Who needs sleep?

An open letter to-

2010-06-17T11:41:00.000-07:00

Dear dog,

Please stop eating the siding every time you want back into the house. I would let you in the house if you didn't insist on eeating toys and shoes while you were in here.

Dear Teenage Neighbor,

Please stop blaring your car stereo so loud that aliens on Mars can hear it. I don't think there is any way you can even hear anything but the bass when you blast it so loud... plus, you are driving a Subaru Outback. That does not make you gangsta.

Dear rain,

You have been falling for nearly a month and a half now. If I wanted to live where it rained all the time, I would move to Seattle or Indonesia or something. I have mushrooms growing in my flower garden. We all know I never water the garden, so you can see my dilemma. The mud inside my house has become an issue. Enough is enough.

Dear children,

No, I will not let you eat marshmallows for breakfast, no matter how much you throw a fit. Not even if you have dragged out your tent and have built a "campfire" in the middle of the living room. Marshmallows turn you both into raving lunatics within 2 hours. (Yeah right, sugar doesn't cause hyper-activity!) I already have the dog to deal with... I don't need the two of you chewing on the walls also.

My Children are Rotten

2010-06-01T14:57:00.001-07:00

The conversation I had with Riley after sending to the potty before leaving the house:

Riley: "I went potty!"

Me: "Good job!"

Riley: "No I didn't... ha ha ha!"

The Bane of My Existence

2009-10-14T12:25:00.000-07:00

Want to know who really grates on my nerves? i just know you're thinking it's the crazies down at Wal-mart. Well, they do, but that's not who (or is it whom?) I'm talking about.

Could it be Bill who has suddenly been struck with a case of amnesia when is comes to replacing the toilet paper roll? No, with a quick demonstration, I think I have re-taught him that skill.

Nope, it's this character:

Now, before you all jump on me and start yelling things like, "Ah, she's so cute!" and "Look at that face. She's so adorable!" Let me explain.

Lucy dog only has three hobbies and they all annoy the crap out of me.

1. She is a shedding pig. I swear that dog puts out 2 pounds of hair a day. I literally have to vacuum twice a day. And I don't want hear that I should brush her more. I do brush her, but she tends to try to run away from home when I do that task. I believe she actually flipped me the bird the last time I tried that task.

2. She barks constantly... bark, bark, bark, bark, bark, bark, bark, bark! Annoying, right? And it's not like she even barks at anything in particular. She just sits on the deck and barks when she hears a bird sing, or sees a leaf float by, or if an airplane flies overhead, or if someone starts their car 4 blocks over. I think you see my point.

3. She is a food thief. Her favorite person in the world is Riley. Not because of any other reason other than his hand is mouth height. His snacks are easy pickins'. He's like her own mini-smorgasbord. Here's the proof:

"Why dear Lucy, what's that in your mouth?"

"Oh, I see Riley once again didn't get to finish his lunch."

Dinosaurs!!! In the back yard?!??

2009-09-28T20:32:00.000-07:00

In our backyard, we have a Little Tykes climbing set with a dinosaur theme, similar to the one above. There is a spot at the top where the creative people down at the Tyke builder place had the great idea to put dinosaur tracks into the plastic so it looks like a real dinosaur walked across the play thing-a-ma-gig. (This is where people who know Tate start to wonder if these tracks scare him and he won't play on it it because of them, but no, he actually likes them.)

For some reason, the kids have suddenly started playing dinosaur hunters. We've gone from "driving" race cars, to being Lightening McQueen (Please tell me you know who that is?) to suddenly being cavemen overnight. I have no idea where this came from because believe me, Tate wouldn't watch a dinosaur movie... too scary!

Now, here's the funny part... Riley comes running in the house last night yelling that we have a dinosaur print in the back yard. I'm thinking it must be a doggie print in the mud. (Have you seen the size of my dogs... they could use some saddling up.) Or maybe he was talking about the prints I mentioned above. Nope, these are not those.

He leads me out to the bottom of the deck where the posts are cemented into the ground and low and behold, there are prints there! Only there the hand prints of the former owners daughter... not dinosaurs. Darn.

Remodeling or How I Almost Ended Up Wetting My Pants

2009-09-23T10:29:00.000-07:00

I put on the kids' new favorite movie, Max and Ruby, and went downstairs to do some laundry. While the kids were finally occupied and not hanging off of my leg, I decided to take a look around the basement and plan my newest remodeling adventure.

I took a look in the back bedroom (aka the pit of despair) and came up with a plan for getting all my books organized and have it still function as a craft room. It will take a bit of work, but not so much that it can't be done in a short amount of time. I then meandered over to the laundry room for my next planning mission. This is where all hell broke loose.

I was looking around, planning how to make it brighter and more functional. I was also trying to plan when I would get the trusty vacuum downstairs to take care of the cobwebs that seem to accumulate this time of year, when suddenly this giant "thing" came crashing onto my head, covering my eyes, nose, mouth, and even my hair. It came out of nowhere, making me jump out of my skin. Was it a giant spiderweb? Perhaps a bat, a rat, a howler monkey? Nope... a stray four year old with a butterfly net. This is why animals in the wild eat their young. Hello new gray hair!

2009-09-16T10:02:00.000-07:00

After a 20 minute tantrum over not wanting to get dressed, here is the conversation I had with Tate:

Tate: "I'm going to run away from home!"

Me: "Would you like me to help you pack? Take a granola bar."

Tate: "I'm going way far away!"

Me: "Well, I'll miss you."

Tate: "Will you come with me?"

Me: "That kind of defeats the purpose of running away, doesn't it?"

The Randomness of boys

2009-05-07T15:47:00.000-07:00

Why????

Yummy!

2009-05-05T09:29:00.000-07:00

Last night, I cooked dinner for the fam damily while the boys and Bill played outside. It's nice to have time to myself to get some cooking done. I enjoy cooking, but sometimes it is too hard to fix a great meal with two monkeys hanging off your leg. Last night, however, I was able to put together a tasty meal and it only took me 30 minutes!

First, I made some sugared almonds for the strawberry and spinach salad. These were just chopped almonds heated in a frying pan with sugar for about 8 minutes. I then let them cool on a sheet pan and broke them into small chunks. This would also make a quick snack.

Next was the salad. It's just spinach, a bit of lettuce and some sliced strawberries. Simple. The best dressing is poppy seed. I think ranch would be tre' gross on this. Sprinkle with the sugared almonds and your ready to go!

Then I put together some strawberry lemonade with real strawberries. It's a mix of Country-time lemonade, strawberries, and ice. Mix in a blender and serve. It would have been cute to serve with a slice of strawberry on the glass, but I think little touches like that might be lost on three boys. This was a bit sweet, but was still tasty.

Finally, as you can see from the last picture, I used the George Forman grill to grill up some chicken. I always forget how easy this thing is to use. Chicken is done in 10 minutes! I then poured some Italian dressing over the chicken and topped it with tomatoes, basil and mozzarella cheese. A bruschetta inspired chicken even the kids will love. Please enjoy my Alton Brown inspired photo below...

Ha ha... did you get that? No? Go watch some Good Eats. I'll wait for you. Got it? Good.

The kids and the hubby ate most of this. Although the kids did just pick the strawberries out of the salad to eat, overall this meal was a success. And if you're the mother to toddlers, you know how hard this can be!

Already???

2009-04-22T13:24:00.000-07:00

Tate says, "Ri, i'm tired of you!"

The Muffin Men

2009-04-03T14:44:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to make muffins by the millions and freeze them up so our family can have a quick snack without breaking out the jelly beans or candy. Today was the day to whip up a triple batch of pumpkin muffins.
I started with a can of pumpkin that Mom had passed down to me a few months ago. Quite surprisingly, (insert hint of sarcasm here) it was more than a year past it's use by date. (if you know my mother, you will know that this is not uncommon. Plus she buys pumpkin purree, tomato sauce and cream of mushroom soup every time she goes to the grocery, whether she needs it or not. Don't pretend it's not true, Mom!)
Luckily, I had picked up some at Wal-mart this week, so all was not lost. A triple batch made 30 muffins. I will freeze these up and we will enjoy them for weeks to come. In the meantime, I let the boys try them out. No complaints so far!

Riley can be such a diva! No pictures, Mommy!

New Haircut

2009-04-01T16:01:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is. Tell me what you think.

It is soooooo easy to fix. Wash and dry, that's it!

They're Here!!!!

2009-03-31T12:53:00.000-07:00

Here's the lovely couch we've been using for about 6 years. My mom and Dad bought it about 11 or 12 years ago and handed it down to us after we got married. It originally came as a love seat/couch combo, but one cold day and a bored dog left inside took care of the couch. From a distance, the couch doesn't look too bad, but up close it had seen better days. To top it all off, is the the pink/purple recliner that was also a hand-me-down. We got it from my step-grandma who used to smoke in this chair featured below. It took a year of storage and two bottles of Febreeze to get rid of the smoke smell, but now you can't smell any smoke on it. (Maybe a bit of dog smell, but no smoke.)

Below is an example of why the couch had to go. The fabric was pulling apart all over. I have several couch covers, but they never quite fit or look nice.

And ta-da! Here are the new couch and love seat. We got a great deal on them. They fit great in the living room... not to overpowering. If you've seen my living room, you know how hard it is to find furniture that fits in here.

This is a close up of the new "fabric". It's a darker brown with a hit of burgundy. It's not true leather, but a Durablend fabric. It looks like leather, but cost half as much. (Let's hope it holds up as well as leather!)

The boys are already enjoying their new seat, but Riley has to use a stepping stool to get up on them. They also make a kick-ass race track for hot wheels! Hope their durable!

It's that time of year again!

2009-03-24T12:32:00.000-07:00

Well, someone tell my hairdresser to run for the hills. I once again plan on cutting all of my hair off. I don't think I've had the same haircut for more than 18 months ever. It's been down-to-my-butt long and up-above-my-ears short. I've had flippy hair, choppy hair, curly hair and stick straight hair. This time I want to go for an updated bob. I'm posting pictures so you can vote... Let me know what you think!

The Friday Five

2009-03-19T21:55:00.000-07:00

Stranded!It's the "stranded on a desert island" question! You can only take one thing from each category. What is it and why are you taking it?

A food that can be planted and regrown. I would take some type of berry. Probably a raspberry bush. I could eat berries every day. In fact, my old neighbor can vouch for the fact that I am not able to keep my paws off of berry bushes, whether they are mine or someone else's.

A person you haven't seen in a long time. I would probably take my old roommate Charity. We had a big falling out after college and haven't talked in many years. I know she has had a colored past from snippets I've heard here and there... plus Google will tell you a lot about a person. I would like to get the full story of what happened between now and then and get answers to some questions that have been burning in my mind. Plus, she was a very fun person to be around. She was always able to plan a good time. So hopefully after we cleared the air, we could come up with things to entertain ourselves.

A book you (were) read as a child. I always loved the book "Harriet the Spy". I read that book over and over.

A celebrity. I would take George Clooney. He strikes me as someone who would be fun to be around. (And he's easy on the eyes!)

The entire episode run of a television show (it's a very nice desert island). Mash...I love that show. I used to watch this all the time in college. The re-runs are on all the time and yet they never bore me.

My Favorite

2009-03-17T20:44:00.000-07:00

My favorite artist is Jackson Pollock. I love his free-for-all style of painting. I would have loved to see him at work on one of his pieces.

I actually got to get up close and personal with a few of his pieces while in New York. It was interesting to see all the "crap" he had mixed in with the paint in some of his work. There were cigarette butts, washer, nuts and bolts, etc. It was so cool.

I just found this website that lets your inner Pollock do it's thing. Click here to try it out!

Holy Cow!

2009-03-12T20:55:00.000-07:00

I'm still trying to get the new computer set up to my liking and haven't added any photo stuff yet, so you get a generic post from me. I wanted to post about the new insulation we had blown into the attic and the gigantic mess they left in the driveway (not the house where I expected it!) but I don't have pictures ready yet and I haven't posted anything in a while.

So, I found this picture of a gigantic sting ray found in Thailand and thought it would knock you out with how big it is. I can't imagine snorkeling along and seeing something this huge slide up beside me. (I can't imagine snorkeling either, what with my fear of finding dead bodies in the water, but that's another story)

Check this out:

How cool is this?

2009-02-26T14:45:00.000-08:00

I adore this dresser. Doesn't it look fantastic. I wish I knew someone who could make something like this!

Like a pig in heaven

2009-02-12T12:54:00.001-08:00

I decided to make Riley's birthday cakes for his kid birthday party. We had a farm theme complete with barns and animals. I used just a regular box cake and canned frosting to make both cakes. Mrs. Betty Crocker has made great improvements in the taste of her cakes. They no longer taste like the box they come in. They are moist and full of flavor.

I found the patterns for both of these cakes on Familyfun.com. They have tons of cake ideas that are easy enough for someone as inept at cake making as myself. The pig cake had a strawberry flavor and the cow was chocolate.

The only hard part about making these cakes was trying to find the right candies to make all the add ons. It is impossible to find black lace licorice in the big town of Helena. I had to cut up regular licorice into small strips.

2009-02-12T09:56:00.000-08:00

This is the new "dog" that has come to live at our house. It was a birthday gift to Riley from his Auntie Nille. He's one of those dogs that grows and can be programmed to learn your child's name. I haven't yet programmed him, so he just says "friend" instead of Riley's name. (I know, I'll get around to doing it... hopefully today)

The crazy thing about this dog is as it grows, I swear it's voice gets deeper. The first day it has this cute high-pitched baby voice, but now It sounds like a big burly lumberjack. If that thing starts swearing or telling the kid it needs a beer, his batteries might go missing!

Riley carts this thing all over the house. He has a bit of an animal obsession. He loves anything with four legs.

Put on your bell bottoms and crank the Partridge Family

2009-02-11T15:43:00.000-08:00

Can anyone guess where this lovely pattern is found?

On Mrs. Brady's shirt.... no

On a couch found in the back part of the Salvation Army?.... no

This lovely pattern lines the bottom of my silverware drawer. It's been there since we bought the house 6 years ago. It's a lovely piece of carpet and is glued into to drawer. I never think about it until it comes time to clean the drawer and then I have to break out the vacuum to get it clean. Who else has carpeting in their drawers?

How to properly watch TV

2009-01-27T13:23:00.000-08:00

TV on: check

Socks off: check

Every toy I own on the floor: check

Coffee table to sit on: check

2009-01-14T18:52:00.000-08:00

How exciting! My blog has their first follower! (Thanks, Sally. I feel like a rock star!)

What you been doin'?

2009-01-03T15:05:00.000-08:00

For Christmas this year, I decided to try my hand at sewing most of the gifts for the women in my life. This was no small undertaking due to the fact that the only sewing experience I have is from my 8th grade home-ec class where we had to make the unflattering sweatshirt that wasn't even popular back then. I managed to sew the neck on backwards, so my sewing skills left a bit to be desired. I did, however, manage to produce 7 cute aprons that I'm quite proud of. Here are a few examples: I made this one for my former teaching assistant. She sews constantly and has made many a quilt that I am lucky enough to have in my house. This one made me the most nervous to make, simply because she's the sewing queen. (She even sewed my junior bridesmaid dresses)

The fabric is very americana from Debbie Mumm. I think the fabric is adorable!

This one was for my friend Angela who is quite the biker babe. The fabric is a bit sparkly. She and I always seem to show up to events both wearing black and red.

This one is my favorite one. I like the polka-dots the best. The person this one is for hasn't recieved it yet, so I'm not telling who's it is.

I made this one for my kids godmother, Char. It's a fun brown polk-a-dot pattern and then a small pink flower print.

This final one was for my mom. The kitty fabric was very fun. The boys had fun picking out all the different colors of cats. I also liked the paw print flounce. But I really liked the orange buttons!

You better watch out...!

2009-01-03T15:00:00.000-08:00

What is the worst thing about Christmas? What brings sorrow and pain to everything it touches? Who causes future need for therapy? Santa, of course! Who brings joy and good tidings throughout the land? Who puts a smile on all the children's faces? Who brings lots of toys whether you've been good or bad? Papa!

P.S. This is why I don't use tinsel on my tree... you find it everywhere!

Not bad for 23 cents!

2009-01-03T14:52:00.000-08:00

This past summer while garage saling (that spelling doesn't look right!) with my mom, I come across this simple Christmas craft that I could do with the boys this winter. It was a simple foam tree with decorations to be glued onto it. I gave each boy half a tree to do and only had to help with the gluing. It turned out quite cute... until Riley got a hold of it later! Riley gluing on the pom-poms.

Tate attaching the candy-canes to the garland.

Riley eating snow off the carpet next to the destroyed decor.

Can we open them now?

2008-12-19T10:17:00.000-08:00

Auntie Nille's presents arrived from Brooklyn yesterday and the boys haven't left them alone since. I did text her to make sure they wouldn't break if the boys hauled them around the house and she assured me that they would have to drop them from a jet plane to cause much damage.

The boys have been carting their gifts around the house playing "fed-ex guys". They deliver them to each other over and over. The funny thing is our packages were delivered in a budget rent-a-truck so I don't know how they knew he was a fed-ex guy. It's not like we get tons of packages. Oh well, they are having fun.

I did catch Tate trying to peek under the wrapping this morning. He had the gift on his lap and was lifting the wrapping paper just enough to look under it. He wasn't able to see anything, but he sure wanted to! (See Mom, it must be genetic!)

(sorry for the crappy picture... I took it with my phone.)

Hello??!???

2008-12-17T21:23:00.000-08:00

So, I've decided it's very hard to talk to myself on this blog all the time. I know there are people (besides my mother!) who read this thing... some even every day. Could you do me a favor and leave a comment or even just a smiley face (or a frowny one if you feel the need)? It would help me immensely to know if people care what I have to say or if they just stop by to laugh at me. Thanks!

I would add a cute picture if I could, but Blogger seems to have it in for me today... and a day I actually post!

What is Mary doing on the roof?

2008-12-05T15:07:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the bad pictures, but I wanted to post about the nativity set that I now have. It was the same one my baby sis and I had a little girls. There is a manger with real hay on the roof and it even lights up. The great thing about it is all the animals and people are made of plastic, so it is completely kid proof. If only it was dog proof, but I'll get to that in a minute...

My sis and I used to have a great time rearranging all the Christmas characters every year. I can remember us spending hours trying to get it to look right. Should the donkey go here? What about the camels? How can we get the angel to stand out? It has lots of memories for me and so I was glad when Mom handed it down to me for my kids to enjoy. (Sorry Nille... that's the prize for having kids first!)

The boys are fascinated with it. I think partly because I'm not yelling at them to just look at it! Don't touch! like I tend to do with the rest of the Christmas stuff and also because they are movable. Riley of course loves packing the animals around. He has a thing for things with four legs. He's even added a few more mammals to the picture. I found a giraffe and elephant in there yesterday.

He also enjoys looking at the "baby". He always picks up Baby Jesus and wants him put back in his manger. Ri also likes to cart him around the house. Baby Jesus enjoyed a wheelbarrow ride on Wednesday. Unfortunately, Jesus is small and so I have to do a house search for him before I vacuum. There was a bit of a panic yesterday after I vacuumed and realized I couldn't find Him. Luckily I have a canister vacuum and can quickly look through all the dirt and dog hair to see if He was in there. He wasn't but was under the recliner. (Hope all this activity isn't buying me a one way ticket to hell.)

Tate likes to play with the angel and if you have boys, you will know why... she has wings so she can fly! He whips her around the house yelling, "Look out!" at everyone he come close to hitting. i tried to explain to him that angels probably didn't yell Look out! since they were nice and had great manners. His solution: "Look out, please!"

On to why dogs are such a problem with this set... take a look at the difference between Mary and Joseph in the picture below. Want to know why Joseph is sooooo small? Our dog ate both Jesus and Joseph when we were growing up. Mom was able to replace Jesus with a correct sized one, but poor Joseph... not so much.

(Also look at the top picture. Did anyone notice Mary on the roof of the barn?)

2008-11-23T14:33:00.000-08:00

Here's a fun post I found on Fresh Picked Whimsy. You're supposed to bold the things you have done.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
.36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

I've done a few things, but would like to be able to cross a few more off of this list.

An ode to Mimi

2008-11-19T21:00:00.000-08:00

Mimi moved into our house shortly after Taters was born. "He" came dressed so nicely, not a spot on him and he definitely did not smell bad. He was soft and colorful and lovely to be around. However, after a few months of being around Tate, this was no longer the case. He became a nuisance, a pain, and down-right stinky. He even decided to change his name along the way. After those first few months of living with us, we gave him the nickname of stinky. It was fitting. It was given with love, but with some honesty behind it. About a year into this living arrangement, Tate changed his name to Mimi. No explanation as to why. Maybe it was because he was just starting to talk and didn't want his best friend to be called Stinky, but he's never given us a true reason. Mimi has now lived with us for 3 1/2 years and he is wearing thin. I can see right through him. I no longer find him to be bright and cheerful. He's drab and ugly. I guess if Tate finds him alright to be around, I will let him stay, but seriously, how much longer do I have to put up with this guy?

When did Bert become such a rock star?

2008-11-17T14:34:00.000-08:00

What will keep the attention of a 20 month old for almost two hours?
Elmo, of course!

We got to go to Elmo and Seseame Street Live down in Bozeman last week, thanks to the in-laws. They bought great tickets... right in the middle and close enough to see everything, but not so close that you had to strain your head up to see on the stage.

The show was almost all music, and yet not a minute was eye-glazingly boring. It was fun to see all the old characters that I loved as a kid, such as Oscar and the Count. The kids of course went crazy for Elmo and Big Bird.

The best part was when they did the hustle. Bert came out in this white, Bee-Gee's inspired suit and proceeded to disco. I would love to know how they are able to dance and sing in those suits without falling on their butts.

Since that night, Riley has been hauling around his Elmo everywhere he goes, even the dirt pile out front. Elmo gets a quick shake off and then it's off to bed with Ri, also. He even hollers for Elmo in the middle of the night if he can't find him.

The pictures I will show his high school girlfriend

2008-11-10T21:43:00.000-08:00

The kid knows how to dress. Unfortunately, you can't see the brown sneakers he has on to compliment this ensemble.

Joe is a dirty, dirty boy

2008-11-06T14:16:00.000-08:00

Want to know how babies keep their feet feeling so soft and smooth? It's not just because they're babies and come with naturally soft skin... oh, no! They have a secret I am about to disclose.

It's Ped-Egg, of course. You didn't think they stayed baby soft without help did you?

This is what you do for an hour if you want to stay out of Mom's way while she's cleaning the kitchen... give G.I. Joe a bath. He is such a dirty boy!

Quickie

2008-11-02T20:14:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to post a quick note about Halloween. Tate and Riley donned their Buzz and Woody costumes and hit downtown Helena for the annual festivities. We met up with some friends and their kiddos (who went as Tom and Jerry... how adorable). The kids had a blast looking at all the other kiddos and their costumes. (Can you believe there were 3 other Buzz Lightyears. Tate was the cutest on though!) They also enjoyed begging candy off of all the downtown businesses. Tate and Ri never actually send anything... too shy, but their buddies weren't, thankfully.

Why children should not be wedding photographers

2008-10-28T10:06:00.000-07:00

I was cleaning out the cupboard on my computer table when I ran across the only cd of wedding photos. I remember that we had little disposable cameras on all the tables for people to take pictures of the happenings at our wedding reception. I was teaching at a one-room schoolhouse at that time and had all my students in my wedding. This means there were lots of children at my wedding. They were all so cute, but don't take very good pictures. I have lots and lots of pictures of butts, my cake, and the sky, but very few of anything else. I do like to look at them though. They make me laugh. (I also don't understand why people don't want children at their wedding. You should have seen the good time they had. They even danced. I have great blackmail pictures for when they get older!)

Two guesses what or who this it.

This little girl wastn't actually in my wedding. She was only four at the time, but both her big sisters were, so we had a dress made that matched the junior bridesmaid ones out of leftover material.

I have LOTS of pictures of this lady... much to my dismay. She was the worst parent I've ever had to deal with. Luckily they moved my last year of teaching.

Finally, a pic of me, holding the only beer I had that day.

A back pic of the devil mother.

How not to spend a Sunday at the park

2008-10-20T14:12:00.000-07:00

We loaded the kids, picked up several loaves of bread, and headed to the fairgrounds to feed the ducks. We should have known when we saw nobody else around that the ducks and geese were going to be hungry. We didn't even make it out of the car before we were surrounded. The kids did fine in the mix of all those big geese until one decided to give Riley a little peck on the cheek. I guess he looked yummy. The goose only touched his cheek, but it started a bit of a crying jag. Then Tate forgot to throw his bread and a goose got a bit annoyed. The goose grabbed it out of his little fingers and chomped a bit of finger, too. No injuries, but scared him. Bill finished feeding the geese from the safety of the car. When we finished, I had to have Bill shoo the birds from behind us so we could back up. Next time we know to bring more bread only go when other people are around.

A is for...

2008-10-16T13:56:00.000-07:00

Today we started learning letters at our house. We started with the letter A because, well because it's the first letter in the alphabet, of course. We read a book about Apples and then we glued letter a's onto a larger A. We also added some apples and even an airplane, just for fun. The only problem with this activity was getting them to stop. They would have glued everything not nailed down if they could.

We then moved onto some large muscle activities. Very important with two toddler boys. We "flew" around the house pretending to be airplanes. I'm sure if the neighbors could look in, they would have wondered what I was on, but it was fun.

We then move to lunch where we had applesauce and "A" sandwiches.

(Please ignore the orange countertops. We're waiting for them to come back into style!)

Of course, Mom got to eat the leftovers... no waste here.

Movie time

2008-10-14T12:42:00.000-07:00

How do you and your brother watch movies?

Hooray for Cookies!

2008-10-14T12:28:00.001-07:00

I wanted to bake up a batch of chocolate chip cookies today. Unfortunately, I found myself without butter... a bit of a problem when baking cookies. Luckily, I had all the makings for Crisco's fudgy no-bake cookies. These are actually my favorite cookie of all time. They have all my fave ingredients: oatmeal, coconut, chocolate, and peanut butter. Yum!

I remember being in 3rd grade when someone brought these in for snack. I could have eaten 100 of them. They called them beaver dams... I guess because they sort of look like beaver dams. I think they look like something else, but I don't really want my kiddos taking them to school some day and belting out, "Look, I brought piles of shi*! Eat up!"

Anyway, I could never find this recipe until I got a Crisco cookie recipe book in the mail. The recipe was in there. Oh happy day! I have to limit the number of times a year I make these because I could eat the whole batch. Maybe I should rename them The Waist Expander.

Here's the recipe:

1/2 C. butter flavor Crisco

2 C. sugar

1/2 C. milk

1/4 C. cocoa

1/4 t. salt

1/2 C. peanut butter

2 T. corn syrup

1 T. vanilla

2 1/2 C. oats

3/4 C. coconut

1. Combine Crisco, sugar, milk, cocoa and salt in saucepan over med.-high heat. Bring to boil. Boil 2 minutes. Stir constantly. Remove from heat.

2. Stir in peanut butter, corn syrup, and vanilla until well blended. Add oats and coconut. Stir until all are well coated.

3. Drop by spoonful onto wax paper. Cool until firm.

4. Hide from husband and kids so you can eat them all.

I Kissed a Girl

2008-10-09T21:24:00.000-07:00

Riley and Anika sittin' in a tree,

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

Riley decided to tell Anika goodbye with a big wet one this last Saturday. They were soooooo stinkin' cute!

I just noticed he's feeling her up, too.

2008-10-06T11:18:00.000-07:00

This was such a beautiful fall weekend that we decided to take the boys for a walk around Spring Meadow Lake. I've lived in this town for 8 years and have only been there once. I'm now mad at myself for not doing this before.

There is a clearly marked trail all the way around the "lake". It's actually a bunch of small ponds, but everything is well maintained. There was a fire that ripped through the area a year ago that did quite a bit of damage, but all the dead, burned trees have been cut down. The regrowth is happening fast.

Tate made it all the way around, and Riley made it almost the whole way. Bill had to carry him toward the end. The boys enjoyed picking up various sticks and leaves. We also found oak tree leaves, a bit of a rarity in this area.

But I Saw it First!

2008-10-04T13:35:00.001-07:00

As I sit here listening to Toy Story in the background, I want to tell you why I was crying this morning.

I set out to visit 9 different garage sales. There weren't many in town, and I only wanted to go to ones that would be worth my time. I combed over the ads and picked my route. I was ready to go at 8:00 promptly. Coffee in hand and a sweater on my back, I hoped in the Explorer and was kid free for the next 90 minutes.

The first one I stopped at decided they weren't going to open until 9:00. I of course got there at 8:10. Not going to wait around for that one.

A few other stops were okay and I was able to find some books for the boys and a new lamp shade for Riley's reading lamp. (Okay, the kid doesn't read yet, but I do!)

Finally, I made it to the one I was looking forward too. Five moms who had cleaned out the kid's rooms... sure to be a gold mine. There were tables upon tables of stuff. Good stuff, but nothing I needed or couldn't live without.

Then it happened. I looked to my right and there it was: a Buzz Lightyear! Only problem is that it was in the hands of some 40 year old yuppy mom who had no idea that my child would so much more appreciate that toy than her snotty-nosed, ungrateful rugrat. (I'm not sure he was a rugrat, but I like to think so.)

After I decided it wouldn't be worth the arrest to wrestle her down and steal it from her, I decided I had had enough rain and sadness. Maybe next time.

Christmas Request

2008-10-02T14:24:00.001-07:00

"Mom, how about you buy me a pogo stick?"

More Halloween

2008-09-26T12:31:00.001-07:00

I found this crow at the Dollar Store. He's nothing fancy, but he looks good on the top of my kitchen cabinets.

This is my Martha Stewart inspired silhouette. She has mice all over her Halloween ad, but I thought crows would be fun, too. I have some mice to put up, but need to find places where Riley won't want to rip them down.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

2008-09-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that I love Halloween. I've made mention of how many boxes of decorations I have squirrelled away in my garage. I can hardly wait for October to come to put them out. In fact, I didn't wait. Most of them are up. I thought I would share a few pictures with you.

I have fall leaves all around the top of my kitchen cabinets. They add a bit of fall color to my house and go great with my retro orange countertops.

I love this candle holder that hangs in my living room. I changed out the usual burgundy candles for some orange ones and then tied on some wired ribbon that has a subtle leaf print.

This skeleton has been in my family for almost 20 years. My mom used to joke that it was the skeleton of my little brother who wouldn't behave... at least I thought she was joking. The bat hotel sign is from the Dollar Store. They had great decorations this year. And, who can go wrong with just a dollar?

There are more pictures, but for some reason they aren't wanting to load. I'll try with another post.

The stores are decorating for Christmas!

2008-09-24T11:34:00.000-07:00

Who has all their Halloween decorations up already? Me, me, me!

I love docorating for Halloween. I have 7 totes dedicated to Halloween. I'm a bit early getting everything out this year, but wanted to get the fall stuff out and since it is mixed in with Halloween, I thought I would get it all put out in one fell swoop.

The only new decor I'm planning for this year is to do the boys table. I have the perfect candleabra, but need to make a tablecloth for it. Watch for a trip to JoAnn's tonight!

Are you really voting for that person?

2008-09-20T16:04:00.000-07:00

Guess what? Political season is here and unless you've been held prisoner in some strange man's basement for the last 6 months, you already knew this.

I've about had my fill of all the mud-slinging and name-calling that a person can take, but the thing that is really getting to me is the assumptions that people make about who I "must" be voting for.

I have one set of friends that make constant put-downs and tell the stupid jokes that have been making the rounds about the candidate I also happen to be voting for. I know that these friends assume I am voting for their candidate and so making these jokes is OK. How wrong they are. I think it is unfair to presume to know how a person is voting just because they are your friends. Just because we hang out, can stand each other, and can carry on conversations together, does not make us the same person.

Where the hell did all this crap come from?

2008-09-17T21:08:00.000-07:00

Today I decided to take on our front hall closet. You know the one, the place that everything gets shoved into and you have to quickly open and shut the door hoping that your movement will not topple the the mountains of "stuff" that has been shove in there?

The pile of pots and pans and Tupperware, etc. that was on the top shelf has always frightened me. I've had dutch ovens stacked on top of tiny plates in a Dr. Suessish (Look everybody, I just invented a word!) pile that is only standing by the grace of You Know Who. I managed to pull it all out and get rid of five cake pans. I don't even bake cakes. Why do I have so many cake pans? I also parted with some Pampered Chef baking stones which I guess is a sin according to my mother, but I've had them for six years and never used them once. Time for them to find a new home!

When all was said and done, I had two small piles of mixing bowls and roasting pans, a much more manageable amount.

Now I just hope it stays that way.

Biggest mistake this week

2008-09-16T20:45:00.000-07:00

Bill and I made a huge mistake this week. We honestly had good intentions, but I'm afraid those intentions have now backfired. Things have gone from bad to worse at our house and I don't see any improvement in our near future. In fact, this issue has me pulling my hair out and even locking myself in the bathroom just to get away. I don't know of any other way to tell all of you what is going on other than to show you.

Yes, we bought Tate his first movie and it has been playing in our house nearly non-stop for four days. I have seen this damn movie 9 times now. Please, make the madness stop!

2008-09-14T21:34:00.000-07:00

I reconnected with an "old" friend from my single days this past week. When I say old, I don't literally mean old... you know what I mean. When we used to hang out, it was to party, ride motorcycles, and basically cause he**. We had a great time together, but lost touch through the years.

It was fun to see that we are leading almost parallel lives. We both have two kids that are 20 months apart (She has girls, I have boys.) We both stay at home to raise our kids while the husbands slave away. (Or don't have to change as many diapers.) And we both are going stir-crazy from lack of adult conversation.

She invited me to meet her and some of her friends to see the movie "The Women". It was a cute film about many of the things that go on with married people.

It was so fun to get together with other moms and not have to wrangle children at the same time. I definitely hope we get to do this more often.

What to say, what to say?

2008-09-11T21:28:00.000-07:00

While pondering about what to write this evening, I reflected back on what was happening 7 years ago. I made the mistake of watching a re-run of the 9-11 attacks from the Today Show. I was trying to rock the baby to sleep while bawling my eyes out. It's surprising how quickly one is taken back to the feelings of that day. I then came to my senses and turned it to an old episode of Sex and the City. (doesn't usually make me cry uncontrollably)

I then decided I would write about the local music venue that takes place at a different park around the capital of Montana every Wednesday. We've taken the kids a couple of times this summer, hoping to expose them to new music. The only thing we've been exposing them to at these things though, is all the transients, teen moms, meth heads, and uncontrolled children the town has to offer.

You know all the people you see at the fair and always wonder where they are the rest of the year? They attend these concerts. We've given it a try and I think we will probably pass on these events next year. We'll just take them to Wal-mart if we feel the need to "expose" them to different people.

What do you wear to play?

2008-09-10T21:33:00.000-07:00

Today, this is how I caught the boys playing "tools" on Tater's bed. Notice the Tony Hawk get-up and the skewed fireman's helmet. I think the orange boots are a nice touch too.

P.S. The hot pink screwdriver is not mine. It was given to Bill by my dad. I think he was trying to make a point.

2008-09-09T21:49:00.000-07:00

Too tired to post today. Maybe if the baby sleeps all night.......

Wake Up!

2008-09-08T13:20:00.000-07:00

My kids have never been too keen on taking naps. I can count on my fingers the number of naps the Taters has taken in his whole life. Ri likes to nap now and then, but no set schedule

Luckily, they do usually sleep well at night. Taters will sleep 9p.m. to 9a.m. If you wake him earlier than that, get ready for a day from hell. Usually that will be a day Ri takes toys off the head like he's on a firing range. I try to avoid waking the beast if at all possible.

About a year ago, I joined a mom's group so that the kids could be somewhat socialized and I could have conversations that didn't include the word "Bob the builder". These meetings start at 10a.m and if I get everything ready the night before, we can just about make it on time.

Fast forward to this morning and I find out they now want to move the meetings to 9:30 so those with kids in pre-school can leave at 11:00. Now I have to make a decision: wake the beast early or miss precious adult time? We'll see how this plays out.

still have all the digits

2008-09-07T14:41:00.001-07:00

Today I started cutting out little blocks to make a simple decoration for Thanksgiving. This was the first time using a table saw, but after a short tutorial from Dad I was able to cut out five blocks. No blood in the place.

I've got them painted fall colors and just need to let them dry. Then I will add lettering to spell "gobble". Plus I have a little turkey that take the place of the "O".

I'll try to post pictures once I've got it finished.

2008-09-06T18:52:00.000-07:00

While in high school I drove the baddest car around. A '79 Chrysler Cordoba with one primer grey door. (That's a long story. Maybe I'll save it for later.)

I bought my car for $300 during a drawing at the dealership in Great Falls. I had saved all of my paper route money for months to be able to buy my first car and she was mine.

The first downfall I found is that it still had the original stereo installed which means it came with a kick-ass 8-track player. (All you people under the age of 28... Google it.) For a music junky such as myself, this was tragedy. Luckily my parents still had their collection and I dug through it for something, anything worth listening to.

Deep in the box of dusty 8-tracks, I found a recordable 8-track. I quickly recorded my favorite music at that time (Motley Crue) and popped it into the player. It didn't sound too awful and would work until I could save for a new stereo.

I'll never forget the look on my friend Justin's face when I put in my 8-track tape of the Crue. I could see the wheels spinning. This is my same friend who had just updated to the new-fangled CD player. He was the first of all my friends to have one. "How could I have the latest Motley Crue album on 8-track?"

The next downfall of this car was one that should have been a plus. This car was supposed to be the cadillac of muscle cars... automatic windows and locks, automatic seat, air conditioning, the works. Only thing is, they only worked properly when the temp was 68*, 34% humidity and it was 5:47. Most of the things not working didn't bother me, but the automatic locks proved to be tricky. I would have to base my dress on whether or not I was going to have to get into my car "Dukes of Hazzard" style. Nothing like trying to crawl through the window of your car while wearing a skirt.

One great thing about this car was the V-8 engine. Several of my friends were buying new sports cars and wanted to prove themselves. My car may have been old and battered, but it kicked every one of those boys "sports" cars off the line. (And fit 10 of my friends at the same time!)

2008-09-05T10:49:00.000-07:00

My least favorite toy of the boy's has to be their sandbox. They spend most of their time in it throwing sand on each other or toting it into the house.

I once changed Ri's pants and found at least half-a-cup of sand in there. I bet that chaffed a bit.

Potty Training for Dummies

2008-09-04T13:47:00.000-07:00

I always heard from other "mommy bloggers" that kids will potty train when they are ready. I also heard constantly from my mother that The Taters was already three and that he should be potty trained by now.

We tried all the tricks... stickers, rewards, books to read, sitting for all hours with him, putting him on the potty every half hour, etc. Nothing worked.

I knew I didn't want to use Pull-ups. I'm sure they work for some people, but they were just too much like diapers for me. I looked high and low for training pants and figured that in this day of eco-friendly, green parenting they wouldn't be hard to find... wrong! I finally had to order them online (and pay a pretty penny for them.)

We were headed to our family cabin for a short vacation and thought that would be the perfect place to begin our dry pants quest. We put the training pants on first thing in the morning and had a "discussion" about using the big boy potty. We also put him on the toilet after filling him with water hoping he would get the drift. No luck.

After a few tries, we sent him out to play with his best friend, Papa. They were happily playing with tools when it happened. "Mommy, I'm all wet!" He had peed himself. We rushed inside to the bathroom, changed his clothes and sat on the potty for a bit and talked about how that was when he was supposed to go to the bathroom.

We then went out to clean up Papa's garage floor, the holiest of holy places for a three year old with a thing for tools.

Only one more little accident with wetting and a small nighttime accident and he's trained. It took about one day to get the concept and one week to perfect it. It's still stressful traveling, but more for me than him. We've taken 5 hour road trips without a single mess. (We are finding out which camp spots have bathrooms, though!)