Sleep talker

Princess talks in her sleep sometimes. She comes by it honestly--I'm notorious for it myself. A couple weeks ago I heard her yell, "No Gman, that's MY toy!," which is a common expression from her, just not at 1 AM.

This morning at about 6AM, I awakened to hearing her scream something about chicken. So I laid there waiting to see if she was awake or not. Sure enough, about 30 seconds later she very clearly yells "What kind of chicken is it?!" My thought is...what do you have to be dreaming about to question the type of chicken? Craig says the brighter side of being awakened this way is that at least it was something funny.

Excuse me, my Porshe has arrived

While Princess and I were out doing some shopping for her upcoming 4th b'day party, we stopped at Chick-Fil-A (Or "Chick-a-lay" as she calls it). As we're sitting there eating, I noticed a semi parked in the turn lane...but something about it seemed odd. From where I was I couldn't see the driving ramp...all I saw were tail lights up in the air. That's a Porshe in there on the second level! Luxury Lines Automobile Transport delivers the Porshes to the dealers--there's one across the street from Chick-a-lay here. I'm very happy to know that when I purchase a Porshe, it apparently does not see daylight until it is delivered to my dealer.

Also a question for you, as you read this....did you read "Porsh" or "Porsh-Ah"?

Sign on side of road

I saw a sign today on the way to the gym (tried to get a pic but traffic flow just wouldn't work with me). It said "EVOLUTION Cage Fight @ The Thoroughbred Center Feb. 23rd"
There's several things about the sign that make me say "Mmmmmm??"
1. Never thought I'd see the words "Evolution" and "Cage Fight" together as one title.
2. Is the cage fight to dispel the "myth of evolution"?
3. Or, even more worrisome, that we've "evolved" to cage fighting?
4. The fact that this even takes place at The Thoroughbred Center is mind boggling. The reverse of that situation would be like having your fairytale princess wedding in a boxing ring in a back alley in the Bronx.
Mmmmmmmmmm...

Very sleepy boy!

An hour before bedtime, Gman enters my room. I say, "Hi there!" He ignores me, climbs in rocker, starts to snore. He's instantly, totally dead to the world! I wish every night was that easy!

Snow Days

Today makes the 5th snow day our school district has had this winter. Al is lovin' it! Me? Not so much. They'll be able to make up some by converting Teacher Records Days to class days. The rest get made up by extending the school year. The bright side I'm looking for: if they miss just 1 more snow day, summer break will be a week shorter! It's Sanity Banking.

Our nights out!

Craig and I actually got TWO nights out--In A Row!! I generally consider us lucky to get 2 in 6 months time! Friday night was just going to a movie, but it was sooo wonderful! I don't think we've seen a grown-up movie in a theater in at least a year ("27 Dresses" is a really good movie, btw). Saturday night was our BIG night out......A HUGE "Thank You!" to my mom & dad for keeping the 3 munchkins overnight! We went to a charity event for the local Art & Sciences Center. We had a great time! Craig looked dashing in his suit, and if I do say so myself, all those extra stomach crunches really paid off for me in my "little black dress."

Boys will be boys

Following is a post I made about 8mos ago to a message board group I’ve been a member of for over 5 years (Shout out to the April Bellies!!). Judging from what I found in Al’s room this week, it’s still very relevant:

A warning for when your sons get older.
Y'all, Al is driving me crazy. Be prepared. Your turn is coming. Get rid of all your Tupperware, cups, Ziplocs, hairspray/mousse lids, really ANYTHING that can hold water. The water "experiments" you will find in the bathroom are truly mind-boggling. Telling your child to stop the water experiments is futile. You'll only repeat that sentence every other day for years. Making the child clean up the mess doesn't stop them either, and only agitates you when you find they didn't "clean up the mess," but instead they merely pour the water out of the cup, or pull the plug out of the sink and walk away leaving everything on the counter. In the past experiments, Al has learned:

• The paint on a Matchbox car does not get soggy or turn the water colors. Or at least not black, blue, red or silver paint. I'm sure we'll answer the question of other colors at another time.
• Crayons do get soggy and turn the water colors.
• Legos don't get get soggy.
• Some boats built with Legos will float, others sink quickly, while some take on a little water but float anyway. Al has tested many, many Lego configurations.
• Mom really did know what she was saying when she said that paper Dixie cups will start to leak after a little while.
• So do McDonald's cups.
• The paper cup does not absorb all the water that was in the cup.
• Rocks are still rocks, even after soaking for days. Why he REPEATEDLY tries this experiment is beyond me.
• Soaking rocks with "shiny crystals" inside them does not make the shiny crystals grow.
• Army men will EVENTUALLY get a little mushy on the outside.
• Army men float.
• Even when you wrap them in Kleenex and Scotch tape.
• This week, we learned that silver marbles will rust.

Princess-isms

She'll be 4 in about 6 weeks. She's at the age where she just says things that make you burst with laughter. This week alone:
1. In the past 3-4 weeks, I've had to go to several meetings and take her/Gman with me. At home, I had given them both a snack and she sat down at the lil' table and said, "Gman, come sit with me. Look mom, we're having a MEETING!"


2. Yesterday we were driving along to preschool and we have this conversation:
Out of the blue, Princess says "Excuse me."
Me: What for?
Pr: That was a but excuse me
Me: A what?
Pr: But excuse me
Me: What's that?
Pr: You know, for a burp that comes from your bum.
I almost drove off the road!!!

3. She and Gman have watched Shrek3 apparently way too many times. While, shopping with G'ma and Great-Aunt Rae, she quoted the movie. Walking thru the store she started scratching at her backside and said " 'My butt is itchin' up a storm' today!"

This is definitely the brighter side of having kids....you just can't think up this kinda laughter on your own!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I recently saw this display at Walmart. My first thought was "I'd KILL anybody for giving me that for V-day!" I'm sure Craig already knows that.
A. For spending $30 on CHOCOLATE! For that much I could get a great sweater on sale at Kohls!!! (I have a massive sweater collection.)
B. I had to know how much was in that box. Two and a half pounds!!! How many hours on a treadmill would THAT be? Oh, my quads are wailing just thinking about it!! And you don't even want to know what my hips are screaming!

So Happy Valentines Day to all of you! And here's a virtual box of chocolates for all of you!
And "Thank You, Honey" for being smart! That's one of the reasons why I married you!

Meat Cupcakes

I make my meatloaf in muffin pans. The first time Princess ever had one (about a year ago), to get her to taste it, I told her it was a cupcake. I was upstairs when she tasted it and she screamed, "Mom! That's not a cupcake!!" Thus, I don't make it that often. Can you guess which family member gets excited? (Al was @ his dad's house, but if he had been home, he would not have been happy.) (PS--that energy drink is by Glaceau, VitaminEnergy. I see it at Walmart all the time)

Hubby grocery trips

Whenever Craig goes on a small grocery run for me, he usually comes home with a few extras (who doesn't?). Sometimes, it's something one would expect--munchies, sweets, ice cream...usually though, its an energy drink, because I never buy those but he likes to try 'em out. Not long ago he brought home a new energy drink just based on the product labeling....we both though this was HI-larious:

Cast of Characters: The Husband

Portrayed by: Craig

Super Powers: Keeps Paula happy 99% of the time, doing dishes even when not asked (like Aunt Rae says: Nothing sexier than a man with dishpan hands), all other super powers cannot be mentioned because our moms read this.

Likes: Banana Pudding; time with family; golf; online poker

Dislikes: going to the doctor; his job; DIY projects his wife comes up with; Grey's Anatomy (because there's doctors on that show, ya know)

What position do you sleep in?

I sleep on my left side, in the exact same spot, soooo much that our relatively new mattress has a permanent indention. A tornado could sweep Craig away, but I'd be safe in my fox hole. (Speaking of, we did spend a portion of our night huddled in the basement from the Tornado Warning last night, but we're ok).

Gman is the one who makes me laugh. He still sleeps bum-up a lot like most little ones, and in random usual positions, but about 3-4 times a week I find him sound asleep like in the following pic. What's especially funny about this time is that I had just carried him from the van (asleep) and laid him on the living room floor--then he assumed the position and slept for nearly an hour!!!

Happy Birthday Papaw!

Today is my dad's birthday. He's a great dad, grandfather and man.
Have a great birthday! We love you!

Cast of Characters: Middle Child

Portrayed by: Princess, age almost 4

Super Powers: Can out drama ANY drama queen; freakish ability to teach herself letters, sounds, writing, adding; amazing tolerance level of little brother's violence streak; memory of an elephant; brainwashed in utero to be a UK fan and doesn't seem to mind

Likes: pizza; purple; pink; attending UK sporting events; asking rapid-fire questions about the most inane subjects

Dislikes: dead, dried up worms in the garage; hates it if her socks don't match some other article of her clothing

Black eye liner & pink eye

Actually 2 totally unrelated stories:
1. If you look at your google/blog profile and click on one of your entries, it sends you to a list of other people who listed that same item in their profile. Out of curiousity, I wandered thru the lists for some of my answers. The lists for Maroon 5 and the movie Dead Again put me in with some crowds that I TRULY have nothing else in common with...I'm not Wiccan, pagan, or anything else many had listed. Wouldn't they find it hysterical to find a mini-van drivin', mom of 3 in their mix. When I saw these lists, it sparked a memory of Laura, Amy and me in Park City at a Love N Rockets concert--we were the ONLY people at the concert who did not apply an entire stick of black eye liner all over their face in preparation for the concert. And I even went with my sweater tied around my neck. (And despite my recollection of these details for this story, my memory is not what Laura claims it is)
2. The brighter side of the raging case of pink eye I woke up with this morning:

• It really brings out the blue of my eyes
• While at the pharmacy, I ran into a former co-worker I hadn't seen in about 4.5 yrs
• On the way to the pharmacy I saw this!!!

Cast of Characters: Oldest Child

Portrayed by: Al, age 11.5

Super Powers: burns more energy in a day than most large cities; can sass the paint off walls; really can be incredibly funny; will tackle/drag down opponents twice his size in middle school 'JV' football games; and has thrown an amazing spiral since he was about 5 (his mom taught him!)

Likes: minced onions & SeasonAll poured on everything he eats; playing with little sis and bro; baseball cards; experimenting with household cleaner concoctions that I should probably call in the Hazmat team to clean up

Dislikes: listening to mother; 95% of all food; listening to mother; homework; did I mention listening to mother?