Another satisfied custumer

So my husband and I are total bleeding hearts when it comes to animals. We take in any stray that comes along. This has totally transferred to our kids.

So a couple days ago, Bug and Sunshine were out front playing when Bug comes in and says that "he made a new dog friend". I didn't really think much of it. We live on a dead end street and we get a lot of "wandering animals". They usually find their way home, but sometimes they end up at "Hotel Jax" indefinitely.

So this little dog started following the kids around and playing with them. It started getting late so I had the kids come in for dinner, thinking that he would just wander off on his merry little way. He didn't. He just camped it on our front porch.

By the time we got ready for bed, I thought well, it's kind of getting chilly and he doesn't seem to know where he is. So I let him in, fed him some dinner and let him crash here for the night. He has a collar, but no tags. He's a Chihuahua and dachshund mix and a little foo-foo. His nails have been clipped and it appears that his teeth have been brushed. I only know this because I was curious how old he is and checking an animals teeth can give you an indication of their age. The more plaque, the older they probably are. Regardless, he's clearly not really an "outside dog".

So he came right in and was completely comfortable with us. Even with the chaos of the kids running around. He made himself at home real quick. Even when I laid a towel down for him to sleep on. He took one look at it and proceeded to hop up on our bed. Our beagle, Libby just sort of looked on with amazement. If a dog could have had a dropped jaw, I think Libby would have at that very moment.

He slept through the night and in the morning I fed him breakfast and set him out on the front porch again hoping he would find his way home. I then went about my day. Took everyone where they needed to be. But when I got home, there he was waiting for us.

So I put a "found dog" ad on craigslist in hopes that I could reunite someone with their beloved pet. When nobody answered, I then took him to the vet to see if maybe he had a chip with his info under his skin. Nope. I checked the flyers at the local grocery stores. Nothing. I drove all over the neighborhood looking for signs posted. Nada.

Then I got obsessed and spent the entire day yesterday scanning through pages of Google results on lost dogs. I checked every local paper and agency in hopes that someone had put out a "lost dog" ad. I came up completely empty. I was totally on a mission.

So last night (again) he hopped up and slept with us. At this time I'm starting to get sort of attached to this little dog. He's mellow and very lovey. He'll just sit up on my lap and chill out with me. I started having fantasies of dressing him up in little jackets and carrying him around in one of those little "dog purses". I then had to get a hold of myself. I am sooo not that person. Maybe in an alternate universe I could be that person. But not today mister!!

So this morning I stared back at my quest to find this little dog's home. My obsession finally paid off. I came across an ad that someone put up on the humane society's site. He lives about 2 blocks away and the ad even had a picture. So there's no question.

I'm a little sad that he's leaving, but I am so glad that he is finding his way home and that his family will have him back safe and sound.

I have been calling him Charlie. Doesn't he just look like a Charlie?

Another satisfied costumer!

************
Follow up..

So the guy just came to pick the dog up. Turns out his name is Sam. It's funny because it also turns out that I knew his family. The guy that picked him up was the only guy in the PTA. That's how I remember him. So we got to talking and it turns out they have 4 kids and they were totally broken up about the dog being lost. (One of the kids left the door open and that's how he got out. Talk about guilt!!)
So we're pretty happy about this happy ending.

I like to think of it like doggy karma. It's only a matter of time before Libby wanders off and needs help finding her way home.

Fantastic

Ok I would like to just make a little observation here. We have 2 full size sofas here in our family room. But my kids insist on flipping over laundary baskets and sitting on them when watching TV.

Why do they do this? It is a total mystery to me. I have hidden the baskets and they always seem to find them.


What is that about?

Sunshine's big rite of passage

So last week Sunshine had her 4th birthday so we figured it was about time she was ready for a "big girl" bike. She has become lethal on her tricycle, so it's just the natural progression of things.
We got her a bike some time ago at a garage sale, but it needed a few repairs, so today was the day we unveiled it.

She was soooo excited and took to it like a pro. My rock star- super hero husband spent the majority of the evening running up and down the street teaching her how to ride her pink and purple princess bike.

Dads are good like that.

Sunshine's final stand

So Sunshine has been at odds with her brothers all day. She and Bug bickered in the car all morning (which is pleasant for no one) and Peanut has this knack for dragging out all of her toys and chewing on them.

All of this ultimately resulted in her storming off to her room, slamming the door and screaming "NO BROTHERS ALLOWED IN MY ROOM EVER!!!!" I'll tackle the behavior here in a second, but right now I just had to giggle at her "Elton John-esq diva tantrum".

See this is the difference between girls and boys. She MUST exit the room with such an element of drama. The boys just go and stew until they erupt in their room and thrash it. Viva la Difference!!

I find it humorous also that she felt the need to post this sign on her door in manner of Martin Luther, declaring her liberation from her brothers. Notice the emphasis on "NO".

Even through bratty behavior, she makes my heart sing!!

Saturday afternoon bike ride

So yesterday was Saturday and as I have said before it has been unusually beautiful weather for February. So we thought we'd hop on our bikes and take advantage of it. We have a bike trail near us that goes all the way downtown. The trail goes along the river and is nowhere near street traffic. Once we got going, we realized we weren't the only ones with this brilliant idea, but even though it was crowded, we still had a lot of fun.

Sunshine and Peanut are still too small to bike on their own so my super hero husband pulled them in the trailer. Bug however, is old enough to keep up with us on the trail and he did so magnificently considering it was about an 8 mile ride round trip.

We are really trying to make it a habit to get out and enjoy the outside and the area we live in rather than just gripe about how much we hate living in the city. Plus it's pretty awesome exercise too.

Although I'm not going to lie.... it feels like I have been horseback riding at full gallop on a wooden saddle. Translation...my butt is sore. Luckily I have all that cushion :)

Also my sister in law joined us for the ride. We didn't go across the river into downtown (mainly because riding with the trailer through the streets can get a little hairy) . But we did go as far as OMSI which is directly across the bridge from downtown. We had us a nice little picnic snack right on the river and checked out the submarine (Omsi is a science museum here in Portland and it has a real sub right here in the river. It's pretty cool) and then headed back.

It was a good day.

Check out the new poll

So I am serious about this. I really want to know who is reading this blog.

I have a site meter over to the right there and it tells me what city you are in. But I am totally fascinated at all of the different places that you all live. Like there is someone from Olathe, Kansas that checks in almost everyday.

Who are you Olathe,Kansas person? You are my first person of interest. I have wanted to write a blog about this for quite sometime. I don't know who you are. I just have your city and internet provider information. Totally anonymous otherwise. Did you know that I am totally obsessed with Kansas? In fact my family and I almost moved there 2 years ago. It's true.

Also I have someone from New Zealand that reads almost every day. Last I checked I don't know a soul in that part of the world. So My question is....how did you find me?

Now don't get me wrong. I am completely appreciative of all of the traffic that comes through here. But let's not get an artificial sense of self in thinking that I am any greater or more interesting than any of you. I guess it just sort of boggles the mind in wondering the magic question....am I really that interesting? I'd like to think so, but I know in reality that can't be all true.

So the big question today is....how did you find me? Please vote on the poll on the top right over there>>>>>.

This is something that I really am dying to know. Please comment too. I want to know who you are!

New layout

Ok so once again here we go with a new layout.

This is sort of my own little homage to St. Patrick's day (even though it's like a month away), but mostly I liked this layout because it reminds me of a set of curtains my Grandma had in her kitchen.

Sort of retro, sort of tacky. kind of like me :)

Confessions of a lazy mom.

Ok so please tell me I'm not the only mom out there that does this.

I really do have the best intentions, however I hate all of the super fun kids things because it usually means more work for me.

Example..

play doh
finger paint (are you kidding me!! Who thought of this?)
bubbles
puzzles
glitter paint

You get the idea.

My kids LOVE all of the above, but it usually is like a once a year treat because I hate scrapping squished up play doh out of the carpet. Not to mention Sunshine always manages to get it in her hair.

Well because we had a birthday party on Monday, the house is still relativly clean so I feel all inspired to use this extra time that I would have been cleaning the house to do some fun stuff. We are hoping that maybe if we start out on the kitchen floor that maybe we won't end up with it everywhere.

We'll see.

Do you see the child in this picture?

yeah neither did I. When it went quiet for a while this afternoon I went up to investigate just to make sure everything is ok. Usually when it goes quiet it means they are getting into things and hoping I won't find out.

But this afternoon I go up to check....look around Sunshine's room ....hmmmm she must be downstairs........come downstairs.....nowhere.
Panic.
Look outside ......nothing.

At this point I start to remember a conversation that I had with my mom not too long ago. It went something like this....

mom- you really should lock your doors even though you are home and live in a moderatly safe neighborhood.

me-thats crazy talk. We don't have anything worth stealing. And even if someone wanted to steal something, we wouldn't put up a fight, we would probably help them out with whatever they wanted.

mom- people steal kids and sell them on the black market. Especially blond blue eyed kids.

me-ok now you are just being paraniod.That dosen't really happen.

**This is all going through my head as I tear through my house looking for Sunshine and I start to freak out and worry that she is being sold on the black market as I speak.

I then get a hold of myself and slow down and look closer at each room.

Glad I did. Here she is in this pile of stuffed animals. Not what I would expect her to be, but I'm glad she wasen't stolen and sold after all.

This is sort of like that scene from E.T. where he is hiding in the toys.

Sunshine turns 4!!

So last night we had a birthday party for Sunshine. Her official birthday isn't until tomorrow, but it fell on Awana night so we kicked it up a couple days. I doubt she'll mind :)

We had the usual thrown together at the last minute party that we normally have. They always consist of family and usually involve pizza or some sort of something that I don't actually cook. these are the best types of parties in my opinion. Low key and lack of judgment for being a "last minute Mom"

We had fun though. We visited with each other and my mom kicked my butt at wii bowling. I think she has secretly been practicing.

Sunshine's big present from us was a deluxe kitchen, so most of her presents had something to do with that. Ahhhh. My little homemaker :) Although I think the boys had just as much fun playing with it is she did.

She loved it though. She was up at O' dark 30 this morning playing with it. We left it downstairs last night just because I haven't made a place for it in her room yet, so I could hear her clanking around in the play oven. We have created a monster. Or maybe the next Martha Stuart.

Martha would be good.

Oh what a beee-autiful day!!!

We are havening unusually fantastic weather for February. It has been in the 50's and 60's. Not even coat weather!

Since we are still sort of in quarantine for our pink eye so we chose not to go to church this morning. We didn't want the wrath of angry mothers because all their kids now have it too. Can't say I blame them.

So instead we went out and enjoyed our day by going to the park and playing.

There are no clever stories that I have or anything. Just a handful of cool pictures.

Scott Baio gave us pink eye.

Ok I realize about 2% of my reading audience actually gets that. If you don't. Well ok, it's a reference to a South Park episode. Let's just leave it at that. I also realize that the other 98% of you wouldn't watch that show for all the tea in China. And thats fine too.

Along with all the medical ailments that has plagued our house in the past several days. This one is the most annoying. Peanut somehow managed to get pink eye in both eyes a couple days ago. Luckily we were at the hospital already so we just had them write out an Rx while we were there to kill two birds with one stone. (Yeah I'm that kind of mom that brings up every ailment in the doctors office that way I don't have to make a separate doctors visit)

Luckily it had only seemed like Peanut was the only one with it. (Which if you have kids, you know something mega contagious like that spreads like wildfire among kids) Then this morning about 2 am, I rolled over to look at the clock. Only to find that I couldn't open one of my eyes.

Fantastic.

Luckily we have plenty of medication for this. I just can't show my face in public for a couple days for fear of public ridicule. So now I have a legit reason for being anti social. Does it get any better than this :)

Night from H-e -double hockey sticks!!!!

So as expected from working in the daycare last week, my kids picked up some sort of creepin crud. They are like chickens in the pen. If one gets sick, they all get sick. They have all been fighting off some sort of sniffle. But it seemed like it was sort of on it's way out.

Problem is....all it takes is a little sniffle to completely throw Peanut into respiratory distress because of his asthma. He's on a wide assortment of meds, but they are mostly preventative. I do have a few medications as a rescue method, but when they don't work as well as I like, I have to pull out the big guns. The ER.

Needless to say I had to work at the mall last night (Unexpectedly. I didn't know I was scheduled. But that's another story) So We just thought we would give him a good rescue nebulizer treatment and see if he settles for bed. He did for a while, but when I got home at ( last night I could hear that he was still sort of struggling. So we made the decision to take him in. We have made this trek many, many times, so we are no stranger to the ER.

So I changed my clothes and headed back out. It's funny just how comfortable we have become in the hospital. I just feel so much more confident knowing that there are people in white coats around me that are far more qualified to administer life saving treatment. Not that I really doubt my own instincts as a mother. I know my kids better that anyone else, but the true wisdom is knowing when to seek help.

They got us in and gave repeated breathing treatments and a whole lot of monitoring. Around 1:30 am they sent us home breathing regularly and exhausted. My husband took the day off to juggle the other kids and let me sleep. What a rock star!!

So today he is feeling much better. He's still running a fever, but a fever I can handle. So now it's just a day of recovery and back to normal.

Just another day in paradise :)

Thank you !! Thank you!! Thank you!!!

So as many of you may know....my range has been broken for about 3 weeks now. It was under warrenty and the repair guy came out a couple weeks ago and told me that we had electrical issues in our house and that there was no problem with the stove itself so he couldn't fix the problem.

Great.

Now as many of you are in the same boat as I am...being a stay at home mom comes with a few snags. Mainly that we (all 5 of us) have to budget really tight and live on one income. So really we live pretty paycheck to paycheck. Things like home repairs really throw us for a loop. The trade off....sometimes we have to wait a while to take care of repairs like this.

Which if you have ever been without a means to cook...gets really frustrating. I have been making all of our meals for the past 3 weeks in the microwave. Which if you have been playing the home game, you know that we don't do processesed food. So we have been doing a whole lot of sandwiches, steamed veggies , and pasta.

I think now would be the perfect time to sing the praises of Tupperware's line of microwave cookware. Never have I been so dependent on microwave cookware before, but it really was and is fantastic. To find out more click on my Tupperware icon on the side bar. See Rock n serve or heat n serve. Also I used the Tupperwave stack cooker alot.

Ok enough shameless advertisment.

Anyhoo....so we were fortunate enough to have a guy in our church that is an all around handyman. He has helped us with several fixes around our house over the years.(We are completly clueless homeowners.It's pretty embarassing, but it really is true) My husband just happened to run into him last week at my Father in law's Superbowl party. He explained what the problem was and he said he'd like to come out and take a look for us. So today was the day. He had a look at it and said it was a quick fix. We had cords that had somehow melted together and shorted out. He said that he has never seen that happen before, but it took him all of 20 minutes to have us back in business.

The best thing is. He didn't charge us one penny. I tried to pay him, but he refused anything. I am so thankful to have such an awesome church family that truly helps each other and shows God's love in practical ways. I know his time is valuable and he works by the hour. I only hope that someday we can return the kindness.

So yay!! We're having lasagne tonight!! No more microwave food for us!!

And as a side note....keep your eyes peeled Lee, you've got some Tupperware filled with cookies coming your way :)

Do you ever miss this?

Don't you miss the days when you could spend the entire day on your belly pondering the lives of bugs?

This is what Bug did today. Needless to say he was not consumed with the thought that he had nothing to show for his day. Productivity was not high on his list of priorities.

I miss this.

My week in pictures

So I know I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I would have liked, I did snap some pretty cute ones (Ok so most of them are of my own kids) and I thought I'd share them.

This is what my very hectic week consisted of.

Managing about 30,000 children every day.

Cooking lunches and snacks for said children.

Finding places for them all to nap

Pray that they don't realize that we are grossly out numbered by them and they could easily overtake us at any moment.

Simple formula.

What seemed like a great idea....

So I am still working at the daycare, Today was my last day (Thank the Lord!!) and I noticed that my friend Erin's dog was getting a little restless. Erin is the girl who normally runs the daycare, but I was just filling in for her while she was on her Honeymoon this week. She has a year old great dane named London. She really is a cute dog and surprisingly gentle with all of the kids that come through Erin's house.

London was beginning to get a little restless and just wanted to get out and play. So I had this great idea that once we (Molly is the other girl that works there)got the kids fed and down for a nap....then I would take London out to the dog park and let her stretch her legs. Molly agreed that was probably a good idea and even gave me her car to transport this enormous beast. So along the way I had another great idea that I would swing home and pick up our dog Libby and take her out too. Libby is our 8 year old beagle that has a ton of spunk to her, but is starting to slow down (and pudge up) in her old age. She is totally one of my kids and completely a part of the family.

Bad idea.

Between the two of them tearing through the mud at the dog park, I realized that this was way to big of a dog for me to handle. I did have Bug with me to help, but great danes are really big and once they get really excited, are really hard to control.

It was like Marmeduke hopped up on speed.

Once she took off, she hopped the fence and so I had to chase her back into the dog area of the park. Then she would tackle Libby. Which is about 1/10th her size, so poor libby just took a beating. She tried to keep up, but her stumpie little legs just couldn't keep up with the giant strides of London's. In the end, London just rolled her in the mud and tried to carry her around like a soggy little pup. It was pretty pitiful.

On top of it all, I think Libby got hurt somewhere in the process. She was tired and limping when we got back in the car.

I tried to take some pictures, but spent most of my time chasing and screaming at them.


Note to self....do not ever get a dog that I could potentially take pony rides on.

Check.

I am not even joking!!!

Ok so remember the other day when I told you about the daycare that i am working at this week? Well trust me when I tell you that I am literally ankle deep in children.


Now mind you, I can barely handle my own 3 on a good day, but somehow someone thought I was qualified to do this.

I have more pictures coming, but this is just one I got on my phone. This is right before lunch we had them all sat down and watching a movie. They may look cute, but trust me when I tell you....they are not to be trusted. They sense fear and WILL attack if provoked.

WOW!!!! I'm glad I only had 3 !!!

Children children eyerywhere!!!!

So I have been sort of quiet for the past week as I have been running on full throttle. Last week I had a ton of Ebay that I had to get to. What with the listing and the shipping and all. It's a lot of work for not a huge payoff.

Then this week I am working at a daycare. It's run by a friend of mine that I used to work for, but this week she is on her Honeymoon so she asked me to help out the girl that normally does this with her. They do the daycare out of her house and between the 2 of them they have the maximum amount for kids that you are allowed by law. I don't know what that limit is, but it feels like about 30 or so. Luckily when you get this many kids in one area they mostly just play with each other and it is pretty smooth. However....one false moove and it could get really greusome really quick.

Mostly it is a lot of driving. There are about 6 or 7 kids that go to school. Unfortunatly they all go to different schools. But they all start and get out about the same time. So it's a whole lot of cordinating times and driving all panicky. Theres nothing more pitiful that pulling up to a school and finding a panicked kid who thinks you weren't going to get them.

but at moment I'm just barely keeping my head above water. I can barely handle my 3 let alone 25 others about the same age :)

I'll tell you though, I am sleeping well. I'm so tired at the end of the day I can hardly breathe :)

Survival of the fittest

Ok I'm sure I'm not the first one to realize this, but my husband and I were pondering this very thought this morning on our morning commute.

We've heard and been saying "survival of the fittest" most of our educational life. I really hadn't given much thought to it until recently. Then it occurred to me. This phrase is grammatically incorrect. Shouldn't it be survival of the most fit?

I'm just saying.

Please ....someone set me straight and correct me if I'm wrong. Because now it bugs me.