And So It Has Begun...

It's snowing...I hate snow.

(I know I already posted today, but I wanted to share what my backyard looks like at this moment.)

TGIF!

i love my three kids

screaming, puking, eating dirt

i could use a drink

Prepare yourself for a bunch of ranting...

This week has not been the greatest. Monday was awful. Mondays are usually awful, but after a long weekend at Gramma's house, it was an awful-er (I know that's not a word) Monday than I'm used to. Nothing went well. It was just a sucky day. Tuesday was a little better - preschool days always are. I got a few Christmas decorations out, and I was all happy. Happy until Elliott peed a lake in the middle of the living room. After she did it, she ran and hid in the hallway...creating a lovely pee-trail across the room. Wednesday was even better. We got out of the house, Mrs. Rodgers came over for our weekly date, and the kids actually took great naps. Thursday wasn't too shabby either. I took the girls to the ped. for check-ups and then managed to go grocery shopping (I saved $40 - go me!!). The afternoon was ok, and then 5:00 rolled around. Instantaneous meltdowns all around.

(Incoherent ranting ahead...)

This morning was fine until about 9:16am. On our way to the ped's office for Gabriel's flu shot, Elliott puked all over herself and the back seat. Good. Did I have extra clothing? No. So I scrubbed her off as best I could with baby wipes (I keep some really generic ones in the car - they were essentially useless). After the flu shot I had to go to Target. (Here's where the ranting takes off...) Elliott needed a winter coat, and I needed to look for something for the kids to wear for holiday pictures. We don't dress up...I don't "do" dresses, and my kids are usually dressed in classically simple clothing. My plan was to put them all in red turtlenecks, khakis, and red socks. Simple, cute. Soooooooo...do they have plain (and by plain I mean no ruffled edges) red turtlenecks for girls? No. So I bought Elliott a boy's one. Do they make them for babies? No. So I found a red long sleeved tee instead. Great! Oh wait...it has stupid s**t written all over the front. Why, why, why do all baby shirts have to have something emblazoned on the front? After bitching loudly, I decided to let it go. I could cover the shirt with a sweater, and I had already found 2 adorable cream-colored cardigans in the clearance section for the girls...$4.98 each. Woohoo! I found a cable knit sweater in almost the same color that would be perfect for Gabriel. I realized I could get Elliott a matching one - it's just a plain sweater, completely unisex, and she would look so stinking cute in it. Do they have them for babies? YES! However...in order to get the sweater, I also have to buy a shirt, tie, and pants. Apparently little girls aren't supposed to wear plain, cable knit sweaters. Instead, I am supposed to dress them up in frilly, poofy, FUGLY holiday dresses that cost more than I would pay for a dress for myself. I have a bunch of really cute dresses, but they rarely wear them so why put them on for a holiday pic? I want the pictures to look "realistic" - I want the kids to look they way they usually look. Hence the simple outfits. So I settled on the sweaters for the kids (cardigans for the girls, cable knit for Gabe), red shirts, jeans, and red socks. After the shopping, we came home. I fed Janna and the older kids were once again animals. I fed them, and tried to get them to clean up. No use. So, the toys are now MINE. Nap-time was chaos. All three kids were in bed by 12:30. The screaming and yelling finally stopped around 2. Did they fall asleep? One did. The older two decided to jump on their beds and rip all the covers off. I guess I can deal with that, at least it's kind of quiet. It's 4:09 and I keep putting off going up there and getting them...

My Big Girl...

...will be 2 tomorrow. And it doesn't seem possible. When did this precious little bundle become a Big little girl?

Elliott is so...well, me. She's whiny, bitchy, extremely cute, intelligent, talkative - need I go on? Every day I am amazed by her - her intelligence, cuteness, nastiness...whatever. I'm just in awe. So, Happy Birthday Hosette. Mommy loves you!

I Love Firemen!

Yesterday was our MOMS Club field trip to a local firehouse, and I have decided that I might want to be a fire woman when I grow up! Ok, probably not, but it was so cool! The kids had a blast, and I was just in awe of the coolness of the trucks and all the stuff we saw.

We started our tour with the call room. Lots of buttons everywhere! Gabriel wasn't too thrilled with the computers, but he LOVED the great big boots that were all over the place. They were seriously almost as big as him! Then we got to see where the firemen ate and relaxed (Gabriel wanted to know if they had chips and popcorn), and where they slept. The bunk room was pretty cool, Elliott and her friend Emily couldn't stay off of the beds - they pulled right out of the wall. We also got to see a cool demonstration of this nifty infrared light thing...it was awesome. The kids all lined up and put their hands on the wall. Then the lights were turned off and when the special lamp was pointed at the wall, you could see the hand prints. It picked up the little body heat that was left on the wall. Cool! We finished the inside tour with a look at the exercise room. There was so much equipment in such a small space. And of course Gabriel wanted to go in and work out.

We went out in the garage to look at the trucks next. The men leading the tour were all so nice, and they didn't care that Gabriel was touching everything and asking lots of questions. They even let the kids sit in the cab of the truck!

After the kids checked out the driver's seat, they checked out the tires. Both Elliott and Gabriel thought it was neat that the tires were as big as they were. And they liked that they could put their bottoms in the tire itself.

The best part of the trip was the ladder truck...or was it Erin's locking her keys in her car? Either way - both were awesome! The dude leading our tour brought the ladder truck, and extended the ladder to it's full height of 104 feet (thanks, Erin for asking how high it went). It was just so cool. Then he lowered the basket to where we were all standing, and the kids got to get in a look at the controls. Elliott really didn't care, but Gabriel was in heaven. He loves things that move and levers/controls/buttons are almost as much fun as trains in his book. So, Gabriel being Gabriel asked if he could climb the ladder or work the controls...the controls won out.

So while all of the cool truck stuff was happening, Erin was realizing that her keys were safely housed in her coat pocket...which was safely housed in her car. I know I'm a terrible friend for laughing, but it was humorous! The firemen were already there, and then the cops came. I documented the ordeal for her on film. It was awesome! It might have been the highlight of my day!

The trip ended with the kids all receiving a Junior Firefighter badge and coloring book. Then some of us went to McDonald's for nuckas and fry-fries. It was the best field trip I have ever been on!! And the two older kids loved it, too! Janna's opinion of the day?

If You Like Pina Coladas...

...then you would LOVE my new deodorant. Seriously. I needed some new destinkifier, and Suave's Tropical Paradise scented stuff was on sale. Now I know why. Every time I move my arms I smell pina colodas...and I don't like pina colodas. It reminds me of that Teen Spirit deodorant I wore when I was like 12.

I know blogging about something so trivial is very dorky, but the smell is so overpowering that I just had to share!

Say Cheese!!!

We got a new digital camera!! Not only is the camera itself fairly awesome (it's a shiny new Kodak EasyShare), it was also FREE!! Woohoo!!

I hear you asking, "How did you get a free (cool) digital camera?" And because you asked so nicely, I'll tell you. All we did was sign up for another 2 years of our phone/DSL service. In addition to the sweet camera, we got $10 off our monthly bill and a $50 gift card to Kodak's online Photo Gifts thing. Score!

Why???

Why is it so hard for people to use their brains? Seriously. In my perfect world there would be a limit to a few things (ok, a LOT of things, but here are only a few):

1. The number of times you are allowed to get away with not holding the door open for people - yes, that is for you Fat Man at the Mall this morning who watched me struggle with a stroller full of baby and a toddler on a leash.
2. The number of times you are allowed to touch someone else's child - without permission. Yeah...so help me if one more stupid person puts their hands on Janna (or Elliott or Gabriel) without my permission... I tell people to please not touch, but apparently they are either deaf or too stupid to comprehend that "Please, I'd rather you didn't touch her" means DON'T F-ING TOUCH HER!
3. The number of times you have to say, "Excuse me," before you finally just run the damned person over.
4. The number of times you are allowed to hit the "Reply All" button.
5. The number of times you have to tell your toddler that boogers are yucky - not tasty.

Today hasn't been the best of days in the ol' K-W household. But venting a little of my frustration has made me feel all kinds of better!

I Won...kind of...

Yesterday was a pretty awesome day! A few of my Mommy friends and I attended the NYS MOMS Club Luncheon. I left my house at 9:50 and I got home after 5. Yes - that is an entire day with no kids! I was in heaven!

The Luncheon itself was very informative. I met lots of new people, and I obtained a plethora (I LOVE that word) of information about how to make our chapter of MOMS better than it already is. The downside of the day was that there was WAY too much estrogen in such an enclosed space. Not to degrade my fellow females, but holy crap! It sounded like a chicken farm in there! There were women of all shapes and sizes chattering non-stop. I know that I am totally guilty of running at the mouth, but some of these women put even me to shame!

One of the cool things about the Luncheon was that each chapter of MC was to bring a basket to raffle off filled with items matching the theme. This year's theme was "Coffee or Tea...MOMS Club For Me", so there were baskets filled with coffees, teas, mugs, stirrers, all kinds of wonderful things...including an IPod and a cool Jogging Stroller. I bought a bunch of raffle tickets (the money goes to a great fund supporting Moms in need), and spread my tickets through all of the baskets. Low and behold, I won one!! I got this huge basket filled with preschool books! I was thrilled! It weighed a ton, and from what I could see, the books were awesome. So I spent the rest of the afternoon revelling in my wonderfulness (I never win anything).

When I got home, I rummaged through that basket, and to my shock and dismay...

the majority of the books were USED!!! And when I say USED I mean that they were either chewed on, covered with greasy hand prints or crusty food, written in...just used.

For the amount of money I spent on raffle tickets (and I didn't spend much compared to what some of the other Moms spent), I was completely caught off guard by the condition of the stuff in my basket. I thought that because the tag on the basket said that the value of it was at least $200, all of the books would have been new. I was (and still am) pretty p'd off. Don't get me wrong...I love used stuff. I yard sale and ebay with the best of them. But when you are raffling off things, shouldn't they be new?