Moving!

For the last 6 months, we have been signing leases in 2 month increments.  We were so excited to finally put in our 60 days' notice in October!  Well, turns out that will only end up being a 30 days' notice since we are moving one week from today!

My friend Kim came over on Monday and helped me all day while our boys played and Ruthie tried to climb me.  She rocks!  We got all the pictures and books boxed up and we went through the kids' room and packed for short-term and long-term.

Yesterday, I packed away the coat closet and linen closet.  I also cleaned the living room and vaccuumed so that we manage to keep some semblance of civility.

Today, my visiting teachers came over for a visit... and while they were here, they were like "well, why don't we just help you now?"  So they were seriously awesome, too and we packed up the toys and some kitchen appliances, bakeware, etc.

So the big stuff left is our bedroom and the kitchen.  Other than that, it's just odds and ends, which seem to always take more time than I anticipate.

In the middle of all of this, I managed to do over $6k worth of damage to my car in the McDonald's drive-thru.  Yup, the drive-thru.  The trash can was between the speaker where I ordered and the window to pay.  It was at a weird angle and I couldn't reach, so I gave it some gas.  Well, when I went to push the break, I jammed on the gas again.  I took my car right into the big yellow pole.  It doesn't look that bad in this picture, but I damaged the front panel, door, wheel, tire, running board, steel frame and something behind it.  So they had to take out the entire dash and windshield to fix the frame.  This "probably about one week" estimate has turned into three weeks.  I am driving an Impala, which I hate.  But, thank goodness for good insurance.  The good people of AAA insurance have made this easy on us (for now, I hate to see what it's going to do to my premium)!

Other than that, we're just busy busy trying to get our stuff together.  When did we accumulate so much stuff?? I am never moving again. (I wish)

Annoying.

Actually, annoying is an understatement.  File this under super-annoying (and also super-lazy).

Let me explain what you are looking at.  This is our TV remote.  See the green button?  That's "mute" and directly across to the left, there is supposed to be a little red button.  That one is supposed to be "power."  

Well, there is no little red button anymore.  So I am going to have to stand up to turn the TV on or off from now on.  I might just be done watching TV forever.

Also, I cannot find that little red piece of rubber anywhere... so my guess is that in a day or so I will find a little red speck in Ruthie's poo.

UPDATE:  I remembered that pushing a bunch of buttons on the remote turns on the TV for some reason.  I discovered this when George was a baby and I thought he was a genius and knew how to turn on the TV.  Also, duh, the TV has a sleep timer.  Crisis averted.  I still watch way too much TV for my own good.

Halloween!

We were sick and had to skip the ward party, so we looked for other fun Halloween things to do instead.  We found a fun pumpkin patch near our house one night and carved a pumpkin the next!  Since Steve had to work on Halloween, I called my good friend Kim and crashed her trick-or-treating!  Since our boys are one week apart and BFFs, it was a lot of fun!  I don't have a ton of pictures, but here they are (and they are all out of order):

This picture needs the caption: "I want my Daddy.  I won't be mean to my Daddy, Mom.  I will be happy."  That is what he told me when he woke up from his nap.

Tummy Bugs

The night before last, Steve made an egg salad sandwich when he got home.  I was semi-asleep on the couch, and the smell was making me sick.  Yes, I could smell it from the kitchen.  My immediate reaction was, "Oh my gosh. I better not be pregnant."  An hour and a half later, I woke up and ran to the bathroom, sick.  This happened two more times over night.  Definitely not pregnancy tummy... it felt more like a bug.

The whole day yesterday, my poor children watched tv.  Seriously, all day.  I made sure the room was baby-proof, put up the gate, and slept on the couch.  It was all I could do to feed them.  In fact, I was so nauseous feeding Ruthie her fruit that I had to stop.  I was queasy and light-headed all day.  It was a bad day.  I put Ruthie to sleep and went to lay with George (the way he likes to fall asleep now.. it takes about 20-30 minutes of laying there before he falls asleep... and it beats the heck out of yelling at him to stay in bed for 2 hours).  I slept on his floor for 2 1/2 hours!

The best quotes of the day go to George with these gems:

"Just close your eyes, Mommy. Go to sleep." (Silly me... 10 minutes later, I woke up to marker all over his face, hands and feet...)

"Here, Mommy.  Take a sip of my milk.  Your sick will go away."

I woke up when Steve got home and my stomach felt totally normal... I just had a pounding headache from not being able to eat or drink all day (I tried, I really did).  My sweet husband brought me home soup and it was delicious. I woke up feeling great today!  Also, I lost 5 lbs.  Don't worry, I put 2 back on after breakfast.

Today was going well... and then I was on the phone with my mom & sister and heard it.  George threw up.  All over Ruthie and a little bit on the carpet.  I bathed them and put towels down.  He moved off of the towels and threw up again.  Finally, the 3rd time, I got it in the bowl.  At what age do kids understand the purpose of towels and a barf bucket??  We're just going to watch movies until he falls asleep.  He may sleep with me tonight so that I can limit the vomit mess.  Oh, boy!

The good news is that George & Ruthie swap sippy cups and binkies regularly... so I bet we'll see one more installment of this before we're done. 

I Love Pizza!

I don't know why it took Pinterest to give me this idea.  I also don't remember what website it was on, so I can't give credit.

Want a lazy, easy, delicious dinner?

1. Grab an unsliced loaf of French bread.
2. Slice it long-ways (making 2 long slices)
3. Put sauce, cheese and toppings of choice
4. Bake at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes.
5. Eat.

Last time, I used the "Artisan French Loaf" from Target and this time I used a soft French loaf.  Both were delicious, but I preferred the fancy "Artisan" loaf.

Serve with salad or just broccoli (if you're feeling extra lazy, like I was)!

Kids love it, adults love it, and it takes about 15 minutes total.

Thoughts on Babysitting

First, read this article.

If you don't want to read it, let me summarize it for you:  she is going to pay your child next to nothing to babysit her bratty children while she enjoys a night away.

I have some thoughts on this.  Mostly, I am outraged that her argument says "babysitting is not real work, so I am not going to pay real money."  That is her justification.

I did most of my babysitting as a college-aged adult.  I kind of fell into it, actually.  I was home for Christmas break and someone called my 16 year old sister to babysit, but she had a terrible cold.  My mom offered my help to a family I never met and that's how I became the babysitter in my parents' ward (on holiday breaks and summer).  I provided my own transportation, made dinner, and returned the house to roughly the same shape it was in when the parents left.  I put the kids to bed at a reasonable hour (most of the time).  Most importantly, I made sure the child was safe and alive so that the parents had a nice night out.  

If a family paid me too little, I stopped babysitting for them.  Once I actually said, "I've had to raise my rates to $X/hour.  Is that ok with you?" to a woman who consistently paid me next to nothing.  The funny thing is that the worse the kids, the less the mom wants to pay!  There is a direct correlation!  I have even had parents say "Ok, turn the tv off and go play.  You have watched enough tv today!" as I have gotten there!

Steve and I just discussed this the other night.  I don't even remember how it came up.  Maybe because we can't afford a babysitter right now... so we try to swap with other people when possible.

Anyway, we decided that our children will be ripped off by a family exactly once and then never babysit for that family ever again.  I am even conflicted about having her charge for families to go to the temple.  On one hand, you want to provide service to people going to the temple.  On the other hand, the girls who do that will be taken advantage of.  How sad is it that in our LDS culture, I am worried about my daughter's service being taken advantage of?? 

For example, there is a wonderful young woman in our ward whose parents do not let her charge very much.  In fact, I have even heard that her dad has made her give money back on occasion.  They are a great loving and giving family who are providing a service to our ward, so I don't fault them.  You know how I know all this information??  It's not because I ever called her.  It's because she has been recommended to us as a way to get a babysitter we otherwise wouldn't be able to afford.  We are friends with people who think this is great because they know where to get a cheap, responsible babysitter!!  That's right... she has become the babysitter of choice for people who don't want to pay a fair price.  How sad is that?? 

So, I promise right here and now to always pay the babysitter a fair price.

And when the day comes, my daughter(s) and I will sit down and decide on a rate that is both fair and affordable.  We will then say "I charge $X/hour."  And if that is not ok with someone, they are free to try to find someone else.  

But keep in mind, friends, word of how your kids act and how much you pay travels fast.  You may price yourself out of being able to find a babysitter.

State Fair of Texas

ME:  Can I sleep here?  (pretending to be asleep on George's back)

G:  Mommy!  No!  I am not a pillow!

We went to the State Fair of Texas.  Hopefully this will be our last fair-season here.  Fair grounds seem to be in terrible neighborhoods... have you noticed?  Like, there was a sign up that said "Entire Block for Sale" just a few blocks away.  And I saw someone get arrested in the middle of the street.  I thought she was naked, but Steve told me she was wearing flesh-colored-leggings.  I still swear I saw a hiney.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun and the kids were so good!  They didn't get any sleep and didn't eat much, but they were both SO well behaved.  Maybe that is the secret?  I kid, I kid!  It was nice and overcast for the first few hours and rained for a little at the end.  The temperature really dropped by the time we left!  I didn't eat anything fried.  I felt a little sick from chugging a Dr Pepper so that we could get in for $5 (if you brought a can, you got a discount).  Our favorite parts were the Dallas Library's Mother Goose Story Time, petting zoo, and car show.  I entered to win a car at the Toyota exhibit.  I also entered to win a $45k credit at the Chrysler exhibit.  Steve made fun of me... but I am determined to win a mini-van!  You can't win if you don't enter, right??  So far this year I have won two giveaways... it's my lucky year!  I got this!  We also got some awesome toffee!  Mmmm.  And we learned about bees... which interested Steve more than it should have and quite frankly, that makes me nervous.  I am not interested in keeping bees.  

My least favorite part was walking around with wet shoes.... or the fact that I forgot to change Ruthie's diaper and she peed all over us while she was in the Ergobaby all day.  She was just so content that I didn't even think about it.  Poor second child.  When I put her in the car seat, I looked down and saw my shirt was soaking wet.  I smelled it and it was definitely not rain water.  Another least favorite part was that G wanted to win a minion and the lady told us it would take a total of 4 games.  That's $20!!  No way!  So we dealt with a grumpy child all down the midway.

Here are some pictures from our fun day!

George & Mother Goose.  She had to scoot toward him for this shot!

George & the baby giraffe! ("ga-raf" as G says)

As close as G got to feeding the animals.

He was afraid of the camel, so he stood behind Steve and peeked his head out!

Two baby goats play-fighting.  This was just too stinking cute!

(Note:  It's not as cute when my baby humans do this)

Feeding a baby camel.  Slightly less intimidating.

Riding a kiddie-tractor

He liked this more than he should have for a city boy!

He talked about seeing an alligator all day and was totally excited when we found this statue.  Weirdo.

He loved sitting in the cars and I am sure the employees cringed every time my soaking-wet toddler climbed all over the seats with his wet shoes on.

Oh yeah, Steve & G did the "Doomsday Preppers" obstacle course.  As I watched, I feared that should we actually face "Doomsday," we're going to have to leave G behind.  Poor kid.  We all got our picture taken together (on a green screen, which is why G looks so weird.  His shirt & bink were green... Ruthie too, actually).  They also each got a draw-string backpack with a bunch of temp tattoos (all soaking wet) and 2 can coozies each!  I was beyond excited for the swag.  Coozies keep my DC extra cold.  Since my one always ends up in the car, I am excited to now have five at my disposal.

A Toddler Never Forgets

Yesterday, George wanted a toy from Costco.  I told him that he could ask Santa for it and he said, "Santa was at Michael's birthday?  At his house?  We saw Santa."  That's right... at his friend Mikey's birthday party, we went over to their community club house and got pictures with Santa.  That was TEN MONTHS ago!  How does he remember that?? He regularly tells me stories from months ago with details like they happened yesterday. Hmm... but somehow he can't remember not to hit/push/kick his sister...

And don't even think about promising him something just to get him to stop asking.  When George woke up from a 3 hour nap today, the first thing he asked for was chocolate and milk.  Before he went to sleep, I told him he could have chocolate chips and milk after his nap.

Speaking of his nap today... he would not stay in his bed.  After about 1/2 hour of fighting with him (he was obviously exhausted), I put him in the crib and said "if you can't stay in your big boy bed, you have to sleep in the crib."  He stood up twice but never tried to climb out.  Then something magical happened... he fell asleep!  This may be the solution to him getting out of bed five million times in the middle of the night.  (Last night at 3 am, I found him playing with the play kitchen...?!)  

While Ruthie took a nap earlier in the day, I painted my toe nails and then decided to paint my fingers, too.  Joke's on me because Ruthie started crying as soon as I was done.  While I was hoping she would fall back asleep, I started doing some things around the apartment.  I looked over to George painting his nails!! Like full-on, all of his fingers and toes were painted to match mine!  I have pictures, but it's not letting me post them right now, so I will post them later.

It's karma really after a conversation I had last week where I said, "WHY could he even get to that?? And WHY was he left alone long enough to do that much damage??"  Yes, I was judging, so I guess I had this coming to me.  But seriously, if all this could happen while I was IN the room, imagine what could have happened if he was alone for a decent amount of time.  I stand by my judgy-ness.  Also, he mainly got it on his hands and feet.  There is a small spot in his jeans (which we are just waiting for the replacement in the mail because they have multiple holes in the knee) and on the couch.  I got as much of the paint off his nails as I could without ruining my freshly painted nails and the rest will just have to wait for Daddy.

Love This Day.

It's October 3rd.

Midnight Wisdom

George has been waking up multiple times in the middle of the night lately.  I'm sure you can imagine how annoying this is.  A few nights ago, he wanted to carry on a full conversation sometime around 4:30 am.  One early morning, he crawled in bed with us and kept touching my face.  Last night, I was starving at 12:30 am, so I got myself a bowl of cereal.  We were in the living room when George walked out.

G:  Whatcha eatin', Mommy?

ME:  (offering him a bite)  Want some?

G:  (thinks for a second) Babies eat Cheerios, Mommy!

As if even the suggestion that he eat Cheerios was beneath him.  We had a good laugh and then sent him back to bed.