Cinderfella

Yep, just call him Cinderfella. The kid will come mow your grass, mop and vacuum your floors etc. No guarantee's he'll get out of his jammies first or that you can tell a difference but he sure does like to LOOK like he's helping!

P-I-I

I hate pregnancy-induced-insomnia. I don't know why I get it but I do. In fact, that  is how we figured out I was prego w/ #3 and #4. So here it is, 2:30 and I am WIDE AWAKE. Doesn't my body know I need sleep? Nope! Ah well, time to get back on Unisom. I figured rather than lay there 'resting' like I should, I'd be somewhat productive and blog (I've been doing it in my head the past 30 minutes but that accomplishes squat). 

First, my girlfriend Sara has started a business in California. If you are in the LA area (hey, I sound like the Price is Right guy) check out her website: www.downtowncooking.com. She is a killer chef and as a bonus, if you link her blog w/ yours, she'll email you her KILLER German Chocolate Cake recipe. I love it because the girl is not afraid of butter or cream - YUM!

Second:  Aliya. Seriously, we are in such trouble with that child. Earlier today after swim lessons, we were stopped at an intersection when I hear her say "Look, Cowboys". There were two city workers wearing cowboy hats, bright orange vests and each had a wrapped up orange electric extension cord. I got a kick out of that but then when they started to walk near us, she rolled down her window and CAT CALLED "Hey Cowboys". I, of course, broke out laughing. She followed it up by asking "Where's your horse?" She is FOUR! Honestly, where on earth did this kid come from? 

Lastly, today/yesterday we had Tae's bday party. I am so not a big party person. I told her she could pick one or two friends (it turned into three but that was somewhat do-able) and we'd have a 'special' day. My girls are obsessed with FoodTV's Cake Challenges where professional cake decorators compete in designing/decorating the best cakes. That's what she wanted and dumb me was not smart enough to say NO. So we picked up her three friends and headed to lunch at Sonic (YUCK). Afterwards we came back here to decorate the SLEW of cakes I baked. Note to self, NEVER DO THIS AGAIN! They had  ton of fun and pictures are to follow another day but I thought one of their conversations was funny/annoying etc. The girls were going around the table talking about what they wanted to be when they grew up. One girl, who has a funny personality, said she wants to be somebody that "sits on the couch all day, eating and watching TV". Another little girl (who's Mom works full-time) immediately replied "Oh, so you want to be a stay at home Mom?". Really? I just made a zillion cakes and 70 pounds of butter cream frosting and you said that? GRRR!

Enough for my middle of the night ranting and ravings. Hopefully there will be more blog posts to come!

Laugh or cry?

So the past couple days (okay really weeks) have been pretty tense at our house. Each day something new comes up regarding the purchase of our Houston home -- and it seems that each problem needs to be dealt with ASAP. I've been feeling overwhelmed with all the house junk in addition to being a mom of three and all the chaos that goes along with that.  Perfect example: Tonight I am in the middle of trying to put together homemade chicken noodle soup (I've been cleaning out my freezer due to the move and had to use up a whole fryer chicken I've had in there) when Tony calls needing info for the lenders. Blake is screaming at my feet for attention and I can hear WWIII erupting upstairs. Unfortunately this happens way too often! I know Tony must be stressed because he is trying to figure out our loan stuff all the while trying to finish one job/company/career just to start a completely new job/company/career. 

Well, earlier tonight we had both had it with our kids, house stuff and everything. After putting the kids to bed Tony joined me in the office to try to 'translate' some of the stupid paperwork the lenders were asking for. While there, Aliya yelled out she needed to go potty (it happens each night). So I yelled back that she could go and to call me when she was done. I swear 10 minutes later she hollers out and I go upstairs to find her bawling. At first I figured it was because I had forgotten about her and she'd been calling for a while (that happens around here more than I care to admit) but nope! Little tyke had been playing with a tiny pink car (only about 2 inches) that 'SOMEHOW' fell into the toilet (of course AFTER she had already gone potty).  SuperMom to the rescue -- I fished that sucker out with a couple wooden skewers and firmly admonished her that toys do not belong anywhere near the toilet and she couldn't play with it until after I ran it through a cycle in the dishwasher (what else do you do?). That crisis was averted with no real frustration, just a little revulsion.

We finished finding the stuff needed for the house and were just settling down to watch some TV when I hear Tae yelling to me that she needs me. I come up stairs to find that she had had an accident -- IN MY BED! Yep, huge pee accident right in the middle of MY bed. [Two side notes: one, Tae and Blakers share a room and he goes down so much better if she is not in the room and two, Tae was essentially night dry from the first day of being potty trained. We can only remember her wetting the bed once and that was because someone didn't believe her when she said she needed to go potty after she was already in bed. Why at the age of almost 7 she decides to unload Niagara Falls in MY bed I'll never know.] 

Tony was a huge help. He got her in the shower and was reassuring her that its not that big of a deal. I began to strip the sheets off the bed and started to die laughing. Thank heavens that was my response. I don't know if I am just really tired, overwhelmed or what but luckily rather than snapping and getting angry, I thought it was hilarious to realize that here I am 32 years old and sleeping in a bed that just got pee'd in. I also kept giggling when I realized the only other set of sheets I had was flannel. So I am currently laying in my bed, in flannel sheets in the middle of Phoenix in June. Yep! 

I know many of you wont find this funny but thank heavens I did. Rather than going to bed upset, frustrated or overwhelmed, I am going to bed giggling that there is a puddle under the towel in the middle of our bed -- hey, I guess its one good way to keep Tony on his side of the bed! 

Messy eater!

At a GNO a while back, one of my girlfriends was telling me how her son that is two months younger than Blake does great at eating yogurt all by him self. I guess I wasn't thinking logically that day and figured if her kid could do it, so could mine. Right? WRONG!

Little dude had yogurt in every known crack, wrinkle and fold! Ah well, chalk it up to yet another lesson learned!

Springtime Fun

What do you do when its 95+ outside and you DON'T have  a pool? Here ya go! These pictures are a couple months old but sad to say, we are still doing the same thing! Luckily my kids are still young enough to be entertained by the simplest things. I so don't want this to change (but I know it will)!

Even Blakers likes it. For some reason my girls have started to call this water sprayer "Lasers". Each afternoon it is "Mom, can we play in the Lasers"
When all else fails, a simple hose is enough entertainment!

Yee-haw!

Well, the cats out of the bag. As many of you have heard/read/gathered, we're moving (yet again) and this time to the lovely state of Texas! If any of you are keeping track, we are now 4 for 4 with our kids. Each child has been born in a different state. Tae was born in Utah, Aliya Idaho, Blake Arizona and now Squirt Texas. Not only have they been born in different states, our oldest three have each lived in three different homes by the time they turn 2. I'm hoping #4 has a calmer toddlerhood!

Tony has changed companies and we will be relocating to Houston. He'll start the end of June and we'll be heading out shortly there after. Tony and I just returned from a house hunting trip and I HOPE (we'll see how our offers are received) we are successful! There were a lot of homes to chose from in a bunch of different areas.  Moving from our sluggish Arizona market we were surprised to see that homes are going for their asking price. Hopefully we've selected some good areas. Once we know anything definite, I'll be sure to update ya'all (see, I'm getting the hang of speaking Texan).

When we only had Taeya I remember only buying the 100% fruit juice Popsicles. Now that I've got 3 frickin' kids, the cheaper, the better! Thank you Costco for the HUGE box of Otter Pops. Its only May and already we've gone through half. 

Gotta love an Otter Pop tongue! 
The first couple times he'd start out sucking on the right end but would end up sucking on the wrong end. Poor kid couldn't understand why he wasn't getting any of that nutritious high fructose corn syrup!

Aliya's Easter-egg hunt!

In April, Aliya's preschool had an Easter party at a local park. Each kid was supposed to bring 10 eggs filled with treats. Aliya was so excited to 'hunt for eggs'.  I showed up a bit late (it was one of those crappy preggo mornings) and most Moms had already hid their eggs. Poor Aliya, all I did was toss them around in different areas. Some Moms were getting all creative hiding eggs behind rocks and in trees. Nope, not Aliyas mom. They were in the middle of the path!

The kids were all playing on a nearby play ground. Once everyone was ready Miss Neva had the kids line up in a line of boys and girls.

Girls: Anavey, Kate, Emme, Jaya & Aliya

Boys: Nathan, Joshua, Cole, Crue & Corbin

Then off they went in search of their eggs. Aliya (at the front of the line) obviously wasn't waiting for the other girls!

Aliya was excited by her loot (even if her Mom is a crappy egg hider)! Blake became quite the swiper. He loved picking up random eggs trying to get the candy out before I'd catch him. Luckily I got to him most of the time but there were a few casualties!

Sticky situation

Yum! What a mess! I have no idea what on earth the kid was doing (it looks like she had just woke up but nope, this is the middle of the day) but this gum was ground in there! I wanted to scare her and tell her we'd have to cut out a huge chunk of her hair but I was nice and didnt. Whipped out some peanut butter and had it gone in no time! Aliya smelled like a PB&J for the rest of the day but she was gum free!

T-baller!

This spring Taeya participated in t-ball and LOVED it. I am a big believer in letting my girls do anything THEY want to do. Yea, I'd like to push them in certain directions but if there is something they'd like to try out, I am all for it. She wanted to play t-ball and did great at it. We'll see how baseball goes next!

Tae also had one of the best coaches around: her Daddy! Tony was so good to take Tae to all her practices and help out so the main coach asked Tony if he could be an assistant coach. I cant say he loved it (there were quite a few little stinkers on her team) but I know he loved getting to spend time with her!

It was fun to watch the two of them interact at something new. She did surprisingly well taking advice from her Dad. It seems like most kids listen better to strangers than to their parents but she did great!

Thanks for a fun season you two!