vacation preparation

This week has been a whirlwind...flying in from Vegas Tuesday morning and having three days to get laundry done and get packed up to go to MI, get Sam's haircut, get stuff organized for the catsitter/flower waterer, finish Grace's birthday thankyous (am so behind on those!), get myself organized for a week off of work, separate out the essentials for our one night away from the kids while in MI, etc, etc. I can't wait for tomorrow...I'm dying to exhale. I probably won't post this coming week, but will update when we get back! Happy 4th!

Vegas highlights

The whole flying scene was a mess this past weekend for my trip...crappy seats, tight layovers, guy snoring on the red-eye. That aside, the Vegas weekend was great! A few highlights:

The pineapple suit...couldn't resist snapping this to post!
We found Dave and decided to snap proof that he does actually work at Paris, since Claire and Gavin are never able to find him when they go.
Eye candy to fuel some design inspiration:



The Incredible Hulk, himself, Lou Ferrigno:
Family time:
Gavin took the below pic right before the above photo was taken...in his words, "I got a picture of them in case they try to steal our camera...then we'll know who they are." Ha!
We also played bingo and penny slots. Claire and I should not be allowed to venture into a bingo hall together...we talk too much and weren't paying attention. Played the wrong card for the first round! Who knows what we might have won that round if only we were playing the correct card! And I got a ton of bonding time in with my nephew...it was nice to not have to share him this visit...I even taught him a few things. Overall, great trip. Can't wait to go back and take Kris and the kids along!

bathtime

Bathtime tonight was interesting. I finished washing Grace's hair, handed her the washcloth and told her to wash up. She followed directions and started washing and naming what she was washing as she did so... "I wash my ears. I wash my armpits. I wash my belly. I wash my bum. I wash my penis." I guess it's time for an anatomy lesson!

Oh and big news...before the bath, Grace went poop on the big potty! And I didn't even have to bribe her with Chuck E. Cheese!

Memorial Day weekend 2008 flashback

Three generations of family gathers around the dinner table. Food is passed, prayers are said. A wee voice (my sweet little Samuel) speaks: "Is this the perfect family?" His grandmother says, "Of course...we all love each other...that makes us the perfect family." My brother-in-law responds, "I think I just threw up in my mouth a little." Ah, yes...the perfect family.

Viva Las Vegas!

Off to Vegas for a long weekend! Pumped to see my little sis...bummed to leave the kids for a few days. Whatever happened to families all living in the same town? I think I'd even settle for the same state.

bitter

Saw this greeting card posted on Kelly's blog recently.

If you are in need of any, click here.

I'm thinking of sending it to Sam's soon-to-be-former daycare teachers and director. Long story. Thank God we're almost done with that place.

translation

Grace: "Mommy, you want some teeth?"

Me: "Some teeth?"

Grace: "Some teeeeeth."

Me: "What?"

Grace runs away and comes back with a little purple cup from her tea set.
"Here you go, Mommy. Some teeth."

Ooooohh. Teeth = Tea

making a house a home

Ugh. Trying to get everything the way you want it in a new house once you have kids is a totally different story from before kids. We are slowly (VERY SLOWLY) getting this place in shape. I now have two bathrooms painted and pretty much finished (framing out the mirrors is on Kris's to-do list), although, I'll probably tile the floors and change out the faucets after we finish up everything else in the house.
The living room is now painted, but I still need to hang more art/pics and curtains and get my pillows made. I am definitely hiring someone to do the upstairs and downstairs hallways along with the one wall at the back of the living room connecting the two since I am scared to death to get on scaffolding on the stairs to reach by the ceiling. I will be ordering the backsplash for the kitchen and installing once we get back from the holiday trip in a couple of weeks.

Next on the list was going to be painting the dining room, kitchen or master bedroom, but a conversation with Sam convinced me to do his room next. While I was painting the living room, he asked if I could do his room next. I said maybe and asked what color he wanted. He said black. I'm thinking, 'black, are you kidding me?', but managed to answer with, "How about blue?"

He disappointedly said, "oh, but I wanted black..."

A few minutes later he decided a little more convincing was needed, so he said with a big smile, "Mommy, if you paint black in my room, I would be so excited!"

I crushed his dreams and shot his color choice down again.

Later that night, he got back out of bed to inform me, "I can ask the guys at the store if they have black if I want to."

I realized he's not backing down on this, so I've been trying to come up with creative ways to incorporate black into the perfect vision of his room that I had. I'm thinking magnetic paint so he can hang his drawings up on his short wall at the one end of his room. I'm open to suggestions, if anyone has any!

polka-dot princess

My little sis has been waiting for these pics. Grace may, at times, be mistaken for a tomboy when she's rough-housing with her brother or playing garbage man alongside him. But the minute you get out a "pretty dress" she is pumped to get dressed up...and I'm thrilled! She looks way too stinkin' adorable to not get her dolled up every once in awhile. It's too bad I'm not the pageant scene type of mom...I think she could go far. She definitely has the diva attitude to push her to the top :)

movie critique

Last week, I had several items on my agenda for the evenings, but Kris roped me into watching the National Treasure movies. Imagine Indiana Jones only swapping out ancient history and Harrison Ford with American history and Nic Cage. I'm not a big fan of Indiana Jones, but I think the aspect of American history in these appealed to me more. Don't know how the critics rated them (I've found that since I've had kids, I have no idea what's going on in the movies), but they held my attention when I had a gazillion other things on my mind. That must mean they're good, right? Anyway, two good rentals if you're looking for a couple of quiet nights in.

my little grown-up

Sam has been cracking me up with the stuff he comes up with lately. Thought I'd share a few of the best...

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The whole family was riding in the car the other morning. I turned around to Sam and said, "Hi, Stinker." To which he replied very seriously, "Mommy, how many times do I have to tell you that I'm the garbage man."
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I rammed my knee into a chair in the kitchen the other day. I'm being totally serious when I say that, for about five minutes, it hurt worse than childbirth. Sam says to me, "Mommy, relax. It will go away." I was laughing through the tears (yes, it hurt THAT bad!). A little while later, I was limping a little on it through the kitchen and Sam says to me, "I love you all the time, Mommy, but you have to relax...it will go away."
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I went to wipe Sam's face off with a wet paper towel after dinner the other night. When the paper towel touched his face he said, "Whoa, Mommy! Are you serious? That's hot! I don't like hot on my face!" (By the way, just in case anyone is dialing Social Services...it was not hot whatsoever.)

Those are just the favorites as of late...I'm sure there will be plenty more to come!

fabulous day (that's sarcasm, in case you didn't catch it)

I had a fun little post lined up of all the hilarious tidbits that have come out of my little Samuel's mouth over the past few weeks. I was excited to share. But, right at the moment, I can't give him the satisfaction (not that he even knows about this blog). Instead I need to take a day to cool down from the phone call I got from daycare today telling me I had to come pick up my son because he had hit different kids 10 times by 10:30 this morning and was sitting in the office. He's now sitting in his room.

my new idea of heaven...

I swore I'd never do it, but I think it's happened. I've fallen in love with Ikea. A couple of weekends ago, Grace and I took a roadtrip to meet a friend from college for lunch and do a little shopping at Ikea. It was great to see Candy, since we haven't seen each other since college, which is a LONG time ago...seriously starting to feel old. Neither myself or Candy had ever been to this haven of homegoods. But, I can confidently say that we'll be back. I considered this my scope out trip, even though I did leave with $100 worth of goodies (which, at Ikea can be a ton of stuff! The rug in Sam's room in the previous post was purchased that day). Just a few of the things I'm keeping in mind for the return trip...

Above fabric will look so cute in my new blue living room!
Grace will love playing with her tea set she got for her birthday at this little table!

For the next trip, I'll be securing a babysitter and dragging Kris along to do the heavy lifting. He'll be so thrilled when I tell him :)

Sam's bedtime prayer tonight

"God bless Mommy and Daddy and Sam and Grace. God bless Gordon and his throw up. God bless my new carpet with the roads on it."

Can anyone guess what the highlights of the week have been thus far? Photos below. Don't worry, I didn't include any of the cat puke.

ABC, why must you toy with my emotions?

Those who know me, know that I fight many addictions. To name a few...popcorn, a cigarette fix once every two years or so, reality tv (The Biggest Loser & Project Runway being my favorites), myspace, design*sponge, obsessive picture-taking, picking out paint colors, Grey's Anatomy, Brothers & Sisters and The Office (which all had fantastic season finales this past season!), shopping for kids' clothes, talking on the phone, bargain shopping...you get the idea.

But, my main ridiculous, my-week-should-really-not-revolve-
around-this obsession is LOST. I am totally hooked. I didn't watch the first season in regular season. I thought the whole concept was stupid and whenever I heard about it, I would think of it as a modern day Gilligan's Island. I had absolutely no interest in tuning in. Then the summer after the first season rolled around and I happened to start watching one of the reruns one evening. It was all downhill from there.

I seriously can't get enough of it. The writers are genius and have me left with so many questions and counting the days until next season after the awesome season finale this past Thursday. So imagine my horror when I heard the rumor today that LOST will not return with new episodes until FEBRUARY 2009! ABC is totally taking advantage of my addiction...they know I'm too weak to boycott. So I will go on with my life for the next 8 months...and I will tune in next February and will no doubt be on the edge of my seat for the entire show. The next day, there will no doubt be a chain of emails amongst my fellow LOST watchers discussing the highlights from the night before. But ABC will really have to work hard after the show wraps in 2010 to make sure our relationship is not damaged permanently. After all, I never agreed to this.