Notes from Brenna

I just came upstairs and found two notes taped to the TV (oh my daughter knows her parents all too well).

Note #1:

Look! For: Mom and Dad
Call: 1-800-313-5750
or visit us at
www.DisneyVacation.com/memories
to order your Free
vacation planning DVD!

Note #2:

Look! For:Dad
dad mom said that
we proboly could get a
puppy that I really really
whant want.

Just go to: little...well
just ask mom to show
you this really cute puppy!



Price:0.00 or free!

Say Cheese!

I figured that since it has been quite awhile, it was probably about time I posted a few updated pictures of my little darlings. So, without further ado, here they are.

Oh the apples I picked and washed and cut up and cooked and blended and canned to make applesauce. This was literally an ALL DAY process. Brenna was delighted to wash apples for about 10 minutes.


Of course, Elliot had to see what was going on, too. Mmmm, applesauce!


Getting Ethan to actually give me a non-hammy smile for a picture is about as feasible as me going through an entire day without sugar. Not happening.

Now, who can resist a face like that? We are going to be in big trouble with this kid...

Maya, Maya, Maya. If I had a big following of this blog, I might have a "Name That Photo" contest. Because I don't really even know what to say about this one.

Brenna, my future concert violinist. Assuming, that is, that she can master her arpeggios.

Obviously I don't give my children equal photo opportunities because this is the best I could do for Maya.

Elliot loves his bottle. In fact, right now he is a fan of eating period. Whenever he sees someone chewing or sitting at the table he comes over and squeals until he gets a bite.

Not Me! Monday Round 5

Well it's that time of week again! Over at My Charming Kids, it's time for another round of Not Me! Monday. If you'd like to join in the "Not Me! Monday" fun, click here for the rules.

Just in case you're wondering, I definitely did not, as I was leaning over the bathtub to rinse out my daughters puke bucket, get sprayed in the head with the shower because I would have been smart enough to make sure that the flow was coming from the faucet rather than the shower head.

I did not ever, not even one time, have a headache in the morning because I didn't get my coffee infusion early enough. I am most certainly not addicted to caffiene, so this would never happen to me.

I did not lift my baby over my head only to have him drool on my face.

I did not show up to our church potluck with pizza from Papa John's. Because I am a good little housewife who always cooks amazing meals from scratch.

I did not pick my daughter up from school only to have her tell me that she had broken the zipper on her jacket. This has not happened multiple times with multiple jackets before. I did not then rush to the mall to find her a new jacket. Because zippers can be fixed so it would be silly to buy an entire new coat.

I would never ever spend a ridiculous amount of time on my daughter's Webkinz account playing one of the arcade games. That would be so immature.

I did not throw away all of my cookie cutters over the weekend because I was not at all annoyed that my husband kept making comments about how we needed to clean out the laundry room (which I did) and we needed to organize the drawers and cupboards in the bathroom (which I did not do yet, I spent the majority of the day in the laundry room) and we needed to find a new place to put our cookie cutters because they cluttered the drawer. I did not, after not finding a new home for the cookie cutters, furiously clean the rest of the house to work off my frustration. I am not passive aggressive, I always address issues head on.

And finally, I absolutely positively did not enter the kitchen to find that my 10 month old son had opened the pantry and pulled out the recycling (which was not strewn all over the floor). And he was certainly not playing with a can with a very sharp lid. Because that would be just plain irresponsible and dangerous.

Interior Decoration

My oldest child is a bona fide pack rat. She hoards everything from stuffed animals and books to toilet paper tubes and Home Magazines. She has a particular dislike for passing her too-small clothing down to her little sister. When she was about 5 or 6 she had two pairs of Strawberry Shortcake pajamas that she had outgrown. She was in her room with me as I was packing them away and was quite distraught over the fact that they were going to be Maya's soon. After I reminded her for the 100th time that they were too small for her, I asked her what she planned on doing with them if I allowed her to keep them. She answered through her tears, "Hang them on my wall!"

This story had my laughing so hard a couple of nights ago that I could hardly even spit it out. It seemed much funnier to me then than it does now. But I already typed it out, so I guess you'll just have to deal with it.

Not Me! Monday Round 4

Over at My Charming Kids, it's time for another round of Not Me! Monday. If you'd like to join in the "Not Me! Monday" fun, click here for the rules.

My week did not go as follows:

While walking around the grocery store with my boys I did not hear the call of nature. The call was not so loud that I didn't pay attention to where I was going and therefore I did not see, upon entering the restroom, 3 urinals. It was not at all embarassing to be seen exiting the men's room by a store employee. I did not think to myself as I was entering the correct restroom, "This will make a good Not Me! Monday post."

I did not pull out the vacuum to suck up the cheerios on the floor and than leave it sitting next to said cheerios all day.

I did not give my SIL (whom I dearly love) a ride in my new (okay, new to me) van and she did not proceed to put her bottle of uncovered kumbacha (fermented tea, yuck!) in a cup holder that was not too big for the bottle. This full bottle did not tip over when I turned and therefore did not spill it's entire contents onto the floor of my new van which does not now smell like vinegar.

My husband did not call me at least 5 times while I was out getting a much needed respite with a friend. Because my husband can handle things just fine without me.


Well, I'm sure there should be many more to add to this list, but sadly I cannot remember any more!

Not Me! Monday Round 3

Over at My Charming Kids, it's time for another round of Not Me! Monday. If you'd like to join in the "Not Me! Monday" fun, click here for the rules.

My week did not go as follows:

I did not have to extract my darling daughter (who is not going to be 8 in a few months) out of the van when I did not tell her that I was going to be leaving her with a babysitter (who certainly was not her super fun aunt). I was not overpowered by this child and did not have to resort to telling her that if she continued her screaming our neighbors would call the police who would then take her away from me. I would never do that.

I did not take a two hour nap on Tuesday afternoon. And it did not feel good.

I did not have my almost 4-year old child nap with me which did not result in him staying awake until 11pm. Because what kind of a mother lets her child stay up until 11 pm? That would just be irresponsible.

I did not take Maya to the Dr to be tested for diabetes and did not find out while we were there that while she doesn't have diabetes (really) she also doesn't have another UTI.

I was not secretly happy that I had to wait 20 minutes for Maya's Rx even though it should have been ready when I got there because I really don't enjoy walking around Target. I especially don't like walking around Target childless. I am not addicted to Target. I never spend any money there.

I did not mind that my husband was gone all week on a business trip in Vegas. I was not at all happy to have him back home. He did not spend a ridiculous amount of money on Cirque Du Soleil. And did not compensate for it by telling me that I could have my first ever spa day. I am not excited about this at all.

My son did not just come over to me with a bag of cheez-its and did not proceed to rip open the bag thereby causing the crackers to explode all over the room.

I did not tell several people that I was going to kick this child out of my house one day last week because he did not spend that entire day whining and complaining. I was not frustrated with him at all. Because good mom's enjoy every second of every day with their beloved children.

Proud Mama

I usually try to stray away from bragging about my children. In fact, I tend to swing the other way and am way more likely to bring to light all of the negative attributes of my little darlings rather than discuss all of the wonderful things about them. However, I can't keep this one to myself. I took Brenna to her violin lesson today. It was her fifth lesson EVER. She has been working, for the past 4 weeks, on Twinkle Twinkle. Today she had a new song, Lightly Row, introduced. Now, I have no experience what-so-ever with the violin. But I could not help but be impressed when she picked up the song in about 8 minutes. 8 minutes! I was completely floored. I didn't think it was going to go well at first. She was struggling with the bowing and I could see the look of frustration on her face. But then it suddenly just clicked and she had it! And then! My little mommy heart just about burst out of my chest at the end of her lesson when she and her instructor played Twinkle Twinkle together. Brenna played the melody and her instructor played the harmony. Brenna didn't miss a beat! She was awesome!