Jarrett's Christmas List

• calindr (calendar)
• bolingboll (bowling ball)
• camro (camera)
• comepootr (computer)
• skatbowd (skateboard)
• pin (bowling pin)
• webkinz
• sooter (scooter)
• book
• pet mukee (monkey)
• 200 dolrs (200 dollars in 50 dollar bills)

Shopping with a two year old

Today I went to Walmart with the youngest three. I only needed two things. When I was back to the van, kids loaded, I was wishing for a Margarita. Should I be concerned???

All That and the Bathroom Sink

So even though it is now Wednesday, I feel like the week is just finally beginning. Or maybe last week never ended. The craziness of the weekend has spilled over into the next week.

I have been attempting to get to bed earlier (as in before 11:30pm) so that I wake up refreshed before 7:15am when I MUST be out of bed! But here I sit, finally "catching up" at midnight. Why? Mainly because Carrie lovingly brought me a Starbuck's Peppermint Mocha. Oh, the gloriousness of it all. Caffeine and all. Thank you, Carrie, but make a note...no caffeine after 2pm! The caffeine combined with the Buckeyes that Carrie made and force-fed me have made for a tired body, but refusing to sleep mind.

So I will fill you in on the last several days.

The kids had a half day on Friday, and i knew that Saturday would be busy, so I had them do all of their Saturday chores on Friday afternoon. That's just the slave-driving mother that I am. That combined with the fact that Jill and her family were coming for dinner.

Our men were going to a high school football game that I would tell you about, but I really don't care and this is my blog, so I won't. But that left Jill and I at home with 10 children...all under the age of 12. Funny thing Jill figured out - our kids are in 6th,5th,4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st grade, Kindergarten, preschool, and then I have two extras. Isn't that kind of funny that we wouldn't overlap anywhere? But the kids all get along great, and we hardly even knew there were kids in the house for most of the night. Except of course for Meredith who was too excited that she was spending the night at Jill's house that she would ask every 20 minutes if it was time to go. Considering they didn't leave until 11:30pm, that was a lot of times to ask!

So, not wanting put a lot of effort into dinner, we did what every smart mom does and headed to Costco! We purchased four take & bake pizzas. But Costco, being the forward thinking place that they are doesn't just carry your basic pizza anymore. Oh no! This is what we had!

If you do not recognize that, it is a margarita pizza: fresh mozzarella cheese, basil, and roma tomatoes (although, those ones aren't looking very roma like - it was still very delicious). Yummy is about as descriptive as I am feeling at midnight, but let me tell you it was VERY yummy!

Like I was saying, we cleaned before this glorious pizza, child and rook-playing filled night occurred. (By the way, Jill's husband, Kyle, and I were partners at Rook and creamed Jill and Mike! Just needed to make sure I mentioned that!)

My boys were sent to clean their room after lunch. This is what the room looked like after 3 hours.

Yes, you read that right...THREE HOURS. Because I as the mean mommy make my children clean until it is clean.
Really, I think there was a lot more playing being done than cleaning. However, the threat of no sleepovers got the rest of the room clean in 20 minutes. Amazing how those threat things work!

My cleaning job was the bathroom. My pink bathroom. Now I'm not going to show you the pink, because...well, just because years from now I do not want to remember it. I also do not want to remember these sinks, but I must show you so you can sympathize with me.

It looks pretty (mainly because it was clean - you didn't think I was going to show you the dirty one did you?), but don't let it deceive you. Do you see all those ridges. They collect dust, and toothpaste, and all manner of who knows what (and if you do, don't tell me!). And they are not easy to clean. And there are two of them. But now that I have complained, I'll be thankful that there are two, that they are not pink, and that at least one of them gets both hot and cold water. Oh, the joys of a 1950's house! Oh the character, the charm...

Having done all of that cleaning on Friday, I did manage to stay in my PJs until noon on Saturday. I don't think I can remember the last time I did that (not counting the two weeks I spent in bed sick!)

So Saturday was relaxing, and Sunday was a blur (always a blur!), and I think the week has begun. I don't really know what happened to Monday, except that I won my Fantasy Football game.

Which brings us up to Tuesday.

My children have all been stoically fighting of colds of all sorts. I think that comes with the finally dropping below 50 degree days. But Jeffrey has had this cough that just won't go away and is starting to sound worse not better.

And Morgan has put together three words. Sadly, they were, "Mommy ear ouchie" Not a good sign.

So I packed up three kids and headed to the pediatric walk-in clinic. After a pleasant 45 minute wait, the doctor announced that Morgan has a double ear infection and Jeffrey is borderline pneumonia. I left feeling like the worst mommy for letting their colds go for so long thinking they were "just a cold" or a "virus that just has to go its course". But I also left with drugs!

Thank you Lord for the knowledge to create "miracle liquid"! Can I get an AMEN?

So hopefully in a few days, my whiny, clingy, fussy children will have morphed back into cheerful, happy, playful kids!

On the way home from the doctor's office, the school called, Judson isn't feeling too good.

If you don't hear from me in a couple of days...send in the cavalry!

God Made Them Cute So They Would Live

Especially this one.

Today.


We tried some potty-training this morning. I really dislike the whole potty training thing. It's messy. It's time comsuming. It's frustrating. In two hours we had gone through seven pairs of underwear. And then we stopped. Tomorrow we'll try again until we run out of underwear. I can see a light at the end of the tunnel because there are only two left.

Don't let her beauty fool you. She can be very sneaky. And whiny. But se's awefully cute when she does it.

And then there is this one. As I type, she has pulled out the file drawer next to me so she can climb up onto the desk and pull apart the post-it notes one-by-one. She is as enamored with office supplies as her mommy.

She loves her candy, too!

And cries when it is gone!

And shakes her head no quite quickly when told to get down.

These are the curls I was telling you about earlier. Not so great picture, but it does show those adorable curls!

And when the mommy is sitting on the floor taking pictures, this is what else she can see. Time to clean under the booster seat!

Monday Musings

I just made Rice Krispie Treats.

For the first time.

Ever.

Now before you gasp in horror, you must know I do not like a mess of any kind. Making Rice Krispie Treats is messy. But I did it.

Why?

Because after being sick for two weeks, I was feeling guilty as a mom. My kids were obviously lacking "mommy time". They are whiny, their clothes don't match, and the consumption of tv and computer is way too high.

So to make up for missing mommy, I'm doing something that I equate with being a good mommy.

I'm making Rice Krispie Treats from scratch. Okay, I did not make my own marshmallows first. I cheated and used ones from the bag. And I used Malt-O-Meal Crispy Rice instead of real Rice Krispies.

I said I was feeling guilty, not insane.

But all of this made me realize that first, my image of a good mommy is very warped. And second, it is amazing how quickly Satan can place feelings of guilt in our lives.

My kids are whiny even with lots of "mommy time". And as for their clothes, I could really be proud that they dressed themselves. The tv and computer time we can work on. But that is not what defines me as a mommy!

As for the Rice Krispie Treats (don't you know there are not enough sweets in this house being right after Halloween!), just how do you firmly press them into the pan when they stick to everything??? even if it is greased?

Costco Find

For Mike and my wedding we received three crock pots as gifts. We kept all three, used one and gave the other two away as wedding gifts. Because we were poor college students with lots of friends getting married. It worked. I still have that original crock pot and use it for small things. But it does not feed my big family.

When we moved to Seattle, someone gave us a large crock pot because it was too big for their family. They had used it quite a bit, but decided they needed a smaller one. I have used that crock pot a ton.

A couple of weeks ago when we had a cold snap, I made corn chowder in my crock pot. But after eight hours my potatoes were still hard. then I made something else and the food was just not hot. My crock pot had bit the dust.

I thought I could just go back to the small one and make do, but then I found a recipe for roast. A roast for my family will not fit in the small crock pot!

So last night while doing the weekly/bi-monthly Costco shopping trip I found this!

I don't know what we'll use the "Little Dipper" for...maybe chocolate for an after kids go to bed snack. Or to keep the buffalo sauce hot for wings. It's very cute, though!

The big one is programmable though. It has four time settings (4,6,8,or 10 hours) along with the traditional high and low. It will also change to warm when your time is up. The pot is removable to go in the dishwasher (although that takes up a lot of dishwasher space) and the pot has a spoon notch so you can leave the spoon in the pot and still put the lid on.

It's kind of fancy, but for $39.99 I am happy. This next week, more corn chowder, BBQ beef sandwiches, and chicken noodle soup! Yummo!

Trick or Treat

My little lamb
Jeffrey the giraffe

Muffy Bee showing off her stinger

Mikalah as a ceiling fan
Pirate Jud
JJ the robber

The whole motley crew