REALITY SHOWS

I have to admit. I do watch them. Not all of them, mind you, but I do watch some of them. I really like the APprentice, Wife Swap, and I even like Nanny 911 occasionally (it makes me feel as if my kids aren't quite as bad as I think they are). Shoot! i even watch Survivor sometimes (but only until ALIAS is back on), but my all time favorite reality show is...THE AMAZING RACE. What a great idea. That is the only reality show that I would ever want to be on. I mean, you get paid to travel, see the world, get away from the kids, get to do crazy things that are on my list of things to do before I die, and have a chance at winning a million dollars. How great could life be? If I was on it, I would be traveling with my camera taking pictures left and right. (I always wonder why you never see anyone taking pictures.) But it would be great. And if I could do it with any person, I think I would do it with Eric....NOT....we would fight way too much. I would do it with my sister-in-law, Stacy. SHe's great with directions and a great bargainer. I really think that we could do the race without fighting too much, and we would have a good chance of winning.....Now if only I could talk her into the race and into auditioning. The season Premiere is on tonight, and that's why I'm talking about it, so watch it....It's pretty cool!

A near Heart Attack

Well, we were downstairs....me on the computer....the boys int heir playroom. It was time to go upstirs, so I was helping Kaleb up the stairs when I see Luke caryring a ton of stuff up the stairs. WEll, my first thought was....he is soooo gonna fall. And literally, right after I thought that.....he fell. Well, I was pretty sure he was okay, but...he kept crying and crying, so i finally turn around, and the look on his face made me want to laugh and cry all at the same time. So I grab Kaleb and then go down to Luke (now mind you.....he only fell down about 2 steps.) So I pull him up....(he's 60 something pounds, I don't just pick him up.), and immediately blood starts rushing down his face. I started to hyperventilate! I kept think, "what do I do? What do I do?"
Well, I grabbed my thoughts within seconds and then took him upstairs. I was pretty worried that he might have to have stitches. Well, I got it cleaned up, and it was nothing...a tiny little scratch.

and that was my day

Favorite movies

Some of my favorite movies:

All -Around Good movie: Robin Hood Prince of Thieves......although I'm not too crazy about the new extended version one because all the extended scenes are witch scenes and I can definitely do without those.

Romantic Movie: The Notebook What a great movie. It's very rare that the movie is better than the book, but oh my word!!!!! The movie is 10 times better than the silly little book.

Comedy: HITCH I love that movied. My favorite part is when Kevin James is doing the q-tip dance. So funny. Love it

Kid's movie: Robots? That's a hard one since we watch kids movies all the time. I guess right now it would be Robots, but I like Shrek and a ton others.

Action Movie: We Were Soldiers...hands down.....This movie got an A- in my book because he was filled with tons of great stuff.

Cartoon: Beauty and the Beast I've always loved that movie.

Miscellaneous movies: I like a lot of movies. Double Jeopardy, Castaway (although I don't know if I could watch it again because it is really long), Notting Hill, My Best Friend's Wedding, I'm sure that there are others, I just can't think of them right now.

A new week

Well, this week has already started. We woke up at at 8:45 this morning and had to be at church by 9:30. Believe it or not....we made it. we might have been a couple of minutes late, but it was close enough. Then tonight, Eric posted the new church webstie out for the world to view. CHeck it out: www.morningstarbaptist.net It's very cool. So proud of my man! He worked hard on that site.

Eric turns 35 years old this Friday! Hee-Hee!! I don't think he's looking forward to it too much. One thing he is looking forward to is his new X-box 360 game that I told him I bought him. (which by the way...for his anniversary I bought him an X-box 360!!)

oh yeah, I finally remember what I was going to post about today. (you see, I was just rambling on about Eric's b-day until I remembered.) Today we went to Red Robin, and Kaleb was throwing a fit, so I'm holding him. I took something away that he wanted, and he knocked my drink over. We I say he knocked it over......I mean, he took this grand swipe of his hand (on purpose) and knocked it over. SO not impressed. Spankings are coming for that little kid soon!!


Okay, and last, but not least, I have to brag a little.......Last night we had an a Sunday school activity - the Newlywed Game, and guess who won??????? That's right.....Eric and I did.....how in the world did we do that???? Not a clue!

!0 things that I could not live without

I was reading a message board and they were giving a challenge for blog users to type up 10 things that they couldn't live without........well..... that's a tough one...

1. Obviously the first one would be GOD. It's amazing at how patient He is with us. How so often, we seem to forget about Him, but when things get tough....we go running back to Him for help. I only wish that I wasn't one of those people. I want to be a person who depends on God all the time when the storms of life are calm or raging. That is my desire...to grow.

2. Eric - I love that man! He's everything that I want in a man. He is exactly who the Lord hand picked for me.

3. the Boys - Blake, Luke, Jakeb, and Kaleb - you are one of my main reasons for living. You guys have completed my life and make life so interesting.

4. Dr. Pepper/Coffee/CAFFEINE!!!!!

5. I think it would be called SUBURBIAN LIFE. At least, that's what I call it. The fact that I can get to almost any store in less than 10 minutes is awesome. I don't think that I could ever live in the country unless there was a Walmart/Meijer within 10-15 minutes.

6. TV----ALIAS, Gilmore Girls, 24, NCIS.......I am a TV junkie! I love the television. I've always loved it. I mean since as early on as I can remember, I can remember spendiing time watching Different STrokes and Facts of Life and THree's Company.
I mean, for crying out loud, what would I do without the TV for the boys....Backyardigans? Baby Einstein? Dora?? Seriously, got to have the TV. I also love the DVR, but unfortunately, we are living without that!!

7. Going out to EAT - We have tried over and over to say that we're going to stop going out to eat, or only save it for special occasions.....well, that's next to impossible. Whether it's Penn Station or Toot's or Mcdonalds or Olive Garden....you name it, if you ask me to go out to eat....I'm there.

8. CAMERA/Photographs - Sure I love scrapbooking, but what is scrapbooking without the photographs. Without the photographs it would just be a journal, and I rot with journaling. WHy else would I have such a hard time with keeping the blog up to date. Sometimes "a picture is worth a thousand words."

9. my dishwasher!!!! I hate any household chore, but dishes defnitely tops the list...It's like laundry....it never stops. I can do all the dishes and the next thing I know.......it's time to do it again. If my dishwasher was the normal dishwasher it wouldn't be a biggie on my list, but I don't have to rinse or wash the dishes before I put them in the dishwasher, so that, in itself...is awesome. ANyway, basically just saying I have a great BIG dishwasher.

10. a second vehicle...I couldn't imagine not having a second vehicle to not being able to go out whenever I want to. Having to be cooped up at my house all the time is not my idea of fun.

One week later....

Well, it's been one week since that fateful day in Meijer, and that day I swore off shopping with the boys. I promised Eric and many people around me that I would never go shopping with all of the boys by myself!!! Well, that resolution lasted less than 24 hours, because the next day..... I had to go to Walmart to get stuff for a Valentine's Day party for King's Kids. Then I still went out yesterday too. What in the world????

Oh, get this.....the other day I was telling Luke how cute he was. (He hates being told that! Must be a boy thing.) He looked at me and said, "I'm not cute....I'm a good looking boy!!"
Couldn't argue with that!

Toilet Training 101

"Kaleb, where are you??? Kaleb???" (As though he's gonna answer me.)

Splash! Splash!

"Where could he be????"

"Oh no!!!! The Bathroom! Not the Bathroom. Who left the door opened! It's so gross in there....... No, not the toilet!!! No, don't put your hands in the toilet. Kaleb! Listen to me! No, no, no!!!.......okay, hold on a second while I get my camera. Kaleb, Look at Mommy! Smile!! Kaleb, over here!!! Okay, go ahead and put your hand in the toilet again. Try not to fall in. Be still, so I can get a good shot! All right! One more.....okay, one more........almost done.....just one more.....all right, let's go wash your hands!"

and to think.....it couldn't get any WORSE!!!.......

Okay, let me just tell you. I go out with all the boys all the time. It's not that big of a deal. I mean, sure they have their moments, but well....let's just say.....they didn't do nothing horribly wrong yesterday!!! But yet my day was by far the worst day of this year, maybe even last year too. So let me get started....

It started off with a not so good day in school here at home. Blake was having a hard time counting by 5's. He would say..."5, 10, 50," instead of what we all know to be "5, 10, 15."
Well, needless to say, it was a little maddening because no matter how many times we would go over it....well, he still said, "5,10,50." (I think it has more to do with his enuciation than with his actual brain power.) I mean it was so bad that I, of course, lost my patience and sent Blake to his room while I snuck in to my room to call Eric and complain about the whole thing.

Then we went to Hobby Lobby where I treated myself to some scrapbook stuff (it was on sale). Then off to Meijer to go grocery shopping!! Now, picture this.....when we go grocery shopping....we have to have one of those bench carts so that 2 kid can sit on the bench, one walks, and the baby rides in the cart seat. Steering one of these is like steering a mac truck if you've never had any instruction. It's huge and horrible to steer.
Anyway, we get through half of our shopping when the "smell" starts. I check the boys and didn't really notice anything major, so just checked it off as one of the kids being a little gassy. I notice this horrible smell in the next aisle as well, as did all the kids......then they all started pointing to Kaleb screaming, "EWWWWWWW!!!" SO I look at Kaleb and see his fingers covered with a substance that looks like really thick coffee with creamer in it. It was gross. SO here I am with a mega cart filled with groceries, 3 boys, and one with poop all over him. I'm trying to keep Kaleb from touching anything and trying to push the cart to the nearest bathroom too, oh, and I'm trying to keep track of 3 other boys also.
We find the bathroom. Well, it never fails, the one time I need wet wipes, is the one time that I don't have them. Kaleb's poop is up to the back of his neck. He is covered in places where there shouldn't be poop! I have poop all over my shirt. So I strip him, sit him on the floor, get the other boys to sit still in a corner of the bathroom. There is poop on the floor, and yet I HAVE NO WET WIPES to fix the problem. ARGHHHH!! I figured it couldn't get any worse.
WRONG!! Well, I figure, it's a bathroom....even if I have no wet wipes, I can use wet paper towels. WRONG AGAIN!!!! Meijer does not have paper towels in their bathrooms, only those automated hand dryer things. Furthermore, they have no trash cans either, only those little trash receptacles for feminine napkins and such. SO the diaper when in one of those. And Kaleb......went into the SINK!! I mean, what other choice did I have? SO I am washing my son in the sink. The poop was in a thick layer on his back and butt which caused the sink to back up. Poop was everywhere, and the only thing I had to clean it all up was with WET TOILET PAPER. Doesn't work to well. Did I mention the big pile of poop on the floor from where he was sitting? WEll eventually I got it all cleaned up with the we toilet paper. SO tragedy over. Poor Kaleb is still naked, however, with only a diaper on.
So I figure, I still have half a cart, I might as well finish shopping. People are starting at me and Kaleb as if I'm a horrible mom for having him out in the cold without clothes on. I finally make it to the frozen food aisle, which means I 'm almost done. As I'm turning into the aisle, the cart get caught on the WINE DISPLAY knocking over a lot of wine and breaking a few all over the floor. So not good..... Blake keeps asking me...."Mommy, what did you knock that over for??" "WEll, I don't know, son.....maybe because I'm driving the granddaddy of all shopping carts!!!!!" ARGHHHH! It was craziness!!!!!!
Oh, and when we were finally going out to the car, the Valentine's balloon that I bought for my mom......flew away even though it had one of those weights on it. Needless to say....it was just not my day!!!
(Just so you know, I did buy a new outfit for Kaleb to wear before I left the store, so he wasn't actually naked when we left. I'm not that bad of a mother.)

A Face only a Mother Could Love

Look at his face! Every time I see these pictures, I chuckle. Even if I had never taken these pictures, the story alone was enough to make me chuckle. Luke and his brothers were playing all morning. Sometime in the afternoon, I noticed this horrible rash on his face. I tried to remain calm and started asking him what this could be from. My questions were: “Did you fall?” “Do your lips hurt?” (Every now and then he gets chapped lips, so I thought that maybe his face was chapped, but that didn’t make sense either because his skin was soft where the rash was at) “Did one of your brothers hit you? His response to all of this was simply no, and an occasional, “The toy did it.” Well, I had no idea what he was talking about…the toy? But he held firm to the “toy theory.” Finally after a good 15-30 minutes, I told him to show me what toy. He came back with a truck block from Kaleb’s Mega Blok truck set. I looked at it and asked if he fell down on it or something, and then finally he proceeded to tell me what happened. He said that he stuck it to his face around his mouth. Finally I understood. It all made sense why it wasn’t dry skin, but very smooth skin. He gave yourself a HICKEY!!!!!!!!!! His first hickey wasn’t given to you by a girl (which should never ever happen either!), but by a toy block. Bless his little heart. OF course I probably made a bigger deal about it than I should have because the next night at church, he proceeded to tell everyone, “Look, I got a hickey!” Whoops!