Owner: Twinfinite Chaos URL:http://www.paulnlaura.com/mommy Join Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2007 16:29:54 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: I'm a stay-at-home mommy of five kids - a tween, and 2 sets of toddler-age twins. (Eeek!) Life is crazy, but we love it. Site statistics:Click here
The Man Zone. 2007-03-30 22:50:16 Paul’s been sort of “complaining” lately about not having time to clean out his garage. We’ve been busy doing stuff in the evenings, and busy just hanging out and enjoying the kids and the backyard, so it’s not REAL complaining or anything - it’s just always on his mind. And here’s the weird thing: his garage is the cleanest, most spic-and-span, most meticulously organized garage I’ve ever seen. He just loves puttering around out there, rearranging things on shelves and shining up his motorcycle and stuff. And it’s so cute; it’s almost like his little clubhouse: he has a desk with a phone, TV, and an internet connection. In the garage! Silly man.
I think that’s cool, though - I love that it’s so nice and neat out there. He snagged a bunch of ugly cabinets with orange laminate doors from his aunt when she retired from her business. They’ve really tidied things up out there, but I know he would be in hog heaven
You’re invited to a tea party. 2007-03-30 19:39:57 At least once or twice a day, all my kids play together peacefully, and there’s no fighting or crying or whining - I had to document this in pictures!
More fun with play food can be found here. Cute kids I made, huh?
Town & Country Foods? 2007-03-30 18:06:03 Have you ever heard of these people? They came to our house the other night to do a little presentation for us, after we filled out a thing at the home show to win a grill. It’s one of those companies that sells various cuts of meat, all frozen in those vacuum sealed pouches, and you have to buy their freezer to keep it all in. Know what I’m talking about? Ever heard of them? Anyone ever used them? The food cost sounded appealing, the freezer, not so much. The reps brought us a big box of meat, so we were all too happy to sit through their pitch, which was actually pretty interesting. We got chicken breasts, chicken legs, t-bone steaks, pork chops, and ground beef, so my grocery bill was decidedly lower the other day! I used the chicken last night in a stir fry. It was tasty - and not at all slimy when I took it out of the packaging, like the ones you buy at the store - but it was really dry!! I may have overcooked it, though.
Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone had any Read more:Country
, Foods
TGIF! 2007-03-30 17:44:05 Yaaaaaawn. Man, I’m tired today! I couldn’t fall asleep last night; my mind was just racing. I don’t think I fell asleep until close to 3. Eight a.m. comes quickly when that happens!
It’s still cold outside, although it stopped snowing, and it is nice and sunny. We were tentatively planning a trip to the zoo, but I’m not taking my kids out in the cold, so that’s not going to happen. I think we’re going to stay around here and do some crafts today. The kids LOVE doing crafts, and it’s been over a month since we did anything fun like that. We’re going to paint toilet paper tubes and turn them into pretty flowers. No, really. LOL! Hey, I have a vision! They’re going to be cute, I’m certain of it.
Last night was a nice night with the kids. We watched The Office marathon, all of us, on the couch and floor, and we read a bunch of books with the kids. Kayley loves reading her old favorites to them, like Go, Dog, Go! and One Fis
Creepy decor for your yard. 2007-03-30 07:45:28 Have you ever seen those weird Tree Faces that you can buy and stick on the trunk of a tree, and it looks like the tree has eyes and a nose and a mouth? Those seriously creep me out. And honestly? I’ll bet they would scare my kids too! Not that we have any trees large enough to even warrant sticking a face on. These darned new developments with baby-sized landscaping! I just saw something I thought was really cute, though: a tree snail. It looks pretty realistic, huh? I like trippy stuff like that, where you have to get up close to figure out what it is and if it’s real or not. That would work well for our puny little ol’ trees!
Travel Meme 2007-03-30 06:49:46 I’ve been tagged with a cross between a MeMe and a Carnival. See where other people would love to go, and I’ll answer below.
Proposition: Where do you want to go Next, OUTSIDE OF YOUR COUNTRY, for tourism, work , study, whatever.
Requirements: Find some info about the place, Excludes your NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOUR, (means Cananda and Mexico are out of the choice!)
Hmph. Well, I was going to say Mexico. Ha! I’ve never been outside the country except to Mexico. I know I’m completely lame, but I’m a big chickenshit about traveling abroad. I’m afraid I’ll get killed or maimed or lost or something and never find my way back home. What am I, five?
I guess I’d pick Italy, though. My girl Julie spent some time there last year and now she’s ready to MOVE there. I looked through an entire CD of pictures from her trip, and everything was beautiful.
Facts about Italy:
- Italy is the birthplace of the espresso machine.
- The colors of the Italian fla Read more:Travel
MELT. 2007-03-30 02:03:47 Melt my heart, that is. I just had a perfectly amazing few minutes with Pablo. He approached me in the kitchen, arms outstretched, and said, “Mom. Hug.” It’s not that Pablo isn’t affectionate - he is actually quite affectionate, but he very rarely initiates hugs like that with me. He saves them for grandma and daddy! And I have never, ever heard Pablo call me mom before. He usually says ma or mama. Soooooo sweet!
So, of COURSE, I picked him up for a big bear hug. And then we sat on the sofa and looked at a picture book for a few minutes. One page had a picture of a bowl of yogurt. Pablo pointed at it and said “yogurt” - as best as he could, anyway. It came out sort of like, “Gaaahh-goat.” He kept saying it, and then I kept saying it, really enunciating it, and the whole thing reminded me of that sketch on SNL with the weird couple named Nuni and Nuni. Hehe! Then he said and signed everything else on the page - “sit” for the
Will whine for food. 2007-03-29 23:54:55 My kids are positively eating us out of house and home. I’m not kidding. Especially the LITTLE girls! You’d think they’d eat the least amount, but no. They eat almost as much as I do! I just bought bread two days ago, and the loaf is gone. That’s a lot of cinnamon toast and PB&Js. And what they love more than anything is fruit salad. They even have a little board book with a color photograph of a bowl of fruit salad on one of the pages, and they’re always showing it to me, “Yook, mama! Fwoot Sawad!” But fruit is SO danged expensive!! I made a fruit salad a week or so ago, just out of grapes, strawberries, cantaloupe, with a can of mandarin oranges stirred in and some sliced banana on top, and the kids ate THE ENTIRE HUGE BOWL over lunch and dinner. That was a good ten dollars worth of fruit, right there. No wonder so many parents end up feeding their kids a bunch of junk - it costs so much less!! Would it be bad parenting to crush up ionami
Yay for playdates! 2007-03-29 23:35:14 So, I talked to a few girlfriends and had a playdate all set up for this morning. It’s been beautiful for days, so I figured we could all play in the backyard and get some sunshine! Well, no such luck! As is typical for Colorado, the weather did a complete turnaround overnight. We have several inches of snow today! So, no playing outside.
We had fun, though! The kids all seemed to get along fabulously! Mallory was VERY upset when it was time for “her sister” Em to go home! I want to tell you all about it and even post some darling pictures, but first, I need to go downstairs and vacuum!!! If you know me, you know what a freak I can be about stuff like that, and at the moment, I have about three thousand pieces of cereal scattered around my living room. LOL!! I sat down to do some work here right after the kids went down for their nappies, but I need to get out of this chair and go vacuum immediately, before I drive myself insane thinking about it.
So, see ya in a few.
May is coming right up. 2007-03-29 23:28:50 Can you believe it’s already time to start thinking about mother’s day and father’s day gifts? I know we’ve got to get through Easter first, but Mother’s Day is just around the corner! How did this happen? Wasn’t it New Year’s Eve, like, five minutes ago? I always dread these holidays, because I NEVER know what to get my parents! They are completely picky.
My best gift for my mom was two years ago - I ordered a custom embroidered sweatshirt for her from a company our twin club contracted with. It had little handprints all over it, and all the grandkids’ names, along with “Grandmother of two sets of twins, plus one more!” She wore it a lot, but I know if it had been, say, screen printed and not embroidered? She would have stuck it in a drawer. She doesn’t like cheap stuff! Last year, I think I got her a big flowering plant for her deck, last minute, at the grocery store. I think she liked it. This year, I’d like to
Missed my show!! 2007-03-29 08:09:18 Paul and I had a meeting tonight at 8 p.m. It was supposed to be 45 minutes long. At 8:55, I turned on the recorder thingy on the computer to record Medium for me, since our meeting wasn’t even close to being over!! The people we were talking to didn’t leave our house until 10:30. Gahhh! They were nice folks; I didn’t mind talking to them. But my Wednesday night feels so incomplete, not having seen my favorite show!! I think I know what I’ll be doing during naptime tomorrow!
P.S. Crap! I just remembered we’re having a playdate over here tomorrow morning!! I forgot to buy snacks! D’oh!
Eris Apparel 2007-03-29 08:02:20 I noticed on American Idol last night that Simon told one contestant that he hated her outfit - and actually, it was not very flattering. I actually never watch AI except for the tryouts and the finals, but for some reason, we had it on last night. I don’t remember the contestant’s name, but I remember noticing that she was REALLY busty - small everywhere but up on top! And I always wonder - don’t they have stylists? I know they do, right? Because I remember reading something somewhere about American Idol stylists and how they try to find outfits that really showcase each contestant’s personality. What was THAT stylist thinking? I feel bad for super busty women, because unless you’re plus sized also, it’s nearly impossible to find decent fitting, attractive clothes. There’s a new place called Eris Apparel
that’s trying to change all that. They’ve created a line of clothing designed to fit averaged sized women, with cup sizes from D
It’s all good. 2007-03-28 23:18:06 You’ll be pleased, I’m sure, to learn that my produce made it home from SuperTarget unscathed. For once, the checker didn’t bag my stuff all willy-nilly. I unloaded it from the cart to the belt in the order I wanted it in the bags, though, so that may have made the difference.
Purge, purge, purge! 2007-03-28 22:16:33 I spent a good part of my morning cleaning up a few kitchen cupboards. I have an entire cupboard devoted just to sippy cups! I cleaned that out a little, and threw out some cups that were ready for the trash. I also rearranged the cabinet where my serving dishes live, because I couldn’t reach the pieces I really like to use. I moved a bunch of crystal bowls and trays from a really stupid location, where the kids could get at them, to a more safe and secure spot. I’ve been lucky that no one has ever broken one of those dishes, but my luck can’t last forever, so I moved them. And we have one of those plastic buckets you get at the casinos to keep your quarters in, completely full of pens, in another cabinet. I ruthlessly went through that thing, throwing out every pen that didn’t write, along with every pen I thought was ugly. Yay for spring cleaning!
Love me some blue ink. 2007-03-28 18:01:37 When we went to the home and patio show a couple of weeks ago, I grabbed some nifty ink pens from the Xcel Energy booth. I asked if I could have one, and they said suuuure, so I grabbed three. They’re so cute - they actually look just like mechanical pencils, except they’re not: they’re pens! Sneaky pens, in disguise. Paul already tried to steal them from my keyboard tray, but I snagged them back right now. Back up off of my pens, man.
Yay for underwear! 2007-03-28 16:56:33 I’m about to brag on my big boy and his impressive new skill of peeing in the potty. I recognize that some folks may have no interest in this, so you can just move on with your daily reads if that is the case. For my mamas who know what I’m going through…
Yesterday, we put the boy in underwear just to see how the day would go. He peed all over the living room floor, which was fun to clean up. Then he realized he could point that thing, and he peed on the Little Tikes table - just the table - a tiny little puddle, not touching anything ON the table - and he laughed his little head off about it. THEN, we went to the potty before nappy time and he refused to sit on it. He wanted to stand like daddy. So, since then, he’s been standing at the potty and doing exactly what he’s there to do! It’s awesome!! I’m just thrilled about this! I was so worried because at the potty training for special needs kids workshop I attended, they said many autisti
Just thinking… 2007-03-28 09:09:42 I was just checking out a friend’s blog this evening and I can’t believe I never realized he lives in North Carolina. I’ve checked out a couple of his video posts, and his accent should have been my first clue! He’s got some gorgeous scenery pictures in his blog header, which I’m pretty sure he took himself. It sure is gorgeous out there! It wouldn’t bother me one little bit to own a piece of Beaufort NC real estate, where I could take in those breathtaking views every day! Particularly some of those beautiful old civil war-era mansions. Lots of history out there!
Read more:thinking
, hellip
Yaaaaawn. 2007-03-28 08:15:12 Holy cats. How did it get to be after midnight? I swear, Paul and I JUST put the kids to bed and sat down here, like, five minutes ago. Time flies when you’re in message board land, doesn’t it?
I have something SO HUGE to brag about tomorrow, when I’m awake! It involves Pablo and the potty. Hehe!
Okay, I’m going to bed! My big girl’s going to be home in the morning (yay! I’ve missed her SO MUCH) and I have a little craft all ready for us to do with the little kids. Something straight out of Family Fun magazine! Could I BE more of a geeked out stay-at-home mom? I think not.
Sleep well!
Cheap and Easy - just like ME! (hehe!) 2007-03-28 00:30:42 I noticed my local supermarket doesn’t have a video store inside of it anymore! Nope! They have a little machine where you stick your credit card in, and a DVD pops out, just like buying a Coke. This is awesome for people like me who hate spending more time than necessary in a store with their kids! I’d like to give my personal endorsement to DVDPlay DVD movie rental kiosks, available in supermarkets all across the country!! So here it is!
Read more:Cheap
Yet another potty training update! 2007-04-01 07:03:54 Wow - things are looking SOOO much brighter on the potty
training front! I’m so glad I didn’t give up and put Pablo in pullups!
Last night, after I put the kids to bed, I went back downstairs to do a little quick cleanup of the kitchen and living room. I hate coming downstairs in the morning to pure freakin’ chaos, right from the get-go, so I like to get all the toys picked up and thrown back into the playroom and get the pillows back on the couch and make sure we don’t have dirty dishes in the sink and all that. Anyway. I’d only been downstairs about 2 minutes when I heard some sort of commotion through the baby monitor. I turned it up and could hear Pablo hollering a word, but I couldn’t understand him. Yeah, he’s talking, but not necessarily in English. Hehe! It’s okay; we’ll take what we can get. So I dashed upstairs and headed into Pablo and Mallory’s bedroom, and Mallory said, “Mama! Pablo has to go potty!” H
Potty training the boy: an update! 2007-03-31 04:37:07 Well, we’re up and down. Pablo will stay dry for a long time, and he knows what to do in the bathroom - he’s the one who initiated the whole “standing up to pee” thing that’s been doing for a few days - but I’m still pretty discouraged. I find him damp again and again, and he doesn’t even seem to realize that he’s wet or that he’s gone pee in his undies. The workshop I attended a month or so ago that focused on potty training kids with special needs emphasized one major point: where autistic children are concerned, successful potty training doesn’t mean immediately giving up diapers! I’m completely understanding that now. I’m not sure that Pablo feels the sensation that he needs to go pee. I think he dribbles a little at a time and doesn’t notice it. And I’m guessing that I’ve just had remarkably good timing when it comes to getting him to pee in the toilet - he just happens to need to relieve him
Yummy dip recipe. 2007-03-31 04:29:07 We had to wipe out this computer a month or two ago - the one in the kitchen that the whole family uses. Something wonky happened, and we had to reinstall the operating system. Well, I just found all my old favorites I had saved on a jump drive - and I found this awesome recipe! I can’t remember which party I made it for, but everybody LOVED it.
Sundried Tomato and Garlic Dip
1 tub (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese Spread
1/2 cup MIRACLE WHIP Dressing
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained, chopped
2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh chives
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
MIX all ingredients until well blended.
SERVE with NABISCO Crackers and cut-up fresh vegetables, if desired.
…
(I guess you could serve it with other brands of crackers, too. Hehe!) I’m posting here so I’ll remember it next time I need to bring something to a playdate!
Read more:Yummy
Stroller envy. 2007-03-31 03:44:33 We’re having some lousy weather out here right now! We missed out on going to the zoo, because I refuse to drag my kids around in the cold and rain. I might, though, if I had a custom stroller rain cover for my gigantic quad stroller! Sometimes I’m a little envious of the moms I see pushing single strollers - some of them are so incredibly nice! I recently saw one that had built in speakers you could plug an iPod into. Is that just crazy? So many of them are just packed with features that my stroller doesn’t have, and you can buy additional accessories fairly easily. For example, you can find Stroller
Rain Covers at Sasha’s Kiddie Products for many different brands of strollers, including Baby Trend, Jeep, Bumbleride, Graco, Evenflo, InStep, Schwinn, and Maclaren.
My stroller doesn’t even have a cupholder. Ha! I bought one of those that you just snap onto the handle, but it doesn’t work all that well. Still, though, it does the most important thing
Our pretty flowers! 2007-03-31 00:52:21 We did such a fun little craft today! I mentioned it earlier and said it was right out of Family Fun, but I was mistaken. It was from Parents. It involved taking empty toilet paper tubes and cutting slits down the side, all the way around, on both ends. Then you fold the tube out like a flower, paint it, and stuff tissue paper in the center and use a skewer for a stem. Pretty easy. Here are the instructions from Parents’ site. Their flowers, however, look WAY too perfect, dontcha think?
My kids were digging it, too! Pablo LOVES to paint. He was really getting into it, and so was Mallory. The little girls were surprisingly unimpressed!
Here’s the finished bouquet!
My name is in my domain. 2007-03-30 23:32:25 Miss Julie tagged me for a fun meme - it’s sort of elitist - hehe! It’s only for folks who have their name as part of their domain
. You’re supposed to add yours and then move the others down the list. So here we go.
My Adds
Just Say Julie
Chelle-Belle
Domestic Geek (ladonnasworld.com)
Originals
Nathan Drach
Saman Sadeghi
Gary Lee
Ed Lau
John Chow
Nate Whitehill
Stephen Fung
Michael Kwan
Jeff Kee
Stuart Hannig
Hannes Johnson
Nomar
Jimi Morrison
Ms. Danielle
Lillian
Jenn
Ang
Paul N Laura
Music Monday 2007-04-02 08:27:46
Wilshire - Special
Right-click and “save as”, please - files will disappear tomorrow!
Read more:Music
, Monday
Real quick… 2007-04-03 16:47:46 While the kids are finishing up breakfast, while we’re about to run out the door&hellip
;
I’M SO EXCITED! I talked to my sister last night and confirmed that she bought her plane ticket, so she’s going to be here on Saturday!! And my mom took the whole week off work, and she told me yesterday that my dad decided to take the week off as well! We’re going to do fun stuff! Yippee!
Oh, and if you tried to view my site this morning and it was down, sorry ’bout that. It was an issue with my host. But that’s what I love about Verve - they get right on it if there’s a problem! I emailed them when I got up, and my site was back up by the time I was dressed!
Loves it. 2007-04-03 08:07:38 Okay, this probably wouldn’t fit in with my current decor, but I still think it’s so cool!! Flame Your Kitchen Aide sells custom flame decals for decorating Kitchen Aide mixers. I would have been all over this a few years ago, when I was in my “I only wear clothes from Hot Topic, now where are my Tarot cards and my clove cigarettes?” phase.
Obsessions 2007-04-03 08:02:48 Ang tagged me for a little meme. I guess I’m supposed to name 5 obsessions and then tag 5 people.
My Obsessions
:
1. Dressing my twin daughters alike at all times, even in matching pajamas. I know it’s a sickness!
2. Watching The Office and Medium.
3. Perfectly stacking/arranging the contents of my shopping cart while at the market.
4. Triscuits and Laughing Cow cheese.
5. Organizing my photos and MP3s on my hard drive.
Jeez, I’m lame!
I’m tagging Christy, Mat, Lissa, Jayme, and Cindy.
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