My baby.....

She's 17 months now. *sigh*

Being a parent is fun! LOL!

So last night I was putting Kyra to bed and we talked about how she should behave today. We just got back from a birthday party. Usually, she throws a fit in there somewhere. Frankly, I'm tired of it. She's FIVE now and should act like it. So I told her that she should use her manners and when it's time to leave, she shouldn't cry. I don't know where this conversation turned a corner, but next thing you know, we are talking about Santa. I told Kyra that she better behave because Santa is watching her and wants to know how she's behaving, so he calls me after she goes to bed. She didn't believe me. Then I told her that he has every parents' number and we all have his phone number too. Then she sort of believed me. Lastly, I told her that I called Santa last week one night after she went to bed to tell him that she had been acting really good lately and she was especially good at school. That really caught her attention. She believed me! LOL!

Little white lies like that don't hurt, right? Or have I scarred my child for life? ;)

Oh by the way, she got off to a rocky start at the party, but then behaved very well....a lot better than I expected. She didn't like all of the "rough" boys jumping and bumping into her on the moonwalk! LOL! Wait till our own little "boy" (bully Maeve) grows up! Boy is she in for a rude awakening! ;)

Call me crazy......

I just realized that today is the end of the 1st 6 weeks of school. That means next week are report cards. OMG! Have 6 weeks really gone by?

Even though I know Kyra is doing well, I'm still nervous about that damn report card coming next week. It's almost as if I'm getting one myself! LOL! We attended Open House last night and Kyra's teacher was raving about her journal (she loves the pictures she draws) and going on and on about how smart she is. Kyra adores her teacher and though I had my doubts in the beginning, I'm so glad that Kyra got her for a teacher. I think her teacher's personality really blends well with Kyra's.

I sincerely hope that I get a good report because the following week I have my first parent/teacher conference! I remember my mom doing that for Lisa and I. Seems like yesterday.....

Damn I'm old.

Supermarket Surround Sound.....

This is cute! Thanks Jen!


The new Supermarket near our house has an automatic water mister to keep the produce fresh. Just before it goes on, you hear the sound of distant thunder and the smell of fresh rain.

When you approach the milk cases, you hear cows mooing and witness the scent of fresh hay.

When you approach the egg case, you hear hens cluck and cackle and the air is filled with the pleasing aroma of bacon and eggs frying.

The veggie department features the smell of fresh buttered corn.

I don't buy toilet paper there any more.

Circle of Love....

Some unfortunate circumstances have put a friend of mine in a very tough position.....one that I never, ever hope to be in. She knows who she is. Hon, I'm praying for you and hoping that you seek God's help in finding the happiness that you so deserve.

With all that's happened to her, I started thinking about love. When it comes to family, I like to think of love as a circle. It's infinite. It never ends. It's round. It's wholesome.

I'd like to think that each family member has a special spot within the circle. In order for the circle to stay together and continue to live up to its name, each member must equally love the other. The husband must love the wife, the wife must love the husband, together they must love their children and vice versa. This keeps the circle going. It completes the circle.

Granted the love between a husband and wife is different from the love between a parent and a child, but it's just as important. I don't think a mother and a father can completely love their child unless they love themselves and in most cases, each other. I realize that this doesn't always happen. There are parents that aren't together. But the respect, honesty, and loyalty should still be there. They do owe their child that much.

I hate to see broken circles. But they do happen. If you or someone you know are part of a broken circle, don't fret. There is time to complete the circle again. Healing will occur. Happiness will occur. Your family will be whole again. But you do have to take a long, hard look at the outside forces that caused this broken circle. Are they truly sorry for what they did? Do you trust them? Do you honestly believe that 100% of their love is devoted to you at all times?

You also have to ask yourself if you can tolerate this behavior a 2nd time if it's repeated. Because usually it is.

I'm not an expert on relationships by any means. I'm just stating how I feel. I truly believe that healing starts with forgiveness.....not only with each other, but with God. In the end, He will be the one who decides your fate.

Again, I hope and pray for my friend. I pray that this post gives her a little insight to things she may have not noticed before. She's a strong girl. She'll be fine. And I think she knows what's important and what she has to do. ;)

Here it is.....

Here is the monster aquarium that Richard got from our neighbor. Not bad for $10, huh? Richard has since added his own touches with rocks, plants, fish, and a crawfish. We plan on getting more fish and Kyra is really excited about that. But we told her that we wanted to wait to see what her report card looks like in 2 weeks. Nothing like getting your child to "earn" her fish! LOL! Actually, I'm confident that Kyra is doing just fine in school.

Yes, we are aware that Mr. Crawfish has the ability to escape. Richard has clipped one claw back completely so that he doesn't wander up the aquarium. He'll have to continue to keep up with that. He said that if that thing gets his fish then both claws are gone! LOL! Poor Mr. Crawfish!

Right now, the fish and Mr. Crawfish are tiny, but they will get bigger. These fish are happy. They swim around in there like crazy. They are fast. Kyra hasn't named any of them yet. Not that you can tell them apart. She still talks about Poopie....a fish that they had at school that died. She prays for Poopie in heaven at night! LOL!

Also, notice that the aquarium is right by a window. We did that on purpose (sort of). It's so easy to open the window and siphon water out of the tank when we have to change some of the water. Richard has a system down already.

Maeve is pretty oblivious to it all. She has learned to say "fishy" though. :)

More randomness....

-Maeve has her first "boo boo". It's a big bruise on her forehead. She looks like she's been to church on Ash Wednesday! LOL!

-I'm kind of bummed that Shanna Moakler got booted off of "Dancing With The Stars". I didn't think she was that bad at all. Jerry Springer needs to go. I think people voted for him because he's "Jerry Springer" and he probably got some sympathy votes because his partner was injured. Oh and is Mario Lopez gay? Just curious. Joey Laurence's veins in his forehead bother me. I don't know if they always bulge out like that or if they did because he was so freakin excited. This week was definitely better than last week. I still DVR the shows and watch them later. I don't have 3 hours in my schedule right now to sit there and waste. ;)

-My house looks like a tornado ripped through it right now. No use in cleaning it up till the kids are in bed. That takes up half of my freakin night anyway. Ugh. I never get a break.

-I'm going to post soon about the differences between Kyra as a 17 month old (that I can remember) and Maeve as a 17 month old. These two are NOTHING alike. Let's just say that I have my work cut out for me right now. *sigh*

-Still no fish for the damn aquarium. There's rocks, water, plants....but no fish. Richard is waiting for something to be shipped before putting them in. Apparently that "something" won't be here till Wednesday. Kyra thinks that she and her daddy will be buying fish for the aquarium this weekend. Richard said that he'll have to go out and buy at least one. Dude, next time don't make promises that you can't keep!

-Kyra astounded me tonight by explaining to me what a trapezoid is. WTF? Where is she learning all of this stuff?

-I have officially entered the wonderful world of Les Mills choreography again. Yep, already.

-I'm so damn tired all of the time. I think I need to get on some vitamins again. My prenatal ones ran out a while back. I stayed on them till after I weaned Maeve. I need something....and it ain't Red Bull either. ;)

-I seriously contemplated making Richard stop for Starbucks this week. I don't know why. I guess I am just in the mood. Then I saw how much carbs and sugar are in some of their lattes. Forget it.

-Kyra (and most importantly I) made it through another week of school. She wants to attend the "No Tardy Party" next month, so we shall be "on the ball". Not that we've been late or anything. I set TWO alarms in the mornings to make damn sure I get up.

-Maeve continues to amaze me with her vocabulary. She's saying new words daily.

-On Wednesday, Mr. Hot UPS Man delivered a package. Richard and I were sitting on the sofa. He left it at the side door again (Bless him). Mia went nuts as usual. I didn't see much of his face this time because he had some shades on. Upon seeing him leave, Richard said, "Yeah, I can see why you think he's hot." See?! I told you!

-All of this rain "hype" this weekend better in fact turn into at least a drop or two. I loved the rain last weekend. We need more of it.

-One of my good friends text messaged me today from Budapest, Hungary. Oh how I wish I were there! Instead I'm dealing with two children who can't get enough of the damn refrigerator. You would think I'm starving those two!

That's all I got. I'm out!

Aches and pains....

I know that I said in the last post that I was going to work out today, but screw it. I feel like I've been run over by a truck. I'm so tired and my BONES hurt. They truly ache. I think it's more than not stretching after I worked out yesterday. Does anyone feel achey when the weather changes? I wonder if it's pre-arthritis or something (which my sister gets). My dad broke both of his legs while in the Army and he said that he always feels horrible when the weather is about to change. He aches all over.

There is a front and supposedly some rain on the way. It's going to be rather chilly in the mornings next week too. Kyra will be thrilled. She loves wearing her light jacket to school (weird kid).

Happy Friday?

It's going to be a loooooong day. I went to bed late. Then Maeve was wailing at 4am. So I got up and rocked her and put her back to sleep. Then I couldn't go back to sleep. Ugh. So I've been up since then. Up until she woke up, I slept pretty good. I just hope that I make it through today. I don't plan on napping. I want to do Body Flow outside in Richard's shop. My legs are so incredibly sore today. They ache. I ran yesterday (4 miles). I didn't really stretch a lot afterwards, so that could be why they hurt. I'm hoping that doing Flow will alleviate some of that today.

I think that we are laying low this weekend (what's new? LOL!). Richard is off. I'll take the girls to church and I'll take Kyra to Sunday school on Sunday. I think Richard might be going fishing that morning. Plus it's supposed to rain (YAY!)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Wow.....

What a brave little girl!

Adult playtime.....

Kyra and Maeve have like 2 sets of these Sassy letters and numbers that stick to the bathtub or shower. Sometimes Kyra will take a bath with Maeve and sometimes she decides to shower on her own. As a result, we have some of these letters at the bottom of our shower in a corner. Today I decided to be creative, so I left a naughty word in the shower for Richard to read. He took a shower this afternoon and laughed. So that will be our entertainment from now on.....seeing what naughty words pop up in the shower. Fun, huh? LOL!

Maeve got one of those phonics caterpillars for her birthday and Richard was sitting on the floor one day trying to push F-U-C-K really fast so that it would sound like the caterpillar was saying that word. Well, little ears (like Kyra's) hear now and pick up on things like that rather quickly, so I told him to knock it off. (And you wonder who the children are around here.....)

So the next time you think your child's toy might be useless, think again.

Pray for me....

This afternoon, I'm watching a 9 month old in addition to my rambunctious 16 month old. This ought to be interesting. Granted, the 9 month old is an absolute sweetheart. It's my 16 month old that I'm quite worried about. She has a tendency to be quite a bully at times. Probably right about the time I get the hang of things, my moody and dramatic 5 year old will arrive home. Ugh.

I'll update after I've come off of the booze and the pills (I'm kidding!).

Ugh. So is this what I have to look forward to?

I was doing Kyra's hair this morning when she said, "Mommy, don't put that clip in my hair." I asked her why not. She said, "Because the boys on the bus (she sits by two boys) will mess with it and pull it out."

Well after hearing that my mommy radar immediately went up. Somebody is picking on my baby! I told Richard and he said that they probably have a crush on Kyra. He said that they wouldn't be picking on her if they didn't like her. He's probably right. *sigh*

I told Kyra that if it *really* bothers her that they do that, then she should sit elsewhere with another friend or by herself. I think it would be hard for her to do that though because one of the little boys is our next door neighbor and Kyra is pretty good friends with him.

Now that I think about it, he *must* like her because I heard Kyra talking about how another boy was saying, "Owee (his name is Orlando), there's your girlfriend" and pointing to Kyra on the playground. Kyra came home and told me repeatedly that she's NOT his girlfriend. Thatta girl!

*sigh* Kindergarten love. LOL!

24 hours straight....

Richard worked last night and attempted to stay up all day today visiting with my dad and playing with the kiddos. My dad and Kyra went to pick up pizza around 5:00 and shortly after that, Richard konked out on the sofa. He's still there now (it's nearly 10:00). Some funny things happened while Richard was out for the count.

I bathed the girls and after that Maeve discovered that her daddy went to sleep with a piece of pizza in his hand. I'm not kidding. Kyra tried to convince me of this earlier, but I didn't believe her. Maeve steals the pizza and starts eating it! LOL!

For some odd reason, I found the box of guitar picks on him too. I don't know if he put them there or one of the girls did. Who knows. And I bet he won't remember either.

Maeve decided that her daddy was a jungle gym and crawled all over him. He didn't flinch. She even moved his leg herself and pushed it on the floor! LOL!

Kyra decided that it would be fun to crown daddy "king", so she made a crown for him with some of those megablocks and put it on his head. Again, he didn't move.

Kyra also tried to talk me into letting her paint Richard's toenails. LMAO! Can you imagine the horror of that? He would wake up in the morning and be freaking out! She also wanted to do his fingernails. Too bad 8:00 rolled around fairly quickly and she had to go to bed.

I bet he won't believe me when I tell him these things in the morning! LOL!

Yeah, thanks a lot dad....

My dad came for a visit today. He bought Halloween goodies (already?) for the girls. He bought a packet of Halloween balloons and is blowing them up one at a time. Maeve is big a typical toddler yet again and running around screaming if Kyra doesn't give her a balloon. She then starts hitting Kyra. Ugh. Poor Kyra.

This kid has a temper that I've never witnessed before. And I've been around a heck of a lot of kids throughout my life. Seems like some kind of cruel joke that my kid is the worst that I've seen yet. *sigh* Yeah, that cute little face and those gorgeous blue eyes are all a front. Deep down, she's a maniac! LOL!

Fluke pukes....

Maeve puked in her bed last night after I put her down. So off to the tub we went around 9:30. You'd never know that she was asleep before that. That kid and played and played like it was her regular bathtime! LOL!

I got her out, got her dressed, and changed her sheets. I rocked her for a bit and prayed that their would be no episodes during the night. There weren't. But she and Kyra both thought that 6am was a fine time to wake up on a Saturday morning. Zzzzzzzz......damn kids!

So Maeve plays fine today, but is quite fussy. She's cutting the lovely molars right now and is having a heck of a time with that. She napped for 2.5 hours. I was so tired that I did too! LOL!

Fast forward to tonight. I do my good deed and take the kids to church. We sit down and we're not even 15 minutes into mass when Maeve pukes all over a blanket (which by the grace of God I decided to take inside), herself, and me. Lovely. I grab Kyra and tell her that we are leaving. She starts to cry. We can't leave church because we just got there. Crap. I tell her that her sister is full of puke, I'm full of puke and we are leaving! On the way out, we see the main priest that's outside. He comforts Kyra and asks why she's crying. I say, "Well her sister just puked inside, so we have to leave to get cleaned up." He tells Kyra that she should go with her mommy and help take care of her sister. I just love him. He's an old Irish priest that is just too darn cute. I love his homilies. He's so real.

So, we come home and Maeve has no more episodes. She plays just fine. She fights me at bedtime, but that's normal.

I did notice that both of the times that she had puked was after she had drank some milk. She had milk this morning too, but kept that down. Could she be allergic to it now? I'm just confused. We'll see what happens over the next few days and go from there.

Oh, and Kyra was horrible behavior-wise today. I kept thinking to myself, "This is the same kid that gets good behavior stickers at school?" She even told my dad tonight, "I was bad today and Maeve got sick. This was the worst day of my life!" LOL! Uh huh. Believe me, you've got it easy kid!

I can't believe I'm watching this....

This show is on and I'm bored, so I'm watching it. Ugh. What a trainwreck!

I really don't get the point of this show. First of all, you're a "has been" celebrity. Was your previous "job" not enough for you? Are you in the show just to gain publicity again? (This is my theory) If you win this show, do you want a record deal?

And they are singing DUETS! The celebrity singer is always going to sound better than they do!

I think it's all "for show". It looks like they want the show to be the next "Dancing With The Stars". Um, too little, too late. The "Skating With Celebrities" show was a flop. This one will be too.

BUT, if they'd let them have a few brews before the show to loosen up, then I'd totally watch that. Imagine the slurred songs and the stumbling on stage! LOL!

Damn, I'm all about YouTube this week....

It bothers me how they call her "his wife".

All I have to say is.....

OUCH!

Hey you.....

If you read this blog, remember that you can sign up with blogger, but you don't have to blog at all. This is for those of you that read it and may want to comment on certain posts. If you need help, please let me know!

For Jen.....

Think you can teach Kansas and Leo? ;)

So he *is* good for something....

For the longest time, our dishwasher hasn't been getting things clean. So Richard unhooked everything, pulled it out, and took it outside where he proceeded to pull off all of the hoses and drains and SOS the eff out of it. He got the water hose and sprayed the heck out of it. He dried it off and hauled it back inside. He pushed it back in and attached everything and it's now running an empty cycle. Pray that 1.) There's no leaks and 2.) That it starts to get my damn dishes clean again!

Richard's next project: the shocks on my car. Right now, it sounds like two people having a little nookie in a lowrider! LOL!

Oh, and while we are on the subject of Richard, I'd like to report that the aquarium is up and running. It WILL NOT be a natural tank. (Thank God) We still have to get fish and all of that, but it does have rocks and water in it and the motor is running. So that's a start!

BUT, he also went and bought a 2nd hand kayak yesterday. (WTF? A boat isn't enough?) I swear he has an illness.

Damn song....

Now this one is stuck in my head! Ugh!

Hey Ya.....

Different, isn't it? ;)

Idiots....

I knew their fans were bad, but this is ridiculous.

Show some class, will ya?

Dishing about the girls....

It's been a while since I've truly updated on how the girls are doing. The truth is that they've been busy. I hope I can remember all that's been going on. ;)

Maeve is now 16 months old. She's a fiesty little girl. I think the Terrible Two's have hit quite early. Man can that girl throw a tantrum. It's insane. I've never seen anything like it. We are so screwed. But then she can be the sweetest and most gentle kid. She loves to cuddle with me and adores Kyra and Mia. Mia is her only playmate during the day now. It's kind of sad actually because she'll walk around saying, "Kyra?" She misses her sister while she's at school.

As you can tell, she's got quite a vocabulary these days. I'd have to say that her favorite word is "daddy". She is constantly looking for Richard or calling out to him. Other words that she says are: "mama", "Kyra", "Mia", "Papoo" (and she points to his picture too! Cute!), "night, night", "pickle", "cracker", "ba ba" (for milk), "no", "yeah" "hi", "bye bye", and "doggie". This morning I took her in the jogger and ran and she heard dogs barking at us. Usually, she'll say, "doggie", but today she barked back at them! LOL! Maeve is also a wonderful eater. She'll eat anything. So the fridge is a favorite of hers. She's good at leading me around and letting me know what she wants. I like that she can communicate more with us now. Even though she's a handful, she's at a fun age where she's interested in the origin of everything.

Kyra is adjusting to Kindy quite well. I take her in the mornings, but she rides the bus home. Maeve loves waiting for her in front of our house. I'm really proud of Kyra because she's been eating a lot in the cafeteria at school. She's trying new foods and not such a picky eater anymore. I credit her sister and some "peer pressure" for that. Kyra has homework on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She's learning to read sight words and she's learning to write beautifully. I can't believe how much she's improved on just writing her name in such a short time. On Tuesday afternoons after school, she takes dancing across the street. She loves that. Then this Sunday, she starts catechism classes at the church across the street from us. Today, we got a notice in the mail for that with her name on it. She thought that the letter was from God. She said, "I guess God knows my name!" LOL!

Kyra told me that she was a little mad at recess today because some of the kids that are in same class as the little boy next door called Kyra "his girlfriend". LOL! Kyra told me, "I'm not anybody's girlfriend!" You go girl! She also told me that her best friend at school copies everything that she does! Imagine that! I'm sure Kyra is used to it. Maeve does the same thing. ;)

Mia is well, just Mia. She hasn't changed one bit. She's still lazy and loves these girls. She hasn't moved from the sofa tonight. I saw her go outside to potty and then she came back in and put herself right back in the same spot! LOL!

As if the last idea wasn't crazy enough....

The neighbor next door has one of those pentagon-shaped standing fish tanks that he wants to get rid of. Guess who wants to buy it? Yep, my dear husband. He's getting Kyra all excited about it. That's fine. Maybe it'll teach her some responsibility. She'll now feed the dog and the fish.

So I was pretty much all for this idea until Richard started talking about how he wanted to go out and catch the fish that he'd put in it. (WTF?) I guess buying some fish at the pet store isn't challenging enough for him. He wants to use all natural plants and chemicals. So it's starting to sound more like a project or hobby. He's doing research on the internet to see how to go about doing all of this. I just hope that it doesn't 1.) turn into a money pit and 2.) turn into MY project. I told him that I'm not cleaning the damn thing. I saw how my mom cussed the itty bitty aquariums that my sister and I had in our rooms when we were kids. I think she actually prayed for the fish to die so she wouldn't have to deal with maintaining them anymore! LOL!

So once again, I sit here asking myself, "Why can't he be NORMAL and do NORMAL things?" He always has to make things more difficult. Ugh.

I'm all for water conservation, but......

My husband is so funny. I guess he and the neighbor were sharing stories about how to keep the yard green last night. So the neighbor guy told Richard that for a while, he was telling his wife not to drain the bath water that the kids had bathed in. He put it in buckets and dumped it in the yard! OMG! LOL! Richard was ticked that he didn't come up with that idea first! You see, Richard is known as the "gypsy king" around here and if there's a easy way out, then he'll find it. He wheels and deals like nobody that I've ever known. He knows a good buy when he sees one. He loves garage sales. I guess this is why I've grown to love my consignment shop so much. I get all giddy when I get something for cheap. At least I know now who I got it from. ;)

Another weird thing about me.....

I'm very much a morning person. A lot of people aren't. But I am. I have trouble getting up at first, but once I'm up, I'm ready to go. It's been quite an adjustment getting up a little after 6 now that Kyra's in Kindy, but I'm actually beginning to like it. I get Kyra dressed in her room and do her hair. We chat. It's kind of like our own little time. On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, I take her to school by myself since Richard is off. I look forward to walking alone with her and saying goodbye.

I also like to work out in the mornings. I want to get it over and done with. I don't like waiting till the end of the day to work out. I never have. I'd much rather take/teach a morning class. I also run a few times a week in the morning. Since I take Maeve in the jogger, I prefer to do it earlier since it's much cooler.

Everything is just fresh and new in the morning. The air is cool. It's quieter. You just take notice of so many things.

I always knew that I would be a morning person when we would get a head start for vacations at like 3 in the morning. My mom and sister would be crashed in the backseat and I would be in the front seat navigating with my dad.

In fact, it's now 9:00 and I'm ready to go to bed. So I'm definitely not a night owl. ;)

It's that time of year again.....

I start to see black and orange. I start to see costumes and oodles of scary things. Kyra comes up with ideas.....some questions even. Yes, Halloween is just around the corner and I don't like it one bit.

I cringed when we went to Walmart on Saturday. They have all of their stuff out and Kyra wants to walk through the aisles and pick out a costume. I told her that we still have plenty of time yet. I just wanted to get the heck out of there!

In case you missed why I don't like Halloween, let me refresh your memory.

Ugh. I hate this time of year. The worst part about it is that I'll be seeing it all for the next TWO MONTHS! :(

My newest guilty pleasure......

I absolutely adore this show. I can't get enough of it. Richard is laughing at me. :(

Yeah and loads of thanks to Krishna and Richard for mentioning it while we were there! LOL!

It's raining!

I guess that God actually heard Kyra's prayer tonight because it's raining! I walked outside and it smells like rain too. Ahhhhh......I guess I need to blog about rain more often! LOL!

Now if it would just stick around for a while!

So how long has it been?

Maeve goes to sleep at night to a certain CD....one that contains sounds of ocean waves, guitar, and thunder. Thunder. Gosh, I can't remember the last time I heard a clap of thunder. I walked into her room tonight and stood there thinking that I really miss the stray thunderstorm. Heck, I miss everything that comes with it.....the thunder, the beautiful or scary lightning, the gusty wind, the pounding rain. Nothing is better than being inside during a rainy day and knowing that you don't have to go anywhere and get out in it.

I hated thunderstorms when I was a kid. When my sister and I were home alone and one hit, we'd flee to the neighbor's house. No kidding. I was so scared. Things have changed now. I always say a quick prayer to be protected during one and then go to comfort Kyra. She's not scared of them....just more anxious about what's going on. She'll insist that we light a candle or grab a flashlight in case the lights go out. LOL! Mia is oblivious to them. Thank God. A lot of dogs freak out including my sister's dog, Calli. She hates them.

I really hope we get some rain soon. More than anything, I think I need it for piece of mind. I'd like to know that God can still make it rain! ;)