Happy President's Day!

Normally I don't go around wishing people a Happy President's Day. And unless you are a postal worker with a Monday vacation day, or a shopper looking for good bargain in the middle of February, President's Day is mostly well, just another day.

The boys have been busy this month at preschool learning about Groundhog Day (which became a snow day), dental hygiene, Valentine's Day, and President's Day.

Big Sticky came home this afternoon with the following artwork. I was so impressed, I just had to share. He doodled a picture of good 'Ole George and Abe. George's hair is little more spiked than his normal powdered wig and Abe is missing his signature top hat and beard, however, I thing my almost five year old did an excellent job representing their character. I know, I know, they look just a little like aliens, but hey, what do you expect?

Good job little buddy!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Friday Free-For-All :: My Valentines

On this edition, I pay tribute to my Top 5 Valentines.

5. My parents. My mom who travels two hours each way nearly every weekend to see her grandbabies. And while she's here, she typically ends up helping with laundry and picking up toys and preparing food between hugs and kisses and silly stories from the little people in our house. Then there is my dad who travels the same distance in less time (HeHe) to see his grandbabies. And while he's here, he will build out an addition to the playset, or powerwash the fence, or mend our broken gate between hugs and kisses and silly stories from the little people in our house.

Not surprisingly, there is a three-way tie for second (listed in reverse birth order).

T2. Princess. My sweet little girl who greets me every morning with the biggest dimpled grin, gives me real kisses and loves to bury her head in my lap while she gives me big hugs. And like any true valentine, she loves to share milkshakes - both chocolate and strawberry.

T2. Little Sticky. I love, love, love, how this little guy throws his arms around my knees, squeezes as hard as he can, looks up at me with his bright blue eyes and says, "Mommy, I wuuub you!"

T2. Big Sticky. This is my sweet valentine. He gives great big bear hugs and likes to cuddle on the couch while I read him a story or play the missing number game. He is a true big brother and loves to shower his siblings with gentle hugs and kisses.

1. Honey. That's what I've called him since early on. I love how he makes me laugh and plays with the kids and works so hard for our family so that I can stay home with the babies AND he doesn't mind when I add a few pounds here and there (or at least he doesn't seem to mind). And let's face it, if it weren't for him, I'd have a lot less Valentines on my list!!

Happy Happy Valentine's!!

Here We Snow Again!

What does SNOW mean to a northerner? NORMALCY. My husband who recently returned from Vermont said that it snowed all week. No big deal. They showed no concern of taking to the road and don't even lift from their seat at work to peak out the window when it begins to flurry.

What does SNOW mean to a southerner? PANIC. The mere thought of the little white stuff sends us all scurrying to the grocery store to purchase every last loaf of bread and any remaining jugs of milk no matter the size of the carton or percentage of fat. You know, because we have to eat cereal and sandwiches while we're holed up for 3-4 days.

What does snow mean to a mom of preschoolers? PUNISHMENT. Obviously I have recently done something so terribly wrong to deserve this prison sentence. You might as well lock me up in a messy Lion's Den after rubbing me down with a rare Porterhouse steak and let them chomp at me. Entrapped in the house with the flurry of children bored out of their minds is making me lose mine.

So let me break it all down for you.

Saturday - Day 1: We wake up to approximately 4 inches on the ground. The stuff is still coming down sideways. However, it is no longer snow. It is sleet. The only snow that we do see is from the wind gusts blowing the powder off the roof. When the precip finally stops early afternoon, we start dressing all of the kids. It takes about 30 minutes per child to get them covered in 4 to 6 layers. By the time you get the last one dressed, the first one either needs to go to the bathroom or has already kicked off their boots or mittens. Even so, we charge forward with our wintry adventure. The boys immediately start scooping up the powder to try and make snowballs. When that doesn't work, they start diving into the snow. Everything they were doing led to one thing... after 20 minutes (less than the amount of time to dress each of them) they were wet and cold and ready to go in. Ugh.

We go inside and toss wet pants and mittens and socks and hats and jackets and scarves all over the place. After making hot cocoa, the boys and their 4 year old friend head upstairs while the adults sit down and warm up by the fire. Ahh! Now this is more like it. We talked about adult things all the while naively thinking the children were upstairs playing nice. Little did we know the boys were very busy throwing toys - lots of toys - out of their second story bedroom and onto the snowy ground below. OMG! I was horrified! So, after quickly back, back, backing the kids away from the window, I lean thru the same opening trying to grab the toys off the roof. I had to use part of their train track to flick the remaining toys onto the ground to join their toy friends. I then grabbed a bucket to trek out into the snow and pick up all the toys. The boys were then promptly put in their pjs and ordered to bed.

Day 2 - 4 (as they just announced school is closed again tomorrow) coming soon! In the meantime, enjoy pics from Day 1.

And as a sidebar, we have purchased additional safety locks for the windows as the children have obviously figured out how to unlock the ones originally provided by the manufacturer.

The picture above are the toys that landed on the roof.
The picture below are the toys that landed on the ground.

And below are all the toys that were picked up off the ground. Still covered in snow.

And of course I have to include pictures of my little snow bunnies all bundled up.

Friday Free-For-All :: The Airport

My husband has recently been travelling for work which involves frequent trips to and from the airport. This Free-For-All list is all about the airport with preschoolers.

1) Little boys think that moving pedestrian walkways are the coolest thing ever. And mommies think that moving pedestrian walkways are the coolest thing ever for keeping little boys busy. How much do you think it would cost to have them installed in the backyard? Better yet, it would be super cool to have a bi-directional one installed upstairs in the hallway. That might just make laundry more fun.

2) One evening while my husband was gone, we decided to try Skype. The boys got so excited because they were going to get to see Daddy. However, when Big Sticky realized it was on the computer, he said "But I don't want to talk to that Daddy. I want to talk to the Daddy we left at the airport." (Rest assured folks the two daddy's he is referring to is one in the same. No breaking news stories here... just a little boy who thought he was going to see his daddy in person.)

3) When trying to get your sons to be careful on the escalator, you might want to make sure that you are also doing the same. Especially when wearing wedge shoes and toting a child on your hip. Yes. I tripped up the escalator. Fell on my bum. L'edMAO. Made a quick glance around to see who was looking, and then brushed it off as if one of the boys accidentally fell into me.

4) Immediately after getting daddy, piling all the kids and luggage into the car and then taking off, Princess decides she is overcome with emotion and gets sick... very sick. It was yucky and stinky. And because of airport security, you can't just pull over anywhere to clean up everything. We finally pull over at the observation deck so that Daddy could get the boys out and keep them safely preoccupied while I cleaned up Princess, the van, and her carseat. It was so smelly, we had to drive home in the freezing cold with the windows cracked open. Ugh.

5) Speaking totally from my husband's perspective, there is probably no better feeling than to arrive home after a long week of unfamiliar people and places to hear two little boys yell at the top of their lungs, "Daddy! Daddy!" as they dart thru strangers to get to their very own Super Hero. Oh yeah, and then there is Princess who is practically leaping out of her mommy's arms to get to her Prince Charming.

Welcome home Daddy! And just in time to play in the snow!

Fourteen Baby Dolls

This Christmas, Princess received no less than 14 baby dolls, a giant head stuffed Mickey Mouse, and a super soft fluffy puppy. Her toy(s) of preference?

Still the planes...

...the trains

...the automobiles

...the Gator

...the trike

...and the Leapsters that Santa brought her brothers. Notice a Lightning McQueen Cars game cartridge.


I see a future President of the "Tomboys of America" Club.

Friday Free-For-All :: Kitchen for Dummies

Second edition of the Friday Free-For-All. This one should be dubbed the Kitchen for Dummies list. And away it goes.

1) Cream of Tartar is a powder. It is also a vital ingredient for Play-dough (if you ever need to make your own). Inquiring minds like myself had to to know exactly what this stuff is and does. So, like any true research analyst would do, I wikipedia'd it. Also known as potassium hydrogen tartrate, CoT is a byproduct of winemaking. Hmm. I was quite fascinated with my new found knowledge. You really should look it up the next time you are feeling a little bit inquisitive and have an extra six minutes to kill.

2) I use one of those nifty little microwave splatter guard toppers to keep my food from, well, splattering of course. It works great and I hardly ever have to wipe down my nuker anymore. However, I recently learned that you shouldn't pop a bag of popcorn on top of it. Turns out the two will melt together. Oops.

3) Canned pumpkin is not found in the canned vegetable aisle. After searching two different grocery stores, I learned that it is shelved with the pie fillings. So there you go. And just in case you are ever told that you can substitute a can of pumpkin for the egg and oil needed to make a chocolate cake from a box, you absolutely can. The texture is almost identical. However, it will have a slight pumpkin taste which can easily be masked with a topping of ice cream. But that kind of defeats the purpose. Right?

4) Diapers can double duty as a pick-up for large liquid spills in the kitchen - especially for those spills that are so far from the sink or trashcan that while running with a gianormous pile of dripping wet paper towels you would leave a greater mess of sticky polka dots all over the floor that, if missed during clean-up, will eventually morph into what I like to call "floor velcro."


5) Spring mounted cafe rods can be used to make your own pantry platter organizer. Simply place two rods on the vertical between shelves. I added a rubber drawer liner to keep my platters from slipping. See photo below. You can thank Martha for this one.

Friday Free-For-All :: Randomness

I recently learned that a blogger friend of mine does a weekly list. Since the purpose of me blogging is to record and share memories, tidbits, and tiny tales, a weekly list affords me a "quick" avenue for adding more content to this site.

For now, I am calling it Friday Free-For-All. Why Free4All? Because the list is totally random in nature. You may see something one of the kids said or did, something I learned, a milesstone met, or just some indiscriminate mommy moment. I will try and keep it short and limit the list to five items. My plan is to make the posts each Friday - just because I try to flush my brain over the weekend.

Thanks to Melissa for the idea!! So here goes.

1) Princess can now open doors. Apparently, we are raising a future cat burglar. Since she (at only 17 months) has already figured out how to get past child proof cabinet locks, navigate the step ladder in the pantry, climb out of her crib, and can now open doors, we are at a total loss as to how we keep unfriendly kid products out of her reach. I am SO open to ideas on this one...

2) If you happen to run out of glue and by chance have a box of Strawberry Milkshake Poptarts in your pantry, the inside filling will adhere virtually any porous and non-porous substance. That stuff literally sticks to anything.

3) The dollar store = cheap entertainment. Each child gets to choose two items for purchase. One to keep and one to share. I normally get out of there for 6 bucks or less. However, I need to make sure the boys go potty beforehand. Our last visit, they allowed us to go back into the storage room, only for Big Sticky to hit the Emergency Exit door handle. (You may recall he did this once before at Macy's.) Not only is the siren SO loud, it is SO embarassing!

4) Little Sticky announced earlier in the week that he no longer liked Lamby and Teddy and that Sister could now have them. Of course, by the end of the week he had a total change of heart and was back to carrying his two best friends all over the house. Oh how I love that little guy!!

5) Realization. Santa's bounty of toys has caused an increase in potty accidents. Both boys seem much more interested in playing with their new toys rather than listening to their body. Since I can't bare to let eventual boredom resolve this problem, I have reverted back to setting an hourly alarm. Sigh.

Little Boys Caught Making Puddles

When I was younger (a lot younger), I remember having framed "art" in our bathroom that said "Little boys caught making puddles, Are surely going to be in trouble."

After having a plumber just leave our house, I know two little boys who are surely going to be in trouble! It all started innocently enough with a bath. No, actually it started two weeks ago with mother nature. Frigid cold air and boys being kept inside. So boredom and a bath was the combination for the latest fiasco at this address.

It was late in the afternoon. Neither boy had taken a nap. I had bunko later in the evening and wanted to help my husband out by getting the kids fed, bathed, and worn out. So I feed them lupper (late lunch/early supper) and then put them in the bath, more specifically, I put them in our bath, the big garden tub. And let's face it, for kids, those tubs are like a mini swimming pool. The boys didn't want bubbles 'cause "they're too scratchy?" So after I filled the bath they both dove in and started playing with their water toys while I finish sorting laundry on our bed. That should wear them out for daddy! The last thing I say to them is "No splashing or you will have to get out."

In the meantime, Princess, who also didn't take an afternoon nap, starts getting a little fussy. I take her downstairs to fix her a quick bottle before putting her to bed a little earlier than usual. Just as I am screwing the top on her bottle, I hear a strange noise in the family room. I peak around the corner and nearly gasp all of the air from the downstairs in one breath. Water is pouring through the can light over the fireplace and onto the floor!! O.M.G!!!

I take off running up the stairs and find the two boys still IN the bath and nearly half the water OUT of the bath on the floor. I am paralized. I don't know what to do first! Do I grab a bunch of towels for this floor or the downstairs floor? Do I get the kids out of the tub or just stand there and scream at them? Think! Think! No, take 10 breaths and calm down, nevermind, you don't have time for that! Just get moving lady!!

Okay, okay. So I realize the tub is draining. I plug the tub and start grabbing towels and throwing them on the floor while politely scolding the dear children. Okay, I admit it, I was screaming at the kids. There goes that new years resolution! I pull the boys out of the bath, grab a few more towels and march them downstairs naked and shivering to see the water pouring from the ceiling. I explain (insert little white lie here) calmly that this is why we are NOT supposed to splash. They both look completely puzzled and ask "Mommy, why is there water coming from the ceiling?" BTW, young children don't understand the phrase "DUH!" along with the head nod body language that normally accompanies and the really curious ones will innocently follow with "Mommy, what does duh mean?" Insert deep breath, huge sigh, big eye roll.

I then put more towels down to soak up the water already on the floor and to catch the water still falling from the ceiling, which is finally starting to taper off. I get them back upstairs and dressed and order them to sit on their bed. I head back to the bathroom to start investigating.

Where exactly is this water coming from? I notice there is water everywhere and two different cracks in the caulking. I'm not sure if the water is coming from the cracks or if there could possibly be a leak in the plumbing. So I decide to do a test. I unplug the drain (as there was still about two inches of water left in the bath). I run back downstairs and sure enough water starts pouring thru the light again. It must be the drain pipe!

So just before 5 on a Friday, I am calling a plumber. Not wanting to pay for emergency service, I make an appointment for Monday. The plumber on the phone indicates that when a TV speaker was installed just under the tub 5 years ago, a screw could have pierced the drain pipe and could have recently rusted out leaving a hole in the pipe. Believing his theory, I feel just a little bit guilty for blaming the boys and their splashing.

That guilt all changed this morning when the plumber who cut a HOLE in my ceiling and ran some "drain" tests could not find any leak. Thus, coming to the conclusion that the splashing and the small cracks in the caulking did in fact cause the pouring water thru the ceiling. So as I look up into the 9 inch square hole in my ceiling revealing a pipe and a lovely fiberglass tub bottom, I recall once again "little boys caught making puddles, are surely going to be in trouble!"



Anyone know a good drywall guy?

17 Months Old Today!

Our little Princess of Sticky is 17 months old today. She could also be called Princess of Mischief. Princess Copycat (she will try anything she sees her brothers do - which is NOT good!) Princess of Happytown. Princess of Sillytown. Princess Dimples. She also answers to Love Bug and Sister Pie (Little Sticky calls her the latter).

Mommy's little multi-tasker!

Just don't text and drive little lady!

Is she sticking her tongue out at me? Is that THE finger?

What IS she doing here?

READERS CHALLENGE: Add the best caption to this last photo in the comments section by Tuesday the 12th and win free editing of your favorite snapshot!!

Editing may include any of the following: Removing stains on clothes, boo-boos on skin, distractions in background, minimizing wrinkles and even taking off 10 pounds!! (depending on clothing pattern as plaid is a little hard to disguise).

Winner will be announced here and on our FB fan page.

Thawing out...

Brain freeze. Normally associated with sucking down a super creamy chocolate shake too fast. In my case, it is the result of 2 1/2 weeks of Christmas chaos with the Holiday hooligans who because of the outdoor freezing temperatures have been forced to stay inside and resultingly have ransacked my house with their new planes, trains, and automobiles. And I mean that in a total literal sense.

I haven't been able to think, let alone write or blog. But today things have changed. The boys finally returned to preschool this morning and despite the outside freezing temps, this one event has caused my brain to move into defrost mode. Inside my head feels a little more like slush which means we are ever so close to normalcy.

I cannot believe the Season of Christmas is already over. The only reminders that linger are a few pieces of evergreen and glitter that the vacuum missed, several presents still in their opened boxes that I haven't put away, and just under three hundred cardboard boxes that need to be de-twist-tied and flattened so that I can take them to the local recycling center.

Now we move officially into 2010. I haven't even thought about resolutions. I just know that I need to eat less, exercise more, and yell at the kids a little more softly. So far, I have eaten less, but only because I refused to go grocery shopping until the kids were back in school. The only exercise I have gotten so far is dodging nerf bullets and remote control cars, so I'll have to keep working on that one.

And how about that yelling thing? Well, I must say 5 days into the new year and I have done pretty darn good. After ratting me out the last day of preschool before the holidays, Little Sticky's teacher didn't greet me this afternoon with "Did you talk ugly to him this morning?"

Happy New Year everyone!

Merry Christmas!!

Thankfully, I was able to get at least one photo of all three kids (together in one frame) that worked for our Christmas cards this year!

Have a very Merry Christmas everyone!!

Mommy's Wish List

Dear Santa,

I've been a really good girl this year. Except for that one time when I was screaming and yelling at the children for screaming and yelling. Anyway, I'd like the following for Christmas this year:

** A $3,000 gift card to AutoBell. I know it seems like a lot, but those guys will vacuum out the van for me and I need it done at least twice a week.
** Unlimited hours to that drop-in child care center around the corner. (No explanation needed.)
** A spa visit. Just an hour will do... every week.
** Patience. I know you gave me some last year, but I totally ran out. In fact, could you double what you gave me last Christmas as that stuff was completely gone about six months ago.
** Housekeeping. Now this one's a little tricky. I need a thousand hours. However, I need it broken up into three 1 hour trips a day. Preferably after each meal to clean the floor.
** Gourmet food delivery. That's actually for me and my husband. I can handle cooking up the chicken nuggets and jelly sandwiches for the kids. But I would really like to slop up some epicurean delights with the hubby and I just don't have the time to whip it up myself.
** Clothes. I need lots and lots of clothes for the entire family as one of my new year's resolution is to no longer do laundry.

Oh yeah, one more thing,
** Peace on Earth. I know that's a tall order. And I totally understand if you can't do the whole Earth thing. But could you at least concentrate on the 3500 square feet under my roof?

Thanks Santa!! And I promise to leave out more cookies for you. I left a whole plateful last year, but I think my husband ate most of them before we went up to bed.

Most sincerely,
Sticky Mom

Look Mom, I've Been Published!

Well, in another blog anyway. I have been asked to participate in a new mommy blog called Southern MOMentum or SoMo for short. The blog is all about Moms hitting their stride in life. It has all kinds of useful and witty information for Moms. It's cute & sassy, and best of all, it will show you that none of us are perfect in the world of motherhood. We are hoping it will encourage you to give yourself a break and to inspire you to live simply and to love and laugh your way through life and the wonderfully, challenging journey of raising children.

Check out my article titled "I Want, I Want, I Want..." and then if you like, bookmark the site and also look for us on Twitter and Facebook!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

A picture is worth a thousand words. But in the case of a Christmas Card photo, a picture is worth a thousand stories. Whether it's a photo from a vacation showing the kids building castles in the sand, or hugging Mickey Mouse, or waiting at the top of a ski lift, most photo card givers try their best to depict a memorable event from the year. Some use a photo with Santa, or a picture of their pet, and some get real fancy, create a photo collage of several pictures and even include a letter of all the exciting things they did throughout the year.

Then there are those of us who go all out. You know who you are, present company included. The Christmas Card photo must depict your little *angels*, all decked out in Holiday appropriate matchy matchy (or at least coordinating) attire, hair perfectly groomed, and just the right background setting. If you will notice, most families that attempt these photos have children under the age of 5. Why? Because parents of young children are naive, no brave, no, they have too much time on their hands (Ha!) and need to spend hours of prepping and planning for the perfect photo.

But shouldn't we want our photo to be more realistic? Why stage it with all the fluff and stuff? Because nobody wants to see my real life children. That would be a photo of three runny nose kids with crazy wake-up hair, still in their breakfast stained pajamas sitting on the floor in a big pile of messy toys. We'll just hold onto to those photos for screensavers and emails to the grandparents thank you very much.

So, as this story is going, the story behind the photo is not at all about the perfect children in the picture. It is the story of what it took to capture the image. My first attempt of this year's Christmas Card photo was at our Fall beach trip. I got all three kids up and dressed and out on the sand. After my sister-in-law and husband jumped up and down and did every trick imaginable to get the kids attention while I clicked away at my shutter approximately 400 times, I got nothing. OK, maybe one or two that might work - with lots of help from Photoshop. Ugh. I will have to try again.

So this past Tuesday, the weather forecast was sunny, not too cold, and no wind. None of the kids had runny green noses or scratches on their face. Perfect! I'll pick the boys up from preschool, change their clothes, bribe them with a trip to the park, and get this task crossed off my To Do list. It took me approximately 45 minutes to get all three kids dressed and cowlicks combed out and crust scraped off their face. We jumped in the van and drove to a nicely manicured green space in our neighborhood. Lots of room for the kids to run off and not get too bored with my "photo session." I reminded the boys about 6000 times about the trip to the park if they cooperated. Do they even know what that words means? Apparently not.

So, I get all three kids sitting on a pretty little iron bench, remind the boys, "Hands to ourselves," (never works BTW), get myself into position, and then pull out my secret weapon - wait for it - the rubber chicken. Say wha? A rubber chicken. Shh! It's this gross looking rubber chicken that makes the strangest noise - Bagaaawww - or if you squeeze it really hard - Bagaaaaawwwwww. The best part? Kids think it's hilarious. I got the tip while attending a photography session with Sandy Puc. And it works. At least for 1-3 photos. Then I learned it backfires. After I squeezed that bird about 6 times, my boys wanted it. That is when our short lived session first began to unravel.

Then they came. The landscapers. Or better described - the leaf blowers. Our neighborhood is about 1000 acres with tons of greenspaces and parks and they choose the 20 foot radius near me and the kids to blow leaves. Are you kidding me? So Princess starts crying from the noise, which then makes her nose start running. And the boys jump up and run away. Far, far, away, down the greenspace. They can't hear me yelling to come back because of all the leaf blowing noise polution. So I just decide to put my camera down for a few (count to 10 before I lose it) and let the boys roll around in the wet grass to work off some energy. When we finally regroup, I get the kids posed once again, and what's that? A lady. A curious lady and her granddaughter. Standing dead center in the background pointing at us. "That's so cute!" I see her mouth to her granddaughter. Big sigh. The thought of photoshopping out this lady and child is not appealing to me at all. So I dismiss the idea of another group shot and send the kids off to play while I bury my head in my lap. We're done.

Below are a few "Best of the Worst." These (if any) won't be making it on our 2009 cards.

"Mommy, I want to hold the chicken, now."

"But mommy, I already said cheese!"

"Mommy, hold me pl-ease!"
THE chicken.

Big Sticky appearing to choke his siblings.

I sat the boys on the corner, posed Princess facing me.

I quickly backed up, focused the lens, and "click."

Perfect. Just what I was looking for.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I could just gobble her up!

Hey! Wait a minute! That's not turkey!

The boys sang some Thanksgiving Day song they learned at preschool.

Couldn't really make out all the words or you know I would share!

Would it be so hard to get both boys to look at the camera and smile? I know, you're thinking, "Hey, you should thank your lucky stars they sat still!"
The reason?
I purposefully waited until their cousins wore them out running up and down the stairs, wrestling, searching for leaves, and throwing rocks in the creek!

Walkie no Talkie

At 15 months, Princess is finally walking on two feet (my previous post from 08/30 showed she was walking on all fours.) I was hesitant in wishing her to walk. You know, once they start, you can't make them stop. But I was tired of carrying her all the time. And as soon as we were in public, or at least any place with a nasty floor, she would want to get down and crawl. It was killing me.

Now she looks "oh so cute" getting around like a little Frankenstein (as she doesn't bend her knees and simply sways from her left flat foot to her right flat foot). The only difference between her and young Frank, is that rather than holding her arms straight out, she bends the right one at the elbow with her hand up in the air - as if she is carrying a phanthom purse.

Now to the Talking. Currently, she is making lots of noises, but not a single audible word. Just sounds. Weird sounds. In fact, I have dubbed her the Princess of Eghh Neghh. There must be somewhere out there an imaginary Land of Eghh Neghh's. That's the kind of stuff she says all day long. From the moment she wakes in the morning until the time she is ready to turn in, she talks to the Eghh Neghh's. In the morning, I can hear her in the nursery. She sits in her crib with Dolly, Lamby, Bunny, Bear, and Froggie and hams it up. "Eickk neck whick yock." "Gaah gaah yaah yaah." "Leck ik nyick yock."

The phonetics are quite strange. It's not a Mork from York Na-noo Na-noo kind of thing. Instead, everything ends in ck, gh, or ah. The only distiguinshible sound that anyone has been able to discern is "Keeck." Her version of "Thank you." At least she has manners about her.

Am I worried... you know... that someone may think she is a little slow? Oh to the contrary! This is a sign of true genious. How many 15 month olds have created their own language and rule over so many (I count them 8) stuffed animals?

So, with hesitation, I wish to hear just a "Mama" or "Dada." Or anything that consistently refers to the folks that care for her on a daily basis.

I know, I know. Be careful what you wish for. I've already got one that says "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy" about 5, 364 times a day. And another that says, "Ma-e, Ma-e, Maaa-eeee" just under 400 times a day. Who knows, maybe soon I'll start hearing "Magh-magh, Magh-magh, Maaaaagh-maagh".

Third Time's a Charm

So this past Thursday, I get all three kids, school bags, lunch boxes, diaper bag for Princess, my jeans for the tailor, and a bag of stuff to return to Target, all packed in the car. We are SO close to being on time today. Whoo! Hoo!

I go to crank the van and Rerrr, Rerr, Rer as the dashboard lights slowly fade to nothing. Are you kidding me? NOT a dead battery. I jump out of the car as the boys let me know that the movie is not on. Duh! More than likely, THAT is the reason for my dead battery. I had noticed the sliding van door was open as we entered the garage. Most likely that means one of the boys had gotten in the van yesterday while we were home all day for Veteran's Day, left the door open, which lead to the quietness of my engine this morning.

Ugh! I opened the hood, grabbed my charger pack and hooked it up to the battery. Tried the starter and Rerrr, Rerrr, Rerrr. Nothing. OMG. Seriously? I grabbed the house phone and tried my next door neighbor. "Are you busy? Can you please drive over?" I frantically start moving all the stuff, no junk, ok, I admit, its just a bunch of crap out of the way, so that my neighbor can pull her car far enough into the garage for my jumper cables to reach.

She opens her hood and I am surprised by the size of her teeny little battery. Hmmm. That's odd. Oh, well. Let's get this going. I hook up red to positive, black to her frame, then red to my postive, black to my frame. We start her up, then me, and again - Rerrrr, Rerrrrrr, Rerrrrr. It's getting worse. My neighbor then says, "I think the black on mine is supposed to be hooked to the negative charge." Duh. Ladies rule. We can do this! I'm sure that's the problem. We try again, same thing. Uggh. Then she mentions that maybe it has something to do with her car being a hybrid. Hmmmm. As we stand out in the driveway discussing, we see my otherside next door neighbor out in the yard with his dog. We yell him down, explain my dilema and have him drive over. Somewhere in all this, I called my dad a few hundred times who makes sure I have connections in the right place and wonders if my starter could be loose?

While all this is drama is going on outside the van, I've got even more drama inside the van. My screaming kids, all still buckled into their seats asking "what's wrong with the movie", "why aren't we moving", "why is the car broken", "mommy can I get out now", "mommy are we going to preschool", asking my neighbor they've seen a bagillion times, "What's your name again?"

So my other neighbor pulls in, verifies with me that red is positive, black is negative, hooks up to his battery, then to mine, again n.o.t.h.i.n.g!!! What the heck??? In fact, it is getting worse!! So I politely thank a second neighbor and send them both back to their days and resolve to being at home with all three kids for another day. My dad on the otherhand, has plans to drive almost two hours to come help me, because he can't have his baby and her babies be without a motorized vehicle in the event an emergency were to arise.

"Wait" I say. You see, I have one more trick in my back pocket. Not my husband...are you kidding? He is in meetings from the time he enters his work premise until the time he leaves. And because I have emailed him way too many full size 8 MB pictures of the kids, my email and full i.p. address (so I can't make up new emails - trust me, I've tried) have been blocked so that I basically cannot call him or email him the entire work day!

My last option, is my surrogate husband - A neighbor friend, golf buddy, and co-worker of my husband. One of those "Jack of all trades, master of none" kind of guys that can rig most anything to work. So I give him a call, thinking maybe he is off work today or working from home? Turns out he is off on vacation, and currently leaving BJ's wholesale club, headed home.

While I wait, I let the kids out of the car. The boys start playing in the yard in the windy and drizzly remnants of the nor'easter that has lingered for DAYS. I then call preschool to let them know we aren't coming today (since they are more than an hour late into a 3.5 hour school day.) Just as I'm getting off the phone, Big Sticky announces that Little Sticky has pooped in his pants. Well that's just what I needed right now. And to top it all off, I'm about 2 hours past a good cup of coffee. So I get Little in the house, take his dirties off, clean him up, leave him bare bottomed as my third neighbor has now pulled up.

He opens his hood and I gasp with excitement at the size of the battery under the hood of his SUV. It's twice the size of the hybrid, and a third as large as my own. He hooks the cable to his battery with the car cranked, I walk over to my battery and ZAPP!! I squeal as sparks fly. Apparently, I crossed my positive and negative, a big no-no. Anyway, we get it hooked up, and VOILA! It works first try! Yipee! I am ecstatic! An hour and a half late, but ecstatic!

I then run upstairs, get Little some clean pants. Get all the kids back in the car as fast as my arms and legs will allow me and we are off with the movie now playing. I call preschool back to sing, "We're com-ing!" I know they will only get to stay at school for just under two hours, but their lunch is packed and two hours is just enough time to drink a suuuuper large cup of coffee, head to the tailors, and the grocery store, all without preschoolers!

Floored

I've always enjoyed giving unwelcomed advice tips and I am a less than subtle huge promoter of stuff that works. So, every now and then, when I run across something that I think you may find useful, or I think is good value for your money, I will send out the 4-1-1 (information).

We have hardwood floors downstairs. Dirty, sticky, and scratched, hardwood floors. I started out using Swiffer Wet Jet. The product claimed to be safe for hardwoods and it came with appealing disposable pads. After going thru two bottles of the stuff, my floors started looking incredibly dull. Almost as if they had been stripped of their varnish.

So, I switched to a new product. Orange GLO Hardwood Floor 4-N-1. This stuff is awesome! Not only does it remove the sticky spilled orange juice residue but it leaves my floors quite shiny. Polished, if you will.

The only thing I didn't like about this product is it recommended using a mop head with a micro-fiber cloth. The cloths need to be laundered after using which I felt was a waste of a precious (I've got too many dirty clothes around here to be wasting a) wash cycle. I went ahead anyway and bought a couple of the cloths. I noticed after a few cleanings and subsequent runs thru the washer, they turned crunchy on me. And crunchy cloths no longer make for a nice polished floor.

Hmm. What now? I didn't want to spend more money on cloths. So, since I had a few of the Swiffer Cloths remaining, I decided to try one on with the Orange Glo. Voila! Shiny floors AND disposable cloths. The best of both worlds!

There are a few more tools in my floor cleaning gear bag. They include a broom and a dustpan (duh) and baby wipes and a pizza stone scraper. ???? No explanation needed on the broom and pan. On to the baby wipes. They are for getting up the stuff that doesn't sweep... noodles, lettuce, pop-tarts, sticky buns, you name it. And the pizza stone scraper? That's for when I miss the stuff that doesn't sweep and days later find it adhered to the floor like super glue.

Happy Mopping to you!

Trick or Treat, Sick from Sweets

Excuse me if I read a little sluggish this morning. The kids and I are coming down from a nearly week long sugar high. We were actually on vacation last week and as of Saturday night, participated in three different Halloween Costume Festivals in four nights. On Wednesday we visited the NC Aquarium on the Crystal Coast. The kids all dressed up and Trick or Treated at different booths, walked a Spooky Trail, and watched an underwater pumpkin carving contest!

Friday night we went to a Halloween carnival at the community center at Emerald Isle. The kids got to don their costumes again and play games for candy which included bowling with a decapitated head, a cake walk, and a donut eating contest. Lots of sticky sweet fun!!

Saturday we headed home, arriving just in time to unpack the car, find our costumes in all the mess, and redress again. By now the Rocket costume was getting saggy, the Angel's tights were tattered, wings were floppy, halo was crooked, and the Dinosaur, well, actually the Dinosaur was fairing quite well. However, Big Sticky, after seeing his cousins dressed twice as pirates wanted to change his costume to a Dinosaur Pirate. Hmm. So, we added a foam swoard and voila, a Dinosaur Pirate! Roaarrrrgh!

Since we were returning from an extended family vacation, my nephews stayed over for Trick or Treating. Another neighbor came over, so we had a good group of seven ready for Trick or Treating.

It was quite funny watching the kid's different personalities come thru as they Trick or Treated. The pirates (my nephews, ages 9 & 10) would grab handfuls of candy. On the flip side, Big Sticky was a total candy snob. If he was handed a particular piece of unwanted candy, he would say "No, I don't want that one." And would reach in the bowl and make a trade. Little Sticky (Mr. Personality), seemed less interested in actually getting any candy, and more interested in greeting everyone. He would yell out "Happy HALLO-ween!" to the generous homeowners. And then would always follow with a "Tank-koon!" as he struggled to reach around his costume and put the candy in his pumpkin. Princess (dressed as an Angel) kicked back in the wagon and carefully watched everything that was going on while she gnawed on a lollipop.

The youth in our neighborhood sponsored a Haunted House. Since it was a sweltering 80 degrees, the pit-stop was a nice little break. While the mid-kids waited in line for the Haunted House, the little kids jumped in a bounce house & the adults took in some much needed food & drink .

After making our way home, my husband pried a sticky eye from the wall (an obvious trick from one house) while I ran bath water for all the kids. I'm not sure if the kids had more fun getting candy or diving thru the bubbles.

Since Saturday, the kids have been going thru their candy stash singing the "I don't like candy corn" song from Nick Jr. I'm right there with them... never been a fan of the candy corn. Oh, and to keep the kids from "suffering" from more sugars highs and crashes, I've limited them to one candy per age per day. So 4 for Big Sticky, 3 for Little, 1 for Princess. Don't worry, with this low rationing the piles and piles of candy won't be around 'til Valentine's Day. Afterall, mommy's ration is 40 pieces per day, so this stuff won't see the end of next week!

A donut eating contest. Big Sticky getting very sticky!

Little Sticky seems a little creeped out by the head bowling.

The only time we saw Little Sticky in full costume. The paci wasn't part of the original costume. However, it was the only way we could get him to put on the glasses without screaming.


The whole gang ready for Trick or Treating. Well, actually, we had a Wow!Wow!Wubzy! that had already escaped at this point.

Prying the eyeball ball off the wall.

Nothing like a warm bubble bath after a long night of going house to house, wearing a hot costume, collecting lots of candy, and consuming tons of sugar.