SIGNS

A friend sent me this........(my responses in bold)

25 SIGNS YOU HAVE GROWN UP

1. Your houseplants are alive, and you can't smoke any of them. Not true, Phil has the green thumb here not me. And I never smoked since I could never inhale!!

2. Having sex in a twin bed is out of the question. These days having sex in a KING size bed is out of the question! Too damn tired to even THINK about that!

3. You keep more food than beer in the fridge. These days alcohol has REALLY become my best friend again.

4. 6:00 AM is when you get up, not when you go to bed. Um, I'm up most of the night and it isn't cause I'm hunched over a toilet!

5. You hear your favorite song in an elevator.

6. You watch the Weather Channel. Actually the kids run the TV & it's Scooby Doo that we watch!

7. Your friends marry and divorce instead of "hook up" and "break up."

8. You go from 130 days of vacation time to 14. I'm on vacation 365 days a year, aren't I??

9. Jeans and a sweater no longer qualify as "dressed up."

10. You're the one calling the police because those %&@# kids next door won't turn down the stereo. Yep, did that ALL the time on the neighbor when we lived at the trailer park! And that was even before we had kids!

11. Older relatives feel comfortable telling sex jokes around you.

12. You don't know what time Taco Bell closes anymore.

13. Your car insurance goes down and your car payments go up.

14. You feed your dog Science Diet instead of McDonald's leftovers.

15. Sleeping on the couch makes your back hurt. I think I could Sleep ANYWHERE these days!

16. You take naps. YES I try to!

17. Dinner and a movie is the whole date instead of the beginning of one. DATE?? What's a date??

18. Eating a basket of chicken wings at 3 AM would severely upset, rather than settle, your stomach.

19. You go to the drug store for ibuprofen and antacid, not condoms and pregnancy tests.

20. A $4.00 bottle of wine is no longer "pretty good shit." It's NOT? Hell, I Still LOVE it!! BOONE'S FARM, right Stacie? Melissa??

21. You actually eat breakfast food at breakfast time.

22. "I just can't drink the way I used to" replaces "I'm never going to drink that much again." Yep, sorry to say that this one is true!!

23. 90% of the time you spend in front of a computer is for real work. Damn Ebay

24. You drink at home to save money before going to a bar. Well ya!

25. When you find out your friends are pregnant you congratulate
them instead of asking "Oh no, what the hell happened?" Actually now if any of my friends call with that news...it'll be more of a HA HA!! I think we are all pretty much done unless if someone's doctor messed up...then we're all in trouble!!

Bonus:

26: You read this entire list looking desperately for one sign that doesn't apply to you and can't find one to save your sorry old ass. Then you Post it on your Blog because you want a bunch of old friends to read it 'cause you know they'll enjoy it & do the same!

BACON

Learned something today. Well a couple of things. First, when you have bacon frying & you have to leave the kitchen, turn the stove OFF.

I was cooking our breakfast (yep, bacon and eggs this morning!) and Zachary started to fuss so I was moving him from his exersaucer to his jumper & noticed a bad smell. Ok, let's go change your poopy diaper quick while the bacon is frying.

Now had I KNOWN this was gonna be an up the back, down the leg all out BLOW OUT, I would have turned the stove off. Getting him all cleaned up & Lexi comes in & says "are you burning the bacon?" Um, possibly! So I head to the kitchen & it's smokin' pretty good! Sorry kids, no bacon with your eggs this morning!

Second thing I learned is that if you fry bacon long enough....it disappears!!! I have NO idea where it went but there was only ONE piece left in the frying pan!!

Now we get to enjoy a nice smokey living room & kitchen today!!

SICK.....

Poor Nick. He's been sick all day today. Just starting to feel better this evening. He ran a fever of 102 pretty much all day. He was bummed he wasn't able to go watch Eric bowl in a tournament today.

You can sure tell the difference around the house when one of the kids is down! He started to pick on his siblings tonight & that tells me he's feeling better! We'll give him a little more medicine before bed & hope he wakes up tomorrow feeling better.

Pray that it doesn't go around the household.......although I really wouldn't mind a day in bed!!

Who's the BABY?!?!

Snuggling up to his brother!

MMMMM

Remote Controls are nummy!!!

Spikes!

Getting to use some of daddy's hair gel!

Why doesn't he find that thing at NIGHT to put him back to sleep!?!? Huh?! Huh!?

More Chopping.....

While Lexi was at school this morning & Z2 was napping, Zander & I went out to chop some more of the mess in the driveway. Actually I worked on the sidewalk to the front door & the deck. What a mess!! My neighbor came over yesterday & I was so embarassed by it......you couldn't even see the sidewalk & Kirby has just been peeing on the snow right there where you walk!! I chopped for about a half hour & that was enough. Some of it was just too hard and wouldn't break up.

Then after school I went out again. I think it hit 40 today & the sun was out so it was much easier to work with than it was this morning. I managed to break off this HUGE piece. Boy was that sucker hard to lift!! The driveway & sidewalk are pretty much clear now. Looks so much better!!

Ah, the joys of owning a house.....one that includes a freaking long ass driveway too!!! And why is it a mess at the end of our driveway on the road & nothing at the neighbors?!?! Talking about home ownership....why is it that two of the biggest bills are in my mailbox on the SAME day!??! Property taxes & house insurance bills came today. Well our property taxes actually went down about 6 bucks. Whoo hoo!! That's 6 BK Rodeo Burgers!!

It NEVER Fails........

Why is it you ALWAYS run out of stuff just after you get back from the store?!!? I don't get out much you know so when I do get a trip to Target & Hy-Vee I need to make the most of it.

Went this morning. Just did a little cleaning & used what appears to be the LAST of the paper towels in the house. AUGH! Guess we'll be using napkins for awhile! Then again I guess it's better to run out of paper towels instead of ass wipe right?!!?

Almost a buzz cut!! I see Nick in him so much in this shot. Don't know if it's the blonde hair or the spaghettio's!! I think I have a pic of Nick like this too.

Hearing Test

I took Zander to Mankato today for his hearing assessment. As I figured, all is well in the ears! He is just a STUBBORN boy when it comes to talking!! So now the school will get the results & I think we can do a formal test & see where he fits in. Not sure if there is anything they will do yet, I'm thinking in another 3-6 mos if there isn't any progress, then we start with the speech therapist.

After the test I took him to get his haircut. Boy does he ever look different again!! He looks like *such* the little devil right now! I'll try to get a picture posted later, he's napping right now, which I should be too!

I think Z2 was upset that I left him for a night & paid me back last night. He was up at 11 (after going to bed at 7:30), 2:30, & then again at 4:30. He was pretty much up for the day at 4:30. Maybe a little 1/2 hour catnap. I'm gonna try something with him tonight to see if we can get him to sleep longer. For awhile he was only getting up at 2:30 so I have NO idea what is going on with him, but whatever it is, I sure the hell don't like it!

We made a mold of Z2's foot & hand. Turned out soooo neat!! I'll show the after shots after we are completely done. We had trouble with the hand & so we need to glue some fingers back on it!! It shows all his little wrinkles on his hands & feet! So cute!! We have one more kit & plan on doing Z1's hand & foot too...if he cooperates!! I found the kits at the salvation army a long time ago & we are finally getting around to using them! Wish we would have done these with the other kids!

Zander & I on the left, Nick on the right.

Pulling my 30+ pound weight up the big hill!!

Taking a break after pulling Z1 up the big hill!!

Back to the Grind........

This will be long....a catch up of my weekend.

Friday night Phil took Nick to swimming lessons & picked Eric up & brought him back here for the night.

Saturday morning the kids were up & Nick & Eric were fighting about something while playing Playstation (which is unusual as they get along pretty well for the most part). So I had it & turned the game off. I was tired & crabby as I had been up a couple of times with Z2 the night before. Well that is nothing new, he's still getting up a few times at night & really REALLY wearing me down. My other boys slept through the night by 2 months, Lexi was harder but finally did it at 4 months. Zach....is past the 4 mo mark & nothing has changed much. And I'm not looking for ideas to get him to sleep through the night....as he's my fourth, I kind of know what to try & what works for us! We just didn't luck out & get another good sleeper like we did with Z1.

So Phil took the kids & dropped Eric off at his place. They came back around 11, *just* as I had started to drift off to la la land. I get woken up with the question "Do they have to pay now or later?" Nick & Phil were heading out to sell cookie dough (anyone in the area want to buy some in support of the school's computer lab?!!?) We both HATE fundraisers & weren't going to go door to door with this so I'm surprised Phil took Nick out. He sold 5 tubs so far. Has a few more houses to hit. He's been talking about the stupid prizes all week (and the prizes are pretty lame too which I'm sure some of you are familiar with). At least with him selling 5 tubs, he does qualify for a prize. He has something picked out if he sells 60 tubs. Good luck kid.

It was pretty nice Sat afternoon so I went out sledding with the kids. Z1 LOVED going down the big hill. I did too! Going up sucked. Pulling 30 pounds is not easy if you know how big the hill is in back. I worked up a sweat for sure!! I did that a few times & then took Z1 in for his nap. I went back outside to work on our driveway. It had inches of snow/ice on it. When we got hit the other day it started out coming down as sleet & then froze on the driveway. Then all the snow came. The snowblower wasn't working right either so it was just enough to get it cleaned to get the vehicles out. So we have this build up. Anyhow, I was out chopping & chopping on Sat. Made a pretty nice dent & then the neighbor came over. Nick & Lexi were playing with their son & so he wanted to go sledding with them as well. So they headed to the hill & I talked with her for awhile. My chopping got ignored! She told him that he could go down once or twice & then had to come home. Well, he wasn't coming, so she said she'd head home & so I would go get him & send him home. I went back there & they were having so much fun that I had to join in! SO I went down the hill a few more times. It was soooo much easier coming up that hill by myself! I kept going down & then finally noticed that Rachel had driven over to pick her son up! He just didn't want to go home yet! Fun afternoon!

Saturday night a friend of mine was coming to town & so her & I & another friend made plans to go out. We were going to go bowling. Headed to the bar early to have a before bowling drink. I went to sign us up for the bowling & they said they were booked full! Huh?! Who would have thought!? I didn't make the reservations cause I figured it was just the two of us that was gonna bowl. OH well, now I know for next time! We hung out at the bar & then an hour after bowling had started I went & checked it out again (saw another friend earlier that was there that I wanted to talk to) & saw a couple of lanes open! What the hell!??! GRRRR so no bowling for us. We just had to drink beer & catch up with each other!! Had a great time & got home about 1:30 am.

I had made plans with Phil that he was in charge of Zach for the night. So he got up for the 2:30 feeding & then I was up at 6 am on Sunday with him.

I was pretty tired & so when Zach took his morning nap, I went & laid down myself. About an hour or so later, Lexi woke me up to ask me if I wanted to go swimming. Huh!? Then Phil came in & said that he booked a poolside room for me at the Holiday Inn. We could check in after noon & so he'd leave me & the older kids there to swim & then he'd take Z1 & Z2 home for naps. They'd come back after naps & we'd have pizza & hang out & then they'd all leave & I'd have the room to myself. I could get a night of SLEEP! I have not had a block of more than 4 (maybe 5) hours of sleep in over 4 months!!! I wasn't going to say NO to this. It was much needed on my part.

So we got checked in & Nick & Lexi headed to the pool. We sat & watched them for awhile & Zander would throw balls into them. I got nervous about that because I could JUST see him falling in (he was in his clothes & we didn't plan on him swimming until after they came back from nap time). I was close to him for the most part. Then wouldn't you know it....it happened. He was throwing a ball to Lexi & she was pulling it as it was still in his hand & ends up PULLING him into the water!! I GRABBED him & pulled him out by his legs. Poor kid was freezing & fully clothed you know!! He was a bit scared by it, but not too bad! It was one of those things you could SEE coming. So Phil took the little boys home & I went & swam with the other two. After that we got hungry (of course you do after swimming, right?!) So we made the long walk to Hy-Vee (right across from the hotel) & got some snacks & pop. Hung out & then decided to swim again. We had swam for a bit & then Phil came back. So we got Zander in his suit & he went in the pool. Hated it, too cold. So we went in the hot tub with him. That he LOVED! He didn't want to get out!

Phil picked up Happy Meals for the kids & we ordered a Green Mill Pizza. After we were done eating we hung out around poolside & then it was time for them all to go.

After they left, I watched TV for a bit & then headed to the hot tub with my drink. Very relaxing! Did a few Sudoku's while enjoying the tub! Headed back to watch Desperate Housewives & here it was a repeat! Grrr...Then another favorite of mine came on. Grey's Anatomy. I was getting tired & wouldn't you know it, fell asleep during the show!! I woke up at 10 & was tired but thought I had better pump or I'd wake up at 4 am hurting! So I did that & went to sleep about 10:45. I managed to sleep until 6 AM when I woke up hurting again! My body is so used to feeding Z2 every 3-4 hours!!! So it was 6:30 & I thought, well I can sleep for another hour & 1/2 or so before Phil would come to pick me up. I did fall asleep again until just before 8 when a vaccumm cleaner woke me up!! WTH!??! Besides that, it was one of the quietest nights I've ever had at a hotel. Course there was only 6 other people staying there!! I had a very nice time & would have loved to have stayed a week!! (Thank you for doing this for me Phil! I love you!)

But my ride came & my mini vacation was over! I asked Phil how it went....he said Lexi was in bed by 7:15 & the others were in bed by 8. Z2 woke at 11, 2:30 (or 3:30?), and again at 5:30. Then he had to make sure Nick was up at 6:30 for school & Lexi at 7:30. He got the kids off to school fine & then headed to town w/ Z1 & Z2 to pick me up. This gave him a VERY tiny taste of what my life is like right now....I asked him how he liked it....his response "you can have it"

After his 12 hours alone with the kids, he had to go into work for a 12 hour day today with 2 more 12 hour days this week! Yikes!

You all win!

This was the picture I wanted to use but couldn't find the other day.

Can you Guess?!?!

Who is who?! First one with them correct wins!!! (what you win is yet to be determined! LOL)

BIRTHDAY Pictures!

For his birthday, Zander got to go to the doctor today!! He had his 2 yr check up & Zachary had his 4 month appointment. Zander is 32 pounds & Zachary is 17 pounds. Poor Zach had to have 3 shots. He did pretty well though. He went to bed at 6:30 tonight so I have a feeling I could be in for a rough night!!

The BIRTHDAY CAKE! Zander liked the cars on it! I was happy with how it turned out...had to have a little help from Phil.


Birthday boy with his cake!



With his cards & money!!



Since he ripped open his presents last week, we rewrapped them in plain paper & Lexi decorated them! She wrote ZANDER backwards, she had it upside down or something. Love how she wrote LISA instead of mom. The stick people are her & Zander she said. She loves writing everyone's name & does it almost on a daily basis now. I think I like this paper better than wrapping paper!



Now he can leave daddy's tools alone!!



He got to work right away!! Check out his eyes...he's REALLY concentrating here!!





He also got this bouncy ball....loves it!! (that's a piece of licorich in his mouth!)



Um, Lexi was having a bad moment......forgot to get little Zach in the picture!! oops!

Two years ago today..........

our little ZAN MAN came into the world!! I was of course overdue & scheduled to be induced. Was at the hospital at 7 am, pitocin started at 9 am, and out he came just before 2 pm! Wasn't too bad of a delivery. At that point, he was the fastest one! I was surprised we had a boy...I was really expecting it to be a girl.

Zander has filled us with his beautiful smile (and of course devilish grin!) for the last two years & I can't imagine what it would be like without seeing that everyday!

Happy 2nd Birthday Zander Michael!!!

Zander's Evaluation.....

A speech therapist came out today to observe Zander since he's been failing in the communcation area. First off, there are NO signs of autism which I wasn't worried about, but something that does come up when communication skills lag. She said there is no reason he shouldn't be talking.

She left us with a booklet of signs to use with him while communicating with him. We know a few but have a lot more to learn. She told me a few other things to try & do with him.

He has a hearing test next week & then we'll go from there depending the results of that. She can test him formally & if he fails that, I think we would have someone come to the house an hour/week to work with him. If we choose not to have him tested at this time, she'll wait a few months & follow up to see where he is at & we would have the same options at that time. SO for now, we just wait to see what happens at his hearing test & in the meantime work on the signing & the other things she suggested.

SNOW STORM 2006!!

Our first storm this season! Not sure how much snow we got, guessing around 4-6 inches. TONS Of wind overnight. Zach woke up about 5 & I had just started to feed him & the power went off. It stayed off until after 10 this morning!! Over 5 hours with out electricity! It got down to 64 in the house. No school today, kids home, Phil home sleeping, no power. It was a FUN morning!!!

Here are a few pictures. All of the windows were covered with snow & ice this morning. Could not see out at ALL! I took the picture after some had already melted off.

BOWLING fun!!

This afternoon we went bowling with Lexi's school. It was Lexi's first time bowling. She LOVED it. She bowled a 62. Nick bowled a 121 & an 83!! He did awesome!! Phil & I were signed up to bowl as well but the whole school showed up so they didn't have enough lanes for all the adults! That was fine, we had enough to chase after the Zan Man! You can sure tell the kid doesn't get out much!

I DID IT!!!

I took the kids out to lunch today....all FOUR of them....by MYSELF!! You can call me crazy I suppose! We did go to Happy Joe's where they can run around in the game room so that helped!!

Nick had off school today & so after we picked Lexi up from school we headed to town. Cashed Phil's paycheck & off we went!! HEHEHEHEH He doesn't need any spending money this week does he?!?!

The kids did really well & I even got to eat too! A lady walked by & says "you have a very content baby" I told her that was because we were out in public, at home it's a different story!!

Came home & took a walk outside.....just beautiful today!! One bank said 50 & the other said 57! LOVE IT!! I sure hope it stays like this!

MMMMMMMM

There are a lot of blogs I read where they have a Sidebar indicating what they are ENJOYING at the time. It's usually the book they are currently reading. Well, here is what I'm ENJOYING right now............

No NURSING home for me!

A friend of mine was on a cruise through the Mediterranean aboard a Princess liner. At dinner they noticed an elderly lady sitting alone along the rail of the grand stairway in the main dining room. THey also noticed that all the staff, ships officers, waiters, busboys, etc., all seemed very familiar with this lady. She asked the waiter who the lady was, expecting to be told that she owned the line, but he said he only knew that she had been on board for the last four cruises,
back to back.

As they left the dining room one evening she caught the eye of the lady and stopped to say hello. They chatted and the friend said, "I understand you've been on this ship for the last four cruises". She replied, "Yes, that's true."
Friend said, "I don't understand" and she replied, without a pause, "It's cheaper than a nursing home".

So, there will be no nursing home in my future.
When I get old and feeble, I am going to get on a Princess Cruise
Ship. The average cost for a nursing home is $200 per day. I have
checked on reservations at Princess and I can get a long term
discount and senior discount price of $135 per day. That leaves
$65 a day for:

1. Gratuities which will only be $10 per day.

2. I will have as many as 10 meals a day if I can
waddle to the restaurant, or I can have room service (which
means I can have breakfast in bed every day of the week).

3. Princess has as many as three swimming pools, a
workout room, free washers and dryers, and shows every night.

4. They have free toothpaste and razors, and free
soap and shampoo.

5. They will even treat you like a customer, not a
patient. An extra $5 worth of tips will have the
entire staff scrambling to help you.

6. I will get to meet new people every 7 or 14 days.

7. T.V. broken? Light bulb need changing? Need to
have the mattress replaced? No Problem! They will fix everything and
apologize for your inconvenience.

8. Clean sheets and towels every day, and you
don't even have to ask for them.

9. If you fall in the nursing home and break a hip
you are on Medicare; if you fall and break a hip on the
Princess ship they will upgrade you to a suite for the
rest of your life.

Now hold on for the best! Do you want to see South
America, the Panama Canal, Tahiti, Australia, New Zealand,
Asia, or name where you want to go?
Princess will have a ship ready to go. So don't
look for me in a nursing home, just call shore to ship.

PS And don't forget, when you die, they just dump you
over the side at no charge.

Zander loved having someone new at the house to play with. He did share his toys......which surprised me! He kept pushing them in Haley's hands & she didn't want them!

Zander & Haley playing with the Lincoln Logs. They didn't get anything built, just had fun dumping them all out!

My almost 2 year old.....

Has been getting into things the last couple of days. Let's see, yesterday Lexi & I did some shopping & picked up some birthday presents for him. We got home & quickly wrapped them in her room & hid them in her closet.

I left my tote out that has my tape/scissors/wrapping paper etc... on her floor. Last night I took Lexi & Nick & went to the grocery store. Daddy was in charge of the almost 2 yr old & Zachary.

We came home & the whole tote was dumped out in her room. I noticed Zander had some hair that was shorter than the rest. Hmmmmm.......

Today, I was downstairs with Nick & Lexi & Phil & Zander were upstairs. Lexi went up & comes yelling to me. MOM, Zander opened his presents up. Three of the four were unwrapped. Daddy was watching Golf on TV.

I'm telling you, this almost 2 yr old has to be WATCHED like a hawk. I Know that, but daddy hasn't figured that out yet!!!

Terrible Two's we are THERE!

Ice Show!

Lexi & I went to the Ice Show today. The club has been putting on these shows for YEARS & this is the first time I have actually went to it! It was pretty good. Of course it was cold in there & since we've never gone, we didn't KNOW to bring blankets!! BRRRR Poor Lexi forgot her mittens too! Oh well, all the stuff from the concession stand kept her mind off her cold hands! I did take some pictures but we were too far away for any of them to turn out decent enough to post.

I asked Lexi if she wanted to learn how to ice skate...she said "No way, it's too icy" Then later on when the little girls were skating, I said "doesn't that look like fun?" She says "no" What a nut!

Kids wanted to rent a movie for tonight & of course it had to be Scooby Doo! Guess she didn't get enough of it at the show!

Las Vegas 2003

Remember this Melinda!??!

Cowgirl!

Another old favorite....my little cowgirl! Taken Dec 2002.

TOO LOUD!!!

Remember this!??! Nick was banging on the drums & Madison was screaming...too loud Nick!!

Old Pics!

I'm moving a ton of pictures that I've had on floppy disks onto my hard drive. Came across this cute one of Lexi! She was about one in this picture...so 3 1/2 years ago!

Like Father Like Son

And now we KNOW where Nick gets his ozing off in front of the camera from.

Ashley

11 years later & now SHE is taller than ME!!! Here is Sammy Jo, Ashley & me in 1995.

Our Little PUPPY!!!

This was shortly after we brought Kirby home. Carmel had to check out the new kid on the block! I remember how small he was, he couldn't even jump up on the couch. These days, he's getting so old that he sometimes can't jump up on the couch! These pictures were taken 13 years ago.

Haircut

I guess it's too hot to have hair in Arizona!! I think this makes him look old.....you better grow it back!!

AA???

Um, does anyone think these ladies may have a problem?!?!?! I was told this is their nightly routine.