Thursday Thirteen!

Why not do another good 'ole Thursday Thirteen?

Thirteen things I am doing while all three kids are at school...

1. Deciding that 3 hours goes by WAY too fast!

2. Making friends with my treadmill again. Sometimes.

3. Staring at my walls and going crazy because I'm not used to all the quiet!

4. Cleaning out every closet in the house, and realizing I'm really not organized.

5. Finding out that apparently I put a bunch of stuff in those closets about 8 1/2 years ago, and never looked back.

6. Realizing that the past 8 1/2 years has been a whirlwind...and wondering how I survived!

7. Doing laundry, dishes, and cleaning, all while listening to MY music!

8. Wondering how come the kids rooms always have a smell...

9. Planning meals, making lists, and still not cooking much.

10. Thinking about scrapbooking again. We'll see.

11. Having phone conversations without the background...Who's that? What? What are you talking about? MOM!

12. Eating breakfast with a friend. A few times. I need to do it more!

13. Starting to think about Christmas! Yikes!

A Good Ole Thursday Thirteen!

13 Realities of Motherhood.


1. I had no idea what I was getting into.

2. Toys are a waste of money, for the most part. Instead children play with drawers, pots and pans, boxes, electronics, remotes, phones, or anything in general you don't want them to play with.

3. My children will hate the wonderful meal I made, even though they loved the same thing at the restaurant the week before.

4. If you try to maintain perfection, you will go insane.

5. Even if you don't try to maintain perfection, you will come close to going insane.

6. You will lose sleep. Lots of sleep.

7. Clean sheets are a magnet for throw-up/pee/poo/?

8. An empty laundry basket is a magnet for throw-up/pee/poo/?

9. A clean car seat is a magnet for throw-up/pee/poo/?

10. My couches aren't for sitting on anymore. They are for jumping on, climbing on, and making forts with the cushions. The same goes for the beds and their pillows and every blanket in the house.

11. You cannot imagine life without your kids, but sometimes would really like a week by yourself.

12. Kids are gross. Seriously, I never really knew until I had them. They are dirty, germy, and disgusting. Keep hand sanitizer close by.

13. I wish I could impart all of my knowledge of the last 8 1/2 years on people wanting to have kids. I want to sit them down and say...Okay, here's how it really is. It's good/bad/happy/sad/exhausting/etc. But honestly, I think I'd scare them!

Thursday Thirteen...Carissa brought it back!

First of all I gotta give a big shout out to my friend Carissa for bringing back the Thursday Thirteen! Thanks for that girl, because I think I have a good one today.

13 things that happened to me at the zoo today.

1. I was 35 minutes late to meet my friend, who is never late. Surprised? Yeah, me either. And I don't think she was either.

2. My flip flop broke pretty early in the zoo trip when I tried to flip the brake up on my stroller with the toe of my shoe.

3. I begged for masking tape from a lady working the giraffe feeding station. She reluctantly gave me a small strip.

4. I taped my shoe together.

5. I learned it is hard to walk in a taped together flip flop.

6. I learned it is even harder to chase Austin in a taped together flip flop.

7. I learned it is not a good idea to let your super speed son get too far ahead of you when you are wearing a taped together flip flop.

8. I almost tossed my shoes into a trash can about 43 times. Until I remembered I would then be walking barefoot at the zoo. Eww.

9. I learned that leaving Ellie in the bathroom to "decompress" will result in her being very loud. Not bad. Just loud.

10. I learned that things echo a lot at the zoo.

11. I learned (again) that the zoo is not my favorite place.

12. I learned (finally) that the zoo is not my kids favorite place.

13. And I learned that Austin didn't understand the cracker was giraffe food. He learned the hard way.

Thursday Thirteen

These are the things that I keep trying to write about this week. Since I cannot seem to formulate coherent thoughts into quality posts though, I am making a list.

Thirteen random post ideas...

1. Shoe shopping with your husband and three kids isn't always fun. We tried this on Saturday night, and we all became extremely overwhelmed! It didn't help that we were at an outlet mall during a Tornado warning! I am not easily deterred though, so we stuck it out in the Crocs shoe store!

2. Speaking of the Crocs shoe store...Talk about overwhelming! Poor Ellie raced from one side to the other for an hour, and still couldn't make up her mind. I had to take her back by herself Monday afternoon, and it took us another hour! She finally ended up with three pairs of her favorite shoes. Not quite sure how that happened. One pair of pink crocs, one pair of Crocs flip flops, and one pair of Sponge Bob Crocs.

3. I hate Sponge Bob. I wouldn't let her watch it for years, and I lost the battle this year when they watched it at school. I realize it's not all that awful, I just think it's annoying. When she picked out the Sponge Bob Crocs, I made the cardinal sin of motherhood and told her I didn't like them. From that moment on, she would not be deterred from the Sponge Bob Crocs.

4. We still don't know what my mystery illness was. They did a biopsy, and then we heard nothing. I finally called the doctor back, and gently prompted them to check and find out where in the world my results were. They finally found out that the test had not been run yet. What? Apparently they forgot to fill in a blank on the form, so the lab didn't do the test. Nice. Thankfully they still have that little piece of my arm though, so maybe we'll know something soon.

5. My weird spots do look a lot better. You can see them still, but they're more like discolorations now. They do sometimes still itch, and I just really want them gone!

6. They put me on a bunch of different medicines for my mystery illness. One of them was Prednisone. I've never been on that before, and I never want to be again! I have had WEIRD side affects...tightness in my chest, strange pain, fluid weight gain, then loss, then the weirdest sensation that my whole body was bruised. Crazy! I think it was necessary, as my arms started swelling and were very painful, but like I said, I hope I never have to be on that again! I finished it three days ago, and my symptoms are almost gone, Thank You God!

7. I am ALONE today! I wasn't supposed to be, but Ellie's field trip to the zoo was canceled at the last minute, so here I sit...ALONE! Mom has the little kids for the day, and said she'd bring them down later this afternoon. I love you mom!

8. I literally stood in my kitchen for twenty minutes after I got back home this morning, trying to figure out what to do. I have tons of stuff I need to do, but I think I was in such shock over being ALONE, that I didn't know where to start! I finally collected my thoughts, came to my senses, made a list, and then...took a nap.

9. I didn't used to be a napper. But I am now. I love naps.

10. I felt so bad for the kindergarten teachers today! I have never seen such sad faces in my life when they canceled the field trip. We really thought we were still going, right up until the last minute. Those poor teachers then had to collect themselves and figure out how to make it through their unexpected day, with a class full of disappointed children. Ugh.

11. Oh, why was the field trip canceled? It's was fifty degrees and pouring down rain. In mid-May! I mean the rain, yes, but the temps??? Hopefully we'll get to go next week.

12. I remembered last night why I don't read anymore. Michelle lent me her unauthorized autobiography of Tom Cruise. I am fascinated with him, and was really interested to read it. Since I finished a book a couple of months ago, for the first time in five years, I thought I'd pick up reading again, a little at a time. So, I began a couple of nights ago, a little at a time. Then last night I started reading, and didn't stop until 1:30 AM. I am crazy! I am a mommy! I cannot do that!

13. I have one more hour before I pick up Ellie. I think I have time for one more project.

Or another nap.

Thursday 13, Birthday Edition!

It's cold and icy today. So icy, that my darling hubby had to stay home, which NEVER happens. Normally I'd be pulling my hair out right about now, but not today. That's the difference a daddy makes! Not only have we had a fun day, I actually have time to BLOG! So, here is the long awaited post about Ellie's birthday, along with pictures!

Thursday Thirteen, Birthday edition!

1. The Birthday Girl! This pic was taken at 6:45am, before we headed to school. She was SO excited when I woke her up. She bounced out of bed, and said "It's my BIRTHDAY!" I'm trying to figure out how to get that reaction out of her every day. This pic also shows her new SASSY hair cut. It's absolutely adorable on her, and I think it totally fits her personality.

2. We started the day right, with a healthy birthday breakfast. Actually, I'd bought ADORABLE heart shaped Krispy Kreme doughnuts, in honor of her Valentine birthday. However, they didn't actually taste very good. So she opted for the Original, and so did her mama. Oh, and this pic shows a nice side view of her hair. The curl is natural, and the ribbon says "Happy Birthday."

3. We headed to school, for the class Valentine party. They made goody bags and handed out valentines. Then they decorated their own cupcakes. Yes, this was our healthy snack after our healthy breakfast. Just look at all those sprinkles on Ellie's cupcake!

4. The goody bag!

5. The Cake! Ellie went through a cookbook I have, and picked out this cake.

6. The night after Ellie's birthday we had her party. We had a bowling party with all our friends. I love how she wanted to invite her "buddies." They just happen to be the kids of our friends! Here are two buddies, Z and B, celebrating!

7. Here's a snapshot of some of the mommies. Dear sweet Jen is trying her best to hold my son. Alana was SO happy to get out of her house o' sickness for an evening. And Janelle looked beautiful and oh so stylish with baby poppy. Seriously, I wish you could see her from the front.. She is the cutest pregnant mama!

8. Ellie enjoyed learning the art of bowling.

9. Girl power!


10. Sweet Annie had fun too. Until she dropped at 16 pound ball on her toe. I really thought we were headed for the ER. Then a nice lady came up, who just happened to be a doctor, and checked her out for us. It took awhile for her to calm down, but she ended up being OK.

11. Present time! Ellie love language is gifts. She loves getting and giving gifts. So, needless to say, she was VERY excited by the time we let her start opening.

12. One of her favorite gifts this year was a guitar. Uncle Chris and Aunt Michelle gave her a pink and red guitar that's just her size. She has loved strumming it and making up songs. Even as I type this she has it in the playroom, playing a song for her daddy.

13. And last but not least, Austin. That boy is IMPOSSIBLE to keep up with! He made his way up the skee ball macine a few times. Sweet Z-man was playing with him in this pic. I love it when I see the big kids being so gentle and kind with the babies.

We celebrated all weekend. Ellie got the most fabulous gifts a 6 year old could ask for. She loved her Bee cake, her party, her dinner at Red Lobster. She has no idea how truly blessed she is. I'm glad she had such a great birthday. I had a great time too. Actually, it was the most fun I've had at one of my own children's parties!

I've come a long way from her first birthday, when I melted down during the icing of the cakes!

Thursday 13

13 observations from the past 24 hours...

Don't pat yourself on the back for having No laundry to do!!!...Because as soon as you do so, your baby will throw up in his bed and yours.

A wet king size quilt weighs 645 pounds when you're trying to pull it out of the washer.

You cannot always trust your 5 year old to watch her baby brother and keep him out of trouble.

Never assume that just because your daughter has eaten Quaker Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal every single morning for breakfast since school started, that she will want it today.

As soon as the kitchen floor is clean, someone will spill something sticky on it.

As soon as you lay down at night, someone will yell for you.

There is no point in going to bed early, it just means the kids will wake you up more during the night.

When you're in a hurry, your children move slower than snails.

When you're already late to pick up your kindergartner, you will get behind first, a dump truck, and second, a tour bus.

Just when you think you're done nursing your baby, he will get sick and want to nurse for an hour.

When you are trying to keep the house quiet so your 3 year old can sleep, your 1 year old finds every single noise making toy in the house.

Never assume you have your Halloween costume all figured out, because when you go to buy the things you need, you will not be able to find them anywhere.

2 1/2 hours of pumpkin patch fun will make a kindergartner very tired and cranky for the rest of the night!

Thursday 13

13 things I've thought about blogging, but haven't had time!

1. Finding a Tarantula on our back porch.

2. The Mountain of laundry on my couch... that I keep avoiding.

3. My son's first birthday is tomorrow.

4. My son's obsession with daddy's four-wheeler.

5. The fact that I want to like planning birthday parties and cakes for my kids...but I just don't.

6. I hate Baby Alive even more than this!

7. I can't seem to force myself to go to bed early, even though I'm completely exhausted!

8. My children conspire against ME ever sleeping through the night.

9. I want to paint my living room, kitchen, and breakfast room...I'm just not sure exactly what colors they should be.

10. My mom has a new kitten, that my girls don't know about yet, and when they find out, they're going to go CRAZY over it!

11. I hate waking up early.

12. I need to start my diet.

13. I'm not sure why, but I'm already getting excited for Christmas!


Maybe I can use this list when I actually have some TIME to blog more! Right now that laundry pile is calling my name!

Thursday 13

Why is it that when I have a ton of work to do, and only one child awake, I have no motivation to do any work at all?

Can we say L.A.Z.Y. ?

Seriously, the house is a mess. After dinner was over last night, I abandoned the "after dinner mess" to get the kids into bed. I had every intention of tackling it after they were asleep.

I never did.

The kids were asleep by 7:30, all three of them.

After that, I think my mind and body just shut down.

So, now I have to face reality. And do my jobs.

Oh, and I shall return in a few days to do my 100th post.

I'm sure it will be pure writing genius.

Or not, since I have no idea what I will write about.

Here's my Thursday 13:

13 things I'm going to do after I get off the computer!

1. Pick up all the stuff off the Living Room floor.

2. Pick up all the stuff off the Play Room floor.

3. Clean the Dining Room table, since it's still dirty from last nights dinner.

4. Clean the Kitchen that's also still dirty from last nights dinner.

5. Do the dishes from last nights dinner.

6. Decide what's for dinner tonight.

7. Fold the 2 loads of laundry in the chair.

8. Put another load of laundry in the washer.

9. Make my bed. Maybe.

10. Take a shower.

11. Get myself ready.

12. Get Annie and Austin dressed.

13. Go to the Park! It's a beautiful day!!!

Thursday 13!

Yeah, I remembered that it's Thursday!

13 Things I love about Blogging!!!

1. I never new how well I could parent from my desk chair! I can direct, cajole, warn, and discipline pretty well, without ever moving from this spot. Seriously Amazing! "Not right now, Mommy's blogging." has become a fairly regular phrase in our home. I'm such a good mom.

2. I actually READ now. Before blogging, I rarely read anything other than children's books and magazines. You can only read the descriptions of the seriously fabulous Pottery Barn items so many times, before your eyes start to glaze over. Now I read great writing by great bloggers EVERY DAY!

3. BooMama. She cracks me up! I just love her phrasing, and her use of the word Ya'll. Now, I'm know I'm not from the true south, but I do live in Southwest Missouri, which I believe, along with the amount of time I've spent in Texas, totally qualifies me to use the word Ya'll. BooMama has inspired me, so from now on I will freely say Ya'll whenever and wherever I like, without feeling like I'm not allowed. Thank you BooMama, you have set my Ya'll free.

4. The way I look at the craziness of my life. Ever since Austin was born, I have felt like our family seriously takes the cake for craziness. Life with a Super Strong willed child, a toddler, and a baby is just crazy!!! I try to roll with the punches, but sometimes it still gets to me. Blogging has helped me look at things in a funnier light. Kinda like when I yelled at the kids in the car yesterday to PLEASE STOP YELLING AND SCREAMING!!! Hmmmm, I wonder why they yell?

5. I have become one with my computer. This is amazing ya'll (ahh, it feels so good!). Before blogging, I was completely and utterly computer illiterate. I couldn't even put a picture in an email on my own! Since blogging came into my life, I have been forced to figure a lot of things out on my own, since (for the most part) I try to blog when J isn't home. I love it when I figure out a new thing, It makes me feel so computer savvy, and I love being Savvy! Oh, and I've become much better at typing too!!!

6. The outlet it provides! Blogging has become a sort of therapy for me. I think when you live with young children, you can become sort of bored and blah about things. Now, when I have a thought, or when somethings on my mind, I have an outlet for it. Other than my 5 year old, who just doesn't understand my concerns and dreams, and just wants to know why I don't want to watch The Suite Life of Zach and Cody for the 1000th time!

7. The way it documents our day-to-day life. I haven't kept a journal since I was a teenager. I've tried, but after one or two entries, I have always failed. Blogging has a given me a way to remember the everyday, which honestly I need, because I have a terrible memory!

8. Keeping up with friends. Even though I live in the same town with most of the people that I blog with, it's amazing how I can learn something new, through almost all of their posts! We see each other a lot, but it's hard to actually talk usually, since we're almost always with a large group of children, who, for some reason, tend to think they need us.

9. The Pictures! I love to post pictures and I love it when others do too! It's so fun, as your reading a post to scroll down and see a picture! (I think this was Annie's "Don't Mess with Me!" face!)

10. Positive feedback! When I'm struggling with something, and I blog about it, I get so much support from my friends. It's wonderful!

11. The Quiet Time. I love sitting down with a cup of coffee in the morning and just having some quiet time at the computer by myself! I've started an online daily devotional too, which is making this time so much greater!

12. My friends blogs! I never new how incredibly creative and witty some of my friends are! Seriously, Ya'll are Awesome!!!

13. The Bloggy Club! I feel like me, my friends, BooMama, Big Mama, Baby Bangs, and all the other great blogger mommies out there, are just one AWESOME club! A club of Super Cool mommies who love the Lord and Love to Blog! How cool is that? Seriously!

Thanks for reading, all 12 of you! I've also noticed how much I use the word Seriously, it might be borderline excessive. But that's the great thing about blogging, it's me, all me. Seriously!

Thursday 13

I am posting this on Thursday at 12:36 am.

I am breaking Alana's rule by posting after midnight, gasp!

I feel that I must do this, though, because I don't think I'll have time tomorrow (actually, today.) and I really want to do this list!

13 things I'm loving about Annie!

1. Her incredibly vibrant personality. (that would be water from the hose dripping from her chin!)

2. Her humor, she is always being funny to get me to laugh, and it works!

3. Her beauty, she is gorgeous.

4. Her love for Dora. Cute!

5. Her love for family. (here she's putting lip gloss on great grandma Ellie.)

6. Her incredible tan.

7. The way she talks and talks when I'm tucking her in. I know it's a stalling technique, but it's so darn cute how she doesn't take a breath as she tells me thing after thing. It makes me realize how much is going on in that little head of hers!

8. Her sweetness with Austin. She adores and dotes on him.

9. Her patience with Ellie. She doesn't like to be bossed, but she puts up with it so she can play with her sister.

10. Her dancing and singing. She makes me dance and sing too.

11. The way she loves her daddy.

12. Her love for "Woof Woof", her favorite stuffed dog.

13. Every tiny inch of her little body. (my own "mini me!" look at the screen :)

Annie is growing up. She'll be 3 soon, and I'm seeing her change right before my very eyes. She is looking and acting like a "little girl" instead of a toddler. She is amazing and I love her so much.

thursday 13!

Today i shall right about my youngest child, my baby! It's been a very trying day, and i'll tell you all about it later, but to help me end it on a high note, I'm focussing on the good stuff. Austin is almost 9 months old now and he is darned cute!

13 Things I'm loving about Austin right now!

1. He laughs ALL THE TIME!

2. His two tiny teeth.

3. His HUGE hands!

4. His chubby little legs.

5. His strength. (he is one STRONG baby!)

6. His incredibly soft skin.

7. His big blue eyes.

8. His ablilty to stand. (his latest achievment!)

9. The way he sucks on his own tounge for fun.

10. The way he talks. (ba ba ba ba, da da da da, and lots of raspberries!)

11. The way he lights up when he sees me, daddy, or one of his sisters!

12. The way he sucks the same two fingers his daddy sucked when he was a baby!

13. The way he cuddles up to me and just melts when i rub his head.

ok, so just a few minutes ago i was laying in my bed playing with him. i knew he was VERY tired after our VERY long day, but he was so happy to just lay and play next to me. so, there we were just tickling, and laughing, and i started to rub my hand on his head, just to feel his soft hair. all of a sudden he just rolled over and stuck those fingers in his mouth and went to sleep! my heart melted. good night austin, i love you!

thursday 13

my good friend alana posted a meme of 10 "rules she lives by." i've been thinking, and watching, and trying to figure out what a meme is. if you're wondering, it's a list or a question that you post and "tag" others to post their own. or something like that. apparantly it's part of the language of blog world. anyway, so now that i've figured that out, it's time for my rules. these are some of the rules that i live my life by:

1. you must roll all the windows down in the car when it is warm (not hot) outside, and let your hair blow around!

2. while letting your hair blow, you and anyone else in the car (usually my kids) must sing at the top of your lungs to "summery" music.

3. when you're going somewhere and you know your kids will fall asleep for the night in the car on the way home, you must take their pj's with you and put the children in them before the car ride home. (i was totally kicking myself last night for breaking this rule!)

4. you must not allow yourself to check your email or your blog, or anyone elses blog, when you have to leave the house in 5 minutes! (i confess, i broke this rule this morning, and we were 20 minutes late to swimming! hence, the reason it is now a rule.)

5. when you are going somewhere where you know your friends, and your friends kids will be, and you take a snack for your kid, you must take a snack for ALL the friends kids too. (we all know they always want anything their friends have!)

6. do not allow anyone to call your house before 8 am. yes, most of the time you are already up, but the one morning that everyone in the house is still asleep will be the one morning that someone calls and wakes you up!

7. you must swim at least twice a week during the summer in good weather!

8. if you pull out in front of someone on the road, you MUST drive fast!

9. if you are counting points, you must not have ANY junk food ANYWHERE in the house, or you will find it and eat it!

10. when you are holding a baby, you must kiss it, even if it's not your baby.

11. you must not run the dishwasher until it is COMPLETELY full. what's the point?

12. you must cherish every moment with your precious baby, because he will not be a baby for long.

13. you must know how blessed you are to have such wonderful friends and family!