Friday, April 30, 2010

Coolest Job Ever

Apparently, my two-year-old daughter has a job. And it sounds like one of the best jobs ever. I have little Q & A sessions with her that go something like this:

Me: What's your name?
Her: Anna
Me: How old are you?
Her: Tw0 (while she holds up one finger...still working on that)
Me: Are you a princess? (Or are you pretty?)
Her: Uh-huh

But today, I changed it up a bit.

Me: What's your name?
Her: Anna
Me: What do you do for a living?
Her: I eat.
Me: What do you eat?
Her: I eat chips.

Wonder what she gets paid for that??

Monday, April 26, 2010

Jelly Belly Adventures

Today we took off for Pleasant Prairie to visit Jelly Belly Center. This trip was planned kind of "spur-of-the-moment." My brother and his wife had recently acquired nine bags of boys clothes and offered the lot to us (minus what they were able to use now.) We decided the best way to get them was to meet halfway. We had taken Joel and Cara to the JB factory in California a few years ago, so it seemed appropriate that we would meet at JB center.

Thankfully, the whole family was well so we were all able to go, although I had promised myself I would keep my distance from Ezra since I had been sick...hard to do when he's so cute! We arrived around ten, shopped in the store, and fed the kids a snack while we waited for my brother. We also hit the tasting bar and tried a few different flavors. Ben is the winner for "most adventerous." He tried the canned dog food flavor, quickly followed by a toothpaste flavored one. He stank like dog food for awhile.!!

Joel and Cara arrived a little while later and we all went on the train tour. The first half of the tour consists of watching a lot of screens, so of the children only Matthew was truly interested in the candy making process. Ben liked a little of it, Ezra fussed with his hat, and Anna pointed out pink things and dropped her hat out of the train. Somehow Rob managed to have a kid-free seat. The rest of the tour had some fun things to look at for the little ones. Between the two, the Cali tour is better, but this was still fun.

We made our final purchase decisions and headed to Culver's for lunch. Their register's were working very slowly and our order didn't register in the back. We got our food rather late and were also handed coupons for a free meal and two free custards.

The kids were all pretty restless by the end of the meal, so we parted ways and our troop headed back to Watertown. All three of them fell asleep, so Rob and I had a peaceful ride. And then we went through all that clothing. WOW! It's a major blessing! We won't have to buy much of anything for the boys next winter, if at all.

One more thing we were curious about....who tastes all those different flavors? How much do they pay the people who have to make sure the dog food flavored beans taste just right? Or the skunk flavored ones? Or is it perhaps a job you can do in place of a prison sentence? "Okay, Joe, you can serve ten years in the state penn or one year working in the tasting room at Jelly Belly?" "I'll take the ten! I'll take the ten!"

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Weekend Visit

This past weekend, my parents came for a visit. We hadn't seem them since Christmas, so all of us were anticipating the fun times ahead. Mom and Dad arrived right around lunchtime on Friday. Rob had the day off (and has Monday off due to low orders) so he got to join us. My parents treated us all to lunch at McDonald's. The kids had a ball in the playground, although the boys had a little too much fun with Anna. She's just big enough to go into the main part, so Matthew tried to get her to go down the tunnel slide. She was hesitant, so Ben yelled, "Just push her!" Matthew did and Anna came on down, then went on her merry way and tried to avoid the slide :)

That afternoon, we headed to Ebert's greenhouse. My parents bought some flowers and the kids played in the playground area. Anna is just big enough to really enjoy all of the playhouses. Dad was with her in one of them and when he tried to leave, she yelled, "Grandpa, you get back in here!"

We had a make-your-own pizza night, put the kids to bed, and enjoyed a new dessert I made. Unfortunately, Rob accidently left it out overnight and it had to be pitched. Too bad...but I think I'll make another one next weekend. It rained quite a bit the next day and Matthew's soccer game was cancelled.

My parents wanted to do something special, so they had one-on-one time with all of us. They took the boys out separately on Friday. Rob and Dad went out for coffee Saturday morning and then went on a tour of the Custom Shoppe. Mom and I made cookies and played games with the kids. After lunch, Mom and I went for coffee then shopped at JoAnn.

And then the lovely visit with my folks took a turn on the ugly side. My stomach felt upset after coffee, so I took myself upstairs to lay down. Turns out, I caught the stomach bug that Ben and Anna had. I spent the rest of the evening upstairs while Rob and Mom made a Chinese dinner. She played sous chef, usually my job, and Rob said she did a good job. The smells didn't help my situation much, but I did have some leftovers today.

And right before bedtime, Anna had a repeat performance of the "sickies". Rob slept on the floor in the kids room and our room intermittenly. I let him back on the bed once I was done getting sick around 3am. Anna was sluggish this morning, but acting fine when my parents left. They were gone shortly after breakfast, hoping to get home before anything hit them. So far, they are both feeling fine.

I do believe this is the third time that one or both of them has visited and somebody came down with a stomach bug. At least we got some good time in on the first two days. And hopefully we'll have no incidents next time!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

When it Rains it Pours

We've settled nicely into a slightly new schedule since our weekend trip. The past few days have been pretty peaceful and the children have been cooperative overall. We have a definite chore time now, which includes the boys getting dressed and making their beds. (Ben actually did it on his own this morning, woo-hoo!) I also scheduled a set time to read to Ben and Anna, as well as a walk or outside play-at-the-park time after lunch. All of this includes a new "no TV when it's nice outside" rule. They haven't complained, b/c they have a new-found love of Legos to occupy them. And Matthew even behaved beautifully at soccer practice on Tuesday, focusing the entire time and playing well.

And then today hit. The kids usually shoot downstairs to play while I leisurely get myself out of bed. I came down this morning to find Anna sitting on the corner of the carpet, staring into space. I picked her up to change her and discovered that her pants were soaked. Thinking it was only an overly-full diaper, I change her diaper and clothing and then put her onto the couch. Then I rechecked where she had been sitting. Portions of last night's supper were all over the area. Yup, stomach flu. She got sick one more time in the kitchen (all over her special blankie which was JUST washed on Monday) and then I put her on a towel on the couch. She took a brief nap (during which I did school with Matthew) and then got sick again when she woke up. She has since had a few chips and kept them down, so I think we're already over the worst. She's napping upstairs right now.

Around lunchtime, the boys went outside to play on their bikes. I heard a blood-curdling scream and ran outside (along with two of our neighbors) to find Matthew bleeding and running toward me. He had fallen on his bike and had three scrapes on one knee and one on his elbow. Ben and our landlord walked his bike back while I cleaned and bandaged the wounds. Matthew wailed rather loudly for a LONG time and started getting on Ben's nerves. Ben decided to make Matthew stop crying by singing annoying songs. Yeah, that worked.

So we had a two-day stretch of good behavior and a pleasant home atmosphere. That should last me awhile.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Visit to Illinois

This past weekend we took a trip to Illinois. Our purpose in going, besides visiting relatives, was to attend a baby shower and celebrate two birthdays.

I really don't know what I was thinking scheduling my tooth extraction right before a trip, because I spent much of my time being sore, hungry, and headachey. Friday was the worst day, for sure, but the rest weren't much better. I was so hungry but any time I tried working my jaws to chew, the soreness stopped me. I napped alot on Friday and some on Saturday. Rob thinks alot of that (and the headache) was due to my being excessively hungry. Thankfully, my mother-in-law made a great casserole Friday night and blended some for me. I ate on the leftovers several times, so I did get some protein.

But in spite of that, we did have a nice time. Rob and I took the boys to Toys R Us on Friday during Anna's nap and got a few things. Matthew had his reward coming for earning all of his octopus legs, so he chose Lego Star Wars for the Wii. Turned out all games $20 and under were Buy One, Get One Half off, so we also picked up Lego Indiana Jones. I had a coupon, so we ended up getting the extra game for $5. Ben and Anna still had some birthday money left, so they each got some Legos. Anna just loves the little Legos and doesn't put them in her mouth anymore, so we got her some pink ones.

Another highlight was hitting the parks. Rob and I took the kids to one on Friday (blinding headache and all) and Rob took the boys on Saturday during the baby shower. I'm not sure what happened, but he thought his dad and brother would be joining him. It ended up just being him. They had a ball.

Anna and I attended the baby shower for Rob's brother's wife, Kim. I dolled Anna up in a pretty dress for the express purpose of having the ladies ooo and aahh over her. She even sat still and let me put pigtails in her hair. She played nicely with the other little girls there, one of which was her cousin. I got a chance to see both of my baby nephews and play with them for a bit. Always a treat to see the babies! I gave my usual gift of diapers. It's the most practical thing I can think of and is always appreciated :)

I think a highlight for Rob and the kids was going to a Chinese buffet for lunch on Saturday. We were celebrating Rob's dad's birthday and our other sister-in-law's birthday. I had fun smelling the yummy food...not so much fun only eating cottage cheese. I really thought I'd find more to eat there. I told Rob to eat my fill...and I think he did :)

Church on Sunday was nice...at least for the adults and Anna. The boys were scared by the junior church service. I usually bring Matthew with us into the service, but he thought he'd be okay with Ben in there. Ben got scared, too. Afterwards we had lunch at GG's...and I was able to eat it! I unashamedly packed in a big dinner.

The trip home was very quiet, as all three of the kids fell asleep until we hit Wisconsin. We ate supper at the Cracker Barrel (again, I could eat!) and had a good rest of the trip home. My mouth is back to normal now and I had the sutures removed today.

The kids are looking forward to having my parents come out here on Friday. Anna calls my dad "Grandpa Silly." She got confused about who we would see this weekend, and now she's confused again. She said today, "Grandpa Silly is coming and he'll play with me downstairs." Rob's dad is the one who plays downstairs, so we'll see how she reacts on Friday :)

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Tooth Removal, Part 2

A year ago January, I started down the dental warpath, taking care of my teeth as I never have before. And, of course, had I taken care of my teeth this battle would never need to have been fought. :) Last Monday, I had a filling in my front top teeth. I was absolutely dreading that appointment. That's the most sensitive area of the mouth and I KNEW it was going to hurt! My fears proved to be unfounded. I was given topical aneseptic (sp?), a small amount of painless shots, followed by the big shots that were also painless. No problems!

Yesterday I went in to have a tooth removed. Another one. THIS one looked so bad (even a year ago) that they kept trying to convince me to take care of it first. I kept telling them it didn't hurt at all, so we worked on other more pressing areas of my mouth. And about two weeks ago, it started to bother me, so the timing was perfect!

I wasn't at all nervous for this appointment. I really wanted this tooth gone. It had errupted and part of it was scraping my cheek. They had earlier tried to talk me into a root canal, but I didn't see the point with a tooth that is chipping anyway. Thankfully, I have a great dentist who respects my decisions and doesn't make me feel guilty for choosing something against his advice. And, a $2,000 root canal was far less appealing than a $200 extraction!

The appointment went well and I have one less tooth bothering me. I'm pretty sore today, but only b/c they had to pull hard on the final root to get it out. That means my mouth got contorted into unbelievable positions. I half expected the dentist to anchor his foot on the chair and pull. I was numbed up pretty good, so I didn't really care :) I have three more fillings to go. Yipee. But it's Rob's turn next for a filling :)

Now to get through this day.....

Monday, April 12, 2010

Funny Little Kiddos

Tonight, Miss Anna was headed up to bed with her usual armload of items she HAS to have to sleep. She turned around and went back to Daddy and said, "Can you carry my binkie (blanky)?" Daddy said, "Sure." Then she said, "Can you carry my babies?" Daddy again agreed to do this. She hesitated for a moment, then said, "Can you carry Anna?" Daddy laughed for a moment, and picked her up :)

This morning, Anna wasn't too happy about my checking e-mail prior to breakfast. She huffed at the gate and said, "Mommy, you don't play on that thing!"

Matthew hit a big milestone today: he learned how to ride his bike w/o training wheels. We've been helping him a bit, but he really worked hard today by himself and figured it out. His motivation: that was the last leg he had to earn on his octopus and now he can buy the Lego Star Wars Wii game (or whatever other Star Wars/Lego thing that trips his fancy under $20.) They have been working on earning all eight octopus legs since September and he finally did it! Ben has only one left, which is writing his name. It was tying his shoes, but he still has a little too much baby in his fingers to accomplish that task so we changed it to something more manageable. Anna has four remaining, all revolving around potty training.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Weekly Update

I'm sitting here at the laptop typing a blog post instead of out in the rain at a soccer game. I'd much rather be at the game, I must admit. Matthew is playing spring soccer and today was supposed to be the first game of the season. It rained quite a bit last night and the fields were too soggy for a game. He sniffled a bit as we drove away from the near-empty parking lot. We'll pray for drier fields next week!

We've had a pretty nice week overall, but I will admit it's been frustrating at times. The children have decided to play a game called "Don't let Mommy have a moments rest." The way you play this game is pretend to be occupied with something and then as soon as Mommy thinks she can do something on her own (like dishes, go to the bathroom, etc.) you come and ask her tons of questions or interact improperly with a sibling. It's LOADS of fun if you're under ten. Yeah.

I have managed to sneak in some me time here and there and have gotten lots of cards done. I'm currently working on some wedding cards, which I've never done before. And you know me, they have to be different!

Last night we went to the Easter Cantata at our church. I think that's the first time I ever remember going to a service on Good Friday. We always skipped the ones in Cali (shame on us), I don't think the church I grew up in did one, and they have had them at 1pm here in the past. (Not a good time when you still have nappers.) This year it was at 7pm so we all went. We decided to try to have Anna sit with us in the service. I ordered a cute quiet board from my SU demonstrator for Anna to play with. She lasted about three minutes before I took her to the nursery. Ben last 30 before Rob took him to sit in the foyer. Matthew and I enjoyed it...well, Matthew did anyway. I was very distracted by the children who's parents decided NOT to take advantage of the nursery or quiet room. I'm all for having your kids in the service...if they can remain quiet. People like me with ADD tendencies can't handle the noise!

We did get ourselves a new camera today (in place of the soccer game.) Our old one died on us in the middle of taking pics on Anna's birthday. Rob finished killing it by disecting it on his desk. The new one is much nicer and smaller. All three of the kids have cute new outfits for tomorrow and I need to have pictures of them! I really needed one yesterday after Anna got her Easter gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Fulkerson. She had a pink Minnie Mouse skirt outfit on (received on her birthday) and pulled on the pink and purple bracelets, pink socks and hair bows from Grandma. Then she put on her pink Crocs and carried around her new pink bunny purse. She was quite the vision in pinks and purples! She also insisted on wearing those socks to bed (very dirty after a day of wear) and I finally convinced her to let me wash them this morning.

I think I'm done rambling now.