Eddie is here--the summer can officially begin!

So far this summer has sucked.  The weather has been horrific!  What is up with daily tornados?  Thanks, but I thought that I LEFT Illinois!  Sheesh!  But, hopefully the weather will make a turn for the better, because I am missing out on some MAJOR pool time!  But, the best part about the storms is Ben's new fancy vocabulary--"MOMMY!! MOMMY!! I see FUNDER!! It's WOUD!!"  (Translation:  "I see thunder!  It's loud!")  So, I say, "do you see thunder or hear it?"  "I SEE FUNDER!!!!"  

I gotta tell ya, his speech imperfections are the cutest thing EVER!  I crack up whenever he cries, because he will be sobbing and then turn to me and say, "Mommy, I cwying!!"  And, his new favorite breakfast is "TOAST!!!  Wiff JEWWY!!!"  (I refuse to translate--figure it out!)

Kinsey's newest obsession is our neighbor, Megan.  She is 6 and she likes to come over and jump on the trampoline.  But, tonight when I was putting Kinsey to bed, she said, "Mom, Megan is too bossy.  I am tired of doing what she says.  When I go outside tomorrow I am going to say NO!  You can't come over!"  We shall see how that plays out.  Megan will probably put a hit out on her!!!

So, Eddie is here!  He is my 13 year old step-son.  He lives in Indiana and he stays with us for a month each summer.  So far, he is Ben's IDOL!  Eddie has acquired a cute little shadow!  But, now that he is here, I feel like the summer can begin.  We are happy to have him here and I hope that he has a good time.  But, really, how can he not?  You just don't get much more fun than our house!  :)

PS--we had drama regarding a SNAKE in our BASEMENT!! I have chosen not to expound on this topic due to the fact that it will make me heave.  But, the good news is that it was caught and released in a field FAR from my house today.  WHEW!!

Catching up...

All sorts of stuff has been going on in the last two weeks.  Would you like a recap???  Well, the BIGGEST thing is that Yaya and Papa came for a visit.  That's always super fun and this was no different.  That little Ben has Papa wrapped around his finger.  It's not every day that you see a 63 year old man forced to lay on the floor and watch Barbie Fairytopia with his grandson, but that's what our Papa does!!!  We are big fans of Barbie in this house, so it's go Barbie or go home!  :)

Also, Doug and I hit the road yet again for a fun trip to Vegas.  This time we went alone to celebrate our seventh anniversary.  We had a wonderful time and got to see the show Love.  It was amazing.  We also had THE BEST DINNER EVER at Sushi Samba.  If anyone ever goes to Vegas, you must eat there.  I can't stop thinking about it!!

Kinsey wrapped up her school year and got ONE entire week off before she started back to preschool.  I keep her in school year-round so that she doesn't get out of the routine.  Is that mean?  Her first real summer vacation will be next summer, since kindergarten isn't offered in the summer.  If it was, she would be there!!

But, here is the biggest news ever......the TRAMPOLINE is up!  woo!!!  Kinsey is amazing already!  Me?  not so much.  Kinsey has it rigged up so that the hose runs over it and she jumps in her swimsuit.  How fun is that?  So, being the cool mom that I am, thought that I would give it a shot.  I get on the trampoline, jump three times and pee myself.  Lovely.  (Is that too much information?)

Our other big news??  Ben has his BIG BOY bed!  Not that he is allowed to sleep in it or anything, but it's cute!  Sadly, my son will be forced to sleep in a crib for the duration of his stay here in my home.  I am thinking that that is the only way that he and I will get along.  I like having a napper!  (Here is a picture of the bed for Karen A.!!  I am thinking that Emmett would like something similar, what do you think?)

My life makes me laugh!

I don't know what has gotten into me lately, but I am actually laughing all. of. the. time.  My kids are particularly hilarious, but I crack myself up on a regular basis as well!!!  I guess I am a lucky gal to have such a happy life.  :)

We are currently in a countdown until the latest Yaya and Papa visit!  T minus 4 days and counting!  When I asked Kinsey what she was most excited about, she said, "Donuts for breakfast!!!!"  Papa has a quite a reputation around here!  He's the donut man!

Two MAJOR things are going to happen while they are here:  the trampoline will be assembled and so will Ben's big boy bed.  EEEEEEEK  times 2!!!  I am happy to tell you that we do have an orthepedic doctor in our neighborhood, so the many broken bones that will occur on the trampoline will be attended to immediately!  

Also--big news!!! We have 2 baby peppers growing already!  That only took a week!  It should only be a few more days before the birds get them.  Is it against the law to kill birds on your own property?  I LOATHE the birds in my yard.  LOATHE!  I guess I wouldn't feel so passionately about them if my son wasn't fascinated with bird crap.  It looks like a worm apparantly, so I have gotten to examine WAY too many splats o' crap!  "Mommy?  Mommy?  Mommy?  Is worm?  Is spid-ah?  Is ro-ee po-ee? {translation:  roly poly}"   "No, Buddy.  It's bird shit."

Excuse my mouth.  It's late.

"I've got poo on my hands!!!!"

This is a direct quote from my son.  Immediately you start grossing out, right?  Well, you are wrong!  haha!  I was giving him a bath, and I sudsed his hair up, he rubbed his head and saw that he had shampoo on his hands.  Thus, the quote.  I cracked up, of course, so now he keeps saying it over and over.  My boy, the comedian!

I believe that I shall regale you with tales from the dentist.  Oh, what a ROOKIE mom mistake I made.  I should have known.  But, I'm getting ahead of myself....

Tuesday, Kinsey had a dentist appointment.  She did NOT sleep well the night before, so I should have known that it was going to be a disaster, but I didn't acknowledge my instinct.  Instead, we soldier on and go to see the big guy.  

They call her in and she gets in the chair, picks out her toothbrush and lets them take x-rays.  Piece o' cake!  Meanwhile, Ben and I are standing outside the area so that we don't get zapped with the x-rays and I hear a child screaming bloody murder.  I chuckle with the receptionist.."Oh!  haha!!  I am so glad that Kinsey doesn't do that any more!  That must be hard for you to listen to, huh?"  Uh.  Oh.

Fast forward ONE minute.  Who is screaming bloody murder now?  Oh.  That would be my child.  Rookie mistake!  NEVER say that your child isn't going to do something, because they ALWAYS DO IT!  She did not want the panoramic x-ray.  I mean, she REALLY didn't want it.  Fine.  Then she refused to let the dentist touch her, so we don't know if she has loose teeth or anything.  What we do know is that she has 4 cavities, thanks to the initial x-rays.  But, this dentist office will likely be losing our business, since they want to sedate her to fill her fillings and turn one into a root canal.  Excessive?? I think so!  Second opinion?  Definitely!

So, looooong story short--watch what you say about your kid, make sure that they are rested, and don't let dentists rob you blind.

The end.

Happy Mother's Day to meeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Today is Mother's Day, y'all.  I survived and had a great day!  Woo-hoo!!  I have learned that the best way to survive these holidays are to have low, make that NO, expectations.  That is what I did, and it worked!

My day started at 8:30 (!) with breakfast in bed!  Doug and Kinsey brought me a delicious breakfast and then went downstairs with Ben so that I could eat in silence!  Heaven!  I chowed down on my grub, slugged down my Starbuck's and then they came up and jumped on me and gave me homemade cards.  They were too cute!  The bottom of Doug's said, "Let's go get a dishwasher!"  woo-hoo!!!!  I don't know what has happened to my life, but a new appliance goes a LONG way to make me happy!  Our current one is CRAP, so on Wednesday, we will finally be eating off of clean plates!  What a novel idea!  :)

Also, on Saturday, Doug and Kinsey created our new garden.  I can't wait to see what happens with that.  They worked hard on it, so I hope that we get SOMETHING out of it.  We shall see.  Kinsey is in charge of watering it, so that could either be very good or very bad!

Here is a chance for you to see the kind of thing that I have to live with every day.  Insanity!

So, once you have stopped laughing at the video, I would like you to pause and silently thank my mother for being so awesome!  I don't tell her enough, but she is the coolest chick ever and I am so grateful that I got to be the one to grow up with her.  But, as good of a mother as she is, she is an even better grandmother and my kids are the luckiest kids ever.  They always know that they are loved and that they are special when she is around.  Nobody is better than our Yaya!!  Thanks, mom!  I love you!

Tooting my own horn...TOOT TOOT!!!

Go me!  I ran my 5k today in 29 minutes!  woo-hoo!  I told myself that I had to do it in under 30 minutes, so I did.  I didn't have a LOT of leeway there, but I succeeded.  I am super proud of myself!  :)

So, while I was off running my buns off, my children were left here....alone....with their father!  EEEEK!  I kid, I kid!  He did a fine job with them, but it is currently 9:00 and he is crashed!  These kids wear you out, I tell ya!

One sad note...poor Kinsey is sick.  She has this weird fever that is going around.  Fortunately, it is a 24 hour thing, but unfortunately, it has knocked her for a loop.  So, being the good mom that I am, I prepared her a gourmet dinner of ice cream, corn dog and animal crackers.  Now, who wouldn't want to be sick in my house??  You get whatever you want!

Changing topics COMPLETELY....

Ben's new thing is singing!  It is adorable!  I will have to get a video soon.  I downloaded some kids' music onto my computer and I play them all the time.  He almost has the ABC song and he loves Wheels on the Bus.  It's SO cute!  Sadly, though, he has his father's rhythm, so when he dances, it's a sight to behold.  Video will be coming soon....

Two new pictures that I love...

I love both of these pictures.  I just love the fact that my kids actually love each other!  sniff sniff!!