Addison's solution to the whole "my mom said no oreos at bedtime" situation?




Bite through them, of course!

And Now, She Can Outsmart Me?

Kaelyn will be FOUR this summer, and her toddler years are coming to an end... the intentional doing of wrong things like drawing on my sheets and flushing random things down the toilet are getting more and more seldom; HOWEVER, she is getting REALLY awesome at outsmarting me. Yesterday, after an Easter Egg Hunt and a birthday party, I told the kids it was time for "quiet time." Kaelyn and Bryce don't really take naps anymore, so quiet time is essential... I get to have a little break, and it keeps me from calling CPS on myself during the day.

Kaelyn: Mommy, can I have quiet time in the living room? (she wanted to lay on the couch)

Me: Sure, but DO NOT eat any Easter candy. (I figured her reason for wanting to be in the living room was because of its close proximity to the candy drawer.)

Kaelyn: K

And quiet time begins... Addison is napping, Bryce is in his room reading, Kaelyn is on the couch watching a movie, and I am in my room watching TV.

About an hour later, I come out of my room to inform the kids that quiet time is over, and I find Kaelyn lying on the couch eating a sucker.

Me: Kaelyn! I told you no Easter candy!

Kaelyn: This is not Easter candy, I got it from my school!

Apparently, the eye doctor visited her school on Wednesday, and gave the kids suckers, which she hid in the small pocket of her backpack until the time was right. She's such a little opportunist!

Sorry, neighbors, that you live next to "those people."

Right before Addison spent 4 days in the hospital with RSV and Pneumonia, our washer went out. To ensure a completely sanitized house upon her arrival home, we bought a new one. Where did the old one go? Adam thought it was a GREAT idea to put it in the front yard. While it rained.

It gets better.

After I came home I reminded him that we do not live in the country, and in the suburbs people just don't pile up their crap in the front yard when they're done with it. I told him that it needed to go to the dump or in the garage immediately. Fine, no big deal... UNTIL... while I was at a mom's night out he comes up with the great idea to clean out the garage. After all, he needed to say that he accomplished something while he (and his "stabbed") hand were off work for 2 1/2 weeks. Cleaning out the garage is a great idea. Cleaning out the garage at midnight while the weather is below freezing... I guess it's still an OK idea. Cleaning out the garage at MIDNIGHT with the door open and the radio blasting on a Wednesday night... not such a great idea. (Sorry Neighbors!) An even worse idea than that? Piling ALL the crap in the front yard that you "plan" on taking to the goodwill. Not just a small pile. A HUGE pile! And then it snowed. So, all of our crap was outside covered in snow for all of my lovely neighbors to look at while they built snowman with their children. Adam's answer? "Atleast our garage is clean!" Does it amaze you all as much as it amazes me? Just when I think he takes his whitetrash hickville-ness to the ultimate level, he one-ups himself. So, sorry babe that you spent your Wednesday night piling up all that crap, and your Thursday night piling it all back in the garage. And sorry neighbors that you had to witness the whole situation. I wish I had a picture to share!

The Christmas Highlights... better late than never, right?

The kids were spoiled, like always. We usually celebrate early with either the Earls or the Agapinan crew, but this year they got the majority of their presents on Christmas morning, which meant absolute craziness!


Bryce was very organized, treasuring every present, reading the tags, thanking whoever it was from, throwing away the trash, and neatly stacking his presents up so he could keep track of them.


He was VERY excited about the fancy pillow nana and papa bought him, because he's really a 7 year old in a 30 year old's body.


Kaelyn is a little more like her mama.

That's her, right smack in the middle of that disorganized mess. All clothes and shoes had to be immediately tried on, and the makeup needed to be applied right away also. She really liked the roller coaster that santa brought Addison.

Addison was a BIG fan of the jump-o-leen that Santa brought Kaelyn... guess Santa got things backwards this year! She also liked her chocolate sucker, sword, and Dora beanie babies.




Other than that, she really wasn't a big fan of opening presents.


Adam and I received a bottle of Dom Perignon, and to keep up with our white trash-ness, we drank it out of plastic cups.

Merry Christmas!

Just Another Day in Paradise...

My washing machine is broken. This is a problem for the obvious reasons... socks and underwear are necessary items, sports jerseys and dance leotards really should be washed after every use...etc, etc. The washing machine situation is a MAJOR issue in MY house for other reasons, such as:

*Addison's poop smearing phase makes things really smelly

*Kaelyn's favorite thing to do when she's mad at me is pee in her clothes

*Bryce is that kid with a constant bloody nose

*And although Adam thinks he's saving me time by wearing his socks for five days strait, it's really not the best idea for anyone involved.

Yesterday, we left the house at 8:30 to meet Adam for breakfast and do some laundry at a friend's house. She was nice enough to start it for me so by the time we got back from breakfast (which, by the way, consisted of only ONE meltdown, a definite record!) I only had a few loads to go. I determined that the best idea would be to go strait to Bryce's basketball game from her house, that way I would have time to get most of the laundry done. I asked Bryce to change into his newly clean basketball jersey and mandatory white undershirt, while I was folding. About 20 minutes before it was time to leave, Bryce gets a bloody nose and wipes it on his white shirt. Great, now we have to book it to make it home, change his shirt, and make it to the game on time. I rush the kids out of the house and into the car. When we get home, we run in, and I instruct Bryce to change his shirt while I grab snacks for the girls and a gatorade for Bryce. He comes out of his room, jacket zipped up, and we leave. We make it to the game on time... HALLELUJAH! Bryce takes off his jacket, and he has on a white shirt, but it appears that he forgot to put his jersey on over that shirt. So we are jersey-less with about 5 minutes until game time. I go talk to the coach, who informs me that it's not a big deal, they can share jerseys. WHEW! I look at Bryce, who is warming up with his team at this point, and see his pants sitting on the floor by him. His jacket, however, is missing. The jacket that I JUST bought him, because he lost his other one at school.

Me: Bryce, where's your jacket

Bryce: I gave it to you.

I look down at what I'm holding. Two fruit snacks, Kaelyn's gatorade, Bryce's pants that I picked up off the floor, car keys, a magnidoodle, and a nintendo DS... but no jacket.

Me: Bryce, you didn't give it to me, I was talking to your coach.

Bryce: Oh, well I set it down right there and now it's gone.

With my family, all things are possible. Apparently, that includes jackets disappearing into thin air. Since it was 30 degrees outside yesterday, we were in luck that 2 weeks ago he also lost ANOTHER jacket at the game, and the coach happened to have it in her car. Yes, I know, this is A LOT of jackets... I think we're up to four jacket fatalities this winter.

To top it off, I called Adam when I got home to have a mini breakdown/crying session before we headed out to the two birthday parties of the evening, and his friend answered. Apparently, Adam left his phone in the dispatcher office. Like father, like son.

So apparently, everyone at school has a Gingerbread Man on the wall... everyone that is, except for Bryce. Why? Because he made a Gingerbread Vampire. He explained to me that even though Miss Lomeli didn't tell him beforehand, Gingerbread Vampires are not allowed at school. So he had to take his home... which didn't phase him one bit. It's a little troublesome for me though.

All Kaelyn Wanted for Christmas was some Big Girl Makeup...

Not the kid kind... real makeup, like mom's.

Uncle Kyle came through with some Covergirl...



It appears to be a little dark for her complexion...
At least she can pretend like she's Papa!