Why we're so proud!

Foster brought this card home from school today from his teacher, it reads:


To Foster
HERE'S THE SCOOP!
Your behavior is front-page news because you stayed on task and completed all your work at the puppet center. You are very helpful. You cleaned and straightened the puppet center table without me asking. You are responsible, kind & helpful.




Wow! We are so very proud! Foster got TWO check marks on his home behavior chart for this.

A funny from Ivy's mom (AKA: Bubbe)

You are on a horse, galloping at a constant speed. On your right side is sharp drop off, and on your left side is an elephant traveling at the same speed as you. Directly in front of you is a galloping kangaroo and your horse is unable to overtake it! Behind you is a lion running at the same speed as you and the Kangaroo. What must you do to safely get out of this situation?

If you do not know, see answer below.





















Get your drunk ass off the merry-go-round!

New Haircuts - All THREE

Welcome to the No-Sleep Motel…

…we're open 24/7. Ugggggg.


I finally got home last night at about 6:15pm after my dentist appointment that started at 3:00pm. Ouch! One filling and one cap later - and multiple (and I mean MULTIPLE) shots of novacaine - I still couldn't feel the left side of my mouth. And remember, this is after working all day - MINUS the 2 hours I was at home waiting for the plumber (toilet STILL leaking).


Dinner was followed by the usual post-dinner routine. Getting the kids calmed down enough for bed. Finally, all were in bed (and asleep - bonus!) by 8:00-ish. I was feeling really antsy because I hadn't had a minute since getting home to do anything other than childcare, I really wanted to check my e-mail and snail-mail and I needed a shower. Well, I took my shower and then Laura and I settled down to watch "Lost". Yes, the day AFTER. Laura's class from church now meets Wednesday nights instead of Mondays. While this is a better day in the grand scheme of things - like work and children, it's not good for watching "Lost" live. Oh well. Trusty TiVo made it okay. We finished watching around 9:30 and then it was time for me to finally get some "me" time to read e-mail, do some bills, open snail-mail, etc. I finally fell into bed around 11pm and at 11:08 Seth woke up crying. And again at 11:25pm and again at 11:55pm. Then I finally brought him into our bed - our nice comfy, cozy king-sized waterbed with new electric blanket (ahhhhhh) bed. He tossed and turned and cranked and sat up and turned over and over and over until he finally fell asleep sometime after 1am. I was kind of awake this whole time as it's hard to fall asleep with a small child wedged under my ribs. Then I woke up at 2-ish when Logan woke up. Laura went in to comfort him and eventually returned to bed. I was still kinda awake listening to Logan. Then I fell asleep again and woke up around 3:45am with a throbbing mouth and teeth. Couple advils later I feel asleep only to be awakened when the alarm went off an hour and a half later!


And today I started my new (earlier) workday hours of 7:00 - 4:30pm.


I need coffee - bad!!!!


I used to work Mon. - Fri. 7:30 - 4:00. Now I'm going to be working Mondays from 7:30 - 11:30am and Tues. - Fri. from 7:00 - 4:30pm. This way I will have every Monday afternoon off. I plan to use it to do stuff for "me" and also to run all those errands SANS children that we always seem to have to do on the weekend. And since Laura has every other Monday off - that means at least twice a month we'll both have off at the same time and we can finally go to Costco and the grocery store solo.


So, what am I doing on my first Monday afternoon off you ask? Yup, waiting for the plumber - AGAIN.


But tonite, I hope to check into the Sleep-All-Night-Without-Waking-Up-Motel.


I hope...

Money tree wishes and a trio of friends

So, they say money doesn't grow on trees but I'm still wishing our peach tree out back will start sprouting $20 bills. Please?


Let's see - lately, money issues are well, a big issue. First off, I recently broke down, okay, waaaaay down and ordered some study materials so I can take (and pass) that damn LCSW exam. I've been putting it off way too long and now that I'm looking at a new position at work that would include a small raise (and much more job-satisfaction) and upward mobility (maybe supervision eventually) I want to pass the exam and get my license. So - that was an easy $245.00. For study materials.


Then - in the SAME day (what were we thinking) we went to a local Oktoberfest and that place - you know - Costco. I think we spent about $160 or so at Oktoberfest (on fried dough and crafts) and way more than that at Costco and we only got the essentials and no "fun" stuff. THEN, on Sunday we were going stir-crazy in the house and decided at the last minute to head out to Target. Well, need I go any further? We very rarely walk out of that store without spending about $200 and we certainly did. And again, on essentials, not any "fun" stuff. Okay, if you count the mint water I got, that was fun. THEN, our toilet in our bathroom started not to work well AND our water heater is leaking. Since Laura was lucky enough to have Monday and Tuesday off, she got to call the plumber to come fix everything. It was $45 per service call (Buyers Home Waranty) times TWO. He fixed the toilet with a thing-ie and then declared we needed a new water heater but our insurance/waranty thing wasn't going to cover the extra $450 in "upgrades" needed for safety and legal issues. Okaaaaaay. Need hot water = therefore need to get the water heater.


THEN - our almost 15 year old pup wasn't feeling too well so a trip to the vet with some x-rays and such - almost another $700!


That leads us to this morning. After I used our new and improved toilet I noticed a nice large puddle collecting on the bathroom floor by the toilet. Uggggggg. Get that plumber back!


I refuse to add up how much money we've spent in the last few days and the week isn't over yet. Saturday, all 3 kids are scheduled to get haircuts - I spend more on their hair than I do on mine. Of course, they're cuter so I guess it's okay.


Oh yeah - the trio of friends - Curious George, Kermit the Frog and a big purple dragon are the inhabitants of the floor in between Logan and Seth's toddler beds. Lately, Seth has taken to not wanting to go to sleep at night and wanting one of us to lay down (on the floor) next to him until he falls asleep. I didn't want to get into this habit but my new motherhood mantra of "whatever works" is still in effect. I couldn't take the screaming and have taken to laying down and using Kermit and said dragon as pillows. Curious George? He just sits there and watches...