Fun night!

Last night I went to my first Passions Party. Um, I'm still a little prude and I don't want to tell you what it is if you have never heard of it, so go ahead and google it if you have any questions. Plus, explaining it would put me in a position of educating people about sex toys and I am really the wrong person to ask. I've only had one vibrator in my entire life and it drowned in the bathtub years ago. :( I kept it around for nostalgic reasons but then one time my Mom was helping me move and I swear she picked the lock to my secret box and saw my vibe. Or maybe the lock wasn't latched...but seriously? If you see a lock on a box in a single 20-something's apartment, don't peek! Anyway, I threw it away immediately and couldn't look my mom in the eye the rest of the day.

It started with wine. And beer and Mojitos. And spring rolls. They were phallically appropriate. One we were buzzed and relaxed, we sat down and decided to play a game. You know, the one where you put marshmallows in your mouth and try to say something lewd, and the gal that can cram the most in there and still speak wins. We all tied at 4 marshmallows because my neighbor Kempie sprayed white goo out of her mouth and some of it landed in her hair, and then the Passion party consultant, who was totally unphased, started picking sticky white goo out of her hair. Maybe it's just one of those, 'you had to be there' moments, but I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!

There are a lot of Mommies in this Mater Planned community of suburban bliss and it seems like more and more of them are becoming consultants for various companies. But honestly, aside from Bung Chows stamping parties, I have a hard time getting excited about any of it. No I don't want to go to your 'Pampered chef tupperware mary kay bow making party'. I'm not going to spend my (husbands) money on something that I can buy at Super Target on the clearance rack(Target...oh how do i love thee?). But I gotta tell you, when I got my evite for Dildo's and Drinks at Patty's house, I got really excited. Plus, another cool thing is that EVERY husband offered to be home to take care of the kiddos without whining that they worked too hard all week to be in charge of the kids. Plus the products are actually reasonably priced. I should know. I made out of there with a nice new blue friend for about $30. Oh, and this one is waterproof...I learned my lesson on that one.

Celebrity Sightings

Jeff called me yesterday from the airport in L.A. and said, "Guess who I just saw in line at the airport? I not only saw them but talked to them for 15 minutes?"

"I dunno"

"Just guess...seriously!"

"Um, I don't know" (I was trying to convince Kennen to take his bath but he was saying the water was too hot and shaking his head no and backing up)

"You will never believe it! You will never guess. This is so awesome!"

"Um. I don't know baby." (at this point I am completely aghast that my son is refusing the bath that I decide to sieze the bubble bath for myself and get in the tub. All of the sudden he is interested and tries to swing his little leg over the tub. I say, 'No way! It's Mama's bath'. Then he laughes and tried to punch me in the face. I tell him hands are not for hitting and send him to his room. He hangs his head and walks away...ahhh silence!)

"Baby...are you listening? You will NEVER guess."

"Just tell me..."

(drum roll please) "Tito Ortiz! He was standing in line behind me and I was like, 'No way'."

I screamed! Not because I care about ultimate fighting, but I know that Jeff really really really does. Jeff said that he was totally nice and cool and not stuck up at all. Jeff used to do jiu jitsu training in AZ and this is the reason that we cannot cuddle. If I try to cozy up to him and put my arms around him, it awakens those years of technical training and he starts to slowly put me in an arm bar.

Jeff talked to him about Tito's recent fights and the UFC reality show and Jeff said that after the excitement that this was Tito frickin' Ortiz, that it felt like he was just talking to a buddy about UFC stuff. I was so excited for him because I know that this just put him in the best mood ever!

Jeff was in first class on his flight home, and he said that the guy sitting next to him must have been famous too because a few people asked him for his autograph.

"Really? Cool! Who was it?"

"I don't know...some pussy with a Louis Vuitton bag."

I did a very bad thing.

But it's really a very good thing. Remember that $300 I wanted to pay a cleaning/laundry folding lady? Well, I went to Tummies and Tots because they are having a going out of business clearance sale. With my $300 I bought a bed and 2 adorable shelves for Kimberlys room. I went to my neighbors house for a birthday party last night and 2 things happened. I got inspired by looking at her 2 little girls adorable rooms and second, she also told me about the going out of business sale at Tummies and Tots. There is still more stuff on sale but I'm going to wait a week and see if it goes lower than 50%. I got a fabulous deal so the only reason this is bad is because I didn't consult my husband. He who maketh all the money didn't approveth the purchase. Not that he knows if we can afford it or not because I manage our money. We really are trying to save. Actually, we are trying to save $300 per paycheck. Ah well. Maybe next pay period I will do better. But seriously? It was beyond my control. I actually saved us $300 because it was all on sale. See? This is why I am in charge of the money...because I am so good at saving.

p.s. Harry Potter is amazing...but I'm still not finished yet! Darn kids! Don't you know that Mommy is reading book 7???

Harry Potter...don't worry, I wont give up any secrets...yet!

H.P. is spooooooooky! I can't read it at night anymore. I just must say that J.K. Rowling is amazing. I am halfway through the book and I am on the edge of my flippin seat. If it wasn't for the fact that I am afraid of every little sound I hear, I would definitely stay up all night and read it. Instead I have to put down my book until morning and watch 'The Money Pit' on HBO. You know, I have 100 regular channels and 25 movie channels and 'The Money Pit' is the best thing on. I watched a lot of t.v. as a child (I was a latch key kid) and I think I only had channels: 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 15, and 61 and I always managed to watch something for hours on end. Now I just get really bored. So I'll blog instead :P!

The good thing about waiting until later to finish H.P. is that I get to savor every detail...like an amazing dessert. I'm so sad that Harry and the crew are wrapping up their story. I totally think in my mind that I know where this book is going but I am thrilled to pieces to know that the other 6 times that I was reading my H.P. book, I thought I knew what was going to happen only to be shocked with a surprising twist at the end of the story. I'm already mourning the loss of the next H.P. adventure and I'm not even finished with book 7. It's that good, y'all! Yee Haw!

Oh, and even though I am blogging about Harry Potter, I get totally pissed when anyone talks about anything having to do with it. I literally stuck my fingers in my ears and sang tonight when my friend Tara was talking about the 'missing pages' fiasco. I just cannot risk knowing anything about the ending. but I'm too scared to read it! Maybe I'll drink a glass of wine. A little liquid courage should help. Oh, and I'll call Jeff every 20 minutes for the next 5 hours. I'm sure he will understand! He is actually very understanding about my obsessive and excessive calling. I think I have done it so much that he doesn't even think it's weird anymore. Just like I don't think it's weird that he drives 18 hours to go fishing.

!

The only title I can think of for this blog entry is an exclamation point because I am exasperated that I am still feeling like shit. I thought I was better all morning yesterday, but then I tried to do the dishes and the exertion(sp?) caused me cough and turn blue and get yelled at by my sickandstayedhomefromworkhusband to take more cough medicine. He wasn't being mean, but he knows that I'm stubborn about medicine and actually admitting that I'm not well is hard for me and sometimes I need to be yelled at to take my medicine. Kind of like a 5 year old little girl I know.

Kennen is well and very hyper. This morning he brought me a garbage bag and said, "Uh-eeeee! Uh-Nenen, uh elp uh-aaaayyy uh-uhhhhh." I knew it had to be a mess of some sort because he is very much into cleaning and keeping things organized, and in his little toddler brain the garbage bag was exactly the solution to the chaos that was waiting for me in the kitchen. I forced myself to get out of bed and when I went into the kitchen, I saw that he had scattered rice all over the kitchen floor. I think he is trying to feed our pet ants. I cleaned it up and almost cried because as I was dragging the broom across the floor, it kept catching on the dried juice and dried clumps of jello all over the floor. We have been walking in this sticky shit for days and have tracked it all over the wood floor and the result is that there is a thin film of schmutz everywhere. And I'm the only one that will clean it up. Oh, and Kennen spilled red gatorade in 3 different places on our carpet. And we have ants. And the laundry monster is seriously out of control. But it's always out of control. But now I'm afraid to go through it because there are ants. Mommyyyyyy!

Every once in awhile we have little hispanic ladies come to our door and pass out fliers for house cleaning. I swear if they knocked on our door today I would beg them to help me. I would pay them $300 and I wouldn't even report them if they found something in my house worth stealing. I have happy memories as a child where I went to sleep on Friday night to a house that my brother and I made a mess of all week long during the summer, and then I would wake up on Saturday morning to a fresh clean house with all of the windows open and the smell of breakfast cooking in the kitchen. My Mom was a miracle worker. I wish I could hole myself up in a room with Harry Potter for a few hours and then come out to a bright and clean house. But I'm the Mom now and I'm the one that is supposed to make miracles happen.

Yipee! Patty just called and offered to take Kimberly to Chick fil A and Target with her and her boys. Oh happy day! Now I just have to make Kennen tired enough to nap while she is gone so I can clean in peace. I love my neighbors. It's great having good friends just doors away. Awww, my whole outlook on life is a little brighter now. :)

Saturday afternoon...

and all is well! Jeff and Kimberly are sleeping. I wish I was sleeping but my buddy boy is awake so we are hanging out. Kennen is feeding me jelly beans. I really should stop eating them but then Kennen cries if I refuse to let him put a drool covered half eaten jelly belly into my mouth, so I let him. I baby my baby...yes it's true. I put my foot down when he tried to fee me a buttered popcorn flavored jelly bean. Nasty.

I have only read a few pages of Harry Potter because I need uninterrupted silence. I need to dedicate my whole self and really absorb every chapter. This is the last book and I want to get everything I can out of it. When I check my email now, I squint my eyes purposely until I log in so that I wont inadvertantly read anything H.P. related. Those few pages I read have sent chills down my spine. I seriously can't wait to dive in!

Oh, want to hear some great news? Jeff and I got audited on our taxes in 2005 and we made a mistake (an honest mistake I swear!!!) and now owe the IRS $869. Due by July 25th. And we got the bill on like July 8th. Isn't that friggin swell? It was painful, but I wrote the check today and will be priority mailing it asap. It makes me think that selling my panties to perverts on ebay is not such a bad idea.

Modern medicine is great!

Once I start coughing, I can't seem to stop. Or catch my breath. I don't like to take medicine but I'm glad that I have Kennen's super duper cough medicine (with hydrocodine). When I'm in the middle of hacking up a lung, my kids just stop and stare at me. Two sets of (my) big blue eyes and two somber faces. I think they are waiting to see if I'm going to breathe again. Then my over-active imagination kicks in and I wonder how it would affect the babies to see me turn blue and pass out. So I take a shot of cough syrup.

I am so excited to get the new Harry Potter book! Should I go at midnight and get my red hot hands on a book? Should I wait until the morning? I really want to get it asap because I don't want the ending to be given away before I get a chance to read it myself. I first got addicted to Harry Potter when I was first pregnant with Kimberly. My morning sickness was terrible. Jeff was living in a bachelor pad (oops! did I mention that I was pregnant before I was married?) with 2 of his friends and I pretty much came to visit and then never left. I'm sure they were thrilled when they got up for work every morning and saw me laying on the couch, eating saltines and watching 'A Baby Story'. :) And I'm sure they were super excited when I puked all over their bathmats and threw them away. And I know they loved it when my friends called me 50 times a day. They actually put their foot down on that one. They had my friends numbers blocked from calling the house anymore. I got the message that they were sick of the pregnant girl taking over their house so i retreated to Jeffs bedroom (he was at work...installing fire sprinklers I think) and read Harry Potter. It was wonderful. I was sucked into this magical world and it was the only time I didn't think about how I was constantly on the verge of puking. Anyway, so writing about reading H.P. is getting me all excited so I think I am definitely going to line up at midnight to get my hot off the press copy.

p.s. Sorry Geno and Adam, and thank you for being such great friends to Jeff and for putting up with me for those months!

...but I still refuse to scrapbook.

I am excited! Jeff cashed in 36,000 frequent flier miles for a new digital camera. All I know is that it's a Fuji Finepix with 7ish megapixels and 10x optical zoom. Sounds good to me! I haven't been able to take pics of my babies in a long time since I lost my camera. I have been relying on my in-laws and Dr. N to document the last 6 months of my childrens lives.

Want to hear a funny story? When Kimmy-girl was a month old, Jeff's parents brought us dinner and hung out with the baby and took a ton of pictures. A few weeks later they brought over copies for us. I WASN'T IN A SINGLE PICTURE! I know that they were mostly there to document the baby but there were pics of Jeff holding Kimberly, grandpa and grandma holding Kimberly...but her mother had mysteriously disappeared. I was annoyed and told Jeff that it bothered me. The next time we saw them, he told them to make sure that they got pics of me too...since I am the vessel that delivered their grandchild and all. A few days later they gave us the pictures and I took one look at them and I c.r.i.e.d. They did indeed have me pose for pictures and said things like, "Smile Stella!", but my head was halfway chopped out of every picture. There was the 'family' shot of me, Jeff and Kimberly but there was a cup on a table in front of me and you couldn't see my face at all...just my hair framing the cup.

Um, yeah. Apparently we needed to work out the terms of our relationship. :) My in-laws and I are in a very good place now. It's almost to the point that I make out better than Jeff. My mil sent us Hanukkah presents with both of our names on the gift...but they were clearly for me. It was a wine decanter and a gorgeous pewter serving tray. I was over the moon and Jeff was like...wow, neat :/ . Plus that year I got Jeff a bunch of Jos A. Banks work shirts. Poor guy...
My mom did come through and give him a bunch of cash on a Bass Pro gift card. He was happy with that.

Anyway, I am giddy about my camera! We did more landscaping this weekend and I want to take pics of that, plus of course the kiddos.

Wow, this blog entry is all over the map! OK, my cough medicine with codeine is kicking in and I need a nap.

Guess what?

Being a stay at home mom, who has a hacking cough, 2 sick kids, and a husband that is away on a business trip is super fun!

I have been coughing for about 3 weeks now but Jeff says that now I sound worse. I think I'm actually getting better because now my coughs are 'effective' and not dry like they used to be. He said he wanted me to go to the doctor. Doctor schmoctor. I can breath and it's probably just a virus and they are going to tell me to rest and drink lots of fluid. Um, I can't rest because I have 2 kids oh, and does coffee count as lots of fluids? Honestly, as long I take my Mucinex I feel fine.

Kennen was a little drippy this morning and then after lunch, he fell asleep on the chair in the living room. This is very weird for him. He never sleeps anywhere outside of his crib. Ever. It's mostly fantastic because he sees his bed and instantly falls asleep. It's not so good when he is tired and we aren't home. I actually got scared when I saw him because I was doing the dishes for about 10 minutes and I noticed his little blonde head slumped over in the chair. My first thought was OMG he choked on his french fry and silently suffocated!!! I ran over to him and his little chest was raising with each breath. Whew! It makes me wonder if cavemommies used to wake up in the middle of the night and reach out to feel their little cavebabies to make sure they were still breathing. I'm sure they did. :)

I put him down for a nap and when he woke up, he still had that dazed look on his face. His eyes and nose were dripping and while he was eating some goldfish, he started coughing and grabbing his throat and crying which caused him to cry some more. This went on for about a minute before I freaked out and called the doctor. Ahhhh, my kids pediatrician...how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love that I can call at a moments notice and you will see my child immediately. I love how you are so good with my scaredy cat son that he doesn't cry and writhe with fear when you walk in the room. I love how you listen to his chest and convince him to take big deep breaths. I don't love it when you diagnose my son with Bronchitis. I do, however, love it when you hear my hacking cough and ask if I have been to the doctor. When I tell you no, you say that Kennen should take 3/4 tsp. of the cough medicine and I should take 2 tsp. , but make sure I don't drive after taking it. *wink wink*. And I love it when you ask me if I'm allergic to penicillin and then give me a 5 day supply of antibiotic 'samples'.

You rock Dr. L!

I just took a dose of cough medicine and now I think I need a nap. 3 hours 'til bedtime. I guess I should go cook dinner.

Round two.

Our second round of speech therapy for Kennen is about to commence. We had speech therapy from the time he was around 16 month until he was just under 2 years old. It took him that entire 6 months to actually say Mama. Since then, his cache of words has exploded to an uncountable number. But, he says very few of the words correctly. He pretty much has the right number of syllables in every word, but he only uses vowels to emphasize each syllable. I told my father in law that he is a vowel boy and so he taught Kennen how to say, "A, E, I, O, U". It's pretty cute.

Today when we had his 2 year speech evaluation, I asked them about getting his hearing checked. They said of course it's a good idea, but then one of the women said that she thinks that his problem is probably Apraxia of Speech. Before, we thought that he just had delayed language skills which would eventually correct itself as he went to school. Apraxia of Speech is not something that will correct on it's own. :( Basically he can hear the word correctly but somewhere as he is processing it in his brain, there is a hiccup and he cannot figure out how to get the word out correctly. It goes along with motor, and sensory development. His other physical motor skills are fine but I would agree that he has some sensory issues. Little things cause him to freak out big time.

I was kind of skirting the issue of whether to sign him up by using the 'I have to ask my husband' crutch. It always comes in handy when I'm trying to be sold anything...even though I am the one that handles all our money. The SLP (speech language pathologist) pretty much told me though that there are ways to 'rewire' the way he thinks about language, and the younger the better. I definitely don't want him to be behind by the time school starts so I went ahead and signed him up. Our first appointment is Friday at 3:00pm and my 'assignment' is to get him to say 'Puppy'. Right now he pronounces it "Uh-Eeeeee". She told me to drag out the vowel sounds and and that if I sort of sing it, another part of his brain will be activated and he will be able to process it better. I was tucking him in for his nap and I tried it.

Mommy: "PuuuuuuuuuUUUuuuuuuuuupeeeeee"

Kennen: "UuuuuuuuUUUUuuuuuueeeeeeee"

Mommy: "PuuuuuuuuuUUUuuuuuuuuupeeeeee"

Kennen: "puuuUUUUUuuuEeeeee"

Mommy: "PuuuuuuuuuUUUuuuuuuuuupeeeeee"

Kennen: "PuuuuUUUuuuuuh-eeee"

Mommy: Puppy"

Kennen: "Puh-ee"

I cried. This seems like nothing really but it's the first time that he has said a word that starts with the letter 'P'. It's a big deal. I'm proud. And I'm hopeful that this is going to work.

It's hard not to beat yourself up as a parent when something like this happens. I wonder what I did wrong. I'm a full time stay at home mom and my child cannot speak clearly. If I was the nanny, I would have fired me by now.

La di dah...

I am an official Texan now. I ran over my first armadillo today! I never realized how s.lo.w. they walk. That must be why there are so many dead ones all over the road. Kind of like squirrels in Illinois. Road kill used to really disturb me but it doesn't anymore. I wonder if I have tracked any germs into my garage via the tire-o-death, but that's about it.

I was seriously traumatized by a particular squirrel in Illinois. It was in the center median and as I was coming upon it, I could see it was perched to dart out into oncoming traffic. It started to run...it was going to make it...oh wait...it changed it's mind and ran back to the median...oh...it changed it's mind again and turned right back around and leapt right into the fender of a car. It did a starfish flip in the air (imagine all limbs stretched out) and then landed limply and continued to get run over. If only the little soul didn't hesitate.

I cried for that sweet little squirrel and then that soft spot in my heart for dead animals in the road had crusted over with a big old scab. I just don't go there anymore...it's too painful. The up side is that I can now kill bugs in my house without trying to trap them under a glass and walk them to a shady spot in the yard. No mercy. Kimmy-girl is even tougher than me.

Speaking of animals, I'm getting sick of webkinz. I have enough rooms. I have enough beds. I have enough plants in my garden. I'm almost sick of hustling the 8 year olds in checkers. Oh, actually that is still pretty fun to me. Anyway, I have decided to run an experiment. I have my webkinz running on a treadmill. Will they run indefinitely? How hungry will they get? I dunno! Cocopuff the chihuahua has been running aobut 10 minutes now and when I stopped her for a moment, she said she had stinky feet.

LOL! Those darn webkinz crack me up.

B.A.S.*

* acronym for buggy ass state.

First I had mosquito hawks in my house. I didn't mind them because they are harmless to people and they eat mosquitos and Kimberly and Kennen lovingly named all of them Tasha and now all the neighbor kids do too. Then I had real mosquitos. I've always had spiders in the upper corners of my ceilings. Then I had flies. Lots and lots of flies. Now I have ants. IN MY BEDROOM! All over my carpet. Underneath my laundry monster. Why aren't they in the kitchen where all the food is? I have no idea. So anyway, today I am dedicating my day to doing laundry and them I am gonna vacuum up all the little fuckers. I can't wait!

Jeff was my hero last night because when I started freaking out he went out in the pitch ass dark and sprayed Ortho-Klor (the strongest stuff from Home Depot that will kill anything...even black widow spiders) all over the perimeter and the exterior walls of the house.

Want to know the best thing about laundry day? I have lots of free time in between loads to play Webkinz. I am obsessed. My favorite thing to do is to play tournament checkers against all the 8 year olds. The only bad thing about playing against 8 year olds is that if I play too well they will just quit the game early and then I wont get as much kinzcash. I've learned not only to be good at checkers, but to be good at checkers after letting my opponent win for the first half of the game. Then I will win at the end and get all the money but then the kids will request a rematch because they thought it was a close game and i will take them to the cleaners again! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha.

i.am.such.a.loser.

Chocolate cake every day...es no bien!

Ugh! One more day until everything is back to normal. I guess I am much less flexible than I used to be. As much as I loved spending every day over the last week with my husband and his family, I an so over it. I have been eating too much, drinking too much, staying up too late and just being a big lazy sloth. My in-laws visit allows me to sleep in, come and go as I please, eat at lots of restaurants etc. I did actually clean my kitchen last night before my mother in law got to it. Is this what it will feel like to be retired? No kids to be responsible for. No job for Jeff to get up early for every day.

Will we look at each other every day when we are 65 and say, 'what do you want to do?' 'I dunno, what do you want to do?' 'We have all this free time so we should do something.' 'Yeah, I know are there any movies playing?' Then we will go and see 2 movies in one day just like we did a few days ago. Of course one was Ratatoulle and we saw that in the morning with the kids and then the other was Transformers at night but still. All I want to do is this whole housewife thing (because I have been seriously slacking and my laundry monster is back with a venegance.) Jeff has a huge pile of work to face today but this morning he skipped off happily to face the real world. He did feign some dread about the morning commute, because that's what you are supposed to say. But we all know that as soon as he walked out the door, lit a cigarette (yes, he still smokes) and turned on talk radio in his truck, he sang, "I got no strings on meeeeee!"

Transformers...es bien!

Jeff and I actually escaped the house last night without the kids! He ended up talking me into seeing the Transformers since we have no life and have no idea what 'date night' could include other than dinner and a movie. It was a little more fun than usual because we found a movie theatre that serves food and booze to you while you watch the movie. I had pizza and 3 drinks and Jeff had a bunless burger and a diet coke since he was a big dumb animal the other day and his drinking privelidges have been revoked. :) This means I had a designated driver.

The movie, despite being a man movie, was actually pretty entertaining. Except for the hour long battle scene at the end. Well, it seems like an hour because I got up and peed twice and because I had no concept of time at that point since I was buzzed.

My in-laws are visiting and I'm really enjoying it. And taking advantage of their eagerness to do everything kid related. Kennen went to sleep at 5:30 pm last night and woke up at 4:00am ready to party. Jeff changed his diaper and then we let him tear apart our room while we dozed. I kept waking up and falling back asleep and these are the snippets I remember:

-Kennen standing on my window seat smearing lotion all over the glass
-Kennen wiping the lotion off the glass with baby wipes.
-Kennen unrolling a full roll of toilet paper to wipe the lotion off the glass.
-Kennen sitting on the window seat staring off into space until he sees me looking at him...then he smiled.
-Kennen making 'vrooming' noises.
-Kennen climbing over me so he could lay down in the middle of the bed.
-Kennen climbing over me to get out of bed because he left his binky on the window seat.
-Kennen climbing over me to lay down in the middle of the bed...this time with the binky in his mouth.

Finally at 8:00 Kimberly knocked on the door and said, "Let Kennen out, Mommy!"

Apparently he had locked the door while he was in our room. Little love. Then grandma and grandpa, fed, played with and dressed the kids for me. I slept in until 10:00am. I love it when they visit!

business travel

Ok, so i have a few friends that have husbands that travel. They would tell me that they kind of liked it when their men traveled. Jeff has pretty much traveled 3-5 days per week since the beginning of the year. I missed him like crazy while he was gone and wandered around aimlessly like a love sick puppy until he got home. But something changed. I got used to him being gone during the week. I got used to doing everything by myself all week long. I got used to my own schedule, my own way of handling the kids. I got used to him not draping his clothes over the bedroom door(grrr). I got used to his pile of crap on the counter (wallet, hat, smokes, passport, reciepts, coins) being cleared away. I got used to my bed being easy to make in the morning because the sheets weren't crumpled up at the foot of the bed and the pillows aren't bent in half when it's just me sleeping.

Now lets talk about this week. He is not traveling this week and today is the only day he is actually going to the office. And I'm going nucking futs. I can't stand to have the tv on all day. I can't stand washing all the tupperware that he eats out of (why won't he use a regular plate? I have no idea!). Jeff is great with the kids but Kennen is still kind of scared of Jeff so he cries much more when Daddy is home. Well, it's more like a combination of hysterical laughing and crying mixed together. Kennen wants to play with Daddy, but Daddy is big and furry and talks really loud.

Today when Jeff was getting ready for work, he announced that he had to go to the office for a few hours and I smiled and said, "Okay, BYE!"

He laughed and hugged me and said, 'Look who is shooing me out the door.'

Then he said, "You want me out of the house now, but you will miss me as soon as I'm gone."

And I guess he's right. :)

Damn you webkinz!

Ok, so a few weeks ago I heard about webkinz for the first time. I wasn't too interested because I hate (HATE) video games. My brother tortured me by making me watch him play nintendo when we were little so now whenever I see people playing video games, I feel really really angry inside. I know, I have issues.

Anyway, a girl at our playdate has one and her mom was telling me about it and if I had not heard about Webkinz yet, I would as soon as she started kindergarten. Since I am really shallow and I desperately want Kimberly to fit in when she goes to school, I decided to check into these little toys. I was surprised to see how cheap they were. Just about $12 a pop with nothing else to buy ever. She loves it. Kimberly wanted the Chihuahua and fortunately for us, they happened to have that one at the store. I guess it's pretty rare to find the one you want.

The stuffed animal goes everywhere with her...but the online pet? Yeah, that one is all mine. I love playing the tournament games, I love shopping, I love gardening farm fresh food, I love decorating their little rooms. And when I say 'their' little rooms, I mean Cocopuff the chihuahua and the two other webkinz I just won on ebay. The frog and the Clydesdale horse are on their way. I think I have problems. Scratch that. I know I have problems. My number one problem? Hiding this purchase from my husband. :) Aren't they so ding dang cute though? In no particular order:

Clydesdale:


Chihuahua: aka Cocopuff

Frog:

If you think their little mugs are cute in these pictures, just imagine how adorable they are in their virtual world pooping on the potty (yes! you can make them go potty!)