What a day

Let me start by saying if you, at all, have a weak stomach...you may not want to read this as it includes phrases and details about kids and throwing up. Okay, now you can't say I didnt warn you...

Actually our "day" started last night, when, on our way home from a relatives house Ryan yells from the back seat...DAD I'm gonna throw up. So, somewhere between Olathe and Delta theres a very big pile of ...well...puke. We get home, finally, and get the boys to bed. I informed Anthony that since I would be up nursing Elizabeth at least a few times, if the boys woke up because their tummys hurt, he would need to get up with them. Anthony was quite sure that it would be a quiet evening. Boy, was he wrong. Both Ben and Ryan were up almost every hour on the hour (or so it seemed) Ryan was actually up complaining that his back hurt, while Ben...well...yeah, ben was pukin. I remember hearing Anthony at some point in the bathroom with Ben asking Ben if he was all done throwing up and ready to go back to bed. I heard Ben say yeah and i heard about 2 or 3 steps out of the bathroom and then...gush...another bout of puke. I might add that the bathroom is on our 2nd story...right above our bedroom, so all details can be heard in the way of pukin right through the floor. Now, Im sure you are thinking - well thats not so bad...most kids puke every now and then...however, there is much more to this story. After a very restless night for all involved...we awake to realize it is 8:00. Anthony was supposed to be to work at 8:00. I come stumbling out of the bedroom to see my sister in law standing there. I completely forgot I had told her I would babysit her 3 kids while she went to a doctors appointment. So now, Im mostly sleepy and have 3 extra children running around. (Along with my sister, her boyfriend, and her new kitten who were in town for the day). Now, Ryan woke up and seems just fine. Ben, on the other hand is wandering around looking mostly tired. He insists he feels better and eats breakfast. He seems fine after that so all guards were down. Big mistake!! He was laying on the couch (after everyone had left) and I noticed he was asleep but squriming a little. I went and sat down beside him to see if he had a fever. He opened his eyes, sat up, and ... yup...puked all over me, the couch, the carpet, as well as my area rug. I grab him and run to the kitchen, which of course, manages to continue the puke trail through my entire house! So I get him stripped down and in the bathtub while I return to the scene of sickness. I grab a stack of dish towels, my carpet spray and go to work. Well, because he had eaten cereal and drank quite a bit of milk with breakfast...most of his puke was curtled milk, which does not clean up very well. In fact, all it does is smear it into the carpet and couch. I ended up having to rent a rug doctor and shampoo my entire carpet in my living room as well as my couch. So, since we had the rug doctor already rented, we might as well shampoo the remaining carpet throughout the house, including their bedroom which had some puke from the previous night.

So here it is, 10:30 pm and I am exhausted. My arms and shoulders are starting to hurt and I am completely and totally ready for bed. I have no idea where this day went. I just hope tomorrow is much better :)


On a more positive (and funny) note, Ben, when asked his name, over the last few months has referred to himself as Ben "father" abraham Cooper. (for those of you who don't know, his middle name is abraham). Well recently that has changed. He now refers to himself as Ben Abraham Lincoln Cooper.

Good Night All!

Reminiscing

My brother just recently got engaged to his high school sweetheart and as he told me the story of how he proposed, along with all the mishaps, and it got me thinking about how Anthony proposed. In just a few weeks it will have been 9 years ago that Anthony proposed to me. How'd he do it, you ask? It was quite a shock I must say. Anthony never even hinted at any type of proposal. Never even suggested he was interested in getting married. We had been dating for 2 years. I thought maybe he would never get around to asking, but secretly hoped with each passing holiday or birthday, perhaps there was a ring in that package. Much to my dismay, there never was.

Just a few days before Christmas we were "performing" a little skit in front of our entire church (approx 50 people, including my inlaws). The skit was about a couple who had reversed roles. The wife, being the football watcher, sitting on the couch while the husband, proceeded to wash dishes and prepare dinner.

At one point in the skit, Anthony was supposed to walk up behind me and say a particular line. However, while he did that, since I did not see him coming, he pulls the ring out of his pocket. The entire church sees what is about to happen and I have NO idea!! I hear him "quote" a line and all I can think of is...HE's MESSING UP HIS LINES - thats not what he is supposed to be saying. So I am trying to think fast - not even paying attention to what the line was that he actually said. All of a sudden, I look up, and there he is on one knee in front of me. At the time I was so embarrassed all I could think about was getting off that stage, but I look back on it now and it is such a fond memory. I am so glad that he chose a very unique way to propose. It will be a story that I get to share with my children and grandchildren for years to come.

Truly Blessed

Have you ever had something happen to you and you realized how truly blessed you are to have such great friends? These past few days have been that way - i dont know, maybe its the holidays...Anyways, I had a great time with friends and family Friday evening playing games and stuffing our faces full of all types of snacks (I LOVE playing games!) Then on Sunday, having an awesome dinner and fun game time with some great friends who are becoming more like family every day and I am truly thankful for them! I am also extremely grateful for a friend of mine (HEIDI) who said she was going to ship me a "few" things for my daughter. Well today, I find this big box on my doorstep. I open it up and it is packed full (beyond full) of brand new clothes and shoes, along with a snow suit AND halloween costume. I am in awe. God is so good! Thats all I can say :) For without Him wouldn't life be dull?

Family Pictures

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone (we had a good one, by the way) and now it is time for Christmas..and that includes family photos. It took a few tries and lots of dressing and undressing, washing faces, sitting 3 squirmy kids still...but the final results are pretty good...Oh, and might I add, Anthony took these photos! He borrowed some lighting from his office and we used a tripod and the timer on our camera! Not bad for not being a professional photographer, huh?

The Whole Family

Me and Elizabeth
Ryan and Ben
Me and Anthony

Just for fun

I found this one someone elses blog that I read...you should try it.. I was 38% Yankee :)

http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/yankeetest.html


here are some other "funnies"

Sniglets - Imaginative words that should appear in dictionaries but dont

Aquadextrous (ak wa deks trus) adj. Possessing the ability to turn the bathtub tap on and off with your toes.

Carperpetuation (kar pur pet you ay shun) n. The act, when vacuuming, of running over a string or a piece of lint at least a dozen times, reaching over and picking it up, examining it, then putting it back down to give the vacuum one more chance.

Disconfect (dis kon fekt) v. To sterilize the piece of confection (sucker) you dropped on the floor by blowing on it, assuming this will somehow 'remove' all the germs.

Elbonics (el bon iks) n. The actions of two people maneuvering for one armrest in a movie theater.

Frust (frust) n. The small line of debris that refuses to be swept onto the dust pan and keeps backing a person across the room until he finally decides to give up and sweep it under the rug.

Lactomangulation (lak to man gyu lay shun) n. Manhandling the "open here" spout on a milk container so badly that one has to resort to the 'illegal' side.

Peppier (peph ee ay) n. The waiter at a fancy restaurant whose sole purpose seems to be walking around asking diners if they want fresh ground pepper.

Phonesia (fo knee zhuh) n. The affliction of dialing a phone number and forgetting whom you were calling just as they answer.

Pupkus (pup kus) n. The moist residue left on a window after a dog presses its nose to it.

Sloovers (slew vuhrz) n. pl. Remnants of soap too small to use, but too big to throw away."

Telecrastination (tel e kras tin ay shun) n. The act of always letting the phone ring at least twice before you pick it up, even when you're only six inches away.


How many of these can you relate to?

A simple thank you will do

Do you ever feel under appreciated? Sometimes it would be nice to just receive a simple thank you…”Thank you for picking up my toys” or “thank you for doing my laundry for me” or “thank you for making my lunch” Its amazing, a simple thank you can go a long way. It makes you feel appreciated. When was the last time someone thanked you for something and truly meant it? I think I would do twice as much for someone if they told me they appreciated what I did and thanked me for it.

Some of you may be wondering where this is coming from. Today, dear ol hubby headed out of town for 2 days. Knowing he had a lot to do to get ready, I made sure to do a large portion of things for him, figuring this would free up some time for us to spend together before he left town. I made sure his favorite jeans and “concert” shirts were cleaned and ready for packing, I made sure he had a lunch packed and ready to take with him, I made sure all his “stuff” (i.e. cameras, paperwork, etc) were packed in our vehicle, I even made sure to fill the gas tank as well as clean out our vehicle and remove carseats, basically everything but pack his clothes for him. After all that, he didn’t even say a simple thank you. I must say I was crushed.

So I challenge you…say thank you. Go overboard saying thank you. You can never say it too much, and you will truly make that persons day to know they are needed and appreciated.

playing dead

i have previously posted about my experience with fish...well, ryans fish #2, diego, is an odd one at that. He/she is a black moor goldfish. Strangest little thing I have ever seen...he doesnt swim, he wriggles along...and without fail, after every feeding he "plays dead" He likes to float at the top of the tank, scaring me to death that we have, yet, another dead fish. Within a few minutes he swims off, only to float back to the top again.

Some tell me that it is because he is "constipated"...can fish really get constipated??? I mean, come on, they live in WATER..???!!! Anyways, so we switched his food a few days ago to contain more vegetable matter...but he still continues to float. I keep looking at him thinking...is this his last day, will he croak today? But yet, every morning I get up and he is still alive. I have heard it called "floaty bloaty goldfish" ... maybe this is his lot in life, or maybe he just likes to look at things from a "different angle".

Country Bumkin or City Slicker

ok so my husbands grandmother called up one evening and asked us if we wanted some carrots. She lives on a farm and grows lots of veggies and shares them with the family. Well, she brought over these carrots and today I decided to make carrot juice out of them. I opened up the bag and found these HUGE carrots. Is this normal? Am I so much a city slicker that i don't know what home-grown carrots look like?

Please say a prayer

Some of you may have heard on the local news about the death of a 22 month old little girl in my town. Her mom was taking her along with her 2 brothers (6yrs and 8yrs) out to the car. She realized she left her keys in the house and ran back inside. In the meantime, a young man (20 yrs old) driving a trash truck stopped to pick up the trash and didn't see the little girl and hit her. She died instantly. This, all being viewed, by her 2 brothers.

In my mind I keep reliving this poor lady's grief. Though my children are younger I have had near scares with my children running out into the road. I thank my God that he has protected my children.

Please keep this family in your prayers. They are new to the area. As far as I know they are christians. They attend a church here in town. Please also say a prayer for the 20 yr old who was driving. I am sure his grief is just as great. He is a good kid and I am sure he is going through great turmoil right now.

A great compromise

It seems whenever both hubby and I have a weekend at home together we challenge each other with the right to have the other one watch the kids so we can do our "hobby". Mine being scrapbooking while hubby's is hanging out in his studio working on his music. This weekend we came up with a great compromise. I watched the kids and cleaned house on Saturday while hubby worked on his music for the afternoon in exchange for him watching the kids for the afternoon on Sunday so I could do my scrapbooking. It was great! I actually got quite a bit done. I wish every weekend worked this way. Hmm...I wonder what are plans are for next weekend...maybe I can implement this compromise again? Anyways, heres the "work" I got done...did I mention that I am so far behind on my scrapbooking that these pics are from well over a year ago?

Greeting Cards

What do you do with greeting cards? People send me birthday cards, anniversary cards, mothers day cards, christmas cards, get well cards, new baby cards, congratulation cards and all other types of cards...what do you do with them? Do you read them and then throw them away? I have an older relative that is big on cards. I imagine she has a closet full of shoeboxes holding all these cards people send her and I believe she expects everyone else to do the same....why do i feel so guilty throwing them away? Perhaps because I know the price of greeting cards? I have tried to use parts of them in my scrapbooking but that doesnt usually work. I also have a zillion cards my children received for most of the above mentioned holidays as well. Do you have any ideas to either reuse them or am i just giving myself a dumb guilt trip because i hate throwing away something that someone gave me for fear of hurting their feelings?

I have no desire for my children to go through my things after i die and find a closet full of shoeboxes of greeting cards.

laughter is the best medicine

On the road again

So this week my husband had a 5 day tour with his band. I went along as our merchandise person and I brought my 3 month old daughter with us. The boys stayed with family. This has been an interesting journey. We had a concert Friday night where we met 9 other local as well as out of town bands, we were supposed to have one on saturday night but it was cancelled and the promotor forgot to call us, so we had saturday night free to just hang out. It was really nice to have a break to catch our breath and relax. Sunday morning we did worship for a church youth group - it was an early morning but thank God we had that extra hour of sleep thanks to daylight savings time :) Today we headed to another town to do, yet another concert. I am sitting in the coffeehouse we are performing in right now. We will be heading home tomorrow morning. I anxiously await seeing my boys as I miss them very much. By the time this trip is done, we will have put over 1,000 miles on our vehicle. Whew! Elizabeth has been doing very well on this trip. I was a little worried, but she has been doing great! I think she was made for life on the road :)

We have been all over Denver. We've been to Guitar Center (a must for all musicians alike), PF Changs, 16th Street Mall, as well as Park Meadows Mall. Here are a few pictures from our journey...enjoy!


Me in Park Meadows Mall

My very well behaved daughter, Elizabeth

My Husband, Anthony and I walking down 16th Street Mall, downtown Denver

Five Face Down in concert

Five Face Down

"You NEVER buy me anything"

Today we went grocery shopping. By "we" I mean, myself, my 5 yr old, my 3 yr old, and my 3 month old. Now, normally I don't take all my children with me to by groceries - and today I remembered why.

We get to Walmart, Ben (3 yrs) is in the shopping cart seat, Elizabeth (3 mos) is in my snugli carrier strapped to my body, and Ryan (5 yrs) is told to walk along side the basket. Sounds simple right? I had it all planned out, get in, get groceries, and get out in as short amount of time as possible. Well, that didn't happen. All throughout the store Ryan insists on picking things up off the shelves. "Mom, I want this"..."Mom, can you buy me that"...each question answered with a "no, not today". Now, I don't know what I was thinking - did I really expect Ryan to accept that for an answer? How naive. We continue on with the shopping. I dont know how many times I had told him "no not today" - but finally - he lost it. He threw himself on the ground, screaming and yelling things like "you never buy me anything" & "I don't like you any more" so on and so forth. I told him he needed to be quiet and close his lips. That didn't work. I told him he needed to be the big boy. That didn't work. Finally i told him "we are calling daddy". WOAH man - that didn't help like I thought it would. Ryan screamed even louder. (poor anthony, who was waiting on the other end of my cellphone, probably had his eardrums blown out). People are walking by us thinking im killing this poor child. (Thank GOD i took my B-stress vitamins this morning) So finally, I tried my moms tactic. I let him sit on the floor in the middle of the walmart aisle next to the green beans and throw his fit while I proceeded to shop for the miscellaneous crackers, cookies, and vegetables I needed from that asile. When he was finally done we proceeded on with our shopping, stopping just for a minute to call daddy back and apologize for screaming in his ear. I swore to myself, all the way home from the store, I will NOT take them all shopping again like this - unfortunately, we will need groceries again next week - perhaps next time I should let Ben walk and Ryan sit in the basket...

todays accomplishments

Today has been a great day so far. We are getting ready to head out for our hayride and bon fire, but this morning my fabulous hubby kept the kids occupied so that I could work on my scrapbooking. Most of you know I LOVE scrapbooking. I dont get much of a chance to work on it, so when i do, it is a real treat. Since I dont work on it very often, I am very far behind but heres a few pics of what I did get to do today - enjoy! Gotta run, time for the hay ride.

Clean at last

Today I decided to thoroughly clean my living room. Our living room has turned in to the "kids den" basically because that is where we keep all their toys. I found things under the couches and under the entertainment center that I never even knew existed. Puzzle pieces, crayons, nickels, blocks, spiderman rings, popcorn as well as many more items. I managed to throw out 1 bag and 1 box full of broken, ripped, shredded, cracked, and destroyed toys and books today that my boys have managed to acquire in the course of less than a year. Now some of these things I purchased at thrift shops where I did not spend much more than 25 cents on, therefore, have no remorse over having to throw these items out, but how do you explain where that particular book or toy went that the child received just 2 months ago for their birthday that was purchased at an absurd 50$ (or more)?

A weekend to look forward to

I must say I am very excited for this weekend. I have my awesome hubby all to myself (well besides sharing him with our 3 children). No concerts, no practice, nothin but family time YAY! We have a fun packed weekend planned. Saturday we are going on a hayride with everyone from church and then having a bon fire. Sunday we are having a family dinner with my parents, siblings, neices, and nephews along with some old friends who have been in the Ukraine doing missionary work. I love when we all get together - its not very often that we can all be in the same place at the same time so this will be great. I'll keep you posted on how the weekend goes.

Ode to my sister

1. My sister taught me to always wear a belt
(she says it makes you look thinner – im wearing one right now ☺ )

2. My sister taught me its fun to change hair color every few weeks,
and no, it wont make all your hair fall out.

3. My sister taught me there IS a natural way to wear make-up,
you just have to buy the 20$ book to learn how.

4. My sister taught me YES it is painful to pluck your eyebrows,
but it looks so much better when its done.

5. My sister taught me If you try hard enough, you can fit an entire
apartments-worth of furniture in one conversion van, which will,
no doubt, break down and get left in the next big town
on your way to college

6. My sister taught me no matter how much you plan and advertise,
unless a yard sale sign is in the right location, people will not come

9. My sister taught me it IS possible to get stuck between a closet
and the ceiling while painting

10. My sister taught me its great having a sister even if shes 10 yrs
younger than you and lives in a far off foreign land called college.

Add a tag

Ok, so I am going to "tag" one more person on the 20 random things about me post from below. BECCI - you are officially tagged - welcome to the world of blog :) I will be checking your site to see what your 20 random things are that you post about yourself :)

Blast from the Past

Here is a picture of me - I'm not sure how old - with my "pet". My mom came across it and sent it to me to show me that my daughter does, indeed, look like me :)

I've been tagged

Ok, so I've been tagged by Sarah and I'm supposed to write 20 random things about myself and then tag as many people as it took me minutes to write my twenty things. So I guess I will give it a shot:

1. I love juicing apples but hate cleaning the mess afterwards.
2. I grew up on the East Coast and really miss the ocean.
3. Well, I miss the suntanning and warm sand, but I could do without the water - is that odd?
4. My mom thinks im crazy for making that last statement - she loves the salt water.
5. I secretly wish I had the guts (and the body) to get a belly button piercing or very SMALL tattoo.
6. I give BIG kudos to Sarah for getting her nose pierced.
7. Sometimes I get so frustrated with my hair (cut and color) that I think about shaving my head.
8. Someday I just might do it too.
9. This random list is actually more fun than i thought.
10. My 3 kids drive me nuts sometimes and I wonder how my mom ever did it with 6.
11. I think my sister in law Jen will soon find out (she is pregnant with #4)
12. I love raisin toast but hate raisins.
13. I don't know how my husband can handle the taste of Grand Marnier (yuck)
14. I love playing games, especially when they are ones I know I can win
15. I wish I were more of a computer geek like my hubby :)
16. I hope to go back to school after my kids are in school.
17. Or perhaps I will go in to the military just so I can shave my head (movie: gi jane)
18. I just had to stop this list to give my boys a lecture about beating on each other.
19. I hate paying full price for things - I would much rather go to second hand stores.
20. I love to go shopping (thus the title of my blog...women knead the dough)

Ok, now im supposed to turn around and "tag" some others. However, since I do not know anyone else with a blog other than Sarah (who sent it to me) I guess I will break the rules a little. Im going to tag Cindy, Anna, and Heidi. You guys can put your 20 random things in my comment section. After that, the people you tag, well, we might have to switch to email to carry that part on.

A tale of two fishes

So, my brother bought Ryan a fish tank for his birthday two weeks ago. We are now the proud owners of an orange and white fish (who Ben named Snowman) and a solid orange fish (who Ryan named Snowy.)

Well, the inevitable happened - this morning we woke up to a dead fish. The orange one. YUCK. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate dealing with dead animals? Especially fish. Double YUCK! Anyways, I had to break the news to Ryan this morning. He cried for about 10 seconds (maybe not even that long) and then He asked why his fish died - i explained that his fish got sick and that these things just happen and now he lives in heaven with Jesus. He just said "oh, okay".

So this morning at 8:25 a.m. (way too early) we had to go to Walmart and buy a new fish. This time he wanted a black one. He enjoyed picking out the fish so much, that he told me, mommy when this new fish dies, i want that big one next time. Go figure. Anyways, he picked this black fish out all by himself, paid for it himself with his birthday money out of his birthday wallet, and took it home.

He named this new fish Diego, after the sabertooth tiger in the movie ice age. Anyway,so when we got home, we still had the yucky job of digging out the dead fish who was now caught in the fish filter (double yuck!) and give him a proper burial. Me, the naive mom that i can be, thought this would be hard on the boys...so i tried to soften the blow. Much to my surprise, my boys were tickled pink to flush this poor victim down the toilet. They enjoyed it so much, i now have visions of them digging their perfectly healthy fish out of the tank, just to flush them too.

So now my boys anxiously await the death of yet another poor unsuspecting fish so they can flush him down the toilet and go to Walmart and pick out a new one.

A little about my family

Here are some pictures and a little bit about my family.

Ryan just turned 5. He adores his daddy and wants to be just like him.
Benjamin is 3 1/2. He fights for his own identity.
He doesn't want to be like anyone else but Ben.
My boys love dinosaurs, books, trains, and their daddy's music.
Elizabeth is almost 3 months. She is my little angel. Some of her nicknames are peanut, momma's lil sweet pea, and little guacamole (given to her by her big brother)
Then there is my totally fabulous hubby, Anthony. He is a great dad and a great husband. I adore him more than words can say and would do anything for him. He is a computer technician by day and a christian rock band bass guitarist by night. He adores his children and cherishes his time with them, and for that he is even more awesome!
And what about me?
Well, you will learn more about me as time goes on...

Top 10 confessions of a middle-aged housewife

1. First, and most important - I am a child of God
2. I am a loving wife.
3. I have 3 children (2 boys and a girl)
4. I am a stay-at-home mom and LOVE it.
5. I absolutely adore my husband.
6. I love taking pictures.
7. I love to scrapbook the pictures I take.
8. I love to cook for my family (and anyone else who just happens to stop by)
9. I love when my children bring me rocks or pick me flowers
10. I secretly love being asked for my ID

ok, ill add in one more, so make that will make it 11 confessions..

I am secretly terrified of having a blog, that I will have nothing to say. I guess time will tell :)