It's Just Popcorn!

Why is it that every little thing becomes a huge, gigantic thing when you're tired? Just now, my kids came barreling into the computer room demanding popcorn that I had promised them earlier. I told them to ask their Dad to put some in for them and so they went downstairs and did just that. He said he couldn't help them because he was washing dishes and to get me! So. I got up, ran downstairs and threw the darn popcorn in the microwave - while ranting and raving....mind you. I believe I said, "Can't I have 20 minutes of peace and quiet to myself? I didn't ask you to do the dishes! Can't you just put the darn popcorn in the microwave?" To which he tried to get out of it with "I would have done it." and I said, "No, you told the kids to come get me because I was goofing off!" Like I said, little thing - big thing. It is only flippin' popcorn people!

Ribbit times 7 = Hoppy Birthday Quinn!

We'll it's Quinn's 7th birthday today! She has asked for a Frog inspired Birthday party this weekend with her relatives, so I've been busy putting that theme together. She couldn't pick Hannah Montana like every other 7 year old, could she? (Just kidding, I love that she went off the board with this one!) Anyways, I made the kids t-shirts for the party with frogs on them and we have streamers with tree frogs hanging on them all over the house in anticipation of the big day! I decided this year to try and make more of my gifts, so I started with Quinn. Since Frogs were her theme, I counted cross stitched this little guy as a momento of her 7th birthday. She loves him and asked if I'd make another one for next year! (not a frog, but whatever the new theme is) - I said, We'll see!

Fun Cute Project

A good friend, and fellow blogger, Sara, told me how to make these adorable leg warmers for the girls. I have trouble keeping socks on Hayden's feet and she has so many dresses that don't get worn because tights are hard to walk in without slipping and who wants to wear shoes all the time!? She certainly doesn't. I used two pairs of knee hi women's socks and cut just the toes off of Hayden's pair, hemmed the raw end, and cinched them across the top. Lydia didn't want the heel, so I cut hers at the ankle. Took all of five minutes a pair. Very cute and I feel like I accomplished something. One thing I will say is that the stripes made it very easy to cut the socks straight across. I sure wish I had made these when Hayden was crawling everywhere - would have saved her knees some wear and tear!

Piggies Hangin' Out!

Cute detail on back of sock!

It's My Birthday and I'll Blog If I Want To

Another year has come and gone in a blur. All of a sudden it has dawned on me that I'm in my thirties. I guess I was in denial the first five years and now I'm REALLLLY into my 30's and I think, "Oh! hey! You're aging! Those fine lines around your eyes and creases in your cheeks - they aren't going away sister! The age spots on your hands and face, only getting darker as you mature to perfection. The muffin top around your waistline - ain't movin' on its own. The two grey straggles that keep coming back are probably just recruiting under my scalp for a whole army to spring forth any day now. The "girls" are heading south (and not just for the winter) along with my rear end. " I could go on. I am also thinking, It doesn't bode well for aging gracefully.

I did hear on Oprah, though, that sometimes having a little chub on ya, makes you look younger, especially as we age. The wrinkles are filled in by our plumpness. I thought, when I heard that, "Alleluia! I should look like a teenager then". Unfortunately, it doesn't mean we're all that prone to longevity.

Truth be told, I'm not that worried about all this. I am looking forward to the coming year and what it will encompass. I am on the verge of becoming more MOBILE with my kids and that whisp of freedom is enough to make me get the shakes. I realize I could set monstrous goals for the next year as I definitely have areas that need improvement in my life, but instead, I think the wisdom that comes of my 36 years tells me to throw the "bar" away that I was using to measure myself up with against the world and just live, breathe, laugh a lot and be happy with me. If I can do that, it's going to be a great year.

My Water Bug

Well, Hayden continues to amuse us. Tonight after she was already dressed and ready for bed, I was putting William in his crib and she was going to be next, when Lydia is yelling from the bathtub down the hall. She's screaming, "Mom! Haydie is getting in the tub! Mom! Mom!". Of course, I rush down the hall only to see my 19 month old in the tub smiling at me, fully clothed! I asked Lydia how she got in and she said, she just climbed in! So, I wrung her out and redressed her and plopped her in bed too. That will teach me to put her in bed first in the future! She just loves the water, always has and I hope always will! I'm going to have to watch her like a hawk this summer around all the pools! She scares me to death and she's so little! AHHHH!

Little Ms. Smartie Pants

Hayden didn't take long to figure out how to progress from climbing up into the chairs to sitting on the table today. Her final move was to stand on the table and she scaled that thing like Mount Everest in no time flat! I had just told her "no" and set her on the floor when the next thing I know she's on top of the table doing a little dance! (Yes, scary! I had a vision of her at 21 dancing on a bar somewhere!) This kid has no fear. She's going to be the one I wait up for when she goes out at night. My little dare devil! Carl asked me what we did to deter the other girls from climbing and I told him "nothing! They didn't do this!" She's smart enough to manage to pull the chairs away from the table because I tuck them under over and over all day long. Stinker! Any ideas? I'd love to hear them!

Cookies!

Hayden said "Cookies" loud and clear today! She also learned to climb up into the kitchen chairs and climb down. She thought she was such hot stuff sitting there like a big girl. I had visions of her falling and smacking her head on the vinyl floor, but hey - she didn't! I did have to move everything off the table after she was digging though my embroidery stuff - scissors, needles, pins - you know, nothing dangerous...

When did these kids get tall enough to reach on top of the table? William was grabbing things off it today. I really don't know when it happened that "high ground" became the kitchen countertop whereas, it's always been, the kitchen table. The twins are getting way too big, too fast. It makes me sad.

Soap Suds

I love my shower time. It's the only time of day that my brain is all MINE. I can hear my thoughts and they are not of any significant caliber. No one is bugging me. No one is calling my name, or if they are, I can't hear them. It's my own nirvana. I could stay there all night truthfully except for the prune factor.

Oftentimes, I set unrealistic goals for myself in the shower, only to have them forgotten in the light of day....such goals have been.

I'm going to go on a diet right now.
I'm going to exercise tomorrow.
I'm going to work on my scrapbooks tomorrow.

I make lists for the next day of things to do, people to call, things to file, shopping etc.

The shower could be called my office.

Anyways, whenever I have some random thought from the shower, I'm going to try and blog it - tonight's was....

Why do people ask if you're going to college if most schools are universities now?

Tuesday is Putting Away the Laundry Day

I was thinking yesterday afternoon as I folded my fifth basket of laundry (my Monday chore) that it's really amazing that more housewives aren't depressed crazy lunatics. My life runs like a rodent on an exercise wheel, over and over, faster and faster, never really getting anywhere. Sunday is clean the main floor day. Monday is laundry day and "catch up from what I didn't get done on Sunday" day. Tuesday is putting away the laundry day. Wednesday is dusting and vacuuming the upstairs day. Thursday is cleaning the bathrooms and washing the towels day. Friday is change the sheets day. Saturday is nothing but usually fills up with something day. In my spare time I do stuff like wipe the baseboards (that was for Karen!). Just kidding. In my "spare time", I am constantly picking up toys, putting things back, cleaning up dirty clothes, finding shoes, making meals, wiping be-hinds, drying tears, snotty noses and spilt milk. On a tangible scale I accomplish very little and make very little progress on a daily basis and that is very frustrating. I could go on and on and on. Who couldn't? I know I'm not alone out there.

Now, I know that my routine isn't how everyone functions and maybe it's my Dis-function. Finding the time to do it all so the whole house is clean at one time - just doesn't happen for me and I've been told that it's illegal to drug your children in order to do housework (dunno, maybe I heard wrong?). Anywho! I thought to myself as I folded somebody's undies with Cinderella on them that the mundane will surely kill you quick. It's a good thing that I mix it up every once in a while! Yep, sometimes, I live on the wild side and don't put my laundry away till late in the week and I do Wednesday's chores on Thursday with the bathrooms and the towels. I know, I know - you're saying, "Stop it! Don't go all crazy on us!"


The disease of the mundane is a housewife's greatest fear and possibly one of her future regrets. I do not want to be back at work down the road - full time, and look back on this period at home with my kids and regret not having made better use of this opportunity. Although it seems like I'm standing still in a continuum of time, I'm really not. And though, I don't really make a lot of progress in solving the world's problems; my hope is the mundane tasks I do every day are helping to grow some little people into big people who might someday do just that. I can only hope.

I'm sure it's a Twin thing and I don't understand.

I am sure that I am not the only mother in the world to look at her children and be continually awed and amazed, but the twins are something entirely new for me and they really do bogle the mind. Tonight, for instance....they got out of the bathtub and for some reason, Hayden had a complete melt down - we're talking hysterics. I laid her down to diaper her and she was just uncontrollably sobbing. William, also naked at that point, took off crawling like a mad man to our bedroom and I was saying, "Will, come back...buddy, come bacccck." Next thing you know, he's rushing back with Hayden's blankie and sets it on her chest. Then, he's off again. She instantly calmed down by the way and was almost waiting for him to return. I say again, "Buddy, come back!" but he keeps going back to the bedroom. Then, here he comes again, but this time, with Hayden's binky in his hand. He crawls right up to her again and pops it into her mouth. Then he waits and she smiles at him - as if to say, "Thanks bro, you took care of me!" The piece de la resistance is he just laid down next to her to get his diaper on and laughed. Talk about amazing.

They do that stuff all the time. William knows that she likes her binky and it makes her happy and I think he would crawl to the ends of the earth to get it for her. Or...maybe he's just trying to hush her up and it's not a twin thing at all - instead it's a man thing (which again, I don't understand) or a big brother thing. Six minutes ahead of her makes him her big brother after all. Whatever it is, they understand each other at this point and it's interesting to watch and be a part of.