OK, so I forgot to put the kids' sizes. Sorry, Mom.
Izzy: 3T
Keith: 5 slim jeans (or 6 slim for future), 5
Mary: 7 slim jeans, 7
If you buy pants/jeans, please make sure they have adjustable waists. My tiny-waisted kids can't wear anything else. :-)
Also wanted to put a note here on behalf of Izzy thanking everyone for her presents. The rocket ship and the baby doll and the Dora game are new favorites!
Love to all!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Still Recuperating
After a late start on Sunday (our usual alarm clocks--the kids--slept in late), and the trip to Three Rivers, and a pit stop to the very last Steak and Shake on the highway (Pennsylvania), we didn't get home Sunday night until 11:30.
Ugh.
Another whirlwind trip. Another series of exhausting car rides. But at least the kids were pretty good. And it was nice to see all our family/friends again....
Love you!
Ugh.
Another whirlwind trip. Another series of exhausting car rides. But at least the kids were pretty good. And it was nice to see all our family/friends again....
Love you!
Monday, November 19, 2007
Turkey Plans
John and I are trying to hammer out our trip back home. We're planning on being in Fort Wayne either Thursday night or Friday. We will leave the Fort on Sunday (stopping at Three Rivers on the way home).
That's the tentative plan. Let's see what REALLY happens.
That's the tentative plan. Let's see what REALLY happens.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Happy Birthday to Me
Thanks to all of you who remembered (not that you had a choice since I'm narcissistic and put a big ol' countdown clock on my blog and all). BUT it's still nice to see the comments--and get the phone calls!
Love you ALL!
Love you ALL!
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Dear Family: More Wish Lists
I'm in the process of throwing together wish lists for the kids.
These are basically just "suggestions" and trust me, the kids will survive if they do not get what's on the list. And obviously, these items do NOT have to be purchased from Amazon.com. I've already noticed a few items are $10 cheaper if bought from Toys R Us...!
General breakdown:
John wants to get the family a Wii this year. I put a few games that the kids would love to play on the Q Collective list. We ARE taking donations for the Wii if you don't feel like shipping boxes of other goodies in the next few weeks!
Mary: She's still into Polly Pocket and Littlest Pet Shop. Refrain from buying any "playsets" for these creatures. Mary doesn't play with them. She extracts the doll/pet and ignores the big, hulking, ugly plastic playset which collects dust until I finally remove it from the toyroom and put in the "Goodwill" bag. Seriously. It's not worth your money to buy that really, really cute revolving pet house or that tiny, converts-into-a-fashion-show jet plane. She will not even LOOK at them. Save your money, folks! Anyway, she is also reading through books like there is no tomorrow. She loves Junie B and the Magic Tree House. She's also into "real" books--about nature and science.
Keith: Still a pirate and Star Wars man. And cars. He's learning to read, so we're going through "level 1" reading books right now. He loves me to read the Magic Tree House books to him.
Izzy: Um....she'll play with whatever the other two will let her.
I know I missed TONS of things that they told me they liked. Know what? They don't need them anyway! But I'll add more stuff as I get inspired.... (Amazon.com is just SO slow! It'd be much easier for me to just type you all out a list--but not nearly as cool!)
Thank you all! We love you! :-)
These are basically just "suggestions" and trust me, the kids will survive if they do not get what's on the list. And obviously, these items do NOT have to be purchased from Amazon.com. I've already noticed a few items are $10 cheaper if bought from Toys R Us...!
General breakdown:
John wants to get the family a Wii this year. I put a few games that the kids would love to play on the Q Collective list. We ARE taking donations for the Wii if you don't feel like shipping boxes of other goodies in the next few weeks!
Mary: She's still into Polly Pocket and Littlest Pet Shop. Refrain from buying any "playsets" for these creatures. Mary doesn't play with them. She extracts the doll/pet and ignores the big, hulking, ugly plastic playset which collects dust until I finally remove it from the toyroom and put in the "Goodwill" bag. Seriously. It's not worth your money to buy that really, really cute revolving pet house or that tiny, converts-into-a-fashion-show jet plane. She will not even LOOK at them. Save your money, folks! Anyway, she is also reading through books like there is no tomorrow. She loves Junie B and the Magic Tree House. She's also into "real" books--about nature and science.
Keith: Still a pirate and Star Wars man. And cars. He's learning to read, so we're going through "level 1" reading books right now. He loves me to read the Magic Tree House books to him.
Izzy: Um....she'll play with whatever the other two will let her.
I know I missed TONS of things that they told me they liked. Know what? They don't need them anyway! But I'll add more stuff as I get inspired.... (Amazon.com is just SO slow! It'd be much easier for me to just type you all out a list--but not nearly as cool!)
Thank you all! We love you! :-)
Staying Home Is Already Reaping It's Rewards
It's not the time with the kids. It's not the chance to ATTEMPT to keep the house clean. It's not the opportunity to cook dinner without feeling rushed.
It's that dreaded phone call from the school nurse: "Mary has been here for a few hours today with a headache."
Yes! No more having to beg the boss to let me leave (unpaid) to pick up my sick kid. No more fighting with my husband over who's work is going to get further behind or who's got some important meeting/task that has to get done ASAP and therefore the company we work for would absolutely EXPLODE if we left.
I can now just get in the car, and GET HER!
And when she's still complaining about a tummy ache the next morning, I don't have to have a panic attack about having to call my boss at 7:00 and completely @#$$ing her off! Yay!
...but I must add that Mary's "headache" from yesterday (which did seem legitimate--and we're attributing to lack of sleep as she's afraid of the dark AGAIN), turned into that upset tummy this morning--with the prerequisite moaning and sighing--which "magically" went away an hour after the bus passed by the house.
I'm thinking she just must have been hungry.
And yeah, she was BACK in school by 10:45 this morning!
Brat.
It's that dreaded phone call from the school nurse: "Mary has been here for a few hours today with a headache."
Yes! No more having to beg the boss to let me leave (unpaid) to pick up my sick kid. No more fighting with my husband over who's work is going to get further behind or who's got some important meeting/task that has to get done ASAP and therefore the company we work for would absolutely EXPLODE if we left.
I can now just get in the car, and GET HER!
And when she's still complaining about a tummy ache the next morning, I don't have to have a panic attack about having to call my boss at 7:00 and completely @#$$ing her off! Yay!
...but I must add that Mary's "headache" from yesterday (which did seem legitimate--and we're attributing to lack of sleep as she's afraid of the dark AGAIN), turned into that upset tummy this morning--with the prerequisite moaning and sighing--which "magically" went away an hour after the bus passed by the house.
I'm thinking she just must have been hungry.
And yeah, she was BACK in school by 10:45 this morning!
Brat.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Cosmetic Surgery: What would YOU do????
Friday the kids didn't have school, so I set up a physical for Izzy and flu shots for the other two.
I LOVE my pediatrician. She's just WONDERFUL with the kids, and someone I would hang out with IRL. Well, as she's examining Izzy's belly, she comments on Izzy's outie belly button: "Oh yes, she DOES have an outie, doesn't she? Well, we can refer you to a surgeon who can fix that for her." It took a second for that to register with me. "Yes," she goes on, "we recommend it if there's still an outie present after the age of two--particularly for girls. No rush to get it done, though...."
At that, the conversation steered over to insurance coverage (her hubby works for the same company as mine--so we're both having to deal with the same changing-of-insurance issues right now). And with the other two kids around distracting us, and the general gotta-check-your-kid's-lungs thing, I didn't really get up a chance to pick up where we left off.
Surgery? For an outie?
Well, I mean, I know that technically outies ARE a type of hernia--but I never heard of kids having to have them fixed--and why girls in particular? Well, John is the smart one who explained it to me. Of course! COSMETIC. A girl is probably going to want to wear a bikini or mid-drift--so yeah, she may not WANT an outie.
Gosh, I never even THOUGHT of that!
So now all these questions are swirling through my mind (and obviously, I will have to call the doctor when I get a chance later this week). Should I put my three-year old through an unnecessary, cosmetic surgery just so that she possibly won't get teased later in life? Is it safer now than later--when she could just decide on her own? Will my insurance even COVER a cosmetic surgery like that? And she'd have to be put under--do I want to take that kind of risk for something so....well, silly?
I LOVE my daughter's outie. I love to tickle it and pinch it and say, "Look at that cute, little outie!" And Izzy loves it, too.
But what about 10-12 years from now? When puberty and peer pressure are starting to hit? Is an outie belly button as bad as having ears that stick out (I know there's a cosmetic surgery for THAT too)? Will my daughter be socially retarded if I don't get this thing tucked in NOW?
What do you think folks? Cosmetic surgery for a three year old? Or--wait until she's old enough to decide on her own?
I LOVE my pediatrician. She's just WONDERFUL with the kids, and someone I would hang out with IRL. Well, as she's examining Izzy's belly, she comments on Izzy's outie belly button: "Oh yes, she DOES have an outie, doesn't she? Well, we can refer you to a surgeon who can fix that for her." It took a second for that to register with me. "Yes," she goes on, "we recommend it if there's still an outie present after the age of two--particularly for girls. No rush to get it done, though...."
At that, the conversation steered over to insurance coverage (her hubby works for the same company as mine--so we're both having to deal with the same changing-of-insurance issues right now). And with the other two kids around distracting us, and the general gotta-check-your-kid's-lungs thing, I didn't really get up a chance to pick up where we left off.
Surgery? For an outie?
Well, I mean, I know that technically outies ARE a type of hernia--but I never heard of kids having to have them fixed--and why girls in particular? Well, John is the smart one who explained it to me. Of course! COSMETIC. A girl is probably going to want to wear a bikini or mid-drift--so yeah, she may not WANT an outie.
Gosh, I never even THOUGHT of that!
So now all these questions are swirling through my mind (and obviously, I will have to call the doctor when I get a chance later this week). Should I put my three-year old through an unnecessary, cosmetic surgery just so that she possibly won't get teased later in life? Is it safer now than later--when she could just decide on her own? Will my insurance even COVER a cosmetic surgery like that? And she'd have to be put under--do I want to take that kind of risk for something so....well, silly?
I LOVE my daughter's outie. I love to tickle it and pinch it and say, "Look at that cute, little outie!" And Izzy loves it, too.
But what about 10-12 years from now? When puberty and peer pressure are starting to hit? Is an outie belly button as bad as having ears that stick out (I know there's a cosmetic surgery for THAT too)? Will my daughter be socially retarded if I don't get this thing tucked in NOW?
What do you think folks? Cosmetic surgery for a three year old? Or--wait until she's old enough to decide on her own?
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
The Day the Appliances Stood Still
I'm trying very hard, now that I'm home, to meal plan better and make healthier, heartier meals. Yeah. Not-so-easy (not that I expected it to be).
So the other night I decided to make a ham since I know that at least Keith and Izzy love it and will gobble it up without complaint (Mary is still wishy-washy about it, but can't please everyone, right?).
With the ham, I decided to bake some sweet potatoes (favorite of Keith, Mary is so-so--she prefers "white" potatoes, but Izzy doesn't like). And steamed broccoli and cauliflower (Mary loves broccoli, Keith and Izzy will eat one "stem", Izzy will usually eat cauliflower). See where I'm going here? A meal where at least ONE item will be eaten by ONE kid???
So, I decide to "really" bake the potatoes since, hello! I'm home now and actually have TIME to do it instead of just sticking them in the microwave oven--and I was going to have the oven on anyway to heat up the ham. The potatoes turned out beautifully--except for the sweet potato "slurp" that ended up on the bottom of my oven. Oh yeah--forgot about that. What the heck, after the ham's done, I'll use the self-cleaning option on my oven (not used since we've moved in over a year ago).
Now, while all this is going on, I set up the steamer. Maybe ten minutes later when I check on the food, I notice that the steamer isn't steaming. The counter is counting down, but the steamer isn't even warm--and no tell-tale sign of misty steaminess. Uh oh. So I throw the broccoli and cauliflower in a pan and boil it up (turned out great anyway, thank you). But what the heck is wrong with the steamer?
After the ham is done, and we're getting ready to eat, I turn on the self-cleaner for the oven and enjoy my almost-no-whining-from-the-kids meal. About twenty minutes into it, the oven starts beeping frantically. Wha??? I know it's not done cleaning YET!
NO, there is an "F2" error flashing. Crap. I don't know what that means, but I know it CAN'T be good. After fiddling with the buttons, and hurriedly finding the oven manual (can you believe I could FIND it at that moment?), and fiddling with more of the same buttons, we still couldn't get the darn thing to STOP BEEPING. Not even knowing how a built-in oven is plugged in, John finally pulled the circuit.
After the oven cooled off, John flipped the circuit back on--and the oven was all fine and happy again.
THEN John says to me, "Do you maybe remember the previous owners telling us NOT to use the self-cleaner on the oven?" No--oh, wait--is that a really, really foggy memory of us and them in the kitchen while they told us that? Or is that now an "imagined--this-must-be-what-happened" thought that's been implanted in my head?
Whatever--now I know that it's only Easy-Off for OUR oven.
But what about the steamer? What happened THERE?
Two days later, I'm trying to make a phone call, but all the phones in the house claim "extension in use." Huh? What the freak is wrong with the phone?
Then it clicks. SOMETIMES the plug-in with phone will trip, and we have to reset it.
Guess which plug-in I used for our steamer. Yeah--the same one the phone is on.
My steamer is fine.
SO, Easy-off for my oven--and line the bottom with foil (or just use the @#$% microwave!). Use different plug for my steamer. And MAYBE then the plug to the phone won't trip.
Or maybe sandwich night every night is BACK ON.
So the other night I decided to make a ham since I know that at least Keith and Izzy love it and will gobble it up without complaint (Mary is still wishy-washy about it, but can't please everyone, right?).
With the ham, I decided to bake some sweet potatoes (favorite of Keith, Mary is so-so--she prefers "white" potatoes, but Izzy doesn't like). And steamed broccoli and cauliflower (Mary loves broccoli, Keith and Izzy will eat one "stem", Izzy will usually eat cauliflower). See where I'm going here? A meal where at least ONE item will be eaten by ONE kid???
So, I decide to "really" bake the potatoes since, hello! I'm home now and actually have TIME to do it instead of just sticking them in the microwave oven--and I was going to have the oven on anyway to heat up the ham. The potatoes turned out beautifully--except for the sweet potato "slurp" that ended up on the bottom of my oven. Oh yeah--forgot about that. What the heck, after the ham's done, I'll use the self-cleaning option on my oven (not used since we've moved in over a year ago).
Now, while all this is going on, I set up the steamer. Maybe ten minutes later when I check on the food, I notice that the steamer isn't steaming. The counter is counting down, but the steamer isn't even warm--and no tell-tale sign of misty steaminess. Uh oh. So I throw the broccoli and cauliflower in a pan and boil it up (turned out great anyway, thank you). But what the heck is wrong with the steamer?
After the ham is done, and we're getting ready to eat, I turn on the self-cleaner for the oven and enjoy my almost-no-whining-from-the-kids meal. About twenty minutes into it, the oven starts beeping frantically. Wha??? I know it's not done cleaning YET!
NO, there is an "F2" error flashing. Crap. I don't know what that means, but I know it CAN'T be good. After fiddling with the buttons, and hurriedly finding the oven manual (can you believe I could FIND it at that moment?), and fiddling with more of the same buttons, we still couldn't get the darn thing to STOP BEEPING. Not even knowing how a built-in oven is plugged in, John finally pulled the circuit.
After the oven cooled off, John flipped the circuit back on--and the oven was all fine and happy again.
THEN John says to me, "Do you maybe remember the previous owners telling us NOT to use the self-cleaner on the oven?" No--oh, wait--is that a really, really foggy memory of us and them in the kitchen while they told us that? Or is that now an "imagined--this-must-be-what-happened" thought that's been implanted in my head?
Whatever--now I know that it's only Easy-Off for OUR oven.
But what about the steamer? What happened THERE?
Two days later, I'm trying to make a phone call, but all the phones in the house claim "extension in use." Huh? What the freak is wrong with the phone?
Then it clicks. SOMETIMES the plug-in with phone will trip, and we have to reset it.
Guess which plug-in I used for our steamer. Yeah--the same one the phone is on.
My steamer is fine.
SO, Easy-off for my oven--and line the bottom with foil (or just use the @#$% microwave!). Use different plug for my steamer. And MAYBE then the plug to the phone won't trip.
Or maybe sandwich night every night is BACK ON.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Izzy's Wish List
Dear Family:
I threw together a very quick list for birthday ideas for Izzy. You can find the link to your right. -->
Izzy also needs 3T clothes.
I will post the X-mas lists in a few days....
Love you and Thank you!
I threw together a very quick list for birthday ideas for Izzy. You can find the link to your right. -->
Izzy also needs 3T clothes.
I will post the X-mas lists in a few days....
Love you and Thank you!
Friday, November 02, 2007
Jack-o-Lantern Smile
I think I deserve a pat on the back. I managed to completely IGNORE Mary's loose tooth this time. I didn't bug her about it, I didn't beg to feel it "just to see how loose it is," and I didn't even ONCE offer to pull it--even when she showed me that she could completely bend it over.
Nope, I was good and LEFT IT ALONE. And then on Tuesday she came home with her little tooth in a little envelope and a very cute pumpkin smile.
Apparently, when she bit into her sandwich at lunch, it just "fell over" in her mouth. She went to the nurse where SHE CLAIMS she then pulled the rest of it out ALL ON HER OWN.
Yes! I get Mommy-of-the-Moment for that one!
Too bad I lost the title two seconds later when I lost my temper at Keith for some goofball thing he was doing. *sigh* Work in progress, folks!
Nope, I was good and LEFT IT ALONE. And then on Tuesday she came home with her little tooth in a little envelope and a very cute pumpkin smile.
Apparently, when she bit into her sandwich at lunch, it just "fell over" in her mouth. She went to the nurse where SHE CLAIMS she then pulled the rest of it out ALL ON HER OWN.
Yes! I get Mommy-of-the-Moment for that one!
Too bad I lost the title two seconds later when I lost my temper at Keith for some goofball thing he was doing. *sigh* Work in progress, folks!
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Mario and Luigi
Mario found his brother Luigi during the school parade.
(Image thanks to Keith's class website.)
The Black Cat, Mario, and Laura Ingalls Wilder
Yesterday I got to go to school with Keith and help out for his class's Halloween party. We did crafts, were in a parade around the outside of the school (beautiful weather here, folks!), danced and sang in the gym, and saw a play the teachers put on (freaking hilarious).
I did the unthinkable and re-wore my Sorceress costume from three years ago. I know, I know. But there just comes a time when one thinks: Do I really need to pay more money for ANOTHER costume when I have SO MANY? (Besides, no one on THIS side of town had ever seen me in it.) Mary decided to go as a Black Cat, and Keith--after warbling between three costume ideas for the last month--got the decision made FOR him--and was Mario. Izzy got to wear a "specially handmade by [my] grandma" work: a prairie girl. Oh--they were oh, so cute!
We did as threatened last year and drove to our old neighborhood for trick-or-treating. The kids had a ball. And since one of the adults was pulling a cart with a cooler (and we all know what THAT means), many of the adults had a ball, too.
This was Izzy's first year sans stroller (or other carrying device), and she was having problems keeping up. It's hard for an almost-three-year old to run so fast and go up and down all those stairs. She skipped a lot of houses--but she was having so much fun she didn't notice!
We headed to a looped street where there were many houses and no need to back-track. Impossibly, the kids started begging to call it quits and whine about their heavy pumpkins before the adults were ready to stop. We all got back to Leona's house where the kids got a few pieces of candy and played Nintendo, and the adults all nursed their sinus headaches (three of the four of us were sniveling). We got back home very late, so I'm sure the kids are dragging in school today (and Mary showed her exhaustion this morning when she wouldn't cooperate during her violin lesson *sigh*).
So much fun. I just wish it hadn't been a school night.....
Now if I can just get John to re-install our picture software....Oh well....
I did the unthinkable and re-wore my Sorceress costume from three years ago. I know, I know. But there just comes a time when one thinks: Do I really need to pay more money for ANOTHER costume when I have SO MANY? (Besides, no one on THIS side of town had ever seen me in it.) Mary decided to go as a Black Cat, and Keith--after warbling between three costume ideas for the last month--got the decision made FOR him--and was Mario. Izzy got to wear a "specially handmade by [my] grandma" work: a prairie girl. Oh--they were oh, so cute!
We did as threatened last year and drove to our old neighborhood for trick-or-treating. The kids had a ball. And since one of the adults was pulling a cart with a cooler (and we all know what THAT means), many of the adults had a ball, too.
This was Izzy's first year sans stroller (or other carrying device), and she was having problems keeping up. It's hard for an almost-three-year old to run so fast and go up and down all those stairs. She skipped a lot of houses--but she was having so much fun she didn't notice!
We headed to a looped street where there were many houses and no need to back-track. Impossibly, the kids started begging to call it quits and whine about their heavy pumpkins before the adults were ready to stop. We all got back to Leona's house where the kids got a few pieces of candy and played Nintendo, and the adults all nursed their sinus headaches (three of the four of us were sniveling). We got back home very late, so I'm sure the kids are dragging in school today (and Mary showed her exhaustion this morning when she wouldn't cooperate during her violin lesson *sigh*).
So much fun. I just wish it hadn't been a school night.....
Now if I can just get John to re-install our picture software....Oh well....
NaBloPoMo
I was GOING to join the NaBloPoMo challenge of writing a post a day. THEN I realized that we might be taking a trip out of state in a couple of weeks where my daily Internet access might be challenged. And what would I have to say, anyway? Half of the posts would probably be a countdown to my birthday (OH God, 35!!), and then to Izzy's birthday (three, REALLY?), and then about my lame-@$$ attempts to get a routine going here at home. Bo-ring! So, I spared all of you all that nonsense, and will post sporadically as usual. Consider it my Christmas gift!
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