If I only Had a Brain

My word! I used to pride myself on being smart. I used to be a problem solver. A think-outside-of-the-box-er.

Then I had kids.

This past winter during a play date, it was lunchtime. My mom friend helped get the kids in their chairs and promptly scooted the chairs to the table. Mind blown! What?!? Chairs straight to the table? No trays? Halle-freaking-luah! Something I had NEVER even thought of, she saw right away. She honestly believed that's how we had been doing it, chairs to the table. Well, let me tell you it's how we do it now! In fact, I've got new booster seats on order hoping to get rid of the bigger high chairs all together.

Today I was Skyping with my mom. I had the nongenius idea to pull the kids toddler chairs over to try to keep them off the dining chair and further from the table/computer. (If you are wondering, no, it didn't work). I then turned the computer to show grandma all three little standing on the now bare table. She then asked why the table wasn't in the basement - something I threaten often. Then she said "why don't you just turn it upside down?" Are you kidding me? Upside down? As in no longer a scalable object?? Mind blown!



This afternoon we had one scuffle if the kids trying to move the chairs and such, but no more climbing. None.

So, what else ya got for me? Clearly I am no longer a see-the-big-picture kind of thinker. I'll take any and all grand, basic, usual, or crafty ideas you got. And you know I mean clever crafty 'cause I sure as heck ain't got time for Martha crafty! 😉

Further proof I have no brain? I swear there was another example I have that I canNOT for the life of me remember.

Loves!


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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The weekend started off in such an ironic way for us. Friday night my cough was so bad I couldn't sleep. I posted on FB and the responses had me concerned just in that Katie was sharing my 'cold'. Saturday dawned with the kids sleeping until almost 10 am(!). That right there should set off alarm bells. During breakfast Katie's cough was pretty bad so we decided to go to Fbx for a visit to First Care.

Not being ready to go until lunchtime, we choose to go picnic style at the Drive In on the 70+ degree day. As we pull up at 12:20 I realize we are just in time for the Imagination Library's birthday story time. As Daddy waited for food, three little people and I walked over the field to the bday celebration. I'm proud of the trio for sitting through a rather long story about a horse trying to get a bday cake for his cowboy. Once over, our food had arrived. Truly perfect timing.

We got to Fairbanks, picked up our dining room bench and chairs that had been repaired (no more loose seats/dropping screws!), and discovered Alaskaland (Pioneer Park) has no admission. Seriously!? A great little park and NO admission. How did I never know this?!? So we went.

The Good.














The kids loved it! The ice cream cone and friendly beagle after sliding didn't hurt either. Then we were off to First Care. John dropped Katie and I off while he occupied the other two. Still good: we only waited maybe 5 minutes before getting called back. There was nobody there.

The Bad.
We were both diagnosed with 'developing pneumonia'. Katie played photographer for a while during the waiting for the dr.














I may have 100 similar photos on my phone at the moment.

The Ugly.
The dr said my right lung sounded coarse and Katie's he couldn't really hear at all, so chest X-ray time. Not ideal to have my not even 2-yo get a chest X-ray, but do I wait until pneumonia is bad enough that they can finally hear it? It was a lose lose decision so I made the best one I could. I thought about posting a pic of the machine they use to get a toddler to hold still enough, but I just can't. Lets just say its not easy on anyone involved.

I know not everyone would make the same choices I did. I just made the best ones I could in the moment, with our circumstances, for our family.

The even uglier. The dr sent us to the wrong pharmacy with 8 minutes to spare before they closed. No prescripts. I called our usual pharmacy, yes, we have them. Over we drive..only to find out they too close at the same time. Imagine the feeling of driving 100 miles AWAY from the medicine for your child as we went home empty handed. Yes, me too but I don't care about that as much.
Side note: at the first pharm John also discovered he had LOST the insurance check from Feb that we had finally remembered to bring/cash. Seriously, by this point we were all over what had started as a good day.

Overnight John, Addie, and Zach all erupted into full blown congestion, cough, etc. We may be back in Fairbanks for them later this week. John did go yesterday to get our meds, but what guy will go to First Care on their own?

So, in short, we are all sick. Again. But..for sickies, my kids wear their new pj's pretty darn well!








She's waving to Auntie Kim, who I said the pics were for. 😀


Loves!

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This and That

Another random Thursday post.

~ Have you ever seen this before? I hadn't.



~ Juanita's chips should be outlawed. If I never lose weight they may be why.

~ Gap 2T capris fit. H&M 2-4yo shorts/t's will fit when they are 4.

~ The trio is obsessed with Elmo. They don't understand that Murray is not Elmo.

~ I'm trying to be profound with John right now and he's blowing me off. Erg!

~ My profoundness: since most of his friendships did not change post-kids he has a hard time accepting those that did. Since all of my friendships changed, maybe I got over the hurt long ago?

~ Back to the easy and lighthearted: Addie blew her daddy's mind putting the groceries away. She handed him the hot dogs and when he asked for the queso she said 'no!', walked to the fridge, pulled on the door and looked at him. When he opened it she put the cheese on a shelf.

~ Both Katie and Zach fell asleep today about 11:30. That never happens. :( I had to wake them for dinner.

~ The trips slept for 3 hours at nap time today.

~ We're getting great use out of our lightweight bamboo swaddled blankets right now. They are the new crib blankets. The perfect weight.

~ No, still no news on the move.

~ I found maybe the jackpot website for finding a NY rental when needed. Thanks to the local MoMs group that has already added and welcomed me.

~ Knowing I'm going to miss this daylight soon. Sigh. I love the loooong days. Currently at 19h 21m of official sunlight.

Loves!!

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Imagination Movers

"Jump up! Get down! Stand up! Turn around, turn around, turn around, turn around!"

They don't get the show, but Zach loves the closing music. When it's done, he usually tells them 'bye!'.

Loves!
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Lets talk food

A non-kid post tonight. In case you missed it, I did post last night but the iPad app doesn't automatically link me to fb like my phone app does. Sorry.

Disclaimer: I have not actually made any of these yet. If you do and they aren't right, well, you must have not understood me correctly. ;)

Food and drink. It was awesome in Scottsdale. Pomegranate lemonade, huckleberry lemon drop, blackberry mojito, and a cucumber refresher I'll be making. We need to go back next year since I never did order the frozen mango margarita with a chambord float. But, back to the cucumber. Kim and I were talking about how to make it. We decided on soda water with muddled cucumber and mint (lite on the mint. I couldn't taste it which was just fine).
Then Kim says, "but there's one more thing". "
Lime", I remind her.
"Oh yeah!" She says..as I point to the lime on the side of the glass. Haha!

So, cucumber refresher:
Muddle mint and cucumber
Add soda water and lime juice.
Pray it's as good as ours were.



blackberry mojito bliss.


The best appetizer I may have ever had is at the R Bar. Their version of shrimp cocktail. Luckily for us the waitress said, "oh, I'll tell you how to make that!" (Thinking mgmt doesn't know she offers the recipes). It is in no way the shrimp cocktail you are used to. It's liquidy, yummy, and you eat it with tortilla chips. In fact, you may just drink it. Trust me, I was tempted!

Shrimp cocktail:
Marinade shrimp in lemon/lime juice (like ceviche) for 24 hours.
Chop shrimp,
mix a can of clamato juice, diced red onion, cilantro, and she said celery...but I never saw or tasted it. Add shrimp. Eat with chips. OMG!! Seriously. Ask Kim.

The restaurant also had a great smokey salsa they served with their steak tacos. And a yummy chopped salad. And good hummus. And great eats at the spa pool. I'm ready to go back just for more great food!

The famous omelet that sparked the fb debate last night? Ham, Swiss, spinach, and sautéed white onion at El Churro. They are supposed to be famous for their sticky buns. We now know why. Thankful they just give you a basket almost upon placing butt in chair.

What's that? It's green chili mac n cheese you're after? The Roaring Fork has you covered. If you get the carnitas and have leftovers, take them. It makes great snacking the next evening while getting ready to go shopping. Kim had seared tuna tacos. Kim. Who hates fish tacos. And again, we need to go back to try the kettle of green chili pork appetizer.



Chunka hunka carnitas and green chili mac.


Pretty much, I'm the girl who went on a spa vacation and gained weight. The food all weekend was great. Wait. Scratch that. The cupcakes from Caketini, not so great. Discovered we are not fans of cake pops. Mushy cake? Hermann girls? No, thank you! And the salted caramel cupcake topped with 3 feet of cool whip frosting. Yuck. Neither Kim nor I finished those treats. That's saying something.

Ok, my last recommendation to y'all with smartphones, ya know, those things Newt Gingrinch made a video asking the public to name because he just couldn't figure it out (sorry, tangent)...
Ok. Smartphones. Get the foodgawker app. It's like Pinterest, but only for food. And better. It's photos only. Click on the photo you like to go to a short caption. Click again to go to the post with the recipe. Warning, not all recipes are in English. It's where I found the donut muffins that really are yummy. No matter what my trio thought this am.

And that folks is my "you're making me hungry" post for the night. You're welcome.


Loves!

Side note. As good as the carnitas was, I like John's better. His has more little crispy ends. Theirs was just one huge piece of good tasting pork.






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A Place to Rest Your Head

One of the many questions often repeated in the many FB groups I belong to: "when did you give your kids pillows". Well, my answer is tomorrow. Real pillows that is. When we were visiting Grandma last August all three gt the coolest little stuffed owl 'pillows'. Mind you they had just turned one, so those cute pillows were crib decorations for many a month. Then slowly they started using them as pillows. Now, each little will lay his/her head on their owl when they go down for nap or nigh-nigh. Seems sweet, huh? It is. However, our trips up the stairs usually begin with one, two, or three grabbing the pillows off the couch to carry up with them. Clearly, although they love and use their owls they are wanting something better.

I had mentioned to Auntie Kim that pillows would be a great 2nd bday gift. Well, bdays are coming a little early. In our shopping last night we hit Pottery Barn Kids and got each little their own toddler pillow. There is much debate over toddler pillows, regular pillows, cheap, expensive...yada yada. Whatever. I got three pillows and three cases from PBK, then emailed grandma with the dimensions so more cases can be made. Now here's hoping they love them. I will try to get some pics tomorrow, we'll see. And please, we bought so much more than just pillows! Two girls shopping and three cute kids to buy for? If you know us at all you know we went overboard.

Loves!


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Hi!

Whoops! Auntie and I were so busy shopping last night I forgot to make a blog post. So, oopsie #2, still not bad for the month.
While spending the weekend with my little loves via text, FaceTime, and FB one little gem became more than obvious.
















Have you noticed?












Katie says "hi!" Aahhh, little girl cracks me up.
Loves!!
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Nana's

Bananas are going to drive us bananas. John has finally realized he is joining me in this banana-palooza.

I have three little monsters who realized where the nanas are kept on the counter, realized they can reach the counter, and realized they can get one any time of day they want. So they do. All day. Regardless of what they had just eaten.

Proof I'm not alone in this banana craze.




As I was face timing with them earlier, Zach and Addie disappear. Dad goes in the kitchen. Bananas. Since they had just had a pear, goldfish, and orange daddy said no to the banana. When Auntie talked to Zach, she asked why he had tears. Why? No banana.

It is truly bananas at our house.

Loves!
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You choose

Should we call Zach, Biebs?







Or Harry? (Harry Stiles from One Direction).





Loves!!

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Mom-cation

What?! Yes, yes! I am standing in line at the airport to go away by myself. Well, technically with Kim, but no littles. I so need the sun, especially since the forecast in Delta is for snow. But I will miss Addie randomly breaking into dance, Zach asking for "ah-nee" every time he sees the computer, getting the two of them off the table 25 times, Katie screaming at the top of her lungs, and 5 minutes later giving me her squinty eyed smile. All these many things that I need a break from I will also dearly miss.

I will admit as the plane taxied away, my head was maybe yelling to stop...what about my kids. Amazingly so far I haven't cried yet, but I expect the first FaceTime call will be my downfall. As batty as they can drive me at times, they are my life. I can no longer imagine life without each unique, silly personality. But until early Monday I'll have to try.

Loves!

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Lite reading

Some lite reading with your lunch?










Katie was perusing the Sur Le Table catalog. Mommy couldn't be prouder. The Crate and Barrel catalog has been a fan favorite recently too. Addie scans each page looking for an "ap-po" regardless if its a lemon, raspberry, or what. Every table with food? "Ate". And they could not have made the trio any happier by including a dog. On multiple pages even! They might think that catalog is the best book ever.


NY update: we did not get the rental house. Grr. Not sure the next step as the others John looked at aren't really workable. Possibly looking at a town home development. I like that lawn, snow, garbage would be included as we don't have any equipment to take care if those items yet. It would be quite reasonably priced too. But when moving, even temporarily, how do you know the places are what they seem on the Internet when you have no contacts there to verify? If you have insight, I'd welcome any advice.

Loves!!

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New York, New York

Snow. It's why we are moving. Or, at least today's reason. We woke up to snow. May 13. Snow!! Snow is forecasted through the weekend! (Insert a thank God for Phoenix this weekend.)

I know upstate New York will have snow and winter. I also know a week ago when John was visiting it was already spring. I can do winter when it is followed by spring. I am beyond tired of winter, followed by winter, followed by winter. And Alabama winter, puh-lease! I can soooo handle that.

In reality, winter is the nagging b$&@h we are blaming our move on. It's truly all the circumstances winter and Delta bring to a family with three young children. I get the kids to library time once a week when they are healthy. When not healthy, too cold, crazy icy/windy roads, etc we don't go. On weeks we don't go we do not leave the house. Yes, a lot of parents of preemies quarantine themselves over winter. However, choosing to not go do things versus knowing there is nothing for you to do is huge. New York and Alabama will offer parks, zoos, museums, malls to walk, stores to roam (can you say Target?!). Me not doing those things will be on me, no longer on where I live.

While John was on his business trip, he had a few days to scout out the area, rentals, drs, and the such. Yes, yes, all while I was cleaning up puke - hence Phoenix. He found a bigger than needed rental for us. The best part is the huge fenced back yard. We attempted to secure rental this weekend, and alas we may lose out. The agent was to have someone sign an agreement for the property today. We tried submitting our paperwork as well, so we'll see. I'm curious if the time difference will hurt us, as our paperwork was submitted well after 5 in NY. But, surprisingly enough I'm calm about all if this. I hopped on Zillow and found a second rental for cheaper. It's smaller, but still has the fenced yard (a must). So we shall see what fate has in store for us. Truth be told, I'm betting if the landlord truly has a choice, they won't pick the family with three toddlers and two dogs. :/

Hopefully tomorrow will bring good news. It's a little needed. Until then,

Loves!!


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Will the Planets Ever Align?

During my formative years the main talk relationship wise was the whole Venus/Mars debate.  Ok, well, it may not have been during my formative years.  I may have just wanted to say that because I think it's funny.  Either way, I heard a lot about the whole 'no way to reconcile the communication'.  No, I never actually read the book, but I'm pretty sure I get the jist of it.  Especially since I married my father, the ultimate communicator in non-communication.  I am living the Venus/Mars relationship.

This all surrounds the "big, non-pregnancy, quasi-secret" (another clever term I coined if I must say so myself).  The quasi-secret that is out now.  Out in a way I NEVER would have done it.  I had grand ideas in my head.  I've had a blog post drafted since the first wiff that John may even apply for a new job.  I've had clever Facebook comments formulated.  I have spent time people!  Time!  All to figure out the best way to tell my family and friends that we are moving.  Then. I awoke yesterday.

My husband finally did what I've been asking about for a little while.  He simply posts on FB.  No grand blog post.  No cutesy post.  Just the facts.  So NOT MY WAY!!!

I generally check FB, the news, my email, etc, before getting out of bed.  Once I'm out of bed the kids hear me and it's all over from there.  So, imagine my surprise when I check FB and see John posted about our move.  In all the ways that I wouldn't.  And to the surprise of everyone reading this, I said nothing.  NOTHING.  ME!!  John was maybe a little aware that I was annoyed, hello I am female.  But I said nothing. Instead, I came to terms with the fact that I had asked him to say something and he did. In his way. (Can you say long drive to Fairbanks, alone?)  A proud moment for me.

So that is my ultimate Venus/Mars moment.  Communication will never come easy between us, but at least we are both aware of that fact I suppose.

So, no more guilt.  No more secret.  We are moving.  First to upstate NY until late Fall 2014, then we move on to buying a house in Huntsville, AL.  BUYING a house.  Buying a HOUSE!  I'm so hopeful it is unreal.  As well as scared, nervous, worried.  All those things one from Venus always feels.  Or am I supposed to be from Mars?  Either way.  Now you know that as this blog moves through the month you'll be joining us as we prepare for our traveling-across-the-country move.  Fun times will be had by all, I'm sure.

Loves!

Getting hung up

Addie's been getting hung up lately.
















Peanut figured out how to get down from her high chair. Too bad the darn shirt keeps getting in the way!


Loves!!

PS - big, non-pregnancy, quasi-secret is out now. More on that tomorrow.

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A bounce back in time

As you know, John and I tried to take a quick trip to Anchorage in mid-February.  I had all kinds of plans to do fun things with the kiddos, shopping, visiting with family.  An action packed quick weekend.  And then I landed in the hospital for four days.  Our quick weekend turned into a long 10 days.  I am very thankful for our more than accommodating family, to include my mom who flew up on a minutes notice to stay with us for three weeks.  I am now without a gall bladder and feeling fine almost all the time.  During our extended stay, after I was released from the hospital we met up with Aunt Missy and our cousins Bella and Amelia at a local bounce house.  My kiddos loved it.  Grandma and Dad got a great workout, I even got a small one (don't worry, I was scolded plenty), and the kids were worn out.  Here is our blurry photo fun.  Blurry photos are what is called for at a bounce place don't ya know.

 Bouncing around

 Checking it out

Handsome boy

tiny bouncer

The kids first enjoyed/explored the big bouncy area.  It is a mesh enclosed bouncy.  There is an area in the middle to climb up and slide down, but it was for older children.  My kiddos just enjoyed bouncing and being bounced around.

Then there were the slides.  The kids forced Dad and Grandma to join them because they started climbing up, no questions asked.  Dad had to scramble after them.  Notice nice Dad sliding down with child...Grandma climbing up on the side.

Grandma only slid once. She caught the side of some duct tape or velco and got a quick burn/rash - can you say ouch!  But, I still think she had fun.  And I'm pretty sure Grandpa would have LOVED this (and the fact that MOM did it)!

Note, climbing off was not necessarily easy for the adults.

See my daredevil climbing the stairs?  This is why we have to scramble after them.  It is a pretty steep climb, the kids would not be able to make it much past this point on their own.  You have to give their bottoms some support, read push, to make it to the top.  Mind you, they didn't really care about needing help. They wanted to go when they wanted to go.

Then there are the two times I climbed up (and got duly scolded).  Katie was headed up, so I joined her.  Note in the above pictures how Grandma and Dad were kind enough to slide down with kiddos?  Yeah, no.  I got Katie to the top, took a sharp "oh my, can I just climb back down?" breath...as Katie scooted backward, smiled, and went.  WITHOUT ME!  It was like she knew I was a little trepidatious and forced me to go.  She LOVED sliding down by herself.  This is also where she mastered the sliding on her belly we saw again at the park this week.

It was a fun time mostly because of the very small amount of people there.  Maybe 5 kids other than ours, and I think that is an exaggeration.  One of the other kids had a baby sister though.  Katie was fascinated with the baby.  She stood looking at her and watching her for quite a while.  Luckily for me, mom was understanding.  :)

The only piece of our bounce house adventure we don't have photos of is the 10 or so minutes Grandma and I stood waiting for Dad to emerge from bounce areas unknown with three kiddos.  He took one child into an area, of course another child followed and we sent child #3 because there is no way someone could be left out.  It looked like a bounce house obstacle course.  It began going under, the up and over, and well the rest we couldn't see.  Grandma and I waited (and waited and waited and waited) for John or a child to slide down what we assumed the obstacle course led to. No such luck. After seemingly forever, John and the kiddos emerged from the same obstacle course looking bouncy on the other side of the slide.  He got back to the "slide" and found it was a practically vertical climb up to the top. That was NOT going to happen with three kiddos in tow, so he was forced to exit out the other side, encouraging three kiddos to keep going the whole way.  We got a good laugh out of it.  Dad was pretty worn out by that point.  Imagine that.  Needless to say, we left shortly after.

All in all a good time was had.  Something we definitely look forward to doing again, but I do see the downside of the germ infestation those places can be.  Sanitizer wipes for all! 

Loves!

This and That

A fun blog I read posts a "this and that" post every Thursday that I enjoy reading...so I'm going to do so as well. Actually, that blog has both a hubs and wife section for the post, but I don't think John would join in. Maybe eventually?? Until then...


~ Addie learned its funny to hold your nose while saying 'nose' tonight.

~ I finally figured out a way ALL three kiddos will eat a bean filled tortilla. They ate two tonight.

~ I am obsessed with Scandal. Obsessed like it may actually be a problem for me when summer comes.

~ my kids are eating grape tomatoes like candy.

~ I must find something special for Sunday. Maybe a Cold Stone cake??

~ I will fess up now to failing my mom and mother in law this upcoming Sunday. :/

~ homemade indoor ramps are fun






~ I get to go to Phoenix soon. Squee!! Secretly, I'm a little worried for us all.

~ we have a big, non-pregnancy, quasi-secret I feel guilty that we haven't just shared out to the world yet.

~ jarred cheese whiz is NO comparison to jarred queso

~ I'm still creeped out someone bothered to post a reply to one of my kids videos.

~ my littles aren't so little anymore. 22 months today!!

Thank you all for sticking with me. We've made it 9 days now! Quite an accomplishment. I hope your upcoming weekend is as exciting as mine. An eye appointment (finally!), dropping off our chairs to be fixed, picking up that something sweet for Sunday, and enjoying some outdoor time if we can. Don't worry, you'll get to read about it soon enough.

Loves!!


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