Friday Fun

Remember this movie? I queued it from Netflix, and the day it came it got watched 3 times. We've had it for 3 weeks, and I think someone has watched at least part of it every single day since.

I'm just so glad to see great flicks like this get passed on to the next generation.

Happy Friday!

A Walk In My Shoes

Gretta has taken to a nifty new habit as of late. She thinks every pair of shoes left unfilled or unattended can be used as her new toy. She started out with "Moots Boots" the other day. As she clomped around in Maggie's boots, she kept repeating, incessantly, "Moots boots, Moots boots," until I wanted to pull my hair out. For the uninitiated, Maggie's middle name is Moots, and Gretta thinks it's hilarious to call her that.


Here she is, Miss America. Please disregard the binky. I'm so tired of the binky, and trust me, I've been admonished to rid her of it several times, by several different people. Problem with that, is that if she doesn't have her binky handy, she's just as content to suck her thumb, like Moots. I'd rather have her on the binky thankyouverymuch.


Wearing one pair of about three pairs of heels I own. Somehow she finds them in the waaaaay back of the closet, pairs them up correctly, and parades around my bathroom in them. I guess it's all that practice she had with her Disney shoes.


But really, someone should tell her that socks and sandals are out. This is actually her least favorite pair of shoes, because the foot bed is quite slippery, and she can't walk so well in them.

Oh, how we love our Gretta. She's learning so many things so quickly. Her new thing is to say "a show?" right before bed time. She thinks this gets her out of going to bed. It doesn't. Most of the time. She also loves to be read to. Repeatedly. Over and over and over again. The same stupid "This Little Piggy" book. She knows the words, but she wants someone else to read it to her a million times in a row. And her newest favorite thing is the shower. If she hears that upstairs shower turn on, she is up the stairs, naked and opening the door before the steam has even started. Gotta love the 2 year olds.

Totally Random

I realized yesterday that it's been a while since I posted any pics. I guess my thoughts have gotten better of me than my camera has. But here is some proof that I do indeed take pictures most days. I just don't get around to uploading and posting them like I should. Bear with me.


Emma playing dress up with Mags. This is a pretty rare occurrence around our house these days. Emma is growing past the dress up stage, and to be honest, she and Maggie rarely play anything together anymore. Unless it has to do with the computer or the DS, Emma pretty much stays away from having much to do with Maggie. I think she sees her as the annoying little sister. I remember being that annoying little sister. It's a hard stage.


Here is Gretta enjoying opening up her birthday present from Poppa. When we were in Utah for the summer, my mom had this little fox that graced the bottom shelf of one of her cabinets. Gretta always found it and carried it around the house. I had completely forgotten about it until it arrived as part of her package. You can see she pretty much thinks it's the coolest thing ever.



This was her first expression after ripping open the paper it was wrapped in. She was as shocked as I was. But then she hugged it, kissed it, and tried to ride it around the house like a horse.


Pre-tearing of the goods. She also got an outfit that she thinks is pajamas, a pack of Care Bears playing cards which have mostly found themselves shoved into every nook and cranny of the toy room, and a fancy schmancy card with Minnie Mouse on it. She loves it all!


Here is Maggie showing off her Valentines boxes she made for her dance class. We only had to make like 10 valentines, so instead of buying a huge pack of cards for $3.00, we went to our local craft store, bought 10 pieces of paper for $1.00, and used their die cut machine to cut the design for the boxes. She folded them, I glued the bottoms, and she filled them up with candy hearts. They were the hit of the class for sure.

So that pretty much sums up the most interesting pictures I've taken in the last few weeks. I'm still on the lookout for a funny Friday image, but I'll keep looking. I have the best one, but for the life of me, I can't find the picture to go with the story. I'll do my best, just for you.

*I have been asked about the origin of the fox. I can honestly say I have no idea from whence it came. It's just always been around the house, and I never thought to ask my mom about it. You know, it wasn't one of those important things you think about in the last few weeks of someone's life. I find myself having a lot of those moments. I wish I could call her up and ask her. Anywhoo, if any of you know where the fox originated, I would love to know.

I Heart Faces

This weeks theme over at I heart faces is Black and White. I just love this picture of Gretta. It was taken right after we got her ears pierced. So cute. You can barely see she has one teeny tiny tooth coming in on the bottom.



So go here and check out the other entries.

Field Trip

Take a wander over to my other blog and enter a contest to win some cute clippies. The directions are over there, and be sure and comment over there for your entries.

Good Luck!

She Seems Harmless

Last night was a strange night. First of all, with 1 PM church time, I don't get my usual Sunday nap in anymore, and that just puts me in a strange mood to begin with. But after church, and a delicious meal of Laura's chicken enchiladas, we settled in for a view of Amazing Race. As I hunkered down under the blankets, I got that no so fresh feeling. Ewww. I hate that. So up to bed I went. I tossed and turned most of the night, trying at first not to throw up, and then trying to get myself to throw up just so I could feel better.

Nothing happened. Except a very strange dream.

I sat observing a preschool class, in which 3 of my own children were enrolled. The class instructor was very strict, and as I observed, I found myself needing to step in to help control her very bad temper. She was a beautiful teacher, long blond hair, and the cutest little lisp. She had on very fancy jewelry, and wore stunning pointy toe shoes. But still, despite her good looks, she was mean.

At one point, my Sister-In-Law arrives with her 3 kids, drops them in the classroom and heads out on her merry way, none the wiser to our harsh teacher's antics. I stayed, and felt I needed to protect my kids from her.

Finally, just as class was ending, the teacher turned to me, and I recognized her face instantly. She told me she couldn't deal with my kids anymore, and she was certain their lives would be screwed up forever because of my bad parenting skills. She actually used the words "screwed up", which surprised me, even in my dream state, because she is so eloquent with language, that I felt she could have found better words. And I don't see her as the "screwed" using type in her real life, even though I don't know her in real life.

But as she stormed out of the classroom in a huff of arrogance, she turned to me and lowered down to face me where I was sitting. She was so close I could smell her toothpaste. As she was about to say some other mean snarky comment, I took my right hand and POW! I punched her square in the eye. She stumbled back, and came back at me with a force that shoved me over in my chair. She straddled on top of me, and began pummeling me with her fists.

All the while, I lay there taking the punches, thinking to myself, "why on earth is CJane punching me?"

She seems so sweet. I've never gotten the abusive vibe from her at all. I mean, she took in her nieces and nephew with nary a days notice, and fed and clothed them for months just out of the goodness of her heart. And yet, here she is, punching me in the face. It was shocking, really.

But then I was startled awake by the 2 AM screams from Gretta, apparently she was having a scary dream, too.

So CJane, I know we don't know each other, but if you could please remember that when you're teaching my kid(s) in preschool, don't start punching me in the face for being a bad mom. I beat myself up enough for both of us.

Friday Fun

I am posting a Friday Fun today, but there is no picture. There is only pure joy. My kid got a root canal this morning, and she didn't even cry! This is a big deal, since she got us kicked out of the last dentists office.

I am so proud.

Occlusions

Yesterday brought a visit to La Dentista. The dentist, for you English speakers. I hate the dentist. It hurts to go to the dentist. I don't care what they do, it hurts. The X-Rays hurt when they make you bite into that piece of rubber that is so carefully placed to scrape its sharp edges against your delicate gums. The cleaning hurts when they take freezing cold water and aim it at your delicate teeth and spray at full force. The scraping hurts, well, okay, the scraping I don't really mind. I'm a little sadistic I guess.

Anyway, after last weeks trauma of taking Maggie to the dentist, and her screaming and yelling practically getting us kicked out, I wasn't looking forward to going myself. I was fairly confident that I had no cavities, maybe one. I floss every day. I rinse with Listerine every day. I brush every day, at least once. See, confident?

Nope, shouldn't have been so confident. I came away with a follow up visit and a proposed bill of $1200 for 9 cavities. 9 freaking cavities! What am I, one of Jill's kids?

Funny thing is, is that the one place I thought I would have a cavity, due to some pain I've been having in my jaw, is the one place there are no cavities present. Weird. But, after reading some comments on Jill's post about their dentist visit, I'm starting to wonder if this doctor is trying to rip me off. She kept giving me this schpeel in her thick Eastern European accent about how hard it is to keep teeth clean with braces on, and how it can cause an eruption of cavities. Yep, right, sounds good, if you're 13, and have braces!

My braces have been off for 4 years, folks. And I've had several sets of X-Rays since then, and never once had a cavity. Hmm, see where I'm going with this? So I heard some dentists will give you a second opinion for free, so I may go that route. Seems like a better deal than just forking over the money and calling it good.

Anyway, sorry for the lame A posts as of late. I am getting some better meds soon, and hope to be back to "normal" soon. I need a good post for Fun For Friday, so if any of you have a funny pic you'd like to send me, I'll totally credit you, and I'm sure you'll get some traffic sent your way. Cause I'm so popular and stuff. Feel free to email me at keli dot clayton at gmail dot com.

I Heart Faces

I'm giving in, and doing an I heart faces contest. I'm such a sheep. Here's my entry. It better win. Wink wink.

Go here and see all the entrants.

If You Dare

Homemade Fun:

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! But you probably will...I'm just saying.
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year. That gives me a good 10 1/2 months to get it done!
4. It will be a surprise.

The catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so, and leave a comment telling me they did, win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

All Due Respect

Thank you, dear President's past. I love getting a Monday off school. Not that I go to school, but my kids do, and that means I get to sleep in. I love my sleep.

So thank you for being super, and earning us all a day off. You rule(d).

Heart

Happy Valentines Day.

I got a PajamaGram delivered last night. The shirt says "I'm with Cupid" I find it funny.

All Sugar Daddy gets is me. Moody, bitchy, bloated, ornery me. He better take it and like it.

Field Trip

Take a little field trip on over to our Cancer Sucks! blog. I've posted a new fun thing, and also redone the template, it's much more appropriate now. See what you think.

Day Of Love

Today is a big day. My sweet little niece turns 2. She and Gretta could be twins; but not by looks. They couldn't look more different. Gracie is chubby and dark, mellow and cuddly. Gretta isn't any of those things. But the way they talk, cry, squeak, and pad barefoot across the floor, you wouldn't be able to tell them apart. I miss that Gracie. Here are a couple of shots of her I ran across. I have more recent ones, but these ones are precious to me. You'll see why.

Mom getting Gracie dressed in her blessing dress.

I miss those hands. When she died, I held her hands and stroked them, and tried to burn the image of them into my brain. She had lovely hands, and the cutest little mole on her hand. She always had beautiful rings, Diamonique mostly, but some very expensive ones as well. She had beautiful nails she kept done up just so, for 13 years with the same nail lady! But those hands are so much more than a physical attribute. She loved her babies. Her grandbabies, especially. And dressing them, rubbing them down after a bath, cuddling with them, watching them run through her backyard, all had more to do with her hands than any jewelry. Those hands fed and clothed us kids, worked hard for us, and showed us the direction we should take in life.

Chubby little Gracie on her blessing day.

She is a special little kid. I have never met a more mellow baby. The day before she was blessed, Jill got out the white nail polish. And we polished her fingernails and toenails. She sat still through the entire process. On the other hand, if it was Gretta, if Gretta was awake, she was moving. Gracie is different than Jill's other kids. She is dark, and has dark eyes. She is Aaron to a tee. She was a long time getting here, but boy are we glad she did. I love this kid!

I know I talk about her like she's my own, but after spending every day with her through the summer, I feel like she could be. We bonded. I love her.

Happy day, Gracie!



Today is also my other nieces birthday. Abby is 5 today! She was our next door neighbor for 4 years, and we miss being able to run back and forth from their house to ours. I believe Abby was born on Friday the 13th, just like today. Creepy. So happy day to Abby, too! We miss you.

Interpretation Please

Last night I had a dream. I have a history of having vivid, strange dreams, but ever since I've switched medications they have gotten more vivid. And strange.

I mean, aside from the usual dreams of teeth falling out, drowning in a puddle of door knobs, or even the occasional "happy" dream, things have gotten much, much worse. Or better, I guess it depends on your perspective.

But last nights dream is especially disturbing to me. I don't know why. It was simple, non-threatening, and short. Well, relatively short, as in does anyone really know how long their dreams last?

So do you want to hear it? I thought you might.

I was lying down somewhere. Where isn't important. I had covers pulled up to my neck, and I stared straight up to the ceiling. My sister Jill approached me with giant tweezers. She had this evil grin on her face. No, more evil than normal. Yeah, right. She held my arms down with her hands, and in her other hands (?) she took the tweezers, aimed them straight at my neck, and proceeded to pluck out a giant stem of a chin hair. It was about 3" in diameter, and had a blossom of white on the end. My first reaction was "Why didn't someone tell me I had been growing this huge hair on my chin?". She proceeded to explain that it hadn't been there long, and her other friends had missed seeing theirs grow so quickly and had subsequently been strangled within minutes.

So I guess she saved my life. How do I thank a sister that is 2000 miles away for saving my life in my dream? Does Hallmark even make a card for something like that?

Win Sumthin

See here to win a new pair of See Kai Run shoes. Neighbor Kate won these last Spring, and they are ad.or.able.

On Being a Good Mom

We all know I'm in the running for mother of the year, right? I'm pretty sure I'll win after this one.

The other day, I was back and forth and back and forth at neighbor Kate's house, in a futile attempt at perfecting our latest business venture. This back and forthing meant there were a few moments here and there when Gretta and Maggie were home alone. Not a big deal, since I was literally across the street. Like, driveway to driveway across the street. I just don't worry.

Well, as I was leaving Kate's house, the friendly AT&T man was walking through the neighborhood, and gave me a friendly wave. I waved back, because I'm nice like that.

Turns out, friendly AT&T guy had just come from my house, where Maggie answered the door, and promptly told him that she was home alone babysitting her little sister.

Of course this was shocking to him, since he has no idea how good of a mom I am, and that I would never leave my kids alone for more than, oh, a few hours. Not. Kidding, kidding, people. But he did proceed to tell my other neighbor Nancy that her next door neighbor had her kids home alone. She was shocked by this, because I still have her fooled.

But seriously, I was gone a total of like 5 minutes. And my kids of been given strict instructions not to open the door to anyone, or answer the phone, unless it's someone they know and trust. So really, is it my fault or theirs? Kidding again.

This does frighten me a little. Not enough to make me paranoid, but I guess I need to have another good sit down talk with the kids about what to do when mommy is across the street. You know, stranger danger and all that.

Anyway, I'm certain the word is out that I'm a finalist in the mother of the year contest, and hopefully this puts off any unfit contenders, cause I have a spot all cleared off on my mantle for that award.

*and as I write this post, my dear daughter is watching a Roseanne marathon. Yep.
*and here is a funny post I read about leaving your kids in the car. The comments are top-notch. You should totally read it, and the comments.

Because Naked Babies Are The Best

This kid totally cracks me up. She has a thing for water. I guess she's like me that way. As soon as I see a lake or a pool, something inside me just wants to get in and swim. There is just some pull to the water. This is why I say I want to be a sea otter when I grow up.

Anyhoo, Gretta has long been a fan of the tub. The second she hears the bath water run, she is up the stairs, shirt off, pants around her ankles, and diaper hanging by one tab. She would stay in there all day, if I would let her, or at least until she poops. Which she has done several times, lucky me.

But lately we have migrated from the tub to the shower. Now, as soon as she hears the word shower, or as soon as I head upstairs, even if I'm in stealth mode, she will find me, and climb right in. She will hold the detachable shower head, and spray it over her head and giggle like nobodies business.

And then there's her butt. How cute are naked baby butts? I know, I just can't stand it. I'm not a creepy pedophile, but my kids have the cutest naked butts ever.

And then when they're all clean and cuddly in a nice fluffy towel, life is good.

Part of me is wondering what sorts of people will find this post due to a mislead Google search. Eew.

(New) In Town

We were able to have Ken and Michelle and their two cute girls over for the weekend. It is nice having some family close enough that we can crash at each others houses on random occasions. Ken had an early interview in the City on Friday, so Michelle and I stayed home and watched the kids play. And by play, I mean fight. To the death. It was like total WWF around here. Our little 2 year old's can NOT play nicely together. But it was still fun to have them here.

Friday night, after an easy dinner of chicken nuggets, Grandma rice, and Grandma beans, Michelle and I headed out to see New In Town. It was a cute movie. Mindless, and easy to watch, a perfect escape for a night out.

Saturday we hit Panda Express for some EggRo goodness. Mmm. And then it was Roast Beef for dinner. I over did my mashed potato to gravy ratio, and ended up eating them like they were soup, but they were still mighty tasty. I'm a sucker for mashed potatoes and gravy, just like my Mom was.

Sunday we sort of pooped out on church since I had no voice due to that stinking cold I was brewing, and Gretta was sporting all sorts of pretty green boogers, so we just hung out most of the day. I don't think Ken even changed out of his pajamas. Good boy. We fried up some steaks and baked potatoes for dinner, and life was good.

Today I let Emma stay home from school to spend a little more time with the cousins, and because I'm such a cool mom like that. She helped out with the sheet washing, and by entertaining the kids while everything got packed up it the van.

It was a fun visit. We always love having family over. Hint hint.

Fun for Friday

Click on over to my little bow store, and have a look. Neighbor Kate and I have been making and selling bows and clippies for the last 9 months or so. We are just so creative like that.



And on another note, it's Kate's birthday today, so head over to her blog and wish her a happy day.

Sign Of The Times

We visited the dentist yesterday. Maggie has her first cavity growing on her back tooth, and it was getting to the point where I could see it growing worse every day. So we headed off to the dentist's office. It's a decent amount of time in the car to get there, so as we drove, Emma, who is now big enough to ride in the front seat, and I had a good conversation about school. She began telling me how they were learning to play "Kiss The Girl" on the steel drums.

Maggie piped up from the back seat, and said she knew that song. She hears it on the radio all the time. I was confused, as I absolutely refuse to listen to Radio Disney, and couldn't for the life of me figure out where she would have heard that song.

She began singing it at the top of her lungs. "'I kissed a girl, and I liked it....'" She sang. And sang.

Totally not the right song, but wow, was I a little shocked. I don't listen to music like that for 2 reasons. 1, I hate Pop music. It just doesn't feel right to me to BeBop along to kid-like DJ music. 2, the lyrics of that song, and a lot of other Pop songs are atrocious. I'm still not sure where she heard it, especially enough times to pick up the words so perfectly.

So here we are, buzzing along to get Maggie's first cavity filled as she sings a song about a first time lesbian encounter. We had a lot of firsts that day.

Nothing

I got nothing today. Nothing.

Except maybe the beginnings of a cold. Which is wretched timing, seeing as we'll be up in the 40's by Saturday.

And so help me, if this cold keeps me from emerging from my winter cocoon to enjoy some sunshine and blue sky, I will a broken woman be.

But other than that, there is not much to tell.

And I'm totally not complaining about that.

Ring Ring

Ring ring.... Ring ring..... Ring ring.....

Me: Hello?

LG Vu: Is this Keli?

M: Yes, who is this?

LG: This is your new phone. You know, the one that has replaced your beloved BlackBerry?

M: Oh, you. What do you want?

LG: I'm hoping to gain your acceptance, and maybe eventually your respect.

M: Well, I don't see that happening any time soon.

LG: Please! Give me a chance! You don't understand, there are so many of us that can never be a BlackBerry, so we can only be the best regular phone we know how. It's so hard living under the shadow of the BlackBerry.

M: Well, I can see why. I totally feel like I've gone from a Mac to a PC. It's unnatural. It's devolution.

LG: What? What is devolution?

M: See. A BlackBerry would totally know what I was talking about. What with it's predictive text, it's fully functional keyboard, it's ability to automatically capitalize and punctuate. You will never be a BlackBerry.

LG: (Sigh) You're right. But you signed that contract, so you're stuck. Sucker!


Don't get me wrong, I like my new phone. It's fine. I like the super fast internet, and the way it displays web pages like web pages, and not HTML with a few links here and there. But, it has this teeny tiny keypad that certainly isn't made for full figured fingers like mine.

There is no predictive text, it won't capitalize without pressing the teeny tiny shift key, and you have to adjust the keypad for any punctuation besides a period. Period. Duh.

I guess after having a BB for the last, oh, 5 years, I have gotten a little spoiled. But I will survive. Plus, now I have unlimited texts! Yay! Feel free to text me anytime.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Sunday was a big day at our house. We hosted a huge Superbowl par-tay. It was a total blast. Here are just a few of the highlights.

A view from the balcony. The men were all intent on the game, and more so on the commercials. I think the "Wipe Out" show was an attention grabber, as well.

The pile-o-coats. Since we moved our front room furniture into the living room to accommodate our 30 + guests, there wasn't a better place to throw the winter garb.

This little gal chewed away on her chubby little toes, and melted our hearts with those fat rolls. I'm pretty sure I could eat her. I don't think Tina would mind, do you?

And a little view of some of the mess atop my counter. Home made pizza, tons of appetizers, and delicioso desserts made for a filling party menu.

We got an impromptu cheer session from Shylo. I outed Carli and her 9 month flu, and we corrupted the Elders because we wouldn't turn off the game when they came over. But for the record, they just came, ate, and skedaddled. I bonded with the newest Kelley and her bow making abilities, (Yay!) and I think Noel, Brooke and I had a little 3 way action that sent The Chad over the top.

I'm just a good hostess like that, what can I say?

We did miss our Lacey Fay, as she was out having just birthed her third baby boy, Justin. But we'll bring her some pizza as a consolation prize. For missing the party, not for giving birth.

And the fact that the Steelers brought it home, including #99, made it that much sweeter.