I haven't even posted the list!

I haven't even finished my 101 Goals list and I have finished one goal - woohoo!! I'm still going to count it as a finished goal :)

9. Sell the maternity clothes on ebay

Well, I technically didn't sell them on ebay but they are not in my possession anymore. Our town is opening a crisis pregnancy center that our church is providing a building for. So, I donated all my maternity clothes to the crisis pregnancy center. That would be one bug rubbermaid, a 1.5 ft by 2 ft. space bag, and 3 kitchen trash bags worth of clothes. Yep, I've had three kids and have grown over the years. So hopefully a few someones will benefit from my multiple sized maternity wardrobe!

And as a side - it is really hard to come up with 101 goals!

Christmas and a little mancave!

It seems we celebrate Christmas for weeks on end! We actually won't be done with our festivities until New Years Eve. Here are just a few pictures.....

Oreo Bonbons - yum!

We sprinkle reindeer food for Santa's reindeer every Christmas eve. See the glitter sparkling in the air?

Santa must not have got the memo about the kids being on the naughty list!! :P

We have had a great Christmas! One of my favorite parts is the Christmas Eve service at our church - it just sets the mood and reinforces why we celebrate.



Clean up we did on Christmas morning! The kids got some of their very favorite things. Santa went a little crazy with the candy, as he always does. I must have been very good because the Coach gave me that lens for my camera I had been wanting!!!! He also gave me a camera bag!!! The Coach got lots of clothes from me and a digital picture frame which I'm not sure that he really likes but he hasn't said otherwise. I think his favorite gift was the wii points that "Santa" put in his stocking. At this exact moment, he is reliving his youth buy playing some old Nintendo games that he bought with those wii points!

_________________________


On to the mancave - we have gotten quite the use out of it lately! The Coach had his basketball team over for a Christmas party the 23rd. Wow - those girls were loud! We have a four bedroom house with the partial finished basement. They sure did fill the whole place with noise! But I do have to say, when they left, the house looked just as it did when they came over and they were really good girls!

Then today, Tres finally got introduced to the jacuzzi tub that is in the mancave! The jacuzzi tub was there when we bought the house so it wasn't part of our remodel. As a matter of fact, I have plans for it in my head but it will be a little while before they happen. Anyways, Tres had a great time and I got some great pics!

There Tres is in all her nakey glory!

If only Dos was looking at the picture!

An action shot!

In case anyone wonders what the orange stuff is in Tres' ears - she had tubes put in this July and we have to put wax in her ears whenever she is in water.


I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Mars and Venus clean the bathroom....

Tonight we have had the Coach's high school girls basketball team over for a Christmas party. I have literally spent the last two days cleaning the mancave and majority of the upstairs. And what day would the toilet pick to clog up??? Today of course. About 1 hour before the guests were expected!!!

So, the Coach plunges it but isn't totally happy with how it is flushing. We decide that we should do a real quick clean of the master bedroom and bath just in case toilet #1 decides to misbehave. Well, I decide that HE will clean the master bedroom and bath. I needed to clean up the spilled shredded cheese in the kitchen.

We both do our thing and I go back to "inspect" what the Coach has done. He cleaned the floor really well. But here is a list of things that SHOULD NOT be left out when company is expected to use the bathroom -

• Your wife's Preparation H Cooling Gel
• Your wife's bra and sports bra hanging right next to the toliet
• Your wife's tampons on the back of the toilet
• Your wife's sanitary napkins on the floor
• And not quite as embarrassing, the crusted toothpaste in the sink.

I suggest you print this out and give it to those you love as a reference in case they ever need to do a "quick clean"!

Twas The Night Before Christmas...Mom Style

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the abode
Only one creature was stirring & she was cleaning the commode.


The children were finally sleeping, all snug in their beds,
while visions of X-Box & Barbie flipped through their heads.


Yes, and dad was snoring in front of the TV,
with a half constructed bicycle propped on his knee.


So only the mom heard the reindeer hooves clatter,
which made her sigh, "Now what is the matter?"


With toilet bowl brush still clutched in her hand,
She descended the stairs, and saw the old man.


He was covered with ashes & soot, which fell with a shrug,
"Oh great," muttered the mom, "Now I have to clean the rug."


"Ho Ho Ho!" cried Santa, I'm glad you're awake.
your gift was especially difficult to make."


"Thanks, Santa, but all I want is time alone."


"Exactly!" he chuckled, "So, I've made you a clone."


"A clone?" she muttered, "What good is that?
Run along, Santa, I've no time for chit chat."


Then out walked the clone - The mother's twin,
Same hair, same eyes, same double chin.


"She'll cook, she'll dust, she'll mop every mess.
You'll relax, take it easy, watch TV and rest."


"Fantastic!" the mom cheered.
"My dream has come true!"
"I'll shop, I'll read, I'll sleep a night through!"


From the room above, the youngest did fret.


"Mommy?! Come quickly, I'm scared and I'm wet."


The clone replied, "I'm coming, sweetheart."


"Hey," the mom smiled, "She sure knows her part."



The clone changed the child and hummed her a tune,
as she bundled the small one in a blanket cocoon.


"You're the best mommy ever. I really love you."


The clone smiled and sighed, "And I love you too."


The mom frowned and said, "Sorry, Santa, no deal.
That's my child's LOVE she is going to steal."


Smiling wisely, Santa said: "To me it is clear,
Only one loving mother is needed here."


The mom kissed her child and tucked her in bed.


"Thank You, Santa, for clearing my head.
Sometimes I forget, it won't be very long,
before they'll be too old for my cradle and song."


The clock on the mantle began to chime.


Santa whispered to the clone, "It works every time."


With the clone by his side, Santa said: "Goodnight.
Merry Christmas, dear Mom, you'll be all right."


Sometimes we need reminding of what life is all about.


Especially at times when the Holiday season shouts,
and all we do is clean, bake, and procure.


You get the picture -- I'm sure.


So stop for a moment and hug that little one so dear,
whether he/she is 2 or 22, or even older this year.


For they are the gift that God gave us from Heaven above,

and what a special gift to be treasured, with endless LOVE!

Dear Santa,

Another thanks to MamaKat for the prompt! Also to Swift Jan....

Dear Santa,

I hope that I made the nice list this year!!! I have really tried to be good. Well, maybe my thoughts on the whole incident that caused the blog police to knock on my door weren't the best but atleast I didn't speak too quickly. Surely that buys me some points for the nice list. I know that you have been watching Dos and know what a challenge he is somedays. Hopefully you won't give me to many demerits for all the yelling at him I have done. I really try hard not to but he just begs for me to yell.....I know you see this! How about all those ear infections Tres had - I seriously had to earn some points for being patient and keeping my cool. Huh Santa, have I been good???

What would I like you ask? Well here is my list -

• A full nights sleep would be awesome. This would be a night where I laid down in bed and slept solid until morning......no snoring from the husband, no crying in the crib from Tres, no "What's that noise?" from Uno, no "crying stomach ache" from Dos......I'm sure you get the point.
• No sibling rivalry!
  
• How about the ability to lose weight without diet and exercise? Like if I could just wish it away! That would be amazing!
• Be realistic you say???
  
• Ok, a new cell phone. Specifically the Palm Centro from Verizon Wireless. How is that for being specific?
• A little guardy thing to go around it would be nice too.
  
• Some pajama pants that aren't highwaters on my long legs.... and a shirt that matches.
• A lens cap for my camera. Since Tres came around, I have somehow lost a lot of brain cells. Along with one of those brain cells went my lens cap....
  
• Oh and speaking of my camera, how about a new lens - one that really zooms in. I don't know what it is called but it's one step up from what I have now. Oh and I have a Canon Rebel. Well, that is kind of pricey Santa so I can understand if you don't get me that.....I don't know if I have been THAT good with all the yelling and negative thoughts.
• But if you DO think that I have been that good, a bag for said camera and it's 2 lenses would be awesome. I know that you are watching and you know how clumsy I can be....and well, if I have been good enough to deserve such a pricey gift I would hate to break it...
• Some black dress socks...it's sad when you have to hit up your husbands drawer for dress socks.
• I'd love some new jewelry Santa - it doesn't have to be the fancy expensive stuff. Just nickel free - that is all I ask. The nastiness that comes out of my pierced ear holes is not fun if earrings aren't nickel free.

Well, that's all my requests Santa. I'm sure that a few of them aren't realistic. But really Santa, there is one thing that I truely want for Christmas. I want my kids to remember what Christmas is all about....about Jesus. Yeah, the presents are nice and I love their faces when they get what they want but that is temporary. By the next day the newness of the presents have worn off. I want the kids to never get over the newness of the baby Jesus......and when the time comes, the newness of their salvation. For now, that Uno would never get over the newness of her salvation. That it would always be as if she was newly in love with Jesus. For that matter, that we all would never lose the newness of our salvation.

Thanks Santa and I will put out some milk and cookies for you! But I ask that you please don't get into the cake that is in the kitchen - that is for Jesus.

Adelaine

Let's pretend it's a snowday....

Last night it snowed buckets and you are forced to spend the entire day at home with your family...what's the plan!?!

Thank you MamaKat for the prompt! Given the previous post, I really need it.....

So, I actually halfway planned this already this week. I was so convinced that we would have a snow/ice day on Tuesday! We had freezing rain and flurries forcasted - what did we get - nada. We sat smack in the middle of two systems to the north and south of us.

But, what I would do -

• well, if I had advanced notice, I would rent a wii game.....such as Animal Crossing City Park that I rented Monday night.
• I would not change out of my pajamas all day and neither would the kids.
• I would make a nice big breakfast like pancakes or eggs and bacon.
• If I had the ingredients, I would put some chili in the crockpot to eat for supper.
• The kids and I would make chocolate chip cookies.
• Then the Coach and I would do lots and lots of laundry!

That is so not creative but that is our life - pretty practical!

Bad blogger....

Yes, that would be me - a bad blogger!

I'm seriously having bloggers block. Anyone have any ideas of what to write about????

I could write about how sad I am that my little Dos now has the head cold that I have been plagued with since early last week.....

I could write about how the best time to Christmas shop is on a Tuesday from 11-3.....I seriously didn't have to wait in line at all!

I could write about all the new things that Tres is saying - Bubby No NO, More, Milk, Bye Bye....

I could write about what an eyeopener it is when you realize that your 8 year old daughter can fit into clothes from the same section of Old Navy as you. Albeit, she is XS and you are hanging on for dear life to the XL.

Or I could plead with the clothing companies to just make their shirts an inch or two longer so that I could still shop in the girls section for my 8 year old. Poor girl has my long torso - it will plague her the rest of her life.....

Let's not get started on the development of her breasts.....so sad......I know what they mean when they say "You will miss those days" because she is slowly becoming her own person....

Or I could complain about our state being so broke that it now takes atleast 2 months for them to reimburse the program I work for the treatment we rendered....

Oh, and don't get me started on my corrupt state making the headlines everyday..... Gov. BlowJoe......seriously now......

I could write about all those things....but that is about as creative as I get write now.

Please - anything anyone wants to know about? I need some starters!

Who doesn't want some of this???

Jaci at Ravings of a Mad Housewife is giving away 4 place settings of Fiesta!!! Visit her blog and sign up - winners to be announced Christmas Eve.....

I have always wanted some of this lovely stuff but have never wanted to spend the money on it.

What color do you like??? I like Cinnabar! (4th from the bottom in the stack)

Dear Facebook Friend,

I must admit, I'm not exactly sure that I would recognize you if I saw you - well after today I may recognize a part of you. We are both from this small town and I know your sister so agree to be your "Facebook Friend." What could it hurt?

I read that you were having surgery. I'm sad that you have some medical condition that required you to retire in your 30's. There is so much more of life that you have to live. I do have to say that I was a little taken aback when I looked through your pictures and saw the pictures of your previous surgery. But, I was looking and it is my fault if I stumbled upon them.

But today, I login to my facebook account. My newsfeed is automatically brought up and what do I see? I see a foot with no toes. My stomach turns. I have a tough stomach but this, well, it was disgusting!

Now I am sure that there are some of your friends that are truely interested in this. But me, I am not. If I just had my toes removed, I don't think I would be posting pictures of it. As a matter of fact, I might be a little embarassed - but that is just me.

I'm just thinking that maybe, just maybe, email would have been a better option to share your surgery results with those who really care. Now everytime I see your name, I will think of that picture.

Sincerely,

Nauseated in the po-dunk town

Ti-i-e-ime

Time.

I was thinking tonight when exactly did I become so concerned with time?

Is that something that just happens along the way as you mature and start taking care of yourself?

And when will my kids go from learning to tell time to learning to manage their time?

Bedtime in our house is 8pm. Tonight Uno was digging in the drawer where I keep crafty items at 7:56 saying that she was making a picture for her "football buddy."

My adult thought was "Girl, it's 4 minutes until bedtime and now you decide to draw a picture????"

She was oblivious to what time it was.

That just made me think, just when did I become so ruled by the clock? Will I ever have a time in my life where I don't feel like I have to make every minute of my day useful? And when I won't feel guilty for taking a nap or watching tv?

Yeah that was really random :)

Stage left....

Do you see my list off to the left?

I stole this idea from Jori who stole it from Liz.

This is still a list in progress so when I am completely done with the list, I will post it as a new post and will start my 1001 days from there.

Let me tell you - think of 101 things that I want to do is really hard!!!!

Anyone else game????

Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh

Matthew 2:7 Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him.” 9 After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way.

The commercialism of Christmas is just overwhelming!!! The Christmas stuff is already out in the stores and I have heard word of the Christmas music being played as well. Is this what I want our kids to think about when they think of Christmas???? NO!

Christmas is about the birth of Jesus - our Savior! That should be the focus.

So, this Christmas the children will be getting 3 gifts from The Coach and I. The will be gifts symbolizing the gifts that were given to Jesus - gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Their gold gift will be something of value to them - something they really want.

Frankincense was used in incense burned during religious ceremonies in Biblical times and also as anointing oil. The frankincense gift to our children will be something to help them grow spiritually.

Myrrh was used for embalming and preparing a body for burial. To focus away from the morbid side of that, the myrrh gift will be something for their body - ie clothing most likely.

Now, we will still do Santa until we have no believers - which will be a while. So they will end up with 4 gifts and a stocking.

I'm hoping this works and the kids are left feeling shorted???!!!???

Dos' birth story

Quite some time ago I posted Tres' birth story and it is high time I post about the other kids!

I got pregnant with Dos in April of 2002. He is now part of the kindergarten class this year that is apparently the 9-11 boom of children. There are around 150 in his class when Uno only has 100 in her 3rd grade class.

I digress......

My pregnancy with Dos was pretty uneventful other than my husband tell me he felt called into the ministry a few months into the pregnancy - but that is another story for another time. Oh, and we moved into town when I was 5 months along to be in a bigger house and closer to my parents and the Coach's work. I felt great carrying him all up in front like a basketball. My only issues were toward the very end when he was soooo low and setting on my bladder.....well, you Momma's know....

I managed to talk my OB into inducing me. I still remember the nurse calling to schedule the induction and her turning to the Dr. and asking for the reason and him whispering to me "tired of being pregnant!" :) then told her something technical.

So we went to the hospital at 8am on a Friday morning to have the bubbs. It was only the night before that we decide on a choice of names - Braden Marcus or Tobin Marcus. We were deciding to wait until we saw him before chose between the two.

We got in the room and got all prepared. The nurse called my Dr. that was on call to come and break my water - which was how I wanted to be induced...to try without pitocin at first. My regular Dr. (not the one on call but the one who scheduled the induction) was for sure that I wouldn't progress long enough to have the baby before he was on call in the evening. So the on call Dr. asked the nurse to have the resident to break my water....oh boy.....

The resident was this balding guy who was probably on his 30's and he was clearly not thrilled to be doing OB rounds. So here I am, a seasoned Momma, with him between my legs with the crochet hook. He is trying and trying with beads of sweat coming up on his balding head. It wasn't comfortable, but it definetly wasn't the best thing in the world. I could tell he was flustered and was relieved when he gave up. The nurse called my Dr. on call who didn't even bother gowning up - she just gloved up, grabbed the crochet hook, popped the sack, told the nurse to order my epidural and was back on her way to the office within a minute....This was at 10:30am.

As I guessed would happen, my contractions started pretty quickly. Apparently when I went in, I was having regular contractions but didn't feel them - that is what the monitor was picking up. So, by noon, I was in 2nd stage labor but handling things fine.

The anesthesiologist came right around lunchtime and fixed me up. It was wonderful....no pain at all. I just laid in bed, talked with my parents, sent my husband and his sister to lunch, and rested.

Around 2:30pm, I started to feel a little strange in the netherregions - like I had to go to the bathroom. When the nurse came in, I told her of this, she checked me and we were ready to go!

After around 20-ish minutes of pushing, our little bubbs was born! He was so handsome!!!! I wish I had a picture scanned to put on here but I don't - atleast not on my computer. We ended up with a different name for him - because he just looked like it. His first names means "The Lord is God" and his middle name means "God is good." Those are the truths we live by and truely feel blessed to have our little Dos.

Christmas shopping....

Yes, I have already started. In fact, I'm more than 50% done!

But I found this and thought that it is such a sensible approach to shopping for the kids! I may have to give this a try!

I'm a sucker......

For kids books! And this website looks right up my alley!

It's called Lookybook and you can preview the books before committing to buy them. A lot of the books we buy are from the kids bookorders and all they provide is just a small description of what the book is about. You actually get to look at the books page by page on this site. Really NEAT!

Click here to check out Lookybook

I have nothing...

I have nothing for mancave Monday! I spoiled it this weekend :( Oh well - sorry to disappoint.

I can give you a Mommyhood Moment for Monday though!!

You know your a Mom when you go to work dressed nicely and don't notice that you have a big green booger on your shoulder until halfway through the day.

I'm just saying that happened to "some Mom"......

The newest McD's song according to Uno...

In gangsta fashion....


I went to Mickey D's
And ordered a Big Mac

I bit the Big Mac
And the Big Mac bit back

I went to the counter
And said "What's the deal?"

He said "You should have ordered a Happy Meal!"

Word.

Introducing the mancave.....

To see the before pics, click here.

It's quite the transformation. We have a used couch and recliner from some friends of ours (thanks Amber!!!) and for being used and free :) they actually match VERY well. So well that whenever we decide to get new furniture for the mancave, we will be going with the blue color scheme that is in the furniture. For now we just have a regular tube tv that is on a small stand. Around Christmas time we will look for a 37" flat panel to hang on the wall.

Needless to say, we are very, very happy with the way that it turned out! We love the new large space for the kids to run and play and they are loving it too!!

I've been tagged...

Wep

tagged me! So here are my confessions. I have had this in draft mode for a while trying to come up with things to list....

1. Seeing the carcass of a baked chicken or turkey grosses me out so much that I can't eat the meat off of it if I have seen the carcass. But if I don't see the carcass, I can eat the meat.

2. I like to dip my grilled cheese and corn dogs in barbeque sauce.

3. Most working days, I put on my makeup in my car before I go into work. I just can't take the time to do it at home

4. I can't stand have a zit on my face - I have to pop it! And I have to willfully hold myself back from popping DH's.

5. At work I like my papers alphabetized or in date order. I'm obsessive about it. It makes my life easier.

6. At the end of a particularly stressful day or Tres has been velcroed to me all day, I don't want to be touched by anyone. I don't really know why this is but if someone wants to touch me it makes my skin crawl. DH doesn't like this but I can't help it.

7. One of my biggest pet peeves is fake people. Fake in the sense that they let on like everything is roses and daises in their life when it is really not. I had this boss who's reply to "How are you?" was always "Just perfect!" and my thought was always "Bull, you've got to be kidding me! Everything is not always perfect." But I can be kind of negative sometimes too.

Ok, so now onto the tagging.

Stretch Marks

Buried With Children

Ravings of a Mad Housewife

Killing a Fly With a Ukelele is Probably the Wrong Thing to do

And Hania Makes Three

Graze if You Want, But Don't Eat Dirt

Seven Clown Circus

Tomorrow's the day.....

WE GET CARPET IN THE MANCAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!

Hello freak!!

Tonight I'm shopping in the Halloween section at WalMart for a Batman costume for Dos and an angel costume for Uno and what happens to me?????

Some freak turns and steps toward me with a fake knife and acts like she is gonna stab me!!!

Hello?????

Being the mild mannered person I usually am, I just laugh at her and keep on going.

What a freak!!!!

This leads me to my disinterest in Halloween. Honestly, I do feel like the worst mother in the world for not really caring about the costumes and the trick-or-treating and all that! There are so many Mom's that start thinking about their kid's Halloween costumes as soon as there is the slightest hint of fall. ME.....I honestly could care less. Why??

Well, I see it as a huge waste of money. I absolutely refuse to pay more than $20 per kid for their costumes. $20 times 3 kids = $60!!! That is food for a week, diapers for almost 2 months, a full tank of gas, a month and a half of piano lessons, 12 gallons of milk......... I'm just saying that I have so many better places to spend the money. The kids wear the costumes one day at school and then will wear them to the "trunk-or-treat" at our church - that's it. We don't take part in the town-wide trick-or-treating because we just don't have that many people to go to. Why put out $60 for 3 little buckets of candy?????

So......what do I do? Well, tonight I sucked it up and bought the 12.88 batman costume for Dos. A few weeks ago I found Tres a princess costume at the consignment shop for $10 and she will attempt to wear a crown that we have somewhere in the mancave mess. But for Uno, it is really hard to find an angel costume. Before I was attacked by the freak in the Halloween aisle, I was debating a simple bride costume for 12.88 that could be used as an angel costume without the veil. Ugh...I don't like Halloween!!!

The weigh down!

I finally had an appointment to get established with a family practice doctor today. You know first thing they do is to weigh you and I approached the scale with my usual dread. BUT THEN.......

I've lost 10 pounds since June!!!

Woooooooohoooooo!!!

Just another Mancave Monday!

Well, something a little more interesting for a change!!

Here is the texture that is on our basement walls. It is called orange peel :)


Drumroll please.........................................

Here is the carpet and the paint colors!!!

The "canyon clay" color will be the focal wall. Then the "familiar beige" will be on the other 3 walls.

The walls aren't completely painted yet. Our handyman bought a paint sprayer to make the job go quicker but then his air compressor broke so it is in fact, going slower!!! I just may break out the rollers later this week because I am getting WAY to impatient!!

The carpet is on order and should be in in about a week or so. We have a guy scheduled to install it on October 17th.

We are super excited that things are coming together!!

20 things about The Coach

I stole this from a friend of mine :) Feel free to copy and tell every one a little about your man!

Things your may or may not know about my sweet husband.

1. They are watching TV. What are they watching? ESPN, CNN or their equivilants

2. You’re out to eat. what kind of dressing do they get on their salad? French

3.What’s one food this person doesn’t like? Oh gee there are so many but I can't think of many.....beans, anything soggy, melted ice cream, veggies in the raw state, diet things, coffee

4. You go out to the bar. He/she orders……First off The Coach wouldnt go out to the bars…but if you were at a restaurant w/ a bar he would get a Coke, a water or a Mountain Dew.

5.Where did he/she go to high school? A different school than me :)

6.What size shoe do they wear? 8-9

7. If this person were to collect anything, it would be……Coaching books

8.What is their favorite type of sandwich? Baja chicken from Quiznos

9. This person could eat __________ everyday. sweets....well couldn't we all?

10.Favorite cereal? Crispix

11. This person wouldn’t be caught dead wearing…Tommy Hilfiger or anything with a blatent label

12.Favorite sports team? STL Cardinals and the one he coaches

13.Who will he/she vote for? McCain/Palin

14.What is their sign? Hmmm Cancer I think

15.What is something you do that he/she wishes you didn’t? leave my stuff around, stress out, complain about being tired, not exercise

16.How many states has this person lived in? Just the one we live in now

17.What is he/she’s heritage? Lots o' German

18. You bake them a cake for their birthday. What kind is it? It is not a cake. It is a pie and it would probably be the apple pie with pecans and carmel from http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/

19.Did he/she play sports in high school?he ran track and cross country

20. This person could spend hours……watching sports and politics

Mancave Monday!

So this week, here are some pics of the support beams being boxed in. We didn't want the kids - 1. banging their heads on the polls or poking their eyes out on the uneven metal, and 2. grabbing the poles and swinging around them then propelling themselves into who knows what!

See the gray pole? There are two of them in the basement..



The gray pole is no more!!



What sweet girls we have here - aren't they pretty??? And what's more is they are both beautiful from the inside out! I want my girls to grow up to be like these girls!! They are helping to apply drylok to the concrete walls and to prime the drywall that is on one other wall.




And to prime the boxed in support beams!

And just for fun - a pic of my cat looking evil! I'm pretty sure he has some teeth issues and I should be concerned about that as a dental hygienist........but I'm not.......

Believe it or not, the mancave should be finished within the month! I ordered the carpet this past week ($$$$$) and bought the paint. Our Handy Marshall is suppose to start painting with his new paint sprayer tomorrow - he loves to buy new toys and we are happy to let him try them out in our home!

I have to download some pics and maybe I will post the paint colors and carpet soon!

Tres' birth story :)

I was inspired by Crazy Sister's post about her son's birth story! So I am going to go at this backwards and start with Tres first!! Actually, I'm just going to be lazy and copy her birth story off my myspace :)

Here it is!!!

"On Thursday, I had been feeling pretty cruddy all day - backache, light erratic contractions, tired. I called the Dr just to be reviewed on when I need to go to the hospital and told them how I was feeling. They offered for me to come into the office and be checked to see if I had made any progress since my last appointment on Monday (which I was almost 3 cm at). So, I went and picked up The Coach around 3:30 and we headed to the doctor - which is attached to the hospital I was to deliver at.


When we got there, I had dilated to a good 3 cm. They hooked me up to the contraction monitor just to see if the were registering and how far apart they are. And wouldn't you know - no contractions! I was pretty disappointed that nothing was registering even though I knew that there was something going on. But, with my history of having a pretty quick birth with Dos, Dr. S gave us the option of going ahead and breaking my water at the hospital and letting me have the baby that night/next morning, walking around and seeing what happens, going home and coming back anytime that night, or just waiting until my induction on Monday. The Coach was up for anything but I couldn't decide with my graduation from college being that weekend. So, we went to the mall, bought mother's day gifts, and tried to decide what to do. I finally decided that we would go ahead and head to the hospital to have her around 6pm. After stopping at Wendy's for The Coach to eat, we went on the the hospital to be admitted.


It was a pretty slow night at the hospital so we had a lot of attention and things got done pretty quickly. I got settled in "Birthing Room #3" after the computer being wacked out in #2. I got the IV in with my fluids and antibiotic for the Group B strep. The lab came an drew my blood. About 8:15pm, Dr. S came in to break my water and we just hung out watching Grey's Anatomy for a while. My parents brought the kids up to visit around 8:30ish. In the meantime, my contractions started getting a little more uncomfortable and a lot more regular. Around 9:30-ish, the nurse came in to tell me that since I finish my bag of fluids and antibiotic, that they had called for my epidural. So, my parent's and kids left and it wasn't but 5 minutes and the anestesiologist was there with my epidural - yeah! Love that stuff.


So, got the epidural - which was great but not as great as with Uno and Dos. I still had a little sensation in the perineal area but that was ok. I wasn't able to sleep like I had hoped because of that but it proved to be useful during delivery. The nurse came in and catherized me (which they left in until delivery) and then Dr. S wanted to put an internal contraction monitor on me because the contractions weren't measuring very strong. They actually never did measure very strong but were obvious enough to get the job done.


I just laid there playing a hand held solitare game and The Coach slept or talked/texted on the phone. Around midnight, I started to feel like she was dropping down pretty low and the nurse checked me and I was an 8. So, just a little longer! She had Dr. S come in the next time a little closer to midnight and I was almost complete except for a little "lip". They had me lay on my other side for about 10-15 and when they came back in, it was time! After 6 rounds of counting to ten and pushing 3 times each - which ended up being 11 minutes, Tres was born at 7 lbs 5.2 ounces, 19 inches long! She had a lot of fluid in her chest from the quick birth so they had to suction her out quite a bit. But her apgar scores were 8 and 9 so that is really good. She has a headful of short brown hair and really dark blue eyes.

We stayed for just about 32-33 hours. We actually were leaving the hospital about the time I was suppose to be graduating from college. I felt really good this time around. I was just a little sore from my second degree tear but got around fine. I tired pretty easy and was a little sore when getting up from setting but all things considered - it's was all good.

It amazes us that people think that they create these little babies. We know that we are truely blessed by God. "

Since I need something to post about.......

I stole this from Mom is in the Fishbowl.......
1. Where were you 10 years ago? In September of 1998, I was newly married and living in a one bedroom apartment with The Coach. He had just started teaching and I was just beginning my career as a dental hygienist. I'm not sure what we did without kids to take care of???

2. What is on today's To Do List? Well, several things have been scratched off already such as take kids to school, do some shopping for the Coach, run by a school and pick up the instruments I forgot yesterday, sterilize those instruments, put up an order that came in yesterday, transfer all of our supplies from one area of a room to another, and eat a snack. NOW - the rest of the day I have to go back to the school and supervise the students as the clean and seal some kiddy teeth, then come back to the university, complete the paperwork for the day, file the paperwork, then go to the visitation for a collegue's Mom, then head home maybe in time for Bible study...or maybe not. The after Bible study it is the regular get the kids ready for bed and such..

3. What would you do if you were a billionaire? I would pay off our debts. Get the kids college funds set up. Invest for our future. Possibly build a new house, although the Coach likes this one so much, so maybe just do some remodeling. Maybe quit work and stay home with the kids.

4. Name 5 places you've lived:
Well since this is an anonymous blog, let's say 5 houses in the midwest all within 20 minutes of each other.

5. Name 3 of your bad habits:
negativity
too large of portions with my food
constantly picking the boogers out of my kid's noses.....hahahahaha....can't stand it!

6. What are your favorite snacks?
Chocolate
Twizzlers
Fruit of about any kind
Good bread

A gloomy mancave Monday...

Boy it is overcast today!!! Makes me want to crawl up in my unfinished basement and go to sleep :)

So here are pics of the lighting! It has made a world of difference.

A pic of our electrician and The Coach giving him a hand with running the wires.

A view from the South looking North.

A view from the North looking South

This is a pic of the actual recessed light. Nothing fancy....

Do you notice those support beams? They are now all covered up. I would hate for Uno, Dos, or Tres to hit their noggin on straight metal. So next week you will get to see what they look like all boxed in!

Look at my great deal!!!

Look what we got off Kohls.com today! We got the original Dyson that usually is on sale for $399.99. I had a 30% of coupon that saved us $120 making our cost right at $297 with tax :) Then there was free shipping for orders over $75. Great deal!!

We used to have the animal (purple) Dyson and wore it out. The kids called it the purple monster....so now we will have a yellow monster! Dyson is the best in our opinion!!

It's Monday...

I have no pics of the mancave today - sorry to disappoint!

We just got a new laptop last week and all of the mancave pics are on my work computer, which is at work.

But on the bright side - I'm taking today off!!! I have to be the good Mommy this afternoon and work the bookfair at Uno & Dos' school. Why waste gas and an hour of my day driving to work and back?

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

On to a mini vent of mine -

Do some people not realize what a precious gift children are? They are more precious and valuable than the 1 carat diamond ring your husband got you or that brand spankin new car in your garage! Or even that treasured gift from a grandmother who passed on....

And do people not realize that when you are given children, it is your responsibility to raise them? To set limits for them? To discipline them when they have done wrong? To teach them authority? And to watch over them? And to keep them safe??

I realize that we are very protective of our children. The world today is not as it was when I was growing up. There are sick twisted people out there who will prey on your children. Plus there are crazy kids out there that will try and force your children to do things that they know they aren't suppose to do. Even in our small town there are these things.

Maybe we are just lucky in that our kids know right from wrong and respect those in authority over them. They know that if they misbehave, Mom and Dad are going to follow through with whatever discipline is appropriate for the situation. Heaven forbid they get in trouble at school - because whatever their favorite thing at home is will be no more and they know this. And if THEY EVER get sent to the principals office...it will not be pretty.

The Coach and I worked hard at instilling respect for authority, manners, knowledge of wrong and right..... Was it easy? - heck no! Are we done yet? - no way! This is a daily thing and there are so many more things that we need to teach them. Our kids are not perfect - don't get me wrong. They have their own little quirks and their own little pet misbehaviors. But we are proud of the people that they are becoming! I'm sure not saying we are perfect parents either. We both mess up daily.

Being a parent is the hardest job on earth. You wear your heart outside your body and sometimes that heart is going to get broken. Sometimes, a kid will do something or say something to you that will break your heart. Other times, it breaks your heart to have to correct that child and follow through with discipline in order to grow them as a person. Or maybe it will break your heart when that child chooses to make a bad decision and you have to go through the fire with them.

I'm just saying that parenting is hard.....and some people really need to step up and take care of those precious gifts. There are plenty of people out there who desire to have what you have - take care of what God has given you. You are blessed beyond measure.

(This is not directed toward anyone who reads this blog :) I just needed to get this out. Thanks if you made it this far!)

Mancave Monday again

It has been a super busy week here! No posts in a week - wow!

Well here is the next installment in mancave Monday :)

The first thing we had done was to have a waterproofing system installed. The men came and jackhammered around 8 inches of concrete away from the perimeter of the basement on the inside.

Then, they drilled holes at the base of the wall to allow water to come in if it builds up around the foundation. Next they laid what looks like guttering to me in the jack hammered area. Then they covered it with gravel.

Then the next day, they came back and covered all that with concrete and installed a new motor and piping into our sump pump. The concrete is wet in the pictures.

We have not had a drop of water on the basement floor since. The wet smell is gone too - thank goodness! This was well worth the $2800 we spent on it :)

Getting a little more interesting??

Mancave Monday

I interrupt Monday's Mommyhood Moments to write about the mancave...

We bought our house 6 years ago. One of the things I really wanted was a basement to hide in when there are storms. The Coach wants the basement to be his mancave.

The one problem was that the mancave got water when it rained. Not tons of water but just enough to go from point a to the sump pump. Carpet was a definite no-no.

So, here I am going to post some pics of the mancave in it's unaltered state. Some work has been done on the mancave in the past 4 or 5 months but we will save that for another Monday :)







Now isn't that just soooooo interesting????

Better things are yet to come!

Broke the news to the kiddos....

And it actually went pretty well. Dos says "She's dead?" Uno cried, of course.

I told them that I found her Tuesday in the jacuzzi tub and I buried her back behind the garden. Dos said "Can I see where you buried her?" So we will go out later (once I get a bra on - lol) and see where I put her. Uno wants absolutely nothing to do with seeing it.

So Uno cried for about 30 minutes and was done. Then she said "I think Skittles would get along well with a dog." hahaha....

The kids want a dog really, really bad. Some days I want a dog a little bad. The Coach doesn't want one right now.

We have told the kids that most of the cats have to die off before we get a dog. Well, we are getting closer...hahaha. That is where that comment from Uno came from.

The Coach says two more to go and it's DOG TIME!

Do you think animals mourn???

Because I do.

We had "my cat" put down last year at the vets office. You couldn't have told that she was gone by the other 5 cat's behavior.

But NOW - these cats are mopey!

I'm wondering if it makes a difference that our cat died in the house. Maybe in the wee hours of the night on Tuesday, the other cats all gathered around and gave their last respects to the dead cat....hmmmmm....funny visual.

The Coach said that people say that death has a smell. Maybe they smelled death on her? I watched one of the cats smell her the night before and walk away.

Our cats just aren't acting the same. They just seem to be depressed. Poor things.

***********

Now me - I think I must be the worst cat owner ever. Or maybe I should just own up to the fact that the cat that died just wasn't my favorite.

Honestly, she got on my nerves.

She was pushy and needy.

She had really sharp claws in back and liked to use them accidentally. When I was in my last month of pregnancy with Uno, she cut my preggo belly vertically so that it looked like the old-time c-section scars.

She had white fur (calico) and insisted on spreading it everywhere. If there was a dark piece of clothing out, you could lay money on the fact that she would be on it by the time you got back into the room.

She would meow and meow to be fed and then scarf it down.....then puke it back up.

She would poop right outside the litter box.

We always joked that we would like to "kick her off the island" but never had the heart too.

She's jumped ship now...

I'm mean aren't I?

Woot Woot Wednesday

Let me tell you, I needed something to Woot Woot about!

Yesterday, I started my morning bleary-eyed because Tres had a tummy ache all night and was restless and fussy. I was hot because the a/c decided not to work in the middle of the night. And I was well, sad and put-out because on of our cats kicked the bucket in our jacuzzi tub - and I had to dig the hole. So, that was no way to start the morning!

So today, Dos had his first full-day of kindergarten. Rewind 3 years and Uno was starting kindergarten. She wanted me to walk her in and stay with her until she went to her classroom while she boo-hooed and got blotchy in the face. BROKE MY HEART!

I'm gearing up for a repeat session of that fun with Dos. But what does the little sucker give me????? I want Sissy to walk me into the gym! What??? You mean I carried you for 10 months, pushed you out of my netherplaces and I don't even get to graduate you into your school-life??????

So, that is what happened. He and Uno gave me kisses and went happily into school together. No tears, no fuss, nothing. Amazing!

Then I go to pick him up - there were no tears during the day & he had fun. He did however, forget to put his lunch box in the rubbermaid where it is suppose to go so he ended up eating hot lunch. It didn't faze him - he just went with the flow. Now Uno, that would have been the end of the world and the source of all tears and drama!

My son amazes me.

So, needless to say, given that he was so happy to go to school, the sending of him to school was much easier on me. I won't say that I didn't cry, because I did - a little. But if he would have done the same as Uno did in kindergarten (and incidentally 1st & 2nd grades but not this year!) I would have been a royal mess.

*********

Oh and the cat. We don't know why she died. She was acting weird for a week or so but she really was a strange cat. We noticed her breathing was labored last night but it was too late to go to the vet. She must have passed some time in the early morning. It's amazing how quickly they get...ummmm...stiff. When I found her around 6am she was still a bit moveable but solid. But by 8:00am after I had took the kids where they needed to go and had dug the hole, she was...ummmmm....pretty stiff. It was gross. The Coach owes me BIG TIME for that one. And I mean BIG TIME!

We have decided not to tell the kids about it until this weekend. Uno will be really upset and Dos just doesn't need another thing on his mind with school starting. It absolutely AMAZES me that they haven't noticed though - AMAZES ME! We have....well now....4 cats so it isn't like she was the only one. But she was "Uno's cat." Unreal.

My quirky kids!

I stole this from Jen at Buried with Children and thought it sounded fun!

I am suppose to list 2 quirky things about each of my kids so here it goes!

Uno

Uno is a girly, girl. She is very prissy, very sensitive, very emotional, but also very intelligent and very loving. She can have quite a bit of drama at home over little things but has yet to get into the drama at school.

Uno is very creative. She is always making up these little scenarios in her head that are totally, and I mean totally off the wall. She says that she wants to be a children's book writer when she grows up - she has the mind for it.

Dos

I could write a lot on Dos because his little personality is in the process of changing. He is becoming more aware of things that could be embarassing and it is fuuny but sad at the same time - because Mom is one of those things :(

Dos has always had a facination with drawing on something with some thing. When he was a toddler, it was a crayon and board book. Then it was the Blues Clues Notebooks. Then we moved to small notebooks with pencils or crayons. NOW, we like legal pads with pens.

Dos is an emotion stuffer but isn't good at it. He likes to have 'tude when he has had enough and gets in trouble every day for how he choses to react to things. He's getting better but it's a sllllooooow process.

Tres

Tres has been sooooo funny with baby dolls lately! She is our first to like babies that much. I sat with her in her room last night while she would take two different babies and lay them next to each other, then pick them up, then lay them down the same way some place else, and repeat. Then she would take the plastic headed one and rub it's head and pat it's back. It just brought me so much joy to watch her.

When we go to my parent's house, Tres is the sippy cup snatcher. She is an equal opportunity sippy cup drinker. She will walk around with two sippy cups - whatever ones she grabs, and will drink from them both. Then she will take Uno or Dos' sippy and drink it while looking them straight in the eye. She knows what she is doing!!!
(And I gave up fighting my dad to not give Uno & Dos sippy cups. They are concerned about spills on their carpet. I can see their point. We NEVER do sippy cups at home for Uno & Dos though......but our carpet is pretty crappy!)

So, anyone who wants can do this and link it back to me :)

Salve to my broken heart...

Where have the last 5 years gone? What happen to this little baby boy I brought home from the hospital? How did he grow up so fast?

For some reason, him going to kindergarten is feeling much harder than when Uno went. I don't know if it is because he is "my boy" or what. But it is going to be SOOO hard to hold my tears until he is out of sight.

All day long I have been dreading tomorrow even though he only goes a half day to start and I actually go with him. But still it is the closing of a chapter - and I'm not ready for the book to close.

Then as I'm having my little pity party today, he comes up on the couch and snuggles with me. Then what does he do that makes me realize he is still my little boy in that big body - he plays with my hair....just as he did from 6 months until a year or so ago. He takes it between his fingers and rubs it back and forth - for his comfort.

Thank the Lord for that hair pulling.....

Friday's Fab Favs!

I'm having a hard time thinking of favs today ....



This is my favorite candy of all time! It has to be the real thing - no imitations. I could down a whole 1 lb bag of these!



This is my absolute favorite place to buy kids clothes! The closests TCP is an over hour away so we don't go there very often. But they have $5 shipping!!!




And this is my new favorite channel. We just got Direct Tv and along with that, we got this channel!

Two things....

The Coach and I had special lunch with Uno today at Dairy Queen. There was this little girl acting silly and giggling in another both. Uno was sitting there watching her and this is how it went...

Me: "Your trying not to laugh aren't you?"

Uno: (cracks a smile with a little giggle) "I'm trying not to L-O-L"

The Coach: crazy loud laughing....

Me: "What did she say?"

The Coach: "I'm trying not to L-O-L"

Me: laughing not as crazily but laughing none the less...to Uno "You are so funny.."

Uno: "The kids at school say it ALL the time!"

The Coach: "Well, I L-O-L'ed!"

She's growing up too quick :(.......

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

And #2 - did you know there is such a thing as fantasy fishing????? As if fantasy football and baseball weren't enough! Next thing there will be fantasy nascar, fantasy deer hunting, fantasy poker, fantasy bowling....the list could go on and on....

My Dad is setting next to me all engrossed on his puter with this fantasy fishing stuff...craziness...

Shirley signs away her life....

Apparently my name is Shirley - or so it is said by the real estate notary that came to our house today.

We FINALLY closed on our refinance today!! FINALLY! It has been a long process filled with "Well, I need a copy of this..." and "Underwriting needs a copy of that..." and "It needs to be an official W2." We are SO happy to have this over.

No, we didn't have one of those adjustable rate mortgages that seem to be bankrupting so many Americans. We just decided to use the equity in our home to finish the basement, put up a fence (possibly), and pay off some stupid debt. Yes, we did sign on for another 30 years of working for the mortgage company but we have high hopes of chopping down the loan given that by getting rid of the stupid debt, we will be ahead over $200/month even with a higher mortgage payment. Super yeah for that!

But the whole entire time we were signing the papers the lady would say "Now, Shirley you need to sign here....." My name is not Shirley....but then it isn't Adelaine either! :)

The Coach come up to me after and said "So Shirley.....(followed by something I don't rememeber)" and I said "Well, since I'm not Shirley, I'm not responsible for paying on this mortgage!!"

So the loan officially closes on Monday and we will get our $$$ soon after! Come on basement!!! We have the electrician here today to do the lighting - woohooo!!!

Try This Tuesday!

If you are a magazine reader, you should pic up a copy of this! But you have to be one that wants to really READ the magazine. If you are a flipper, you will totally miss out.

I got a subscription to this last year as a "Bonus" to the Family Fun subscription I bought from my daughter's school fundraiser. I thought - eh, I like magazines and this will be another one to pass my time. Honestly, I probably would have never picked one up to buy it. Now I'm contemplating the renewal coming up!!

I LOVE the stories in here. They are written so creatively and you can tell the people that wrote the articles actually have children.

I like to set down with this magazine and get all wrapped up in the stories - it's truely a great read!!!

10 years together...... :)

The Coach and I celebrated our 10th anniversary last night!!! The Coach was totally responsible for all the planning and he really outdid himself!! We had a great time :)

Here is a pic of what I got before we left the house...I was instructed to wear something that went with "this" as the black box appeared.....

 

Here is where we ate - The Giant City Lodge. I had been here before but The Coach hadn't. We had the family dinner of fried chicken, corn, coleslaw, biscuits, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, and chicken & dumplings. Yum!



We stayed at the Davies School Inn. It is a old school building that a young couple bought and opened as a bed and breakfast 4 years ago. My dear husband splurged and got us the honeymoon suite!



Here is our suite....








When The Coach proposed to me 12+ years ago, he said that he would get me something "bigger" when we celebrated our 10th anniversary....and he was true to his word!!! I thought that the necklace was my gift and I was completely happy with that - boy was I suprised!




I do have to say that I also love my engagement ring even though it doesn't fit at the moment. My Grandma, who passed away the year after we were married, gave me her engagement ring to be reset into my own engagement ring. So, it has special meaning to me :)

We had a great night spending time together WITHOUT the kids - big thanks to our 3 favorite babysitting sisters!! Our bed was a tempurpedic matress...can you say we need to start saving the money for a new matress!!!

As part of our package, The Coach ordered breakfast to be served in our suite. We woke up 7 minutes before it was to be served - at 9:00am! Yeah for sleeping in!

Our breakfast was amazing! We had a glorified omlet, fried potatoes, bacon, watermelon, apple stollen, and OJ. Then I had to have coffee...




Here is a pic of a little planter that was in the hallway on the way to our room :)