Kadenisms

"Mom, can Roslyn (the baby I babysit) not talk?"
"No, she is too little."
"Yah, But I can talk! And baby (Kate) can talk a DIFFERENT language, because I can hear what she is saying."

"Mom, do you eat fishes?" (as he's eating goldfish crackers.)
"Not very often, why?"
"No, Mom, I mean the fishes that swim in the water? Do you eat those?"
"I don't like fish but some people do."
"Yuck. I just eat fishes that DON'T swim, Mom."

Katelyn-handing me a flashlight that has dead batteries and yelling jibberish.
Mom to Kate, "The batteries are dead, we can't turn it on!"
More jibberish yelling from Kate.
Kaden, to Kate: "Kate, we're just going to have to retire it for now. I'm sorry."
(Where does he get these phrases?)

Kaden, sucking on a sucker at the table. "Mom, there's water on the table!" "It's sucker water!"
(Thank you Kaden for drooling on the table your blue "sucker water")

I don't know...

what's gotten into me.

I told my husband my goals for the afternoon were a clean bedroom and kitchen. (And before you judge me for the low goal, remember you haven't SEEN those 2 rooms...)

The kitchen is done. And as I stand here typing at my kitchen counter, I have ham frying, sausage defrosting, and not one, but TWO batches of dough raising. I also have an 18 month old sleeping downstairs, (she's due to wake up and be fussy and impossible any minute), and a 4 1/2 month old sleeping in my bedroom how is completely and totally unpredictable. And who also hasn't eaten since she got here almost 4 hours ago.

(interuption while I cook)

The plan was to find something easy for dinner. That's when I got my cookbook out. And somehow, remembered another cookbook, which somehow convinced me I should make ham/broccoli stromboli. Ok. That's fine. But when did I suddenly feel the need to make 2 strombolis? And when did 2 stromboli's turn into a LOT of little personal size strombolis? And when did those little personal size strombolis turn into two varieties?

I think it was while I was unloading the dishwasher. Have I ever told you how much I HATE unloading the dishwasher? It is (seriously) up there with giving birth on my list of "Things I hope I never have to go through again." But I digress...

When I unload the dishwasher I always think of crazy things to do. (I wonder if that's why I hate it so much?) So while I was unloading I vaguely remember thinking 2 things: 1) If I made a LOT of little personal size strombolis I could probably not have to cook for a while again. Followed by the thought: what if my kids won't eat the broccoli ones...I better make a sausage kind to. And 2)I really need to blog again. (WHY did I think this? My theory: Only because I was unloading the dishwasher.)

So here I am. With 2 more thoughts before I leave you.

1. When you fry ham, 4 cups turns into 3 cups. I'm glad I had extra.

2. Kaden just went in my room and woke up Roslyn. He's lucky to still be alive.

Busy Day- and Halloween!

Today was productive. I took care of a pukey sickie until he quit puking-then I turned movies on for him. At 10am I took Kate to her 18 month appointment... (She is 22lbs, 18th percentile, 32 inches 60th percentile). And after that I made LOTS of freezer meals.

Taco Soup
Tatertot Casserole
Lasagna
BBQ Meatballs
Chicken Enchiladas
Chicken Noodle soup Base
Chicken Pot Pie Base
Spaghetti
Pizza Crusts (3)
and 2 loaves of bread

I learned some things.

-start with an empty dishwasher
-Make sure you have lots of pans, and plenty of dishsoap
-start with an empty garbage can
-don't bother trying to keep the floor clean
-a mix 'n chop will save your sanity
-make sure your kids/hubby have easy lunches so you don't have to quit! YOu'll never get restarted!!!!

I also made Cheesy Mostaccioli for dinner and it was a hit. Nice and easy too. I also finished in time to go with the family to the Trunk or Treat at Westside Baptist and to a few drive-through places. It was a fun night, and I'm so glad Kaden was feeling well enough to go!

Here are some pictures from Halloween, and one from raking leaves this weekend. Enjoy!

The last few weeks

It's been a while. But I always say that. So I'll skip to the next part.

So the last blog I talked about how I had company coming THE NEXT DAY. Well, that went okay. I got the house cleaned, and everything ready. I got all the meals mostly prepared, and then I got sick. Yup. Some host. I had some kind of flu bug that turned into bronchitis-which is still blessing me with it's presence. My family, so far, has been spared. But, even though I was sick (I always get sick when they come. It's enough to wonder if they poisen me!) Anyway, it was good to visit with Bill and Nate again. I missed Rachel a lot though.

Also, about the siding. You guessed it. We did NOT get our siding yet. The update "We'll have it this Thursday." I will believe it when I see it. But this time I have enough hope to actually go out and take the "before" pictures. I'm so excited to see how much it will transform the look of this house!

Now for some Kadenisms:

Kaden- to Katelyn as she scratched his legs- "Katelyn no more scratching. STOP scratching" slight pause..."No scratching! I CAN SCRATCH MYSELF!" the kid cracks me up.

Backing out of the driveway, and Kaden says, "Mom, tomorrow I'm going to climb up the garage door and get up on the roof of the house." silent pause. "Okay?" Okay..i totally thought he was kidding. Nope, he REALLY is gonna.

(Out of the blue) "Mom, when I get a little bit bigger, and that tree gets a little bit smaller, THEN I'm going to climb up it!" -Kaden

On to Kate. She is still refusing to talk...but getting better and getting her point across through screams. She gets so mad when we try to get her to at least do some sign language. She is definitely a stubborn thing. She's had a fever lately from teething...so we're hoping for a 6th tooth soon. They sure do come slow for her.

Maybe the next time I update I'll have pictures of a green house???

It just hit me that I better blog about how good fall has been to us before the snow hits and I completely forget. I am just not looking forward to winter this year, for some reason.

Today it was still warm enough to get out the pool for the kids. Each time I've gotten out the pool I've thought "This is probably the last time..." only to get it out again. This time I think it might actually be the last time. I looked at the 10 day forcast and it isn't looking pretty. Ok so, that might be a little dramatic. It's looking like 50's and 60's...which isn't BAD, but I was REALLY enjoying these cool nights and 80s days...Anyway, I think fall is truly gonna hit now.

Which has me somewhat annoyed. Not that fall is getting cooler, or that winter is coming, or even that I might have to pay for heat sometime in the nearish future. Nope. It's annoying that we signed for new siding in the beginning of August and were told 4-6 weeks. So, that 6 weeks is over as of last week. And we've been told 2 more weeks. I'm NOT going to be impressed (ok so I'm already not impressed) if it snows or rains and they want to put siding over it. Not impressed at.all. Furthermore, if they can't do it this fall I will be... Oh, you don't even want to know.

I took a personality test this week. It said i was an organized lion basically. At frist I disagreed, but lately have come to embrace the lion in me. I mean, I can get things done. I can be bold. I can tell it like it is. I can seriously scare the pee out of some people. But I have learned to tame it a little. (A VERY little, if you ask Luke.)

Anyway, the point was, in cases like this when companies don't "come through" for me...I like the lion in me. Just sayin'.

But the baby is awake now, and I have company coming TOMORROW...and I haven't cleaned my house in...at least a week. Which, if you've seen what my kids can do to a dining room floor in a day, you'd be horrified that it's been a week!!! ANYWAY, gotta go!

Just some random thoughts...

I am to the point where I'd pay good money to know why I can't sleep so often.

I went back and was reading old blogs (this is why I blog. You think I do it for you, but really, I love the (rare) times when I go back and read.) It's hard to believe it's been almost a year since some of the blog posts I was reading. Wow, what a year we had last year. Between pregnancy, birth of Kate, Gallbladder surgery, MRI's, EKG's, Bladder testing, lumps removed, church/relationship hurts and frustrations, etc..it was a rough time. I am so happy to look back and remember how HARD it was, and yet see how I handled it. God really does give us the strenth to handle what we face. And today I am so thankful that all of it turned out ok. Maybe not how I wanted, but it turned out ok.

Lately, I've noticed how often I think "Wow, I'm blessed." And tonight I realized it's because this year has been so totally different. Yah, we've had some issues (tonsil surgery, and other small things) but, wow, it's been a good year. Nothing like hardship to help you know what GOOD is.

Also, I was reading about Kaden when he was Kate's age....and I was right, he did have a ton of words. It will never cease to amaze me how different Kaden and Katelyn are. I LOVE IT. God gave me such blessings when He gave me them.

This 'n That

Lately my sleep habits have been awful. Absolutely awful. I sleep REALLY good for one night, and then the next 3-5 nights I can't sleep til well after the morning has arrived. Guess which night tonight is???

For those of you who might not stalk me on facebook. Or who do stalk me on facebook and just aren't very good at stalking... I have a lot of big things going on in life right now!

Last week I agreed to be the Gillette MOPS Co-Coordinator. Yes. Me. I'm the one who (should I post this on internet for all to see?) has always said I'm not even that IN to MOPS. But, when it ended abrubtly last year it troubled me greatly. I had even considered stepping up to coordinate when I knew the position was open, but really thought someone else would step up. Then when no one did it was shut down, to my surprise. All I heard from all my MOPS friends was shock, dissapointment, and sadness. So then all summer I prayed hard about starting a Women's Bible study or a Mom's group that was not MOPS at my church. Something that could start out small so I could start my leadership skills on a smaller scale...but I never felt peace.

Part of that is because I am already the nursery directer. I coordinate the baby showers at church (and just recently have HELP, thank goodness!!!), have my Pampered Chef cooking clubs and babysit a 3 month old 14ish hours a week. But really, I think it was just that it wasn't God's timing. In fact, I know it wasn't.

A couple weeks ago at a Bible Study I almost didn't join, at a church I don't go to, on an evening I was supposed to have cooking club, I met Stacey. Stacey moved from Cheyanne and has coordinated MOPS before. To make a long story short- here we are getting MOPS restarted and it's awesome. I am so excited. No, really, I AM! I found out that coordinating is something I just enjoy. But only if it's right. And only if I can bounce ideas off someone else. So, all in all, this week's been a busy one trying to get MOPS started in a month instead of months and months which is normal.

Speaking of babysitting. Did you all know I was doing that? (Oh, yes, all you facebook stalkers did, how 'bout the rest of you?) Anyway, I've been babysitting a (then 2 month old, now 3 month old) for a month. It's.been.awesome. I was nervous at first. But so far Katelyn and Kaden totally love her. And she sleeps 90% of the time and even then half the time I wake her up to feed her. And when she is awake she just adores watching my kids play. So far, so good. And the extra money is nice too! It keeps me home Tues-Thurs afternoons, but I always have at least an hour of ME time still. Does it get better than that?

Let's see...what else is new? Kate has been a teething monster baby. But just tonight we felt one bottom right tooth. If that's the only tooth that comes from this teething disaster I'm gonna be depressed. But at least there's one, right? Katelyn is getting bigger and smarter and cuter and sneakier as the days go by. She loves nothing more than to scream at brother for touching HER STUFF. (Which is really his stuff.) Also, she thinks his trains are an awesome way to get his attention. Mommy is about to go crazy with it.

Kaden has had a cold/allergies/something problem since Labor Day. I keep saying "If he's not better by Friday..." but really I just don't want him on antibiotics! I don't know if he's ever gotten over something without them! We've been feeding him allergy meds but wondering if he's going to need some asthma treatments. But I don't want to talk about it anymore. This week I changed all his clothes to 4T. I expected them to all be huge. Um, nope. They look great on him and this mommy's in denial. He cannot be growing up so fast. Speaking of growing up, he started Cubbies last week. He's been there twice and loves, loves, loves, LOVES it. And it's a nice break for us too. He was given his book, vest and bag last night and first thing this morning he was asking to look at his book. He's so quick at memorizing the verses, but won't say them to anyone but me. And even then only if no one else is around, or listening, or COULD BE around or listening. He suddenly thinks he's shy. Weird. Also, he's been testing my patience lately. My prayer is that I will be a mom like God wants me to be. Not yelling, or going crazy on him. Boy oh boy...it's been hard. But I sure do love that kid.

This weekend I have a Craft Day all day Saturday and a Baby Shower on Sunday. Crazy me decided it would be "FUN" to make cake pops for this baby shower. Which-it would be- if I were confident that I could make them, have them turn out, AND be cute. I did practice once...and learned what not to do. Needless to say, after a busy week of MOPS planning, Cooking Clubs, Awana, babysitting, etc...I'm worn out going into a crazy busy weekend. And coming out next week isn't looking any calmer! But I'm not complaining- I feel so blessed in all I have and do. My friends. My appointments. My leadership (which I've grown so much in!) and my kids. I love it all. (Oh and you too, Luke!! Even if I haven't seen you lately! Date soon?)

Yes, I did just ask my hubby for a date on my blog. And I bet it works too.