A Reality Check

This post will contain absolutely no pictures.  No pictures what so ever.  I have a picture, but you will never, ever see it.  However, it is burned into my mushy brain forever and ever.

My 4 year old son recently gave me a little reality check in only the way a 4 year old can do.

So, here's the scoop:
The hubs and I are set to attend a "gala" in a few days.  This is something that I both loath and look forward to.

#1 it's a night out away from the kiddies in an adult environment,
#2 I don't have to cook dinner,
#3 we stay the night in a hotel so.... staying up late and sleeping in are on the agenda,
#4 I don't have to fix breakfast,
#5 I don't have to clean up from dinner and breakfast,
#6 o yeah - and lots of fun with the hubs and our friends!

I loath the idea of a gala, specifically this one, because I've been encouraged to wear something that is not black!  Argh!  Black is all I own!  I really, really, detest the idea of squeezing my body into a formal dress that is not black.  Let's face it, we all look slimmer in black, right?  I also waited a bit too long to shop for the dress so as to allow ample time for alterations, matching shoes, jewelry, spanx, etc, etc.  Now if I had a personal shopper or wardrobe consultant, this wouldn't seem like such an overwhelming task.  But... that's not gonna happen.

So, about a week ago, I started dragging my boy around the mall with me, looking for the "perfect" circus dress.  (Did I mention the theme is "CIRCUS"? what?)  I'm thinking I could have gotten away with my sequined leotard and matching tutu but the hubs put the brakes on that one.


So... as I said, me & the boy, shopping for circus dresses.  I have to be amply armed with all sorts of entertainment for the little guy while in dressing rooms, such as candy, candy, little cars, candy, promise of pizza for lunch, candy, promise of play time at the mall cooty-infested booger smeared playground, candy, and.... playing games on my iPhone.  Lots of you are moms, so you get the idea.

My boy loves to play with my iPhone, so I let him while I'm writhing around trying to contort my body into all sorts of creative ways so that I can fit the right body parts into the right holes and straps of whatever dress I'm attempting to squeeze into.
I'm sure it's pretty funny to watch (but I assure you I wasn't in a laughing mood after about the 20th dress)  I also made a habit of taking a little picture in the mirror of any dress that was a remote possibility so I could get a "yeh", or "neh", from the peanut gallery (hubs & daughter).  The boy caught on to the picture taking activity right away and asked if he could take the picture - so, in an attempt to entertain him, I allowed it -

So....., skip forward a few days....... I was sitting quietly waiting on my kids while they were in an art class here in town.  Just hangin' with the other parents and messing around with my phone -you know,  checking e-mail, checking Facebook, checking Twitter, playing a round of Words with Friends, looking at pictures, etc, etc.

And - WOAH!  What the H-E-L-L is that picture I see on my phone???  It's a half naked picture of some woman with a body that looks like it's indulged in waaaaaayyyyyyy to many Dove chocolates, never felt the pain of a sit up, and seriously needs some support for the melons on top!  Upon closer inspection, I realize that it's ME!

O my God - yes, my son took a topless picture of me while I had a dress over my head, trying to pry myself out of a garment that was way too tight with no zipper!  You've been there, I know - when you put something on, then can't figure out how to get OUT of it?  You kinda start sweating a little because you think you might have to have a sales clerk come and cut you out of it?  I swear to you that I had no idea he had taken the picture.

I still can't believe it - it was seriously sooooo stinking funny, and soooo embarrassing at the same time! Talk about a reality check!  Through the mouths of babes, no - through the eyes of babes come the truth!

I am so glad I'm the one who found the picture!  What if someone else had found it???  It is safely deleted, but forever burned into my corneas.  New incentive to get back to the gym, get back outside, get back on the yoga mat.  I'm just glad my little boy doesn't know the difference!

Best Valentine Butter Cookies - EVER! Seriously!

I'm nibbling on one of these delectable little nuggets as I type this (well, the crumbs are falling onto the keyboard - I'll just send the dog in to lick it up in a sec ;)

If you like butter (and who in their sane mind doesn't??) - you'll salivate at these!  I'm serrrr-eeeee-aaassss!

I thought on first glance they were just another sugar cookie, but oh no - more like a shortbread cookie.  I've made 3 batches of these bad boys.  Planned to make just 2, but then I tasted one, and it was all over from there.

They call for lemon zest, which I didn't have - so I substituted lemon extract.  The lemon gives just the right amount of zing to them - you'll die!

You can find the recipe on the February 2010 issue of Southern Living - or just click HERE.

So, I also decided that my kids weren't going to school on Monday with store bought little paper valentines from the drug store (which I'm beginning to think they would have preferred!) - so we (which means "me" actually!  kids only remotely supervised this project, which doesn't really make it "their" project, now does it?  dummy me - they could have written their names on the paper ones and been just as happy, but oh, no!  "Crafty Mom" decided that they needed something a little "different!" o well.) made these little fortune cookie valentines from felt circles.  They have cute little sayings in them like:

"I'm so fortune-ate to have you as a friend"

and "Hugs, Kisses, and Best Wishes"

and "Give me all your candy or I"ll kick you in the knees" (oops! not that one, really.)

I followed the link from Martha Stewart HERE.

I found it a little hard to keep the candies inside, so I ended up hot glueing the edges shut in a few places.  

All in all, I think they turned out pretty darn cute!  

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Little Cabin in the Woods

What's that song??  It's driving me crazy! "Little Cabin in Woods, Little Man by the window stood, ..... something, something...."  Anyone? Anyone?

Well, since my hubs is starting a new job - tomorrow! - (yikes, excited, scared?, mostly excited!), and we may not see much of him once he gets going, at least in the near future - we decided to take the kiddies down south of Fredricksburg, Texas to stay in a little cabin (in the woods,... yes.) for a few days.  No cell phone service, no TV.   Lost Maples Cabins.

We hiked a few miles at the Lost Maples State Park on Saturday, ate a bunch (seemed like all potato products to me - it's german country after all!).  Yummy Bed & Breakfast food too - smores too...., watched deer, squirrels, etc - and even fairy shrimp in little puddles at the top of Enchanted Rock.  Hubs and I were sore from all the hiking - kids, not so much.  no big surprise there, huh?

Kids bickered and whined allllll the way down (5 hours) and alllllll the way back (yep, 5 hours).  But - they insisted on sleeping together on the "Crouton" (as my 4 year old boy says) - (Futon bed) - and, they played together wonderfully once we were out of the car.  Silly kids.

At the top of Enchanted Rock

It's a long way to the top!

I didn't think the Kool Aid stain would ever come off his face!

Checking out the critters in that yecky puddle of water

Awesome!  A tree split this rock in half

Loved the hammock

Bunkbeds - fun to play in, but not so much for sleeping

The Red Rooster Cabin

A Quickie Christmas Season Update

 Quickie blog posts are about all I can get in these days with the Christmas season upon this household!  A trip to Starkville, Mississippi for Thanksgiving, my little guy getting new glasses, a visit from my parents, and chance to talk to the Big Guy before Christmas Eve.......

Posing on the Natchez Trace

My girl took this one  - pretty good, huh?

Thanksgiving Fun :)

Visiting with the Big Man!

The little guy got new glasses

Visit from Indiana Grandparents last week :)

I'm still sewing like crazy, filling orders and making gifts for my friends and family.  A Carrot cake is cooling on the stove, getting ready to become Cake Balls for a party Saturday.  Refrigerator repair man is making his way back to the house for the second time in the past month (frig sounds like a jet airplane coming in for a landing).  Then, off to 3 Christmas parties this evening....... whew!

Broken

Broken refrigerator, Broken garage door, Broken dish network receiver, Broken truck, Broken gate (actually 2 broken gates), on the verge of being broken hot water heater, a rattling something in my car window that is most likely broken, and the list is growing..........

Truck repaired - check.
Refrigerator repaired - check.
Garage Door repaired - check.
Dish Receiver on it's way, hopefully check.  In the meantime, we are w/o television for 4 days.  Yes, probably a good thing, but you try it with 2 kids and let me know how that goes :)
Still have to make some phone calls on the gates...
Rattling car window will have to wait (although it's making it hard for me to hear Sam Bradley while driving :)

When did they quit making things that last?

Broken hearted little girl.  Missing her grandmother.  This will take longer to repair.  We are all feeling broken over this, especially with Thanksgiving/Christmas.

Broken portable DVD player.  Suffered a little boy's cowboy boot to the screen.  Road trip to Mississippi in the near future.  May result in broken parents' nerves.

Thankful for what is not broken right now.

Photos of our Fall

Thinking he's a big boy, driving a BIG tractor

Spidey, the Bearcat Cheerleader, and our sweet Doggie

Typical!

This one is blurry I know, but I love seeing her running with wild abandon!

Fall Ball season ended for us on Saturday - I'm proud of them both!

4 Years Old is Such a BiG BoY!

He approved of the "Buzzy" cake - and that's all that counts!

The boy has some lungs

Pretty much is expression all day long!

Love from his big sister

My little boy turned 4 years old the end of July - I'm a bit late posting pictures, but didn't want to let the occasion be missed.  He decided that he wanted a Buzz Lightyear cake, and me being Miss Crafty, figured I could do this - no problem.  Well - that cake was the hardest one I've ever tackled!  Ugh - my boy didn't care though.  He was just concerned that Buzz had two red buttons on his arms to shoot the bad guys - that was taken care of luckily.
He had a party with 20 of his little friends - not at my house (I'm not that crazy) - and then had fun with just family afterwards, opening up presents and eating more cake and ice cream.
All in all - a good day - a happy boy - a much loved boy, and one that isn't letting anyone forget that he is FOUR!

My Little Country Bumpkins

My sister made the pictures.....I made the kids - with a little help from their daddy (oh - and I made the boy's shorts too:).

Thanks to my sister for taking these photos of my little munchkins while we were in Indiana (I know, the pictures just keep coming and coming!  Oh - don't you worry.....there are still more to come :).  She's got a great little photography business going up there (Bellies to Babies)- check her out if you are in the Northern Indiana area.

My Indiana Home

As many of you know, I have just returned from my trip to Indiana.  Each year I like to take the kids up to visit their grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, and friends who are just as good as family!

This is a picture of the house I grew up in.  The picture hangs in my parents' dining room now - but it was taken in the late 1800's.  We believe that these are most likely the people who built the house.  It was built around 1890.

Here is a current picture - nothing too drastic has changed.  The front porch was expanded around 1940. Then my parents enclosed it in the late 60's.  They also added an additional room towards the back in the 1990's.  They have been in this house for over 43 years.  The land around the house used to be an orchard, and you can find a few fruit trees still scattered near by.  My favorites are the Montmorency Cheeries - they used to provided buckets and buckets of cherries, which I picked, pitted, and ate like crazy as a kid.  Now, the trees have seen better days, and the few cherries they produce are eaten up by the birds.  

It's a great old house - I've wished lots of times that the walls could talk.  I would have loved to have seen the interior as it was in the 1800's.  Now that I live in my much, much newer suburban home in a large sprawling metroplitan area in central Texas with every convenience close at hand - it takes a little getting used to, going home each summer.  The air conditioner, when needed (which isn't very often in Northern Indiana), doesn't begin to cool the upstairs.  The best produce is right outside the back door in my parent's garden- not down the freeway at Central Market.  If the kids want to run barefoot in the grass, they don't have to watch out for fire ants, snakes or scorpions!  Want to smell the country?  Just walk out to the barn and give "Bubba" the horse an apple to crunch and scratch his ears.  But it's best to wear your boots around the horse apples on the ground though.   

These are just a few more pictures I took around the house.  I'm sure I'll share more later - feels great to be back in Texas.....but there are some things I miss about my home in Indiana.

"Bubba"

"Yep - beans fresh from the garden - and they are delicious!"

Duct Tape, Crafts!

My daughter has recently discovered duct tape.  Not the ordinary, silver stuff, but the new and improved (for crafts that it) duct tape.  We purchased several rolls from Joann's and she was ready to roll.  She watched several instructional videos and made herself a bag, a belt, and several wallets.  It comes in loads of different colors too, and even some prints (camo, polka dot, floral, etc.)
These are the video's she watched from Monkey See
These pictures are also fun to look through.
And, here is the actual Duck Tape Brand website that will give you lots of ideas.
My son also loved playing around with it - although for a 3 (almost 4 year old) it was still a bit challenging.  My daughter is 7 (almost 8) and is able to make just about anything after watching the videos.

Do You Ever Do This?

The day starts out with my son climbing on top of my head, begging for breakfast.  Will I please, please make pancakes????  (the most common request of the morning)...so I drag myself out of bed.  It is the last day of school for my girl, so to celebrate the morning - I make pancakes.  Not ordinary pancakes - but blue berry pancakes with Smiley Faces!
So - they gobble down the pancakes - but leave the blue berries.
As I'm trying to gulp down some hot coffee, I get a kleenex to wipe the boy's nose, as I'm wiping his nose, I notice other used tissues on the sofa - so I pick them up and head to the trash can.  Then I realize I need to write a note to my daughter's teacher - go to get the paper to write the note and my son needs allergy medicine (hence all of the sneezing and used kleenex), take another gulp of coffee, notice dirty clothes on the floor and head to the laundry room, in the laundry room see a toy that needs put away, take the toy to the playroom and notice a screwdriver under a Barbie Jeep and make a mental note to get that later.  Head back to the kitchen to check on the progress my daughter is making in getting ready for school, take another gulp of coffee - woops, it's not hot anymore, so into the microwave it goes.  Ok - 30 seconds to do something while that is heating up - feed the gold fish - oops, forgot about that note for my daughter, but my son wants batteries in his little camera (I'm thinking good - do that and he'll be occupied for 5 minutes today) - I go to look for batteries and realize I need a screwdriver to open the camera.  I start looking all over the house for the screwdriver, because I just know he had it yesterday trying to "fix" a toy......hmmm.....where is that darn thing?  Now what did I do with my coffee???  Well, maybe I'll find it with the screwdriver.  Oh man.....Got to get that note for my daughter.  Check.  Hey - 10 minutes until we have to load up to head to school - last day, remember?
Probably better put something on my body besides these clothes I've been sleeping in.  (the thought does cross my mind "Can I get away with just leaving these clothes on?  They sort of look like "lounge wear"....then it hits me that I might be anonymously discussed on Facebook if I show up in a purple cami and bright green pajama pants to my daughter's school - whew!  that was a close one!)
Head to the closet to throw some clothes on.  I manage to get kids in the car.  Ask my daughter if she's got her note,  I've got my coffee up perched precariously on the dashboard, and off we go.
Drop off goes smoothly.....we're home....my son and I.  Aww....I think I can relax a bit.   Then I remember that I forgot to give the dog his medicine and supplements.  Do that and realize he needs water.  In the meantime, hubby mentions a getaway this summer....so my thoughts are drifting to cool summer nights in Colorado, perhaps??  Oh - son still needs batteries in that camera.  Ok - check.  Off he goes for his 5 minutes of fun.
My stomach is growling.  Pancakes?  Really?  OK. 
There's my Hot coffee.  Blueberry Pancakes (with extra blueberries) and..... a swim suit catalog.  Nice?  Huh?
Phone rings, oh I've got a head ache, "Mommy, will you play Candy Land with me?", start to make the bed, Oh - hubby asked me to do some laundry today, head back to the laundry room, remember I need to call another friend about a playdate today, "Mommy, will you play Chutes and Ladders with me?", .......make a mental note to check on cheerleading camp for the girl this summer.....wondering about sewing today, perhaps?......might fit some crocheting in - that's more portable.

Awwww - what a wonderful life!  I need to re-heat my coffee now and play Chutes and Ladders.  Holy cow... I need to shave my legs.

Mouse Introductions

My kids in the land of the mouse, for the first time!
Just look at the grins on these faces!

Can't go to Disney without indulging in the Chocolate Covered Mickey ice cream!

"Mommy, can I please have this???? Please???? Please????? Look into my eyes....you are getting drowsy......I said Please!" How could I resist? (this cool toy lasted about 15 minutes before the bubbles were all used up, purchased more bubbles, used those up in about 10 minutes, now we're home and the dangedy dang thing won't work at all!)

Aw - now that's a sweet boy!

Mommy and Daddy had to get in on the action too!

Guess where we've been??? I know, it's so much fun looking at someone else's vacation pictures, Ha! If you lived closer, I'd have you over for punch and cookies and we could look at them on the big TV screen ;)

It was a fun trip - kids had fun (most important factor!), spent some fun time with a dear uncle and much loved grandmother, a few minor hiccups, some change of plans, some really nasty real-life stuff that reared up, but the kiddies had fun - and for that I am grateful!

It's been 18 years since I've been to Disney World. The last time I stepped foot there I was employed by the Mouse. It was such a fun experience, with loads of memories, as you can imagine. So, this trip was sort of like a home coming for me. I worked in the Magic Kingdom, in a little store called the Mad Hatter. It's been transformed a bit and is now called Fantasy Faire - doesn't look much like I remember. I've realized that it's a totally different experience seeing Disney as a parent, compared to a carefree 20-something. I had a few "Ahhh" moments, but it was mostly the "Ahhh" experiences for my kids this time around that I enjoyed most.

This is the Guide Book we used while in the park - I'd highly suggest it if you are looking!