InOverMyHead

Toot away

2008-10-21T22:40:00.000-07:00

So today was a typical crazy day in the Felberg family. At times they all three were screaming for me from different rooms at exactly the same time. At other times there were endless conversations about the Barney video in which he was making pizza. Have you heard that Barney song? "Pizza, pizza nothing beats a pizza?" Anyway I can hear it clearly in my head. My children obviously don't know me well enough because they actually think Mommy is going to make a pizza from scratch because Barney gives us the recipe. I think the conversation lasted about an hour. Well maybe only like 10 minutes but it seemed to never end. All about if we want a large pizza we should use 2 cups of flour but we only want a small pizza so we should just use 1 cup of flour. And then we do this and that and well I didn't have the heart to tell them that there was no point to this endless conversation so on it went.

My only comic relief of the day was when I went to change Ty's poopy diaper. I know, a very random place to find humor but there it was anyway. Leave it to Ella. Well here I was expecting to find a massive diaper based on the smell but when I opened it up there was the tiniest little pebble. I say" Ty how could that possibly smell that bad? It is so little." To which Ella quickly responds, "I know Mom! He must have tooted on it a lot and that is why!" Well there you have it. It is not the actually poop that gives off the aroma but how many times you toot on it. Kind of like perfume I guess in a reverse sort of way. Good to know!

My Two New Obsessions

2008-09-20T21:49:00.000-07:00

Jonas Brothers and Filipino food! Not necessarily together. Although I did watch Camp Rock and eat lumpia at the same time tonight and by myself no less. Chad came home from work a little surprised. His response, "Are you watching this?" To which I said, "yes" then he asked if I was two? I was about to explain that the Jonas Brothers fan base is a little older than two-mind you probably not as old as 37 but still.
Anyway obviously the Jonas brothers problem started from my children. Those boys have grown on me and I find myself singing their songs and defending them as they get attacked like on the VMA's. I think I am about to buy their CD (do they have more than one?) I have already purchased Camp Rock (for my girls of course:)I asked Haley who her favorite was and told her mine was Joe:) Okay I might need counseling... on to the filipino story

It started a couple of months ago at a school potluck when I realized that my son had sucked on a lumpia for a good 15 minutes while I ate and I started to wonder if I should figure out how to make them. For those of you who know, my cooking ability doesn't go very far. I quickly gave up that idea. Well this past week we had another school potluck and lucky for me I am surrounded by a lot of filipino families so there were many dishes to choose from. Of course I filled my plate with lumpia and also chose what looked like stir fry with clear noodles. I learned it was Pancit. My new love! Haley's teacher sent home all of the recipes from the potluck. So I rushed to the grocery store and went straight to the Asian aisle looking for Behon noodles(had no idea) and oyster sauce. Needed help finding that. At one point I had 3 Albertsons employees searching the aisles for me but I was determined. It didn't turn out! My noodles as Chad would describe reminded him of the sticky hands the kids bring home and throw against the wall, only covered in soy sauce.
I wasn't about to give up though. Haley has a filipino friend that lives up the street. They play together every day. I decided that we would go on an adventure today to a Filipino market. With her of course! I was to insecure to go by ourselves. We discussed it with her mother first who explained what I needed to order. I was on a mission to get Shanghai Lumpia and Pancit. I asked her if it was going to be awkard for me and she said "Well they might not understand you and you might not understand them" That wasn't reassuring but since I had her daughter with me I found the confidence to go. So here we were in the filipino market (very busy place by the way and very inexpensive) They had a market side and then a hot food area which is pretty much the same as a chinese fast food place except for the whole fish and what I think was some sort of goat head. Anyway after a brief scare of them being out of Pancit. I talked the man into making some for me. I think he was frightened by the white lady and her crazy brood with her. We got home with two large portions and only 4 lumpia. I had ordered 12 but ate 7 on the way home. Ty had 1. So I learned a lot. Like I need to order more and don't try to make Filipino food if you aren't Filipino which at this point I wish I was.

In Need of Community

2008-07-26T22:36:00.000-07:00

Literally my community! I don't know what my deal is lately but I have been really depressed about my lack of involvement in my own area. Maybe it is that school has started up and I see all of these moms interacting and I pretty much stay to myself.I think that I have told myself that I already have my friends and I don't need anymore. The problem with that is that I have always been the friend that lives the farthest away. This makes it very tricky to do the fun "friend" things like park days, sports, babysitting, etc. They are doing things together everyday. For awhile now I have come to terms with it but just lately it has been bugging me. The question is what do I need to do or actually what do I want to do about it? Because if I think about it I don't really have the time or the energy to join PTA or volunteer. I don't really want to start new friendships-it's hard! I am thinking that if this is the area we are going to stay in then I need to make an effort and put my energy here. Maybe try a church closer to home. Join the PTA! Either that or convince my husband to move to La mesa which isn't going to happen! Maybe it's a passing phase. Maybe I will feel differently next week! We will see!

10 Reasons Why

2008-06-19T20:12:00.000-07:00

I love my children dearly but I desperately need a small retreat every now and then. Well more "now". Here are 10 reasons that showed me so.

10. I needed a babysitter today and I debated dropping them off at the Yogurt Mill and letting my employee watch them.
9. I started counting the hours to bedtime when I woke up.
8. Ella covered herself head to toe in purple dots with a marker.
7. I was going to call the Guinness Book of World records because I am convinced they set the new record for non-stop talking.
6. The thing I was looking forward to the most yesterday was "Farmer Wants A Wife"
5. As we were shopping in Walmart I lost sight of them for a few minutes but actually enjoyed my free time.
4. Looking forward to my mother-in-law coming for a week.
3. Took a High School Musical trivia quiz with my daughter and scored 100% she only scored 75%
2. I let my five year old have an otter pop at 9am just so I wouldn't have to hear her ask me again.

And the #1 way I can tell I need a break?

1. I had a dentist appointment today and I couldn't wait!!

Never A Dull Moment

2008-06-08T00:09:00.000-07:00

Well it's not the "naked employee" but it was just as exciting. I was at work the other afternoon meeting with a sales rep on a new product. We were conversing at the tables in the front when I heard a commotion between my employee and a "woman" that walked in. I guess the "woman" didn't like the way my employee was cleaning the counter so she grabbed the rag out of her hand and told her so. This was just the beginning. She started to explain that she wanted to return the skirt she had purchased the day before. My employee kindly told her that there were no returns which set the "woman" off on a rampage at which point she came over to me. How she knew I was the one to come to I don't know. Anyway "she" was actually a man dressed as a woman so it was disturbing already. She very emphatically told me she wanted to return the skirt. Now my philosophy on wackos is just to get them out of the store as soon as possible with as little drama as I can. I decide at this point that I will just give the "woman" back her $5 (yes the skirt was only $5) but that I would need the skirt back. I told her so but unfortunately after it came out of my mouth I tried to take it back since she was wearing it and quickly preceded to undress right in front of me. Thankfully she was very in to clothes because she had another ensemble on underneath. It was a one piece jean jumpsuit that I am sure Kristy or Becky would look great in since they pull them off so well. She left the skirt on the floor where we discovered the she had peed in it as well as some other gross unmentionables.
Our new friend stayed for quite awhile after this so my plan didn't work. She decided to shop for more clothes, relocate the tip jar to the trash can, fill out an entry form for a free spa treatment, as well as ask if she could have our pen . We will miss her.

Any Requests

2008-05-14T23:06:00.000-07:00

I am amazed quite often at how different my eldest daughter's personality is from my own. Yesterday I was reminded again.

On Monday we enjoyed a friends birthday party where they borrowed a Karaoke machine from us and returned it to my store and put it in my office. So yesterday Haley had gone with me to work and as usual was occupying herself in my office. After a few minutes I hear a microphone and someone singing. Yes my precious daughter decided to do an impromptu performance for the customers eating in the store. She dragged the Karaoke machine all the way out to the front, got it plugged in and all revved up and then just started belting out song after song. After a few songs she asked if anyone else would like to try it. Bless this family that was entertained by her because otherwise it could have been bad. Anyway the Grandpa even got up and sang a verse to one of his favorite songs. All in all I don't think many of the customers from yesterday will quite forget their yogurt experience and hopefully it wasn't too overwhelming for them.I pray that she keeps her love for performing and self confidence you need to be able to do it. Goodness knows I don't have it!

The Three Rascals

2008-04-08T18:33:00.001-07:00

Crying It Out

2008-04-03T02:51:00.000-07:00

As you read this most of you are probably thinking how glad you are that you are over the baby stage. Although some of you probably were well disciplined parents and had your child sleeping through the night at a very young age. Me? I am a coddler (sp?) and a wimp so here I am at 10 months along listening to my son scream in his crib so I can finally teach him that he doesn't need me to do it. Of course he is not the only one crying at the moment since it is 3 am and I have gotten about an hour of sleep. Fun!

My First Movie

2008-03-20T10:04:00.000-07:00

hi,i'm HALEY I WAS AN EXTRA IN THIS MOVIE CALLED BEDTIME STORIES. IT WAS FUN BECAUSE I GOT TO RUN AROUND WITH ADAM SANDLER. HE IS REALLY FUNNY AND NICE. I ALSO GOT TO MEET COURTNEY COX'S DAUGHER COCO,SEE ADAM'S DOG AND DAUGHTER.KERI RUSSEL WAS THERE TOO. I TOLD HER SHE WAS PRETTY. MY MOM AND I'S FAVORITE PART WAS THE FOOD. IT WAS INCREDIBLE THERE WAS A LOT SO WE WERE FULL MOST OF THE TIME.BUT I GOT REALLY SICK EATING COOKIES IN A SCENE. THE LAST DAY I BEAT MY MOM IN BATTLESHIP.IT'S FUN
BEING IN A MOVIE. I HOPE EVERYONE WILL GO SEE IT WHEN IT COMES OUT.

No Love For The DMV

2008-03-06T23:05:00.000-08:00

That title is an understatement! It all started back in January when my license was up for renewal. Being the disorganized person that I am I didn't realize it until a week after the fact. For those of you who are smart enough to make an appointment know that they are good and backed up a couple of months so I had no choice but to give up my afternoon sitting with the masses waiting for my stupid number to show up on the TV screen that everyone stares at. I like how they make you wait in the "information" line for a good 20 minutes then give you your paperwork and a number that seems like it will take a year to reach. And why does everyone just sit like zombies staring at the screen. Do they realize it goes in order? Or do they think their number is going to magically appear? Did anyone ever see that Seinfeld episode where he talked about how the DMV had the ugliest people in the world? And the most unpleasant as well. Anyway back to the story. So Ty and I waited over an hour for our number then we had to wait again in another line to get my picture. Finally I was done. Three lines later and my afternoon gone. But at least I was done!
Until today. I realized that my temporary license expires tomorrow and I still had not received my new license in the mail. It has been two months so I call and wait and wait and wait until I finally get someone on the phone. He informs me that my picture didn't develop and I needed to go back into the office and retake it. Are you serious? At this point I was very frustrated. Why wasn't I notified sooner? I had at least hope that I wouldn't have to wait again. Surely I would be sent to only the one photo line. So all three kids (still with days like today I can't believe I have that many) head off to the DMV. No Parking! Not a good sign. Finally get in line in the "information" line with my frustration already mounting over the stupid situation. I explain to the very rude lady at the counter what happened and she hands me a new application and my "number" I tell her I already did all of this and isn't there "a move to the front when the DMV makes a mistake" She gave me a not so nice look and almost looked pleased that I would have to be waiting for a really long time. After protesting as much as I could muster since at this point I start to cry I move to wait again with the masses. No chairs available for my large family to sit so we proceed to stand in a huddle, staring at the screen and me with tears rolling down my face. Haley says, "Mommy don't cry your eyes are going to be all red for your picture." Not to mention I had no make-up on. It is going to be a lovely shot for me to remember this day for the next five years. I pray that will be the length of time I get to wait before I have to step foot in another DMV. In the meantime I am going to take some classes on confrontation and building your self confidence. Then I will go back and speak again to the lady at the counter!

Dear God

2008-02-05T12:08:00.000-08:00

Yep we got another letter under the pillow. We had Disney on Ice all week at the Sports Arena and the kids got to go see the last show on Sunday. We usually befriend some of the Disney crew through out the week so Haley got to get her picure taken with the "Ariel". This morning I found a letter under her pillow along with the picture.
It said, "Dear God, Can I be like Ariel without a tail. Which means a voice like her, hair and skin like her Please. Love, Haley

So Mom had to write a response from God. I am not sure if that is appropriate or not but I feel like I know exactly what He would say to her so I am just helping get it across to the seven year old!

Ella's Song

2008-01-25T17:24:00.001-08:00

So Ella entered a contest to win a limo ride to see the hannah montana movie. I am begging everyone to vote because has this not only taken me all week to accomplish but for my 5 year old it is hard to process her chances so in her mind she has already won. I don't think I have ever won a contest, maybe that is why I am trying so hard for her. Or maybe I just enjoy seeing her so happy. Anyway check out her video and please vote for "Ella's Song" on www.star941sandiego.com. Thanks

Good Times

2008-01-05T16:54:00.000-08:00

I was thinking since Tara already did a blog I wouldn't, but Lauren is definitely worthy of more than one post. I also realized that as I was reminiscing I kept thinking of more and more cherished moments to recall. Here are just a few that stuck in my memory...

Our shared obsession over LOST

The Office-"That's what she said"

Watching American Idol together

Trying on clothes at Target (Are the sleeves supposed to be like that?)

Did you have your Filet O Fish today?

Girls night at the Chocolate Factory and her amazing creations with marshmallow and cherries

The "nail in the boob" situation in Vegas (okay maybe not fun for her)

Soccer practice at the park- What happened to our team?

Her wonderful skill with doctoring horrible pictures of her friends

Wiggling cotton candy stick at my husband!

Filling in as the Tooth Fairy

Calls to every single phone number she knows until she locates me.

Her basil chicken and Steve's soy sauce chicken

Serenading me Usher's "Let it Burn"

I will miss you my crazy friend! I will be praying for your adventure and that you will be blessed. I love you!

One of Those Days...

2007-12-09T23:26:00.000-08:00

Sorry this is going to be one of those whining, complaining posts but you can all blame Kristy for wanting something new to read. By the way I am so glad I decided to like her!
Anyway my day started at 7am this morning being awakened by my beautiful son pawing at my face. I quickly reached for my cell phone to text my husband to come and get him. Just to give you a heads up I usually end up sleeping in the nursery at some point during the night. My wonderful husband comes and gets Ty in the morning so I can sleep for a few more hours. So at 7am I am texting him awake but unfortunately I wasn't quite alert enough and accidentally sent the text to my neighbor who is the next name down in my phone book. So needless to say not a good start and I am sure I will have some explaining to do.
After a few hours sleep I get the three kids ready for church. Quite a task in itself but thankfully with the new road we can get there in no time. So I think I was only 15 minutes late instead of my usual 30 minutes. I drop Ty off then Ella and Haley. I look inside for some friend or relative to sit with. No luck! I decide to go get a bottle of water from the "fried egg" cafe and then resign myself to sit alone all service. On my way back inside I hear a screaming infant in the hall and decide to pop my head around to make sure it isn't my son. It was. Back to "fried egg" cafe.
After church we head off to work where I discover my "strong" employee for the day has gotten someone else to cover her shift. I spend the next hour running around trying to get the store in shape. Meanwhile Ty is screaming, Haley and Ella have Clifford blaring on the TV, the store is full of people and I realize that it feels a lot like the opposite of heaven. From there we are off to Grandma's house to unload kids so I can make my way to help at Jingle Ball.
I arrive with 15 minutes to spare before doors open. I smile at the Girl Scouts inside the doors passing out programs and then frown as I turn around to see six very skimpily clad women walking by dressed as go-go dancers. Little did I realize that for the rest of the evening they would be dancing next to me in a cage. Yes a CAGE! Now just to give you the visual their dresses barely covered their "cheeks" and as my husband pointed out in order to be a dancer you had to be able to fit through the bars. I guess there goes my shot since my "cheeks" definitely would get stuck halfway through. Why would they have girl scouts and go go dancers? Not to mention barely clad Charger girls signing calendars and Bud Light girls with white high heels, teeny tiny white shorts and ski caps on! Lovely! As Kristy kindly pointed out my husband was very lucky he worked there tonight!
I drive back to pick up the kids at 9:30 pm and get a gift bag handed to me. It is a baby gift for Ty from my grandfather who passed away last week. I guess he didn't have a chance to give it to me.
Now I sit here at 11:45 with some sort of stomach bug finishing my night off in fashion! Hopefully as always tomorrow will bring a lot more joy!

What Should I Be When I Grow Up?

2007-11-13T10:32:00.000-08:00

Haley and I had quite a fascinating conversation about what she should be when she grows up. After all according to her it is fast approaching because she only has 11 years until she is 18 and she would like to know by the time she goes to college. Her first thought was that she wanted to be a doctor. She quickly changed her mind because she told me she "doesn't want to touch everyone" and "especially if a lady is pregnant I don't want to check her pee pee!" Her next thought was a scientist "but if I mess up it will get all over me". Then came a garbage woman. That was quickly squashed because of course "I don't want to touch all of that trash". Then was the final revelation. A Mailwoman! There are so many positives of this. I asked her what they were and she said, "Well I would get to travel all over the world and if someone mails a letter to Santa I would get to meet him!" Ella even chimed in that if someone mailed a letter to God she could go meet Him too. Haley informed her "No you just put those letters under your pillow. (see Dear, Jesus post). So it looks like as of today she will be working for the postal service. The only down side she could think of was the paper cuts but she thinks she can avoid that if she is careful.

Happy Halloween A Little Late

2007-11-02T19:11:00.001-07:00

Gabriella from High School Musical

And our very own policewoman and pinto horse.

The Boots

2007-10-29T21:47:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend thanks to some wonderful friends and family,Chad and I were able to go up to Santa Barbara for a wedding. Now for quite a few weeks I was debating whether to go partly because my post pregnancy figure isn't quite where I would like it to be. Anyway I realized looking pregnant or not I wanted to go so I went in search of an outfit that I could try to look good in. Along came "the boots". I had bought a dress that I felt some really high boots would look good with. Should I have bought them at Target? Probably not but not all of us can afford expensive boots. Anyway I felt that I looked pretty good in them and at least from the knee down I felt confident. Well I probably should have walked around in them for awhile because half way through the evening my feet were killing and I could barely stand.

At one point during the night I had to make a trip to the car. There were several men from the reception out lingering and as I walked past them one of the men told me "that from where he was standing my boots looked beautiful" So pain or not I was pretty happy. I went back to the reception and was eager to tell my husband that I was hit on in the parking lot. My husband who normally shows no emotion over these rare times gives me a very incredulous look and asks "He really said that?" It was almost like he was going to go beat him up and fight over me!! I responded "yes he really did". Well my excitement over my husband's jealousy was short lived as it became aware to me that Chad thought he said "boobs" and not "boots" . After it became clear that it was just my shoes and not my body the man was after, Chad went back to his meal. Oh well....

Then came the end of the evening. The boots weren't done yet. As I stepped out of the van my heal gave way and my foot went to a complete right angle from my ankle. As I let out a scream and landed on the ground I thought for sure I broke it. My husband would say that I always think that whenever I hurt myself. He assured me it was just sprained and that I would be okay. So after several days it is feeling a little better. Here is a picture of my ankle. I am not sure if you can see it but it looks like I have a huge baseball on the side of my ankle. I would have posted a picture of the boots but I am not quite ready to put them back on yet.

The Joy of Food

2007-10-16T19:41:00.000-07:00

I will freely admit that food can raise or lower my emotional state quite often. A simple Diet Coke delivered in the morning by my husband can put me in a good mood all day. Not getting one...well you can guess!

So the point of this post is to share my excitement about my dinner this evening. I know! Much like Tara's disclaimer on her cleaning posts you can feel free to stop reading but if you are like me and enjoy eating a great meal without a lot of work you will want to take notes.

As most of you know I do not have the time or desire to slave away on meals each day . I also much prefer when someone else cooks but since I haven't convinced my husband to pick of this duty yet I am stuck with it. We often opt for drive thru. Not the healthiest or cheapest route so I decided I would make an effort today and cook. Well not really cook but prepare.

It started with some chicken tenderloins from Trader Joes. I was quite proud of myself because with my mom's guidance on the phone I actually dipped them in milk, then egg, then a mix of bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. A little olive oil in the pan and I was good to go. One step accomplished.

I then checked the freezer and had one of my most favorite things from Trader Joes stocked which is Fettuccine Alfredo. For those of you who enjoy it you should really pick some up. It comes in the bag just like the orange chicken and it cooks in like 5 minutes. All you have to do is pour it in a pan with two tablespoons water and simmer. It even starts with these little nests of noodles and wafers of cheese. I swear I get so much enjoyment by watching those nests break up and it all form into perfect Fettuccine Alfredo. Another easy thing done.

I had notified Chad at the start of preparation that we needed some vegetables for dinner and he could go buy whatever he wanted at the store. Little did I know he was going to come home with the most exciting part of the meal. He bought a bag of Broccoli Wokley!!!! Has anyone tried this yet? Okay so exciting. All you do is poke it with a fork and put it in the microwave for 4 minutes. It steams it perfectly! You are done!

To top the whole exciting easy meal off I also had him grab Homestyle Brownies out of the freezer dessert section. They are already in a pan and you just pop them in the oven. They taste just like you slaved away.

So all in all I kind of made a homemade meal tonight. I know I cheated a lot but can you just feel the joy I have right now? And it was all so yummy like I spent hours on it when I literally had it done in like 10 minutes!

Sorry I wish I had energy to take pictures for you but I did just cook dinner so I need to rest:)

Oktoberfest

2007-10-02T22:50:00.001-07:00

It is hard to believe it has been a year since I have been blogging. It was this time last year after Oktoberfest that I did a post on the money vault. I am excited to try to beat my record of last year. Hopefully I won't be as nervous this time and can focus better. I hope you all come see us. We will be there all weekend. It is a rare opportunity to get any treat I offer all in one place since we will have the apple cart there as well. So if you feel like a frozen cheesecake, frozen banana, or a killer apple here is your chance!!! Or you could sign up and see if you can get a turn in the money vault as well.

Feel free to park behind the Yogurt Mill in the covered parking! Come celebrate Fall!!!

The Downside of Digital Cable

2007-09-23T22:44:00.000-07:00

I knew the day was going to come. I even started prepping my husband for it a few months ago but he seemed unconcerned.
Last night it arrived! Chad was working in the office. Haley, Ty and I were working late at the store. I guess Ella had to occupy herself before bed and was flipping through the vast number of channels that our digital cable allows. Now for a five year old she doesn't seem to go by any numbers other then 47 for her favorite shows. There must not have been anything on because she was deciding on what channel she wanted by the icons that appealed to her. She kept whining for Chad to help her because she had passed the channel she had wanted and needed help finding it again. So Chad got up to help her. He asked what channel it was. She replied that she didn't know but that it had a little bunny on it! You guessed it! My daughter was trying to watch the playboy channel. Now obviously we don't subscribe to that channel so there isn't anything there other than the number to call if you want to sign up but still it was a scary enough wake up call that I think I will call COX tomorrow and just get Basic!

The Creator of Wall Ball

2007-09-11T22:06:00.000-07:00

So Haley is growing up a little too fast for my taste. Today she told me she was going to "google" something and I about had a heart attack. Anyway she has had quite a massive crush on a little boy at school named Tommy. She has written him notes that thankfully I have intercepted and revised before she actually had a chance to give. In one she told him how she "liked him a lot" and then went on to explain to him that she didn't say "love" because they weren't there yet.
Well she has been asking me a lot if she can marry him and I explained that it was way too early to think about that yet and that whoever she married needed to love Jesus. And that is why I suggested someone more like Caleb (sorry Heather:)) Anyway she must have been thinking long and hard about this because it has been several weeks since the topic has come up. Today she told me that she thinks Tommy does love Jesus.
I asked, "Really why is that?"
"Well because Mommy, Tommy loves to play wall ball at school and God created the people that made wall ball so I am sure that Tommy loves Jesus because he loves wall ball so much."

And there you have it! The rationale of a seven year old in love!

Who's Cuter?

2007-08-07T21:42:00.000-07:00

So I knew ever since the time Haley asked the Von's employee why he was so little (he was a "little person") that there were bound to be many more embarrassing moments to come.

Today was one of them. We were at the bay with some relatives. One cousin just recently had a baby and was sitting next to me with her new little one. Haley came over and sat on my lap and said "So Mom is Ty cuter? I quickly glanced over to see if anyone was paying attention and then quickly scolded Haley for asking such a rude question! I think I also shook my head "no". She was not discouraged from the conversation, however and said, "But Mom, you said he was!" I was mortified and tried to rack my brain as to when I made such a statement when I had only seen pictures of the new baby. Could I have been so stupid to actually make a remark like that in front of Haley? I said "No Haley I didn't say that!" She replied very emphatically "Yes you did! You said Ty was the CUTEST baby in the World"

And there you have it! I said it. Not directly related to any particular comparison but I did make that claim. Can you blame me?

Baffling Comments

2007-07-18T22:32:00.000-07:00

Many times through out my day I love to be sarcastic with family, friends, and especially employees. But there are those few people that cross your path who you just can't seem to say what you want in fear of hurting their feelings. Sooo I thought I would post about it instead.

In the bank parking lot as I was approaching my car an elderly woman was admiring a sleeping Ty. She asked me how old he was and I responded about 6 weeks old. Her response, "So he hasn't opened his eyes yet?"

My actual response was a smile along with "yes he has, he is just sleeping right now"

What I wanted to do was to inform her that she must have mistaken my son for a kitten or a puppy. One of the two.

A couple of days later. One of my newest employees in Alpine was helping me load my car and saw Ty in his car seat. Her question, "Is this the baby you had a few weeks ago?"

My actual response, "yes"

What I wanted to say was "No this is the one I had yesterday the one I had a few weeks ago is at home!'

My New Employee

2007-07-06T19:13:00.000-07:00

I had a very exciting time at the Yogurt Mill today. As I was getting ready to leave I went to get my stuff out of my office and was surprised to find it locked. I stood on my tip toes and peered through the glass and was even more surprised to find a naked woman bending over. At first I thought it was my employee coming in for the next shift, but then I saw a bunch of items spread out over some of our tables and realized that it was just some random person using my office. I asked the girl working at the time if someone asked to use it and she said no.

At this point I realized my purse with quite a bit of money was just hanging open in there so I started to get a little nervous. I peered in again and this time she was rummaging through my desk. I started banging on the door. She said " Come in I am all dressed now, I just need to brush my hair" I said,"This is my personal office you can't use it I am sorry" Her reply was that she was getting ready for work. I asked her where she worked and she replied ,"I work here!" I said "no, you don't". She informed me that she had worked the last five days straight. At this point I knew one of us must be crazy and I figured it wasn't me. I suggested to her that maybe she worked at the other Yogurt Mill and was really confused. She didn't like that suggestion.

I quickly told my actual employee to then call security as I continued to argue with the woman about her position at my store. She wanted to speak to the manager after I informed her I was the owner and I thought I knew who my employees were. She then demanded I pay her for her last five days of work and to get her time card. I said we didn't have time cards. She then wanted my name so she could report me. She said "it's Heather right". I said,"yes, Heather".

Security finally arrived to escort her out and as I was getting in my car to leave I noticed I had an unknown phone in my purse and that it must have been hers. I gave it to the security guard who ran after her down the street to return it.

It wasn't until I arrived in Alpine later that I then discovered a bottle of pills she had stuck in my purse as well. She must have thought she was going home with my bag after her shift. As to why she was naked in my office I do not know. She walked out with nothing in her hands. All I can figure is that she took off her clothes and was so out of it she put the same ones right back on.

And just when you thought the whole thing couldn't get any weirder. I was pulling out of Fashion Valley tonight six hours later and who did I see? None other then my new naked employee sitting on the asphalt in middle of the parking lot. Mind you she wasn't naked this time, but she was being guarded by two security officers. I was going to swing by and give her her meds but I figured I would just give them to her tomorrow at work.

Kids Say The Darnedest Things

2007-07-03T19:59:00.000-07:00

Is that a word? Darnedest? I thought there was a tv show called that. I felt like I could have been on that show yesterday. We took Haley and four of her friends to build-a-bear for her birthday. For those of you who haven't experienced the joy of that store let me just warn you that unless you have a lot of money-stay away! When you do a party there you can set a limit for each child. I chose $20 which I thought was pretty high. Apparently not! Upon arriving one little girl asked if she could get her brother a bear. I said no unless she wanted to give him hers. A little bit later the same girl asked if I was having another baby. Then she proceeded to ask why my tummy was still big. I knew it was coming but it still was more than irritating. After a few more minutes-same little girl (I was beginning to regret inviting her) asked why at Nicole's b-day party they got to get clothes and a bear and at Haley's they only got a bear. I told her Nicole's mom obviously had more money than Haley's mommy.

The whole experience was more than a little stressful. Kids wanting extra items. Parents standing around telling their children they could come back later and get them. Translation- Haley's mommy is cheap and isn't paying for anything else. At the end we had cupcakes and a different little girl asked me where the goodie bags were. I responded very sweetly, "I'm sorry honey I didn't bring goodie bags but you get to take home a $20 stuffed animal!" She just gave me a dirty look.

Ella also had a few friends since her birthday is only a week away. Not to be outdone by the other ungrateful children she proceeded to throw a fit that one of Haley's gifts was a barbie with a horse and she only got the horse and the paper barbie that was attached to the box. Just a little embarrassing.

I think we will move to a third world country.

I think they can adapt.

Ty Chandler

2007-06-26T18:20:00.000-07:00

Ty is one month old today. I thought I would finally post pictures.

First few minutes into the world.

Proud Mommy and Daddy

Big weighing moment!

Big Sisters checking Ty out for the first time.

Going home!

Home at last to one CRAZY house!

Dear Jesus,

2007-06-23T22:10:00.000-07:00

Haley recently discovered the movie Aquamarine. I am not sure it was a wise decision to let her watch it. She has been obsessed with being a mermaid ever since. You can ask Heather who had to endure Haley asking her 15 times in the pool the other day if she liked her fins (which are her legs by the way). Quite an imagination she has. Her desire to be a mermaid was so great that she decided she needed to write to Jesus about it. Chad helped her address the envelope. He told her the address for heaven was 7777 Pearly Gate Dr. Heavenly Hills, Heaven. Creative? Yes. Smart? NO. After discovering what was going on when Haley asked for a stamp I gave Chad a "What were you thinking" look and decided I would be the rational parent and explain to Haley that heaven isn't a place we can send mail to and that all we needed to do was to talk to Jesus through our prayers. Haley promptly went upstairs to put the letter under her pillow. Hey the tooth fairy gets them so why not Jesus? I then broke it to her gently that Jesus wasn't going to come get the letter. Her response, "I know Mommy but maybe he has a helper"
The letter read like this...
Dear Jesus,
I love you and I love how you made me but I was wondering if you could turn me into a mermaid. Love, Haley

I decided to get Haley off of being a mermaid, I would tell her how much I would miss her and that I didn't want her to be one.

The next letter to Jesus read....
Dear Jesus,
Just one more thing. Can you make me a mermaid only when I am wet because I don't want to miss my family. Thanks, Haley

After about 3 nights of Haley's disappointment that her letter hadn't been picked up. I couldn't take it anymore so I became Jesus' helper (which I very strongly suspect that that is what Haley meant). Anyway Jesus' helper wrote all about how God gave Haley her imagination so she could pretend to be a mermaid but that He wasn't going to change her at all because He made her very special the way she was. It seemed to do the trick because other than a quick thank you note to Jesus we have dropped the request. The imagination, however still going strong!

Post Pregnancy

2007-06-05T14:59:00.000-07:00

Aren't you all sad that there won't be anymore pregnancy humor to share with you? But guess what? Now we have all of the post pregnancy humor for awhile. These have been the highlights this week from my wonderfully entertaining daughters.

Ella looking at my post delivery belly and asking when the next baby is coming.

Haley coming into the room as I am nursing and asking if he is done milking yet.

Ella with magnifying glass in hand comes over while I am nursing and says, " Let's look at your GINORMOUS boobie".

And lastly, yesterday at work Ella was being a handful while I was feeding Ty and I looked down at him and said, "Ty what are we going to do with her?" Ella's response was to look at Ty and say "Just keep sucking! Don't say a thing!"

More to come I am sure...

Mother's Day

2007-05-15T22:40:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a great Mother's Day. Especially since most of you reading this are my favorite Mom's.
Mine started on Friday. Haley wanted to take me out to my favorite restaurant Lido's for spaghetti. The plan was to go out as a family but she insisted on it being just the two of us. This meant Ella's turn would be Saturday night. Anyway Haley and I had a wonderful time. She made sure the vase of flowers was right in the middle of the table for us to enjoy. She doesn't like it off to the side out of the way. We ate spaghetti together, re-enacted her favorite scene from Lady and the Tramp, sang the theme song from Barney "I love you, you love me..., and basically just gushed over our love for each other. I am sure we were quite the entertainment for the rest of the customers.
Then came Saturday night. Ella asked where I would like to go and I suggested Miguel's. Her response was a strange noise that indicated her displeasure at that suggestion. My next suggestion was Island's-another unpleasant noise. I then asked her where she would like to go. Her response, "It's Mother's Day mommy you get to decide". We finally decided on D'Lish. As we were getting in the car Haley decided she was going to go ride her bike. Ella quickly made a detour from the car to her bike as well. I said " Ella I thought we were going to dinner". "You can just go Mommy, I am going to ride bikes". Haley at this point comes running over, "I will go with you Mommy". Ella was not going to let that happen so she reverted back to her decision to go. Since I really didn't feel like sitting in a restaurant with my four year old I told her it was okay that we didn't have to go. She said "Okay" and skipped off to play. I guess I will have to rely on the older one for my sap.
On Sunday my wonderful husband woke up early to go buy me breakfast before church. My eldest gave me flowers and Ella wrote me a sweet card. They took me out to lunch. We also had a fun day of swimming. The night was reserved for my Mom and I had a great dinner at Tio Leo's (and yes I took the chips and salsa home again). I came home to find my daughters and husband had baked me a cake (more for them then me but they put up a good show about it). All in all it was a great weekend of getting spoiled. Haley has been asking me over and over when Kid's Day is. I informed her that Kid's day was every day but she doesn't quite agree.

Events of My Day

2007-05-08T19:39:00.000-07:00

Nothing too exciting to post about lately. I have been trying not to bore you with all of my pregnancy woes.
Today, however had a few moments of entertainment that I thought I might share.

***Neighbor boy ran into my room unannounced and saw me stark naked! I doubt he will get that image out of his head for awhile.

***Ella the four year old asked when she could get her own cell phone.

***Haley the six year old found Ella in the kitchen eating out of the bag of sugar. Haley, clever as she is, got her camera (which she can also take video with) and had Ella re-enact the crime so she could run upstairs to show me proof of what her sister had done. What happened to just the good ole fashion tattling?

Hopefully tomorrow will bring another whole batch of excitement!

My Pregnancy Dreams

2007-04-12T14:52:00.000-07:00

I don't know if any of you remember having weird dreams but last night I had a couple of doozys.
The first one was simple. I basically had the baby but it came out as a black bunny. I was very disappointed to say the least.
The other dream was a little more complex. I think I was at the mall. I called my mom over and out came this full grown child, yet it wasn't a normal child. It looked more like a rag doll with yarn hair. The other weird thing was that it didn't have any meat on it's bones so my mom and I tried to stuff it back in since it didn't seem to be done. My uterus seemed more like a plastic trash bag on the outside of my body that we were trying to get it in. I wanted to clarify that part so you weren't envisioning my mom and I trying to put it back in any other way:)
The other weird thing that happened this week wasn't a dream although it seemed kind of like one. I had the girls at the grocery store and I heard this very hyper woman asking her husband to bet her $100. She was going on and on trying to get him to commit. I kept hearing her say "I will ask her, are you going to bet me $100?" At this point as I was trying to concentrate on the soup cans I realized it was more than likely about me. I didn't know if I should have been flattered that I was causing so much excitement or scared. Sure enough as her husband scurried off to the next aisle ( I think he was actually the one scared) she came right up to me and asked what I was having and told me she had a $100 riding on her being right. I said "a boy". You would have thought she had just won the lottery. Off she ran and I think I could still hear her several aisles over saying, "I told you, I told you, I knew it, I knew it!" Now most of you know I don't like being the center of attention but I must say although this woman was a total stranger I was happy I could make her grocery store trip a little more exciting for her.

Could They Be Any Different?

2007-04-03T20:24:00.001-07:00

I marvel quite a bit at the differences between my two daughters. Haley has and hopefully always will be the sweetheart with tender feelings like her Mommy and a drive to be in business (like her Mommy too). Ella on the other hand is a wild, free-spirited thing that enjoys making people laugh more than anything else and always keeps us shaking our heads. There is never a dull moment.
Yesterday I took them both to work with me so that my husband could get motivated to work on the nursery (and yes he painted!). Anyway it was a normal, crazy adventure of several bank trips, smart and final runs and three store visits. The highlights would definately be Ella dipping dog bones in white chocolate. It wasn't the actual dipping that was entertaining but what she did once they were set up. She proceeded to lick and eat all of the white chocolate off of each dog bone. The customers found this very entertaining which probably just spurred her on more.
Haley on the other hand had made her own tip cup with the words "little girl's tips" written on the outside. This is to make sure that her tips don't get confused with the regular employee working. It is surprising how quickly people give her money though. I think she is starting to pass me on the daily income level. In fact one of her favorite things to do is to visit Claire's next to us at the mall. She goes and hangs out with the employees there while I work. Anyway she took her tip cup with her and managed to make money at a place she wasn't even working at. Go figure!
All in all it wasn't as crazy to have them with me as most days. We were gone for a good 6 hours and I think between the three of us we had one meltdown each.

What Bugged Me Today

2007-03-20T20:36:00.000-07:00

Just because I can get away with it for a few more months, I am going to make the most of my crankiness and share with you the top 5 events that irritated me today.

-Woke up this morning and hurt all over. Shared with my husband that it felt like I had run 10 miles the day before. His response "How would you know what that feels like?"

-Dropped Haley at school and one of the moms asked what was wrong with my eyes. Basically the same thing as saying you look tired but just meaner.

-Took Ella to the bathroom later at Wendy's and as she leaned over to pull up her pants all her hair nestled right in that middle spot on the toilet where the top seat doesn't connect. Basically where everyone's pee settles.

-Went to the doctor where they made me pee, chug a very large orange drink, gave me a shot, took my blood and told me I gained too much weight.

- Now let me explain the last irritating thing that topped off my day. My husband has had a nickname for me that he usually starts using when my weight increases from it's lower point. It's "Chunky Monkey". Unfortunately he enjoys my reaction which just increases the frequency of use. Well tonight he just called me "monkey". Not sure why more irritating than the whole thing. But it is.

That's it for today. There were a few more not blog worthy. I am sure tomorrow will start another whole cycle.

My Experience

2007-03-15T14:48:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning for some time now to make Trader Joe's one of my regular stops for groceries. I feel like I have been missing out for so long not having their orange chicken. I had been there several times before to buy my favorite Zone bars but never wandered very far. I also went through a very short "cleansing" phase which cost me a lot of money but didn't last longer than a day.
Anyway I had some extra time on Tuesday night so Heather and I made our way to Trader Joe's to find prize items. She was looking for lemon curd which I don't quite understand but what I found was so much more fun. I posted my receipt (well Lauren did) so you could try to experience my cart first hand.As you can tell from my receipt I did buy orange chicken so I could be included in the mix but 75% of my cart was desserts. I could blame it on my state but I can't honestly say it would have been any different otherwise. I had three different kinds of cookies, chocolate ice cream bon bons and tofutti ice cream bars. My favorite are the bon bons which I have been enjoying immensely at all hours of the day. I also highly recommend the macadamia milk chocolate cookies. We did, however also have a nice dinner of orange chicken and artichokes last night which I must say deserves all the fuss that has been made about it. I am looking forward to trying the enchiladas and pasta sauce I bought as well (not at the same time mind you).
I did feel during my short tour through the store that I probably was missing out on several other prize items. If you have any other "loves" there let me know so I can be sure to try them the next time.

Help Me

2007-03-11T23:26:00.000-07:00

So Lauren is making me post even though I don't have anything fun to post about. I was going to do a whine fest with all of my burdens but that will probably just depress me and you. Anyway I thought maybe you guys could help me think of a name for the baby. How about you give me your top 5 favorite boy names? By the end of March I would like to have a name for him. I also would like my nursery done so if my husband doesn't get on the ball maybe my next post will be asking for your help with painting.

Joys of Business

2007-02-26T21:49:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I enjoy the freedom of owning my own business but lately I have to admit that it has been more trouble than it is worth. Most of the time it always comes down to employees. They can make your life very easy or make it a nightmare. To explain this fully let me give you an example of our lives from Friday to Sunday.
After working all day Friday in Alpine I had to drive to the Sports Arena to help Chad set up for his big weekend. There was a cheerleading competition scheduled which always seem to be very busy for us. Anyway I started receiving the phone calls early evening Friday from one of my Yogurt Mill employees trying to get out of his shift the next night. I gave him several people to try knowing he wouldn't succeed because none of them will ever fill in for each other. He must have called me 5 times with the final one asking me if I could work it. His reasoning was that he had dinner reservations. I told him "no".
Then comes Saturday. Half the day in Alpine. Busiest day of the week. Have my two girls with me as well as two brand new employees I was supposed to be training. What was I thinking? One of the new people I could easily have fired within 5 minutes of hiring her. I don't think I have ever in all my years had a more difficult person to train. Scowl on her face, arms crossed, leaning against the back counter and completely ignoring everything I say. Thank goodness I only had her come for 2 hours. During all of this I get a call from the same Yogurt Mill employee explaining that he is on his way to the hospital because he is dizzy and collapsing and he won't be able to come to work. I wonder if he was still going to make dinner reservations? This left me to work his shift that night but the day was still young so I had to keep moving on. The next call I received was from Chad. He was swamped and needed me to come straight to the Sports Arena because the employee he had got to work, lasted about 15 minutes, called Chad over told him he had to leave because he was having suicidal thoughts. At first I thought this might have just been from the line of cheerleaders he was helping but it turns out as he then explained to Chad was that he needed to go into detox because he had a major substance abuse problem. This part we had already known but to give the guy credit he was one of our best cart employees. Too bad for us detox needed to come in the middle of a busy weekend. As I arrive (still with Haley and Ella) to the mass of people and a van full of apples I start to feel the gravity of my day and also some major cramping. Chad tells me the event is lasting 3 hours longer than scheduled. I still from there have to go work another whole shift at another store. Which would make it a 12 hour day for this 6 1/2 month pregnant mother of two with a house still to clean and errands still to run and a body that just doesn't want to do it anymore. I started crying. This of course did not help the situation at all.
After my small crying jag I make a pleading call to one last hope of an employee for that night. I got 1/2 a shift out of him. Better than nothing. This meant I could still take Ella to Denny's like I promised, go to the grocery store, Costco and Henry's and make it back to the Yogurt Mill by 8pm to close it. To make it even better, Lauren bless her heart came and helped me which believe me when I say made the night not only bearable but quite pleasant. I even got enough energy up to go home at 10pm and sort of clean my house for the party.
Then comes Sunday. You think the worst of it would be over. For me it was. I didn't make it to church like I wanted and I had to drive to Alpine for another load but other than that I got to enjoy a fun day with friends. Chad on the other hand got a call Sunday morning from the girl scheduled for the whole day saying she had food poisoning and couldn't come to work. This meant a whole day mobbed by cheerleaders by himself and no relief in site. And again the event went late and he missed the whole party.
Sooooooo the moral of this very long, stressful story is that you should enjoy the job you have, the boss you have, the money you make and know that at least for this last weekend it was far better than our crazy life.

Top Ten Reasons You Know They Are Getting Too Big

2007-02-17T20:25:00.000-08:00

These are just some of the signs lately.

10.Ella tells Haley she doesn't like her tone.
9. Haley has a boyfriend she sits with at lunch and writes notes to.
8. With each move in checkers Ella says "Yeah,Baby".
7. Haley wants to play Truth or Dare.
6. Ella and Haley are jump roping while singing, "Ice cream, soda, cherry on top, whose your boyfriend I forgot?"
5. They both use the toaster, microwave, computer and cell phone with ease.
4. Dora is suddenly for babies.
3. Narles Barkley "Crazy" comes on the radio and Haley tells you to turn it up it is her favorite song.
2.I now have to pay money to get something done when before it seemed all I had to do was ask.
And the #1 reason I know they are getting too big
1.Haley can read the US magazine cover and announces that some girl stole a boy named Justin.

What Am I 80?

2007-02-05T21:53:00.000-08:00

Maybe I can blame it on my current state but I have had some disturbing actions lately that are not normal for me.
It started when I took my parents to lunch a couple weeks ago after church. We decided on Shakey's so the kids would play and we could talk. I felt that I should pay since I had invited them and forced Shakey's on them so I ordered a pizza and ONE buffet. I am not sure how my parents felt but they didn't have much choice about it. I made several trips back and forth from the buffet and put the plate in the middle for us all to eat off of. Lauren is probably calling me GHETTO right now.
That wasn't the end of it. The next week I went out to dinner with a friend at Tio Leo's. I am quite obsessed with their chips and salsa soooo... You guessed it- at the end of the meal I asked for a box and container so I could take home all the extra chips and both of our salsas. I think my friend thought I was losing it. I think I am losing it. Ordinarily that would have mortified me.
And the final straw to make me feel like I am 80 came tonight. Ella had arranged with me to get a treat and so we made our way to the mall to get a cookie at the Nestle Toll House. When we arrived she wanted a box of conversation sweethearts instead that you can get anywhere during Valentines. I inquired how much they were and the clerk informed me that they were $1.25. So in my head, and out loud I said that we could get them for a quarter somewhere else. So what did I do? I bought her a $2.50 cookie instead and promised we would get the sweethearts at the grocery store or somewhere later. She made me promise it would be that night. Why didn't I just pay $1.25? To make matters worse when I arrived at Walgreen's drugstore later for no other reason, now with 3 more kids in tow who obviously also needed conversation hearts I started to really question my practicality. I ended up buying an 8 pack for $3.00. An extra stop and $5.50 later I am wondering what principle I was fighting when I made my original decision. 80 years old I am telling you.

The Driver's License

2007-02-04T22:14:00.000-08:00

We had a busy weekend so thankfully my in-laws came down for Saturday and Sunday to watch the girls for us. Anyway they brought the girls to work tonight at about 9pm on their way out of town. As they get in the car Haley has an envelope in her hand all addressed and ready to mail. She tells me that the Driver's License that we found is in there.
Now we found this license two weeks ago mind you and I guess my daughter has been keeping it in her pocket and pretending she can drive. I think I passed the buck to my husband on the whole "you need to turn this in somewhere" he probably passed it right back. Anyway Haley asks me for a stamp so she can mail it and I was too tired to inquire further into it so she runs it off to the mail box tonight.
As I sit down at the computer (to check the blogs) I see Microsoft word open. There is a note typed up to Kendall (the license girl) from my daughter telling her all about how we found her license and she hopes she is really happy. She also lets her know what her email address is (mine by the way) and that she could email her if she wanted to. Now mind you I love my daughter's sweet, friendly spirit but this girl is going to think we are wacko. Not to mention the fact that I am sure she has already gotten a new license by now and isn't going to appreciate the fact that it has taken us this long to return it. I will keep you posted on the pen pal relationship my daughter is trying to create. On the bright side it might keep her focus away from emailing the tooth fairy.

You Know You Are Having A Bad Week

2007-02-02T23:24:00.000-08:00

So I haven't gotten super profound yet so this is just a small top 5 list to let me know the kind of week I am having.

5. Did the bills and still need $3000.00 to cover them.
4. Average weight gain so far 10lbs a month. In month 6 with 4 to go. You do the math.
3. Four year old still insisting on being called Queen Isabel.
2. Out with a friend and someone asks if she is my daughter.

And the #1 thing topping my week.

1. My daughter (Queen Isabel) asks why my butt is so wrinkly!

Hope you all are having a better one than me. See you Sunday.

So Blessed

2007-01-31T20:27:00.000-08:00

So in conclusion to the tooth fairy saga we were blessed by the fairy herself (Lauren) through email. Haley was ecstatic to say the least. She wasn't too thrilled this morning when the tooth fairy(me) explained in her note that she couldn't work the camera and that she probably wouldn't be back again until Haley lost her tooth.
And then Lauren to the rescue. It was very sweet of her to spend time helping make Haley so happy. Although Haley has informed me she is now going to email the tooth fairy all the time. Sorry Lauren.
I failed on attaching the pic (even with all of Lauren's training lately). If you would like to see it you can go to "the park", hopefully a version of it is still up.

The Tooth Fairy

2007-01-30T21:54:00.000-08:00

So ever since Haley learned to write one of her favorite things is to write letters. Even more fun is if the person, or in this case fairy write her back. Yes, she decided last night before bed to leave a note for the tooth fairy under her pillow.
She requested I write as she dictated since I was really pushing that it was bedtime.
This is what she instructed it say:
Dear Tooth Fairy,
I know that you only come when there is a tooth under my pillow but I just wanted to write this note to say thank you for leaving me money when I lose a tooth. I hope to see you one day and I hope you are pretty.
Love, Haley
At this point I tell Haley that I doubt the tooth fairy will come. Thinking I will be off the hook to try and figure out how to get the note out from underneath her pillow to actually write back. Throughout the night Haley woke up several times due to bad dreams and wherever she went(which was back and forth from my bed) the note would follow to be stuck under whatever pillow her head was on at the time. How the girl remembers things in the middle of the night is beyond me. Anyway I decide that it would be too much fun to see how happy she would be to actually write back. So at 7am, very bleary eyed I manage to get the note out and write a small message back. This is what is said:
Dear Haley,
Thank you for the nice note. I think that I am pretty for a fairy and I usually wear pink. I will see you soon when you lose that front tooth. I love you.
Love, The tooth fairy (I even did a little red heart for effect)
As soon as she woke up sure enough she checked under that pillow. The absolute glee she had was well worth the effort it took to write a simple message to her. It even continued all day as she would remember back. She asked me what I thought the tooth fairy looked like. Several times she has wished she could see her. I told her I thought she was very tiny like a lightening bug.Then comes the problem. Tonight. I knew it was coming. I knew it wouldn't just stop at one note but I figured I could solve the issue somehow. Unfortunately my daughter is smarter than I am. This is what the second note (which she wrote on her own says):
Dear Tooth Fairy,
Thank you for your nice note to me from you. I love you I might set my camera out and my sister ella wants you to take a pichsher of your self But I know your bisey and it is okey if you dont we just want to take a pichsher of your self so we can see you. You are nice and sweet as a Fairy thats how God made you. I love you.
From Haley

So the camera is set out. The note tucked back under the pillow with an extra piece of paper in case she needs more room to write back and mom wondering how she is going to pull this off. As Chad and I are watching tv tonight he asks me what I am going to do. I told him I thought that I would just write that I was too small to take a picture of myself. His reply,"Yet you are big enough to hold a pencil". He is so annoying sometimes:) I even thought that maybe we could pull off taking a picture of a flash of light or something(I know way overboard with the whole scheme). Anyway I haven't quite figured it out yet. I know that I will have to finish off this little pen pal relationship they are having, but at the moment I am kind of enjoying being a little, tiny pink fairy who brings my daughter a lot of joy.

Mommy, I Need To Tell You Something.

2007-01-29T21:47:00.000-08:00

I thought I needed a little light-hearted story as my next post. So of course it would be about Ella (or Isabel as she likes to be called now). After our bed time ritual (which has decreased slightly by the way) I was starting to get to work in the office. After only a few minutes I hear pitter,patter down the stairs and Ella's voice saying, "Mommy, I need to tell you something." I replied that I would be up shortly. I guess I waited a few too many minutes because when I did arrive she was quite upset that she had forgotten what it was that she wanted to tell me. I told her not to worry that she would remember and could tell me the next time I checked on her. That wasn't working. I then thought maybe I could help her remember so I said," Was it that you want Mommy to do "the claw" (you can imagine it yourself) when I come back to check on you?"
Ella says sadly "No, that wasn't it but Mommy I have two things to tell you. One is I want you to do the claw when you check on me and the other one I forgot."
With a smile I say, "Was it that you want Mommy to take you to lunch after I pick you up from school tomorrow?"
Ella says sadly, "No that wasn't it but Mommy I have three things to tell you, One is I want you to do the claw when you come check on me, two is I want you to take me to lunch tomorrow and the three I forgot."
I decided at this point however much fun I was having with her increasing list of things to tell me that I better stop or else she would have never gone to sleep. On second thought I should have used it as a means to get her to tell me all the things I always want to hear. Oh well, there is always tomorrow night!

A Deeper Me

2007-01-28T14:55:00.000-08:00

So I need to admit something. I am not very deep. Some of you probably have already come to this realization. I am sure I have my moments occasionally but overall I feel that I am lacking. I tried Women's Study for awhile but always left feeling worse about myself because for one I don't like sharing and for another I never received the emotional moving that others seemed to be feeling. I often times feel envious reading all the blogs because everyone has these great insights to share and I make "Wish Lists" and "Reasons I Know I am Pregnant".
Now the big problem is not the blogs or Women's Group it is my relationship with Christ. I love the Lord and I feel for the most part I lead my life that way but when it comes to the intimacy part-well like I said I am lacking. People talk about the Lord leading them and speaking to them. They are moved tremendously when they read the Word. When I read the Bible most of the time I might as well be reading the dictionary. This doesn't mean that I don't see God working in my life. I see Him answering prayers and showing me things all the time. I just wish that I would feel that deep one on one connection with Him. That when I read a verse on how much He loved me that I would feel that he was speaking directly to me and that they weren't just words.
Now this isn't a post where you all have to try and make me feel better or give me the answers because thankfully I know what the problem is. I am not letting Him connect with me one on one through the Word. How can I when I don't give Him my time and energy? If I spent half the time reading the Bible as I do these blogs then maybe I wouldn't have a post to write right now. I already spoke to a few of you today about how I look for fulfillment from other people when I am not letting God be the one to fulfill me. If I don't let Him be the one to fulfill my every need then it will be a constant issue. The challenge will be to let that happen. So I will be making a commitment to reach that goal. You can be praying for me.

My Hubby

2007-01-24T16:18:00.000-08:00

I thought Rod's was so entertaining I thought I would do Chad's. I have to say I like the Patrick Dempsey choice. Not so much liking Clay Aiken similarity!

Not Too Sure

2007-01-24T15:57:00.000-08:00

I think Jessica Lange is like 60 now and most of these people I dont' recognize. I did this several times with different pictures and each time they came up with a lot of asian actresses. I think I am going to look into my roots.

I Wish...

2007-01-22T22:15:00.000-08:00

I know it isn't pleasant but can I just have a total pity party post? I am going to assume you all said "yes" since you are so sweet. Here goes...

I wish my house wasn't always a mess.
I wish I had enough money to have a housekeeper.
I wish I didn't have to work.
I wish my daughter didn't start school at 7:45am
I wish my husband cooked.
I wish I wasn't one of those women who gain more than 50lbs. when they are pregnant.
I wish I loved to exercise.
I wish I didn't always have 15 million things to do.
I wish I didn't always forget the 15 million things I had to do.
I wish I lived in East county so I could be closer to all my favorite people.

Okay I have a lot more but it isn't helping to whine about it so I am going to go make a list of all the things I am thankful for before someone reminds me.

Thanks for listening.

Soak Zone

2007-01-20T18:48:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of times where I wonder what I was thinking. Yesterday was one of them. We went to Sea World with our new passports and decided to view the Dolphin Show. I had not been to this show in years so I was a little naive when it came to the "soak zone". Haley begged me to sit with her smack in the middle of it. I made her promise she wasn't going to cry or whine about being wet. Mind you no one was at Sea World yesterday except us so there weren't a lot of other bodies around to help out. I was thinking to myself "How much could dolphins really splash?". After the show I was thinking, "Why am I so stupid?".
Haley was very excited after the first splash which was minimal compared to what was to come. I asked her if we could go join daddy and Ella way up in the rafters but she still remained firm in her desire. I should have tried harder. I watched in disbelief as the trainer actually lined up the dolphin's tail to where we were sitting and not once, not twice, but three times sent a wall of water over us. I might as well have jumped in the tank. I probably could have handled the cold, but the combination of salt water, jeans, and pregnancy just don't mix. Not to mention I didn't enjoy smelling like an aquarium. It took me an hour to get my pants back up after visiting the restroom. As we were trying to make our way to the car Haley slowed down and called me over to apologize for saying she wouldn't cry or whine. I told her she was doing great. As she started sobbing I realized she was giving me the apology ahead of time. It was a very long walk out to the car. The good news is I will never have to sit in the soak zone again.

Grasp on Reality

2007-01-17T20:52:00.000-08:00

So let me start off by saying. IT'S A BOY!!! I think most of you already know but just in case word didn't spread.
I was struck all day with signs that children of a young age have a really hard time grasping all of these concepts that are coming along with being pregnant. My day started with a phone call at 7:50 am (my day to sleep in so I wasn't very excited about it). Anyway it was from a mom at Haley's school. Haley is friends with her daughter so we chat occasionally but that is about it. Anyway she wanted to say "congratulations" she didn't even realize I was pregnant but I guess my 6 year old at 7:45 am this morning invited her to my baby shower (that is at least 3 months away). Remind me to add her to the invite list in a couple of months.
The day continued on with my ultrasound appointment which went fine. We were going to take Ella but she didn't want to go. I don't think she quite knew how they were going to see the baby so she wanted no part of it in case it required "surgery".
We then went to Haley's class to share the news. Her teacher is very sweet and wanted Haley to tell the class what we had found out. So after sharing with her in the hall (she tried to mask her disappointment to it not being a girl), she went back in and stood there until the teacher had gotten everyone's attention. I was standing in the doorway holding Ella. Haley's message started like this, "Today my mommy went to the doctor and got her baby out to find out if it was a girl or a boy" At this point one of the boy's in class (not the sharpest boy by all means) points in my direction and says loudly "I see it, I see it!" I then realize he thinks Ella is the baby. A stretch by all means since she is 4 but he thought for sure she was the baby Haley was referring to. No grasp I tell you!
To finish off my wonderful day of bright comments made by children, Ella says to me "Mommy do each of your boobies have a suck thing or just one of them?"

I rest my case.

Top 10 Things That Let Me Know I'm Pregnant

2007-01-12T22:16:00.000-08:00

Besides my huge belly of course...

10. I need help out of the bathtub.
9. I drive in the carpool lane when I am by myself (Is that legal?)
8. I have 8 inch roots and more gray hair then I care to see.
7. I bake a new batch of chocolate chip cookies daily because I ate the previous day's batch all on my own (hence the reason for #5).
6. I am 36 years old and layed in bed for an hour watching the Real World Challenge.
5. My butt is competing with my belly.
4. I wear the same maternity pants everyday.
3. I no longer recognize certain body parts.
2. My husband throws anything within reach of him during the night to get me to stop snoring (a condition that I seem to only have while pregnant). Seriously I woke up the other morning with a t-shirt, towel and his underwear on my head. None of which I think were clean.
And the #1 thing that lets me know that I am pregnant... My need for Depends every time I sneeze.

Daddy the Dentist

2007-01-10T22:11:00.000-08:00

Please tell me that we are not the only ones that feel like the kids are running the show sometimes. We seem to have let the bedtime routine spiral way beyond what would be normal. I don't even know when it happened. Thankfully for me it requires much more work on Daddy's part than mine.
It starts with the "tootsie roll". This is where Daddy wraps them up in blanket so that no part of their body is showing. He carries them up the stairs to our bed where I have to be waiting in anticipation as he unrolls them (quite rapidly) so they spin out onto the bed. Just the beginning...
After "tootsie roll" Daddy becomes the dentist for Ella and Mommy becomes the dentist for Haley (I am not as much fun but Haley is old enough to not really care that much). This part is where they wait in the waiting room and get called in to get their "cleaning". Heaven forbid we call it "brushing" that ruins the whole routine. The "cleaning" starts with flossing and moves to pretend "numbing". We then continue with a lot of praise for how brave and good of a patient they are. Believe me when I say that at no point can we come out of character. It finally ends with a piece of cotton sticking out of their mouths for the pretend filling that got done. My job then is to be Mom again where I show great enthusiasm for how well they did.
You would think at this point we would be finished but the bedtime routine continues with cuddles, stories, pictures, kisses, and a whole lot of promises to come back and check on them with tummy rubs thrown in. No wonder I can never seem to get enough energy up after they are asleep to do anything more productive for the rest of the night.
Now you are probably wondering why we let it continue. I am not really sure. It might be the joy they get out of the whole charade. It might be that we feel that they will get tired of it and be done. Maybe it's just that I don't watch enough SuperNanny. But what I do know is that the other morning when Ella looked up into Chad's face and said, "Daddy, you know at night when you are the dentist? You're still my Dad right?" I think I can go a few more nights.

Brady Bunch Moment

2007-01-06T21:52:00.000-08:00

I am not sure how I can tell this story and do it justice. There is just no way to get the tone and attitude through a post but I will try. I hope you all aren't too young to remember Brady Bunch and Jan's issues with her sister Marcia because you won't get the humor if you are.
Anyway Haley has been having some difficulty lately dealing with Ella. Most of the time they play great. The other night Haley called me into her room and told me that she had something to say but it wasn't nice and I wasn't going to like it. I probably at this point should have told her to keep it to herself but Haley doesn't often have horrible thoughts so my curiosity got the better of me. She cries, " I wish our family was just you, me and Daddy!!" Again where my parenting skills are sometimes, I have no idea, but I tried to encourage her that she really doesn't feel that way and her and Ella have great fun together. She then declares that she doesn't like Ella copying her, she makes a mess, and she ruins everything Haley makes. I told her to go to sleep.
The next day again with wishing Ella wasn't around. At bedtime she got even more upset because Ella got her bedtime cuddle before her. "She always goes first, it's not fair!!" and then out it came the phrase ..." Ella, Ella, Ella!" Chad and I both burst out laughing. Haley of course didn't see the humor but we realized what Jan Brady was feeling when she uttered it the same way. The scary part is I don't think Haley has realized yet that her life is going to be even more horrible in about 4 months! Pray for her!:)

The End of 2006

2007-01-01T19:57:00.000-08:00

So I haven't blogged in over a month. Everyone has probably given up on my blog so I am not sure why I am starting a new post anyway. I felt pretty safe there for awhile. No one seemed to be blogging very frequently. Now you all have stepped it up, from new designs on your blogs (very nice Lauren) to deep, insightful posts that make me either laugh or cry. It makes it very hard to compete. Although I know you all are saying right now that it is not a competition, my insecurity forces me to still want to at least keep your interest with my posts. The picture included was taken by Haley with her new camera she got for Christmas.
Last night was a fun end to the year. All day long I kept thinking of better titles to songs and movies we could have come up with and my husband gave me a lecture on how "Say Anything" wasn't fair because you can't really draw "anything". I keep laughing out loud everytime I think of Lauren trying to throw everyone off by yelling out different topics. All in all I was reminded of how blessed I am to be surrounded by such incredible friends. Each one of you are amazing and special and I thank the Lord he led me to you. You truly enrich my life and I know that 2007 will be full of great moments just as 2006 was.

Thanks.

My Turn to Finish The Sentence

2006-11-23T20:29:00.000-08:00

I don't know......why I am still blogging.

I talk......with a lot of "likes" included.

I love......eating.

My best friend.......is my husband although sometimes I think he wishes he didn't have the title.

My first real kiss.....was in college (sad-huh) given to me by my husband (this part not sad).

I hate it when people.......are mean.

Love is........unconditional.

Marriage is.......hard but well worth it.

Somewhere, someone is thinking......they need to change.

I'll always.....be insecure.

The last time I cried was.....last night watching "America's Next Top Model"-I told you I was hormonal.

My cell phone......is more business then I would like.

When I wake up in the morning..... I want to go back to sleep.

Before I go to sleep at night.....I think about how much I have to do.

Right now I am thinking about.....how much I have to do.

Babies are......very much on my mind.

Today I ....had the best turkey and gravy.

Tonight I will......watch Grey's Anatomy.

Tomorrow I will.....go to work and pray for a lot of business.

I really want......some money in savings.

Too Funny

2006-11-11T22:48:00.000-08:00

I received these pictures from my mother-in-law recently and I just now viewed them. I had to share this one of Haley because the creativity made me laugh. It dates back to her broken arm obviously. My mother-in-law didn't want her to be excluded from the swimming so she fashioned this contraption for her arm. It looks like Target comes in handy in more than one area Tara. Also notice the beautiful Christmas ribbon as well. At least it worked!

Never Fails

2006-11-11T22:37:00.000-08:00

So I don't know if it is the same with all families but in ours our children are definitely different personalities. Haley is outgoing, loves the spotlight and pretty much will do anything to help me out. Ella on the other hand beats to her own drum, does not like performing in front of people, and pretty much does the opposite of everything I ask her to do. Although 9 times out of 10 it will be Ella who says the sweet thing that makes you pause and appreciate their love in between all the chaos. Here is the most recent.
I had been working all morning so when I got home I approached Ella to ask for a kiss. After obliging she ran off to play. About 20 minutes later she came over out of the blue and asked me " Does a hug come with that kiss?"

I have no idea where she came up with that, but whenever I want to scream in frustration I am going to remember that moment.

Such A Sucker

2006-11-04T09:23:00.000-08:00

One of the things I hate the most is when I feel like a sucker. That happened last night. I was spending too much time on the computer and came across a secret shopper offer. You know the phrase "If it sounds too good to be true it probably is". Well this certainly proved that. It was a company that hired people to secret shop for them and in return for filling out a survey on the company you got to keep what you bought plus for signing up you got a $1000 gift card to the store of your choice. I should have turned off the computer right then. Instead I continued on my journey and registered with RetailReportCard.com. Part of registration, however is to answer 6 advertiser promotions. I wasn't sure what this meant but I really wanted my $1000 gift card. I was already having visions of paying for all my Christmas purchases, new wardrobe, etc. The first set of advertisements I was instructed to select two. These were free trials but when you read the fine print you had to make sure you cancelled or they started charging your credit card each month. I told myself I could use a free trial of acne cream and teeth whitening and I would make sure I called in enough time not to be charged. So I continued on... The next set again I had to pick two. This time I ran across Blockbuster online which I figured I could easily cancel my Netflix (even though I don't like Blockbuster- I think they have made a small fortune off of late fees from me). At this point I was getting frustrated so I decided I would skip to the last set of offers and see what my choices were there. Again I had to select two but I was so close to being done. This is when it all went bad. The last set of offers were major. I didn't even read past the $1500 minimum purchase, $800 minimum per person, etc. These weren't annoying free trials these were major committments. So in the end I have no gift card, I am not hired as a secret shopper, I have a new subscription to Blockbuster online that I don't want, not to mention I will be receiving a free trial of acne cream and teeth whitening system in the mail soon. And I bet they won't be very easy to cancel. I wasted two hours on the computer that should have been used cleaning my house, and worst of all I feel like a sucker. Not a good evening!

You Know You Are Hormonal When...

2006-11-01T20:22:00.000-08:00

So I have been noticing lately that I get choked up about pretty much anything I see or hear. Mostly on TV. It has always been easy to do for me. But come on! It has gone past normal now. I was driving to work today and had the radio on. One of those OnStar commercials came on. I don't know if you have heard any of those. It is usually someone locked out of their car and they need OnStar to unlock their doors for them. Magically they give them their code and a miracle occurs. Well today it was a lady whose car was submerged in water and she needed emergency help. As I am chocking up, trying to hold back the tears I am wondering why she didn't just call 911 but then I tried to use my brain to realize it was just an advertisement. OnStar needed her to call them. Good thing too because they called 911 right away. Anyway I will try to keep it together but even everyone's blogs make me cry. I am not sure how much more I can take.

Lost on Lost

2006-10-29T20:45:00.000-08:00

I know some of you are Lost fans so I thought you might be able to help me out after last week. I didn't get the whole second island thing. Now I know I am not super bright but wouldn't they have known if they were on a different island? They would of have to been taken by boat. Also when Sun,Jin and Sahid (sp?) went in search of them I don't remember them saying anything about another island? And have they been there all along? What about all the times they were on the survivor's island? Remember when they were all over there when they had Kate and they confronted Locke and John? Did they come over in shifts or do they have a lot of boats you think? Anyway the show's title is appropriate at least for me I guess.

Ella

2006-10-23T22:52:00.000-07:00

I am going to have a lot of posts about Ella. Everyone's description of Ella is a "free spirit". One second she will be throwing a tantrum and the next she will be a sweet angel. If I didn't know I would have a hard time believing it was the same person. We were having one of those days where everything I said she said the opposite. Fighting me at every turn (I am sure just for the heck of it). Anyway I said the only thing I could say at a certain moment of frustration and that was "What am I going to do with you?" Her response as she looked up at me with that sweet face, "Just love me!"

Isn't it amazing how they can break it down so simply for you? Although my husband thinks ringing her neck should still be an option too.

Money Vault

2006-10-20T18:59:00.000-07:00

My kids keep telling this story so I thought maybe it would be a good, entertaining post.
We had the Oktoberfest street fair a couple of weeks ago and near our store was a radio station booth. Haley was obsessed with this booth mostly because they had a money vault. Haley loves money. It was a perfect babysitter for her. She just stared at that money all day long. It is one of those clear boxes where the money blows all around and you have 30 seconds to grab as much as you can. Anyway she became friends with the radio reps ( mostly due to the fact that she was there for hours on end, they didn't have a choice). On the first day she signed Daddy up to see if his name would be drawn. Sure enough he was chosen to go in the money vault (they call a name every 1/2 hour). Any of you that know Chad know that he is very competitive and he really likes winning money for sure. So he had his plan of attack on how he was going to get as much as he could. The catch was that you not only had to grab it but you had to stick it in this tiny slit to actually win it. Otherwise I guess you could stick it in your pants, pockets, etc. They had to make it a little difficult. Well Chad won $61 which was quite a good amount I guess. They mostly have ones in the vault and a few $5's and $10's. Most people won around $30.
On Saturday Haley and Chad conspire to sign me up but I never win anything so I didn't think much of it and anyone who knows me knows I wouldn't do it anyway. And I told Haley and Chad this as well that I wasn't doing it. Talk about my worst fear. Tons of people staring at you while you perform. NO way!!! On Sunday Haley put my name in again and had also been chosen as the designated name drawer every 15 minutes. Guess whose name she chose? Yep, me. They come running over all giddy and happy that my name is on the board. My reply. "I am not doing it!" Chad's reply " You have to -it's free money" My nerves went crazy I think I was starting to shake. I went over to the booth and asked if Chad could do it instead but of course since he had already gone they wouldn't go for that. So I had no choice! I wasn't happy at all and it didn't help that Haley was jumping up and down screaming "GO MOMMY" Which I think attracted at least 50 more people in and of itself. I think one of my biggest fears was that I would fail miserably, not catch any money, and be a laughing stock. Chad decided he would give me as many pointers as he could since he considered himself a master with his $61.
So I went in the box. Had 30 seconds. Tried not to look up at all so I couldn't see who was watching me. Guess what? I got $66! I not only beat my husband(which never happens) but I held the record for the whole weekend. I was quite proud of myself mainly because I did it in spite of my fear and it paid off -literally. I tried rubbing it in to Chad but he decided it was because of his pointers that I got so much. Maybe! But I still won!

Top 10 inventions

2006-10-19T19:33:00.000-07:00

I am on a roll now. I am sure you are all bored reading my posts. I am too that is why I keep creating top ten lists. But this one is of inventions that I could never imagine my life without now.

#10 hand sanitizer
#9 Easy Mac n cheese
#8 Magic eraser (I totally agree Steve)
#7 Lime away
#6 Body pillows
#5 DVD player in the car
#4 groutless counters, bathtubs, showers, etc.
#3 Netflix
#2 memory foam
#1 DVR

Top 10 Favorite Food Items

2006-10-19T19:19:00.000-07:00

Okay so I am a copycat. Of course my top ten is about food.

#10 Breyers Vanilla Ice cream
#9 Hershey's chocolate covered pretzels
#8 Canasta's uncooked flour tortillas (believe me you will never go back to already cooked ones)
#7 Miguel's jalepeno cream dip
#6 BJ's pazookies
#5 Outback's spotted dog sundaes
#4 Ranch dressing made from the packet
#3 Fuddrucker's hamburgers
#2 Chik-fil-a chicken nuggets (little morsels of heaven)
#1 Lido's spaghetti (a hole in the wall place on Broadway)

As a bonus I need to add two items from Disneyland that I am obessed with (we have passes so we go alot)
*Caramel corn at California Adventure
*Chicken Alfredo pasta from the Pizza Port by Space Mountain
Try them the next time you go.

Pumpkin Patch Fun

2006-10-18T21:56:00.000-07:00

Okay so the favorite thing about this month for my girls is the pumpkin patch. They want to go constantly. Unfortunately not to the one that is cheap either. We are talking about the one at Plaza Bonita that has the rides, petting zoo, train, etc. I limit them to two activities so I don't go broke. I recommend going however, if anything it has great picture opportunities. Of course today I forgot my camera so I missed all of them. Haley and Ella went down the huge slide time after time. I finally had to stop them after about 20 minutes. We wandered over to the chicken pen and found a mommy with 3 tiny baby chicks. The best part was they ate right out of their hands (best picture moment missed!!!) They didn't enjoy the mommy pecking their hands but that was expected. Our next adventure was the petting zoo where we splurged on the $1.00 alfalfa for Haley to feed the goats. Ella chose to stay outside of the pen since she had a biting incident in the petting zoo at the fair that has ruined her for life. Anyway the goats were chasing Haley and putting their feet up on her. Our day ended with her getting goat snot all over her from one sneezing (promptly went home to take a bath). All in all, except for the snot, it was a fun afternoon.

Cuteness

2006-10-17T22:11:00.000-07:00

Okay so I got harassed tonight for not having any other posts up so here goes.
A cute story about Ella. We were riding in the car and she was telling me "knock knock" jokes. Which in itself is quite comical because they never make sense but if I don't laugh hysterically I get in trouble. Anyway I look back and ask her "How did you get so cute?" Her reply, "I don't know, God made me!"

Well I say God did a very good job.

Crazy Day

2006-10-13T22:40:00.000-07:00

Well since this is my very first post it makes sense that it would be about a crazy day I had with my two girls. I don't know why I am surprised because it seems that every day is the same. We are always running around trying to get a million things done in as short amount of time as possible. I will give you the short version since it could go on forever. In a span of about two hours we went to one of our stores where they screamed and chased each other (with customers looking on mind you). We then went to Target where they continued to fight over who got to hold the birthday present we had just purchased. After several "time out" threats we make it to the car and across the street to the grocery store, where thankfully we managed to find one of the "car carts". Thinking that this was going to make the trip peaceful we continue. The car seemed to only increase the activity level of the two of them. As Ella is biting and pulling Haley's shirt, Haley is honking the little horn and yelling "emergency, emergency". Anyway as we check out Haley decides to grab the change from the machine and try her luck at the claw game. As I am coaching her on her item she wants to try for her time runs out and she then proceeds to yell at me in front of all the Von's customers that it was my fault (mind you she added a lot of stomping as well) As I drag her by the arm out to the car and basically lose it yelling at both of them I try to remember where my brilliant parenting techniques are. Anyway we get home and needless to say they both get put in separate time outs to think about what they did wrong. Haley asks if she can have hers in the office which I agree to knowing she was up to something. A few minutes later I go in to discuss her actions with her and she hands me a typed up letter.

It says...
Dear Mommy,
I am sorry I yeld at you. But the most importint thing is I love you.

I immediately burst into tears and Haley and I sat in a puddle together on the floor.
Tomorrow is another day.