Deals of the Week

Free:
Colgate Toothbrush
Sobe Drink
Quaker Rice Cakes Snacks (actually I got .12 cents given to me for getting them)

Almost Free:
frozen vegetables - $.18

Update on ValentineKnits

There really isn't an update on the blog but there is in sales. I just started branching out to using only ribbon in my hair clips and I've just sold my first batch to the store that I've been supplying for 4-5 months now. They bought everything I brought, made requests for new items (that I will now have to figure out to make) and ordered more of old stuff I've made to restock their shelves.

They are located very close to a movie theater and a bunch of other shops and apparently this summer on friday nights the shops are hosting an outdoor band show. All the shops are going to have tents out where they can showcase their merchandise. The shop owner said she wanted to have bunch of my stuff out there for those performances.

All positive news. Yeah.

Lster's take on Easter

At the dinner table:

Lster: Jesus is dead.
Me: Yep, Jesus is dead but He was resurrected.
Lster: Where is He?
Me: Um...(try putting it in 2 year old words)...umm...(giving up)...he's in the spirit world.
Lster: I miss Him*.


*I guess its probably important to note that Lster's been known to tell me he missed me after I come out of the bathroom. TIme doesn't really play a factor in his missing ability.

Deals of the Week

Free:
Colgate Toothpaste
Salsa

I spent 27.00$ and saved 46.00 that's 62% savings on all stuff we either use regularly or needed.

Today at the Library.

Mster(the social butterfly): Hi my name is Mster. What's your name?
Girl: Autumn.
Mster (eyes wide open): I just played with a girl named Autumn today. What's your mom's name?
Autumn: Kari.
Mster: What's your dad's name?
Autumn: I don't have a dad.
Mster (to me and her): You don't have a dad.
Autumn: Well I have an Uncle dad. My dad drove my mom's car and got pulled over and now he's in jail.

Lster's on the Computer

I realized Mster was around this age or younger when we started playing games on pbskids so I've been thinking of letting Lster try it out. I had been trying to figure out how to handle the fight for the computer time. I wasn't really relishing the tears and crying over who's turn it was but they've been surprisingly good.

The take turns playing games and Lster is starting to kick me off the mouse. He can move it around and click the button. He can play the simple games. Its fun to watch him.

Deals of the week

Free (all name brand):
Chapstick
Aluminum Foil x 2
Kraft Salad Dressing
3 dozen eggs
Hamburger Helper

Almost Free:
Shampoo - .50$
Conditioner - .50$
Deoderant - .25$

Good Deals:
hot dog buns - .50$
ball park hot dogs - .50$

I'm Pregnant

Today I am a full believer in pregnant brain.

At about 7:45 this morning Mster's friends mom called me. She wanted to apologize for not telling me she was going out of town. I thought it was really odd. She happens to be the wife our church's bishop so even if she hadn't told me I already knew. But I thought it was nice of her and was ready to hang up when she asked if I was planning on taking her daughter to preschool (we usually carpool). I gently reminded her that it was spring break. She gently reminded me that our kids preschool only had spring break for 1 week since her teacher was in a different school district than where we lived. So Mster's been skipping all week. Oops. I probably wouldn't have sent her anyway because she's been sick but I still can't get over that we've been holed up here all week and could have been back to our routine.

Mster was VERY excited with the news. Got ready as fast as she could and then asked me to take a video of her with her camera singing a song about how happy she aws that spring break was over.

Yep. I'm pregnant

Friends are Good

I'm a believer in friends. They've always been really really important to me. Part of me thinks its because I'm an only child and so I didn't have the closeness of siblings to rely on during life. But as I've grown up into a big girl I've lost a lot of my old friendships. They were ones I thought were so important at the time. They meant to the world to me and I thought vice versa. But their lives get busy. They have families of their own and our communication becomes me reading statuses on facebook. Of course there a few that I keep in pretty good contact with and don't resort to just blogs and facebook to maintain.

But I've had 2 friends from the "past" (I say that lightly because now I realize they were always there) who have since sprouted.

Today one of those friends saved me from having a horrible day. She was awesome. I knew I needed to talk to someone. The only person I could think of I knew was super busy and I just sat there trying to figure it out myself. Then I had the idea to call an old friend. We chatted. She helped me. She supported me. And then she had to go but I felt so much better after talking to her. I wasn't completely there but better. It was what she did a few hours later that makes friends good. She called me back. She talked to me about the things going on in my life. She laughed at the things going on in my life and she distracted me from feeling horrible and she rocks. After talking to her for awhile I had to go and she said "no problem, I just wanted to call and distract you a bit". She knew it. She knew what I needed and for the rest of the day I was able to not only function, I excelled.

And so I realized that there are friends out there that are real friends. The ones you can call on whenever. The ones who help you excell.

My doctor just pumped me full of prescriptions

I hate taking medicine. I don't even think Nyquil works all that often. Sometimes it will knock me out but more often than not I will end up having a restless night of inadequate sleep as I drift in and out of conciousness. (And inevitably the night I take Nyquil will be the night the kids decide to get up 5 times and I'll be walking around in a dazed stupor anyway)

That being said I can't even take nyquil right nor do I think its the right medicine anyway. I've got serious chest congestion. I feel like a somebody lit a cat on fire, blew it out right away, stuck it in my chest and now the smouldering mass of cat fur is just sitting there putting pressure in my lungs and making it hard for me to breathe.

Today we had our 20 week ultrasound and doctor's appointment. I hestitated to tell the doctor the chest issue but I did and asked what I could take. After asking a bunch of questions she decided that I needed 2 prescriptions (2!). One she prefaced by saying, you will feel like you just drank 3 cups of espresso. Your heart will race and you'll feel jittery. Umm...that sounds worse than a smouldering cat.

But I listened and I bought them and I took them and the chest is still heavy and hurts and my body feels all tingly all over and I'm feeling the jitters. Not so useful.

Yet again why I hate taking medicine for colds.

We caught a mouse!

All I have to say is I'm so glad that Cster did everything dead mouse related. I didn't even have to see it. Yuck!

What Color Are You?

Lsters new favorite game. It involves giving you a choice of 2 or more items (of different colors) and asking "What color are you?" and then handing you the appropriate item.

We have to his amusement then all taken turns throwing the item (throwing stuff being his other favorite game). He then runs frantically to retrieve all the thrown items.

A couple of important points to note:
1. Lster almost picks blue. Don't pick blue. Its just easier that way.
2. You may pick blue if there are more than one blue items in your options.

To Do List

I have not been one to write To Do Lists. I use to laugh in college when my roommates wrote out lists for everything. They would put shower on their list just so they felt good about crossing something off. That being said today I wrote a To Do List.

Every once in awhile when there is just so much to do I cave and write it down. It all started when I had a child and I couldn't go to the store and get the 5 things I needed without writing them down. I would end up with 7 things in my grocery bag with only 2 of them being what I originally needed. So I started writing grocery lists.

For the past week I've woken up and said "I will pay bills today". And every night I have gone to bed and not paid bills. I'm not just sitting in bed eating chocolate, yesterday I completely reorganized the kitchen and both kids rooms as well as did 4 loads of laundry. I just didn't do the bills. I remembered the last time I had this dilemna and remembered that the day I wrote it down as part of a list I did it that day. So today I tried it. I wrote "pay bills" along with a bunch of other stuff I really wanted done.

And I did it!!! It totally worked. I didn't do everything on my list (organizing beats out bills which beats out bathrooms) but I did the bills. So I think once a month (around bill paying time) I'm going to write a to do list and hope that the pattern sticks.

Surprise Party

Mster told me today she knows what kind of birthday party she wants (for her bday in July!). A surprize party. My parents tried to get more info out of her when they talked to her today but she was very tightlipped and finally said "I don't know much about my party because its a surprize).

And I was told today that I hadn't blogged that we were having a boy. There are just too many electronic ways of communicating that I forget to post info everywhere. Its a boy, still currently called "Loki". Mster told me today he was sick and hungry. So she went downstairs and made him a snack. Tortilla chips, gold fish, animal crackers, almonds, raisins and apple chips (dried apples) in a bowl. She then told me to eat it. I took a few bites and said it was too close to dinner. She asked if the food had gotten through the tube to Loki yet. I'm thinking that he didn't like it all that much cause all I want to eat is meat and fruit.

Future Ambitions

I was emptying in the dishwasher with Mster. She asked me what the spinning thing was at the bottom. I told her it spun really fast when the dishwasher was on so that the water would spray to all the dishes.

Mster: "Wow. That's what I want to be when I grow up."

I WIN!!!

Tonight I went to dinner at our Church with a bunch of other woman. We had to bring out purses. I just knew they would end up playing a game of "do you have ??? in your purse?" so I had planned on bringing my big bag and filling it with junk so I could win.

In reality...

I have the smallest purse known to man. Its a wallet with a strap. I love it. I hate the idea of carrying around a big bag full of stuff. I keep diapers and wipes in my car and if I know I'm going to be far from my car I use the big bag. The big bag still being smaller than the average purse size.

So...things didn't work out like I planned and I completely forgot my purse plan and only had my regular wallet with a strap purse. Turns out I still won. I won smallest in weight (7.6 ounces) and smallest in size. I also had 2 of the items that they called out.

For those Canadians out there reading my purse is the MEC wallet. I've had it for years and years and its still in perfect condition. I love MEC. Oh and my "big bag" is also MEC. I've also had it for years and years and its still in perfect condition.

Goodbye Hair

I've been thinking about doing an A-Line bob on my hair for awhile now. My ends were seriously wrecked and so much so that a little trim was not going to do it. I was over at a friends house yesterday and was asking her about hairdressers. Her reply, "An a-line bob? I can do that."

And so she did. Right there and then. And I walked away with significantly less hair than when I arrived. It was awesome.

What is not awesome is that Mster wants a haircut just like it. Hmm...I don't think we're ready to chop off her locks or be a mommy-daughter match. :)

Also humorous is that another friend told me she wanted her daughter to have the same haircut. So with her daughter and my haircutting friend's 2 daughters who are sporting the bob I will match a significant portion of the 4-5 year old girls in my church. Uh...

Too Close and Diapers

Lster looked up to me at 10:30 on Tuesday morning and asked for his diapers. I said "Okay" and he's been peeing freely as he plays ever since. I guess we'll try again later.

Mster has this need to touch me all the time. Right now I'm sitting on the couch and she's slamming her body as close to my side as possible. I can barely move my left arm. This is normal for her. She is always on me, holding my hand, asking to get picked up (which never happens, she's 4 1/2), sitting on my lap. Its endless. When I am eating she pulls up a chair right by my side (touching) and eats while being my left hip. Its too close.

Day 2

Yesterday I became a big mess of parental disarray ready to curl up in a ball and hide until Cster came home (which at that time I wasn't even sure when that would be). I finally decided for the sanity of all involved I decided to take a break at about 2:30pm. I put on a diaper (well, I didn't put on a diaper, I put a diaper on Lser). I called my best friend and lamented on how hard parenting is and woe is me. Then I hung up and let my kids watch tv. And then I gave Lser a super long time out (for non-potty related incidents) and then I threw them outside to ride bikes against the most horrendous wind. And then I made pancakes and sent them to bed.

This morning, I am much more refreshed. I am much more ready to face the potty training task. I'm not sure what will happen at 2:30 again but until then I'm ready to forge forward. Its snowing. Its cold. Its windy and we'll be inside cheering Lster.

Potty Training

This past weekend Lster stopped what he was doing and looked down for a few seconds. I asked him if we was peeing. He gave me a BIG grin and said "I'm peeing!"

That was enough for me to say its time to start the mountain climbing obstacle of being a diaper free household (for 5 months). I talked about it during the weekend with him and this morning made a big deal about going out to get new big boy underwear. Mster and Lster talked it over and Lster became VERY adament and excited for his "dora" underwear. I've heard of kids picking the opposite sex underwear but wasn't sure how well that would go over here.

Thankfully the boy underwear was at toddler eye level and the girl underwear was at adult eye level. Lster picked Diego and Sports. He also picked out a sugar filled sport drink and his treat (for when the magical moment occurred)

We headed home and he immediately took off his pants and put on the underwear. He did not like the feel of the Diego underwear and proceeded to take them off. We tried the sports ones (which were a little smaller). He then proceeded to try on every single pair we bought. The problem was that Lster likes to dress himself. Actually that is not the problem. The problem is that Lster does not have the coordination to dress himself and yet insists on doing EVERYTHING himself. So he would try on a pair, put both feet in one hole, not like the feel of it and insist on trying another one. Then he would put them on backwards, not like th feel of it and insist on trying another one. Then he would put the right feel in the right holes but not be able to pull them up right so certain body parts were hanging out and the elastic was all twisted , not like the feel of it and insists on trying another one. It was fun!!

I finally decided he should just go naked. I made him sit on the potty for 1/2 an hour chugging his sport drink. I read story after story and then he begged to get off. I was done too so we moved onto another room where he proceeded to have an accident 5 minutes later.

Since then he's had 2 other accident. Both times he knew what was going on and told me about it. Both times I took him and put him on the toilet right after. He even finished one of the times. Then he begged to watch Dora so I told him if he sat on his little potty he could watch Dora. Then his bum started to hurt (I mean you sit on the toilet for 2 hours, there's going to be some redness) and I let him get up. He got up for a minute but then sat right back down. Seconds later he peed, on the carpet, while sitting on the potty. (I guess we'll work on aiming this afternoon).

But I think this is progress. He sat down to go. I remember Mster having 6 accidents the first day of potty training. I have a carpet cleaner and I'll do a big clean this afternoon and dump in the bath before he goes to bed.

I'm not sure its going to happen but I'm ready to try full force today and tomorrow and we'll see about the next day.

Fire Ants!

I have 4 girls playing at my house right now. One of them is Mster. For awhile they were yelling and screaming for me every 2 minutes. Apparently they felt the need to announce every red ant they saw. 4 girls can see a lot of ants.

I finally told them. "They are NOT fire ants. You will not get eaten. You will not burn. If you yell one more time you will all have to play inside. If you play outside, there will be ants. just step on them."

Deal of the Week!!

Friday has become my grocery run day. I figure out all my coupons on Thursday (because my grocery stores have their sales wed-tues) and make my rounds on Friday morning after I take Mster to preschool.

My find of the week was an unintential find. I went to Safeway and saw a big sign that said some cereal was 99cents a box. I did a double take and then proceeded to fill my grocery cart with boxes and boxes of cereal. We now have enough Corn Flakes and Life to last us at least 6 months.

(After being home a few hours I couldn't get the deal out of my head. I kept thinking I should have boughten more. So I called my neighbor, who's daughter was already coming over this afternoon, to see if she could take mine for 1/2 hour while I ran back to the store. She said yes and gave me a slew of coupons to share so I would get some boxes for her. The result was a bunch of the boxes were only 5o cents each)

Hey, there's an economic crisis going on. A girl has to be smart in her purchases.

And then there were 3

Lster loves his pacifiers. LOVES THEM. He does not get them during the day (unless I'm super unmotivated to take it from him) but he gets them at night. "Them?" you ask. There were 4. He had one in his mouth and cuddled with 3 each night and naptime.

I just noticed that one of his favorite ones (meaning one he often chooses to actually put in his mouth and not cuddle has a big old hole in it. Much to Lster chagrin I declared it garbage worthy. He decided he should dump it and he did it. I don't think I can express how attached he is to his pacifiers. I'm wondering when his loss will sink in. Probably at nighttime.

I'm so sick of the pacifier obsession that I often think that today is the last day and I'm throwing them all out but Cster calmly reminds me that Mster had to give up her night time pacifier on her 3rd birthday and so will Lster.

But today I decided I am spending no more money on them so if by "chance" any, or all, of his pacifiers get holes in them. Bye Bye Forever. I'm liking this idea. Bite away Lster.

I was not expecting this when I woke up...

A few days ago my friends cashed in an awesome deal. Free brand new furniture. Somebody they knew had just bought a show home that was going out of business and they got it fully furnished and didn't want most of the stuff. The only stipulation for my friends was they had to move it themselves.

So Mster was already planning on spending the afternoon playing with their daughters and when I talked to my friend this morning she asked me if I wanted some of her stuff. She only wanted me to offset some of the rental truck expense and a king size mattress that they would have to buy.

I went over this afternoon with a general idea of what she was selling but I had no idea what I was getting myself into. First off her husband just wanted to get rid of it all. So they sold me everything for 300$. They also packed it into their rental and moved it to my house and unpacked it for me because Cster was at work. They just kept giving me more and more things.

All in all we got:

A full dining room set that sits 8 (6 chairs and a bench). The table is regularly a rectangle but extends to a square and a hutch to match. I also got all her linens to go with the table. I also got some wall peices that went with her dining room set.

2 couches. A love seat and big sofa(with a hidabed!!!) with all the matching pillows. (Her house is very put together and everything matched and looked great.

An end table

A weight bench complete with weights and bar.

A double stroller

2 matching tables lamps

A kid size table with chairs

I'm so overwhelmed by all this new stuff that I should be working to arrange and declutter and clean so I can fit it all in nicely but after the stress of figuring all that out I just want to lie down and rest and look at my old dining room set that is now in my living room.

This is all too much for a pregnant woman.

Coupons

Something I learned about coupons...

I've never been one to use coupons. It was always my opinion that going through all the coupons you get and clipping four 25 cent coupons for your entire grocery order was just not worth it. But, I have been converted. Its been a slow process. My friend taught me a months ago how to use coupons the best and I thought about it for a long time and then finally this month jumped on the bandwagon. I will now share my coupon wisdom with all who read.

The coupons only work for me because of a free site called www.couponmom.com. You have to register but all it involves is giving your email address and creating a password and I've never gotten any spam (that I'm aware of) from the site.

Once you are registered there is a feature where you can go to your state and pick the stores they've already figured out coupons for. In my state there are 2 stores that work. They also have national stores like Walmart, Walgreens, Target, Rite Aid, etc.

So here's how it works. The couponmom people figure out what coupons you should use, when you should use them and where you should use them. It matches store sales with your coupons (from the sunday paper) and gives you the most sale for your coupon.

Here is a real example that I did a few weeks ago:

Safeway had Betty Crocker Icing on sale Buy 2 get 3 free. The total came to 4$. So that would be $4/5 icings before coupons. I had a 50cent off coupon. Safeway doubles manufacturers coupons so that made it $3/5 icings. Then (and how would I have ever known this) the icing containers had 20 cent coupons on them that you could take off at the register. Remember that Safeway doubles so that totals $2 off (.20XdoubledX5icings) So in the end I spent $1 for 5 icing containers.

If you you read that and think its too confusing to figure it all out (which I do) but couponmom does all the work for you. You just look at their list, organize it the way you want (I always organize it by most % saved per item) and then go from there.

Some of you may say why would you need 5 containers of icing but I do have 2 kids and I am trying to have some food storage and you never know when you have to make cupcakes and .20 cents a container is cheaper than making it your own.

There are numerous times that you end up getting items for free with all the different discounts.

The one thing to think about when doing coupons is what kind of food do you buy. I don't buy a lot of prepackaged food. I dont' buy sugar cereal (If I had gotten coupons in January I could get sugar cereal for $1/box this week) so I probably don't save as much as a family that buys more of that type of product but where I do always save is on cleaning supplies and toiletries.

And that is all.

Its not as easy as you may think

Throwing up the entire contents of your stomach while not being able to breathe through your nose. Its not as easy as you may think.

You know things have been rough when...

You finally feel so much better that you not only vacuum your carpet but haul out the carpet cleaner.

Remember my previous post where I said I had a head cold, its totally still there. Usually any normal human being would be on the couch with their hot beverage and nyquil tucked under their arm but not I. I decide that since I don't feel like throwing up, I'm going to carpet clean.

PS - I sold another 64 hair clips today. I need to do a total count but I think the clip count is over 200 sold easily. Yeah!!!!

The Definition of Irony

Finally feeling like you are not pregnant. Finally not wanted to throw up at the most ordinary things...

only to get a stupid head cold.

Booby

Mster is learning how to read and write. So far her writing has just been her name and her families names but today she made some "progress". While I was putting Lster down for a nap she asked if she could have some paper. When I came down she told me that she had written "booby". And she had. I checked her paper. She wrote booby. I asked her what booby meant and she apparently doesn't know. Congratulations Mster you're a writer.

Garbage Can Comformity

A few weeks ago my neighbour told me about a trash company that seemed to have a good deal on garbage pickup. For the same price I was paying now I would get one of their rolly huge bins (I was using a regular store bought one) and for a 1 time 10$ fee I could get recycling too. I thought I had just renewed my latest trash commitment so I said I would have to reconsider.

Then the wind storm to end all wind storms came on garbage day and we lost our garbage can. I searched the neighborhood but could not find it anywhere. So I checked my trash contract and realized I hadn't paid them yet so I could switch companies. Which I did. On a side note, later that afternoon I found our garbage can only to have to be stolen less than an hour later when I went back to go get it.

So the purpose of this story is share how excited Mster is for our new garbage can. We apparently now have the same garbage can as ALL her friends and she pointed out every other garbage can on our way to preschool. "Mom!!! WE HAVE THE SAME GARBAGE CAN AS THEM!!" She is beyond beyond excited.

The Baby Popper

Mster: I'm going to ask daddy to help me build something.
Me: Really. What?
Mster: Its a baby popper. And when its all done I'm going to paint it yellow and red.
Me: Nice. What's a baby popper?
Mster: You know a thing that pops out babies.
Me: Uh...how exactly does it work?
Mster: You just use it and pop out babies. Lots of babies.
Me: What are you popping babies from?
Mster: Cannons. Its a cannon. Daddy'll help me.
Me: Interesting.
Mster: We are going to have a brother, a sister, a mom and a dad and lots and lots of babies. You might step on them. Its going to be a REALLY REALLY big family.

Mster is Reading

Mster is reading. Sort of. She needs to be in exactly the right mood. She has to be coaxed. She has to sometimes be bribed but if the stars all align she will put the letters together (in the right order) and read.

The interesting thing with teaching Mster to read is that she has an amazing memory. AMAZING. I can read a story and she will remember the words in the story. So more often than not I will ask her what the word is and she will go back into that brain of hers and try to rememer the story word for word. She'll look at the picture and guess the word or she'll just remember the sentence from when I read it to her (only 1 time before). This last example happened last night. We were showing Cster her new talent. She was reading "but". It took some time but she finally got it and proceded to say "I hope he can play the harmonica" really slowly, as if she was reading. She had me thinking she was reading all the way until she said "harmonica". :)

I'm not sure how to tap into that memory ability to teach her because I've read articles that most adults don't actually read phonetically. They look at a word as a whole and guess what it is in the context of the sentence (we just do it really fast and have enough practise that we normally get it right).

I'm Finished.

I just finished reading Little Women. This may not seem like a very important thing to blog about but for me, it is. I have started Little Women more times than I can count. I've even started the movie and had yet to finish that one either. I don't know what it was about Little Women. I wanted to read it. I wanted to enjoy it. I felt that it was a book I would enjoy and yet I could never get past that first Christmas morning. Well, last week, I finished the whole thing and I loved the whole thing. Maybe its the pregnancy. I was so set on finishing the book that I asked for it for Christmas. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. (well, once the sleeping pill set in I had to put it down but that's a different story) I'm proud of myself for the completion and a little ponderous as to why I had so much trouble before. I do have to admit that I'm still getting over Laurie and Jo not getting together. It was the right thing, of course, but I guess I have a thing for unrequited love.

Holy Bump

So today my sister-in-law called and asked if I had a bump. I told her "no. I just walked by a mirror and noticed it. The "bump". It like magically sprouted sometime today between 10AM and 1pm. Well, actually, maybe I just ate too much. I'm not ready to call it official yet.

Anybody got a Radar?

Mster was driving me a little bonkers today. She was obsessed with 2 topics and wouldn't stop asking the same questions over and over again. I realize part of it was hoping that the answer would be different and part of it was hoping to have a better understanding of what I'm talking about but it was still rather annoying. Here is the only one I can really type of and make sense.

Mster: Where are E and A?
Me: At the park?
Mster: Waiting for us?
Me: Yep. But we're almost there.
Mster: Are they sitting down while they wait for us?
Me: Mster, I have no clue what they are doing. I can't see them.
Mster: Well...we should get a radar that you can see anybody you want and know where they are what they are doing.
Me: Yep, that would be helpful.
Mster: WE COULD KNOW WHERE GRANDMA IS!!! (she was currently driving down to visit them and they couldn't bare the agony of waiting)
Me: Yep.
Mster: Mom, whats a radar?


PS: No walk. Too sick.

A Really Long Walk

A few weeks ago Mster planned a family day. She did it all on her own. She never really announced when it was going to happen only that it would. It involved a really long walk, a visit to a favorite indoor playground and a restaurant. We kind of let her live in her own little imaginary world figuring she would forget about it and move on to another fantasy day.

Well, this has not happened. The day has not surfaced but Mster has declared this Saturday as our VERY LONG WALK DAY! We will all (as a family) take a very long walk. She's determined. She's talked about it every day this week. Today she reminded me that our really long walk was going to happen tomorrow.

We've figured out that really long walk means "past our neighborhood", "almost to Denver", and "straight to the yellow park".

I've been instructed to call our friends to borrow their double stroller (in case she gets tired).

This whole thing amuses me greatly. We have never agreed and still today are sort of living in denial that she's really going to push the family event.

But its just SOOOO Fun

Lster has spent all morning putting stuff down his pajamas. He's in ones with feet so they get stuck and he doesn't really seem to care. I only figured it out when I changed his diaper and found all the hidden treasures.

He did come and ask for help when he stowed away Cster's old cell phone. I have to admit I secretly hoped someone would call his old line (cause its still good till the end of the month) and he would FREAK out. Actually, I guess I'm glad it didn't.

And...there it goes down his pajamas again.

No Pants Lster

Once a week my friends would have a "no-pants" spaghetti night. It sounds more riske then it really was. The rule was you couldn't wear pants. Most often shorts were worn.

But Lster would have LOVED no pants spaghetti because he routinely takes off his pants and refuses to put them back on. (and he loves spaghetti) At this point in my life I really don't care. I'll ask him every 1/2 an hour if he's ready to put them back on. Most often the response is "no" and that's okay.

One day, he'll realize the social need for pants and he'll wear them. Right? Imean he just walked up to me and told me he pooped so there is some social progress happening over here.

The 1/2 Birthday

A week ago Mster was invited to a friends house to play. She went and they took her to her friends older sister's elementary school where they had floats to celebrate the sister's 1/2 birthday. They NEVER did that when I was in school. I was always just out of luck for my birthday since it was in a summer months. But I digress.

If you can imagine the excitement that this caused for my 4 year old you should still up it another notch. She's been talking about 1/2 birthdays evey day and on Monday finally asked me when her 1/2 birthday was. I thought about it for a second, checked my calendar, and to Msters utmost delightment discovered it was only 2 days away...today.

Mster woke up this morning announcing her 1/2 birthday. She requested a friend over to play. She told all her preschool class during show and tell. She's expecting cupcakes (she can expect all she wants). She thinks its a real birthday and no matter how many times I tell her its not, in her mind, it is. I bought blueberries yesterday because they were on sale and let her have some for lunch. I told her they were for her 1/2 birthday. I let her invite her friend over (which she already does at least weekly) and told her it was because it was her 1/2 birthday. And now I'm sitting here trying to come up with other ways to "celebrate" this monumentous day without actually celebrating it.

I'm thinking of adding a few more stories at bedtime. "Letting" her play outside with the neighbors (its like 70degrees today). If I can get up let her pick out some new boots at Target (they're 75% off) for next year while I get ingredients for dinner. Maybe I'll even let her have some leftover Christmas M&M's that I give out as treats and desert whenever I'm feeling generous.

Because...one only gets to turn 4 1/2 once in a lifetime. :)

Mster: Mom, can I have blueberries on my 1/2 birthday every year?

Pizza Pops - the description

Pizza pops are not pizza flavored popsicles. That would be just gross.

Pizza pops are frozen (heat in the microwave) preservative filled calzones. You might compare them to hotpockets. But they don't look the same or taste the same.

And my stomache hurts. And I was just dreaming of a time when I used to wake up really late and stay in bed and read till I was so hungry I had to drag myself out of bed to heat up pizza pops and eat them curled up on the couch watching a made for tv movie or finishing my book. Oh to be 16 again and not have to fight for the tv on inauguration day and repeatedly ask the my little ponies to stop jumping off my head.

Pizza Pops

The other day Cster was at the store. He called me to see if I wanted him to buy me anything. I told him "pizza pops". He repeated it three (3) times and hung up. He called me back and said they didn't have any, did I want anything else. But the problem was, I didn't. My body was saying "feed me pizza pops".

This got me to thinking. I hadn't seen pizza pops in a long time. Did they still exist? I went online to check it out and see where I could buy them and I was flabergasted. According to wikipedia, they are ONLY SOLD IN CANDA. You have got to be kidding me. And now that I know for sure I can't have them, its all I want. :(

The reference

Surviving

That's about all I can say about the first few months of pregnancy. We're surviving. The baby was named "Loki" almost immediately after we announced the pregnancy at Christmas time by Cster's family. I don't really remember who started it. Probably Cster.

I've been slacking in my church responsibilites. I'm trying really hard but I got an back up to day just in case and ended up using her. 20 minutes is a long time to be standing up and singing and teaching to a big roomful of 3-8 year olds. I did it last week for 30 minutes and nearly died. I barely made my second round an hour later with the older group. So for now everybody is being super nice while I'm in my invalid phase. People bring me dinners a couple of times a week which is so good because I am useless past 3pm. My friends have taken the kids on really bad days and Mster's friends have been inviting her over for playdates way more often.

I'm seriously ready to get past this next month so I can return to normality. Its hard to accept charity. Its nice, but hard to accept.

PS - oh and Cster tore ligaments in his right thumb and has a cast for 6 weeks. So, he's in a lot of pain too. Sometimes I think we should just have a big whine fest between the two of us but with me in bed so early we don't really see each other all that much.

Its Official

So I went to the doctor's appt today and we've seen the heartbeat so TADA...I'm pregnant.

Surprize, Surprize since I have been posting a lot about being sick. I'm trying not to monopolize the posts but its really all I can think of.

Due Date: August 20, 2009

In response to comments:

Tara - yes, I'm pregnant. :)

Megan - The sword comments actually came from my girl. She's starting to get into swords. I'm not sure if this is related to princesses (which she is VERY into) or if its a whole new thing. Or, just a random thought vocalized. Since she vocalizes every single possible thought this is entirely possible.

Quips and Questions

Mster: Can animals live with holes in them?
Me: What kind of holes?
Mster: You know. Not the kind of holes that are in crayons but more like the people holes.
Me: I'm still not understanding what you mean by holes.
Mster: Well...holes.
Me: Like the hole in your mouth?
Mster: No.
Me: How did the animals get the holes?
Mster: By sharp swords.
Me: aahh

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There's nothing like throwing up in a parking lot while your 2 year old son decides it would be hilarious to mimic and make retching sounds in his carseat.

Lster, the Helper

You're quality of life may be going slightly downhill when your 2 year old hands you over a grocery bag and asks if you need throw up.

I hate feeling sick

Lster stop asking for the wii. "wii me" will not work no matter how cute you are when you ask me and no matter how frequently you ask.

Please note: the more you ask, the less cute it gets.

Sickness, be gone!

I now deem this Christmas season, "the Sickest Christmas EVER". This even tops our first Christmas together when I was keeled over pregnant sick.

I haven't seen Cster this sick since he slept for 3 days straight after having an allergic reaction. Our throats still hurt. We still take daily medicine for the headaches. I can't count how many kleenex boxes we've gone through.

Seriously. We're done..

A fun 2 weeks

Its been hectic.

Its been fun.

Its been snot filled.

Its been full of massive glands and soar throats to make the strongest cry in pain.

Its been full of presents.

Its been full of family.

Its been full of sweets that nobody's really felt up to eating.

Its been full of caroling and the Christmas story.

Its been full of laughs.

Its been full of food.

Its been full of giddy children in elves jammies.

Its been full of duplicate gifts (oops).

Its been full of games.

Its been full of Christmas lights.

Its been full of a new haircut.

Its been full of surprises.

Lster update

For my own record here is the boring sleeping update.

Lster cried at 8:30 (I went in since we had company and it was bothering them). He also cried at 12:44 - I did not go in and he eventually stopped but he cried a long time. Cster told me Lster also woke up at 11pm and cried but I didn't hear that one.

Mster woke up twice too and decided to battle me about her water cup both times.

I'm ready to check into a hotel.

Oh Lster, get thee to bed

Lster has decided he doesn't need to sleep...period. No naps. Not at night. He's just going to stay up all the time and ask me to play wii and watch Dora. I'm not really liking this idea. Last night he was up between 2 and 4. At 3AM I finally decided this was the last night of comforting and that tomorrow there would be crying (probably lots and lots of crying). I did it with Mster and she's a great sleeper and healthy and she still loves me. (so much so that she would throw a snowball at me in a snowball fight because she's only going to throw one at the people she loves). And so last night (it being the last night) and Cster was still sick and I wanted him to sleep and not hear the crying I brought Lster into our room at 3AM and let him sleep with me. He then proceeded to "hang out" for an hour. I pretended to sleep and steal glances at him. Everytime he had his eyes wide open just lying there. And this isn't the first time we've had a 2-4AM incident.

What the...? Doesn't this boy need to sleep? I'm baffled. And most people know me as the Sleep Queen (A self-proclaimed title) I'm at a lost. Bring on the crying.

PS - Star picture coming. I can only take it at night because of window glare and I seem to forget once the sun goes down. Maybe it has something to do with the lack of sleep.

Trick Question

Just when I think she's the smartest girl on the planet.

Mster: How many days until seven (7) days?
Me: seven
Mster: Oh

My Farewell Words

Last week was a sad week. We lost a dear friend. I wasn't ready for it to go. I wasn't prepared. I hadn't said goodbye. One day it just up and disappeared out of our life forever. Whenever I try to bring it back all I get is tears. Sad sobbing tears. Frantic tears. All varieties of tears. I will miss it greatly. It had such a calming effect on the house. It broke up the day. It gave me and Mster some special alone time. And so it is with ultimate sadness that I've finally come to terms with the fact that Lster is no longer napping. I'm still in shock. Honestly, some days I forget and think I'm missing something and I can just do the one magical thing and he will start napping again. But I'm wrong. He's only 2. He's barely 2. I'm trying to look on the bright side of things but right now I'm just trying to find fun things to fill the 12:30-2pm hour (he never napped long to begin with) so that we don't go crazy.

The Star on our Tree

The angel on our tree was little suicidal and no matter how much coaching we gave her she just seemed to always be on the verge of making the jump.



So...I thought it would be fun for Mster and me to make a star. It worked and the star is at the top and Msters pretty proud of her achievement and I'm pretty proud she stuck it out and finished it without whining or getting bored.

Christmas Tree - 2nd attempt

Here are pics.

Lster Loved IT!!!



Mster Loved it until she fell down and broke a nail (seriously) and then cried and pouted and went into the car.



Here's the tree in our living room.

The 5 pies!

Snow Cones are a Hit

Lster called this "treat" ice cream. Eat all the ice cream you want my children. Eat away.

Christmas Trees Rock

Cster really wanted a real Christmas tree this year. I secretly did too but thought it slightly frivolous since we weren't even going to be here for Christmas. All our issues were answered when I was talking to my friends and they started discussing cutting down there own tree. I was hooked.

I convinced Cster (hahaha - convincing Cster to do something Christmassy when it also involves a real Christmas tree is hardly convincing) and after going with his parents to a lot to get theirs I wanted a tree RIGHT NOW.

So the first day of cutting season (monday), I got our permit, and off we drove to the mountains. It was a bit chilly so we bundled the kids up, borrowed and sled and were on our way.



Sadly we couldn't find anything and were getting a little worried about being in the woods (with no one in sight) with 2 young children as the sun was quickly making its descent. So we decided to come back another day. That day was yesterday. It was beautiful. We left earlier and we found out tree. I will not go into details on taking a minivan on a four wheel drive path. (I was thinking we are totally going to be those people in the headlines that people say "why are people so stupid")But we have a tree. Its in our stand. Its in out living room. Its watered. Its our tree and I love it. I will post some pics once we decorate it.

I love Christmas.

Thanksgiving

I'm not so impressed with Black Friday deals. Maybe its because we don't need anything. I've been looking at ads for hours and hours now and I just can't really plot it out. I don't want to do it. And finally I realized we don't need anything. For this I am thankful. We are good. We have everything we need. I keep looking at ads and saying "that's not a bad deal, but we don't need that." What a great thanksgiving blessing. I have an awesome family. We have our health (pretty much). We have a job. We have! What a great blessing.

On the other hand, we do really want an elliptical machine and I'm slightly frustrated at trying to find a good deal on one of those. The kind of deal that gives us a really great machine that won't chop off our children's fingers, be super, uber loud and creaky, hold up Cster, but not cost the total of a gym membership for 4 years for both Cster and me. Is that too much to ask? Apparently so.

Moboodis

I love verification words and I sure love moboodis. My boodies like so boodilicious.

Sorry Mav that's all I could come with.

Sickness and pain is jumping from body to body and has left the kids and moved to the adults but I already had something 2 weeks ago that I'm still dealing with residuals so I don't think its fair that round 2 hit. There should be sick rules. 2 weeks after sickness you should be able to run from a house 3 doors down without hacking up a lung for 2 minutes.

Cster's making 5 pies tonight. I think right now he may be thinking he chose to make 5 pies too many. :) Of course they will be delicious and come tomorrow afternoon we will all be grovelling at his feet for his amazing feat. And I'm really really craving stuffing and I can't wait any longer. HURRY UP tomorrow.

I've finished 3 baby shower gifts to be sold tomorrow. I will take pictures when there's more light. All I can say is I've solved the unisex problem. I am a genius. I will never make a yellow or green something something again. (unless of course someone really really wants it). I love doing baby shower gifts. People need to have more babies so people will ask me to make more stuff for them. HURRY UP people.

Our good friend was here last night stopping over on his way out west to live and be far away from us. I like friends who you wish you could see all the time but even if you don't you can just pick up where you left off and play wii tennis all night long or at least until 8:30 if your me and lame and can't stay up late. And if he's reading this you left really early. Like 4:20AM really early. Did the mice keep you up?

And I'm thankful for lots of things which I may or may not say in a post tomorrow depending on how the whole day goes since I won't be home.

And I'm really mad at mean shoppers. I WAS IN LINE FIRST. My daughter (who is 4) may be small but it still counts if she's standing in line while I run off to get my son who thinks playing hide and seek in the fabric aisle is the coolest. Now I have to wait until your done (buying the entire fabric department) with 2 kids at the checkout counter full of grabable items because you budded. Grr...

Too Much Info

Me: Hey Mster, Are you going to throw up? Do you need a bowl?
Mster: Well...I threw up a little and I swallowed it so it will probably come back later so, yeah, bring me a bowl.

Some of this, Some of that

I sold another 70 or so clips to the store I've been working with. I'm thinking of looking for another store but the idea terrifies me. I can't believe I have one already. Its very scary to walk in and talk to somebody about buying clips.

We've been sick. Lster's got it now. Mster and I are STILL coughing after a week and a half of the stupid cold. Lster even threw up today. He threw up all over Mster's pants that were on the ground waiting for her to get out of the bath. She burst into tears. He thought it was hilarious. "Stop laughing (Lster), its not funny"

By the end of the week I will have gone to 3 social events this week. I'm ready for my night in tomorrow night. But I'll post pics of the fun crafts I did tonight with some friends.

I'm done one out of three baby shower presents somebody is buying from me.

And the list goes on. How did life get busy? Hmmm...

Butt Splashing

Just to let everyone know I have made a new rule in our house. There will be NO MORE BUTT SPLASHING.

Butt Splashing = getting up on your hands and feet in a bath and then crashing your butt into the water to see how much splash you can make.

Lster has already figured out that if he puts his feet on the ledge and then butt splashes he gets a much bigger splash.

I'm ready for the Christmas Season

There isn't much more to say. I'm just excited for it this year. The kids are so fun and love it all.

I never know what to do

I just sent out a mass email to everybody I know to promote my etsy site. I never feel quite right doing it but I can't think of any better way to spread the message other than writing people individually and sadly I just don't have the time. I hope it is received well.

Mster's a Jokester

Mster just told me I had something on my shirt. I looked down and she flicked my chin. Let me remind everybody, she's 4.

Selling Machine.

Today I sold 37 flower clips to a store. Outright, not consignment. Then, they ordered 18 more and said if I could make a certain kind they would buy those too. They also told me they would love a whole line of hair bows made with ribbon.

Today is a good day.

I've Done It

I've finally put my stuff online in an official selling capacity.

Check it out at: www.valentineknits.etsy.com

Hats with clips are coming. I just wanted to get started somewhere.

The week got away from me.

Cster gave me his laptop which allowed for much more computer use. The fan busted and is at a relatives getting fixed.

Our house is apparently invaded by mice and maybe carpet beetles but considering the amount of traps we have out you'd think we'd kill at least one. I still continue to pick up poop.

ValentineKnits is coming to a store near me. A local woman's assessories shop is going to sell my flower clips.

I'm running 3.5 miles numerous times a week with some friends.

And that is the reason for no posts. Hopefully more to come and a big Etsy introduction.

Teaching Social Skills

Me: what are you going to have for lunch today?
Mster well, maybe we could have peanut butter and jelly. It could be peanut butter and jelly and candy.
Me: how about peanut butter and jelly and boogers?
Mster: well I like boogers but I don't like jelly so how about peanut butter and boogers?
Me: you know you aren't supposed to actually eat boogers.
Mster: I didn't know that? Not ever, ever?
Me: no not ever.
Mster: huh.

The answer to the poll

Sadly the answer is that I don't really want to know how many mice are in my house. I called my friend the other day because her husband is manager of a pest control company Orkin and I thought they might have some good spare traps. He came to our house last night (I thought to drop them off) but he stayed and "inspected" our house. He put oodles and oodles of traps out. He found where they had pulled out our insulation. Its just too gross. Thanks to him goes out though. I really just wanted to know what traps to use and he went above and beyond. I'm a little nervous because he put traps eveywhere and I can't remember where he put them all. "how will I know they're dead if I miss a trap to check?" "you'll smell them", he said. Ugh...are you serious. That's disgusting. I hate mice.

My muscles

Cster has indoctrinated our children to say that my muscles are weak sauce. But today I proved them all wrong. I carried all our books (3 bookshelves full) from the basement to our bedroom (on the second floor). I rock. And for those that think we live in a paperback world, this included all of Cster's lawbooks. My muscles are totally not weak sauce.

Oh Lster snap out of it

For the past week Lster has woken up from his nap crying, yelling and in a general crappy mood. Its horrible. Today, I tried to comfort him but I refuse to carry him around the house, which is what he wants me to do. I will however sit down and cuddle with him on my lap just not carry him. He's heavy and I don't want to promote the baby attitude. But its not working. Today Lster got so mad at me he punched me in the face while I was trying to sit with him. I put him in his room to have a time out and calm down and he proceeded to scream and yell for 20 minutes (I had opened his door after 3 minutes to tell him his timeout was over and he could come out when he stopped crying).

So far I've found the only thing that works is:

1) picking him up
2) giving him chocolate
3) letting him watch tv

I need to figure something else out because we can't promote that behavior.

He's going to bed early tonight. That's all I have to say.

What are you doing these days?

I've been working on a new thing for ValentineKnits. Check it out. I'm hoping to get it up on Etsy.com soon and to try and get it into some children's boutiques in the area.

Mster's First Field Trip Day

I didn't even realize Lster was showing off a leaf.

Halloween Pics

I love being a parent

Tonight was our halloween party held at our church. Mster was a pumpkin and Lster was superman.

Lster's a pretty shy guy but he ran up to every car, held out his pumpkin and quitely said "teat" every time. My heart almost burst it was so cute. Mster was equally adorable in her outfit and she was actually old enough to understand exactly what was going on. She got her face painted. She threw bean bags. She fished. She had the time of her life.

Christmas is going to be very good this year. Oh and so is the real halloween. I can't believe we get to do it again.

(One of Cster's friends told Mster "don't let your dad eat any of your candy". Mster took it very seriously. Mster ran right to her room to hide her candy when she got home. It took some explaining as to why I wouldn't allow a huge pile of candy to be in her room. I can only imagine the pile of wrappers I would have found tomorrow)

pics to come.

My own litte princess

If you think this was a post about Mster, you were wrong. That princess changed her mind yesterday and is going to be a pumpkin for halloween. She's very excited. We are very shocked.

Lster has been quite onery lately. With Cster gone for days on end, its getting old really fast. I was supposed to go run errands sans children this afternoon but Cster had to work later. So Lster woke up from his nap and we HAD to go. (halloween party's require candy) and he would not stop whining and crying. I finally said they could watch a show to try and calm him down quickly so we could go. He originally picked Thomas. Not 5 minutes in he got mad at Thomas and demanded we switch it to a princess movie.

Hurry up Cster.

A new Christening

I'm thinking of calling myself Baba Cakes.

Lster's Birthday

She likes her some bones

Mster: I wonder who will die first in our family?
Me: Nobody knows. Why do you want to know?
Mster: Well, I want to see their skeleton.
Me: You know you don't actually see skeletons when people die.
Mster: Why?
Me: Because
Mster: Because why?
Me: Because when you die your body goes into the ground and you don't see it again until your ressurected.
Mster: Well you see it in museums.
Me: You see some skeletons in museums but not our family's skeletons.
Mster: (silence)

My very own police brigade

Today on the way home from dropping Mster off at preschool I was folllowed by 20 or so police cars and motorcycles. I also appreciated that they filled every intersection with police officers to stop traffic so only my lane could go through. I loved it. I think I'd like to be escorted home everyday.

And it was for me right? Just cause Sarah Palin's here today and just happens to be in the same spot as me, I know its cause they wanted to make sure I got home safe and 2 minutes earlier than normal.

Have you noticed a surge of posts?

I don't know why but I've been really into blogging again. It all coincided with getting Cster's old laptop and some new and exciting stuff I'm doing with ValentineKnits that I alluded to earlier. And I can't stop posting.

Now I'm wondering how many people are actually reading this after so much hiatus. So here is my plea for comments. You don't have to be witty or clever or tell me how great I am. I just want to know how many of you are out there.

When Daddy's away, the kiddies will play.

Its 5pm and the kids are hungry and I don't want to cook and we are on day one of Cster being gone for a week. The really gone, gone. Not the sort of gone, gone that he's been doing this past week.

So we are eating cereal for dinner. All you can eat cereal and ants on a log. And if I don't get into the kitchen right now and make it I think Mster might compeletly take control of the house in an attempt to be as bad as she possibly can while he's gone.

Oh and Lsters used his little potty twice so far. Way to go Big Guy!

1 more hour

I've got one more hour left to blog about Lster's birthday on his birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LSTER!! You're 2!!!

You are my favorite little guy. You laugh and laugh and laugh. You stick your tongue out ALL THE TIME and will take pictures with your dad for 30 minutes with your tongues out and still laugh and beg for more. You love chocolate and fruit snacks. You love them more than you pacifier. And I bribe you everyday after your nap and everyday it works. You love the moon, dogs, Daddee, throwing the football, green blanket, Yell (Mster), singing silly songs, singing any song silly, mac n cheese, your elmo shirt (which I've packed away and haven't told you yet hoping you will just forget about it), Diego (Gaygo), running, running around in circles, walking in parking lots, walking in stores, playing hide n seek in stores, ripping clothes off hangers in stores, books, balloons, coloring, coloring on the wall, coloring on any surface other than paper, princesses (shh, don't tell), playing outside, doing anything outside, warm weather, water, splashing, climbing, climbing into sinks, climbing into sinks and splashing, hugs, real kisses, being a goofball.

We Love You Buddy!

Its 10:50pm, do you know where Cster is?

Cster is at work. Its friday. Cster will be at work all day tomorrow and then he will leave on Sunday after church and not return until thursday. At least I think its thursday. You never know with those trials. They like to sneak up on you and take your husband away, only to give him back at odd hours with a glazed look in his eyes.

Public Service Announcement

this is pretty cool.

I wonder who Lster would vote for - kindred spirit?

Where are my sunglasses? This day is looking brighter.

Rocks Part 1

At 5:10pm after 5 hours of crying and whining Mster told me her stomach hurt ("you think"?). It just happened to be dinnertime for the kiddies (special solo dinner for them since I was going out for the night) and so she came up and looked at her dinner and looked at me and said "my head hurts too. I'm just going to go to bed." So off she went to bed.

The other side of the crappy day story is that Lster wouldn't nap for me (I think he needs to go down later in the day now) and so by 5pm he was too tired to eat and only wanted saltines and apples. On any other day I probably would have said "of course you can have saltines and apples. Just get something in your belly and you'll feel better and we'll put you to bed. But after fighting with Mster for 5 hours and building my "I won't cave no matter what cause I'm the mom and you must do what I say" wall he was going to eat his dinner or eat nothing. He chose nothing and continued to whine until 5:50pm when I thought my head might pop right off of my head. I called Cster to find out where exactly on his commute home he was so I could get my shoes on and be already out the door ready for my night out only to find out he was hoping to leave the office in another 10 minutes. The cherry was on top.

All kids were immediately sent to bed. Luckily Mster was already in there. Well she was in a semi state of undress and asking for songs and other bedtime routine necesseties.

By the time Cster got home both kids were in bed so he got NOTHING of the drama of the day and a nice peaceful night in all by himself. He's set to work a real lawyers work week this week (65+ hours) so I guess he deserved it too.

Mster woke me up bright and early this morning and I just didn't have the heart to immediately send her right the basement. I also didn't have the immediate mental capacity to deal with the whining and crying. So I let her do puzzles and eat breakfast until sunrise. "Once the sun is up you're going down there".

The sun rose must faster this morning in Mster's eyes and not 10 minutes had past when I heard my name a dozen times and whining had commenced (no crying yet). After about 15 minutes had past the crying began.

This could not be happening. I struggled to help her figure out a way for the job to be not so mountainous. I know she just looked at the basement and was overwhelmed and her little 4 year old brain couldn't wrap itself around and actual finished project. Cster and I had already moved all the toys out of the way and put a little brush and dustpan for her but it wasn't working. After numerous talkings to from Cster (which sounded an aweful lot like the conversations that I had with her the day before) I thought and I thought and I thought and finally the inspiration came. Armed with masking tape I sectioned off part of the room in squares. I told her to pick up the rocks in each ssquare and that she could take the tape off once she was done a section. When she was done all the sections I would come down and make more sections for her. This was the answer.

It became a game and she did the whole basement in about a 1/2 an hour. I'm calling this a victory. I picked up a total of 0 rocks. I win.

Not my favorite day

I invited a friend of Mster's to come over the other day so that her mom could run and pick up her siblings since the 2 of them were playing so well together. I went down to the basement a 1/2 later only to find that Mster and this girl had dumped our books onto the floor. We own a lot of books. I immediately called the girls mom (who had been long home but I told her to just leave her girl play for awhile) and said I'm sorry but Msters in BIG trouble.

I guilted Mster. I yelled. I did all things disciplinary and then I put Cster's law books back up and made Mster put all the other books up herself. She was a speedster and cleaned up faster than I thought imaginable. She thought it was the GREATEST mom and daughter activity ever. I only put the law books up because I was worried they would get wrecked if Mster attempted. The fall down probably wasn't any good for them. And I didn't want one to crash on her head while she was putting them back.

Cster came home and claimed the rest of the week a "no friend over week" except for the time I already agreed to babysit a friends kids who happen to be Mster's best friends. All seemed to be well.

Then another friend called me yesterday morning. She needed a place for her daughter to take her nap. I thought "well, a nap isn't having a friend over. I want to help. I should say yes). So I agreed.

The girl came over and played with Lster for 20 minutes until naptime. She slept and woke up but her parents weren't home yet so Mster and her went down into the basement to play. They were playing well and I let them be. Her dad finally came to pick her up 40 minutes later and they came upstairs. We had some things to do and left the house soon after only to arrive home in time for dinner and bed. Later that night I went downstairs to work on my computer and almost died of a heartattack. These 2 girls had transported hundreds and thousands of little rocks into the basement. A fully finished basement. I was so mad. Cster wasn't home and I almost went upstairs to wake Mster up to yell at her.

The next morning I talked to her about it without yelling. I told her she had preschool in the morning but that when she came home she would get lunch and need to head directly downstairs to clean up the rocks. That was over 3 hours ago. There has been tears. There has been yelling. There has been apologies. There has been whining. There has been hurt feelings and still NO ROCKS HAVE BEEN PICKED UP. Her friends mom offered to have her come over before dance class to play for a few minutes and take them both to dance. There has been no friends. There has been no dance class. There has been more tears. And still NO ROCKS HAVE BEEN PICKED UP.

The thing I find most frustrating about the whole situation is that Mster has dissapointed me twice. The first was trashing our basement. The second is her defiance in cleaning it up. What a crappy afternoon. I hate listening to her cry. I hate the whining. I hate telling her to get in the basement. I hate having to hear her cry that she "hates to be alone" and that "she wishes somebody would just come down and be with her". But I can't cave in.

If I go down there what will she do to my basement tomorrow?

Lster's List of Words

For my own benefit I will now list all of Lster's words so I can take it with my to the doctors appt.

Mama
Daddee
Grandma
Grandpa
Milk - Gak
Oatmeal - Oh eal
Please - peas
Diego - Gaygo
Light - (I don't even know how to type it)
Walk - Gak
Ball
Remote - Mope
Car
Blue
Black
Purple
Eight
Two
Most of the letter of the alphabet
No
Yes
Good
Poop
Shoes
Rock
Hi
Bye
TV
Book - Gook
Belle - (yes the princess)
Cinderella - (see light)
Elmo
Juice
nose
eye
mouth
knee
ear
arm
head
hair
duck
truck
boat
help
up
in
out

That's all I got for now but I'm pretty impressed that all of this has happened in the last 2 weeks. I taught him to say Daddee and all of a sudden he won't stop talking. Its awesome. We are having so much fun.

Fire, Fire, Fire

In an attempt to find the perfect 2 year old bday present for Lster I let my kids play at their friends house instead of dragging them to a bunch of stores. While there Mster apparently went up to the mother and said:

"There's a fire in the basement. I don't know who lit it. It was either friend A or friend B."

The fire was the blue light in the furnace.

More Dead Cow

Today Mster and I were role playing with puppets. I like to do this to teach invaluable lessons while Mster thinks we are just playing. In an intermittent moment between lessons my lamb puppet asked Mster's cow what she was having for dinner. The responded:

Well...people drink my milk but I think I'm going to have steak. Now steak comes from cows so I'll have to eat a different cow.

The Future

I'm working on something to add to ValentineKnits. Its taking longer than I had hoped but hopefully I can make a nice BIG announcement by the end of the week. The kind of announcement that doesn't involve picking baby names.

When in Rome...

We were invited to go to Focus on the Family today. They have a kids playground area so I thought it would be fun. (It was actually pretty awesome.)

I almost died laughing when Mster picked out what she would wear today. For her own safety I asked her to change her shirt.

Suggestions

Suggestions on how to tell Lster that even if he wants everything Mster has he can't put princess elastics in his hair?

2 Words

Today Lster said 2 words in a row.

I asked him if he wanted Rice Krispies and he said. "No. Oatmeal."

This is big. Big as a bush.

Its going to be BIG

Me: What are you going to get Daddy for his birthday.
Mster: I'm thinking about it. But its going to be BIG. Big. BIG. Big. Big as a Bush.
Mster: Maybe he needs a bike.
Me: He already owns a bike that he doesn't ride.
Mster: That's why he needs a new bike.

And for Cster's benefit he can't ride it because of his knee.

No Comment

Why does Lster's stomach smell like Febreeze? Uh...No comment.

Did I see Lster in a pink raincoat the other day? Uh...No comment.

Why say words when you can just spell them out?

Lster has decided to jump that whole learning words part and decided to instead learn his letters. As documented earlier he's learned all the letters over the past few months but the past few weeks he's been working on saying all the letters. He can say all the letters in OBAMA. I have to admit its pretty cute.

Oh and he is getting a few more words they just aren't super clear.

"Oh-eel" - Oatmeal (the kids eat cold oatmeal in milk every morning by their request. I add nothing else to it and they often ask for seconds. And we have other cereal in the house)

"I wah" - I want

"Pee" - Please

"Mama" - Mama or Dad

"Meh" - Milk

And I'm trying hard to catch other ones too. I finally realized he's saying stuff this past week. Its just not super clear.

I want

I watched some kids today for an hour. The boy found a popsicle wrapper in the trash.

Boy: I want a popsicle.
Me: We don't have any popsicles.
Boy: I want a popsicle.
Me: That popsicle was given to us by somebody else. We don't have any other ones here.
Boy: I want a popsicle.
Me: Uh...