Staples

Just a short post to show off some cute pictures from today :)

As every mother knows, it's impossible to take 2 children out to lunch at a decent restaurant by yourself unless you want the waitress to strangle you by the time you leave and you are willing to deal with people talking in mutters all around you while coyly staring at your screaming children. So today, we wrangled my parents into lunch with us. There is a great little bar and grill in Dallas that I love going to, and I was craving some Washington Street today. We ran to Falls City, then headed to Dallas. I called Dad and asked him to come to lunch with us (my treat!!) and we ran into Wal-Mart. I had intended to call Mom once i got into the store, but apparently dropped the phone in the car before I ran in. We made it to Washington Street just in time to meet them, and hurried in. The girls ordered Mac and Cheese and Loralai clearly said she wanted "fries". She's been talking up a storm lately and at least ten new words fly out of her mouth every day. Well, she finished first cause she hardly ever eats anything and she started getting a little fussy about wanting to go. The super nice waitress brought her a sucker and a balloon. Let me tell ya folks, when in need of a diversion balloons and tootsie pops makme quite the pair.Lora and Nana played bounce the balloon while I finished my lunch. We piled back up in the van and headed for home. Got some good pictures on the side of the road between here and there too :)

They played pass the balloon the whole way home, alternating between tossing the two back and forth. Love the one of Nina hanging on to the balloon. And I have to say that Lora looked awful cute in her zebra print hairclips, little tights, and "dancing shoes" as Mei calls them.


I'm off to bed. Night world!

One small step for man.....

So, Super Mom finally got things right. We left the house early on Tuesday to grab tickets for Harry Potter: The Deathly Hallows and managed to get Joel and Kira to the movies. Now I'm not saying it wasn't a great movie, and it wasn't as scary as i thought it would be, but i will say that 10 year old boys have the SMALLEST bladders. I swear he had to pee every 10 minutes. Overall, the night was a huge success. We had popcorn, and soda, and drove home singing songs. It was awesome.

This week is quickly coming to an end. It's Friday already. Ugh. Where did my Spring Break go??? We've got a lot done around the house though. The carpet cleaners came today so we finally have nice clean floors, I'm fnishing up a small renovation in the front yard (putting in a new walkway), and I'm almost caught up with the never ending laundry. kira had some friends stay the night last night, and we decided hot chocolate was in order. We're talking Hershey's cocoa cooked on the stove kind of hot chocolate, none of that packet and water stuff. Top it off with some whipped cream, chocolate chips, and sprinkles, and call it good.

I think it was a big hit! It was sooooo good!

We also decided to get up to some shenanigans On Wednesday. We loaded up in the Subaru and headed out to have lunch with my parents. It was a nice day. Sunshine and that delicious smell of spring in the air. Loralai has never ridden in a car with the window down, and Kira hasn't done it in a very long time so we rolled down the windows and stuck our hands out into the breeze.

It was great. The girls were laughing and giggling and smiling up a storm. Even little Sera got into the action, she was trying so hard to stick her little fingers out the window over Loralai's carseat, but her little arms were just too darn short.She'll get to feel the breeze through her fingers soon enough though. There are just some things that you can't miss out on when you're a kid.

We got a box in the mail from the great-grandparents today too. Needless to say there was quit a bit of excitement when someone opened a package that contained not only a barbie movie, but also a Barbie pony. I think I should've put in earplugs before letting her open it.

I also decided that we need to get out in the world more. Today I bought memberships to the Oregon Zoo and the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Let me tell ya, it was hard to part with all that hard-earned money. I'm not big on materialism (unless it's a Coach purse....) but I have a hard time parting with money when it's not doing something constructive like paying a bill or buying something for the house. I thought about it for a few days before taking the plunge and getting the memberships, but it seems like something we need to do. I always put stuff like that off and then we can't go when we want to because we can't afford to. Well, now we don't have that excuse. If I want to pack the girls up and make some memories, we can. I think we might do that next weekend. I know I have tons of memories from my childhood that I adore. I know the ones that I've made with Kira have certainly been worth the while. Even if the adventures weren't as great as she remembers them, who cares? She has a memory like an elephant, she never forgets. She constantly says things like, "Mom? You remember that one time we went to the beach and i rode a pony? We should do it again. That was fun." and I'm thinking about the time when we went on a weekend and stopped at the little pony place just to get out of traffic since we'd been sitting in it for 3 hours. She cried for an hour before even wanting to ride the darn pony and she cried for the first 20 minutes of the pony ride. Then on the way home she threw up all over the back seat. I'm not sure that our childhood memories are ever as awesome as we seem to remember them, but regardless of how they really were, they are memories. I'm sure that none of my Christmas's were as great as i remember them being, but the point is I remember them, fondly.

I want my girls to have those kind of memories. Even if it means cleaning 3 piles of puke up out of the back seats of a car. The point is, you only have so many opportunities to make memories, and I don't want them to ever feel like I didn't try because of something as trivial as money.

So those are my big revelations of the week folks. Now it's time to go outside and play in some dirt!

Houston, we have a problem

Ugh. One of these days Supermom is gonna get it right. We got the bright idea yesterday to hit a movie with Kira and my nephew Joel. We knew the new Harry Potter was a little dark, so we didn't really want to spend a fortune taking two kids to see a movie that we were gonna have to leave halfway through, so we waited for it to hit our favorite little spot before taking them.

We have this awesome little theater in Salem that we love to go to for our date nights called Northern Lights. Movies after six are open to adults over 21 only, so you can enjoy an ice cold beer and dinner with your movie. Not to mention the fact that it's waaayyy cheaper than dragging yourself and your wallet to the normal theater to drop $50 on a movie that you may or may not enjoy. Best of all, movies before 5 are matinee movies, which makes admission a whopping 3 bucks. You heard it folks, three bucks for a movie on the big screen. Perfect! Anyhow, we checked show times, scheduled for someone to hang out with the babies, and loaded Joel and Kira up in the car. We start getting into the theater mode, the kids are excited, it's a perfect day. We walk up to the counter and the ticket guy gives me the look. You know. The look that says "the movie is sold out, but I don't want to disappoint you because you dragged the kids along." We broke the news gently and I got this look from Kira:

OK, minus the hat, but the picture was too perfect to pass up and I've been DYING for a good opportuinity to post it, but i swear the face was the same. Now, Kira and I have movies dates pretty frequently. It's a good excuse for Mommy/Kira dates and she loves them. She looks forward to them with a passion few can rival. The ticket guy is trying to be helpful and he says they have showings of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Tangled starting soon. Joel gets all excited and starts talking about how he hasn't seen the new Narnia yet, and Kira still has this look on her face. Unfortunately for Joel, one of our last date nights was to Narnia and neither Kira or I really want to see it again. Eventually we opt to take the boys home and call it a date night with the girls. Of course we buy tickets for Tangled before we leave.

So we drive home, listening to Joel talk about Narnia the entire 20 minute drive, drop the boys off and head back into Salem to hit the theater. I think the night was definitely a hit. Kira and I giggled over popcorn, ate pizza, and belted out Taylor Swift songs on the way home. I think she's certainly getting her Mommy fix this week, which is exactly what i wanted this week.

Tomorrow I will run into town early and get tickets so that we can try today's adventure all over again. That's the beauty of the Northern Lights folks. It's so affordable, we can do it two days in a row! Now it's off to cleaning the house after a day neglecting the dishes.

For those of you out there who don't have access to my networking sites, here are some newer pictures of the munchkins to keep you happy :)

Loralai's Pillow Pet bed, there's a lot of fluffiness in there folks!

 The joys of Costco toilet paper....
 

Try saying no to those blue eyes. It's not an easy thing.

This. This is simply for my personal Mommy stash that will be showed to potential suitors when she gets older. It's such a good angle don't ya think? Really shows off that big mouth of hers.




Well, time to hit that kitchen I keep talking about. Good night world. Hopefully tomorrows adventures will come with an afternoon at the theater!

Silence

There has been an awful lot of coughing around our house this week, and we've all had our fair share of "cough until it hurts so bad you wanna cry" moments. It seems like the only one who has managed to escape this horrible epidemic is Kris, I swear his immune system to colds is impenetrable. Overall it's been busy. We managed to runaway to the small meat and produce market at the beginning of the week and stock up on some amazing fruits and veggies, as well as a good amount of fresh meat (we're talking wrapped in white paper and hand-stamped with ink kinda packages, the best there is!). We also had a impromptu mini-birthday party for an adorable little girl, just my girls, and her 3 sisters. I had the urge to make a cake earlier in the day, so it worked out well. She got massive amounts of chocolate cake and I got some practice for Mom and Dad's renewal in May.

                                           HAPPY THIRD BIRTHDAY CHENOA!!!!!

We started making tutu's this week too. Easiest sewing project I've ever done. A few yards of elastic and a few yards of tulle and you're good to go. The girls love them, especially as head bands hahaha.

Kira is off this week for Spring Break and i think we'll spend the week doing fun crafty stuff and mixing doughs and batter until we can't bake anymore! She needs some mommy time and there is something so awesome about baking with beautiful six year old girls. The giggles and that first smile as she bites into a warm chocolate chip cookie. The silent glances across the bowl as the mixer whirs, because it's too loud to talk. Silence. Silence is a beautiful thing. And while we are on the subject of silence, it just something a mother can't get enough of. A few other things a mother can't get enough of?


The way the house settles at night when I'm laying in bed listening to the breaths coming through the other end of the  baby monitors.

Sera's sweet little snoring and the way that Loralai wakes up halfway through the night and talks to herself for half an hour before she goes back to sleep.

The other day i was laying down on the couch and Loralai walked up, pulled a blanket over me, kissed my forehead and said "Momma, night night".

Frogs and crickets on the early spring breeze. So soft, yet so loud and soothing.

I know many of you remember the days when your little ones were growing, and I know a certain mommy who always tells me to enjoy every moment, because before you know it the days of little girls fade to prom dresses and tears over stupid boys that love to break hearts. I can wait for the days when tears fall over boys and dates, for now I'm more than content with tears over broken toys and time outs. There are days when I can't wait for them to grow up, but for now I am content.

I'll try to post more frequently so I don't have to do so much typing next time.Right now though I promised a little girl some good old fashioned cookie making, and I sure am looking forward to that silent smile over the cookie bowl because the mixer is too darn loud.

Hello World

It's been a long few days. Loralai made soup in a pot on the counter (water and my entire spice cabinet) while I showered yesterday, Kira is finally starting to read with me, and Sera is kicking back enjoying the scene. Spring break is on it's way, and we are oh so ready for some Spring around here. I'm not talking 50 degrees and slighlty overcast. I'm talking 70 degrees, shorts, and flip flops kinda Spring. It seems like this winter has just sucked all the Vitamin D out of my bones, and my poor deprived bones are SCREAMING for some warm sunshine on my face.

It would appear that somewhere, someone is tired of listening to my whiny bones, because this afternoon was glorious. Sunshine, light breeze, and minimal cloud cover. We managed to get outside for about an hour before it became too chilly to stay out. Nina was napping so we grabbed the baby monitor and sidewalk chalk and hit the streets!

They had plenty of fun chucking pinecones and rocks into the sewer
grate.























And the other three had a blast with the chalk. We traced bodies, drew more flowers than I can count, and drew our dream houses.

 I'll let you guess who drew this one. Here's a hint: She's in love with flowers, hearts, and diamonds :)


And just what does she think of her mom?

Yep. That's me. Supper Mom to the rescue! And she just happens to look like a deformed cyclops. Ha ha ha.

And if you look close enough, you can see that Spring is in fact on it's way. Slowly, but it's trying awful hard. Little buds on branches, the grass is growing a little faster, and my daffodils and tulips are peeking out of their winter slumber.

Spring is still at least a month away, Tsunamis warnings were in effect on the beach today, and thousands of people are in Japan right now looking for lost loved ones. My heart goes out to them, and I spent a good deal of time this morning with them in my prayers. For now though, we live our lives and enjoy our little world. It's all we have and we make the best of it. The sunshine today was amazing, and the giggles certainly did a lot for rejuvenating our spirits. Here's to another day of sunshine again soon!

Less than perfect

Today has been enlightening, to say the least. Made snickerdoodle blondies last night for Kris's birthday (he thoroughly enjoyed them) I curled up in bed next to Kira and called it a night. Loralai has been known to get into a mass amount of mischief in the middle of the night, so we've childproofed her door handle so she stays in her room until I get her out of her room in the morning. It sounds cruel, but I'm worried one of these days I'm going to wake up to police standing on my front porch with a half clothed two year old. She is quiet as a mouse (no pun intended here) and as mischievous as an elf.

I wake up this morning to the pleasant but overwhelming smell garlic. I went to bed to the sweet smell of cinnamon and sugar. Something was very wrong here. I stumble blurry eyed into the kitchen to find.....




































parmesan cheese, garlic bread seasoning, and garlic chip dip snickerdoodle blondies. Sneaky monkey ....

Well, we got it all cleaned up and aired the house out for most of the day (it was a LOT of garlic smell) and set to figuring out how she managed to get out of her room. It didn't take us long to figure out that we need a new device, she simply snapped the old doorknob handle cover in two and went on her way to her morning adventures.

Enlightening moment #1: Your two year old is smarter than you think she is

On to the rest of the day, we did some laundry and ran some errands. I finally decided around 6 that grocery shopping could not in fact wait another day. Loralai and I bundled up and headed out the door to Costco. I had planned on hitting someplace on the way into town to grab a bite for the two of us, and drove past Popeyes. I've only had Popeyes a few time, but love the butterfly shrimp so we pulled in and stared at the menu for like ten minutes before I finally found the kids menu. Loralai had chicken nuggets and I decided to go ahead and let her have a Sprite (she rarely gets soda). We hopped back in the car with food in tow and headed to Costco. I've never seen her so attentive. She was so in love with her drink, she was literally kissing the cup and refused to put it down.

And the food? Her appetite is usually so/so, I don't think I heard a peep out of her the entire 20 minutes we were driving.

On the way back I glanced in the rearview mirror and noticed two little eyes that were slowly but surely getting that hazy look that forces so many smiles from my mouth. Little Lora was getting tired. As I returned my eyes to the road I turned the radio on. The first thing I heard signified everything I feel about the three little angels I see every day.

Pretty pretty please don’t you ever ever feel
Like you’re less than
less than perfect.
Pretty pretty please if you ever ever feel
Like you’re nothing
you are perfect to me.
You’re perfect.
You’re perfect to me.
Pretty, pretty please if you ever ever feel
like you’re less than, less than perfect
Pretty, pretty please if you ever ever feel
like you’re nothing
you are perfect to me.

We've all made our fair share of mistakes, Lord knows I've made plenty of them myself. Perfection, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder and I couldn't ask for anything more perfect than my girls. I've held perfection in my hands more times than I can count and it's a beautiful thing.

If I teach them little about etiquette or manners in my life, I'm fine with that. All I truly ask in  the long run is that when they look in the mirror they can say, "Wow. I am an amazing woman and I am worth every ounce of affection and time that someone gives me." I hope they never think they're too fat or too ugly to be worth someones time, and they will never be taught that they aren't good enough for something. All of them are worthy of everything they could ever want, and if it doesn't want them, then too bad. Anyone or anything that chooses to pass them by has no idea what they are missing out on. Self-worth folks. I plan on the girls having plenty of that. Time to put away groceries. Night world ;)

Of Mice and Men...

Look at me! A professional blogger already! Woohoo!

Well, now that the excitement of the successful blogging is over on to the real subject of today. Mice. Little field mice with their cute little ears that stick out ridiculously far. Cute little field mice that frolick though fields in search of a store for their long winter. Sweet little mice that live in my kitchen. Wait. In my kitchen??? Yep, in my kitchen. *shudder*

The other day when we were removing the carpet from our bedroom we saw a little guy go scurrying across the floor. We tried in vain to capture the critter and place him outside, but he avoided our attempts and scurried away chuckling. Last night as  I sat here working on yet another essay i hear a slight rustling under my sink. I open the cupboard and find two little critters happily feasting on our leftover dinner.

I stifled a shriek and managed to grab the top of the bag an drip it out of the garbage can as fast as I could, effectively trapping the vermin in the garbage bag. Step 2? Call the husband. He wanted to keep the critters to feed to the snakes so I gently place the tied bag in a large Tupperware container and try to remove the critters from the bag by pulling the bag out through the little hole in the Tupperware lid. Epic fail. Amidst what I assume was a hilarious display of me dancing around on the porch avoiding a tiny thing that is no bigger than the palm of my hand, the larger of the two manages to scurry away. Luckily i managed to contain the little tiny one until Kris got home. Unfortunately we were not so effective at getting the little guy in the snake cage and yet again he ran away laughing.

Kris set up this wonderful little contraption under the sink that is apparently doing it's job.
 


















And apparently we have a much bigger problem than I realized. Amid BBQ birthday dinner for him this evening, i opened up the kitchen cupboard to find not one but two of the little critters staring at me from the bottom of the bucket. Long story short, the snake is very full, we've saved some money, and the mice are gone. We decided to leave the bucket down there for good measure. Low and behold I open the cupboard about an hour ago to find.....

another mouse. Guess we're calling the landlord tomorrow to see what they want to do about the problem. For now this little guy is tuck in a bucket. Don't want to put him back outside, he'll just come back in. Can't feed him to the snakes, they're full. Wonder how many more there will be tomorrow morning. Despereaux is not as adorable in real life as he was in the movie.....

Meanwhile, Kris is entertaining good company in the  man cave for his birthday (Happy 28th!). All the girls are sleeping ever so quietly in their beds (or mine). Algebra is calling my name and as much as i would like to ignore it I must answer to it's beckoning call. Good night dear world, and I hope you sleep better than the mouse stuck in a bucket under my kitchen sink.

Loving the little things ...

Well, here goes nothing. My first attempt at communication aside from social networking. I've never blogged before and, honestly, it took me forever just to get this thing set up. I've contemplated starting one for quite some time, but it's always seemed like just another thing for me to keep up on. I finally decided that I needed to make the time. I have quite a few family members who don't follow social sites and I feel like they are missing out on valuable (well valuable to me anyhow ha ha) time with the kiddos. There are so many pictures that aren't sent. So many stories that aren't shared because I'm horrible about calling people. Life steps and stages that aren't laughed over since I do good to get the bills in the mail a week after they are due. I've never been the greatest at keeping in touch, but after a call from Kris's grandmother a few weeks back, I realized just how important it is to keep these people in the life of my family.

I have grown a lot in the last few years, in leaps and bounds that even I never would have anticipated. Last week I was talking with a girl from high school that I haven't seen in a few years and it slapped me in the face: I have my 10 year renunion in a little over a year. I thought there was so much more time than that, but life has passed so fast. With jobs, and munchkins, and marriage 10 years has flown by. Kris and I celebrated 5 years this last August, Mei is in first grade, and I'm rocking a minivan (something I SWORE I would never do). It would appear that the last ten year have been stealthily sneaking up on my tush while I've been changing diapers and writing essays.

However, in hindsight it is good to know that there is so little that I would truly change once I look at it all. Pretty much everything we have done has strengthened us individually or maritally. We have had our ups and downs (anyone who says their relationship is perfect is either lying, delusional, or heavily medicated) but we have struggled through the worst and come to terms with how it has shaped us. We are stronger, smarter, and love more fiercely than we have in the past. Many have asked us in times of trial why we continue on. The answer is simple: why stop? We have come so far, what is the point of traveling backwards or even worse abandoning the journey? That would only prove to make us weaker and it would leave me sleeping in a bed all alone. I hate sleeping alone. Blech. Every trial and tribulation we face bring us that much closer to each other, it shapes who we are becoming, and we appreciate every grueling successful step that much more.

That said, here is some good stuff about munchkins!

Kira is doing well in school. First grade is going fantastic. She still struggles in areas, but overall she is succeeding. She is right on with most of her classmates. She is still the barbie fiend she always has been, at last count her barbie collection was somewhere in the high 30's. She is madly in love with shiny things, if I didn't know better I'd swear she was part crow or raccoon. I kid you not, the child can spot a single piece of confetti from 2 miles away (OK, maybe a little kidding, but it's pretty impressive!)

Loralai is ever the wild child. She cannot be left alone for even 5 seconds without tearing the entire house apart. Went to the bathroom this morning and came out to half a gallon of milk, a 2 lb block of cheese, and a few other assorted things on my kitchen floor. And the fridge was locked ... go figure. I wanted a little boy so bad, and it would appear that I have a boy in every aspect aside from gender. She is mischievous, hyper, and so adorable she makes my heart ache.







Seraphina. My little Nina. Big cheeks, small mouth, and a voice you'd have to hear to believe. You would never guess such a loud noise could come out of such a tiny little mouth. She is learning much quicker than I remember either of the other two catching onto things. She is already climbing chairs and starting to talk. She is going to be blowing full sentences right around the time Loralai starts if they keep going at this rate. I worry for her though and often find myself doting on her simply because she is the youngest and I worry that she will be left out. But something tells me that her tiny lips will let me know if she needs anything :)

I have no doubt that this little family of ours will fair well in the long run. We are all strong in our own way, and we each bring something important to our crazy little world. The days are sometimes longer than I would like them to be, and the nights are always shorter, but every second is so worth the hours of sleep deprivation, the mountains of laundry, and all the diapers. It's the little things that matter the most.