Oh boy

Being a mom to little boys makes life so interesting.  The things they say and do melt me, make me laugh and sometimes make me cringe (in an, i don't understand why he did that because I'm not a boy, way).

This afternoon  I was reading a Star Wars book to James. I found it really dull but he thought it was very interesting. :) Anyway, all of the sudden I got a whiff of something quite stinky. It wasn't a toot kind of stinky, it was something different, I remarked, "Eww, what is that smell?"  James looked at me for a second and and then replied, "My bottom was itchy, I had to scratch it." Obviously he smelled it too because he knew what I was referring to. So gross!

I quickly told him to wash his hands.

We had a little chat about wiping better after we go potty (and not scratching with our bare hands afterwords).

hahahaha


Boys!

A night to remember

*Written about my last girls night out on August 5th. I am starting to realize that I may not get caught up on my blog as it is taking me too long. I may just have to skip to the present pretty soon here. : )

My friends arranged to have a fun girls night right before we were to move away. It was decided that we would go to the cheesecake factory (which is located at a mall) and then do a little shopping.

These are the beautiful woman who were able to come that night. There were 12 of us.

I was craving a salad....and salad I did get. This picture doesn't do it justice, Oh my word, it was the biggest salad I have ever seen. :)

After we finished eating it was pretty late and there was only about 10 minutes left to shop. So we had a mad dash out the door. Everyone scattered in smaller groups and went to their favorite places. Somehow we all managed to find one another again in the middle of this outdoor mall. The stores had closed but no one felt like ending the night just yet. Janel announced that we needed to make this a memorable night. She suggested that we go run through the water fountains. We all walked over there admiring the view at night. It really is a lovely place to go at night with the streets being all lit up and soft dancing music being played for the enjoyment of all

I didn't really think that anyone would ACTUALLY do it. But three of my friends (Janel, Jenny and Nicole) decided it really would be fun to run through the water.

Standing there watching them (and laughing) I thought, "I really wish I had enough guts to be that fun." Oh be careful what you wish...

I laughed so hard watching them that I nearly wet my pants! :) I asked them to get together so that I could take their picture. They had asked if I would like to join in the fun but I had declined using the excuse that I needed to take pictures.

Next Pam (my friend who takes amazing pictures) offered to take a picture of all 4 of us. She made me hand off my camera. They decided it would be nice to hug me, getting me all wet in the process.

I should have known it was coming, but the next thing I knew after a wet embrace was that I was being dragged into the fountain. :)

And before I know it I was running through too. Forgetting my age, forgetting that this was my last night out, just being caught up in the joy of being together and having fun like I was a child again.

I have not laughed so hard in so long. This picture truly captures the essence of the evening for me. It was definitely the BEST girls night we have had in a long time.

Thank you sweet friends for giving me the greatest gifts. The gift of laughter and the gift of your friendship. I treasure each and every one of you. Thank you for giving me a beautiful night that I will always remember!

A time to laugh

We have been so blessed with a wonderful group of friends from our church. Saturday evening we got together with a few of those friends for a little fun. It was just what I needed for a little de-stressing. After non stop packing and feelings of being overwhelmed, it was so great to step back and take a break from it all for just a little bit. I haven't laughed so hard in awhile. :)

Me bowling...my highest score of the night was an 87 I think. Nicole and Jenny can correct me if I'm wrong. :)

Bill, because I think he's cute in bowling shoes (shhh, don't tell him I said that. :) )

Jenny showing us great form. LOL

Bill and Reed

After I think the 2nd game of not doing so hot, the girls and I decided to do different things for fun. One frame was for speed, one was for perfect form, one was for a certain number of pins, etc. It made the game fun and certainly gave us more to laugh about. This is Nicole bowling for form.

John

Bowling shoes are so fun and retro...and uncomfortable...and maybe even a little gross. :)

The girls. Me, Nicole, and Jenny. We may have lost to the guys but we definitely had great spirit.

What a great night! I am so thankful for laughter and for friends, and for a breath of fresh air!

Oh the insanity!

On Monday I decided to take James in to the Doctor to have his foot looked at. He has bad dry skin, and the patches on his foot had gotten WAY out of control (turns out he had an infection on the back of his foot because he keeps picking at it). Anyway...

I'm pretty sure that my least favorite thing to do right now is taking all 4 of my kids to the Doctor. :) Why is it that they always call you back to the smallest room possible, and make you wait for another 20-30 minutes? I start feeling claustrophobic, while all of my children decide to act like wild (should be caged) animals. James tries jumping off everything and tries puling things off the walls. We have a bus of a stroller that takes up 50% of the room, and the other 50% is taken up by the suitcase of a diaper bag, and the shoes that all of my sweet children decided to randomly place all over. Oh, and then there is the orange cracker crumbs everywhere, because while I was taking care of one child, James got the crackers out of the diaper bag and started gnawing through the package and then proceeded to spill it.

During the "waiting in the small room" period, we first see the nurse who asks me a billion questions. I am trying to remember the answers to her questions but it's hard to concentrate when my children start unrolling all the paper on the exam table, and I have to keep asking them to stop. I also had to practically wrestle one of my kids (apparently the scale seemed like a good place to practice new diving board skills) off the scale because the nurse wanted to weigh James (who wasn't too willing to get on the scale). At that point I was sure someone was going to call Super Nanny on me, and that was only the beginning!

Then, In walks a very sweet (Innocent looking) med student. Are you kidding me? I am totally ok with that normally, but this means that our appointment will take longer, and my children are already bouncing off the walls. She asks me a bunch of questions about James, then has him get up on the table. When she tries to look in his mouth, he just sits there growling at her (see I told you...wild animal :) ) Finally our Dr. enters the room. She begins to examine James. Just when I thought this visit couldn't get any worse it does....

Now normally James just speaks some form of Chinese, but today he decided to pronounce a very ugly English word...rhymes with truck...but only starts with an F...I'm sure you can get the picture....just out of nowhere. Both the Dr. and I said, "What?" at the same time. I was like, "Umm, I'm sure that wasn't what it sounded like. He has never heard that word. We don't use language like that." The Dr said, "Oh he was probably trying to say frog or something." Then I proceeded to babble because I was so embarrassed, making things worse for myself. This was not my most embarrassing moment by far, but it was definitely uncomfortable.

I wanted to ran out of there when the visit was over, but instead I calmly gathered my children (who had run off to get stickers), and walked to the nearest exit without looking back! I couldn't wait to get home and hopefully take a nap. What a crazy morning! But hey, I wouldn't have any funny stories to share if it had never happened. Good thing I love to laugh! :)

Wipeout

Has anyone else seen the new show Wipeout, on ABC? Oh my word! Maybe because it's been a long, tiring, stressful week...or maybe there is something demented about me for getting a kick out of it, but I seriously laughed so hard. We watched the first episode online tonight with the kids. I could not stop laughing for the first 10 minutes. I think the kids were laughing because I was laughing.

Ahhh, it feels good to laugh. My house is a mess tonight from not having any time this week to care for it. So I am going to go clean, do laundry and get things ready for church tomorrow now. I Just thought I'd share this with you all! :) If you go and watch it...come back and tell me what you think! You might not think it's funny at all...but I sure did need a good laugh!

Didn't see that coming

If you read this post, you might not think this incident that I am about to tell is so strange...just another day in the life of Bill.

Bill and I use Gmail chat to communicate with each other while he is at work. I have really enjoyed being able to do that. It's fun to be able to send each other random thoughts and keep each updated on what is going on throughout the day. I usually sit down by the lap top in the morning while I feed Claire and chat with Bill or other friends who happen to be on. A few days ago I received this message from Bill,

Bill- I was getting into my car this morning, when all of the sudden I felt something hit me. I looked down and saw a squirrel rolling away.

Me- What?

Bill- Yeah! A squirrel fell on me! It fell out of the tree and landed on me.

Me- Oh my word! I can't believe it! Only you Bill. :) What is up with that?

Bill- I don't know. God threw a squirrel at me.

Me- Maybe He is trying to get your attention.

Bill-LOL

Me- LOL :)

What are the chances of that happening? A squirrel slipped and hit Bill on it's way down out of the tree, just as he was about to get into the car. Seriously...only Bill! :)

The thought of this makes me laugh. I only wish I could have seen it for myself!

toilet water, grease, bees, beavers, and ducks

Ok, so here is my funny story: it is very long, and it might be one of those stories that you had to be there to find funny, however I am recording it here, so that I don't forget.

About a week or two ago, I had one of those crazy mornings...well actually, those happen a lot around here. :) But this one was a doozy! It started out good. We got through our school work in good time. It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day. Janel called to see if we wanted to go to the park to feed the ducks, of course I said yes. She had to pick us up because that was when my car was broken. Anyway, after I fed the kids lunch I was running around trying to get ready to go. Janel called to say she was on her way, and I told her all I needed to do was finish packing the diaper bag....

But then, someone left the bathroom door open...

I thought I heard something coming from the bathroom so I peeked in and saw James (aka "Curious George") splashing in the toilet. YUCK! He had toilet water everywhere, and he had thrown Anna's loofah in there (thankfully he doesn't know how to flush). I promptly washed James off, set him outside the bathroom door and proceeded to mop and disinfect the bathroom. All of the sudden I hear James screaming. I run out to the porch to find him COVERED in grease up to his knees!! What in the world? I was in the bathroom cleaning for maybe 2 minutes tops! In that time he had managed to find the coffee can (I pour all my grease into) that I have tucked behind some stuff on the back porch. It was dumped everywhere. And James was just standing there screaming, like he was terrified of what he had all over him. He had apparently found the can, decided to stand on top of it, and then fell in. I grabbed him, pulled off his pants (which I had to soak in dawn dish soap), and then bathed him off. I had to remove everything on one side of the room (and throw out my broom and dust pan...I wasn't even going to attempt to clean that), and then figure out how to get it cleaned. I was in the middle of all this when Janel came to the door. I was one the verge of tears. Poor Janel, to have to walk in on all of that! She was so sweet and patient though and helped me finish getting the kids together so we could leave. Once in the car I breathed a sigh of relief.

Janel and I started chatting as we pulled out of the driveway. We had gotten maybe a mile down the road when I felt something on my foot. I shook it a little, and looked down. there was a bee crawling on me.

"AHHH." I yelled. "There's a bee on me." I shook it off my foot.

"where?' Janel screamed.

Then we both started screaming as the bee flew around. Janel puled over and and rolled down the windows. It flew out.

Meanwhile, the 5 kids in the car (who probably think their moms are crazy) are observing all this. Ella, Janel's 4 year old starts yelling, "Mommy where is the beaver?" "Why is there a beaver in the car?" Over and over.

It was just one of those moments...we both burst out laughing. Neither one of us could stop. I don't know if it was really that funny, or we both just really need to laugh. We laughed until we cried and until we both hurt. The kids just sat there. I'm sure we had just confirmed to them how crazy we really are! :)

The rest of the day was fine and light hearted. We enjoyed our time feeding the ducks and playing at the park.

Sometimes it just feels so good to laugh! Thank you God for friends and for bringing laughter in the midst of it all. :)

The pictures of the kids in the car, were snapped right after the bee or "beaver" incident. None of them knew what to think.