'learning' all of those things which are essential in running a successful home. i'm wondering who dropped the ball on this (because, i can't possibly take responsibility for my own shortcomings here). i guess traditionally, one learns these things from their parents. i suppose i did learn a lot of my domestic skills at home. for example, the husband is supposed to eat the leftovers in the fridge. when making a bed, the 'top' of the top sheet goes down so that when you fold the edge over the blanket, the 'top' side is then up. why this matters when you are just going to cover the whole thing with a pillow and comforter is totally beyond me. but that's how you do it. so yes, my mother taught me how to iron, do laundry, clean a toilet, etc. my dad taught me how to plant a garden, mow a lawn, appreciate baseball, etc.

and then there's home ec. do people still take home ec? i took it in junior high. i can't say i really learned a lot of essentials in that class... although it couldn't be considered a complete loss. i made a strawberry pie, learned how to write a check, and sew a pair of mc hammer pants. all very important in modern, day to day homemaking.

so here's what i want to know. where is the class that teaches you how to fend off clutter? to cook a thanksgiving dinner? to carve a turkey? to organize your garage? to hem pants yourself? to get dinner on the table for everyone when your husband has class and your son has soccer practice and your daughter is falling asleep because she wouldn't take a nap? to keep your closet organized? to pick up the same bucket of toys off the floor for the 5th time in one day? all without losing your mind, your patience, or your cool?! i'd so sign up for that class.

homemaking 101... ponderings, ramblings... the usual.

so i've been analyzing lately (because that's what i do) why i get so frustrated with myself, my shortcomings in the areas of housekeeping and organization, creativity, cooking, etc. it would seem that i'm trying to live up to the expectations of june cleaver, or my grandmother, or something equally unrealistic. no, i don't expect to push the vacuum and baste a turkey in heels and pearls, (besides, i have the roomba, remember?), but i do expect more of myself than i have been giving currently. why?

i've been doing what i usually do when i have an issue i want to know more about; i check out every book the library has on the subject (organization problems anyone?). there are a LOT of books out there written by homemakers, for homemakers with a lot of different slants on the whole subject. interestingly enough, the view that disturbs me the most is not the one that suggests that God has decreed it so that women have no other calling than to be wives and mothers (although i do find that bothersome as well). it is the one that seeks to comfort women who are staying home with their kids because they feel 'stir-crazy' or like they are somehow wasting their lives (or brains) by staying home to raise their kids. i have NEVER understood this position. it's like people don't consider spending time with children to be a worthwhile thing to do. now granted, i'm coming at this whole issue as someone who earned a college degree which qualifies me to spend time with children professionally.

so why is it that i have found myself in the position of homemaker? well, for us, it makes sense. i'm not going to sit here and say that every mom should be a SAHM. for many that isn't an option financially, or for other personal reasons, they don't want to. seriously, if you don't really WANT to do this, by all means DON'T! your kids are certainly not better off in the care of a mother who would rather be elsewhere (and i don't mean hawaii). but here's the thing i've realized lately. i don't view this as 'staying home from work'. rather, i see it as 'staying home to work'. i currently have 3 young children (one not so young as i might wish he still were) and i can see no better use for my time and talents than to be with them. yes, sometimes i get a hankering to go out into the big working world and put on something other than jeans, and i certainly get a hankering to have a little more spending money. but just because i don't get paid for my work, doesn't mean it's not a job.

and that brings us back to my main point. i get frustrated with myself because i do see this as a job. a job that i am frequently failing at. if i look at what the job description of a homemaker would be, there are many places where i am not doing my job. items which, in any other profession, would be grounds for firing. but who's going to fire me? who is my boss? there are many who would say that my husband is my boss - a concept that i find laughable, mainly because of who my husband is (nothing against you, honey). the idea of dave getting all patriarchal and authoritarian with me is enough to make me fall off my chair. and i think i'm a little too much of a feminist to have wound up married to someone like that. so who then? my kids? God? i think perhaps the problem lies in the fact that i'm most likely my own boss. that situation just begs for trouble when combined with my personality. i seem to lack the motivation and organization required to be self-employed, and i can't very well threaten to fire myself.

there's part of me that likes to tell myself to 'not sweat the small stuff'. to enjoy my kids and not stress about how messy things are or if every meal is home-cooked. that those things don't really matter as long as my kids know they are loved and have a 'safe' place to come home to. but i know there's more to my job description than that, and if i don't fulfill my duties (yes, i consider them to be duties, and i consider them to be mine) then i'm not contributing my part to our family.

so how exactly does one with a tendency for distraction, a dislike of cleaning, and NO CLUE about cooking, decorating, money management, etc. successfully run a home? i guess i might not be qualified for this job. who knew?

did these people go to school? ever?

sometimes i am just totally flabbergasted by how horribly some people write. i'm not sure if it's just that spelling and grammatical issues come easily for me, or if other people are just really BAD! i find it to be the worst in product reviews online. this morning i was reading some reviews of a chest freezer i'm thinking of getting. one went on and on about the poor quality of the 'unite'. repeatedly using the word 'unite'. seriously, people!!! here's another thing i've noticed. it's always the negative reviews too. what's with that? are people just so pissed off about the bad product they just got screwed on that they feel the need to rant (without pausing for breath or editing) in a negative product review? or is it just that people with bad writing skills are more likely to be compelled to leave a negative review? or are people with bad writing skills more likely to get screwed with the bad product? i don't get it. but i do have to say that it's really hard to take it seriously when it's full of spelling errors and stupidity. and by stupidity, i'm referring to the reviewer who complained that after storing fish in the freezer, it smelled like fish...

a blue period...

i'm feeling really lazy lately. well, some might think i'm lazy all the time, but it's worse right now. i always get really down on myself when i'm having trouble keeping things organized, when my house is a mess, when we eat mac and cheese for dinner, etc. usually that's appropriate motivation to get me off my butt and make me keep things in some sort of relative order. but night now it's really bad. i don't feel like doing anything. there are toys all over, and i purposely make myself not see them because i just don't want to pick them up. same with the dirt behind the door in the bathroom. the pile of clothes that need to be ironed, the mess in my bedroom, the crap falling out of the drawers in my bathroom, the garage. i don't want to go grocery shopping. i don't want to cook. the floor needs to be swept and mopped in the kitchen and dining room and the sink is dirty. the backyard is a total disaster and i just don't feel like caring. i feel tired. i feel lazy. i feel like holding my kids and snuggling instead of hollering at them to pick up their stuff. i'm sick of piling everyone into the car and driving EVERYWHERE. maybe it's the weather. it's getting to be build a fire and cuddle up with a cup of cocoa kind of weather. so those of you with clean houses, those of you with fridges and pantries stocked and dinners on the table. those of you who have not gone into hibernation... just don't show me pictures.

micah's first word.

are you ready for it?

"this"

not very profound, i know. but he goes around pointing to stuff going, "this?" and then he'll point to something else and go,"this?" it's pretty cute. (and yes mary, reminiscent of lily. we're working on 'that'.)

...

i'm taking shane to the doctor today. he's been having some random bouts of feeling like he's goint to throw up. he never does, but it's usually been at night and i'm getting tired. today's the first day he's felt bad during the day, but he was awake for a couple hours last night and today he said he wanted to go to the doctor and find out what's wrong with him. so we're going.

...

i don't know if i ever mentioned that we finally got layla's doctor to refer us to an allergist. YAY! so now we've been in the holding pattern of trying to make an appointment and being unable to because they don't have all the info they need from her doctor. grrr. i'll harrass him today about that if it hasn't been sent over yet.

...

dave and i finally got out for our anniversary on saturday night. we had a hilarious dinner at the cheesecake factory (that's a whole other post), and i wound up doing a little shoe shopping since we were right there at bellevue square. i finally replaced my brown shoes!!!! i actually had to buy two pairs because i couldn't decide. i needed to see them with my jeans (i was wearing a dress at the time). so i have successfully picked a pair and need to take the others back.

i think they're cute, and they're actually really comfortable. one more thing off the big fat to do list!

you're not living until you've bathed in your own excrement

micah pooped in the tub today.

he was in there playing and i was attempting (unsuccessfully) to do something with my hair. i looked over and saw more than toys in the water. aagghhh!!!

bath was followed immediately by a shower.

on the upside, i discovered a new use for the 'massage' setting on the hand held shower head. it works great as a sort of pressure washer for cleaning that poop which has been stepped and/or sat on (and therefore plastered) in the tub before you noticed it was there.

oh, yummy yummy.

and that was just the start of my day.

after that we all went to the doctor's office and now i'm waiting for shane to finish eating so i can take him to the ymca and then i can haul the others around while i run some errands.

i'm sure micah will be in a spectacular mood for the rest of the day since he had two shots. poor kid.

okay, i'm off to herd kids into the car (again) and see what other fun incidences await us for the rest of the day!

i heart gymboree

the 11th commandment:

thou shalt not covet the incredibly cute but ridiculously expensive clothes that thou seest on thy computer, unless thou desirest to be dissatisfied with thy financial position in life and ungrateful for all the many blessings which have been bestowed on thou and thy family.


but oh, i love gymboree clothes! i long to dress my children entirely in cheesy matched outfits that coordinate with everything else in their closets. oh, how i want to purchase all the cute hair accessories and shoes that go with the coordinated outfits. ::longing sigh:: why can't it be free? or at least reasonable? i want to get a job there. but when?

i recently splurged on my new niece and bought her the most incredibly cute outfit at gymboree. check her out on mary's blog.

someone googled this stuff and found me!

these are as is... spelling errors and all.

how to use a bathroom scale
seriously? how hard is it? if you want step by step instructions, read this.

washing machine doesn't empty
bummer dude

rachel's restroom
i seem to remember someone predicting, when i was in high school, that i would go into the portable restroom business some day...

"locks of love" site:blogspot.com
because i'm totally the authority on that sort of thing. my hair is still in a ziplock bag waiting to be mailed.

http://rambling-rachel.blogspot.com/
i think you typed this in the wrong place

does 2 year old talk with imagination
is there any other option?

SLUDGE IN WORM BIN
yummy.

diapers to bed
well, considering the other option... yes, please!

imagination and 2 years old
once again. 2 year olds do like to use their imaginations.

loose change in my washing machine
what priceless wisdom are you looking for here? how to get some? where did it come from? what to do with it? duh!

rachel joe brenda blog
i'm thinking of changing my name...

the one with the evil orthodontist, rachels comment about the sink
right... i assume we're talking about 'friends' here because i don't remember commenting about the sink. toilets? yes, that was me.

rachel's blog ohio
sure, why not.

Orange Juice, bladder problems
you mean you pee your pants uncontrollably too?

Clearly, it's indicating you should wave your hand when the ultrasonic waves okay, that's kind of spooky. dawn is that you trying to figure out where your funny comment ended up? right here.

blogspot "locks of love"
again? well, there must be some blog devoted to locks of love and google seems to think it's mine. sorry folks.

rachel random blog viaduct -abalone
well yes, i admit it can be a bit random... but not that random.

2 year old talk with an imagination
yes, i think we've established that they do.

irritated bladder for kids
see? my kid's not the only weirdo!

hand foot mouth disease preschool
i know i'm picky about preschools, but i'm pretty sure i don't have to visit that one to know i don't want to send my kid there. maybe they should consider a name change.

"we all want to know what you learned today"
only if it's entertaining or at least mildly interesting. otherwise, keep it to yourself.

how to clean marinara sauce off of the carpet
because clearly, i'm the authority on that. but then again, i have green carpet so i really don't care what you spill on it.

fix bathroom scale
you mean it's broken because it's telling you that you weigh more than you want it to? that's easy. throw it out the window. in my experience, most scales are broken.

mastitis in the armpit?
bummer dude. i hope you won't have to go to the ER the night before the 4th of july.

hand foot mouth "no fever"
i'm sorry, the fever is an admission requirement of the preschool.

goodbye ed
i agree.

biodegradable plastic horn
because the nonbiodegradable variety is just not eco-friendly enough for me. ??? anyone? beuller?

hey jojo
or maybe jude?

how use to bathroom scale
well, if you're that used to it, then you shouldn't have to google it.

laylas feet
are just fine, i believe. thanks for asking?

my baby has hand foot and mouth when will she get back to normal
if she's anything like my kids, then, never. but that has nothing to do with the hand, foot and mouth. hey! i know of this great preschool where she'll fit right in!

rachel ramblings
well, yes i have a tendency to...

good thing they're cute...

don't you love it how your kids have a tendency to SPOIL EVERYTHING!

last night, dave and i had planned to go out for our anniversary (which was on the 5th). we didn't go then because the kids had finally passed the hand foot and mouth disease to me and i wasn't feeling too hot. so we postponed and were planning for last night. we even decided to make it an excuse to get dressed up. so dave went to work wearing suit pants and a dress shirt. he even had a tie with him to put on later. (those of you who know my husband will have to pick yourselves up off the floor now.) apparently he took a lot of razzing at work about it too. someone asked him if he had a job interview. another called him fancy pants. i was looking forward to wearing a dress i bought last january and have never worn, along with my hooker boots tall black boots. we were going to eat at the cheesecake factory, which i have never been to, and who knows what else.

layla has a little cold. not a big deal, she woke up snotty yesterday morning but was pretty much herself most of the day. then, when we were driving back from picking shane up at the Y, she starts crying and saying her stomach hurts really bad. she was all slumped over and holding her stomach and practically moaning. i was so afraid she was going to throw up in my car. well, we made it home and i made her lay down. she watched some pbs cartoons for about an hour and a half, and spent a good share of that time whining and complaining about her stomach. this was at around 4 and i was supposed to meet dave at the bus at 5. and i hadn't showered yet. grrr. so, long story short, we wound up having to call it off. my parents weren't thrilled about babysitting with the prospect of having to deal with vomit, and i wasn't sure how i was going to manage to get ready anyway. but, of course, she perked up, felt fine and wound up staying up until 9 watching america's funniest home videos. what a spectacular night!

so, i guess we'll try again later. maybe for our 25th or something.

nothing significant here...

so i haven't posted in awhile because, honestly, i've had nothing to talk about. shocking, i know. preschool seems to be going fine. monday was our first drop-off day, and she did totally fine. wednesday was more of the same. today was my day to stay and that went well too, although layla was a little off today. i think she's worn out. 3 days of preschool, plus we spent all day tuesday at playgroup. i'm looking forward to staying home tomorrow and doing big fat loads of nothing. that is, unless she's getting sick. there were 6 kids gone from class today. i know one had a cold and one had stomach flu (ick ick ick) and the rest were unaccounted for. well, stomach flu girl has a twin sister, so she stayed home as well. so everyone is either sick or just worn out. 3 days is a lot for a bunch of barely 3-year-olds at the beginning of the year. layla is currently napping. i lifted the no-nap ban today because she just really needed it. i'll have to make sure i get her up by 2:30 at the latest of we'll pay for it tonight. probably still will, but there's no way she would have made it to bed time today.

i also realized what a big dork i am while at preschool today. when i got dressed this morning, i put on jeans and a mustard-colored t shirt. a little later, i was getting clothes for micah and i grabbed some gray sweatpants and the only shirt in the closet that i thought would look good with them (i know, that sounds ridiculous since we're talking about sweatpants here... but the other choices were gray and i didn't want him to be ALL gray). it's yellow and has some green and gray print on it. then layla was looking at this pack of new hairclips i bought yesterday and trying to decide which ones she wanted to wear today. she finally decided on the yellow ones. so i pointed out that she had 2 yellow shirts that would match them. so she chose one of those. later on i noticed a theme. hi! we're dorks! we like to match! i just IM'd dave at work to ask if he was wearing a yellow shirt today, by any chance. thankfully no, and i'm not sure what shane's wearing today, since he spent the night at my parents' house. if he shows up this afternoon wearing yellow my retinas might start to bleed!

make sure you look at the recall post below. what an absolutely horrible thing. i really wonder how these things make it past product testing and onto the market.

bassinet recall

just doing my part to help make sure everyone knows about this recall. if you have one or see one at a garage sale or second hand store, make sure the sellers know they are recalled.

some details on our new niece

joe put a post up on mary's blog w/ info and pics of new baby hannah! click here!

a new niece!

we have a new niece! hannah was born this morning... i think some time around 7am central time. don't have a lot of details yet, but we're very excited. dave told layla as soon as he got off the phone with his mom.

dave: layla, you have a new cousin!
layla: why?
dave: aunt mary's baby was born.
layla: oh.
me: lily has a little sister now.
layla: but i have an owie so i can't go there.

not entirely sure what she was getting at there, but i'm sure she has no idea what to do with the news. i just love the way kids react to stuff.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!

why is everything a finding nemo reference lately???

layla had her first day of preschool today. she had a lot of fun, made friends with a girl named lauryn and even told grandma all the stuff she did with pretty good detail. monday is the first day she goes all by herself, but i think she'll do fine. (although she told me this morning that she would be mad if i left.)

here she is having her breakfast.


posing by the rose garden outside the church that houses her preschool.


hanging up her coat and backpack.


afterwards... just running.

what are my excuses?

for some reason my to do list has been giving me dirty looks lately. i've done a few things off of it, and i feel good about it, but it's seeming really daunting. maybe the things i have decided i want to do or should do aren't so realisitic. i don't know. so i've decided to address what my excuses are for not doing the things on the list. maybe by writing it down i'll be more motivated to overcome those excuses by realizing how stupid they are...

-buy new brown shoes - okay, that's easy. i've got no money right now. aside from that, i've tried on lots of pairs of shoes and haven't found any that were particularly comfortable.

-buy new filter for steam cleaner - non-emergent purchase. however, the next time someone pukes on my carpet, i'll really be wishing i had done it. maybe i should move that up on the priority list... ::knocking on wood::

-buy new running shoes - no $$

-buy shane's bear book - well, this involves going to one of my least favorite places - sir plus - with 3 kids. not horrible. doable. i should just get it over with next time i'm out and about. oh! maybe i'll go next monday when i take layla to preschool, then i'll only have to take one kid! check back with me next week.

-choose, print, frame, hang pictures in hall bathroom - ugh. this requires $. it could actually probably be done fairly cheaply and without too much headache. i already know the general type of pictures i want so i just need to sort through the files on my computer and find them and then order them. shouldn't be too hard.

-chop logs - HAHA this is totally dave's job. ask him why he's not doing it.

-clean carpet - this is just a very involved thing that means that furniture needs to be moved and the floor will be wet for days. yuck. what a pain. and besides, i would need to get the filter for the steam cleaner first. but it sooo needs to be done.

-clean off peninsula - i wish all the surfaces in my house were vertical. then nothing could be a clutter trap like my kitchen peninsula. i've started this project many times recently, but never managed to finish it. probably because i don't know what to do with half the stuff on there. do you have this problem? does it seem like most of the clutter in your house is clutter simply because you have no idea what to do with it? what are you supposed to do with it?

-clean off shelf in layla's closet - well, this wouldn't actually be too hard. it's got a bunch of floor puzzles that are still a little too hard for her, some other puzzles that i put up there when i needed to put them away for some reason, a few other toys that she's outgrown and micah isn't quite ready for... so that's not a huge deal. that stuff can stay. on the other side, there is my huge box of photos and doing something with them would check off like 5 other things on this list, but that's another story. there's also 1 crate and one small pile of random stuff to sort through. i hate sorting.

-clean off top of fridge - well, that shouldn't be too hard. there's not a ton up there right now. maybe i'll do it tonight. or tomorrow. or sometime soon. check back.

-clean out gutters - i want this to be dave's job.

-clean out my closet - ugh. this would involve dealing with my 'pile'. you know. the clothes you take off at night that aren't dirty so you don't put them in the laundry, but you've worn them so you don't hang them back up. i've always had a 'pile'. it used to be on this old ugly green chair i had in my bedroom at my parents' house. but then my mother got rid of that chair (grrr... i loved that chair). now it's on the floor of my closet. there's probably a bunch of other random stuff too, like clothes for micah that are still too big. what do you do with those? i never know. they're there waiting. it would be a waste of space and hangers to put them in the closet now, but i don't know what to do with them.

-clear out junk along house in backyard - i don't even know where to begin with this one. there's old rotted wood, a bunch of metal pipe-type things - some with large chunks of cement attached to the ends, some old dog toys... just a bunch of stuff that was here when we moved in. a lot of the stuff is too big to go in the trash can.

-dig weeds and grass out of garden - this requires a chunk of time that i just can never seem to find. i hate getting into my grubbies and going out and getting all dirty and sweaty digging this stuff out, only to have some kid require my attention 5 minutes later. that drives me nuts and doesn't seem worth it. plus, it seems kind of futile because the stuff just keeps growing back.

-do something about shane's room - another overwhelming task. shane's room is a pit. there is no organization. he has all these neato lego creations and there is no place to put them. besides, when they're no longer completely intact, what do you do with them. you don't want to just dump it all into the big lego bin because then it's all just mixed in. but how do you store all these millions of different 'kits'? anyone out there have a good idea? i want to be able to have these things safe from the little ones because he works hard on them and gets really mad if they get messed up. i have no idea what to do about this.

-find a non-lame baptism gift for our godchild to be - well, i'm starting to come to the conclusion that there isn't such a thing. christian bookstores have all the same old stuff. any good ideas? not you mary.

- finish harry potter series - okay, this is doable, but just requires time. i want to do this and i think i made a great stride today by sitting down and reading a novel that i've been waiting for from the library all summer. i'm setting a good trend here.

okay, well i think this is long enough for the time being. i'll do another installment some time later.

star wars sacrilege

the other night at dinner (why do all of my funny anecdotes seem to start with those words?) layla looks at dave and says, "oh daddy, you have a dancing girl on your shirt!"

dave was wearing the star wars t-shirt i had given him a couple birthdays ago. it looks something like this:

you know the poster...

so we kind of laugh, and i point to leia and say, "you mean her?" and layla says, "no mommy, not that one. the other one."

the only other 'person' on the shirt is luke.

yeah... we're still recovering from that one.

what you're missing out on if you don't have kids...

as we're backing out of the driveway on our way to church this morning, this is what we see:



door hanging open...
flag up...

so is she trying to gift the mail carrier? or did that just seem like a good place to stash a rock?

the things they come up with...

"here's your fifty bucks!"

the other night at the end of dinner, layla grabbed some 3x5 cards that i have chores written on and said to me, "here's your fifty bucks!" right on! so dave and i had an amusing conversation about the severe lack of motivation in our house when it comes to chores. we were speculating about how great it would be if, upon completion of a given chore, the thing you just cleaned or finished doing would automatically pay you. i said that we would ALWAYS get our chores done then. my example was that as soon as i finished scrubbing a toilet, you would push a lever (which toilets conveniently come with already) and it would spit out a $50 bill at you! wouldn't that be great? dave said that if it came out of the toilet, i wouldn't want it anyway...

it's all sorted out...

okay, with a little juggling and me feeling a bit sheepish and overwhelmed for a couple of days, we are back where we started with the whole preschool thing. layla will be going to the original co-op i signed her up at, 3 days a week. kat said she can still watch micah - at least until her baby arrives. but that gives me a couple of months to figure that out. yay. i feel relieved and i'm glad my flaky self was able to work this out. so my stern warning to anyone who has or ever intends to have children: do not get a degree in or study child development or early childhood education. it turns you into a total psychopath and makes it impossible to choose a preschool for your children. just now in this situation, i would love to just be a normal person for a while.

in other news. i'm now sick. i though i was safe from this whole hand, foot and mouth thing, but i guess i'm not. apparently my mom was wrong about me having it when i was a kid, or this is a slightly different strain and i've still got it. oh joy! the sore throat i complained about is still there, and i'm pretty sure it's just sores in my throat because that's what shane had and it doesn't feel like a normal sore throat. and yesterday i started getting spots on my hands and feet. it's great. they're like little blisters. very small, but it feels like i grabbed a cactus and stepped on one too. loads of fun. but i don't seem to have the fever that the kids (and dave) had and i'm really grateful for that. fevers suck.

my throat hurts...

waaaa!!

i am in the midst of a typical, rachel-ish, last minute dilemma of ridiculous proportions. it has to do with preschools. i won't bore you with the details because it will make your head spin. i know mine is.

why, oh why did i ever get that stupid degree???

or not

a camping we will not go.

so we went down to portland on sunday. we got to willamette park where my aunt and uncle's 50th anniversary party was and had a great time... in the rain. there was wind and thunder and lots of downpours. fortunately we had a covered picnic shelter and everything was fine. but that got us thinking about sleeping in a tent in all that. so we wimped out and stayed with my cousin, barb (and fam) instead. it turned out to be loads of fun and we're eternally grateful for the invite that bailed us out. i missed it, but apparently the state park we were to be camping at was on the morning news yesterday, covered in huge puddles. shane especially had lots of fun with his cousin elsa. they bathed 4 mice, a standard poodle, and a cat. how's that for good old fashioned family fun. layla followed her cousin anna (14) around the whole time and helped her clean her room which layla was kind enough to point out was 'messy'. i'm sure micah appreciated being able to crawl around and explore rather than being cooped up while we tried to keep him from drowning in puddles. so all in all it was a success. thanks barb!

a camping we will go...

well, it's almost time. we are leaving tomorrow morning to head south to portland for our first, family camping trip. pathetic, i know. when dave and i got married, we put all sorts of camping gear on our gift registry. we got sleeping bags, air mattresses, a tent, a camp stove... stuff like that. not to say we haven't used it - well, not the stove - but never at an actual camp site. we've done the backyard camping thing, just to appease shane a few times. the sleeping bags have been thoroughly used... even peed on and puked on a time or two. lovely, i know, but hey, that's life with kids.

i got the cool cookbook i ordered in the mail yesterday. i can't wait to try it out.
http://www.schallertel.net/~rmasters/


yay. meal plans without scrounging through a million cookbooks and trying to figure out what we can actually eat (before 5:30pm). one more aspect of daily life i'm trying to organize.

can i trade them in???

you know those days...

the kind when you look at your children and wonder where they came from...

the kind when you wonder why on earth you ever thought having children was a good idea?

the kind when you feel like the worst mother in the world because you haven't uttered anything in their general direction that wasn't delivered via yelling?

the kind when you understand why some animals eat their young?

yeah. it's one of those days.

random diaper musings

do you ever feel at odds with yourself?

i constantly feel like i'm a big wad of contradictions. and being the living-in-my-head, overthinking type i can spend years, i mean hours pondering things. it can really get me down. example: diapers. one would think that this was a relatively easy thing to handle. i've got 3 kids. i'm pretty familiar with diapers. it seems so simple; your baby needs a change so you take the old diaper off and put a new one on. done. right? no. i have this constant dilemma going on. cloth or disposable. i have 25 perfectly good fitted cloth diapers that i paid a lot of money for when i decided a couple years ago that i was done filling up landfills. so micah wears them a good share of the time. but it bugs me that they're so bulky, especially with the covers on and clothes fit funny and that totally drives me nuts. so at home, he just wears the diaper w/ no cover and when we leave the house, i put a disposable on him. not usually a big deal, but it won't be summer forever and then there's the whole pants issue. you can't use a cloth diaper w/ no cover with pants and in january, it's too cold to not wear pants. and besides, baby clothes are so cute and i'm only using the top half of his wardrobe. i also think that the diapers get stinkier when you use the covers (probably because you haven't noticed that they're wet and you leave the kid in them longer) and it also kind of irritates his skin when i use a cover. but there's the environmental issue to think about and then, of course, there's the financial issue. the cloth diapers are already paid for. every disposable used means one more that i have to keep paying for. and then there's the disposable dilemma. i know people (and i mean most people by this) who pick a brand of diapers (usually huggies) when their first kid is born and stick with it until the last is potty trained. not me. when shane was born, i used huggies for awhile and then pampers. not sure why. i think it had to do with what costco carried and what sorts of cool freebies you could get with the points. i had heard that luvs were cheaper, but at the time, they had barney on them and there was no way i was going to have anything to do with that. i told you... i overthink things. so with layla, happily, barney had been dismissed in favor of blue's clues. i like blues clues! this made me happy. luvs are cheaper (especially at target) and they smell good. well, that brings up another issue. what is that smell? that can't be good for your baby, right? and layla has such sensitive skin anyway i hate to put anything extra next to it. not a huge deal since she only wears one diaper a day (when she goes to bed) but still, i decided to get something different. right now it's been the target brand, because they're the cheapest at target and i'm there anyway because that's where i buy the luvs for micah. yes, i know. what about the whole smell issue? still bugging me. but i don't like the target brand for every day. they're not as good of a diaper. not as stretchy and they get all bumpy when they're wet. so i still buy the luvs. but this shouldn't really be a big issue because i'm using the cloth ones most of the time, right? it still requires a great deal of thought, apparently. my latest idea is that i will get a big box of the costco brand diapers next time i'm there. why? who knows. quantity? no smell? price? i really have no idea. oh, and i almost forgot the lesser evil of disposables, the chlorine-free seventh generation diapers. i used those for a long time, but they're so freakin' exensive. i can't seem to justify it lately, even though i know i should and i therefore feel guilty every time i buy a kind of diaper that's not chlorine-free.

and this whole thing occurs to me EVERY TIME I CHANGE A DIAPER!

seriously, i have problems.

how 'bout that to do list?

okay, after a discussion w/ mary about to do lists, i decided to go ahead and 'publish' mine. check it out, it's over there on the right, below my blog list. i had one started in a notebook that i had made in response to something i read in 'the procrastinator's handbook'. the idea is to make a list that's 101 items long. anything you can think of. well, i don't have that many, but quite a few. i put an * by something if it's something that has been worked on but not completed and an X in front of it if it's done. so go ahead and kick my butt if you don't see any *'s or X's showing up.

in other news... now dave is sick. ::crossing my fingers::

oh yeah... i remember what i was doing...

remember this? well, probably not because it's been so dang long. okay, i know mary remembers because she decided to harrass remind me about it recently.

after 2 months of forgetting about giving up on this project, it was resurrected yesterday. okay, i can't claim responsibility. dave did it. somehow or other he got this bee in his bonnet to go clean out the garage. so he did, for a long time. and made good progress too!

check it out!



better, eh?

and, the MOMS club is having a garage sale in a couple weeks, so i've got two boxes full of stuff i'm going to sell there, plus some baby stuff that we had listed unsuccessfully on craigslist, plus a few kitchen items that we got as wedding gifts and wound up not really needing - also listed unsuccessfully on craigslist. so yay! we just might succeed!

someday...

in other news... now shane has a fever. will it never end???

hand, foot, and mouth disease.

i noticed the spots on the bottom of one of layla's feet today. the fact that the inside of her mouth is full of sores made me suspicious. she's still having a tough time of it. she bounces back and forth between being almost back to normal and being completely miserable. no fever though, so i think we're on the mend, but the poor thing has got to be uncomfortable.

micah is kind of the same. no fever, sometimes fine, sometimes very clingy and he hasn't wanted to eat a lot today. i haven't noticed anything on his hands or feet and there's no way he's letting me see inside his mouth, so who knows. but i assume he's got the same thing.

they're both sleeping more than usual. layla didn't want to take a nap today, and then at 4, i found her passed out on the floor in the corner of her bedroom. she slept until after 6 and still hasn't totally come to. she's currently snuggling with daddy and watching the preseason niners game.

so loads of fun here.

and now...

... it would appear that layla has shared her germs with micah. joy. i thought he seemed a little off.

layla seems to be feeling better today, but she's super, extra sensitive. right now she's screaming hysterically because shane flushed her poop.

earlier, she decided she wanted to stick a corn poker in her peanut butter sandwich... one slice of bread was too thin and it wasn't working very well, so i offered to help her, which she accepted. i folded the peanut butter side over, and stuck the corn poker through that. she was impressed at first, but then something apparently tragic happened and she dissolved into hysterical crying and kept looking at her sandwich and screaming "it's dead. it's dead." over and over. i had a really hard time displaying appropriate sympathy without cracking up. i have no idea what she was talking about.

more sickness... more insanity

so this time it's layla who is sick. she woke up whiny today and i eventually became compelled to take her temperature. yup. she's sick. she said her throat hurt and then later she said her ears hurt. well that's a free ticket to the doctor. so we got her an appointment at 4:30. great. well, not exactly. we had a logistical dilemma of epic proportions. dave was at the dentist. we still only have one working car. the dr's office is in bellevue. shane had soccer practice at 5:30 back here in woodinville. so we tried to make it work. it didn't. dave finished with his dentist appointment around the time i was leaving to take layla (and shane and micah, because really, that was my only choice) to her appointment, so i picked him up (fortunately, the dentist is in redmond, which is on the way) and we all went to the dr. i took layla in and dave took the others to a swim shop to get shane's new goggles - yeah, we still hadn't managed to find those. so layla and i sat in the waiting room for like 45 minutes. at 5, i called dave and told him he better just take shane to practice because there was no way we were going to be done in time for him to get there at all. but then he was going to have to come back to bellevue to get us, and somehow get back to woodinville to pick up shane. in an hour. during rush hour traffic. right.

well that wasn't going to happen, so dave worked it out with the coach and our neighbors that the coach would bring him to the neighbors' house when practice was over. as it turned out, we beat them and coach was able to bring him directly here... fun times. we so need to get the toyota running.

oh, layla has.... wait for it.... a virus.

good grief. her ears are fine, but her throat is red and she's got a bunch of little ulcer things on the insides of her mouth. tylenol and fluids.

some people completely baffle me

so yesterday morning, i was forced to get up very early and go wait around the YMCA to sign shane up for his homezone class. after sitting around for like 45 minutes in which time i filled out forms, drank coffee, tried to keep from dozing off, drank coffee, tried to read a book, and drank more coffee, they finally called my number. i gave them my forms and a check and they signed shane up for the proper day, etc. yay. one more thing done.

on my way out, i noticed a beautiful classic VW bug. now, being a bug enthusiast, i took a minute (or 5) to do a walk around and check this bug out. it wasn't in perfect condition, but pretty close. it was red, late '60s i'd say. maybe '67 or '68. it looked something like this:

but without the fancy hubcaps. i checked out all the places that i had 'issues' with mine and typical trouble spots. there was no rust to speak of. no bubbles under the paint near the chrome. the interior was fabulous! and... there was a box of stuff on the floor in the back seat, so i can only assume it doesn't leak! my bug took on so much water you would think i would need to bail!

so as i'm galking at this car, i was apparently standing in an empty parking space next to it. not that this should have been a big deal. but behind me i heard a horn honk. i didn't think much of it, but then i thought it might be someone i knew trying to get my attention. so i looked up. no one i knew, but a woman in a white minivan who was looking at me like i was the biggest pain-in-the-butt on the planet and how dare i stand in a parking space. she does this little "move along now idiot" motion with her hand at me and i quickly walked away toward my car. now it's not like i was parked a mile away or anything and let me just say that i passed at least 4 open spaces on my way to my car! so then i start getting all mad. eventually, i started to find it a little funny. especially when, as i was driving away, i passed another space, even closer to the building, just on the other side of this bug i had been looking at.

so seriously. what was this woman thinking? it's not like it was costco on a saturday morning. the lot was full of other spaces! but she had to have that one. and then i was thinking about it some more and thought what i would do - if i were at costco on a saturday morning and the lot was full, not at the ymca at 9am on a monday - and i most certainly wouldn't honk my horn at someone. that's just plain rude. i think i might put my window down a little and say 'excuse me' or something like that.

geez. the manners of some people!

a few things that have tickled my funny bone this evening.

3 year old logic is great!

layla was in the backyard today and she came up to the door with her lightning mcqueen bike helmet in her hands and said to me, "when i break my lightning mcqueen helmet, you better get me a princess one." (yes, mary. i am aware that my worst nightmare is unfolding before me.)

dave brought home dairy queen treats when he went to pick up our pizza this evening. layla was very excited about this and wanted hers as soon as she was done with her pizza. we informed her that she had to eat her green beans first before she could have it. she's not so fond of them lately and made a little stink about not wanting to eat them. but we stuck to it and said she had to eat them first. so she turned to me and said, "mommy, you eat my beans so i can have my ice cream."

then there was this conversation:

layla: daddy, i want some blue jelly beans.
dave: you don't need any jelly beans.
layla: but i want some blue jelly beans!
dave: no, layla.
layla: mommy, i want some blue jelly beans. (we were all right next to each other.)
me: layla, did daddy just tell you no?
layla: yeah, but i want some blue jelly beans.
me: then why are you asking me?
layla: because i want some blue jelly beans!

eventually she gave up on both the ice cream and the jelly beans and decided she was going to have another piece of pizza. i was aware of this and she was in the living room with everyone else (well almost everyone else) so i wasn't too concerned about it. but then i heard a strange noise behind me in the dining room. i looked over to see micah sitting, happy as a clam, in front of the rest of the pizza which was sitting on the floor, picking off the olives and eating them. "layla! did you put the whole pizza on the floor?!" "yeah."

and fyi. the anti-bladder-irritant diet has been working wonders. we went from like 5 accidents a day to maybe 3 in a week. and then we decided to reintroduce chocolate. more accidents. i'm not totally convinced of the accuracy of this, because the experiment was a tad tainted. she got ahold of some dried pineapple in a trail mix the other day, and this morning she ate a strawberry. but she has eaten a fair amount of chocolate in the last 4 days so i'm afraid that might be something. poor girl! i hope this is something she'll grow out of.

an eventful weekend

so it's not quite noon on sunday, and already we're totally wiped out. it's been outrageously hot here (for seattle) and it seems like stuff always happens all at the same time. here's just a short rundown, beginning friday afternoon.
1. went to target to buy new goggles for shane - they were out.
2. while at target, layla fell out of the shopping cart. yes, i know. mom of the year, right here!
3. she was okay.
4. went over to sports world since we had to go order shane's soccer shirt anyway. they didn't have any goggles, but i did get his shirt ordered and got him some black shorts and socks. practice starts tuesday this week. aaaaggghhh!!!
5. when we got back in the car, layla managed to get her fingers smashed in the car door.
6. again, she was okay.
7. went to the ymca for shane's swim test. he borrowed some goggles, and tested at fish level... impressive since he finished in june at minnow. he was stoked about that.
8. went to kat's birthday party that night where i 'got my drink on' with some yummy pre-mixed jose quervo margaritas. thank you to my mil for introducing me to these!
9. we stayed til 10!
10. the kids still got up early. ugh!
11. dave went to work on saturday morning.
12. i loaded up kids and brownies later on and went to pick him up and head to west seattle to lincoln park for dave's company picnic.
13. we took our lives in our hands and drove southbound on 99 on the viaduct. (you will only get that if you're from around here.)
14. there was not an earthquake, so therefore we did not have the top of the viaduct collapse on us and squish us, and therefore cause us to die.
15. we got to lincoln park, found a great parking space and went to the picnic. it was fun.
16. dave played football on the beach. a bunch of people in flip flops, playing football on a rocky beach, that slopes significantly toward the water, and is lined on the top side by driftwood and the bottom side (obviously) by puget sound. is this a good idea?
17. layla threw rocks in the water.
18. shane and i joined her - even trying to invent a new olympic event; synchronized rock throwing. it was about as impossible as the synchronized diving. why do they even try?
19. we decided to go get on a ferry and rode to vashon where we walked off and discovered that there was nothing within walking distance but a mexican restaurant and the dog poop that dave stepped in.
20. we got on another ferry and rode it to southworth. disembarked and got back on, rode it back to vashon and then back to west seattle.
21. our car was not towed even though we parked there way longer than 4 hours.
22. we got home to find a box on our porch w/ birthday presents from gramma and papa. yay!
23. we opened the box and trashed the living room.
24. shane, dave and micah went in the pool.
25. we opted for sandwiches instead of cooking anything that would make the house even hotter.
26. after dinner, we ate a lot of jelly bellys. thanks gramma and papa!
27. we watched michael phelps win his 8th gold medal.
28. after like 48 hours of attempts, 3 kids finally went to sleep.
29. around 4am we had some sort of mid-west style, heat-related storm. lots of thunder and lightning w/ no rain to speak of.
30. the kids slept through it, thank goodness!
31. i did not and was awake for about 2 hours.
32. we got up and left for church late.
33. we got there late. duh.
34. we discovered as we pulled into the parking lot that the service was being held outside.
35. there were no extra chairs.
36. we went to the nursery and the kids played.
37. apparently the power had been out so they decided to do church outside.
38. we came home and dave fell asleep.
39. shane went out to play.
40. micah went to sleep.
41. i made a pizza.
42. i ate some pizza and micah woke up.
43. dave is still asleep...
44. i wish i were asleep.

60 Things You Possibly Didn't Know About Me

1. What is in the back seat of your car right now?
which back seat? car seats, trash, the 'jon and kate box' that has spare diapers, wipes, a bib, spare socks for the kids, spare pants and underwear for layla, uhhh... trash, foam animal hats from noah's birthday party, trash, 2 strollers, layla's sandals, some semi-crushed pirate's booty that layla dumped out of a cup, crumbs, dirt, a little potty, a wind-up doc hudson car, trash, who knows what else... trash.

2. When was the last time you threw up
uhh, may 2007. the most awful episode of stomach flu that hit all members of our family.

3. What's your favorite curse word?
dammit or crap, although crap isn't really cursing.

4. Name 3 people who made you smile today?
shane, layla, micah (how convenient)

5. What were you doing at 8 am this morning?
drinking coffee, feeding a baby, listening to layla tell me that she wanted 'milk on her life'

6. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
wasting time

7. What will you be doing 3 hours from now?
taking shane for a swim test, worrying about what i'm fixing for dinner. oh wait! we're going to a birthday party. yay! i don't have to make dinner!

8. Have you ever been to a strip club?
GOOD LORD NO!

9. What is the last thing you said aloud?
stop screaming!!!

10. What is the best ice cream flavor?
mint chocolate chip? cake batter? chocolate?

11. What was the last thing you had to drink?
orange soda (oops. i'm just trying to get them out of the house so we can't drink them anymore.)

12. What are you wearing right now?
denim shorts, a tank top with a coffee stain and some smeared raspberries on it.

13. What was the last thing you ate?
2 hot dogs w/ WHOLE WHEAT BUNS

14. Have you bought any new clothing items this week?
don't think i've bought much of anything this week. totally broke!

15. When was the last time you ran?
yesterday across the church nursery to attempt to keep micah from falling on his head.

16. What's the last sporting event you watched?
uh... apparently kayaking is an olympic sport.

18. Who is the last person you emailed?
a lady about a homeschool assesment for shane

19. Ever go camping?
rarely... going labor day weekend this year.

20. Do you have a tan?
uh... does a farmer tan count?

24. Do you drink your soda from a straw?
only if there's ice in it. i hate cold stuff bumping into my teeth.

25. What did your last IM say?
"do you know where the top for layla's blue snack cup is?"

- ok, i just had to edit this because i just sent an IM to dave that had me laughing really hard after i realized what i had written...

"can i meet you someplace before you get to kat's so i don't have to take the kids to the liquor store?"

26. Are you someone's best friend?
i think so.

27. What are you doing tomorrow?
dave's company picnic at lincoln park... so basically herding kids and making small talk with people i've met on like 3 different occasions and don't know at all.

28. Where is your mom right now?
probably in bed.

29. Look to your left, what do you see?
a beat up screen door,a green door mat, a half-deflated inflatable clownfish, a blue noodle, a rotting deck, a blue wading pool, a stump, dead grass, dandilions, 3 plastic fish, a towel, a beach ball, a yellow sand bucket, a small brown bird, and a fence.

30. What color is your watch?
silver metal band w/ a blue face (that sounds weird)

31. What do you think of when you think of Australia ?
hot guys w/ cool accents.

32. Would you consider plastic surgery?
in theory, yes. in reality, probably not.

33. What is your birthstone?
ruby

34. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru?
depends on how many kids i have with me. although, when layla's in the car, the second she recognizes we're in a drive-thru of any sort - this has happened in line for the car wash and at a starbucks - she pipes up with "i want chicken!"

35.How many kids do you want?
oh, i don't know, 1 might be enough.

36. Do you have a dog?
technically, yes.

37. Last person you talked to on the phone?
darla, i think.

38. Have you met anyone famous?
brian boitano, rosalyn sumners, debi thomas, tonya harding (yes, tonya harding... she was really nice - but this was years ago), a bunch of other skaters from the late 80's that no one remembers. oh and brad adam and bill kruger in an elevator at safeco field. they're the guys on fsn before and after mariner's games. bill kruger was totally snotty, but brad adam was very nice, even though my dad was a total dork and said something darrell smallbeckish like 'hey you are those guys we see on tv!'

39. Any plans today?
shane's swim test, stopping at target to get him new goggles since he lost his (again), kat's birthday party, putting the laundry in the dryer.

40. How many states have you lived in?
2

41. Ever go to college?
habitually

42. Where are you right now?
in front of the computer.

43. Biggest annoyance in your life right now?
solicitors who leave empty snack packages on your front porch.

44. Last song listened to?
i honestly have no idea.

46. Are you allergic to anything?
dust, mold, pollen, cats, dogs, children, needles, germs, cleaning, grocery shopping, cooking, folding fitted sheets, waiting in line, solicitors.

47. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time?
brown flip flops

48. Are you jealous of anyone?
yes. people whose couches don't sag and whose carpet isn't green.

50. Is anyone jealous of you?
uh...?

51. What time is it?
12:47

52. Do any of your friends have children?
they have to. i'm incapable of conversing about anything other than poop, diapers, snot, vomit, crumbs, and chauffeuring.

53. Do you eat healthy?
yes. and i eat absolute crap.

54. What do you usually do during the day?
seriously? make food, change diapers, wipe butts, put away toys, comb hair, bathe kids, break up fights, turn off the tv, play candyland, wipe faces, make more food, do dishes, do laundry, think about cleaning something, feel guilty for not cleaning something, put away toys, yell, put away more toys, drive kids places, nag, put away toys, wish desperately for a nap, make more food, kiss owies, put kids to bed, put away toys...

55. Do you hate anyone right now?
solicitors.

56. Do you use the word 'hello' daily?
among many others.

58. How old will you be turning on your next birthday?
25 again.

59. Have you ever been to Six Flags?
yes, but that was before it was six flags. they didn't have any flags then.

60. How did you get one of your scars?
do stretch marks count? that would be obvious.

goodbye ed.

i went to a funeral today. i don't know what to say about it. it was a funeral. it was long. it was a hot day. it made me feel sad. it was a nice service... as far as those things go.

ed kaiser died about a week and a half ago. he was a long-time member of my church, and my dear friend, trudy's father. thank God i don't know what it's like to lose a parent, but when it happens to a friend, it makes you think about stuff you don't want to think about. ed spent a good share of the last year treating lymphoma. part of me wants to say that at least it wasn't a hugely long, painful process, but that doesn't make someone's death any nicer. i don't know what to think or what to say really to my friend or her family. i've not been there, so i don't know what the right thing to say is. 'i'm sorry.' doesn't really express much. well, i guess we should be thankful that ed is done with his cancer now and heaven is a much better place for him to be. but the rest of us will still miss him.

on a less serious, but related, note. i heard this story on sunday from trudy. apparently, during church, robin, 3, was telling pam, the pastor's wife, that her papa died. and pam was sympathetic, but said to her, 'yes, but do you know where he is now?' at which point she turned to trudy and asked, 'where is papa?' and trudy said, 'he's in heaven with jesus.' robin thought a minute and then looked up at pastor at the front of the church and said, 'is that jesus?'

i just love the way kids try so hard to make the intangible so concrete.

don't ya love it...

...when you have just stuck a spoonful of some mushy, gloppy, sticky substance into your baby's mouth and he immediately sneezes?

all over you.
and the floor.
and the table.
and the chairs.

oh yeah.

i feel so honored!

ok, so i am a regular reader of dawn's blog at 'because i said so' over there on my blog list. she's hilarious and has a following of like a bazillion readers because of her hilarious ebay listing of pokemon cards that got sneaked into her shopping cart while grocery shopping w/ her 6 kids. anyway, every sunday night she does the 'sunday sound out' where she answers questions that people posted as comments on her blog. well, one of mine made it this week! woo hoo! i feel like i got a letter from the queen of england or something. anyway, there were a bunch of pictures she took from a recent camping trip and one of them was of a particular sign that is quite obviously phallic and therefore hilarious. my comment, the picture, and her response follows...


OMG! the picture of that one sign has me ROFL. where was that and what was it 'supposed' to be a picture of??? i'm totally dying. my husband has to see that. LMAO.


Clearly, it's indicating you should wave your hand when the ultrasonic waves come out of the wall, then someone will pee on you. Or maybe it means that if someone starts peeing on your fingers, you should shake hands with the wall. Or perhaps it means you should try to catch the sound waves emitted from the wall before someone comes along and pees on your hand. At any rate, it's disturbing.

sludge anyone?

so i had a dinner disaster this week. it actually spanned 2 nights. i found a recipe online for black bean and bacon soup. it sounded good, so i decided to make it. on wednesday. so i soaked the beans over night and all the next day and late that afternoon, i started putting the soup together. everything was going fine until it was time for the soup to be done and the beans were still almost crunchy. huh? i think they left out a lengthy 'simmer' part of the directions on the recipe. so we made a mad dash into town and had a lovely dinner at taco del mar. on thursday evening, i put the pot back on the stove to simmer some more. i was noticing that the excess simmering was causing the soup to look really thick, so i added a little more broth to it, especially since the final direction of the oh-so-trustworthy-internet-recipe said to put it all in the blender and puree it. so when the beans were sufficiently not crunchy, i spooned the stuff into the blender and pureed away.

it looked disgusting.

it looked like something that mike rowe would be scraping out of the bottom of a containment pond on 'dirty jobs'.

it looked like something that i knew i wasn't going to have much luck getting my family to eat.

i spooned it into bowls (still a bit thick) and waited for the comments to start.

shane: i am NOT going to eat that!
me: it looks gross, but it tastes good.
shane: no, i don't think so.
me: quit complaining and help me put the bowls on the table.

layla took one look and ate her bread

dave was polite, but i could tell by the questioning look and the skeptical raised eyebrows that it wasn't going over well.

i did manage to get everyone to eat a little. well, layla was bribed to eat one bite. shane ate about a third of his before announcing that he really didn't like it. dave ate about half before he gave up, citing the fact that the 'texture gets really old after awhile'. i made a good effort, because it really did taste good... but alas, was unable to finish - something along the lines of what dave said.

micah liked it!


come on, you would eat that? right?

the cutest baby ever...

so maybe it's just because he's the youngest or because he's supposed to be my last and all that yada, yada, yada... but this kid just melts my heart.



i know that everyone thinks their baby is the cutest in the world, but seriously, is he not adorable?

a new thing i found. let's see if it works.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

and now...

the title of the ad is...

"pee"

you have got to be kidding me.

nice.

i think i need to quit writing about bathrooms.

OMG! are you kidding me?

look over there to the right. do you see it? the title of the ad that google has running right now is "public urination". LOL! how do i wind up with these things? somebody click on it please! i'm not allowed to click on my own ads (it's in the rules!) so someone else has to do it.

quote of the day

this one comes from layla...

people in our house eat a lot of life cereal... or actually, now we eat shredded spoonfuls or whatever it's called since i discovered that life has lots of artificial ingredients and we're trying to eliminate as many of those as possible. this is the closest 'natural' stuff i can find. everyone thinks it tastes the same, which makes it a good trade. anyway, we still call it life because it's habit. and besides, there are so many good puns that come from that! like this one:

"daddy, you need to get yourself some life!"

nothing like a 3 year old telling you to get a life!

colds are lame

so a rather anticlimactic seafair sunday for us. watching the blue angels on tv is just not the same. then again after last year, being right on the water's edge, it's hard to follow up. i woke up this morning with the intention of taking layla and micah to church with me, leaving dave home with shane - who is better, but having an enforced day of rest. i managed to get up, shower and get dressed before i crawled back into bed and told dave i didn't want to go. so he got up and took them. it seems i've been struck down with a stupid cold. it's august! why are we sick?