Well spoken

Once again, this post is about the funny things that K says. These were told to me by her AWANNA Beez leaders Wednesday night.

#1: K has 2 teachers for Beez: Miss K and Meg. Miss K was talking to K and called her "sweetheart." K politely told her "That's not what I called. I KNW (gave her full name) but my mommy calls me "What am I going to do with you, K?" Poor girl! Does she really think that's her name? and do I really say it that much?

#2: Miss K left the room to go to the bathroom. When K discovered she was gone, she went to Meg and was very concerned. "Where Miss K go?" "To the bathroom." "Who took her?" "She went by herself." "She went by herself?!?! Won't she need help?"

C's new bookcase

The other day a blogger friend had pictures of all the books in her life. I got to thinking about all of C's books. They were scattered all over the house. And since he has started getting chapter books, I thought he needed a central location (in his room) to keep them all. So while were at Wal Mart this week, I bought him a bookshelf for $20. Not bad. And it's actually a nice one. And easy to put together: I did it with K's "help." He is very excited about it and I really like it too. Now he just needs more books to fill it up. I actually thought he had more than this; I'll have to keep looking.

Updates

Three quick updates
#1: Since C ended up finishing his Sparkie book last week, this week they gave him a new workbook. Before AWANA started Wednesday night, Daddy had mentioned to one of the leaders that C had no sections because he had finished his book-again. She said they knew that and were trying to figure out what to give him to work on. On our way home that night, C told us that he had a new book and that "it took them a long time to find it for him." This book does have some "worksheet" type pages along with verses. And these verses are longer and harder. Good. He needs something to challenge him. Now his goal is to finish this book by the end of the year.

#2: The mail lady DID come back to get my mail the other day. I was at least nice enough to put it back in the box with the flag up. The next day I had cards to go out. I stood at the door and watched to make sure that she took them. She saw me and just waved.

#3: This morning we went back to the eye doctor for C to be fitted for his sports glasses. Poor guy. Remember those old fashioned, big, white, chunky sports glasses? These are NOT like that. These are actually very nice looking. They have ordered the lenses and they should be in next week, so he should have them by the time he starts PeeWee baseball (sign ups are today). Unfortunately, insurance does not cover any of these frames or lenses. Thank goodness we just got tax return money back.

Irksome

IRKSOME: annoying; irritating; exasperating; tiresome; causing weariness

Ever have one of those days where everything and anything irks you? That's been my last 2 days. And I'm irked at myself for being irked. Yesterday was the worst; today was somewhat better--until the mail came (see story below). Yesterday the kids irked my every nerve; some of it was legit and some was just me being touchy. K was soooooooooooo whiny (make sure you say whiny in a very whiny voice) and C was HY-PER (he had pizza twice on Saturday).

Today has gone fairly well. Both of the kids were 97% not what they were yesterday (whiny and hyper). Now onto the mail story. I balanced the check book and wrote many checks to pay many bills today. Three of those bills HAD to go out in the mail today. I put them out around 10 am this morning and made sure the flag was up--just as much for my benefit (so I could see from the window when the mail had come). Around 2 pm, I heard the mail lady go thru (she has a very loud, green jeep). A few minutes later, I went out to get the mail. There was our mail (junk mail no less)---ON TOP OF THE 3 BILLS THAT I HAD PUT OUT THIS MORNING! I was very irked.

I immediately came inside and called the post office and asked why she had not taken my mail! I spoke to someone and a supervisor. "She has not come back in yet so I can't ask her. Did you have your flag up?" YES! (said very emphatically) Even if the flag had not been up, she should have seen my mail in there when she put my junk mail in. I told the supervisor that I needed the mail lady to come back and pick up these bills because they must go out today. I am still waiting for her to come back. Now you see why I am irked for today.

Thankfully dinner tonight is simple (meatball subs); last night's dinner overflowed in my oven (breakfast pizza). Another irksome instance from yesterday. Hopefully the rest of my week will be better. I'll keep you posted (HA) on my mail situation.

My Sparkie

I have done a few posts about K girl lately, so I thought I'd do one about C. This is his first year in Sparks, and I think he has done very well. He has already finished his book and is going thru it for the second time. He only has 4 more sections to say and he will have done it for the second time thru. I'm not sure what they are going to have him do after that. We have at least 8 more nights left. I am very proud of him.

For those of you who were in AWANA a long time ago (me too) and haven't seen the "new" AWANA stuff, here is a picture of his book this year. I have a "pro and a con" with these new books. Pro: they are very nice looking. Con: they have been "dumbed" down. Not to say they are easy, but easier than I remember them being. He still has had to learn passages (i.e. John 3:14-16) and the books of the New Testament. I was impressed when he learned the books of the NT. He picked them right up and weeks later when he reviewed them, he needed very little help in remembering them. He is so smart--when he thinks.

***Update: C finished his book for the second time this past Wednesday night. Good job, bubby! But now I really don't know what he is going to do for the rest of the year***

K's toys

Wednesday morning K went upstairs to get some of her "upstairs" toys to bring down and play with. She kept saying she was looking for her "knocker." I had no idea what she was talking about. Finally, she found it.

Product Review/What's for dinner?

I've never done a "product review" on here before. The other day my mom and I were discussing dinner options, and I told her about these stuffed chicken breasts. These are YUMO! Most of you know that I am the Queen of quick, easy, out-of-a-box-type dinners. So these are right up my alley. They are Sam's Choice but I found them at my Wal Mart. They have 4 or 5 different "flavor" choices. I've tried the artichoke and something or another stuffed one and it was pretty good too. This flavor is accepted by all of my family. I made a Past-a-Roni box of angel hair pasta with herbs to go with it and some garlic/cheddar biscuits (Bisquick recipe). The chicken is no prep; just put it on a foil covered cookie sheet and bake. It does take 30-35 minutes, so be prepared. Very little clean-up is another plus! Try them!

Nice hair!

Here is how K girl and I spent our Saturday morning while Daddy and C were playing Wii. Whada' think?

Honk, Honk!

This is the scene behind my house right now. I love to see all the Canadian geese when they start coming north again. It usually means spring is coming. Since we are to have snow flurries tomorrow, we will see. I've been told that these geese are mean if you get to close, but I love to watch them and hear their honking. I especially like to see the babies when they come to swim. Sometimes they walk right down our fence line. If I am lucky enough this year, I will try to get a picture. They are really funny to watch when they are fighting too. I think that's what's going on in this picture with some of them.

Hurricane Force Winds

One day this week, we had wind gusts up to 66 mph! We usually get a lot of wind during the spring and have had some strong winds in the past, but I don't remember them being that bad. One of the kids toys took an unexpected trip across the backyard, but was quickly saved. We also had a few of our shingles that became "untacked"--for lack of a better description. And of course, they are at the highest peak of the house. Thanks to a neighbor for calling us to report it.

Daddy's ladder is not tall enough to reach, so we are enlising some friend's help. I am so thankful for our great friends (the same ones that helped me shovel a few weeks ago.) Hopefully with their help we can get it fixed eaisly. I also didn't want to be the one to hold the bottom of the ladder. I'd blow away too.

Here are some pictures of the shingles--just for my memories sake too.

A Fondue Experience

Daddy and I got to go to The Melting Pot last night. It was mostly a Valentine's dinner. We had the best time. We have done fondue at home before, so we kinda knew what to expect. However, we had never done cheese fondue before. We had a spicy Mexican cheese and had breads, veggies, apples, and chips to dip. Next was a Cobb salad (what makes it Cobb?) It was very good.

Now for the main course: BBQ tenderloin, fillet, salmon, shrimp, chicken, spinach ravioli (the one thing Daddy turned his nose up at but turned out to be both one of our favorites), and veggies (mushrooms, broccoli, squash, potatoes). We had a Coq A Vin base for the fondue "type" It was OK, but we both said we would try something different next time. There were also 7 different dipping sauces--the best was the teriyaki.

The final course was the dessert course: chocolate fondue with crunchy peanut butter melted in. YUMO! There were many choices to dip in the chocolate: graham cracker crumb covered marshmallows, Oreo crumb covered marshmallows, strawberries, bananas, brownies, Rice Krispie treats, pound cake, and cheesecake. Doesn't it make your mouth water just thinking about it? The best course by far was the dessert course. Daddy and I have decided that if we ever go again (if, if, if) we would just get the cheese course and the dessert course.

We had such a good time, but I was so full at the end that I was almost uncomfortable. If you ever get to go, be prepared to spend a lot of money, a lot of time, and be very stuffed when you are done. It was AWESOME!

Here are pictures before we become overly stuffed.

Side notes: (Yes, I was the nerd who took her camera into the restaurant to take pictures. And C wanted to know why he couldn't go on the date with us. #1: It's a Mommy and Daddy date #2: I am not paying those prices for him!)

Can you guess?

Can you figure out what is in the following picture?

This is what I saw when I went in to get K girl up from her nap. The dark object towards the front are her pants. The pink right above that is her onesie. The grey under that is her sweatshirt. And the white on top of it all? That's her diaper. So deduction would say..........

I threw back her blanket and sure enough, she was naked. And shivering! Well duh! Oh that girl! I had to wash everything in her bed and give her a bath. She actually hadn't wet too bad, but enough to wash everything. She WILL be the death of me!

BTW: the pink blanket was made for me by my grandmother (GiGi) many, many years ago. And the blue with ladybugs is K's "woobie."

What's for dinner?

Wanna know what we had for dinner last night? Here's a clue:

It was so warm out yesterday (60 degrees!), that we grilled out for dinner. We had hamburgers. That is the only way to eat hamburgers at home. Our own version of cowboy burgers: bacon, sharp cheddar cheese, BBQ sauce, and onion rings. YUMO!

I actually had to make a special run to Wal-Mart for charcoal. I also got 2 bags of chicken breasts and had Daddy grill those too. I'll freeze them and use them over the next few weeks.

What's in that box?

Here are some pictures of how my children spent their Sunday afternoon. So nice of Daddy to help out. (Since the box is usually full of toys, they had quite the mess to clean up later).

Start Your Engines!

Today was our AWANA Grand Prix. With Daddy being gone last week, he didn't have time to make a new car for C this year. This year our Grand Prix had a "Classic Car" category. So C entered a car that Daddy had used when he was in AWANA many years ago. This car wasn't the prettiest car out there, but it was pretty fast. C actually came in 4th place for speed and won several of the heats that he was in. It was a fun but very long day. We were at church from 10 am to about 3 pm. And the entire time I had a headache the size of Texas. And of course the cheering didn't help any. Oh well. C had fun. K was a pretty good girl. We got nachos and cheese. I got to help register some cars. Daddy got to take pictures. All in all, it went well. Here are a just a few pictures from our day.

This is C's car already over the finish line--taking 1st for this heat--and the other cars haven't even reached the finish line yet.

Poor beat up ole' car. But you did well today. May you rest in peace tonight. (Maybe we will pull you out of retirement again next year).

Potty diaries

I borrowed the title from a friend's blog. Thanks-you know who!

I've started trying to potty train K again. Wednesday went pretty good. I've discovered her "reward" She likes to have her toes painted, but I haven't done it since warm weather. So I told her that if she peed in the potty, I would paint her toes. She kept her pull-up dry all morning and peed twice in the potty. So I painted one foot the first time and the other the next time. (Funny side note: did you know that girls can spray just as well as boys? yeah, I got sprayed) I told her that if she did the other in the potty, I would paint her fingernails (minus the one she sucks). But alas, that never happened. Instead the did that in her pull-up. So as "punishment" I took off the polish on her toes and told her that we would try again. I have decided that if I have to paint and re-paint her toes and/or fingernails every day, I will---if it helps get her trained!

Thursday was not such a good day, but we were gone all morning. I always have issues once she gets up from her nap, I think cuz I'm busy getting dinner and forget to ask her. We will keep trying as often as we can and see what we can accomplish this time.

My fingers are frozen!

Pardon me if there are errors in this post; it is bitter cold here! My fingers aren't working properly! When I turned my computer on this morning, the temperature said -2! (Wonder if my brother wants to come visit?) We had to go out this morning, and when we left the temp in the car said 9. By the time we came home it was up to 18. I don't think it's going to get much warmer than that.

And why did we have to go out? I took K girl to the doctor. I was pretty positive that she had an ear infection. She has been complaining that her right ear hurt and she has been so, very, extra, (etc) moody! Last time she was like that, she had an infection. But alas! No infection! And no strep! Nothing to justify her moods! But the doctor did say that one of the tubes in her ear is starting to move. That is probably why her ear "hurt." And she might have a touch of a viral infection. But nothing major. The dr said to keep her on Tylenol if need be. You bet! No hesitation on my part!

We also got to eat lunch with Daddy, get K's hair cut, go to the post office, and pay a bill. Oh the benefits of homeschooling! Now that I'm home, I don't plan on going anywhere for the rest of the day! I am staying inside and getting warm!

Comics

This is a short post, but hopefully it will make you laugh.

Here's a sentence I never thought I'd say: "Elmo doesn't live in fridge." "But Mommy he was just taking a nap." So that makes it OK.

Check out 2 blogs I follow for more smiles

1. My sister's "There's poo in my shoe"http://www.bergerbites.blogspot.com/

2. My blog-savvy-momma-friend "He did what?!?!"http://allthisistrue.blogspot.com/