Monday, April 29, 2013

Broken Toe

You wanna know what slows packing down?  A toddler breaking her toe.  Poor little Tyler was out in the backyard while we were taking a break from packing, she was carrying around a large rock and I heard Joe say "be careful Tyler that's heavy" and then a lot of expletives as he picked her because she had just dropped it on her big toe.  We debated on taking her into the ER and decided that they wouldn't do much other than scare her so we skipped it and she has developed quite the little limp to get by.  Every now and then she still hits it or her big sister runs over it with her big wheels (that actually happened yesterday, which I can't imagine how bad that would have hurt).  So packing was slow and snuggles were plentiful since she was just so darn sad at first.

So here's the toe right after it happened.  Doesn't look like much but she wouldn't walk on it.

 By the next day you can see the bruise really setting in.
 And here it is this morning, poor little thing.

And just in case you wanted to be jealous...here's our living room?!?!?

And our garage...jealous yet?  Looks like fun huh?



Monday, April 22, 2013

And...

Oh yes and look who woke up and just had to put back on the Princess dresses.

Disney on Ice

We went back to Disney on Ice and this time was much successful.  The girls didn't cry at all.  Yay!  And we got to go with Sunni, Carri and Kinsley so that was super fun.


Tyler was obsessed with Mickey Mouse, which is funny to me because I don't think she has ever seen any type of "Mickey Mouse Movie".

Here we are waiting for the girls to show up to go inside.


There they are - Kinsley is obviously excited.  Austin seemed stunned and Tyler wins "best non-princess facial expression".

Thursday, April 18, 2013

White People Problems

The comedian Louis CK said the following quote in one of his stand-ups and let's face it...I've got a whole lot of "White People Problems".

We have white people problems in America. That's what we have, white people problems. You know what that is? That's where your life is amazing, do you just make shit up to be upset about. People in other countries have real problems. Like, "Oh, shit. They're cutting off all our heads today." Things like that. Here, we make shit up to be upset about. Like, "How come I have to choose a language on the ATM machine? It's bullshit. I shouldn't have to do that. I'm American."

I was talking with a friend the other day and had to stop and laugh out loud, I had been telling her about the house debacle and everything going on, when it hit me...while stressful, these weren't real problems. I repeated the quote (in my own words) above and we both had a good laugh.  You know it's like complaining that your Starbucks coffee is too hot, or your Prada purse is too heavy.  I am pretty sure that conversation turned the entire house process around for me. I realized that really the only thing that was bothering me is that I couldn't control the situation that I was in and being a control freak that bothers me. I have started sleeping much better thinking about or perhaps thinking less about "what could happen" and more about let's say paint color and the fact that at some point we will live in a different house...who knows when or what address for sure but again life is uncertain.

Joe and I put Austin to bed last night...sighed and looked at each other only to come to the realization that we are raising an X-Men apparently.  You know, one that is so full of energy that it literally bursts out of her eyeballs.  This is how dinner went...Austin, can you please eat your noodles?...(Giant Sigh)...but my stomach hurts.  Ok well then stop drinking lime juice and have some milk.  (Fit of tears and screams) I don't want milk!  We then dump out the juice and get her milk.  She sips on it innocently and thanks us for the "delicious milk".  Hmmm, must have been Mr Hyde that was so concerned with the Juice vs Milk battle.  I spend parts of my day just blinking at her idly   And I completely know where she gets it.  I swear to you that there have been times in my life that I feel an emotion so strongly whether it be fear, anger, or happiness that I feel as though my body would explode.  That coupled with....if you have ever argued with Joe...his tone and facial expressions that make you truly believe that even though you walked in thinking you knew what you were talking about, now you are questioning yourself thinking you could be stupid.  Those two super hero powers have created the next global force, I only hope that we can channel that energy for good not evil.

Tyler on the other hand is either in a stage (we'll call it that so I can rest easy thinking I am still a decent Mom) or will be her sister's sidekick in the take over of the world because she has no fear or respect for rules or things that could possibly hurt her.  This is our daily conversation....Tyler please don't grab that *cord, plug, soup pot, whatever*.  She will then look at me smile and grab it with the other hand too.  At this point I get up walk over probably smack her hand, tell her no and drag her to time out all the while...and I can't make this up...she is leaning back to grab the said object again.  Just simply does not care about the punishment.  Even now I shake my head.  Wow.

So just when I think we are both failing miserably at this job, we go to a funeral today for the daughter of one of my Mom's good friends.  Both X-Men put on their street clothes and proceed to act like complete angels as the congregation gushes praise over their behavior.  Perhaps they just like to rile us up, you know really doubt ourselves into a drinking despair.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Catch up

Let's see...pretty much I have been living by the motto that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

But to break the silence and catch everyone up here's the run down.

We dropped the price on our house again and put in a $5,000 cash bonus to the buyer (yep you read that correctly, we are bribing someone to buy our amazing home).  It seemed to work though because that night we got our first offer and it so far is turning out to be a great one, they would like some extra (they haven't exactly told us if will be money or credit) to paint the outside of the house though.  So picture with me if you will a small sum of money that you stand to make on a home even though you have paid a ton of money for the last 8 years and you spent every bit of $65,000 remodeling it...only to find out that when you sell it you won't quite break even, never mind recovering any part of that remodeling money.  Sigh, I know that I need to keep my eyes on the prize and realize that we are moving into a very nice house but it's hard to throw this one aside.

Anyways, now that we have effectively sold our home we were able to move up the closing date on our new home from May 24th to May 3rd.  That's great news so we can be in there sooner and start really loving life in the forest again.  The real estate agent on the other home is being...how should I put this.... difficult.  I truly don't know if my blood pressure has been this high in my entire adult life. I will not be able to shake his hand at closing and it will take all of my self control not to call him something dreadful in front of my children.  Every time we turn around he is messing up something or threatening someone, it's just been a mess.  And I can assure that buying a home is already messy enough I don't need him muddling in there.  Not to mention when he is mean or degrading, it is not only to my agent but also my mother and anyone that knows me knows that this puts him in a very special place of my anger.  Hopefully this is all over soon and I never have to hear of him again.

We went up and visited Derek and Rachel this weekend, which turned out to be the best thing for the kids.  We have had to pack up all of their toys and what not around the house to make it less cluttered so I think they just truly loved living in a "kid house" again.  One with toys everywhere and that is allowed to be dirty every once in a while.

Just over a week ago we had to put Moose down.  He was acting really odd all of the sudden in the middle of the night and Joe took him into the vet at midnight.  They confirmed that his stomach had flipped and he was in a lot of pain.  After a heavy sedation we talked about the options and there was just no humane way to save his life.  I believe that as parents of either pets or children it is our responsibility to look at all options and all outcomes to those options and weigh them based on the family member involved, not on your own desires or wants.  It was a heartbreaking decision and we still all miss him so much.

Did I mention that Lola (Derek and Rachel's oldest daughter) got baby ducks for Easter?  Austin and Tyler LOVED them!

Wasn't he such a pretty boy, goofy but pretty.


And if anyone out there needs a pick me up, check out this little Moo-Fabio.  She is such a little character.