So I read this post on Facebook and couldn't help but laugh out loud. #9 really got me even though I have girls and not boys I can't seem to keep my house from smelling like pee at one point or another. Too cute not to share.
Here is a list of tips that will save your sanity!!! New moms moms to be take notes!!! ~Melissa~
1. Lower your standards for cleanliness and order.
2. Did that? Lower them even more.
3. Your house will never look like a magazine spread, period. Embrace that.
4. No matter how many baskets you buy to contain toys, they will always be visible. Embrace the Toys ‘R Us/ frat house-chic decor.
5. You can never have too many popsicles in the freezer. How many bad moods have been fixed by a simple popsicle?
6. If you can’t change them, change your perspective. For example I read recently– probably on Satan’s website Pinterest– that toothpaste is great for cleaning things like faucets. So now when I go into the bathroom every day and see toothpaste splatter all over the bathroom faucet I think about how my children have done half the chore of cleaning for me. How considerate of them! Then I wipe it off while cursing.
7. Those chores that no one ever wants to do. Decide if you would rather do it yourself, badger your child to it, or let it go. If you are confused about what to do, see Number 1 on this list.
8. No one cares what is stuffed under your child’s bed, why should you. Unless it is old food. In that case, you should get a dog.
9. If you have boys, your bathroom will always faintly stink like pee. Invest in some Febreeze and count down the days until they move out and you can go visit them and pee on their bathroom floor.
10. Don’t buy white furniture. Unless you enjoy screaming at your children every time they go near it.
11. However bad a situation might seem, one day it will be funny. I have a few for which I am eagerly awaiting for the funny to kick in. Any time now….
12. When your child is a young teen there will be nothing more embarrassing than your very existence. Use this to your advantage. Start planning early.
13. Do not paint any walls in your house with flat paint.
14. Be okay with letting your kids stumble sometimes. Whether that is turning in an assignment late because they didn’t do it or wearing an outfit so hideous you have trouble looking at them without laughing.
15. Noise cancelling headphones are great for blocking out whining, bickering and the endless episodes of Sponge Bob.
16. Socks do not have to match. Every day is Crazy Sock Day at my house, which is infinitely better than Crazy Mom Day.
17. The crayons will break and it is okay to throw them away rather then save them to make some sort of craft that involves the hair dryer. In fact, I give you permission to not feel guilty about all the crafts you know you will never do.
18. Your children will not die from eating the occasional hot dog or frozen pizza. And by occasional I mean more than you are really willing to admit.
19. If your children are driving you crazy arguing with each other, start an argument with them. Then your children will bond over their mutual hatred of you and be quiet.
20. Children do not appreciate top sheets or high thread counts. Buy neither.
21. Homework time is the worst time of the day. Help your kids and yourself by having a designated time and a quiet place to do homework. Preferably in a neighbor’s home.
22. Just say No to ironing.
23. Last, but not least, a glass of wine and some really bad TV makes everything seem a little better.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Big Girl Bed
We decided it was time for Tyler to sleep in a big girl bed, even though I really like the fact that she can't get out of the crib...I suppose she can't stay in there forever.
There's the big girl with Daddy for the first time being able to lay next to her.
And here's our other big girl. :-)
There's the big girl with Daddy for the first time being able to lay next to her.
And here's our other big girl. :-)
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Potty Training and The List
Little Miss Tyler Mae is in the process of potty training, and while I am super proud of her it has lead to even more laundry and scrubbing of bathrooms both of which I truly thought I did enough of already. Austin is super cute though and goes with her all the time and sits next to her, it's nice being the big sister.
So let's talk about this list.
I have noticed a new trend in teenagers recently, one that I am hoping to not go along with when our girls are that age. Here's a little back story.
We were down at the lake on Friday last week and while Adam and Joe were buttoning up the canvas on the boat and I was wiping down the outside I looked up as another boat pulled up into the boat prep lane. It was a very nice boat, well into the six figure mark and included all of the fun stuff that a great boat like that should...wake boards, surf boards, tubes. I looked at it smiled at the owner (a middle aged man) and Joe commented nice boat. Here's where I have the issue. It was quite obvious from the looks of it that the man we were speaking to was the owner of the boat, so it was shocking when I walked past it to throw away our garbage to notice that he was letting the air out of the tubes and working on cleaning the boat meanwhile there were THREE count them THREE teenagers in the car texting away on their phones. And actually looking quite annoyed at the time it was taking for this man to get everything taken care of. I just about stopped and asked if perhaps they had bought the fuel that day, or brought the sandwiches, maybe they were all disabled - blind or otherwise? Because what would possibly be right and just in the world if you had fun all day on an AMAZING boat and didn't help with the prep. Obviously there must have been something wrong with them, or the man lost a bet. I managed to control myself and not turn into the crazy lady in the boat prep lane that day but since it happened now five days ago and I can't stop thinking about it, I decided there has to be an answer. When I vented to Joe in the car someone mentioned well perhaps the man would rather do it himself so as to ensure that it is done properly rather than having the "kids" (these were every bit of 17 year olds) do it wrong. Well that just spun me up even worse. Which led me to "The List". I am drafting a list of things that I would like the girls to learn before they become adults. Things like driving a stick, riding a motorcycle, backing up a trailer, writing a resume. What ever happened to teach them to fish and you no longer have to catch their dinner, now we can't even teach teenagers to deflate an inner-tube? Maybe I am all wrong and maybe there is a whole other story that I completely missed from that boat full of people, but it lit a fire in me to make sure that I teach the girls what I can and the value of doing something correctly.
So let's talk about this list.
I have noticed a new trend in teenagers recently, one that I am hoping to not go along with when our girls are that age. Here's a little back story.
We were down at the lake on Friday last week and while Adam and Joe were buttoning up the canvas on the boat and I was wiping down the outside I looked up as another boat pulled up into the boat prep lane. It was a very nice boat, well into the six figure mark and included all of the fun stuff that a great boat like that should...wake boards, surf boards, tubes. I looked at it smiled at the owner (a middle aged man) and Joe commented nice boat. Here's where I have the issue. It was quite obvious from the looks of it that the man we were speaking to was the owner of the boat, so it was shocking when I walked past it to throw away our garbage to notice that he was letting the air out of the tubes and working on cleaning the boat meanwhile there were THREE count them THREE teenagers in the car texting away on their phones. And actually looking quite annoyed at the time it was taking for this man to get everything taken care of. I just about stopped and asked if perhaps they had bought the fuel that day, or brought the sandwiches, maybe they were all disabled - blind or otherwise? Because what would possibly be right and just in the world if you had fun all day on an AMAZING boat and didn't help with the prep. Obviously there must have been something wrong with them, or the man lost a bet. I managed to control myself and not turn into the crazy lady in the boat prep lane that day but since it happened now five days ago and I can't stop thinking about it, I decided there has to be an answer. When I vented to Joe in the car someone mentioned well perhaps the man would rather do it himself so as to ensure that it is done properly rather than having the "kids" (these were every bit of 17 year olds) do it wrong. Well that just spun me up even worse. Which led me to "The List". I am drafting a list of things that I would like the girls to learn before they become adults. Things like driving a stick, riding a motorcycle, backing up a trailer, writing a resume. What ever happened to teach them to fish and you no longer have to catch their dinner, now we can't even teach teenagers to deflate an inner-tube? Maybe I am all wrong and maybe there is a whole other story that I completely missed from that boat full of people, but it lit a fire in me to make sure that I teach the girls what I can and the value of doing something correctly.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Toad
So I was weed wacking the front of the house the other day and something jumped out of my way. When I stopped what I was doing and looked down there was a toad sitting there. Now I understand that toads are pretty popular every where else but this is the first one I have ever seen in the wild. So I grabbed the girls butterfly habitat and ran down there. Boy was that fun for the whole family for about three days, catching bugs to feed it and watching it eat them and then eventually returning him to the wild.
We went wake boarding again yesterday and I think I actually ripped one arm off like I was scared of. I can't raise one arm up due to some sort of shoulder injury and now when I try to walk my hip is forcing me to limp. I keep reminding myself that it has to get easier but holy cow. Everyone compares it to snowboarding but when you snowboard you are allowing gravity to take over and propel you down the mountain. In wake boarding you are being drug behind a Chevy small block engine, much different feeling. But we managed to get together four boats including my parents so the girls hung out with Grandma and watched The Lion King while we wake boarded. George even managed to try wake boarding and totally nailed it, apparently no one has told him that he is in his 60's. ;-)
We went wake boarding again yesterday and I think I actually ripped one arm off like I was scared of. I can't raise one arm up due to some sort of shoulder injury and now when I try to walk my hip is forcing me to limp. I keep reminding myself that it has to get easier but holy cow. Everyone compares it to snowboarding but when you snowboard you are allowing gravity to take over and propel you down the mountain. In wake boarding you are being drug behind a Chevy small block engine, much different feeling. But we managed to get together four boats including my parents so the girls hung out with Grandma and watched The Lion King while we wake boarded. George even managed to try wake boarding and totally nailed it, apparently no one has told him that he is in his 60's. ;-)
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Glendo Wyoming
We got back from the lake when Carole was here and one of our friends text and asked if we wanted to go to Glendo Wyoming boating with them. Since we were still having fun from our awesome day at the lake we couldn't help but jump on the opportunity. Glendo is a four hour drive from here if you aren't trailering a boat and stopping for two young children, so roughly 5 and 1\2 hours later we pulled up. I have to be honest it started off kind of a rough. The hotel on the water that we had reserved called us 20 minutes out and stated that there was a mix up with the bookings and they didn't have a room for us. We ended up finding a gas station/motel in town that had one room left. Then comes the boat dock. Hold on to your pants for this one...I am a nervous person. I know this shocks everyone reading this. So we pull up to the boat ramp with most of everything that I love in the car along with a giant boat attached to the back end of us, the ramp it's self is much more narrow than I would like with a rock ledge on each side and a floating - raised walkway in the middle. As you can imagine ideal for backing down a very large rig. Luckily Joe is amazing and his anger fueled the most precise back down a ramp ever. As we approached the water the whole rig started to slide into the murky depths. Turns out there was a ton of lake muck on the dock and it was causing us to slide, Joe jumped out of the car I slid into the drivers seat and just put it in drive muttering to myself that there was no way it was going to drag me into the lake. Joe slides the boat off and the girls and I drove the rig up to the parking lot...which was full...of course. So we ventured down this little dirt road to a spot that looked like they wouldn't tow us and backed it into a grass hill. I loaded up the kids and EVERYTHING we have to bring to have kids on a boat...and believe me the list is extensive. And sherpa'd the whole load down that forsaken ramp. Got on the boat, took off...made it about 300 feet - Joe cut the engine and said I need a beer. So we sat just out in the middle of the lake drinking a beer getting right with ourselves before going over to meet our friends. After all of this you would have thought that it would have marred the trip, but it turns out we ended up having a blast and will definitely be going back, this time probably just camping and we will launch the boat off a another ramp, one without algae on it. ;-)
Wanna know the definition of a fun boat crew?!?!? It was Joe, myself, our kids, Brooke (Hoss' little sister), her husband, their 19 month old daughter and Anna (Brooke's best friend from high school). Not one of us had ever wake boarded, nor had any of us driven the boat for wake boarding. Someone suggested since we had all the stuff (the rope was still wrapped in the store zip ties) we might as well try. Every single person was like, heck yeah sounds like fun. Joe went first with me driving, he managed to get up on the third try and looked like a natural. Next Brooke who was awesome and got up on her first try, then my drowning butt got in there and just about died a half an hour later still didn't get up and my arms are still too sore to do laundry today. Everyone else got up and had fun which will make me even more determined next time we go to get up.
The next day the wind was so bad and the lake so choppy that we loaded everyone up on the boat and drove slowly to a quiet cove completely sheltered from the wind, we spent all day jumping in and out of the water and chasing frogs on the beach. It was awesome.
Anna and Austin, in about 20 seconds from when this picture was taken Austin fell asleep.
Tyler would be the next to fall asleep here.
Here's little Abby, who is the dare devil and refused to sit down even while the boat was in motion.
Joey, Brooke's husband.
The deer that joined us for lunch in the cove.
Look at that peaceful cove!
Little Goose eating her cheese.
Brooke and Joe.
Wanna know the definition of a fun boat crew?!?!? It was Joe, myself, our kids, Brooke (Hoss' little sister), her husband, their 19 month old daughter and Anna (Brooke's best friend from high school). Not one of us had ever wake boarded, nor had any of us driven the boat for wake boarding. Someone suggested since we had all the stuff (the rope was still wrapped in the store zip ties) we might as well try. Every single person was like, heck yeah sounds like fun. Joe went first with me driving, he managed to get up on the third try and looked like a natural. Next Brooke who was awesome and got up on her first try, then my drowning butt got in there and just about died a half an hour later still didn't get up and my arms are still too sore to do laundry today. Everyone else got up and had fun which will make me even more determined next time we go to get up.
The next day the wind was so bad and the lake so choppy that we loaded everyone up on the boat and drove slowly to a quiet cove completely sheltered from the wind, we spent all day jumping in and out of the water and chasing frogs on the beach. It was awesome.
Anna and Austin, in about 20 seconds from when this picture was taken Austin fell asleep.
Tyler would be the next to fall asleep here.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
This Summer is flying by...
Just as I thought it would, this summer is flying by. We just had the privilege of hosting Marmee/Carole for a week. I was pretty worried about what the girls would act like when she left since they get so much extra special time from her but so far it hasn't been too bad. While Carole was visiting we took a raining day and decided to head to the movies, a first for Tyler and only a second for Austin. We watched Monster's University and it was super cute...Austin was glued to it and Tyler watched for a while before she had to start the up, downs on the chair and what not. We also managed to squeeze in a trip to the lake, where Tyler actually got in the water for the first time. It was like Marmee gave her super powers.
This was the end of the day, just moments before this picture Austin was also asleep on Marmee's lap.
We fly a Colorado flag off our boat, I just loved looking at it whipping in the wind.
Everyone waving to me on the boat while I make some lunch.
Lunch time on the boat! Yay!
Austin and Marmee while we are still by the marina so in a slow no wake zone.
Tyler is still a little uneasy about the boat when it gets going fast but managed to smile like this before we took off.
Front seat of the boat, best seat in the house!
Austin and Marmee cruising along.
Now we are going faster, notice the uneasyness of Miss Tyler Mae.
I just loved this picture, even Ty is smiling...what a good ol' boy.
This was the end of the day, just moments before this picture Austin was also asleep on Marmee's lap.
Look at that little Goose. She has such a crazy little personality.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
So many updates....
Wow, it's been a while huh?!?!?
Ok so let's start off with the fire. So we had a horrible fire that started about a mile away from our house claimed 511 homes and two killed two people. We ended up spending close to a week with Tadd again, he said that he felt like a parent to some college kids that just kept on moving back in. ;-) Not one blade of grass on our property was even touched and we are so fortunate, especially since we hadn't even made one mortgage payment yet. D'Oh! Here's a video that an evacuee took as they were driving off, this is taken one street up from ours which shows you just how bad it could have gotten.
Next, the definition of irony...in this case not the literal definition but the way that I see it now. We share our property line with the Black Forest Fire Department (never thought that would be so important). When Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jim came out to visit Lisa mentioned that we should go over and meet them and bring goodies. So the morning of the fire I was busy making this cheesecake to bring over...now that's irony. Needless to say they never received it and instead we all ate it over at Tadd's house that night but I will definitely make sure that I make it by that fire station with goodies.
So we get all moved back in and I am putting up the last of our suitcases from the evacuation when we get a knock on our door, sadly it's the Sheriff letting us know that a house fire has started 4 doors down and we needed to pack. My eyes swelled with tears...make it out of a giant forest fire only to be taken out by a neighboring garage fire. I took a deep sigh, put shoes on the girls, locked the cats and dog up, and started to repack everything. Luckily 20 (and I am not exaggerating on that number) fire trucks came blazing down our road with everything they had. They were able to fully extinguish the fire in an hour or so and we didn't lose our home - again. Here is a picture of the fire trucks at the house fire, our home in one house behind the officer on the left hand side.
Did I mention that while we were busy packing for another evacuation that Adam was moving in with us and that Derek, Rachel, Lola and Lillian were driving down from South Dakota to stay for the week?!?! Fire has a funny way of not scheduling it's attack with anyone in it's path.
We spent Wednesday at the lake with Ketelsen's, as you can imagine...one boat...four adults and four small children is less relaxing and more like a double dog dare.
Just look at those two little fisherman!
Lillian driving the boat and eating chips...if you look closely you can see the grease on the leather and the vein popping out of Joe's neck. ;-)
What you can't see in this picture is the 2 two year old's under the table making additional messes...but there's Joe's neck vein again.
My two little girls fishing off the back of the boat.
Look at these fancy new beds we stole from Uncle Dane (they are supposed to be bunk beds but I think at this age they work better as separate twins), Tyler is still sleeping in her crib but I am sure we are just about done with that. The second bed proved excellent for when Lola was in town.
Uncle Wells has a community pool with his new home so we played hooky one day two weeks ago and went to the pool with Carri and Kinsley. My goofy girls are saying Hi to Dad in this picture.
Ok so let's start off with the fire. So we had a horrible fire that started about a mile away from our house claimed 511 homes and two killed two people. We ended up spending close to a week with Tadd again, he said that he felt like a parent to some college kids that just kept on moving back in. ;-) Not one blade of grass on our property was even touched and we are so fortunate, especially since we hadn't even made one mortgage payment yet. D'Oh! Here's a video that an evacuee took as they were driving off, this is taken one street up from ours which shows you just how bad it could have gotten.
Next, the definition of irony...in this case not the literal definition but the way that I see it now. We share our property line with the Black Forest Fire Department (never thought that would be so important). When Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jim came out to visit Lisa mentioned that we should go over and meet them and bring goodies. So the morning of the fire I was busy making this cheesecake to bring over...now that's irony. Needless to say they never received it and instead we all ate it over at Tadd's house that night but I will definitely make sure that I make it by that fire station with goodies.
So we get all moved back in and I am putting up the last of our suitcases from the evacuation when we get a knock on our door, sadly it's the Sheriff letting us know that a house fire has started 4 doors down and we needed to pack. My eyes swelled with tears...make it out of a giant forest fire only to be taken out by a neighboring garage fire. I took a deep sigh, put shoes on the girls, locked the cats and dog up, and started to repack everything. Luckily 20 (and I am not exaggerating on that number) fire trucks came blazing down our road with everything they had. They were able to fully extinguish the fire in an hour or so and we didn't lose our home - again. Here is a picture of the fire trucks at the house fire, our home in one house behind the officer on the left hand side.
Did I mention that while we were busy packing for another evacuation that Adam was moving in with us and that Derek, Rachel, Lola and Lillian were driving down from South Dakota to stay for the week?!?! Fire has a funny way of not scheduling it's attack with anyone in it's path.
We spent Wednesday at the lake with Ketelsen's, as you can imagine...one boat...four adults and four small children is less relaxing and more like a double dog dare.
Just look at those two little fisherman!
Look at these fancy new beds we stole from Uncle Dane (they are supposed to be bunk beds but I think at this age they work better as separate twins), Tyler is still sleeping in her crib but I am sure we are just about done with that. The second bed proved excellent for when Lola was in town.
Uncle Wells has a community pool with his new home so we played hooky one day two weeks ago and went to the pool with Carri and Kinsley. My goofy girls are saying Hi to Dad in this picture.
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