Addiction....blank-a-holic

Ok so here goes. I KNEW I had one child (Shapoopie, age 2) that is a blankie boy. It's pretty obvious when he carried it around kinda like Linus. I never at all considered or knew I had another....BUT secretly, lurking I have discovered yet another.

This 5 year old intelligent LOVES his comforter. How did I come to know this..hear me out.

There have been many a night through Ryan's life that I say, "it's too hot for your comforter tonight, just sleep with your sheet," and always he can't part with it and I find him later with his tangled body wrapped in it. So I go in before I go to bed and rip it off his sweaty little body.

So last night went the same, I was more sincere this time, "Ryan, you are not aloud to sleep with this comforter tonight, we live in Texas and Texas is hot and you will get to hot and sweaty so you CAN NOT sleep with it!" He didn't argue so I thought all was well. Well about 1/2 later he came out and announced over the side of the balcony, " I think I need to go potty, I have a sweaty pee pee." OH GASH, ARE YOU FRIGGIN KIDDING ME!!!! Did I need to know that? BOYS!!! So he tried to go potty and nothing came out and I said, "Ryan this is why you CAN"T sleep with your comforter." He exclaims, "but I don't like the pattern of the other one(sheet)." The pattern??? THE PATTERN???? Where do you come up with these things! "Ryan, you are going to have to get used to the pattern!" Of he went to bed. I resumed my watching of Wife Swap.....hmmm so about 10:00p.m. I decide It's time for some shut-eye. As always, on my way to my room I stop to check on the boys. I walk over to Ryan's bed and see a dark shadow. Where is his head? I get closer. UGH HE HAD PULLED UP HIS COMFORTER and not only that, he had pulled it all the way OVER HIS HEAD!!!

I pulled it back and I swear I FELT a wave of heat rush toward me with gusto. WHAT THE??? Ryan is soaked, drenched, just got of the log ride at sea world drenched. There is a 8cm diameter wet spot where his head had laid. Geesh! I pull it down and pull the sheet up. I figure his wet body will cool him of now.

ANYWAY, tonight I bring it up again. "Ryan, YOU CAN NOT HAVE YOUR COMFORTER TONIGHT B/C lat night I walked in and found you all sweaty...blah blha blah"....and he goes,

"Lisa, I wasn't SWEATY, I have a LEAKY CHIN!!!!"

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA

I laughed until the cows came home, till my knees where weak, and till..........

Where in the world does he get this stuff!!! So after some arguing and overcoming patterns talk he agreed to the sheet tonight, but It's time for me to go to bed and you know what that means...it's time to go peel of his COMFORTER to reveal a pool of water due to a LEAKY CHIN!!!
)

Michele

So many of my fellow blog friends don't know this, but I have 2 sisters. You all know Amy, fellow blogger, mother of the cutest baby in the world! (bottom right)

But I have another sister(top second from left)... a really cool, funny, adventurous, SMART, and FEARLESS.....

********************NEED I SAY MORE???? **********************

THis is how she spends he weekends. By week she is a ubber smart proffesional that works for the USGS (US Geological Service) and getting her masters in HYDROLOGY..by night she is a ...what are you Michele? But by weekend she is a rock climbing, boy chasing(actually according to her she is running as fast as they can chase, but they continue to follow), wave catching kayaker that is loved by many especially ME! I wish we were closer, she is smashingly fun. But the landscapes of Oregon own her adventerous spirit and love of the outdoors. Shout out to you in OREGON my dear....you are LOVED!!!

A letter from grandma- read by Ryan (5 yrs.)

My mom had a light-bulb moment the other day. She realized that now that Ryan can read she could mail him a letter. Being the awesome grandmother that she is, she followed through. Two days later, a letter arrived from none other than JUDY ADAMS To RYAN!!! He was so excited! He opened it and read aloud for all to hear. I captured the entire thing for you grandparents to see and hear. Ryan is pretty much a self taught reader, the little whiz.

Snips and Snails and......SPIDERS!!!!

I don't remember that in the ryhm although I don't know what snips are..maybe that is spider in mothergoose language???

So I am sitting at my computer watching the new English Child phenomenon Andrew Johnston on youTUBE. Then a shawdow at my side, with the "uh uh uh uh" noise. The uh noise that we as mothers find forgetable and we are deaf to for the first minute or so. See I am ingrossed in watching this 13 year sing like an ANgel. "uh uh uh uhuhu uh uh uh uh uh" Then I see his little hand out of the corner of my eye and something black. "uhu uh uh uh uh" I turn to look at this little toddler hand that he is thrusting at me and I try not to scream...SPIDER!!!! Surprise Surprise a LIL BOY brought a SPIDER to his mom. Now that is a first for history, I'm sure. But I was made to be a mom of boys actually becasue spiders don't really scare me. I tried to get the spider of his hand first, but then I realized this would make a good blog and put my little childs life on the line to get this shot.....

....then trying to get a better picture, the lil spider gets camera shy and decided this is his stop. At that he jumps of Ethan's little hand and onto my floor and away he runs never to be caught again.

But really check out that link to see that lil boy sing...AMAZING!

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Ryan found a candy necklace...ok so not really found. Climbed up on top of the counters pulled the old candy bag down from the top shelf cabinet and helped himself. Well, the next thing I know he is being followed by an open mouthed JAWS baby named ETHAN. DUH na DUH na DUH na. I wish I had a picture of that but I did get a picture of Ryan being the nice brother he is and sharing.

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As many of you that know our Ryan...he is a picky eater and getting him to try something new was like forcing Iraq into independence. Not easy. It usually lead to him gagging and inducing a barfaroni....ewwwwww. So it was to our utter amazment when he decided he wanted to try some of Seth's hamburger.....

AND LIKED IT>>>>EVEN WANTED MORE????????????????

So we made him his very own and he ate the whole thing. He didn't want anything on it, true to Ryan he still likes things plain. Just the bun and meat and ketchup, but this is HUGE!!!!

(Ryan gnawing on the very last bite....YUM YUM!!!)

The quest for the perfect cabinet, No shows, and Visitations from wealthy winged thingys

These are the instructions I found online...what do you think....Think I can do it?

Here are the steps I have done so far (with pictures):1. Sand the varnish off doors-We are using an electric sander. It doesn't have to be stripped down to the bare wood just take off the shine. Hand sanding was done in the crevices. 80 grit was used.2. Prime the surface with two coats of primer(coat front and back of door). I am using sponge brushes(no brush strokes)3. Paint base coat with ivory paint /egg shell finish. Two coats using sponge brush and small roller.4. Once dry, wet sand with 400 grit. Wear away paint at the corners. WetSanding gives a really smooth surface.5. With a small sponge brush apply water based stain. I used minwax American walnut. While wet wipe off stain with paper towel. Than wet sand again to lighten stain more and get rid of streaks. Leave the stain a bit darker in corners and crevices. 6. Varnish with satin polyurethane.

Then they look like this...which I can't take credit for...these are done by a wonderful artist out of Florida named Cindy Hess .

I know you traditionally are supposed to blog about stuff oyu already have completed but Im finding trouble in motivaiton to if I shout out to the world that....

I AM GOING TO PAINT MY CABINETS>>>

*************************Maybe just maybe it will happen.

So what else is new, well lets see I planned a play group for my new ward and I had a great turn out my best ever.....

ME AND ETHAN.

Hmmm, what happened? Do I stink, did I not advertise enough? Oh well, I will be resilient and try again, I will try to remember to attend things I myself am invited to. Have you ever felt that way. Like I was not that good at attending church activities until I had that calling and once I found out how much work goes into it....you start thinking twice about if you start to contemplate having a lazy day and staying home instead of going to whatever prospective activity.

So also, the toothy fairy came and went. The tooth fairy was VERY VERY good to Ryan. The tooth fairy FORGOT to go get change and the tooth fairy forgot until 6 a.m. to the tooth fairy had two choices 1

1) give the toothless child $1 ( which was plenty, but Seth already told Ryan the tooth was worth at least $5)

2) The only other bill she had A $20

So Ryan woke up to find a whopping $20 under his pillow and he was happy of course, but this sets a BAD BAD president for all other loose teeth, future children and their children's children. At this rate of inflation Ryan's kids are gonna get $5,000 under their pillow!

Quuen Bee

Ryan: What is a mamma bee called?
Lisa: a Queen Bee
Ryan: OHHHH a queen bee
Lisa: Yup and I'm the queen bee of this house!
Ryan: What, no your not! Your NOT a bee, (gigling) your kidding, Lisa.
Lisa no I'm not (i put my finger down by my bottom end pointing out and back into him pretending to STING HIM with my finger
Ryan: well you didn't sting me so YOUR NOT A QUEEN BEE...you my mom

Lisa:ya ok i guess not....

He can dance, he can jive!!! And HE lost a tooth!!!

So you remember the crazy Lisa dance below that Ryan recorded, well he LOVES watching it. He will pen my blog, scroll down and watches it over and over again cracking up. Well last night he opened my laptop in the kitchen scrolled down, pushed play and then




....STARTED DANCING THE ENTIRE ROUTINE!!!

This was just tooo good!

Then Ethan started trying too...

A couple days ago Ryan comes up to me and says, "Mommy my teeth are broken!" with that he starts to wiggle his lower middle tooth. "OH MY GASH RYAN YOU ARE LOOSING YOUR FIRST BABY TOOTH!!!" This is momentous right. It means two things, Ryan is growing up and I am getting old! My sister's blog is her baby's first tooth coming in at the same spot that Ryan's is wiggly! Well I explain to him that he needs to keep wiggling it with his tongue and eventually it will fall of. Well, we had bacon for breakfast this morning. That did the trick, "he mommy," he says holding something out, "look, i think its my tooth!" AWWWW it is, now i need to explain...

Tooth fairies- this feels like a right of passage...I get to explain the fairy goodness how a tooth earns you a ,well.... in my day it was a nickel. Michele got a quarter one time and I was really really hoping for that..a whole quarter, but I got a nickel. The tooth fairy brought nickels, dimes, quarters, and one time a pack of Bubbleicious gum.

This generation comes along and Seth says I think that little tooth is worth at least $5.00!!! Wow- inflation. No wonder why the price of gas has gone up so much!!!

On thursday I start a digital scrappy class so maybe I can figure out how to make my page look right and maybe even cute....

NO BABY BYE BYE!!!!

Sorry I have been MIA. My excuses, well mostly becasue I got a NEW laptop and I was transferring... thats right, DUDE I GOT A DELL!!! It's a blogging, scanning,family picture and video making machine! Well, I have been adjusting to its new mega fast processor... It's green to match my kitchen. I kinda get stuck on colors when I'm decorating. I have that problem. ME LIKEY!

Anyway, a funny story... last night I come home from a church activity and Ryan has the door open to thier room facing in and he is saying to Ethan(they sleep together in same room)

Ryan: Ethan! Stop saying "baby bye-bye"

Ethan- (cute hiugh-pitched sqeek) Bebe,bebe bye-bye.....bebe-bebe byebye....bebee bebe byebye (while pointing his finger upwards)

Ryan - STOP!, (with that he shut the door behind him as he re-enters thier room)

I open the door and see ryan in bed with Ethan, I get Ryan out of the crib saying" what are you doing???" He had covered Ethan's head in 3 blankets...

Ryan- HE WONT STOP SAYING BABY BABY BYE BYE and I can't SLEEP!

Ethan- Bebe bebe byebye...bebe bebe bye bye....about 10 more times

with that I swoop up Ethan as he continues to say Bebe bebe byebye and pointing up to the heavens with his little finger.

I'm holding him face to face and he just keeps saying it over over again like a parrot coping a broken record...like for 5 minutes!

So as any normal mother would I came to the conclusion that Ethan just knew in his little head that he would die that night and he was trying to tell us.

So I start to really worry. I won't let you go!!! I think. I tell Seth I'm going to lay down with him in the guest room and makes sure he breaths all night. Well, we go lay down and Ethan sucks him thumb for a while and then he pulls it out and starts to wisper..."bebe bebe byebye"..

OK IM FREAKED OUT!!!!!!

I decide to let him out of the room and follow him to see if he truley wants to get out or he knows some freaky thing i don't.

I opened the door and he runs for the stairs and then turns around to see me follow...I do....he goes down stairs and says, "bebe bebe boop?" Boop is Book in Ethaneas. OK so I read him "5 lil monkies jumping on the bed" About 1/2 through he gets bored, stands up and points to the game closet and says, "bebe bebe play play!" and points to the games.....

OK thats enough FARTING AROUND(as Seth would say)

I swoop him up, throw him under my arm, march up stairs, and swing him over the crib railing.

BABY NIGHT NIGHT!!!!

Saturday Sunny Sea World

Saturday it was 75, sunny, and we were going to Sea World.

I think Seth was more excited than even the kids. I had packed a cooler the night before with fresh veggies, crackers, cheese, and fruit for lunch. Yes, that means we have to get our hand stamped and leave the park, and walk to our car to eat. When I was a kid there were a lot of "can't we do it like everyone else moments with my mom and dad." This was one of those things. I wanted to STAY IN the park and eat a $10, greasy fair food lunch like everyone else. In my old age, I realize that I would rather walk to my car and eat my own packed lunch b/c

1) I feel crappy after eating fair food and

2) all the stuff I could have bought for the $50 we spent on food

So know I am doing exactly what I used to make fun of and walking to the car...

The other funny thing I "wanted to be like everyone else" is when I started school my mom made me a sandwich on yummy home-made bread...so yummy, but this was all I knew when I was little so I did not know this. All the other kids had wonder bread sandwiches. So I complained to my mom that I wanted my sandwiches on wonder bread "like everyone else." Well.... I got what I wished for, and too my utter surprise I didn't feel cool or fitting in, I felt gyped b/c this bread tasted nothing like my moms home-made bread...UGH!

I digress....so with packed cooler, sunscreen, camera, sunglasses, and LOTS and LOTS of snacks and suckers...(what do you do when you need your children to be quite and sit still? feed their faces all day long) we headed out for the hour and a half drive to the world of whales, dolphins, and people dressed in wet suits.

We got there at the PERFECT time, which never happens to us, we are usually the "10 minutes late family". But we got to the pack with 10 minutes BEFORE they opened, which meant we could walk in and ride ANY ride Ryan wanted to ride with NO wait! Ryan has turned out to be a very very brave boy. I thought he might take after his father more and say no way, but this is what he wanted to ride this time....

The taller, faster, scarier the better for me so I grabbed his hand and we ran to the launch. It was so cool just walking right on the ride that the last time we went was an 1 1/2 wait time!!! when he got off the ride he yells,

" THAT WAS TOTALLY WICKED!!!"

Then Seth went with Ryan to ride his favorite ride...a log ride with a 2 tall hills...not as scary as the above, but still pretty scary for a 5 year old....when he got off the ride he yells once more, " THAT WAS TOTALLY WICKED!!!" What a cool kid.Then we went and saw the walrus and sea lion show...oh how funny! There is this part where the girl character says to the walrus, "how are you going to loose a few pounds" and this elephant sized thing with fins... rolls over on his back...exposing his nipply underside, puts his flippers behind his head and starts to CRUNCH UP!!! LOL!!!There were so many other funny parts like this. Those sea lions can be trained to do the most amazing things.

Then we went to the Believe show. This is the one with Shamu's great, great, great,great,great,great,great,great,great,great grandson named none other than SHAMU! We did NOT sit in the soak zone!

By then it was about 1 and this WALL of people entered the park. The once empty isles were filled side to side with people. UGH! We went out to eat (with the plan to come back) BUT after fighting our way to the car, (we were like fish swimming upstream against that wall of people) we decided to get in our car and drive away. But we still felt like we had done a lot and were content with that. After all we have season passes and can come back for free when ever we want.

Oh, and when we drove into our neighborhood, we drove to the back of neighborhood where there is a nature preserve with a trail and a stream with little waterfalls...Ryan had never been there before and HE LOVED IT! He wanted to keep going and was very quick to want to cross the stream bed, we kept telling him NO, because he was wearing his nice shoes...Seth said he saw a snake in the water, I thought that was it, he would never want to come back, but luckily Ryan and Ethan liked it and I think we have many more explorations back there to go! I hope I remember to bring my camera one time so I can show YALL!!! It's so pretty!

Ryan likes to jabber...especially when he is supposed to be brushing his teeth or getting dressed, or getting his shoes on... so tonight he was supposed to be brushing his teeth. He had just got out of the bathtub. Here is the scene:

me: lying on my bed watching Oprah....1/4 listening to Ryan 3/4 listening to Oprah.. (beacuse he is supposed to brush his TEETH!)

Ryan: "If you don't get all the soap out of your bum, it gets itchy...so you just have to itch it through your jammies...like this"

me: (I was watching intently)

Ryan: reached around to his behind and starts to ...well you know...

Me: laughing my head off

Ryan: (stops, smiles and walks over to the bed) "Lisa, why are you laughing? I wasn't kidding" giggle giggle

Me: I start to laugh even harder...walk straight over to the computer and BLOG!

You can dance, you can jive! Havin the time of your life.....

Ryan: "Lisa I want to take a video of you dancing..."

I think the Rockettes are calling...teh hee....

Diaper Diaries:

So last night, seth was a proud papa. He got the packaging tape out again and tapes that sucker up good. Only a super baby was getting out of that bad boy.

Morning:

I walk in and see Shapoopie (Ethan) kneeling over a wet spot. Automatically I assume he has somehow got it off and look for the tracks...but the diaper was still ON!!! So what is that wet spot?

Me- " Ethan is this pee pee or water?"

Ethan-(cute little high pitched squeak) "pee pee."

Oh.Well, What does a two year old know, his diaper is still on, his sippy cup must have leaked. Then Seth lifts him up and his legs instinctively spread apart.

OH MY GASH, HIS THINGY IS OUT!

That's right folks, he fished it out and aimed and fired...he was so proud of himself. Well, that's it, you are sentenced to a life of cut-out one piece sleepers. Try to get out of that one wise guy!

How to Treat the Windows....the design

WARNING: THIS IS A BORING POST.....EXCEPT FOR RACHEL....

Tah Duh, just for you Rachel. I had this design Epiphany the other night. This is a combination of about 4 other designs. I like it because it does not hide the curvature of the outside top windows and I have material between the middle window and outside window, but it doesn't get in the way of the fireplace and decor above....anyway....just have to shop for material and find a coupon... :) Oh, and rugs, yes...I have done some preliminary shopping. Wanted furniture to come first so I could see what color tones I wanted for color variation. I think I'm going to do a plain shag rug in family room in a light egg-shell or maybe khaki. In the dining room....I think a traditional pattern with fringe....we''ll see. They can be VERY expensive. Any ideas on where to find them the cheapest let me know! I need:

Family room (tan, brown, green, light blue)

Office (light blue, reds, browns)

Dining (aloe green)

Entry (browns, tans, green)

I will make you happy mommy!

So today was the delivery day for the dining room furniture. I originally had the room designed differently and when they came and dropped it, I hated it. I was totally bummed and complaining. To top it off, the china cabinet was missing a leg. EXCUSE ME??? I've waited how long for this and now you tell me it's missing a leg???? And one of the legs is too short. So my options: wait till June for a new one, or have a "technician" come out and fix/replace? Hmmmm, have your tech dude come out. Let's just say stressed. I wanted to start moving stuff around but I couldn't b/c Ethan had a Dr. appt. so I had to just leave it.Ryan picked up that I was stressed.. and said, "Lisa, I will make you happy...if I give you a hug?" Inside I was screaming, NO YOU LITTLE PERSON-THAT WILL NOT MAKE ME HAPPY!" But the side of me that didn't want to scare my son for life came out and kneeled down and let him hug me...then I forced a smile and said, "AWW you made me happy." "OK we have to go, Ryan-SHOES....Ethan where the heck are you...ETHANnnnnn........"

So I came home from Ethan's well check (new doctor talked a mile a minute, not my first, is that a MD class? How to think fast enough to talk like a auctioneer) Anyway, I got straight to work.

Growing up we had zero decorations in our room, so when we got sick of our rooms, my sisters and I would re-arrange our furniture. Little 10 year old girls moving dressers, beds, whatever...it didn't matter how heavy or hard. I had a idea and there was no stopping me. I didn't even care that much about scraping our new hardwood floors (it didn' t though) I just had to get this furniture re-arranged the way I wanted it. OK SET

Then I pulled out the plastic- wear I had purchased from linen's and things. Yes, I said PLASTIC. It's not a CHINA-cabinet...it's a PLATI-cabinet. Hey they were cute, cheap and looked like glass! I rigged the phone book to put behind one of the plates to get it to stand up. hehe

OH, and MANDY...thank you!!! That suggestion about the wearing sleeper backwards, with the zipper in the back...genius. BUT....It's Texas and HOT...so I mentioned it to my doctor and she was like DUH, cut the sleeves and feet out! DUHHHHH why didn't I think of that? So he looks like baby Tarzan, but he woke up from his nap NOT smelling like roses, but at least the load was contained in a nice little package this time instead of strewn about...ugh yucky.

No more Couch Potatoes!

When we were engaged, my mother in-law knew someone who was moving and trying to get rid of an apartment full of furniture... so for $1000 we got 2 couches, table, chairs, bed, dresser, end table, vacuum, pictures and a marijuana pipe...hehe.

These couches have been awesome...so comfy and good...but every dog has its day...and after 2 babies spitting up on them, food spilling on them, coloring book on them...these couches were screaming at me to let them go!

So today is the day I have been waiting for...it seems like my whole marriage. The day I get to go pick out living room furniture, pick out fabrics and have them delivered. It's like having a baby almost...to see what you've been cooking up....how it turned out! SO here it is....


***DISCLAIMER, I JUST GOT BACK FROM THE GYM AND I HAVE NOT TAKEN A SHOWER YET......EWWW GROSS!!!!"






Oh and this is for you Allison....I tried the duck tape. To fill everyone else in....

Ethan as described earlier is a crib stripper. He lays down and thinks to himself "I have nothing to do but lay here and go to sleep, OR I can go No. 1 or 2 and then strip down and play in it! " To my disgust he chooses option #2 and I wash sheets at least once a day, sometimes two! Anyway, we have been wrapping a belt around his hips and sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't.

So a friend said her child did the same and recommended duck tapping the diaper on. Well, I found a role and thought I would try it out.

This is the result..... ( the groin cloth is for modesty)