You know your wardrobe is limited when....

...the following conversation ensues with your 6 yr. old.

Owen: I'm sleepy. Maybe we should all go home and take naps (giggles here because the idea is ludicrous in his mind).

pause...

Owen: Do you take a nap every day, Mom?

Me: No. In fact, I was gone all day today working. I barely had time to take a shower before I picked you up.

Owen: Ohhhhh....you took a shower! THAT'S why you're wearing those clothes.

Me: What do you mean?

Owen: Every time you take a shower you put those same clothes on.

_______

And as a side note, yesterday he said:

"Do we have to go to church tomorrow?"

and I said "Yes- it's Sunday"

and he said (in a whiny voice) "But it's EASTER!"

And yes- we definitely had a talk about what Easter is a celebration of.

Hazel is FOUR!

I can't believe my sweet little baby is FOUR YEARS OLD! It's incredible. She had a really hard time understanding the fact that her birthday was today but her party was not until tomorrow. Soooo...we let her open her gifts from the out-of-towners today so that she would feel special on her bday. Lucky for you, she opened her gifts in my bedroom...the junkiest room in the house. Enjoy...

Aunt Paige sent her a My Little Pony Salon that she just couldn't stop playing with. She came back to it over and over throughout the day.


Notice the little mannequin heads on the top with all of the different hairstyles that pony can try on? She pretended those were the baby ponies and they sang their names (Sally, Emma and Emily) over and over. Kind of creepy.


She even got inspired and pulled out one of her bigger ponies so she could play with it's hair. She brought it to me looking like this and said "Look! She's fancy!" She has about 6 million of Hazel's clippies in her hair.


Paige also sent her some Disney Princess pajamas. I actually managed to catch her reaction as she opened them... And then immediately put them on...


Ghee and Sarah went the Barbie route. They got her a Barbie that she keeps seeing on TV that has a pet dog with a puppy. It comes with a bath to wash the dogs in. Apparently something was missing, though. In the commercial, the dogs get in the mud and have to be washed off. When she opened the gift, she stared at the box for the longest time and then finally asked "Where's the mud?" She was easily appeased when she realized the tub had a functioning shower head. She wanted it opened immediately so she could make the mommy dog and baby dog cuddle together.

They also sent her a new Ken doll and a wedding dress (because she told me she wanted her barbie to get married). She was SO excited about the dress and immediately took Barbie out of her dog-washing clothes so that she could rush off to her wedding with Beach Party Ken.
Obviously Ken didn't realize that he was supposed to dress up for the occasion, but Barbie still looked pretty happy about the whole affair.

Carly heard all the commotion and poked her head out to see what was going on...

then spent a good ten minutes trying to get the ponies opened so she could attack them.

I had a talk with Hazel later this afternoon about how she should act at her party. She is a typical four yr. old and has the tendency to rip through one present after another without giving herself any time to react. I explained to her that people want to know how she feels about their present and that she should take the time to thank each person before moving on to the next gift. I don't actually expect this lesson to stick, but I thought it was at least time to start drilling it into her head.

I was giving her some examples of what she could say when opening a gift and she sad "Or like 'Oh, Thank you so much! This is the perfect thing I always wanted!' " I said "That works!"

I can't wait to see what she says tomorrow! I am already prepping myself for the laughter.

Hazelisms

We always talk about how it is the LAW for Hazel and Owen to wear their seat belts. Hazel always wants to know what will happen if she doesn't, and I tell her that the police will take her mommy to jail.

We stopped at the bank yesterday and Meredith took Kyle out of his car seat so she could feed him. Hazel stared at her for a minute and then asked "Is Kyle under arrest?"

_____

"MOM! My breath is hungry for some gum!!!"

_____

I have some jeans that are a pretty dark wash with a worn look. In the middle of a store, Hazel walked up to me, felt my crotch and asked "Are you wet?"

_____

Sitting in the car with Meredith, she was trying to get Nick (our neighbor)'s attention, and then she said "I love Nick."

Meredith said "Awww...that's sweet!" and Hazel said "But I shouldn't love him when he's naked."

Luckily, upon investigation, we realized she meant when he is working in the yard with his shirt off.

_____

She was pointing out her bedroom window (which looks out to the back patio) and said "There's a bad guy under the oven." and I said "What?!?!"

(a little more insistently) "A bad guy under the TOASTER!"

She saw that I was still confused and she yelled "THE HOT DOG! THE HOT DOG!"

That's when I realized she was pointing at the grill with it's cover on.

On this, the most important day of the year.....my birthday....

6:30- Rise and shine
6:31- Check Facebook to see how many GA friends have wished me a happy birthday

6:45- Get the kids dressed and fed

7:30-10:30- Nathan took Owen to school and he and Hazel ran errands. I threw on some dirty clothes and headed outside to clean the grill, pressure wash the patio, and pull a bunch of weeds. Then I laid in the hammock under this beautiful tree and listened to classical music on my ipod mingled with the sounds of nature.

Then this precious mockingbird landed above my head. For a good ten minutes he favored me with his entire repertoire of songs. It was seriously so beautiful and peaceful and relaxing. I almost didn't care that he pooped twice on my freshly washed porch.

10:30- Dropped off some stuff at Goodwill. Went to the carwash and came home with a beautiful, clean car.

11:20- Showered and had a Subway sandwich delivered to me (thank you, hubby) while I laid in bed and watched some shows on my DVR.

I was almost asleep in my bed- ready for a nap- thinking that I had had the best birthday- when Nathan and Hazel got home. Hazel yelled "MOM! We have a surprise for you!" and when I said "Hold on" I heard Nathan in the background saying "Nope- we can't hold on."

I begrudgingly hoisted myself from the bed and walked into my kitchen. Standing at my front door was my sister and best friend, Meredith. My sister who lives in Georgia and has a newborn. Apparently my whole family knew about it for the past month and nobody leaked the secret. It is really hard to pull one over on me and they all did. I didn't expect it for a second. In fact, I think I had a miniature heart attack. I have never gone through such a wide range of emotions in such a short period of time.

I stopped dead in my tracks and stood there in silent shock. Then I think I cursed. My heart was racing and my legs were tingling. Seriousy. Some kind of weird attack. Then a millisecond later I was jumping up and down and screaming and laughing. Then I burst into tears. I still can't believe it. It was by far the best gift I have ever received for any occasion.

Here's how we felt about seeing each other

Then we met Chris and Erin and baby T at Buca di Beppo for a giant pasta dinner. Yum!!!!

Thanks to everyone who helped give me an awesome day!!!! I love you!!!!

Stories

I left the house today without my phone. What did we do before cell phones?! I was gone for a total of 4 1/2 hours and the whole time I was thinking of all the important calls I could possibly be missing.

1. Owen is lost at the zoo (he's on a field trip today)
2. Your house is on fire.
3. Your husband has been in an accident.
4. You just won a million dollars.
5. Everyone you know just died.

Seriously, though...I felt so stressed out the whole time I was gone. I couldn't see all my facebook notifications, emails, or messages until I got home. I didn't realize how dependent I am.

______________________________________

I cleaned a house yesterday- an empty rental property. The tenants had just moved out. This place was probably 1300 sq. ft. There was brand new carpet, so I didn't have to mess with that. There were brand new tile floors in the bathrooms and kitchen. There was new paint on all the walls. The oven, the dishwasher, and the blinds were all being replaced. I thought I was going to be able to breeze through that place in a couple of hours. It took me EIGHT HOURS to clean. I can't even explain how disgusting the bathrooms were. I had to scrape the tub with a credit card to get the build up off of the sides. I had to use a tootbrush around the toilet seat to get all the goop out of the crevices. Every single light switch and outlet was almost black with dirty fingerprints. The ceiling fans were literally dripping with dust and cobwebs. The windows (on the inside) had to be scrubbed with a sponge before they would come clean. I spent two hours alone on the refrigerator. I had to use a metal scraper on the inside of the fridge to get off the sticky, gooey spills and food that had piled up over the years. I had to use that same scraper on the fronts of the kitchen cabinets because they were caked with grease and food.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE my job. I love to clean and I love seeing the job get done well and I love the money I make. :) But I get so mad when a place is like that. People LIVED there. They bathed in that tub! They put their food in that refrigerator! I just don't get it. I get that some people aren't as meticulous as others, but people that NEVER clean ANYTHING!?!?!?! I do NOT get that. And it disgusts me.

And to top it all off, by the time I was done there was a half-dead pigeon on the front walkway and I had to push it into the bushes with my broom and it just let me push it along while it pooped all over my broom and the sidewalk. Oh man, I hate pigeons. I tried to purposely hit one with my car today. Am I going to hell?

______________________________________

This morning I woke up at 7:15 and walked out into my living room to find Owen sitting on the couch with his school directory opened in his lap, the phone up to his ear. I gasped and said "WHO are you talking to at 7:15 in the morning?!?" He said, "Kyle."

Needless to say, I had to get Kyle's mom on the phone and apologize profusely. Luckily she had a sense of humor about the whole thing.

______________________________________

My teeth are rotting. I just don't understand. Nathan gives me a hard time about how long I take to brush my teeth. I never fail to brush them twice a day. I never fail to floss at night. So why are my teeth so crappy? I literally have a huge hole in one of my molars. I just discovered it the other day. Just a big ol' hole straight down to the nerve. And a molar on the other side causes me random, occasional, excruciating pain when I bite down on things like bread....a noodle....a french fry. Things you wouldn't expect to hurt. I just already have so much silver in my mouth I can't stand the thought of getting more. :(

I know I am addicted to sugar (as Meredith pointed out), but I would think that if I brushed and flossed regularly that wouldn't matter. It's not like I'm eating sweets all day long....most of the time. So frustrating.

______________________________________

The trip that wouldn't end....

Soooo......we were supposed to leave Georgia on Saturday, March 21st. We left Meredith's house on Friday morning and visited our good friends the Purdys, then headed over to Ghee's (Nathan's mom) "little cabin in the woods." It was such a great place to visit! We are so glad she moved there. It is an adorable house, and it's on 10 wooded acres with a lake. The kids were in heaven! They tromped through the woods and saw some cows in a neighboring field, yelled at the top of their voices thinking that they couldn't be heard by anyone, peed on trees and other backwoods Georgia type activities. It was GREAT!!!

Nathan and Sister Sarah had a rock skipping contest

Owen posed in front of the skipping rocks

Hazel stuck her hands and white shoes in the pristine (sarcasm) water

Nathan wanted to take the kids out in one of the boats. He stood by the boats for a good 15 minutes using an oar to tip them up and peer under them, then drop them suddenly and jump back. Finally, I asked what the crap he was doing. He said he was checking for snakes. Nathan is deathly afraid of snakes. All snakes. Even the sweet little harmless, innocent ones. I laughed at him and made fun of him for being overly cautious. I eventually got fed up, marched over there and used my bare hands to throw one of the boats over for him to use. Guess what was in there?! You got it. A snake. It was hilarious! I said in a matter of fact voice "Oh! What do you know? There IS a snake in there" and he yelled "Are you serious?!?!" while running for the dock. He then stood on the dock yelling at me while I showed the snake to the kids, took pictures of it and prodded it with an oar.

Look! He posed in an S shape. S is for snake.

Don't worry- I went inside and Googled it to prove that it was harmless....although I needed to convince myself, too, thanks to it's unmistakable triangular head. But it was, indeed, only a non-venemous red-bellied water snake.

This is how Hazel felt about not getting to ride in the boat.

There was so much excitement, we were wishing that we were there for more than one night. Our wish was granted. On Saturday, we left for the airport around 3:00 pm. We got dropped off at the curb, waved goodbye to Ghee and hauled our baggage up to the counter to check it. Why did I think this trip was somehow going to be easier than the first time around?

Owen didn't even have a ticket. His ticket had apparently been 1 way, so it was considered used and void. Long story. To make it short....we called Ghee who cheerfully headed back to the airport to pick us up. We took all our luggage back to her house and camped out another night, making furious phone calls to get the ticket situation taken care of. Luckily, on the way home, Ghee had picked up some worms. Apparently she had little faith that we would make that flight and she wanted to cheer us up with some live bait for FISHING!!!!! I haven't been fishing for a little over two years, so I immediately walked down to the lake (as Ghee put it "in my dress up clothes) and started sticking worms on hooks and casting like crazy. It's amazing how fishing can make me feel calm and anticipatory at the same time.

Here are a couple of fish that I caught.

And here is the obviously inferior one that Nathan caught.

And here is the precious one that Owen caught and reeled in all by himself.

The next day was Sunday, which we have been told is the busiest day to travel, so we saved ourselves the heartache and stress and didn't even try. We just decided to rest up for Monday. So we invited all of my family over to Ghee's house for a rib fest and some fishing. Yep- we broke the Sabbath a little- recreational activities and all, but it sure was fun! Good food, Hazel got to see Avery again, the two families were together for a brief moment and it's been a LONG time since that happened. I sure appreciated them making the drive out to the country to say goodbye to us a second time...even though Meredith got a little annoyed because my fishing addiction got the best of me and I left her up in the house nursing Kyle and talking to the Moms. Sorry, Meredith. :(

Cousins reunited

Hooks and worms and lures, oh my!

Another farewell

Another slumber party at Ghee's

Another bath at Ghee's to wash off the worm guts.

Another Where's Waldo moment

We got up Monday morning and Ghee drove us to the airport once again. We tried for the first flight (which was around noon), and got denied. Ghee drove back to get us. We went back to the airport for the 5:30 flight (bless you, Ghee), and got denied yet again.

Here we are waiting for Ghee to pick us up the second time. Most of us are sad, and I'm not quite sure what emotion Owen is feeling.

So we spent Monday night at Ghee's once again. That blessed angel of a mother-in-law gave up her king sized bed for us, made the 30 minute drive to the airport over and over, fed us, washed out clothes and never once seemed unhappy about any of it.

We finally got on a flight at 7:45 Tuesday morning (which required waking up at about 5:00 am), and we were on our way back to Phoenix.

Here we are on the plane....exhausted, but thrilled to be heading home.

Since we had no idea when we would be arriving in Phoenix, we didn't have anyone to pick us up. So we got to the airport, tracked down our luggage that had once again flown across the country without us and hopped on a bus. That bus took us to the light rail which took us to a stop about 1 1/2 miles from our house. The kids and I and all our luggage then sat in the parking lot of a bank while Nathan took another bus to our house so he could get the car and pick us up. This whole ordeal took about 2 1/2 hours. And while we were waiting at the bank, Hazel decided she had to pee. I'm sure the two men beside us on their smoking break thoroughly enjoyed her screaming "I have to pee, I have to pee! I can't wait. I'm starting to pee in my pants." Then when I tried to softly suggest that she get in the stroller and sit on her foot, she screamed "I don't want to put my foot in my vagina!!!!" At that point, I just let her keep screaming. It's not like I could be any more humiliated, so I just decided she could live it up...scream to her heart's content.

Anyway. We are home. We are slowly getting back into the swing of things and back to our normal sleeping patterns. Thanks to all our family and friends who helped make this a memorable experience (was that vague enough to include all the good and bad experiences?).

Reunion- part 3 (more highlights)

Here are some more memorable moments from our trip.....

Owen lost his fourth tooth! He may look happy in this picture, but there is a sad story to go along with it. He was actually having a very bad morning and talking back repeatedly to his daddy. Sooooo- Daddy took him to the kitchen to put soap in his mouth (it has to be pretty bad for this to happen), Owen fought him, Daddy knocked his tooth out. Horrible! Can you imagine how bad Nathan felt!? I thought it was hilarious, though. That nasty tooth had been dangling on a thin thread for days- collecting food on top of it and turning weird colors. And frankly, I can't think of a more sanitary way to lose your tooth than to have soap rubbed on your gums immediately afterward. :)

Owen and G-Mommy were playing chess, and Hazel heard them talking about the bishop. She asked which one was the bishop, placed it in a circle with these other characters (10 points if you can tell me what game they are from), placed herself (the white piece) in the middle of the circle and said "Look! I'm getting baptized!" Precious.

And speaking of precious, Owen was ADDICTED to Meredith's X-box. One day while he was "in the zone," Avery came and sat next to him and literally spent a good ten minutes softly rubbing his back.

And then rested her hand on his shoulder. He was oblivious the whole time, but she just kept doing it and looking at him lovingly.

And here are some more of my favorite shots from picture day!!!

I love this one where I became mentally challenged.

And when Hazel decided she had had enough and ran away, my thoughtful, kind-hearted brother decided he would fill in for her.

Here we are prepping for the big family shot.

And I didn't have this one for my earlier post, but this was the winning shot of the day. I love how Tyler looks like he is trying to wake up Kyle.

When it was all "over" we hugged and kissed...

...and said our goodbyes.

Little did we know we would all see each other again in a couple of days! To be continued.....