It's Halloween

Today was awesome. My whole day was spent with family. After breakfast this morning we headed out to buy some goodies at the Bake Sale that my oldest was having to raise money for his Robotics team. While we were there we got to see some old friends which was nice. After lunch we went to the nursing home to visit my Poppop (my grandfather) and attend the Halloween party. The kids had lots of fun and seeing the smile on Poppops face made my whole day. He has always loved Halloween and today was no different. After dinner we headed out to trick or treat, stopping at all our normal stops and seeing friends and family along the way. Watching my kids enjoying the holiday and getting to see some rarely seen friends made today hard to top......but it does get better. One of my favorite shows is on tonight.....Ghosthunters. And they are LIVE from Ft. Delaware which I can practically see from my house. I wish everyday could be this good.....and I hope that you had a great Halloween too!

Do cows snore?

I had oral surgery today so I'm in a cranky mood, plus I'm still tired from the anesthesia. But I have a cute story to tell you before I take another vicodin and pass out on the couch. This morning as we pulled into my mother-in-laws driveway, I said Hello to the cows. My middle son chirped up and asked if Cows snore when they sleep and if they do does it sound like this "(please add your own snoring sound here) mooooooo, snore moo, snore moo. I know it was funnier because we were there listening to him make the sounds but I hope you can enjoy it anyhow. Have a great night and I will blog tomorrow about our Halloween experiences.

Favorite Part

Every night we put the boys to bed and ask them about their day. Not that we dont know what is going on, but we like to hear them explain their favorite part. Tonight when I put my youngest to bed I asked him what his favorite part of today was and he said "My favorite part was my nap". That boy is a mini-me :-)

Flushing Fear

I am almost afraid to admit this, but it is too funny not to share. My middle son is afraid of public toilets. He has a germ phobia and loud noises scare him, so that creepy combo sets us up for lots of laughs. Today while we were at Walmart he told me he needed to go poop. As he was sitting on the toilet he leaned forward and the automatic flusher apparently thought he had gotten up because it flushed. My poor child almost died on the spot with all that noise and the water rushing beneath him. I was trying not to laugh and trying to get him to stay on the toilet. He just barely caught his breath before it flushed again. Then he jumps off the toilet with you-know-what half hanging out. I could not get him to sit down again, so believe me when I say that was an awkward mess to clean. I am SO glad I took him to the potty because if he did that with Daddy Im not so sure they both would have come out of that bathroom in one piece.

Heat

We turned the heat on this morning. My plan was to wait as long as we could before we turned it on, because oil cost more than gold nowadays. I bundle the boys up and they each have several blankets on their beds. Then we wear sweats all day, for comfort and for warmth. Hubby came home from working the overnight shift, woke me and said it was cold and he wanted to turn the heat on. In my still-asleep mind, that seemed like a good idea. Now that I am awake and thinking clearly, I wish I had said no. Once the heat is on, its on. So goodbye money. We didnt have much of you to begin with but now it will be even less. And come Christmas morning when the boys have big boxes of warm air to open, we will all remember that I wanted to wait to turn the heat on.

Is it just me??

My mom thinks Im crazy because sometimes after I turn off the stove I will touch the burners to see if the are cool. This way I know if I can set things down without worrying if they will burn. Well, today I forgot to turn off the burner and awhile later I touched it and burned 4 fingers. I CAN'T be the only one who does this.......even my dad admitted that he does this. So I am asking if anyone else out there does this too????

Apple picking

We went to the orchard and got apples today. So I spent the afternoon with one of my favorite kitchen gadgets. I really dont know what the name is, but it is wonderful. It peels, slices and cores apples and all you have to do it turn the crank. AWESOME! After all the apples were done, I assembled 4 pans for apple crisp and one pie. I put the pie in the oven and started on the topping for the apple crisp. An hour after the crisps were all in the freezer I realized that I forgot to put the eggs in the topping. Darn....now I have 4 trays and who knows how they will turn out. Are eggs really that important? Dont answer that. Then, if that wasnt enough, I burned 4 fingers on my left hand when I touched the burner. Apparently I left it on. I should have stayed out of the kitchen today :-(

I'm Back!

Thats right, I'm back. Did you miss me? I just spend a wonderful weekend camping in Lancaster County, PA. Oh, your not surprised? OK....I understand, but I am going to tell you about the trip anyway. We left on Friday, and our plans had to be changed due to rainy weather that was coming in on Saturday. After we got to the campground we set up and decided to take the boys to Cherry Crest Farm that afternoon. My thoughts were that we could go through the corn maze and do some of the other activities while the weather was still dry. Yes, it was chilly and damp but we were all ok with that. The boys had a blast. First we slid down the huge slide, then they jumped on the barnyard jumper. After that we tackled the corn maze. It took us an hour and six minutes, and we we sort of rushing. It was dinner time and no one had had a nap that day. We stopped for dinner at the Red Caboose Dining Car and the boys were in Heaven when they pushed the button to make it feel like we were riding along the rails. Saturday morning we got up and headed out to eat. After stuffing ourselves with a yummy breakfast we did some shopping, then more shopping and then more shopping. Then we took the boys to Strasburg Railroad to ride the train. The timing was great because the rain had just started and we were almost done for the day. We spend all evening cooped up in the camper, which nearly killed hubby. (see previous post Farmer) Sitting still is downright torture for him. So being rained in all night seemed like water-torture, lol. Sorry, I shouldnt laugh but I cant help it. He is a busy, busy person and Im more laid back and lazy. Today we woke up and ate breakfast, then I coersed hubby into driving me to the coffeeshop at the end of the road. Then we packed up and headed home. This was our last camping trip of the year, which is sad for us because we love camping so much. But hopefully Spring will come quickly so we can be off on another adventure.

Hard Work

Yesterday I bragged about Hubby. Im not going to do that today. Not because he turned into an awful person overnight but because he crossed the line. He implied that I do Nothing all day. All stay at home moms Dread that implication. We all know the truth and we know that staying home full time with our children is WORK. It is hard work trying to concentrate and write a blog while the kids are wrestling over the remote right in front of us. It is hard work trying to dodge flying food while trying to eat our lunch. It is hard work pushing toys to the side so we can walk through the living room to get ourselves another cup of decaf. Sheesh! How much more work do men expect from us? Is this the dark-ages?

My playdate

I used to nap every afternoon. Now I nap about 2 or 3 days a week. That's thanks to my new medicine Enbrel. But this post isn't about medicine or naps. It is about what I do in the afternoon on the days when I don't nap. Those precious hours when I used to sleep are now filled with the crazy notions of an overactive 4 (soon to be 5) year old mind. My adorable child never ceases to amaze me the the games he thinks up for us to play. Yesterday we played several things but my favorite would have to be Bubble Doctor. I had to blow bubbles and catch them on the wand so that he (the doctor) could take his little key chain light to inspect the bubbles. If they were sick we popped the bubbles but if the were OK we set them free. I'm trying not to read too much into that because I don't want to think that my precious son would dispose of me if I ever got that sick, lol. Today we built a wind-scraper (skyscraper but his way of saying it is cuter)out of alphabet blocks. Then we arranged the blocks in alphabetical order and sang the alphabet skipping over the missing letters. That was actually pretty funny since we are missing several. Then we built a maze, raced cars, played "hockey" using wooden blocks and a basin for a net. Checkers was next.....and we don't have a checker board so this was basically a free for all, just to see who could jump over the other faster. Crazy stuff! We set up a blanket and went camping, complete with going out to his "restaurant" for dinner and then back to our make-shift campsite for a campfire, s'mores, ghost stories and campfire songs. Then my little one woke from his nap and our playdate was over. I love hearing all the ideas come flooding out of him.....he can turn anything into an adventure and I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Farmer

I married a Farmer. That short sentence says so much. It says that my hubby is a work-horse and never stops moving. His work ethic is incredible and I truly believe that he is uncomfortable sitting still. It also means that he didn't get a lot of the normal parenting that the rest of us did. He got up before the sun to milk cows and he worked in the barn until almost midnight. And that started when he was a little boy. No after school or Saturday morning cartoons. No family vacations. No sympathy if he didn't feel well. The cows needed to be milked. Considering all that he turned out pretty good. He still has some carry-over quirks from his childhood years but who doesn't. There are often times when we butt heads over how to handle situations with the boys, but thankfully he always takes the time to explain his side of it. And while I may not agree, I can understand where he is coming from....after all, his skewed (it that a real word?) view came directly from his upbringing. He thinks the boys should be more mature than they are (even at age 4....which TOTALLY aggravates me), and he hates that the oldest is lazy and needs pushing. Oh but there are some wonderful things that came out of his farm-raising. Take for instance our trip home from soccer last night. A fellow farmer was ahead of us in his combine. His trailer hitch snapped, sending the trailer across the road and part way under the guard rail. Hubby never thought twice, he just pulled over and turned on the 4way flashers. My boys and I sat and watched him work for the next 15 minutes to help out that farmer. It didn't matter to him that he had just finished working a 12 hour shift or sitting through a soccer game and a few playful minutes on the playground. Nope, all that mattered was that he is a worker and when he sees someone need help, he helps. I am hoping that my young boys will learn from this, and turn out to be just like Daddy.

Super Frugal Recipe- Spaghetti Pie

My family LOVES when I make Spaghetti pie, which is great because it is so cheap and so easy. The recipe makes enough for 3 pans (3 dinners!!) and the best part is that you only have to do the work once! Just make some Broccoli and biscuits and you have a complete dinner.

Spaghetti Pie
1 onion, chopped
1 box Spaghetti (any long pasta, I love angel hair)
1 pound shredded mozzarella
1 pound ground beef (or ground turkey)
1 jar Spaghetti sauce (I always doctor mine up with herbs)
5 eggs (whip with a fork to mix)
4 Tbs. butter or margarine
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3-4 cups Ricotta
3 square pans (I buy 8x8 foil pans)


Cook spaghetti noodles and drain. Stir in butter. Stir in eggs and Parmesan cheese. Divide the spaghetti mixture between the 3 pans to form the "crust". In skillet, brown ground beef with onions then drain. Stir ground beef mixture into Spaghetti sauce and heat through. Spread ricotta cheese evenly over spaghetti crust and top with spaghetti sauce. Then top with shredded mozzarella. At this point I cook ONE of the pans and cover the other two with plastic wrap and foil. Label them with cooking directions : Thaw in refrigerator. Remove plastic wrap and replace foil. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil then bake additional 23-30 minutes or until hot in center and cheese is melted.

I love this recipe because it allows me to stretch a few items into 3 dinners, and with grocery prices going skyhigh this is a blessing. Enjoy!!

My lifeguard

Do you ever feel like you ask too much from God? I pray constantly throughout my day, about everything whether it is big or small. I have learned (and Im still learning) that I need to hand over any problem because I can not handle it alone. I also go to God with all my joys, big and small. Because He is the one who sends those joys my way. And believe me, I know that everything in my life is a blessing that He gave to me...there are no other explanations. Here lately I have been wondering if you can ask God for too much and if so, how much is too much? I dont ask for my son's team to win the soccer game or that we win the lottery, but I have on occasion asked for guidance or direction in finding a missing blankie (ok, I admit that happens more than occasionally). Is that wrong? I dont think so. I think God wants us to depend on him completely, no matter how small, He wants to be our Go-To-Guy. I have felt guilty in the past for praying for small things because Me praying for my little ones runny nose to get better just doesnt seem to compare to someone who may be praying for a loved one who is dying of cancer. In our minds, those dont compare....but I believe that God doesnt compare them. I believe he takes both requests seriously and answers them. It may not be the answer we want but He always knows what is best. So if you dont pray regularly, give it a try....you might be surprised how much better you feel unloading all that stuff that weighs you down.

BBQ Heaven

I'm feeling much better this morning, so I want to tell you about our fabulous Saturday outing. Hubby and I took the little ones to the Delaware State BBQ championships in Dover, DE. It was held on the infield of Dover Speedway. We went last year and had fun so we didnt want to miss it this year....plus hubby has a serious BBQ fetish. The weather was cold, windy and very cloudy. But we bundled up and headed south anyway! Our first stop was to get lunch....ribs, brisket and chicken fingers. Both little ones tried the ribs and loved them (which made me with wish we hadnt bought those stupid $6 chicken fingers), messy fingers and all. Then we made our way over to Lightning McQueen, where they were able to sit in the drivers seat and have their pictures taken. Then it was over to the Bungee jump (not the jump off a cliff kind). Once they had their harnesses on, they took turns being hooked up and hoisted up. They jumped and jumped until their faces hurt from smiling too much. It was so funny and so much fun to watch. Then we walked through a few RV's that were for sale. Clifford the Big Red Dog Bounce House was next....and the whole time they were jumping I was trying to convince my husband that we NEED a bounce house for our yard....but he wasnt buying it. After eating s'mores and another turn in the bounce house it was off to get hubby more BBQ....after all, it was a BBQ festival. He also bought some BBQ to take home for dinner. It was getting late, so we decided to head to the car show that was on pit road and then we headed home. It was the most fun and exhausting day we have had in a long, long time.

P.S. We had ribs for dinner that night...surprise, surprise!

Bummer

My plan was to write a blog about all the fun we had yesterday, after all it was one of the best days ever. But I have a headache. Not just any headache, but a headache that has made me incredibly cranky and miserable. So there is no way to put all the joy we experienced into a blog when I feel this stinkin' crappy. So I will have to get back to you on that.....and now I will go bury my head under a pillow and pray my boys play quietly until bedtime.

Im still a girl....

I have spent most of the last 17 years immersed in boy stuff. And I mean ALL boy stuff. Trains, trucks, dinosaurs, video games, soccer balls, spiderman......you get the hint. I have 3 sons, so I never thought twice about it. I became very good at playing pirates, pretending to be on camping trips and racing matchbox cars through the kitchen. Then this morning I came face to face with a challenge to my membership in the Girl club. Wow. I had no idea that if you neglect girly stuff, that eventually you risk being an outsider. But there I was trying my hardest to keep my girly badge. It happened at the Hairdresser, of all places. This hairdresser, where we take our boys for haircuts just happens to have a playroom in the back. My kids love going there so they can play with this huge collection of new-to-them toys. I on the other hand cringe at the idea....not knowing what snot-nose sickly kid played in there before my boys. But thats another post. So back to my point.....My youngest holds up a Barbie doll and asks what it is. I thought that was cute and funny since he is 3 and that might be the first doll he has ever seen. She was naked too, but that didnt bother him. He held Barbie up by her ankles and stared at her, not knowing what to do with "it". Then I spotted a dress and decided it would be more appropriate for Barbie to be dressed. I am ashamed to admit that I spent the next 5 minutes trying to get this dress on Barbie. I tried putting the dress over her head and I tried the feet first method but I could not for the life of me, get this doll dressed. I was seriously starting to question my own girly-hood. Wasnt I the one who had a big box of barbies.....I had a Barbie house, Heck, I even had the Barbie RV. I was obsessed with Barbie. But here I stand, trying in vain to dress this stupid doll and it was winning. Hmph! I threw the dress in the toybox, admitting defeat but then a piece of fabric caught my eye. When I picked it up I smiled, hoping that this would be easier and it was. This dress slid right onto the Barbie with no fight at all. Maybe the other dress was too small.....yes, thats my story and Im sticking to it.

Playdough

I ROCK playdough.... see...I made an apple, corn on the cob and a pumpkin. I dont think you can see the wonderful and mind boggling details...but just so you know I worked very hard on these. Right after making Lightning McQueen and Spongebob Squarepants. I guess this shows how much contact I get with the outside world, right? Save me!

Naptime

It is 1:30, which in my house means Naptime. Oh yes, that is my favorite part of the day for so many reasons. Anyone who knows me knows that I nap alot, pretty much every day. My illness robs me of precious energy that most people take for granted, and my afternoon naps make it possible for me to continue on and finish my day. Besides naptime helping me to re-gain some lost energy it also gives my frazzled mommy nerves a few quiet moments to calm down. For over an hour there is no one calling "Mommy!" "Mommy!!" and that silence is golden. I have been thinking alot about everything that I could get done if I didnt nap every afternoon, and here are some of my ideas.......I could clean my house, read a book, finish my sewing projects, take an online college course, call a friend, clean my house (oops, already said that....but my house is messy enough to mention twice), do my christmas shopping online, watch a grown up television show, etc, etc, etc....You get the idea. Just the thought of getting some of those things done makes me perk up and feel like making a checklist. But that would mean I have to get off this couch and right now Im just too tired to do that. So I will assume my position on this couch and Nap like the pro that I am. Sweet dreams ;-)

Blog lurking

I was thinking about how I spend so much time going from blog to blog, looking into other peoples lives. I have a few blogs that I follow regularly but more than that, I start on one blog and then find who THEY follow and then click on which one sounds the most interesting. Then I read that blog and again I will look for their follow list and pick one to look at. I repeat this almost endlessly....and I love it. Im not sure why I find peering into other peoples lives interesting, but I do. Anyone who is a blog lurker is guilty of this, but if you think about it... who takes the time to build a blog and doesnt want the world to see it? Everytime I get a new follower I am thrilled. It is like getting picked to play on the better team in grammar school gym class. So Im pretty sure all those blogs that I stumble across have blog owners who are happy that I stopped by to check them out.

Undies

Yesterday my youngest son asked to wear big boy underpants. This brought me some very mixed emotions. The rational side of me jumped for joy thinking that he might be interested enough to actually potty train, therefore we would be able to stop buying diapers. Then the mommy in me took over with a gut wrenching dread that my baby boy wont be a baby much longer. Dont say it's time for another one, believe me if I was a little younger and a lot healthier I would have liked one more (especially if it was another boy)....but it is what it is and I cant have any more children. I did in fact put a pair of undies on him and he was so proud. He dribbled a bit and stopped himself, which shocked me and made me very happy. But that was last night.....and he still hasnt actually "gone" on the potty. Today he is all about the diapers saying he doesnt like big boy pants.....so the mommy in me won this battle. At least for a few more months.

We decorated pumpkins this morning....What do you think of our artwork? Of course there was more marker on the kids and the table than on the pumpkins....but we had fun and that is all that counts. I had all intentions of putting these back outside for decoration but then had second thoughts....considering we used washable markers and I think the rain might wash the pictures away. I wonder how traumatizing that would be to a 3 year old??

They only last an hour...

My boys sat and played quietly for an hour in church this morning.....its just too bad that the service lasted an hour and a half. It was the church's 175th Anniversary and they had all the past pastors and the Bishop speaking. So the last half hour I spent trying to keep a mouthy 3 year old and a hungry 4 year old quiet....it was not fun. Here are just a few of the wonderful things my children said during church today.....(Im so proud, NOT) "Mommy I farted", "HUNGRY! HUNGRY NOW" and "Are they done yet?" The whirlwind aftermath of my precious young 'uns was apparent in the crayon art left on the pew cushion and the smashed goldfish and cereal left on the floor. Oh yes! There is no denying that we were in that pew longer than expected. Thankfully God loves us all.....even if we color on his pretty blue pew cushions.

Saturday Happenings

Being that today was Saturday, I didn't plan to blog....but so many cool things happened that I wanted to share. For starters my oldest had a competition. He is on the local Robotics team and every Fall they host the Duel on the Delaware. It is an off-season event, but there are still about 30 or more teams and lots of excitement. His team did great, and they made it to the quarter-finals. We watched about 3 hours of the competition, but with two little ones we just couldn't stay for the whole 8 hour day. After we left we headed home and all took a nap ....nothing beats a good ol family nap. We all got up refreshed and ready to tackle the rest of our day. My two little guys helped me make a big batch of peanut butter chip brownies...YUM. I love baking with my kids....and they love it too. After dinner it was bath time and I had my middle son try on a few pair of pants to see what he will be wearing to church in the morning. Then after the boys were in bed, me and hubby sat down to watch the Nascar race (and blog).
Not the most exciting day ever....but it was all good :-) I hope you are all enjoying your weekend....God Bless!!

Lemon Sponge Pie Recipe

Ok, I am posting the recipe for the fabulous Lemon Sponge Pie (I give all the credit to "Kitty" who posted it on Allrecipes.com) It is rather easy to make and tastes awesome. On the otherhand my Orange sponge pie kinda bombed. I put too much OJ and didnt cook it long enough so it is soupy. EW. I never said I was a good pie maker. So try the Lemon sponge and skip the orange sponge, trust me.

Lemon Sponge Pie
ingredients:
1 unbaked pie crust
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/4 cups white sugar
4 egg yolks, beaten
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 pinch salt
1 1/4 cups milk
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
1/3 cup lemon juice
4 egg whites

directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar.
Beat the egg yolks, flour, salt, milk, grated zest, and lemon juice into the creamed mixture.
In a clean bowl and with clean beaters, beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold the egg whites into the filling.
Pour into unbaked pie crust.
Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperate to 300 degrees and bake for an additional 45 minutes or until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Pie Maker

I have a pie in the oven...it is an Orange Sponge pie. I took one of my favorite recipes (Lemon Sponge Pie) and tweaked it. I wont know how it turns out until after dinner tonight. I have to admit I rarely make pie. Which is terrible considering my hubby LOVES pie more than most things in the world. I do however make lots of cakes, because Im lazy and they come in boxes. Hubby hates cake. But today as I was preparing the pie to be baked I made myself a promise to make at least one pie each month for hubby. He is a nice guy and he works hard, so I suppose he deserves a treat once in awhile.

Brotherly love

Everyday I learn more and more about the bond between brothers. I know that I have heard stories from my parents about how I worshiped my older brother and followed him around like a brainwashed cult member....but I dont remember that at all. In fact, Im not sure I would follow him out of a burning building but we wont go into all that now......so my two youngest are only about 20 months apart. This means that the youngest thinks his older brother is the smartest, funniest, most interesting person EVER. He wants what big brother wants, he says what big brother says, etc...you get the hint. Well recently my middle son is going through a stage (Oh, please God let it be a temporary stage!!!) where he is scared of just about everything. One example is the Disney Cars movie. My boys have seen this movie enough times to break a world record. But now my middle son is scared to death of the movie....and all of the Cars toys, pictures, cups, etc that we have around the house. On the other hand, my youngest still LOVES Cars and now he is caught in a postion between the love of his favorite movie and his admiration for his all-knowing big brother. Just this morning as they were eating breakfast my middle son tells me that he cannot drink from his cup (it has pictures of Lightning McQueen on it) because it "freaks him out". We spent the next 5 minutes searching for a cup that doesnt have any Cars characters OR the colors red or blue because they also remind him of the terribly frightening Cars movie....oh ok, whatever. I finally get him settled away with a nice plain green cup and then my youngest decides that he needs to be just like brother......and he chirps up and tells me that his sippy cup "Freaks Me UP!" Good thing for me that as soon as big brother left the room he continued to use his "freaky" Cars sippy cup. I guess brother-worship only applies if the older brother is in the same room?

I have to go to the doctors this morning. But there is nothing new or unusual about that, really. I spend way too much time between my PCP and my 2 specialists. I think at this point I should have a frequent patient discount card. My insurance company thinks otherwise, they still make me pay $30 a visit. This depresses me since most visits are 10 minutes long and consist of "How are you feeling? and How is the medicine working?" Well HECK, I could tell them that on the phone or email....but NO they wont allow that. So off I go to drop another $30 and have a bitch session....Hey wait! Maybe I should start treating these visits like therapy and really get my moneys worth. Then they would be so sick of listening to me that they would NOT make me come back as often. Just an idea.

PS....It sucks to have a chronic illness

a messy condition

Im searching the internet looking for a mental condition that will explain why my house is always a mess. Nowadays there are diagnosis for everything.....OCD, ADD, RA, etc.....I want my own letters. Something I can use next time I have an unexpected visitor who has to climb over a mountain of laundry to sit on my couch....or one that has to pass through the extensive and highly skilled obstactle course that my little ones "build" in my living room. Wouldnt it be nice to be able to stop and say " Im sorry you sprained your ankle while gracefully hurtling over that train station.....that wouldnt have happened if I didnt have "insert diagnosis here" ". Yeah, maybe it could be called Chronic Messy Syndrome or CMS for short. Im sure Im not the only one with this condition.....maybe there are lots of people out there and once we find each other we can start a support group. Oh, better yet, MAYBE we can submit our condition to our insurance companies who will then pay for us to have housekeepers. Sounds good to me....as long as she doesnt sprain her ankle too.

Boys

My mornings are filled with loud, hungry boys. They never seem to amaze me how loud or how hungry they can get. I keep wondering how we will afford to feed these bottomless pits when they reach their teen years. Besides being famished they are also super-charged after a night of sleep. That means they bounce off the walls unless I find them a nice activity to use up their overabundance of energy. I wonder if little girls are this hyped up and crazy? I know girls are over-dramatic and moody and that they are capable of playing quietly with dolls. Boys dont play quiet, EVER. When they are quiet it means they are doing something that they arent supposed to do. Wow...perfect timing....my youngest just came in the room covered in ink so that just proves my point because he was quiet for about 2 minutes. Well, off I go to get him de-inked.

I hate needles

Two weeks ago I started a new treatment for my auto-immune disease. Instead of adding more pills to my daily regime, I was given injections to be taken twice a week. That means I had to learn to give myself shots. UGH. I hate needles.....but more than that, I hate the idea of giving myself a needle. I know there are lots of people out there who give themselves daily injections and I give a big pat on the back to them.....your better than me. My first attempt was embarassing.....I sat in the doctors office while a super-nice nurse gave me step by step instructions on how to mix the medication and how to get the syringe ready. Then it was my turn....ok, wipe with the alcohol then poke. Stupid needle bounced off my stomach. So I back it up, trying to add a little force to my jab.....poke....again it bounced off my stomach. At this point the super-nice nurse seemed like I was annoying her and she grabbed the syringe and gave me the shot. Crap. I failed my lesson.....plus I was sent out the door wondering if I could handle such a huge responsiblity. Thankfully DH is experienced in giving injections. Ok, he is experienced at giving pennicillin shots to Cows, but how much different could it be, right?

Follow up......I did in fact learn to give myself injections. Yay me! DH left a bruise when he gave me the second shot.....must be because my skin is slightly thinner than cow hide. So out of desperation, I gave myself the last two injections. Again...yay me! The idea still creeps out but the medicine is working so it is totally worth it.

Christmas is coming

Christmas is coming and I cant wait. My 2 youngest boys are at a perfect age and the thought of seeing their happy faces on Christmas morning is making me even more excited. This year things are tight....so there wont be much under the tree but that doesnt even matter. They arent old enough to remember that they got more in the years past. Nope, no stress of having to explain the lack of presents....just pure excitement and joy at the one or two gifts that they will get. And I cant wait....

boardwalk fighting

ooohhhh ok, so I want to talk about "those" people and their embarrassing kids. You know who Im talking about....the ones with the kids who are loud and fight in public. No matter what the parents try to do, the kids really seem like they are running the show. We have all seen these kids while we were out shopping or at an amusement park or maybe on tv. Well, this past summer two of "those" kids were riding amusement rides at the Jersey Shore. Oh boy, that little one was spunky....he and his older brother were riding in the backseat of a kiddie boat and they were fighting over who would ring the bell. You would think that the bigger one would win the fight, but that little guy gave him a run for his money....he was screaming, hitting and pulling hair while his brother screamed and hit back. I just knew one of those little terrors were going to fall out of that boat. Everyone around the whole kiddie ride were watching these two to see how bad it was going to get...and did I mention their mom? She was screaming at the top of her lungs, desperate to get them to stop fighting but unable to reach them because they were floating on this kiddie boat ride. And the father, he was beside himself....totally embarrassed and mad beyond mad. People were pointing and laughing, all watching those boys with that "glad they're not my kids" look.....oh yeah, it was something to see.....and did I mention they were my beautiful, normally well-behaved boys? See, it can happen to any of us....and by the way, my DH is still mortified. Wish me luck getting him back to the Jersey Shore.

New blogger

I'm really new to this blogging thing...in fact one week ago I really didnt know what a blog was. But after reading one blog and finding the links that took me to related blogs I was hooked. I found myself spending way too much time reading about all the cute and funny things happening in other peoples homes and realized that my home is just as funny and cute. ok, maybe not everyday but most days. So this is my blog....and I hope you like it enough to follow me on my blogging adventures.