On March 31st we lost my sister.  This is the video I created for her funeral.

 

My mom has passed away after a year long battle with lung cancer. This is a video to honor her.

Muscle Man Reedy

Strong isn't he :)

Kids Band

When you have three young kids all close in age you expect tips in the van to be a little noisy. We recently went to my sister's house and the kids decided that they were going to form a band and sing for us.....unfortunately they decided they were all three going to sing a different song at the SAME time. In case you are wondering if this is cute or crazy chaotic you can make the decision. Here is the video.

New Toys

I took the kids shopping today and decided to let them each pick out a cheap toy from the dollar bins at Target. My kids are so different.

Elizabeth my 4 year old daughter that loves dresses, hair bows and babies decided to pick Flarp. For those of you not familiar with flarp it is a putty that makes a farting noise when you push on it in the container. Elizabeth thinks it is the funniest thing ever. Gotta love the girl.

Isaac was more sensible with his toy, he was preparing for his future with his toy choice. He decided on a doctor's kit. When we got home I, being the good mom I am, volunteered to be his patient. I told Isaac I did not feel good and he told me "you have to wait because I am in my office"
After waiting a very short time I was seen by "Dr. Oil" I have no clue where the name came from. He told me that he thinks something might be wrong with my heart. He decided to listen to my heart and he said "Yep something is wrong with your heart, it has a blister." I acted concerned and panicked and told him I did NOT want a shot, he told me that it is okay because all I have to do is take some medicine.
Dr. Oil gave me my medicine and then decided that he needed to check and make sure that I was okay. He made me go lay down on his bed so he could take picture, which he said means "x-ray"

Elizabeth then decided that she was also a doctor and she wanted to give me shots. She came out with her "kit." Her kit case was the drawer from her kitchen, inside it was a baby bottle, hamburger bun top, and a round piece from Chloe's stacking toy. Elizabeth took the round piece and rubbed my arm with it, apparently it was an alcohol wipe. Next she took her needle (baby doll bottle) and gave me my shot. Finally she put a bandaid on it, yep the toy hamburger bun top was the bandaid.

Who says kids need expensive toys?

Slacker

I know I know, I suck at keeping up. Let's try again.

Meow

I was watching Elizabeth. She would throw a piece of cereal on the floor and Chloe would crawl over and pick it up with her mouth. She did this a few times and I told her to stop. Of course she is a 4 year old so she just had to throw another one. I told her "stop that, she is not a dog" her response "I know, she is a cat"

DUH Mom.

Melt my heart

Elizabeth is such a darling little girl.......when she wants to be.

We were driving home from shopping, mom and daughter trip. Out of nowhere she says "Momma you are pretty" I love her.

Ring ring

I called home tonight and asked to talk to Isaac. This is our conversation:

Me: "Hello"
Isaac: "Hi momma"
Me: "What do you want for dinner"
Isaac: "Chips"
Me: "What do you want to go with it"
Isaac: "Chips"
Me: "What else"
Isaac: "Chicken and french fries"

Nice try Isaac.

Classy

Can a two year old be classy? I like to think so. I think I may have the classiest two year old around. Let me give you examples:

-Spits in the toilet every time she goes in the bathroom.

-Lifts up her dress to reveal her naked butt and proceeds to shake her butt while saying "shake your butt baby"

-Laughs when she farts.

-Makes sure everyone knows when she poops.

-Puts as much food as humanly possible in her mouth while eating.

Chloe=Class

New Doctor

The kids now have a new pediatrician that they go to. Friday Elizabeth had her first appointment with him. His name is Dr. Crow and he told Elizabeth that he was named after the bird.....of course Isaac picked up on this and kept saying "Dr. Crow Dr. Crow" Elizabeth seemed a little bit nervous because she was not sure what was going to happen. Elizabeth has an extreme fear of shots and she worries that she will have to get a shot whenever she goes any place new, whether it is a dr office or not.
The doctor assured her that he was nice and that he was not going to hurt her. He began looking over her charts and realized she just turned 4 and had not had her 4 year old shots yet. He looked at me and said that he just lied to her because she needed to get caught up on them. I assured him that he did not lie to her since he was not going to be the one that actually gave her the shot.
Well after the doctor left the room to tell the nurse to get the shot ready Elizabeth asked me if she had to get a shot and of course I could not lie to her and get her mad at me later so I told her yes. Instantly the panic set in and I had to frantically search for something to calm her. I told her that if she did good she could have an ice cream after we left. I tried to reason with her through the tears. I got her to calm down a little bit but it wasn't working. I decided to add in that she could also get a juice. I finally got her calmed down and "happy" again. The doctor pops his head around the corner and tells me that he was out of one of the shots and that he could do the rest of them and then get the other one at the health dept.........I opted for no shots so that I would only have to go through the actual shots 1 time, he thought it was a good idea.
Elizabeth left with a new toy from the doctor's treasure chest and no new holes from shots. Of course we had to go get ice cream anyways :)
I am now hoping that I can get her into the health department without her asking if we are there for shots. I don't want her to realize that she has to get one until she sees the needle going to her arm.

Friends are the Spice of My Life.

This post is dedicated to a few of my friends that have recently decided to "come out" about their dislike of certain spices. I tried to convince them to have an open mind about the spices but they are some pretty stubborn friends. Since my friends have decided to become so stubborn on the issue I thought I would educate them through this post about the spices they have so openly dissed.

Kathy has a strong dislike of the spice Cilantro. The following information is for Kathy.
NOTE: This information all comes from a very REPUTABLE source.......the internet.
Cilantro: "One of the most widely used and loved spices in the world"
Health Benefits
-Protects agains Salmonella
-Aids in digestion
-Lowers blood sugar
-Lowers bad cholesterol and highers good cholesetrol
-Good source of iron and fiber (CECILIA you could benefit from this)
-Relieves intestional gas (K** could benefit from this)
It also "disinfects and helps detoxify the body"..............this is helpful when one quits a cleanse and takes up drinking lots of wine. :P

Patty has a strong dislike of Cumin. Patty's dislike is completely unfounded, she dislikes it simply because of it's name, tsk tsk.
The benefits of cumin may come in very helpful for my friends, especially if you knew what they shared with me :-x
Benefits:
-"Boost the power of the liver's ability to detoxify the human body" (hmmm wonder what would affect the liver....drink me)
-Helps with flatulence, indigestion, diarrhea, and nausea. I would say Cumin could even replace the good ole Pepto.

Kim has a dislike for Cream of Tartar.
Cream of Tartar happens to be a byproduct of winemaking, Patty and Kathy both seem to like wine. How can something that comes from the process of making wine be bad. Perhaps this is why Patty and Kathy have both kept their mouths(typing) shut about cream of tartar.
It is also used to make baking powder.
It is a "vital ingredient in Play-Doh" If you get rid of cream of tartar you get rid of a favorite kid passtime :( NOT GOOD.

I hope that my friends have gained very useful information from this post and will carry it with them for the rest of their lives. Next time you are given a dish, such as chili and someone has added cilantro or cumin to it don't turn your nose in the air, instead you should be relieved that it may help with some of the side effects (flatulence/intestional gas) the chili may cause.

Final note of the day: Drink your wine and eat your spices to help your liver fight off the wine.

Love you gals :)

A wonderful day at the Park

Today we decided to have a family day since both Tommy and I were off of work. The flowers were in full bloom so we decided to take lots of pictures. The kids seemed to love it, they ran wild, lots of open field to run in. They chased squirrels, smelled flowers, climbed rocks, and peed in the bush.

That's right. Isaac decided he had to pee really bad and we were not near a bathroom so I told Tommy to take him to the side and let him pee. The park we went to was a pretty happening place to be today so Tommy tried his hardest to be discreet, he was very successful. I am pretty sure Isaac has absolutely NO idea what discreet means. He came running back to me and for the next 3 minutes talked about how he peed in a bush..........of course we walked by quite a few people as he LOUDLY and happily told me. Obviously we never let him pee outside so he was pretty excited about this.

Overall it was a very pleasant trip. Here are a few fun pictures for your enjoyment.

I love being a mom

Being a mom has several rewards, the list could go on forever. Here are some examples of motherhoods best things.

The first time your child says your name.

The first time he/she says "I love you."

Cuddle time.

Those are really sweet aren't they. To me one of my favorite things about having children is having live in comedians. I can pretty much guarantee that I will have a minimum of 5 laughing spells in a given day. My mom once asked me if I only had children so that I could play with them, sounds good to me. What prompted this post you might ask, let me tell you today's funny LOL moment.

Elizabeth was apparently extremely dehydrated after being out all day and not having her usual 10 glasses of water (in the morning). When we got home she drank TONS of water. A few minutes later she came up to me and said "Momma listen to the water in my belly." I listened to the water slosh around in her belly as she jumped up and down. If you are not familiar with this sound just go to youtube.com and sear belly full of water. Elizabeth thought it was just great. Moms never run out of entertainment.

Happy Birthday Sweet Chloe

Just wanted to say happy birthday to my angel Chloe.

2 years ago today.

Isaac and Elizabeth's first time meeting Chloe.

Arachnophobia

Arachnophobia is defined by wikipedia as the irrational fear of spiders. This can be very serious and can affect people badly.

I respect people that have this fear, I really do. That being said my husband has a severe case of arachnophobia and I am constantly making fun of him.

I took Chloe's diaper off when we got home today and since she had not peed in it I decided to use it as a sort of practical joke for my kids. Elizabeth was in the bathroom washing her hands so I decided to take a fake toy spider and put it in the diaper and I told Elizabeth there was a spider in it. I then opened the diaper super fast and moved it very quickly towards her. She got a quick look of panick and fear on her face and then laughed. I know this sounds mean to do to an unsuspecting 4 year old but hey I get my laughs where I can, don't judge. I thought Elizabeth's reaction was funny so I tried it on Isaac and got a similar reaction, but not as frightened.

Tommy was in the kitchen and had no clue what I had just done to his children, or else he would have been a part of it. Well I took this lack of knowledge and used it against him. I took the spider and put it back in the diaper and did the same thing to Tommy. Those of you that actually know Tommy are probably already laughing. Tommy had a quick moment of shock and fear but unlike his kids he was not quiet, he had to add a scared "Ahhhh" in there. I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe, I am sure Tommy would have been embarrassed if I had not seen him freak out about real or fake spiders in the past.

I do have to defend Tommy and say that this spider was VERY scary looking. I mean it was orange. Take a look at this scary thing.............the spider that scared my family:

Scary huh

My sweetheart.

Isaac is my sweetheart child. We were playing in the backyard and our neighbor, my kids Sunday school teacher, was walking down the street after visiting another neighbor. She waved at the kids and told them hello. My kids were lined up at the fence to get some attention from her, Isaac won. She was trying to get back home, probably to have dinner or rest after work when Isaac yelled at her "Mrs Cami, I got you a flower" in his hand was a flower. Who could resist that, not her. She walked across the street and got the flower and told him thank you, meanwhile Elizabeth ran around frantically looking for a flower for her. When Cami was half way back across the street Elizabeth yelled that she also had a flower for her, so she came back again. Chloe quick to pick up on the attention they were getting quickly picked a weed and put her hand through the fence and gave it to her also. I love my sweet kids.

Death

My kids have not really had much exposure to death and dying, except for the tons of bugs that they have taken the lives of. Today it was really nice outside so we decided to play in the back yard. Isaac was leading us out there and our dog lady came to greet us. Isaac started yelling at me and his exact words were "Momma, Lady died a bird" Our lovely dog was carrying around a bird that she had captured. I quickly covered up the bird that she dropped at my feet and waited for Tommy to take care of it, no way was I going to touch the nasty thing.
You would think that was the end of the story but not if you know my kids. Our neighbors were outside playing across the street and I guess Isaac thought they should know that Lady got a bird. I am sure my entire neighborhood now knows that "LADY DIED A BIRD!" thanks to Isaac yelling it. At least it sounds better than saying killed.

Kid Quotes

Me: "I love you."
Elizabeth: "No you don't, I love you"

Elizabeth: "Can I have candy"
Me: "Maybe"
Elizabeth: "Say maybe yes"

Monday: Isaac: "No school?"
Tuesday: Isaac: "No school?"
Wednesday: Isaac: "No school?"
Thursday: Isaac: "No school?"
Do you sense a theme?

OH GIRL :)

I love my kids every minute of every day but sometimes I really have to remind myself. For a solid 2 hours Isaac and Elizabeth seemed to try whatever they could think of to annoy the other. I don't know how many times I heard them yell "MOMMA" and then continue on to tell on the other one. I heard fighting over everything from who gets to sit where on the couch to who gets to play with Chloe. When it gets bad enough I try to just send them to their rooms, which is not always successful considering their rooms are directly across from each other.

Needless to say I was very ready for "naptime" today. Of course naps in this house consist of Chloe sleeping and the older two laying on the couch watching tv..........I commonly refer to it as my sanity time. After I put Chloe in bed I was fixing Elizabeth some water and I poured about 1/2 cup of juice in it and told her not to tell because it was our secret, guess what she said next, "Can Isaac have some too?" there went all the annoyance with her. The next thing she did was took Isaac his cup and told him that she loved him. It is crazy how quickly your mood can change just from sweet little gestures from a 4 year old girl...........of course it helps when she looks like this: