Mean Mommy!

I am getting very tired of not having any pictures to post but even more tired of not having my camera when I need it! Just to make you happy I decided to look at some recent videos to see if there were any worth showing. I found one that I (as you will be able to tell) think is pretty funny! I must preface the video by telling you that this was a complete accident on her part and the only reason I even saw her was because she was crying and yelling for my help. I am such a mean Mom and went and got the camera instead of helping her! What can I say?



I am exhausted tonight. I don't know if it's because of the day or if I am getting sick! Sami has been telling me for over a week now that her ear hurts. I never know what is real and what is "play" so I shrugged it off because there haven't been any other symptoms.....UNTIL TODAY! It was obvious that she did not feel well today so I decided to take her to the doc. He says he thinks she has a virus on top of her bad allergies! UGH! Apparently she is not the only one....I have heard of at least 3 families with sick folk! Is it that time again?

The weather has been AMAZING! Yesterday we spent most of the day outside. Sam, Spencer, Maddie and I took a walk around the park. Once we got home I put Spencer to bed and Sam, Maddie and I went back outside! I was actually surprised that she had any energy left after the park......oh to be little again!

She made me laugh yesterday when the old people across the street got home. The old lady comes over occasionally and visits so, Sam has gotten to know her a bit. When they pulled in the driveway Sam yelled, "PAWPAW!" I guess she thinks all old people have the same name!

Please pray that the medication they gave us for Sami helps heal her.....it makes me sad when she feels bad, plus it was soooo expensive!

Procrastination

HILARIOUS......it was one of those moments where you are supposed to be mad and stern with your kiddos but it is so stinkin' hard because you are trying desperately not to laugh. I failed tonight and not only laughed at Sami's antics but I also woke up Spencer in the process!

So, Josh left town tonight right before Sam's bedtime. He has been here for almost a week and a half so I didn't expect things to go too well. She was pretty fussy so I put her down about 7:30. Usually she will open the door a time or two trying to procrastinate but tonight, WOW! It must have been like 15 times. She wanted me to tell her goodnight, close her door, get her more juice, etc. each time she opened the door. The second to last time I told her that she better go get in bed and if she opened the door again, she was getting a spankin'! (typically this is all it takes to get her to mind)

I hear her in her room talking to herself (which is not unusual) but then I hear the door creep open and she says "S-A-M-I" and then, "S-A-M-I" louder and then, "Mommy, S-A-M-I" with total excitement! It was hilarious! She knew that I would be so proud of her that I wouldn't be able to smack her! She was right! I tried to just pretend like I couldn't hear her while I was in the living room cracking up but after about the 10th, "Mommy S-A-M-I" at the top of her lungs I thought I better tell her "good job!" in hopes that she would just shut the door and go to bed......it worked!

Elmo success and a great day!

Well, the long hours on the cake paid off.....at least I was happy with the outcome (actually that isn't entirely true.....of course I thought it could have been better, but considering I have never had any training and this was only the 2nd cake I've ever decorated, I was pretty happy)!


This is how Sami looked the whole party. The poor girl just does not enjoy large groups of people and even hates being the center of all that attention even more!



I had to coax her into opening her gifts.....she just wasn't interested. She kept getting up and walking off! I felt bad for her and bad for the people who brought the gifts. What do ya do.....she's only two.


Nini & Papa got her a tricycle and it was pretty popular with all of the kiddos. Here you can see Sam's version of "sharing." She does pretty good at sharing when we remind her but she is certainly creative in finding a way to compromise! Levi really loved the tricycle (even though he has one at home and doesn't get near as excited) so Sam just got on the back!


And, as you can see, my Dad was working pretty hard! He is always eager to get the babies to sleep but I really think it's just an excuse to nap himself!


The bottom part of the cake was chocolate and Elmo was white......aren't I thoughtful! I did forget to get the ice cream out though (and it even said, "Please join us for cake & ice cream" on the invitation). OH WELL!


Overall, it was a great day and I think Sam will enjoy all of her goodies! (Tricycle, Skates, Tennis Shoes, Cowboys cheerleader outfit, V-Tech Baby, Color Wonder stuff, sidewalk chalk, Little People Bus, Keyboard with drums and cymbals, Baby doll and clothes, musical tea set.....I think she will be set for quite some time)

SWEET SLEEP! Oh, I haven't been able to say that for soooo long now! I actually got a full nights sleep last night! I don't know if we wore them both out or what but he slept from 10:30 until 7 and she slept until about 7:15! WOW! Please pray that he continues to sleep through the night! This would make my life so much easier!

I just had to show you how abusive my Mom is......this is what happened when Balin was at her house last week. Just kidding about Mom but isn't that CRAZY! He fell and bumped his head in the bathtub! Poor guy!

Changes

Ok, so I am working on some of the navigation for my blog. My brother (thank you Jas) informed me that my header did not link back to my homepage! HOW ANNOYING! I don't realize these things because I don't search my site! If you ever have any suggestions for improvement, please let me know. Also, I realize that something I like on other peoples sites are the tags, so I can go to particular posts on subjects that I am interested in without wading through the whole site. This has inspired me to go through all my old posts and add tags and include tags on any new posts! I hope this helps! Like I said, if you have any more suggestions I would love to hear them!

Party Preparations

4:30.....that's what time I got up this morning! Little Man woke up hungry and then Sam came in about 5:15! UGH! Guess God is just giving me more time to get things done!

It's now been 7 days and can I tell you life is just different without a camera! I still can't find the darn thing! Seriously I think I have lost 1/2 of my brain since getting prego with Sami. There have been sooo many photo ops and NO camera! I have used my camera phone and the still shot on my video camera to catch a couple of things but it isn't the same! I might go crazy if I don't find it soon!

Maddie(the dog) is AWESOME! In fact, she is Sami's new "seat"! She has THE best temperament. She is wonderful with the kiddos and doesn't even try to snatch table food or dig through the trash. The only complaint I have is that she likes to pull when you take her for a walk.

It feels funny to blog without pics......hopefully that won't last too long.

Well, this week has been pretty crazy getting ready for Sam's party on Saturday. I did get a nice surprise in the middle of the week though. I was pretty much stressing out about getting everything done but Josh took Sam to Oklahoma with him Wednesday and they got home yesterday. He has been wanting to take us up there to meet his customers and since it would work out for both of us for her to go, he took her! We were both nervous but she did great! Josh has become good friends with one of his customers and occasionally stays at his house when he travels. He has a 5 year old little boy so Josh thought it would be fun to stay the night there! Apparently Sami had a blast! She went on her first 4-wheeler ride (which she would not have been able to do if I had been there). It was so sweet when she got home and her face lit up when she saw me!

Oh, cool huh! Right there, over there, up there......these are just a few of her newest phrases! I know I have said this a thousand times but she is FUNNY! I have never had any one thing/person make me soooo happy and soooo mad! It's amazing what kids can do to you!

I have been baking and mixing and mixing and mixing the past couple of days preparing the cake for Sam's party. I will let you know how it turns out once I finish today once I am done decorating.

WooHoo Free movie tickets!

I have heard that you can try on a pair of jeans at American Eagle and they will give you a movie ticket. If you purchase a pair of jeans they will give you 2!

I have not tried this but you better bet your behind that I'm gonna. Movie tickets are OUTRAGEOUS these days and that is something we like to do for date night! If you try this before I do, let me know the result!

Blog Makeover Giveaway!

Just thought I would let you know about a cool giveaway. If you have a blog or ever wanted to start one, you need to jump on over to Mommy Chronicles. They are having a giveaway for a free blog makeover......the works!

Vote for Life!

Can I ask you a question? Would this be an adequate explanation for a parent who killed their toddler?

This child was simply an inconvenience; killing them wasn't really an issue because they had not yet hit puberty and were clearly less worthy of life. Ludicrous? Apparently not to most people because this is legal in our country......the only difference is a matter of months.

Is it not more tragic when someone is killed in their own home? Why is this any different for a child who is in his mother's womb? I was heartbroken by a statistic I read today.... about one in three American women will have had an abortion by the age of 45! We are killing God's children!




Thanks Jas!

The Color Pumpkin

The dog is amazing but that's not why I'm writing.....I will update you more on that when I can find my stinkin' camera!

I just had to tell you this because it is FUNNY(at least it is to a Momma)! So, I have been working on Sam's colors. Well, actually we have been working on them for a long time but not as much as recently. I try to emphasize one thing at a time and she usually initiates whatever we work on. She is counting from 1-10, knows a few of her shapes (heart and star.....of course she couldn't have done circle or square first) and can spell her name so I guess she decided she wanted to work on colors now. The funny thing is that we have been reading a Barney book on colors for some time now and the color orange has a picture of a pumpkin. Apparently she is a little confused.......when I ask her what color ______ is, she will say, "red?...., orange?......., pumpkin?" It makes me laugh EVERY time. I have tried to tell her that pumpkin is not a color but she is determined!

The Divine Switcharoo

We have a HUGE praise! It has been so amazing watching God work this out. We found a home for Foxy and have also found a new member for our family, Maddie.


At the beginning of the week I had someone contact me about adopting Foxy. (and this was the first inquiry that wasn't a scam....weird, I know) After a long exchange of e-mails we both felt comfortable with Foxy making her new home with her. She is a student at UNT and lives in an apartment......Foxy is an excellent apartment dog. She has another small dog so Foxy will have a friend to play with. We will be taking her tomorrow to drop her off. Oh my goodness this is going to be so hard but I feel soooo blessed that we were able to find her a good home where I know she will be loved and treated like a part of the family.

After finding Foxy a home I felt OK with looking for a new dog. BUT I am picky and didn't expect to find anything for quite some time. While we would have adopted from a rescue we didn't really want to. Our ideal situation was to find someone who had to give up their beloved pet for one reason or another. I wanted them to have had small children so we would know their temperament. Usually if you are able to find this situation they will give you all of their belongings which is a big deal for us because we have NO large dog stuff and that can be a fairly large expense. I knew it was going to be next to impossible to find this but we wanted to make a wise decision and this was what we felt would work out best for us. We also were really wanting to find a Golden Retriever because of their reputation with children, though I was quite nervous about the hair.

God has worked things out more perfectly than I could have planned!

While looking on Petfinder I found a classified for a golden/lab mix that sounded like the perfect dog for our family.

Maddie is a FANTASTIC family dog. Great with kids (even with my daughter when she was an infant) of all ages, and loves to be indoors. She is house trained, and is past the chewing/digging stage. Sadly, my husband received orders and we cannot take her on this move. She would do great with either elderly as an "inside" dog, or with a family with children. She thrives off of lots of attention, as she's in a home with a SAHM right now. Will accept any good homes, she must go soon, we move in the next few months. She will come with all of her things, including an Igloo and a travel kennel. Make me an offer!

I just knew she was going to be gone. I e-mailed the owner and lo and behold she was still available! Come to find out they have a little girl only a month younger than Samara and they had the dog while she was an an infant! This seemed too good to be true. BUT, they live in Abilene and I had no idea when we would have a chance to get there! I talked to Josh about it and guess what.....he was coming home through Abilene from his trip this week!!!! Seriously???? God most certainly heard all of the prayers for us! Thank you! It was so cool to tell Maddie's mommy that this was an answer to prayers and her e-mail back saying, "Praise the Lord, this is an answer to prayers for us as well!"

We are so excited! (and sad about Foxy). Josh is on his way home with Maddie right now so I will let you know how it is in a day or two!

Yet again!

If you can't tell, I like to change my blog's outfit! More because I am never happy with what is on there than the fact that I like change (because I don't). I hated the colors of the last one. Of course I am not completely happy with this one but at least I like the colors better ; )! Hope you like it!

Outside, here we come!

FINALLY this week has been nice enough to take Sami outside to play! Hooray! You have no idea how exciting this is!

Today Mom had Balin so I thought I would take Sam over there to play.....bad idea. Just recently Mom took out the crib and bunk beds in the kids room and put in a twin bed to cut down on the clutter. Apparently Sami was not happy with this new arrangement and refused to take a nap. Sami without a nap = monster! This was the craziest day! Mom says she isn't answering the phone the next time I call when Balin is there!

They are partners in crime!

Outside they were throwing sand all over each other and in Mom's fountain.....they were eating rocks and throwing rocks.....they were turning on the water hose and trying to put the phones in the fountain!

What? I didn't do anything!

Then once they got inside it got even crazier. Mom & I heard them doing something in her bathroom so she went and checked and said they had crawled into her bathtub.....no big deal.....we thought maybe that would keep them entertained for a while. It wasn't too much longer that Sam comes strolling into the living room with coins in her mouth. Mom got them out and went to put them back in my Dad's change bucket and found a big surprise. They had change ALL OVER the bathroom floor. Apparently they had been grabbing it by the handfuls and just throwing it! Wow! It continued after that with fruit loops all over the floor, drawing with marker on their heads......you name it, they were doing it! AAAHHHHH! I probably should call Mom and make sure that she is still alive after all of that!


Gotta love toddlers!

Save $ with a potty seat cover!

So, while my mind is on potty seat covers I just wanted to share a tip that I heard somewhere several years ago. Apparently those FREE potty seat covers offered in most public restrooms are made out of the same stuff that oil blotting tissues are made from. Yes, that's right! I don't have much trouble with oily skin so I haven't actually tested this out. If you do, let me know!

Labor Day & fun with Daddy

I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day. I forgot to mention that we had a great day! Josh didn't have to work (hence the term Labor Day) so we got to hang out with family. Joey & Melissa have been wanting to go to Leapin' Lizards for some time now so we thought that was a perfect day. It was a good time. Sami and Levi enjoy seeing each other anyway so adding bounce houses to the mix just made it special! The guys took the kiddos through all the bounce houses and tunnels while Melissa and I sat and yapped. I had to watch Spencer and she is prego so we just enjoyed hanging out!

This one has to be my favorite!




And, as I told you in a previous post, we did end up going to McKinney with Josh and then to Stonebriar Centre. I thought Sam was going to think the carousel was so cool......but this is what she thought........


.
I'm not sure she EVER cracked a smile! STINKER!

New Perspectives

I'M BACK!!!!

Returning with new eyes and a new perspective. I don't know how I ignored this for so long. Public bathrooms are GROSS!!!!!! I am an expert hoverer and flush with my foot so cleanliness of public restrooms hasn't really been an issue. It is now. Over the past week I have been exposed to a plethora of public restrooms and have seen them many more times than I ever wanted.

I have come to realize that offering those toilet seat cover thingies is really a public service. There should be instructions with them though. I mean, how are you supposed to tear out the center of that thing without ripping it all to shreds? And then, on the fifth try when you finally get the center torn out, which direction should it go? Should that thing fall to the front or to the back? And once you get it on the seat, how do you keep it from sliding off into the toilet? It must take practice to get that thing on the seat and then throw your child up there before it goes sliding off. Couldn't they have added sticky tabs or something?

Automatic flush present a whole other problem. While you are getting your seat cover all situated it apparently thinks you are going potty because the minute you stand up to place your kiddo on the potty, the stupid thing flushes and off goes the seat cover! Oh my! It must have been a sight! I am pretty sure I was sweating by the time I got done with the whole ordeal.

Automatic flush and children just do not mix. Somehow it failed to get the right timing at least three times while in the stall and one of those times just happened to be the second I set Sam up there! I don't know about you but the noise those things make could make me jump.....to a 2 year old it is just plain frightening! Not to mention the whoosh of air across your toosh accompanying the noise. The fear on her face was so sad. I don't know that I ever expected to be comforting my princess while she was sitting on her porcelain throne. And yet, there I stood hugging her in the Walmart stall, trying to convince her that everything was going to be OK so that she would do her duty there instead of in her seat on the car ride home.

These are not all of the problems associated with the freedom of a toddler in panties. 1) she feels obligated to check out every single restroom at every location we visit and 2) she wants to go to each one like 10 times. While having dinner at The Wooden Nickle, she must have convinced me to take her 6 times. I am sure I will grow out of this with experience but right now I am afraid not to take her when she asks. Inevitably the time I chose not to take her would be the time she really needed to go and I would be left with an embarrassing mess! No less, we are thankful for the end of diapers for one child!

The internet picked a good time to go...... pretty uneventful around here. It has been really nice..... Josh got home late Thursday night and isn't leaving until tomorrow! We all love it when he is home so this has been a real treat. He does have to go to McKinney today but we are going with him and are planning to stop by Stonebriar Centre to ride the carousel and let Sam play in the soft play area. This should be fun!

One thing that did happen this weekend was the start of Josh's Fantasy Football. They had a draft on Sunday and because he won last year he was presented with a trophy. Yes, you heard that right, a trophy. Seriously, who needs a Fantasy Football trophy? And this is a serious trophy, names engraved and everything ...... Josh thinks it is cool! It's actually pretty comical! In reality this is a significant event for our family......this marks the beginning of less Josh time.....that time will now be devoted to the NFL, namely the Cowboys. Go Cowboys! (did that sound positive?, see Mom, I'm being positive)


Just had to show you this picture of Spence.....poor guy....Samara ALWAYS has to give him his paci, whether he wants it or not and today she also put a bracelet on him. You think she will coax him into playing dress-up with her? (Probably only when Dad's not home)


Glad to be back! (my Dad says this is my outlet, to keep my family sane.....and that includes him)