My mom a.k.a. Mema came to town on Wed afternoon.  She is here for Samuel’s sixth birthday, and it was a BIG surprise to the kids.  She came bearing gifts and games and prizes and all kinds of fun for Samuel’s party.  Excitement in the house is HUGE, as you can imagine.  Here are a few pics.

(And oh, btw… Martha is now 11 months old (that was last week’s Photo Friday that never happened), and we have only THREE more weeks until her 1st birthday.  Can I get an “aaaaghhhh!” from the crowd?  Where did the year GO?)

 

 

I need a little help, so I’m putting this out there for the blogosphere!

I have a pretty large kitchen/dining area that is all linolium tile, and I also have three children.  This means lots of sweeping and mopping (or rather it means there SHOULD be lots of sweeping and mopping, if only I actually DID it regularly).  

Sweeping is no problem, since I have a handy-dandy broom/bucket combo thingy, but I am not happy with my current mopping tool.  I have been using a swiffer jet thingamabob, but the area I have to mop is rather large, and did I mention I have three kids?  I need a tough cleaner, and a tough mop.  I end up changing the swiffer pads at least once, maybe twice during a mopping session.

What do you all use for mopping?  What about cleaning supplies?  I’m THIS close to getting a big bunch of Basic H from Shaklee.  Those of you who use it, is it good for mopping floors?  Any and all suggestions welcome!

 

Have I mentioned on this blog about how much I love Sonic diet coke? I usually get the Route 44 size, and I HEART it in a BIG way,especially because of their magic ice (which is not the technical term, but that’s what I call it).

Unfortunately, I am trying to eliminate soda and tea from my diet (I don’t need the caffeine or the sugar), so I don’t get drinks from Sonic very often anymore. (sob, sob…)

BUT… just a couple of months ago, we found out that Sonic sells their “magic ice” in big ole bags. You can drive thru and pick some up, and come home to enjoy the magic ice goodness in your favorite glass.

These days I’m drinking lots and lots of water, and Sonic’s magic ice? Well, it makes the water work for me!

What works for you? Be sure to see what works for a few hundred other folks over at Shannon’s blog.

Today will be a quick post (well, we’ll see – I tend to get wordy even when I say I’ll be quick). (Has anyone noticed that about me?  No?  Oh, well it seems to me that my mind likes to go off in tangents and… wait… there I go… back to gratituesday).

Today I’m thankful for humor, particularly my husband’s sense of humor and the fact that he is passing that on to our kids. If it were left up to me, our kids would probably grow up with more than their fair share of anxiety and uptightedness. It’s not that I WANT to be that way, and living with my hubby is definitely helping in that department.

This morning I was telling Samuel how much I love him, and some of the reasons why. He was being silly and making me laugh, so I mentioned that I love how funny he is. He said, “you are funny too, mom”. I said, “I am??” And he said, “Well, not really… Daddy is WAY more funny than you.” Ha!

Lil Allan has been a “character” since he was six months old, and we’ve known since about that age that we were going to have our hands full with this little guy. He has a natural instinct for entertaining and funny, and he hams it up at every opportunity. I’ve regularly said he’ll either be a preacher or an actor.

And Martha? Well, she has been a more serious, contemplative baby than lil Allan was, BUT the older she gets (she’s now 11 months old!), the more she shows her own sense of humor. It’s more subtle, but she’s gonna be a kick too, there’s no doubt about it.

So, today… I’m thankful for laughter in my home, and especially thankful for my husband who makes sure there is plenty of it!

Have something you are thankful for? Post about it and link us up, or just leave a comment. And be sure to check out what Laura and her kids are thankful for today!

Ok, so funnily enough, I started doing some “fun day” stuff with lil Allan BEFORE reading Ann’s Monday FunDay post today. I was thinking in my head how I was going to word a post about turning cleaning into fun with my almost three year old. Then, I sat down for our quick bite of lunch and my “blog time”, and what do I find? Ann recommended finding the fun in the UN-fun tasks. Ok.. been there, done that today – and that simplifies my post!

I have a really, really, REALLY long To Do list for this week, as we’re gearing up for a surprise visit from my mom a.k.a. Mema, (well, I won’t be surprised when she arriaves, but the kids will be surprised, if Allan and I can manage to keep it a secret for two more days), AND Samuel’s big 6th birthday carnival party on Saturday. We’ve invited several people who have never been to our home, so I’d like to have it as presentable as possible.

If you know me at all, you know that I like to have To Do lists from which to work, BUT if they get really, really, REALLY long? I start to hyperventilate a little and occasionally shut down and then nothing gets done! So, I spent some time this morning breaking my really, really, REALLY long list into manageable lists for each day of this week.

That was fun (for ME), because I’m weird and like re-arranging To Do lists.

Then I proceeded to tackle my To Do list for TODAY. The dish washing went well – I managed to do that alone while the kids were busy with Daddy and breakfast, and I had a few minutes to think my own thoughts (which is FUN for this mom who is always getting interupted mid-thought).

However, by the time I moved to sweeping and mopping the kitchen, I had a little almost three year old sidekick. Daddy suggested that we use the handy-dandy bucket/broom combo thing he bought recently.

(Side-note – my husband is the coolest man alive. He likes to buy the “fun” things that I see in the store but am to “practical” to purchase. Like this awesome, bucket/broom combo thing. I would see it in the store, think how fun/cool/neato that would be to have, but then I’d talk myself out of it because I already have a regular broom/dustpan. Hubby? He sees it in the store and says, “yep, we NEED that, because it’d be fun/cool/neato/helpful”. We have a lot of fun/cool/neato things like this bucket/broom combo thing.)

And in case you were wondering – this is kind of what it looks like, although ours is red and is the bucket is bigger AND better. (Because my husband buys quality, even when he buys the “fun” stuff).

So, back to the FunDay story. Lil Allan and I swept and swept and swept and then used the bucket dust pan to pick up all our little piles. He had so much fun he had a little temper tantrum when I told him we were done. (That wasn’t so much fun, but thankfully his tantrums last about 35 seconds, and then he can be redirected by fun things like candy and such). Now, did it take longer to sweep the kitchen with his “help” than it would have without him? Of course. But did he have fun? You betcha! And so did his Mommy!

And if you made it this far, congrats! Now, go check out Ann’s post and see what others are doing for Monday FunDay!

About ModestNeeds.org?  I found this site by accident last week, and I’m impressed with what they are doing.  Here is a quote from their Mission page:

Modest Needs exists

• To prevent otherwise financially self-sufficient individuals and families from entering the cycle of poverty, when this might be avoided with a small amount of well-timed financial assistance;
• To restore the financial self-sufficiency of individuals who are willing to work but are temporarily unable to do so because they do not have the means to remit payment for a work-related expense; and
• To empower permanently disadvantaged individuals who otherwise live within their limited means to continue to live independently, despite a temporary, unexpected financial set-back.

To do the above, they offer three different types of grants based on the three positions listed above.  They give help for those who have unexpected expenses that place a burden on an individual or family.  They give “back to work” grants to people trying to get an education or have work-related expenses that if aren’t met, might result in the inability to work (like a car or computer issue).  And they offer help to individuals who can’t work, and are living independently, but have an unexpected burden arise.

They have a very thorough “check system” before someone gets money, and they actually pay bills directly to creditors, instead of sending money to an individual. 

A donor can purchase credits (via credit card), and then can do a search to find a need that he or she would like to support, and apply those “credits” to the individual in need.

You can read more details about what they do, how they do it, why they do it, and how you can get involved by visiting their website: www.modestneeds.org

 

Ok, this is probably the silliest WFMW post ever, but I was dressing my daughter yesterday and thought, “I should share this – it might be of help to SOMEone.”  I may have been sleep deprived when I had that thought, but I’m going to post it anyway, just in case.

So, my baby girl (almost 11 months) likes to take her socks off – continually.  We can’t get her to wear socks for ANYTHING.  If she isn’t kicking them off, she’s pulling them off, (and then eating them).  It’s a constant battle.  Now, I’d be ok a good part of the time with letting her go barefoot, but it IS “winter” time here in Las Vegas, and it is occasionally too cool in the house for her to do that.  SO, I finally had a lightbulb moment and started putting tights on her every day – not just on Sundays!  She is a smart cookie, but she is not smart enough to unsnap her onsies and pull off those tights!  Her feet stay covered (they are not quite as “warm” as cotton socks, but warm enough for VEGAS!), and Mama is happy, and even Granma is happy!

It works for me!

Be sure to see what works for others over at Shannon’s blog!

 

This last weekend, Allan and I were able to get away for about 24 hours. We like to celebrate Valentine’s Day, but not necessarily for the traditional “valentine’s” day reasons, but instead because it’s the anniversary of when we met and became engaged. (Yes, you read that right, we met and became engaged in the same weekend – that’s a story for another day). It’s now been four years since that fateful wonderful weekend, and here we are with two more kids (I had one already when I met Allan), and a house and a life I never thought possible (especially the living in Vegas part!)

Anyway, we enlisted the help of Allan’s mother, who agreed to come spend the night with our little ones so we could get out of town for a bit. We are both big fans of Cracker Barrel, so we headed to the nearest town with a CB in it – St. George, Utah. Our plan was to have dinner at Cracker Barrel, go rest and relax for a long night of uninterupted sleep, get up and have brunch at Cracker Barrel, do some shopping and maybe see a movie, and then have dinner at Cracker Barrel. (Yes, that’s a LOT of CB, but when you only get it once a year… well, you have to stock up!)

And, for the most part we stuck to the plan. It was a wonderful getaway… except the “resting, relaxing for a long night of uninterupted sleep” part. Turns out the hotel where we stayed had the WORST beds EVER. It was like laying on a box springs box, instead of a mattress. We both were so tired that we did manage to sleep for a couple of hours, but then woke up feeling miserable, sore, backs full of knots. Not exactly the rest we were hoping for!

After commiserating a little (around 5 a.m.), we decided that we’d try out the sofa bed (we had a mini-suite). Up we got, and out came the sofa bed. And it was better… a little. You KNOW a mattress is bad when a sofa bed mattress is BETTER! But, it wasn’t THAT much better. It was softer and more comfortable, but it was still being supported by a sofa bed frame. So, our next brilliant plan was to move the sofa bed mattress over and place it on the king size bed.

So, near 6 a.m., we moved the mattress over and piled up on top. Ahhhhh… that was definitely better. But, after all that, neither of us could get back to sleep. So, up we got! We got dressed and ready and we checked out of the hotel before 8 a.m. It wasn’t exactly what we planned for our day, but we decided to make the most of it and go have breakfast at Cracker Barrel.

We did a little shopping… headed back to CB for lunch. Went and saw a movie… headed back to CB for an early dinner. Yes, we ate at CB THREE times in ONE day. Even had the same waiter for dinner that we’d had the night before (which means we ate at CB FOUR times in less than 24 hours).

Me? I’m CB’d out. But, it was fun! And yummy! And a mostly relaxing getaway! And restful in a “we didn’t get much sleep” kind of way. And we finished conversations! And made some plans for around our house! And bought Martha some yummy clothes at Penny’s President’s Day close-out sale. And then we missed our kids, and couldn’t wait to get home!

And last night…when we went to bed… it was SO nice to climb up into OUR bed, OUR sheets, OUR comfy place.

So, today, I’m thankful for my bed, and the sleep I got LAST night!

And for the weekend away with my love. I can’t wait to do it again… only we’ll be trying a new hotel next time.

P.S. Please join me and my friend Laura in Gratituesday! Grab the Gratituesday image, and post to your blog what YOU are thankful for this week, and then link us up in comments! We’d love to share in your thankfulness!