9.26.2008

R U KIDDING ME?!

Okay I don't mean to be rude, or unhelpful... but really!?

My brothers girlfriend just called me.. yes to see if I could watch the kids today. That's not the best part... She asked if I can watch the kids because someone bought her a spa package and she wants to redeem it today..

Not that I've been working my booty off packing and transporting and doing everything else I have going on, no... she has a SPA PACKAGE... Holey guacamole - what has the world come to??

Needless to say, I just had to decline.

9.25.2008

Another Day, Another Dollar

It's almost 3pm and I don't think I have accomplished much on todays 'to-do' list, I did however finish the list from Tuesday.. so that is pretty good :)

I am thinking of taking the kids to the sears to have their photos taken, just trying to figure out how to get Alexa out of her dress and into something more appropriate (if you saw her today, she was kinda risk-ay) Alexa is currently rushing Adrianne to finish her lunch, yes 3pm and they are just having lunch. I know, it's kinda late..

So that leads me to our schedule, I have been trying to shift it back a bit because they really have a hard time waking up in the morning. Even this morning, I got them up at 8am, just so they could pass the grouchy period before heading to playgroup. Alexa however was still somewhat clingy/moody at playgroup, but she did say that Ella talked to her, and she was her friend. I have also found that by going to bed between 10pm and 10:30pm really reduces my next day groggy-ness. So I am aming for more of those nights.

Last night I didn't make it, ofcourse, because it was the 24th and that means I have to do the bookkeeping for the Coffee Lounge. So I stayed up late to do that, got it done though and went downtown after playgroup today to give it to them to send (has to be postmarked by the 25th). Then we came back home and I am trying to clean up and pack a little bit before heading off to the mall for an oil change (and hopefully photos).

So what is new.. I have switched my kids to the big kid tooth paste (monumental for us). They now have to brush, rinse, and spit. Pretty good so far, although the spitting is not very well aimed... still working on that directional issue. Other than that they are doing well, before we had the bear toothpaste and they literally would just eat it off the brush.

Okay well that is enough blabbering, it's been a nice slower day. And the girls have been relitivly good to eachother. :)

9.24.2008

Where is my day of rest?

It seems there was a time when I often wrote about 'a day of rest', on these days I would just stay home and do the required house work, kick back, read a book... those fun sort of no brain needed days.

Now, I can't even remember the last time I had one, I guess you could count the vacation day, but that's not really the same because I wasn't exactly kicked back at home doing virtually nothing. Hmm.. so tomorrow all I have on the docket is playgroup, which really isn't a challenge and I find it quite calming to be around the other kids (instead of just my own, who sometimes drive me crazy).

Tonight I have a group meeting and I am delivering some Mary Kay products, and then I have a management test. So it's not really an easy night. Although tomorrow is no class so I am super duper glad for that (only I've noticed on days when there is 'no class' there is 'more homework').

Well I guess I better get the kiddo's off to my aunts house so I can leave early for the meeting. They didn't take a rest, so they are grouchy and bickering at eachother.. Lovely.

9.22.2008

And the pack begins...

Last Wednesday Julius' boss said that Julius needed to take Friday off and take a break, so I thought that would be a wonderful time to repaint our new place... but then Thursday morning Julius called and said that his boss was going to pay for our hotel, where did we want to go?? Wow! So some of the other MOMS Club members had said Great Wolf Lodge was good, so Julius booked a room and his boss paid the bill :) So we drove up Friday morning, with the kids being highly bored in the back seat (Julius did a good job of entertaining them). It's about an hour and a half drive, but on the way up Julius and I were looking at some of the other towns for possibly buying a house there instead of Vancouver. When we got there it was a little chilly and the kids were grouchy from the car ride.. but then they realized we were going to stay there and they saw all neat things in the lobby. So we unloaded the car and went up to our room where the kids had there own little 'den'. It was so cute because their room had little wolf cubs on the wall and a pretend rock wall partition. Plus bunk beds and their own TV. It was really a neat place to stay.

After getting settled we went and ate lunch, then donned our bathing suits and headed to the water park. It was great fun, most of it is geared towards kids so the girls had a blast, Adrianne even went down the big kid slide twice (despite her terrified look at the bottom when she went under water). The girls both had little life jackets, but I'm not sure if they really helped. Adrianne went underwater on her back and couldn't get back upright so she was just kinda bobbing under water. Then another time she tripped and fell so she was bobbing on her stomach and she couldn't get her head up high enough to be above water. But we were close enough that we snatched her out of the water quickly. So don't think that a life jacket will save your child from drowning, it could actually hold them under water (especially at a small age when the jacket is stronger then they are).

Alexa on the other hand, said 'no way' to all the slides, so I went down with her on one of the kiddy ones and at the bottom I accidently landed on her ankle, so that made her cry.. Luckily the kids love water so they bucked up and continued to play. There was an awesome wave section that Alexa liked to play in, it reminded me of the ocean.

Julius and I took turns going on the big people slides. I screamed bloody murder, but admit that they were very fun. Julius had a good time too. After all the water fun we went back and got some real clothes and headed to the craft area where the kids made pirate hats (but we forgot to get them before we left.. oops!) then it was onto the arcade where Julius went crazy with the tickets, we had over 500 by the time we finished. And poor nieve us, I saw a sign that said "Scan your wrist band and recieve $5 in tokens" We thought we would recieve a complimentary $5 of tokens for each wrist band, so we scanned once each. Then to see what would happen we each scanned again... it was then that I re-read the sign.... and noticed that I had misinterpreted the meaning. It meant that we could get $5 of tokens to be BILLED to our room.. Oops. Obviously we have never stayed in anything quite so fancy before.

After we redeemed our tickets for prizes we went to the lobby where there was a puppet show and a bedtime story (this is where I realized that most of the kids were already in their pajamas). After the story we went to eat dinner :) It was buffet style so the kids had a good time picking what they wanted, Julius let Alexa get a slice of pizza and when she got back to our table a man came over and said "she dropped it." I thought he meant she dropped something on the floor, then I realized she dropped her pizza and picked it back up... Yum.. After that little mishap we had a nice long dinner, finished off with some ice cream.

The next morning we got up and went to the Childrens Museum in Olympia, it was fun. It is a small space, but they really have alot of things in it. The girls had a good time, and they think that the capitol building is a "castle" with princesses in it.

On the way home I tried to get Julius to stop at the outlet mall in Centralia.. The conversation went like this:

Julius: "Here comes the outlet mall."
Me: "ooh, lets stop for a minute."
Julius: "We don't have time."
Me: "But I have to go potty."
Julius: "haha, good try."

So about 20 minutes later I again asked if we could stop so I could go potty, and he said, "Ohh, I thought you just wanted to go shopping!"

(Which ofcourse I did, but I still had to go potty too!)

Sunday we went to grandma's house, then it was off to Lowes to get some wallpaper remover. Then we had my Aunts over for dinner. At which time I started packing. So today Julius took the car to work and here I am packing some more. It's really not as easy as I thought. We have so much stuff, I just want to toss it. The kids too, I packed two suitcases and two boxes, of just their CLOTHES!! And I still have two loads in the washer - to get us through to the end of the month. I asked Julius, "How did we accumulate so much stuff?!" To which he said, "Well stop shopping." - HA, that is not an option!! There has to be some sort of happy medium.

So wish me luck on the packing, I still have my homework to do too.. And shutterfly offered me a free book so I am trying to finish that up before the cut off.. Here's to a day of progress :)

9.16.2008

When BBQ Catches Fire...

What NOT to do:
  • Shout at wife in a excited "look what I've accomplished" voice
  • Open lid/shut lid saying, "it's really hot"
  • Watch flames in amazement
  • Try to blow flames with breath/fan with hand
  • PANIC
Yes, the lessons we have learned from a now slightly charred BBQ. I did however come to the rescue and offered the container of salt, which did not extinguish the entire flame.. so in came baking soda to finish off the job. But I'm telling you, those wire racks never looked so clean and free from debris.

*sigh* my life, always filled with excitement.

9.10.2008

12:31 a.m. and still ticking..

Just a few minutes before I head off to la-la-land. I think I am the only person awake at this time, but hey my house is so nice and quiet :) Plus I had the dishwasher wash the dishes and the washing machine washing towels, so I feel pretty darn accomplished. I have emailed a lot of people and I have even figured out how to accept the grants that I got for school - bonus! Although there ofcourse is a down side... another ticket :( Parking ticket this time for parking without a pass, I swear that WSU will pinch you for every dime you have, it's sad really.. I am thinking of going to the student government with a complaint. It's $35 but Julius says I can contest it and they will waive it. When did everything become so expensive? It's only 50cents to park down town for a whole hour! And I have to pay $3 to park for one hour at WSU? Ridiculous.

I think that is all for tonight, I just had to get that off my chest. Julius is going in for his biometrics tomorrow, so no car until the afternoon.. Just as well, I need the rest. Then my class has a group project which we are working on before class tomorrow so the kids are headed off to my Aunts while I go to school an hour early. We have a meeting on Saturday and a Quarterly Outreach on Sunday.. I can't remember if we have anything else - still don't dare to look at the calendar that I meticulously printed out... I am thinking of looking for a time management/organizational class, I really could use some kind of stress free schedule.

Goodnight.

9.08.2008

Mostly for my own sanity..

Baby Christopher - 5 months old

It's been a while since I posted anything, which seems odd because we have been doing so much.

Friday we went down to Coffee Lounge and picked up some files, then ofcourse we can't go down there without a trip to the park to play in the water and the play structure that the kids think is a castle.

Saturday I went scrappin' with some friends, I got quite a few pages done of the little man so I felt good and accomplished. We scrapped in a scrappin' store which I thought would be complicated due to customers coming in and out, but it was not that busy and it was super convenient to just wonder around until you found the right paper, stickers, ribbon, or other supply to fit your page. I loved it and hope to do it again very soon.

While I was scrappin' Julius and the girls took a load of stuff to our soon to be new house. I am glad the girls got to go and see their new room and play a little while before the big day. We are planning to move a little at a time so hopefully the adjustment will be gradual - for all of us. Once we all arrived back home; Julius took a nap while I mopped the kitchen floor (decided not to wait so long between moppin's). Afterwards we rousted the kiddos up and went to The Sausage Fest. It's was fun and really calm, I consider the fair to be somewhat stressful, but the Fest is very relaxed. I even paid for the kids to ride the marry-go-round, which they loved. We bought a bag of kettle corn, Julius' favorite, and I got an elephant ear. We parked a little ways away, (I said it was 1/2 a mile... but Julius said it wasn't even close) but the walking time gave us time to talk while the girls held hands and walked in front of us. It was a rare moment, but worth it.

Sunday we went to the MOMS Club family picnic which was a great time. The kids had fun and we got to hang out with some of the other families. Plus the weather was awesome and the girls went all the way to the play stucture on their own while Julius and I just watched them (more freedom!). When we got home it was time to rest so I put the kids down and I proceeded to sleep in the living room while Julius watched football. But when I awoke he was sleeping with the kids, so I had time to read half a chapter of homework before they got up (YAY me!). When they got up we were still kinda stuffed from the picnic, so we decided to wait and get pizza and movies.

While we were waiting Julius and I were discussing vacation options because we still haven't used his one week vacation time, it's gotten a little complex to plan now that I have classes and everything. We still haven't decided, but while we were looking at the calendar it was fun to see the pictures of the kids (I made one of those photo calendars for Julius last Christmas). We had a good time guessing who was who, we finally had to rely on who had the most hair since Alexa always had hair and Adrianne was bald until 1 year old. Their faces look almost exactly alike. Here's a look...
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Today we went down to Coffee Lounge again to deliver the bill, and ofcourse pick up more work for me. Then we went to the park which was completely deserted, there was maybe 3 kids on the play structure and one little boy in the water area, quite refreshing :) Well I guess that's all for me, I have apples that need to be peeled and homework that needs to be read, and a meeting tonight.. :)

9.03.2008

Back to School Time

I know alot of the other MOMS are writing about their kids going back to school, or starting school.. But here it's me who is going back to school. It's sort of a different feeling, sometimes when I get home from class (which is only 3 hours) my girls are just ecstatic with joy, screaming and jumping, tugging on my arms/clothes, they both want to tell me everything at the same time. They really just swarm me. Alexa even gets the sniffles and says, "huggies momma." And although I know that going to school isn't the end of the world and I still have quite a few hours with them, it's still a big change for all three of us. (Julius doesn't seem to have feelings either way.)

I missed MOMS Club on Tuesday because I was just so exhausted, I litereally crashed on my living room floor for three hours while the kids watched movies (thank goodness for holesome Disney). In addition, I have homework.. and it's not even alot of homework, it's not hard either. But it's finding the time to read 50 pages of bland text without the continual banter of the girls. I suppose I am intended to actually absorb some of what I am reading. So today we went to the park. We all needed a break and mommy needed some sun time to re-energize after yesterdays groggy-ness. It was nice, the kids played and I read about 15 pages. Then we had lunch there, so no clean up involved.

I made a calendar with everything on it that I have to do.. but now whenever I look at it, I get so stressed out because there is SO much on it!! Literally every day and weekend has atleast two things on it, and none of those are daily tasks like dishes, laundry, or cleaning. My head swims just thinking about it. So I am really trying hard to just get done what needs to be done in some sort of a timly manner, plus it doesn't help that I am quite the procrastinator. A guy in my class today asked me if I had completed the homework for this other class which is tomorrow, I told him, "Honestly, I am just trying to make it through tonight.."

So here's hoping for a new, more organized me!

9.02.2008

OMSI Day



Well we decided to go to the OMSI and see the Reptile show, I really liked it. The kids' uncle Sid came with us and we all spent much of the day there. Enjoy the show, I am off to school now. After a day of not feeling so well, hopefully tomorrow will be better. I think the stress just got me over the long weekend and starting week 2 of school.. Atleast it's sunny today :)