Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Neighborly Love, Part 2

Well, the deed has been done. The warriors took their ammo with them. They went equipped with toilet paper, crepe paper, plastic forks, shoe polish, and glitter!

I was in shock when Cowboy and Miss B came home from Wallie World with that big bottle of glitter and I begged and pleaded with them NOT to use the it. Seriously, can you imagine the havok that glitter is going to wreak for months to come? You know, glitter is the herpes of craft supplies. Once you get it you can't get rid of it.

Monday, March 30, 2009

A Congressman Takes up Residence in our Home

Do you remember that a few days ago Little I went #2 on the toilet and his prize was going to be a Webkinz fish he was going to name Bubbles? Well...when Cowboy went to purchase the already-named Webkinz, there were NO Webkinz fish in the store. So he called us with the next-best options.

Little I, being raised in our wonderful home, did the "right" thing. He chose the elephant. When I asked him what the name would be he said "Senator". Cowboy said, "Well I certainly wouldn't have let him give the name Senator to a Webkinz donkey."

That's how a Republican Senator came to live in our home. The only problem now is that we've had to place our Senator on the shelf until Little I chooses to use the toilet again. Senator looks very sad and lonely perched so high up in our kitchen, don't you think?

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Neighborly Love

If you send out 3 sweet middle school girls like this...

You should be prepared for something like this in your near future...




I truly appreciate the creativity with the Oreos on the car and the Trix on the front porch, but clearly these pranksters don't know Cowboy. All I can say is, "It's ON!!!"

Proof That God LOVES Me!

It's been one of those crazy weeks! You know the kind...I'd felt LOUSY for days due to this ridiculous cold I've had, I'd felt a heavy burden for one of my friends, Cowboy turned 38, and well, you know...life in general. Anyway, I opened the pantry door for something and what caught my eye?



Do you notice the dark brown thing on the top right--below the cobweb? It called out my name. I'm not very tall and don't remember seeing it before, but I had to know what it was.

Well...

I immediately checked the expiration date and was SO relieved to see I still had time.


I very selfishly thought, "Thank you, God. I needed chocolate today." Then, my munchkins smelled the candy in the air. So...I did what any good homeschooling mom does, I used candy to quiz them about the history I was reading to them. We've been learning about the reconstruction of our nation after our Civil War and about the many changes to our nation after this war.

C-Man and I were reading about a contest that was held for the best tenement plan for NYC in the early 1900's. The $500 prizewinner's plan was called the dumbbell plan because of its shape. They thought it was this incredible plan to safely house more people in a small amount of space which would be airy and filled with light. HUGE mistake--the buildings were built right next to each other, with only 28 inches in between them. No privacy, a great amount of stink, huge fire dangers, and little light! Using the Tootsie Roll wrappers we were able to recreate the dumbbell tenements and rearrange them in a way that would have been safer and healthier for the people living in them.

When C-Man's in architect school someday at OSU I'll bring him Tootsie Rolls to help him on his projects. He'll be so appreciative!

Friday, March 27, 2009

Oh Happy Day!!!


Well, today it FINALLY happened. Little I pooped in the toilet!!!

Rejoicing was heard throughout the house and a fish Webkinz will be purchased to seal the deal! It has been decided that the fish will be a girl (grule as Little I says it) and her name will be Bubbles.

Oh Happy Day!!!

Thanks for letting a proud mama indulge herself by spreading the news!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Rites of Passage

We were heading home from C-Man's drum lesson a few minutes ago and Miss B asked the question she's asked 4,376,249 times in her life, "Mom, can we drive through McDonald's for lunch?" My answer was the same as it has been approximately 4,376,149 other times in her life, "No, we're not having McDonald's today."

Then, she asked me if I thought there were any kids who never got McDonald's. Obviously, she was talking about kids whose lifestyles were similar to hers. I told her I felt fairly certain that Kate Gosselin's brood of kids had never had a Happy Meal.

She said, "That's just wrong. Having McDonald's is part of growing up. Everyone picks their noses, poops in the bathtub, and has McDonald's when they're little."

Well, she's pretty much right about the kids in our home. My 3 forever kids have all experienced these rites of passage.

Have a day free of nose-picking, bathtub-pooping, and McDonald's-eating!!!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Life Insurance

OK, I know I have the VERY BEST life insurance policy--a relationship with Christ on earth that will give me a life with him in eternity. Recently, though, I discovered that Cowboy and I inadvertently cancelled my "big" life insurance policy a few years ago. We discovered this when we went to our life insurance guy to FINALLY get a policy on Little I. I went around in a bit of a panic until the policy was signed and the initial payment was made.

Two weeks ago the lab lady came to our home to get my weight, height, blood pressure, blood, and urine. Cowboy decided to change his policy, so the 2 of us both had to endure all of this together. This is always a bit depressing for me because Cowboy is tall and thin and I'm...well, I'm not. I've been curious how our cholesterol and other levels would be.

The lab results came in today and I'm confused. If I were the one sending the results out to people, I would put a "normal" range on there to give people a point of reference. There's no "normal", only our numbers. So...what does an alkaline phosphotase level of 77.00 U/L mean? Or...a protein/creatinine ratio of .03 MG/MG mean?

It's a good thing that I LOVE to research stuff--I'm a nerd that way. :)

Oh, the part of the results I understand are all awesome! I do not have HIV and I tested negative for cocaine! WOOHOO!!!

I'm off to research my levels now.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Baby Wipes Recipe

I mentioned to Cowboy this evening that we were running low on baby wipes, which usually never happens because I buy in bulk at Sam's Club. (Remember my love for Sam's Club?) However, I've been making a concerted effort to not overspend lately, which means I've been looking for bargains and using coupons.

When I told Cowboy about running low on wipes, he said, "Why don't you make some homemade baby wipes?" I thought briefly about this and decided, yes, I could make my own baby wipes. I haven't done this since Miss B and C-Man were babies. I knew I had the ingredients on hand, so I went for it.

If you're ever interested, here's the recipe:

Baby Wipes
1/2 roll Bounty paper towels
2 cups water
2 T baby bath
2 T baby oil

Cut roll of paper towels in half. (I use an electric knife for this). Remove cardboard roll from the center. Place the towels in a storage container (mine is a very old Rubbermaid 10 cup round container that they apparently no longer make). Mix water, baby bath, and baby oil together and pour over paper towels. Remove wipes from the center of the roll.

The beauty of homemade baby wipes is that you can use whatever baby products you would normally use on your little one. For example, if you're an Arbonne or Burt's Bees fan, you can now use these same gentle products to wipe your baby's chubby, dimpled tush at changing time.

I originally got this recipe almost 18 years ago when I worked at a daycare in the infant room the summer after my freshman year of college. One of the moms made these wipes for her sweet little Jacqueline, who is graduating from high school somewhere this year. I'm so OLD! The wipes smelled SO good and were so gentle. I fell in love with them and her mom typed the recipe onto a cute little recipe card. I've held onto that card all these years.

Happy wiping!!!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Here's the Reason I Don't Have 5 Kids

Little Bit is over today to spend the night with us. We've missed her terribly, but I do know my limits. Right now my limit is 4 kids! Here are some pics of the last time Little Bit spent the night with us. These will help you better understand why my limit is 4.


Can you tell she just wants to be near NoBo?



Little Bit just insists NoBo's her baby, even though she's only 2 months older than him! :)



Our family is so blessed to be able to love on these babies. And we're extremely thrilled that we are still part of Little Bit's life. She's so precious!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

I'm So Smart It Hurts

I always tell my kids that I'm so smart it hurts. At the end of the day yesterday, I truly believed it. Here are the lessons I learned yesterday, in no particular order.

1. If your children are playing with a ball you should make sure the ball is not left in the laundry room where the dog sleeps overnight. Otherwise, you'll be left with this


2. When your second child, who is known to get incredibly grumpy when ill, begins yelling at you about ridiculous things, you should wonder, "Hmm...maybe he's not completely over his stomach virus" and not wait for the next round of vomit to convince you of that.

3. Blondes really do have more fun. I know that because my sister (the hair stylist) came over last night and foiled my hair. Have I mentioned it's been WAY too long since I've had my hair colored because I'm too busy trying to keep up with life? Once the color was washed out and my hair was dried, I had an extra skip in my step! Cowboy even commented how silly I was all evening.

4. When you turn up the heat on the stove to get the chili you made warmed for your daughter to fill her tummy before she swims for an hour you should remember to turn down the heat. If you ignore it while your hair is being foiled, there will be no dinner left for anyone because it will have all burned up.

5. If you ever see this in one of your bathrooms

you should definitely take care of it immediately so that it looks like this

and not wait until you hear one of your children hollering for you from the bathroom. Like a good mom I responded, "Oops! I'll go get the toilet paper." Then I was told that there was more to the problem than that. When said child tried to remove the toilet paper holder to reload, the holder itself dropped into the toilet. I told said child to get it out. That, according to the child, was not an option. So I did the only thing a good mom could do, I sacrificed one of these

Cowboy has one less grill tool!

6. When you ask your 3-year old to remove his Pull-Up and replace it with a new one before bedtime, you should really check first to see that he hasn't pooped in it. Otherwise,....seriously, I think you need no further explanation.

7. I read this book

Because I've never really studied art history before, I didn't know much about this man. What an amazing thinker!!! Yes, I realize it's a children's book. DUH!!! Do you think I have time in my life to read adult literature about Da Vinci? Think again, my friend. :)

8. When you make an unwritten rule for your household that 2 loads of laundry need to be done each day to keep up with laundry, you should stick to it!!!

I'm off to learn more!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

T-Shirt Contest

OK, so we've booked our Disney World vacation for September. When you book your trip with Disney they ask what you're celebrating. Cowboy told them we were celebrating an adoption.

With that in mind, I've been thinking we need to come up with some t-shirt ideas that would get us noticed (and given one of their dream giveaways--it doesn't hurt to aim high). So... I thought about having our 5 shirts say "We" "Are" "Celebrating" "the Adoption of" "Me". Anyway, I'm not so creative and need some help! Our vacation will be 9 nights/10 days so the more t-shirt ideas the better!!!

Please leave a comment, facebook, or email me with your ideas! The winner will receive a huge thank you from me!!! There are 5 of us going and the shirts do not have to be adoption-related.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Mr. Edamame


Some dear friends of ours recently helped C-Man discover a new love!

He managed to have this whole bowl (minus a couple handfuls I ate) all by himself for an evening snack. He was in HEAVEN!!!

Thoughts of Fiddler on the Roof



OK, here's Miss B a few days ago getting ready to go with Cowboy to the Daddy/Daughter Dance our church hosts each year. Seriously, all I can think of when I see these pictures is the song from Fiddler on the Roof (which my kids just happened to watch last week).

Is this the little girl I carried?
Is this the little boy at play?

I don't remember growing older
When did they?

When did she get to be a beauty?
When did he grow to be so tall?

Wasn't it yesterday
When they were small?


Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as we gaze

Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears

What words of wisdom can I give them?
How can I help to ease their way?


I'll stop there, because the rest of the lyrics do NOT fit. She's not getting married anytime soon, but oh the happy-sad emotions that rush over me when I see my baby girl looking so old and she's not quite 12!!!