"A-a-a-ass starts with A."

Now, you might be appalled that your 4 year old know this. Initially we were. But, when you think about it--if she had said, "A-a-a-a-apple starts with A", we would have assumed she was regurgitating something she was told at school. Not that that would be a bad thing. But, because we are pretty certain "ass" is not on her preschool vocabulary list, we can proudly say she figured this one out on her own. Go Makena!!!

School Photos!!!

I must say; they are some gorgeous kids!










Please notice the girl/boy ratio. Apparently there was an abundance of Y chromosomes in 2006. Also, this class is for 2 years and up. Kessler is one of the youngest at 2 years 1 month and some change in the photo. Look how big he is!

Pacific Grove Triathlon

Just a really quick entry to post a photo from the Triathlon that Mark did this weekend.

Mommy, there's dog poop in my bed.

"Come look."

(There have been plenty of things happening that are blog-worthy. But, the most recent happenings cannot be ignored.)

"I'll show you, Mommy. It's dog poop." Makena declared as she grabbed my hand and started to pull. We have a lot of pretend games these days. Ask Grandma about "Night Time, Day Day", for example. This must be a game since Makena has a new bed, a loft bed.. that's 4 feet off the ground and only accessible by ladder or a slippery slide. Merlin can do a lot of things, but if there isn't a loaf of bread on top of Makena's bed, he's certainly not going to climb it

I felt relief as I ascended the stairs knowing I would not find dog poop. That relief quickly dissipated as I grew closer to the bedroom door. The stench gagged me as I crossed the threshold and looked atop the bed. There sat Kessler, "Poopies, Mommy, poopies." The proof of the poopies was all over his hands and feet, pillow and sheets and his bare ass.

Now mind you, this boy potty trained himself on his second birthday. His first word was a sentence, "I want some." Today, I decided to take an alternate route to school. The second I made the turn off of the beaten path, he asked, "Mommy, where are we going?" He's 2 years, 1 month old and he knows when we've deviated from the normal route? Do you think he knows that shitting in Makena's bed was wrong? Yet, he still did it. We are so screwed.

I'm outnumbered; both the dog and Kessler are smarter than me.

Two years down, 16 to go.

A wonderful day..

Firstly, I'm elated that mom received good news from the doctor today! Shew!

Secondly, there's this:

Makena and Kessler before Kessler's first day of school:

Makena and Kessler walking into school:


Kessler settling in within the first minute of arriving at his class:


Kessler not biting, pushing, kicking, tackling or hitting a kid within a few feet of him:


Kessler not able to care any less that mom and dad are leaving:

Kessler upon being told that it's time to go home:

Kessler several minutes after being told it's time to go home:

I think Kessler likes preschool!

My Big Little Man..

Much to my disbelief, Kessler turned 2 on Saturday. He's such an amazing little guy, just like his dad--except for the little part.

I have much to say about Kessler, but I'll start with Saturday. One of Mark's co-workers invited us over for a BBQ and a dip in the pool. We had a lot of fun. At one point Kessler was walking around trying to pull his swim trunks down. We asked what he was doing and he told us he needed to go to the potty. Mark took him. And, he went peepees and poopies. We were shocked. We haven't tried to potty train him; we hadn't even started thinking about it. We had no big boy underpants, pull ups or anything.

Later in the day he asked me to take him to the potty. I did. And he did it again. Now, I didn't realize how completely unprepared I was for this. Truthfully, I suspected he just liked the novelty of sitting on the potty. I didn't expect that he'd have to go again. But, as he was sitting there.. and I was squatting there, I noticed that his 'member' was pointing straight at me. As I was contemplating what to do with it, he let loose. I tried to push it down, which produced multiple streams in various directions. It's a draw really, whether that was worse than one stream coming straight at me. We were in someone else's bathroom; I'm thinking the latter was better.

Kessler and I are both still working on our potty skills. He's had a few accidents; he seems to only think the potty is for when he needs to pee AND poop, not just pee. And he and I both got drenched going to the potty at Fantastic Sams today. We'll pull it together, I'm sure.

(To those with potty training in the future.. I swear, it has something to do with not wearing a diaper. After months, Makena finally became "trained" when we put her in big girl pants. We kept expecting her to tell us when she needed to go; it never happened in diapers/pull ups. I expect this wouldn't have happened with Kess if he hadn't been in swim trunks. Later Saturday evening, we put him in a diaper as we had nothing else for him to wear--when he had to go, that's where he went.)

Anyway, I had a really cute video of Kess singing Happy Birthday, but he broke the camera before I could download it. I'll try to get him doing it again. It's quite adorable. He has a HUGE vocabulary now. He's been talking in complete sentences for quite a while. His first one was "I want some." Now he just jabbers on and on. The most recent addition to his vocabulary repertoire is "I love you daddy dads/mommy moms." Suddenly I have forgotten all the sleepless nights; just like that. In addition, he’s learned how to give real hugs. Not just nuzzling up for a cuddle, but full on wrap-both-arms-around-your-neck hugs. Unfortunately, that particular hug, along with a running start, produces a very effective tackle—poor Makena. It mostly makes her laugh, for now.

More on Kess--Mark and I were taking Makena to school a few days ago when she grabbed a piece of paper and rolled it up to form a megaphone. She started to yell into it. Kessler screamed, “NUFF, MAKENA, NUFF!”. Apparently he doesn’t like things that are very, very loud. The other day we were in the living room when he dropped the remote. Something happened and the TV started blaring static. He jumped on the sofa in a panic. He looked at Mark and me and said, “That was bery, bery louwed.” He points out loud things all the time, well only the very, very loud ones.

And lastly, my little man starts school tomorrow! He’ll only stay for an hour, the same for Thursday. Then he’ll have a full day on Friday. I think he’s going to love it. I have to drag him, often kicking and screaming, when I leave after dropping off Makena. They both will be going five days a week starting next week.

I have to say, having two kids under four was tougher than I thought it would be, a lot tougher. But, we’re definitely turning a corner. I’m selfishly looking forward to having a bit of time for me. I’m not exactly sure what I will do with the time, but I know it’ll be good for both me and the kids.

Tail

Oh my goodness.

Makena came into the office yesterday and said, "Daddy, I want a bum like yours."

Mark responded, "like mine? What's mine like?" (I was expecting her to say, "big".)

To that Makena said, "like you and Kessie--a bum with a tail."

It took me a second to get it.

Congratulations Mom!

So, my mom retired last week!! Yesterday was her first regular day as a retiree! I'll try to update the blog more frequently so you don't get bored.. at least for the next few weeks until you come to visit!!

Congratulations Mom!!!

Stylin'

My kids know how to accessorize!!

Giraffe!!!

Makena was in a gymnastic's recital on May 30th. It was her first recital ever. She did such a wonderful job!! It didnt bother her that there were loads of people packed into the gym!

If you need hopscotch lessons, I'm forming an interest list.

(She's the last one.)

So, so helpful

Mark and I were in the office when Makena came running in closely followed by Kessler and his bare butt.

"Mommy, Kessler has stinky poopies." It's not unusual for her to point this out. What, however, is unusual is the half waded up diaper that was dangling in front of her at arm's length.

"What's that, Makena?"

"Kessler's stinky poopy diaper."

"Yeah, but why do you have it?"

"Because I changed him."

Helpful beyond words, really.

He didn't poke it.

I have a zillion posts that need to be made, but this is a quick one that just happened.

I have been talking to Makena about cigarettes and all things bad about them. She's learning. She's pointing out people that are smoking and tells me about how they are making bad decisions.

Anyway, I got her setup eating breakfast this morning and headed to the office to do some stuff. She came running in and said, "Mom, Kessler picked up a cigarette yesterday at the park; but he didn't poke (smoke) it."

Pretty cute.

I wanna go head first...

I used to think that it was great that Mark gave the kids baths every night. I mean really.. that's customarily the mom's job. Yet, my husband, without fail, loads the kids into the tub, scrubs them all over. He washes their hair and conditions Makena's. And, he brushes their teeth when they are done! Who could ask for more, really?

That is until tonight, when Makena says, "Daddy, I wanna go head first." Did she just say what I think she said? Mark, doesn't acknowledge the request. Makena repeats it. Mark ignores it. Over and over again this happens. Request, ignore, request, ignore. Makena goes in feet first, complaining the whole way.. "I WANNA GO HEAD FIRST!!!" Then finally, "shhh... you're gonna get me in trouble."

Really?!?!??! Head first... into the bath, Mark??? Are you kidding!?!?

Yet another attempt at catching up.

So much has happened the last several weeks, yet I have blogged nothing.

Makena

Let me begin with my little girl turning 4. A friend of mine, Beth, celebrated her daughter's birthday by taking her to get a manicure and pedicure. She suggested the idea for Makena and even offered to watch Kessler! It was so much fun; she was such a beautiful princess. I hope we can do it every year.





The following weekend was her party at Pump It Up. I really struggled with deciding where to have it. As much as I would love to be the hostess with the mostest, I'm not. I'm too much of a perfectionist and nothing can be perfect enough when the responbility lies with me. Not to mention our house is in shambles with our animal situation. (Dog in trash-cats/dog urinating at will anywhere, etc). So, a friend said, "have it at Pump It Up" and I said, "done. Pump It Up it is." Thanks Jennifer!

Though it was quite expensive, it was perfect. Makena and Kessler had a blast. 29 kids showed up which made me feel quite proud. I don't know why, exactly. But, it was sooo nice to have so many people there to share her special day. It was nice for me too. I'm slowly, but finally making some friends in the area and a lot of them made it. It was great.




Sonoma

The weekend before Mak's birthday party, I went away to Sonoma with a bunch of those friends. We stayed in a gorgeous house. I was having a blast until I totally crashed. I haven't been sleeping well.. for years really, but especially not the last several months. The few days before my trip were particularly bad. Either the kids, cats/dog, Mark, neighbor's dog.. something would wake me up. I've just become an extremely light sleeper. Anyway, I wasn't able to sleep in Sonoma either, at all. So, after two nights of total sleep deprivation on top of the previous sleep deprivation, I realized that I was close to losing my mind. (I texted Mark--held the phone to my ear for minutes waiting for him to answer.) Mark happened to be only 40 minutes away. (It seems that Superdad was taking the kids (almost 4 and almost 2) to Six Flags by himself. The day before he took them to the zoo.) So, he came and got me and I slept for 16 hours.

I'm so bummed that I didn't get to finish the trip. I haven't been around 18 chicks in one room since boot camp. Thank goodness this was nothing like boot camp. They were all so much fun.. I laughed so hard I cried.

My camera battery went dead after only a few photos, so this is all I have to show:




Six Flags

We went to Six Flags a few weeks back. It just needs to be mentioned; Kessler flippin' loves aquariums--LOVES THEM! He runs up to them, screams, points. When we finally leave he has a conniption fit, to say the least.




Samantha

The daughter (Samantha) of some friends or ours turned 3 a few weeks ago. We went to her party. Most of these photos are from there--not sure exactly when/where the rest are from and I'm too lazy to figure it out.




Kess' Moment of Introspection

I was trying to get some stuff done when I noticed that Kess was not in the office with me anymore. I could hear him talking, "truck.. truck.. car." This went on for several minutes until I decided I'd better check on him. I found him in Makena's room.

She has a window seat that faces the street. There's usually a heaping pile of stuffed animals there. If the kids are awake when Mark leaves for work, they'll race over to the window and cause an avalanche as they climb up so they can watch him leave. Well, Makena actually does it so she can say "bye-bye" to daddy's car, but I digress. On this particular day Kess decided to take in the sights of the 'hood while having a moment of reflection. I love the first photo.




Much more has happened, but to keep this post from getting anymore out of control I'll just mention two more stories.

I went to a playgroup last week. At one point Makena came to me and said, "come look at the koala". We needed to leave because I ordered groceries online and the window for their delivery was in 15 minutes. Anyway, I kind of blew her off as I scrambled to get her, Kess and Merlin herded to the car.

As we were driving away a squirrel ran across the street in front of us. Makena said, "the qual is soft." I said, "it is? How do you know?" "Because, I touched it." "When?" Just then I realized that "qual" sounds a lot like "Koala". Makena responded "with Sawyer". We had just left Sawyer at the park. So, I asked, "was the squirrel moving?" "No." Crap. My phone wasn't working so I played with it all the way home to get it working. I was finally able to call Lisa, Sawyer's mom. Sure enough, she checked and there was a dead squirrel where they had been playing. Lovely!!

It runs in the family. When I was doing my 16 hour marathon sleep session Mark was working at the kitchen table. Kessler came up and said, "Doggie, doggie, doggie." Mark tried to tune him out, as even Superdad's do sometimes. Kessler persisted with a pat on the leg. Mark finally relented. Kessler was holding a dead mouse.

Merlin Continued

The video pretty much says it all.




After we watched the video we worked out that he's popping the lock by pulling hard and down. We can find no reason why this should work. The lock must be defective. We did it over and over again and each subsequent time it was easier to open. The good thing is, like Merlin, we no longer have to use the magnetic key. At least now we are on par with the dog.

Back to square one.

WTF??!?!

Merlin (the one that hijacked my purse on Tuesday) used to get in the trash every time we'd leave the house. It was disgusting. It made the house so gross; I just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry rather than clean it up... again. Our first solution was to put the trash can in a cabinet. That worked for 2.5 days. Then we had to put one of those child proofing mechanisms on the cabinet. You know, the ones that allow you to open the door a couple of inches then you push down the plastic thing and it disengages the stopper on the frame. That worked for 4.75 days. We lived like this for several months trying to remember to take out the trash whenever we left the house. We often forgot.

I couldn't take it anymore, so several weeks ago we installed a magnetic child locking mechanism. It was a major remodel by our standards. In case you don't know, the way it works is you drill a pretty large hole into the cabinet. There's a metal piece that's attached to the lock that goes in the hole. The point is to get the metal piece close enough to the outside of the door so that the magnetic key can be held against the outside of the door causing the lock to disengage. It took a while, but we finally got it installed properly.

We hate it because it works so well. You can imagine how much it sucks to have to get a key each time you want to open the cabinet to throw away garbage. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I came home and the trash was strewn all over the place, just like the good ole days. It happened the next day too. Again, like with the purse incident, I thought I was going crazy. I must not be closing the door, I thought. Even though EVERY single time I try to open the damn door, it's closed. The same thing has happened every day since, sometimes multiple times a day. I have tried every which way under the sun to open the damn door without the magnet. It doesn't budge--it doesn't even pretend to budge.

Finally, I remembered to double-check it before I left the house this morning. Again, the trash was everywhere when we returned. So, tonight I put a ton of bread in the trash; the f'er loves bread! I set up my Flip camera to record the cabinet. He's toast, right?

Two minutes and eight seconds of absolutely nothing passes, then this:






After he knocks the camera over you can hear him walk to the cabinet and several seconds later you can hear the bread bag crumpling.


Obviously, the time has finally come to accept that the f’ing dog is a helluvalot smarter than me.

Eating my words..

I was always a HUGE advocate of pets, particularly dogs. I believed everyone should rescue one from a shelter; it's the right the to do, I thought.

Then I had kids.

You see, Tuesday night was Mom's Night Out with this group I've recently joined. We went to eat dinner then headed to Starbucks. These ladies are a blast. I didn't get home until nearly 11:00. Well, yesterday morning, as I was rounding up the kids to head to gymnastics I noticed that my purse wasn't in an obvious location. I loaded the kids in the car and came back in to look for it. My cell phone was inside, so I called it and raced through the house trying to listen for the vibration. I did this despite the fact that I knew it should have been on the kitchen table because I got home so late the night before. I'm certain I abandoned my belongings as soon as possible and headed to bed.

I had driven Mark's car the night before so I called him and asked him to go check. He works on the 15th floor, so with no more time to spare I left for gymnastics without my purse and phone. Once we arrived, I called Mark using a friend's phone. He told me it wasn't there. How could this be?? I was nearly certain that I didn't leave it at Starbuck's. I don't always put my keys in my purse, but I'm pretty sure I did this time. I obviously had them to drive home. Despite this, I drove to Starbucks to see if they had it. I schlepped the kids to the neighboring Jamba Juice, but no luck.

When I arrived home I was so disheartened to find that Merlin had gotten in trash, even though we have new magnetic locks. Apparently, the door appears to be securely closed when it is not. I decided to deal with that later and began to call my cell phone again. I called Starbucks and Jamba Juice and left my name and number in case it turned up. I sent an email to the girls that went out the night before. I had Mark check the car again. I called AT&T to see if anyone had made a call and then suspended my service. I canceled my Amex. It became abundantly apparent how badly I was neglecting the kids when I heard Kessler screaming bloody murder. I ran upstairs to check on him. He had soap all over both hands and he was rubbing his eyes furiously. There was very thick lather, even though there was no water. I threw his head under the faucet as he kicked and screamed. After he was calm I went back to canceling my credit cards, etc.

Mark, being the wonderful husband that he is, tried to calm me via instant messenger. I was nearly in tears at the thought of getting a new driver's license, insurance cards, etc. Then Mark said, "did you have any food in it?". Sonofabitch! I had an Odwalla bar in there from the day before. I immediately ran to the back door and opened it. There was my purse, covered in dirt, totally in tact.

I couldn't look at Merlin the rest of the day.

Twilight Zone

After much procrastinating, I finally researched and picked a new hair stylist. The one I was going to had done a thermal straightener on my hair. It was very expensive and left my hair only slightly straighter, but more unmanageable. It was extra frizzy, dry, damaged. It took me a while to accept that it was crap, so I continued to go there for my cuts and color. I paid his prices while his assistant did a lot of the work. He often left me waiting for 20 minutes or more while he tended to something else in the salon (he's the owner). Enough's enough.

I searched for salons and checked out their yelp ratings. One stylist kept coming up over and over again. The reviews were really good so I called and made an appointment. The salon where he works is a full service spa with a wine bar. It seemed impressive. I arrived a few minutes early to my appointment and it was just weird. The salon is quite a bit outdated looking--as if they were way ahead of their time with the idea of offering libations with pampering. I started to take notice of the people walking around--there were many men in their mid 50s, maybe even 60s. One was wearing a flowered shirt with khaki high water pants. It was just the weirdest thing. There were older women getting perms. There were a few younger women that you'd expect to see in a salon, but just a handful. After a few minutes one of the 60 year old men came over and called my name. He's a few inches shorter than me but he could easily place in the top 3 for a Kojak look-a-like contest.

He ended up being the nicest guy. He has a pretty thick Moroccan accent; I really had to concentrate to make sure I understood what he was saying. He talked to me about alternatives for the thermal straigthener that had been botched. He appeared to be on the cutting edge with the services he offers. He showed me photos on his iPhone of both the straighteners and extensions he had done. I was impressed. The girls could have been models solely for how wonderful their hair looked. They totally didn't look like the clientele that was frequenting the salon that day. I was shocked to find out they pay $2000 every few months to maintain their extensions!?!?

Another photo he showed me was of some guy he said was from Journey. I pondered whether I heard him correctly. I used to love Journey. After we were underway with my color he said, “Oh, there he is--the guy from Journey.” I look over and see this guy wearing a baseball cap and Poncherrello (from CHiPs) sunglasses. He makes his way over to my guy’s station and starts talking like Pepe lapue. Then he switched to John Wayne. He asks my stylist if he has time tomorrow to do his highlights. He apologizes to me for the interruption and they both walk away. He looks back and says something like, “Don’t worry, your hair will just be green when he gets back.” All I could think was this is just weeeiiird.

Later when my hair was being cut, my stylist made a comment about the song on the surround sound—it was “Wheel in the Sky” by Journey. Seventies/Eighties music had been playing the whole time.

My guy did a wonderful job with my hair. He used something on it that made is so thick and shiny; I couldn't stop touching it. He also gave me a travel size collection of Shampoo and Conditioner. His prices were 50% less than my last guy. I swear though, I just can't quite wrap my head around it all. I was totally stuck in the 80s for 2 1/2 hours. I just can't reconcile that with the quality of my hair and the very trendy photos on his iPhone.

The Kiddos..

A lot has been happening; I doubt I'll ever catch up. But, I do have two stories that I need to tell.

Makena

Makena and Mark were laying (or is it lying? I never know.) on the bed when Makena started to explain to Mark how she would like him to sleep in her bed. (She's still in a toddler bed). She recognized that he was too big, but she had a solution. She planned to take Mark to her purple house so she could get her magic wand. Then she'd make him small so he could sleep in her bed. Mark asked her how to get to her purple house. She explained that you needed to take a right at Fire Truck park and a right at Peet's coffee. Then go to the supermarket and get a sugar cookie. They had this conversation for several minutes before they worked out the details. It was quite sweet.

Kessler

The other day the kids and I were at gymnastics class. Kess and I always hang out in the observation area. He hadn't eaten breakfast particularly well so he started to get quite cranky. I borrowed a dollar from another mom (pathetic, I know) and bought some Famous Amos cookies out of the vending machine. He snuggled in and started eating them one by one. When he started to feel a bit more satisfied he got down to play, with a cookie in hand. I noticed there was one on the floor and I still had the top of the wrapper from the cookie bag; you know the corner piece you rip off? So, I handed him both and asked him to throw them away. He tried to only take the wrapper but I persisted. He wrapped his little hand around the dirty half cookie and tiny bit of wrapper and walked to the trash can. Halfway there he stopped and put the wrapper on the floor. Then he took another step and put his cookie, the good one, on the floor. Then he walked over to the trash and threw away the other cookie. He walked back past his good cookie and picked up the wrapper and took that to the trash. Then he walked back and picked up his now questionable good cookie and started munching on it.

Under normal circumstances I would have snagged the cookie and thrown it away; I even had more in the bag. But, I couldn't do it. He was so dang methodical about what he was doing; I just couldn't break the rhythm.

Beautiful Butterfly

We went to the Dublin St. Partick's Day Festival on Saturday. It was REALLY cold yet the lines to the rides were long. So, to ease our guilt for not waiting in those lines, we paid the $10 for a "fancy butterfly". Well worth it!!

Here's the making of the butterfly.



Isn't she a beauty!?!?!

Tru.. Truck.. TRUUUCK!

I have been sick for a few weeks with a short tease of a reprieve last week. I finally decided to go to the doctor again on Friday. Mark stayed home to look after the kids--he's learned I have significant limitations when I'm sick.

Being the great dad that he is, he took the kids to the park across the street while I went to my appointment. Being the typical dad that he is, he encouraged the kids to do things that make me cringe, like sliding down the slide face first or backward. On Friday, he decided that both kids should swing on the big kid swing instead of the very safe toddler swing. This is fine for Makena.. but Kessler, he's not quite ready. Apparently everything was going fine until he saw a truck. According to Kessler, the rest of the world does not respond appropriately when a truck is in their midst. What you are supposed to do is point and wave while screaming "tru, truck, TRUUUUCK!!" Though, you might not get to the "TRUUUUCK" part if you happen to see one while swinging on the big kid swing. As was the case with Kess. He ended up doing a backward somersault with a belly flop landing right into the bark. Poor Kessler!

Valentine's Day

Here's video of our stud at the neighborhood Valentine's Day Dance. Both the kids had a blast, but Kess really showed off his stuff. He's little daddy for sure. Mark was dancing in front of him and Kess was mimicking his every move (only with more rhythm).

That's not a cartoon..

It's Saturday morning. Makena turned up at about 7:30, just like she's done the last 3 morning. Usually she gets up well after 8:00. Anyway, we've been limiting the amount of TV she watches because it's become a bit of an obsession for her. The fabulous DVR invention means she can watch her favorite show, Little Einsteins, over and over again. She'd watch it for hours if we let her.

Since she's up so early and we've limited the amount of TV she watches during the week, Mark and I agreed to let her in on the Saturday morning cartoon watching ritual!! So Mark started looking for a good one. He found Calliou. After watching it for a few mintues Makena said to Mark, "This is not a cartoon." Mark explained to her that it was. Just as she always does when Mark tells her something she doesn't buy, she looked at me and said, "Mom, this isn't a cartoon." I told her it was; she continued to disagree. I asked, "If it's not a cartoon, then what is it?". She said, "I don't know, but it doesn't have any cars in it."

Some people should not be responsible for others...

The kids and I went to the supermarket yesterday. (I could say that nearly any day of the week and it would still be accurate. Safeway should charge us rent.) Anyway, we went because I didn’t have anything for dinner and Mark needed a prescription filled.

So, I loaded the kids up in a car cart, the awful, awful car cart. Kess started pulling Makena’s hair almost immediately and a skirmish began. They continued for a bit until I finally decided to put Kessler in the top of the cart near me. He was still none too happy but we continued to look for the items on the list I never created.

At one point I realized that Kessler had nabbed something.. It’s a pastry decorating pen. I realized he had it but didn’t realize he been chewing on its cardboard container. I couldn’t put it back on the shelf in its altered condition, so I chucked it in the cart. (every home needs a $10 pastry decorating pen, don’t they?)

Kessler remained in his funk despite his high fiber snack so I put him in the cart with the rest of the groceries hoping that would occupy him for just a few more minutes. It worked well enough. I was so happy to finally arrive at the register. Kessler helped me unload the cart and I started to look for my wallet. It wasn’t in my purse!! But I knew I had it earlier. I told the cashier my dilemma and asked if I could run to the car to check for it there. She was extremely sweet and understanding. So, I left the groceries on the belt and started running—while pushing the car cart. Now, I wasn’t breaking any records, but I was definitely hurrying. Imagine my surprise when I tried to maintain my speed as I reached the threshold of the automatic doors and the car cart stopped--cold. Kessler toppled over in the cart and I knocked the wind out of myself.

The cart would not budge. What the hell??! Someone behind me said “It’s the magnets.. you can’t leave.” To this I astutely said, “huh?!?!” and continued to push the cart. Now, I’m not sure what came over me.. but I made the decision that, so help me, this cart was going to go through that door. Like a mad woman, I grunted and pushed and pushed and grunted… the cart inched forward. “I’m almost there” I thought. “Just a little more!” I silently cheered myself on. In my mind I was supposed to cross the threshold and feel the magnets loosen their grip as I finally escaped the invisible hold of the doors. Only, that didn’t happen. Once the front of the cart crossed the threshold it became attached to the metal rail just outside. It was all I could do to push the back end of the cart around so that I could squeeze my way through the door and around the cart.

Once I did I grabbed the kids (and Kessler’s shoes) and schlepped them to the car. I threw the shoes and my purse inside and grabbed my wallet and schlepped the kids back inside to the register. My stuff was no longer on the belt when I returned. Before my head had a chance to explode the cashier told me she had it all and to come ahead. I briefly explained what had happened and she told me that if the cart doesn’t come through the checkout lane that will happen!! No way!!!

I had to put both kids down so that I could get my ATM card from my wallet. As soon as I did Kessler took off running and Makena followed. I quickly swiped the card and chased them down. I hoisted each of them onto a hip and headed back to the register. As I scurried back I twisted my ankle nearly dropping both kids. I limped back to the register where I gladly accepted the offer of “help to your car, ma’am?” Hell yes. Thank you. Needless to say I could not get home fast enough.

Now, today was gymnastics day. For some reason I woke up this morning feeling undeservingly confident. I decided that after gymnastics I would take the kids to Chili’s for lunch. Kessler was not a happy camper while we watched Makena in her class. There was no doubt in my mind that our lunch plans should be cancelled. But, again, something came over me. I decided that we were going to go to Chili’s for lunch (period). So, we did.

Kessler started throwing anything within arm’s reach. The staff was amazing. Before the stuff hit the ground they were over to pick it up. Our waiter brought out each item as soon as it was ready so that we could get started. Kessler (and I) definitely appreciated this. He settled down as soon as he started to eat. The waiter also brought our check with the food—he explained that he didn’t want me to have to wait on him, but no rush. Again, this was greatly appreciated. I decided it was an excellent idea and grabbled my purse.

Do you remember yesterday… how I threw my purse and Kessler’s shoes in the car—then retrieved my wallet? Well, when I returned to the car I didn’t put the wallet back in my purse. Lucky enough the kids were angels for the rest of lunch so I had plenty of time to ponder how I managed to let this happen twice in as many days. Finally, I worked up the nerve to tell him. He, just like the cashier, was so extremely nice and understanding.

I made the walk of shame to the car with kids in tow.. again. I paid the bill with a large tip. Thank goodness because the waiter had to chase me out of the restaurant to return Kessler’s sippy cup. I strapped the kids in the car and yes, I put my wallet in my purse.

When I pulled in the garage at home Makena said, “Mommy!! We made it home after all!” Even she doubts my competence!

I had better blog..

There have been events that are blogworthy but I'm finding that since I have no more business stuff to do, I'm never in the office. And since I'm never in the office, I'm never at my desktop. And, since I'm never at my desktop I don't blog! I do use my laptop all the time, but all the cables/cameras and such are in the office! Quite a quandary, eh?

In a parallel quandary, our point and shoot camera no longer shoots. So, we bought a replacement yesterday--a Canon 880SI. I LOVE this camera. Anyway, unlike the older camera, it has a memory card that I can insert into my laptop to download the photos. Easy Peazy!

So, I'm hoping the solution to quandary two, will alleviate quandary one as well and I'll be back to blogging at more frequent intervals.

With that being said—let me show off my new camera!!

Return from my hiatus..

I haven't blogged in a while--as I tend to do more often than I'd like.

There are two immediate reasons why I needed to blog. The first and most important is to congratulate Julie, Ken and Phoebe on the new addition to their family--Ruby Grace! She was born on Janurary 2nd. She doesn't understand it yet, but she is a very lucky girl to have such a wonderful family to look after her.



I can't wait to meet her!

My second reason is to tell a funny story...

We were sitting at the kitchen table last night. I glanced up at the digital display on the oven to see what time it was. It said 5 .41. It was well past 5:41 and the time was displayed in the wrong format. My first thought was that it's some error code and I'll end up having to call a repair the next day. So, I forgot about it and moved on.

Have I mentioned that Kessler likes to press buttons? Kind of like how his dad likes to press my buttons.. only Kessler likes to press ALL buttons. Well, this morning at about 2:00 a.m. I was awakened by a loud beeping noise. "Beep........ Beep....... Beep..." I laid in denial for a few seconds. Then I tried to will the sound away. Finally I decided I better check it out. As I descended the stairs I could tell the beeping was coming from the kitchen.. the oven, in fact. I finally recognized that the beeping was the timer. Yes, Kessler in his button pushing frenzy, had set the timer on the oven. It never ceases to amaze me how many different ways I can be woken up in the middle of the night.

At least I didn't have to call a repairman today.