Ch-ch-changes...

Only a few small changes. At least here. Mostly that I finally updated the blogroll. So there are new, wonderful blogs for you to read, to your right. Check them out, you won't be sorry!

Other changes are not so small. I finally did it. I bought a new car. Must. Remember. To. Breathe.

Yeah, I'm a little freaked out spending that kind of money. Contrary to what some people might think, I hate spending money. Especially that much all at one time. But it was a good move, really. It's going to save me TONS on gas every month, the financing is the best I could possibly imagine getting, it's a cute car, and, to be honest, I haven't been comfortable in the Jeep since it was stolen. Depending on how the gas actually works out, I could be saving a good $100/mo. I didn't get as good of a deal on it as I'd have liked, but I had some things working against me (high mileage, payoff) so they did the best they could.

I don't have the car yet. It will be delivered Monday or Tuesday (hoping for Monday) and I will post a pic of the actual car when I get it. But for now, introducing my new, soon-to-be delivered Honda Fit (yes, this is the color and we LOVE it!)...

What do you do….

When one child has lost his PSP by taking it outside, putting it down, and FORGETTING ABOUT IT, then neglects to mention this little detail for…oh, THREE DAYS?

And the other, who seems to have forgotten he is potty trained for an entire day - when told, “I do not want to hear another word out of either of you,” responds with...

“Word.”

eBay, anyone?

Easter 08; in pictures

First, you must color the eggs...










All the little egg dyers, lined up in a row... looks like not everybody wanted their picture taken...




Next, the Easter Bunny comes and leaves goodies for all the spoiled little boys...




and hides the eggs in really obvious places....




Then, you must find the eggs (it's good to have a big brother to help!)...






Hmm... there must be more eggs here somewhere...




Ah-ha! Success!




What spoiled boys we are!




And at the end of a long, busy Easter, there's nothing like a good nap!



Hope your Easter was as eggs-ellent as ours!!

Bullet point weekend

I can only manage bullet points today. Sorry. Why? Because...

• I've caught Kyan's cold and it SUCKS. My EARS itch - from the congestion, I think - but omg it's miserable.

• Easter is tomorrow! And how did that happen??

• We're coloring eggs today.

• People are coming over to help color eggs and my house is TRASHED thanks to my being sick.

• MORE FREAKING SNOW. Enough already.

• Will try to get pics of egg dying and post up later. For now, gotta run.

• Happy Easter, y'all!

Busy week

Sorry no posts, I've been very busy this week. In fact, this needs to be very short. Between work being crazy, Kyan being sick, and the thousands of other things I need to accomplish (and am NOT), blogging has had to take a backseat. Again. Aren't you sick of me repeating that? I do have to report that Jaben's orchestra concert was so good last night!! None of my pictures came out tho and I'm so unhappy about that. I'm going to try to photoshop them into usefulness, but I'm not holding my breath. When all the orchestras performed together (intermediate [Jaben's grade], middle school, high school) for some reason they put the little kids in the back and I couldn't see Jabe! Towards the end of the song I spotted part of his face between some people, so I zoomed in on that with the video camera. Yes, we've got video but no good stills. And it's such a bad shot you can't even tell he's playing - he just looks like he's standing there - but at least you can tell he was up there.

He looked so cute in his little shirt and tie!! THAT, I got a photo of before we left and I can try to post it later. I think he's just a handsome kid.

Time is short, bear with me and I'll try to have a more interesting/entertaining post soon!

Thinks I've been thinking

I come up with all kinds of interesting things to blog about in strange places. Like, the shower, on the potty, driving in my car... you get the idea. So I was thinking it'd be cool if I could somehow log in, like with some kind of voice activated device, kind of like one of those goofy looking Bluetooth things, and just blog it before I forgot it.

I initially thought of some kind of embedded chip, but that brings up all kinds of issues I don't want to deal with. So yeah, I want a bloggy bluetooth. It probably exists, and even if it did, I'm sure I can't afford it.

Also, I want to be able to better organize the shows on my DVR. Why aren't there folders? It'd be so convenient to have a folder for each member of the family, so that everyone's shows would be separated and I wouldn't have to scroll thru 14 Spongebobs, 6 half-watched video game shows, 5 Einsteins, 6 Blue's Clues, and a couple of pre-teen movies and To Catch a Thief's to get to the ONE thing I've recorded this week. Please, DVR people... folders.

Lastly? Procrastination is bad. Need to dry hair, need to wash leaked on sheets (no, not by me! We have a leaky pull up to thank for that), go thru Jaben's camping stuff, and maybe, just maybe wash a dish.

So what do you think?

We survived the blizzard and things are melting/thawing out. In fact, it was NICE today. I think it would've been warmer if it weren't for the "cooler effect" caused by the giant piles of snow all around, but it was a pretty nice day. I haven't checked the weather yet, but hopefully we'll have more nice days to come. I am sooo sick of snow and cold. Enough already!

Tell me what you think of my new layout? I'm still figuring the whole HTML thing out, so at this point I'm just working on re-designing and all that, but I think it's coming along nicely. Still needs work, of course, but I think I'm getting there. Fairly feminine, but since so much of this is about my boys, it can't be too girly. Right?

Oh - and I've got some blogs I have begun reading recently that I need to add to the blogroll, so look for additions there soon as well!

Now that I'm done playing (for tonight, anyway!) it's time to head to bed! I might not have to work tomorrow, but I still have to get Jaben off to school. Joy.

Have a great night and a super Friday!

Aftermath

Just a couple of quick shots of everything shoveled out. It took us 4 hrs to do this. I don't know if you can tell from these pictures, but the snow ended up being a little over knee high on me. And I'm 5'5".

Front walk


Back






In case you wondered, NO we do NOT want any more snow this winter!!

Got snow?

We do! I'm MORE than willing to share, if you'd like. So much for our weekend plans. Instead we'll be holed up in the house at least for today. Maybe we'll be able to dig out tomorrow. We'll see.

A few snow shots...

Lovely view out my front door. 10 points to whever can find the sidewalk!



Same street, different angle. Usually you'd be able to see our porch in this shot, but with the snow it's a bit... um... buried.



A few from the back...









Update: It's now almost 5:30, it still hasn't stopped snowing and I'm beginning to wonder if it's going to! This is insane. The snow in my driveway is easily knee-high and it's going to take forever to dig out. The roads are all closed except for emergency so it's not like we could go anywhere even if we could get out. This absolutly sucks. And it's MARCH! I'd post new pics but the batteries in my camera are now dead. *sigh*

200 POSTS!!

I can’t believe this is my 200th post! Yay for me. Actually I just realized that as I opened blogger, so I don’t have any super-cool 200th post thing planned. If you’re reading, feel free to post a “you rock” comment. You know you want to.

So how am I going to use my epic 200th post, you ask? Why, to talk about what a lousy mom I’ve been lately, that’s how!

Ever have days/weeks/months when you feel like all you ever do is yell at your kids? Yeah, that’s how I feel lately. None of us seems to be able to do anything right. They don’t do what they’re told and I don’t handle it well and yell at them about it. I made a first step at making things better with Jaben by posting a chore chart for him. One of the reasons we’ve been having problems lately is because I feel like I don’t get enough help around the house. Seriously, how hard is it to put clothes in a drawer or laundry basket?

So every night when he gets home from school, he needs to check the chore chart and do what’s listed. And then do his homework. Very simple. He was told on the first day as well that the consequence for not doing it was to miss the Haven. Since this is the first week, I gave him 2 nights of skipping (after warning him that it’d better be done on night 2) and then told him no Haven tonight. Nobody is happy with me today, but I didn’t have a choice. I’m sure Jaben thought I’d give in and let him go, and I so wanted to let him go. But I couldn’t. If I give in already, the whole thing is wasted effort and he’ll see that I have no follow through on anything and he can do whatever he wants. That’s not the message I want to send to him. I want him to learn that there are consequences when he doesn’t do what he’s supposed to, and that there are rewards when he does. He hasn’t been the easiest, most well behaved child lately (where did the LYING come from, anyway?? Is this normal for this age or is it just my kid??) so we’ve got to start somewhere. And this is that start. I don’t like it, but it’s my job.

Now Kyan is a little trickier. With him it’s not leaving his things lying around. He is at the age where he likes to help me and wipe up his own messes, so that’s not the issue. With him it’s crying, hanging on me all the time, and being so clingy. I know that’s a good thing because it means he loves me, and I realize how lucky I am to have a happy, healthy little boy who is here and can hang on me and love me to distraction. But he needs to become more independent. He needs it and I need it. He will be starting preschool in September (please God let the ride work out!!) – did I mention we got the card in the mail saying he got in, and will be in the class I wanted him in?? So yes, that will help. For the time being tho, I am at a loss. I am hopeful that more one-on-one time will help, so I’m taking him to the mall on Sat for the “Easter treasure hunt welcome the bunny” thing they’ve got going on. Just US. He needs that and so do I. Kyan and mommy and it should be fun. Maybe he’ll even get some time in their play area. I think he’d like that.

And just so you don’t think I’m neglecting Jaben, he is getting some one-on-one time Saturday too. The Jamestown concert is that night and of course we have tickets!! But I’m thinking about taking him out to dinner, again, just us, so that we can talk and bond a little bit, and maybe find a way to see eye to eye on the things we’re having the most conflict over.

You know, most of the time this mom thing isn’t too rough of a road. There are hugs, kisses and giggles along the way, and I know how lucky and blessed I am. They’re healthy, mostly happy, and they’re here. But some weeks… it’s hard to not post them on eBay.

I voted - did you?

Whether your primary is today (ours is!), or has already happened, I hope you voted! I would love it if you voted for the same candidate as me, but it's not a requirement. Just VOTE for someone!!

coughObamain08cough

*********

Tonight is the Boy Scout red and green banquet. We made cookies and actually didn't burn most of them! Major improvement over last week, let me assure you.

Kyan doesn’t want to go tho. I mean, I’m sure he will. His not going would mean me leaving the house without him – and we know that’s not going to happen. I can’t imagine he would want to go… it’s not about him, he has to eat food he’s not familiar with, made by people he doesn’t know, sit still and not play…. Just not the place an active 3 yr old wants to be. But I’m betting he won’t stick to his idea of “stay home with bama (grandma).”

Speaking of Kyan, cute little story I posted on my message board I thought I’d share here.

Yesterday morning Kyan had on these drawstring sweats that had pockets. He put his hands into the pockets and was walking around that way (loves his pockets, that one) and I commented that he looked like a little old man when he did that. Ky gives me that cute little mischievous grin, hunches his shoulders, shoves his hands further into his pockets and uses them to hike his pants up as high as they'd go, bent his knees and waddled in an "old guy" walk across the living room. Cracked. Me. Up!

All over the place

My thoughts are all over the place today, so hang tight and we’ll see if we can make sense. Ha! Good luck with that!

Weds is the closing on our old house. I never did get over there and take a few more pictures or copy down Jaben’s growth marks on the wall. I’m not going to get there tonight either. I guess we just have to say goodbye to it and move on.

I signed Kyan up for preschool in the fall. If it works out, he’ll be going Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-11:30am. He’s only 3, I don’t feel he needs more than that right now. Maybe next year I’ll be able to work him into one more day for the 4-yr old class to prepare for all day kindergarten when he’s 5, but one step at a time. I had a ride all worked out for him, but that fell thru. So I was panicking, in spite of having 7 mos to figure it out. I think it might be okay tho – my cousin said she might be able to do it, so ** whew **. Kyan can go to preschool after all. He needs it, and better still, he wants it. I’m excited for him to get to do this – I think he’s going to love it!

I’m trying to figure out if it’d be possible to get rid of my car. Not to be carless – I wouldn’t be able to get to work that way. But to get rid of the Liberty and get something more fuel efficient and, if I was lucky, with a lower payment. That’d be nice, but it’s probably not likely. I owe too much yet, I think. I’m not necessarily upside down (I researched), but I’d still end up tacking what I owe onto a loan and that might negate any fuel savings I could get. But it has to be considered, and possibly researched because with gas prices at a ridiculous $3.19/gal, and probably $4.00/gal by summer I cannot afford to drive my Jeep anymore. I HAVE to have something that uses less gas. I don’t have the money for what could be $65.00/week for gas. If I could get something more fuel efficient for the same or a lower payment, I’m okay with basically paying for a car and a half over the long run to be able to get by week to week right now. KWIM? So if you’ve got any suggestions or ideas, please share!

In other news, one cousin is getting married (!) on the 4th of July this year (yay Bethany and Josh!!) and another cousin is pregnant and due in Oct. I need to see what baby clothes I have from Kyan so she can have them if she wants. My kids are growing by leaps and bounds, things are crazy as usual but I think we’d be bored if we were less busy. I did get a great nap on the couch yesterday with Kyan and that totally rocked, especially since naps are a luxury I can’t normally afford.

Yeah, I know I’m still all over the place. Rather fixated on that car and all I have to do tonight – like make cookies (again – and I won’t burn them this time!) for the scout’s red and green banquet tomorrow night. It was supposed to be last week but got cancelled due to snow. Shouldn’t be a problem this week.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Maybe I’ll sleep better tonight and the rest of the week (couldn’t shut off the brain last night) and have a more comprehensible post in a day or so. Thanks, if you stuck with me!