Pedicure time!

It's raining again and maybe it's just me, but I think thunderstorms scream "It's pedicure time!". Nothing makes me want to pull out the nail polish like a good downpour. I'm going to have the prettiest toes around. :)

...forget about it. This storm's a loud one and it woke lil D up. Crap. I guess I'll have to stick with the ugly, plain and boring look a little while longer. :(

Where did the trash truck go?

Happy Memorial Day all! We are doing a whole lot of nothing today. After we've had about all the lazing around we can't handle, we're headed to my mom's house for some grilling. Mmm Mmm! I was hoping for some better weather, but I guess I'll take what I can get. The thunderstorms have calmed now, but everything is wet and gloomy. Blech. Lil David is never going to understand why he can't play outside and take walks with his Monga.

He did enjoy watching the storms pass through though. He sat at the window the whole time and talked about how wet it was ("Wet rain. Oh no, messy.") and he thought the lightning was pretty funny. It made him giggle. :) I think the thunder was his favorite part though. Every time he heard the thunder clap, he jumped up and down with excitement and shrieked "trash truck!" and waited for our garbage man to appear. He was pretty ticked off when we explained the noise was coming from the sky and not a big, cool trash truck. He really is too funny.

Have a fun and safe holiday, everyone! And stay dry!!

One man's trash is another man's treasure

I spent the day in Gobles today hitting up their city-wide yard sales. Woot! I got some great deals. David now has a ton of new clothes for the summer and loads of new toys too. My fave finds? A remote control Thomas train track for only $4, a little tykes toy box for $5 and a huge tub of lincoln logs for $3. That's what I'm talking about!! He's got a new stack of books, some army men and a tub of dinosaurs too. Ah, what a good day. Nothing says "happy memorial day" like a good garage sale. :)

Random thoughts

Here's a series of updates on our family and random thoughts running through my head. They are not related what-so-ever so if you're hoping for a good posting you'd better look elsewhere.

~I'm sad that all my favorite shows are ending for the season. I'm going to miss Castle and LOST in particular (though LOST is gone forever). Sad. :(

~Max is in size 3 diapers now. I have put off the switch for a couple of weeks, but I just can't handle the blow out poops anymore. He needs a bigger diaper that can contain his big boy messes.

~I can't wait for Toy Story 3 to come out. It premieres on lil David's 2nd birthday. I think we're going to try to take him to see it. We'll see how that goes....

~I just made strawberry rice crispie treats. YUM! I think I'm well on my way to a sugar overload though. They are dangerously good.

~I think Dancing with the Stars' mirror ball trophy is probably the ugliest and dumbest thing ever. If I were on the show I think I would lose on purpose so I didn't have to take it home with me.

~I just got some new tumblers from Wal-Mart. They are super cool, fun, summer colors and best of all they were only $1 for a set of 4!

~Target is now my favorite store. They came out with some really awesome and fun commercials during LOST's finale that I really loved. It made this lostie pretty happy.

~I really wish I could see some more of Jim and Pam Halpert's baby. Kinda wondering what's up the wee one these days...

~David tried picking a freckle off my leg yesterday. He worked at it for a good 15 minutes. He said it looked yucky and he wanted to throw it in the trash. Kids are so funny sometimes.

That's all for now, folks.

First set of wheels

Some super generous friends of ours gave David a little car. Their kids have long outgrown it and it wasn't being used at their house anymore. They know how much David loves cars and trucks right now so they were awesome enough to pass it on. He's spent the last 2 days "fixing it" up. Today he even asked me to help clean it so we took it outside with a bucket of soapy water and a scrub brush to get the dirt off. There's something really special about a boy and his first car. :)
He took one look at that bolt on the front end and deemed it broken. He specifically asked Daddy for a screwdriver and a wrench to fix it. We can't quite get him to understand that it's supposed to be that way...

Little Helper

David loves to be a big boy and help. He's always asking to help me out with things and calling himself my helper. Now, I love the intentions of his heart and I love that he wants to learn how to do the things I am doing, but sometimes it's just easier to do things without a 2 year old's "help". I have been trying to exercise a little patience and let him do stuff and to my surprise his "help" is actually getting helpful! Yesterday after I went grocery shopping, he helped me put stuff away. I think it may be the first time ever that a task was actually easier because he was involved. He put away all the fridge stuff and all the cans. I freed up so much of my time that I actually got a load of laundry done too. :) Big boys rock!

A pleasant surprise

David made a quick run to the store this morning for 'just one thing' and came back with 2 bags of groceries. This pretty lil bouquet of flowers was amoung the mess of goodies. I have the best hubby in the world!

I know they say there's no use crying over spilled milk....

...but what if it's spilled beer? As I was leaving Meijer tonight I saw an older man that had stopped in the middle of the driveway with his cart. He had put a six pack of beer on the rack underneath the cart and it shook itself off as he went over the bumpy sidewalk. Every single bottle was smashed. I'm pretty sure I saw a tear in his eye.

A fun little find

http://lovelydesign.blogspot.com/

I stumbled across this lady and her blog quite by accident. She was featured in Better Homes and Gardens magazine (that I read while enjoying my latte). I just love her unique ideas! She oozes creativity. Check her out!

Sometimes you just need a decaf grande caramel latte with whipped cream

Today was perfectly rotten way to end a perfectly rotten week. Both boys are sick-ish still and just aren't feeling 100%. David was naughty, mischievous and cranky for no apparent reason and Max just wanted to be held. If I didn't give him enough cuddles he'd cry. After about 5 hours of this non-stop chaos, I had just about had it with crying babies so I broke down and called the hubster home for back-up and moral support. He was away being a superstar and helping our friends move to their new home (congrats to our favorite Roesters!). In true superstar fashion, he came home without a question and then offered to let me step out for a bit to collect myself. Biggby coffee to the rescue!! One decaf grande caramel latte with whipped cream and an hour later, I'm a much happier momma. I think I can face the rest of the day now. Bring on the dirty dishes, grocery shopping, mountains of laundry and fussy boys. I can take it. :)

Beautiful disaster

This week has been one of "those" weeks. You know, the kind of week where nothing goes right and you want to crawl back in bed and sleep til next week. The kind of week where you have to make yourself laugh about your misfortune so you don't cry. Yep. I had one of those. We are all fighting runny noses, sore throats and coughs. And as if that's not enough....

On Sunday, we were driving our van home from visiting our moms when it started overheating. Luckily, we were only 2 miles from home so we were able to make it there and park the car. David called his Dad for advice and they determined it was a bad thermostat that had caused the problems. On Monday, David got home from work and set about fixing it. One trip to AutoZone and a short time later, it was fixed. Later that evening, we were going to go out to eat. About half way there (and at the last business/parking lot before miles of country roads) the van started to make a funny sound. David pulled over and checked under the hood. It turns out we blew a gasket and were spraying antifreeze all over the serpentine belt making it squeal. We had no choice, but to turn and make the 20 minute trip back home. We got about 5 minutes into it and the van started overheating again (because we had lost so much coolant through the spewing gasket). After several attempts to cool the engine down, we determined it would only do damage to drive it any further and we needed a ride home. By now we were sitting in an apartment complex and we were nervous that they would tow us overnight so we tried to drive very quickly to our church's parking lot to park the van to cool down. We couldn't take the main roads because it was now rush hour traffic and very busy (we couldn't let the van idle or it would immediately overheat) so we picked a side street and hoped it would lead us to church. As we stumbled our way through the neighborhood in our overheated van, we passed a familiar road and started singing the Lord's praises for leading us right to our friends' home! The Lord knew that we'd never make it to the church so he lead us down the side streets and right into our friends' driveway. Our engine was now completely out of coolant. Another friend (that lives 15 minutes away, but just happened to be in the neighborhood) came and picked us up and took us to his house for dinner (because remember? we haven't eaten yet and it's an hour and a half past dinner time!). Thank you, Lord for good friends.

Tuesday was spent fixing the van again. David had to make 3 trips to parts stores and one to a junk yard, but in the end he did it. During the fix he broke one of the parts he needed to put the van back together and lost the bolt to the part he bought to replace it. He was very frustrated after 6 hours of working on the dumb thing and was very grateful when it was over. Did I mention it was pouring rain that day? Did I also mention that our other vehicle is making a funny noise and needs to be looked at?

Wednesday was sure to look better after Tuesday's mess. We were having the carpet's cleaned (for FREE courtesy of our apartment complex!!) so we planned to spend the day away from home. I made an appointment for Max to have some professional pictures taken. We were just going to make a day of it. When we pulled into the restaurant to eat lunch, David noticed the engine smoking. We were burning radiator fluid. Ugh. After lunch we switched car seats over to my mom's car and she took us on to the picture appt while David took our van home. He didn't have the energy to look at it so it sat overnight.

I woke up yesterday with double mastitis and I felt like crap. I made David cancel his plans with friends (sorry!) to come home and help with the boys. I went to the doctor in the afternoon and got antibiotics to fight the infection. I had a quick stop to make at a friend's house and I told her all about my horrible week. She quickly summed up the situation and said it sounded like a spiritual attack of some sort. i hadn't thought about it like that so I mentioned it to David at dinner to see what he thought. He agreed and then understanding hit.

You see, a week ago (right about the time we started getting sick) David and I talked and agreed that we needed to be more consistent about praying with David before naps and bedtime. He was having problems calming down enough to sleep at night and would cry for an hour or more to get back up so we hoped praying with him would bring some peace to the situation. As loving parents, we obviously pray over him and for him, but we set about with a purpose to pray with him. We wanted to teach him the words to say and encourage him to pray along with us instead of just listening to us. I have never seen him more excited about something. Upon laying down now, he begs to pray to Jesus. He says the words the best that he can and we guide him through a very basic and simple prayer. It has worked like a charm. We leave the room now and don't hear a peep from him...and he's sleeping longer at night too!

There is nothing that the Evil One hates more than another believer in the Kingdom of God. We really believe that Satan tried every ugly and frustrating trick in the book to wear us down this week. He is not one to sit by quietly and unaffected while new believers are being born! I think our terrible week has proved that much. After our little revelation we understand much better why these things are happening to us this week and you better believe we are meeting the schemes of the Devil with tremendous amounts of prayer. We are coming against this illness with force and claiming healing in Jesus' name. We are praying that our last fix on the van fixed the entire problem and we're praying protection over little David.

And today, I'm happy to say I'm feeling tons better. David looked at the car this morning and it didn't have a problem after all (it's just noisy). He also found no problem with the radiator on the van...turns out that was just spilled radiator fluid burning off of the hot engine and smoke was totally normal. It's sort of fun to look back and see where God had our backs this week. His hand was definitely on us.

Ephesians 6:12

Pampers vs Up & Up

Before switching to cloth diapers 8 months ago, David only wore Pampers. I tried a bunch of brands, but the Pampers always came out on top. I loved them so much that I didn't even mind that they were like the most expensive disposable diaper on the market!

Our experiences with cloth diapers on David have been great, but I didn't feel that I could handle the mess and extra laundry when Max was first born. We chose to go back to disposables for him for the first few months at least. Pampers were our old favorite so naturally they were what we chose for him. We got through the first month without any leaks, spills or blowouts, but they have been failing non-stop since then. Max is a chunky and pudgy boy and he's growing very quickly, but I feel like he's going through the sizes a little too quickly. He's outgrown their size 2 now. We also have trouble keeping poo in the diaper and off his clothes. Every time (and I mean every time) he poops, it blows out the sides of the diaper and leaks onto his clothes. He now sleeps about 8 hours at night (though it can be up to 10 hrs) and inevitably his Pampers will leak pee all over the bed.

My question for all you Pampers mommas out there is this: Are you having the same problems we are or are Pampers just not the right diaper for him? I'm wondering if Pampers is cutting corners and making a cheaper quality diaper now (recession side effects maybe). I haven't been happy with them at all. I have actually switched Max to Up & Up (Target's store brand) diapers and I LOVE them! They don't leak overnight, they never ooze poo and they don't have the strong baby diaper type fragrance that Pampers does (and they are only 14 cents per dipe!). All in all, I give them 2 thumbs up. I'd be curious to see what other Pampers moms have to say though.

In a related story, I am so over disposable diapers and their mess and expense. I'm searching out the perfect cloth diaper for Max right now. I hope to make the switch with him here soon. Disposables are overrated.

It's still me!

I bet you're thinking to yourself "Hmm, Self. This is not the page I was expecting to see.". And you're right, but before you go and get your panties in a bunch let me assure you are in the right place. I've changed up some colors and rearranged the page a bit, but no worries - it's the same old me behind the keyboard. :)

I pray for you

Let me first say that I'm not a vindictive, hateful person that wishes harm to my enemies or holds grudges. I am someone who loves a good country song and a nice long laugh though. :)

There is a new song out there right now by Jaron and The Long Road to Love. Its called Pray for You and it is hilarious. Blogger won't let me paste the YouTube video in here right now, but you all should check it out. I was caught totally off-guard the first time I heard it on the radio. It was not at all what I expected when I heard the way that it started, but I was not disappointed with how it went. :) I got a good laugh from it and I hope you all do too. Sometimes it's fun to let our deepest, darkest thoughts out. I'd be lying if I said some of these things hadn't crossed my mind before...

Mama's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! I'd love to tell you to relax, kick up your feet and enjoy it, but I know better...moms don't get breaks! How about I just say enjoy it! :) My day is going to be spent at church then at my MIL's house. We celebrated with my mom yesterday. What a great weekend.

I love you, Mom!! Thanks for putting up with me all these years. I appreciate it.

Worst Mother's Day present ever!!

This Mother's Day, why give Mom a gift that says "I love you and all you do for me" when you could give her the Kymaro body shaper? It's the gift that screams "you are chubby and it embarrasses me".

I actually saw this product in a flyer in last Sunday's paper (I wish I were joking) that read "Give mom the gift she really wants!". Are you kidding me?!? What woman wants to receive one of these? And what twisted sort of person suggests you by one for your mom?? This is the lady who gave you life! And if you value it even a little bit you won't buy this for her. NO ONE wants to feel fat and they certain don't want to hear that other people feel that way about them too! Geez. I'm so disgusted that I'm speechless. I have nothing else to say.

P.S. I also saw, in the same ad, a Bumpit (but you all know how I feel about those, right?). Nothing says Mother's Day like Bumpits and body shapers...

My boys

David is poking at Max's mohawk. :)Tickle, tickle...are you smiling yet?

These boys like their naps...

Max likes watching his big bro. It makes me smile. :)

"dum ditty, dum ditty, dum dum dum..."

My favorite book for my Dad to read to me when I was little girl was Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb. Mom tried, but she just didn't do it right. :) Having such fond memories of it, I knew I wanted my kiddos to grow up with the joy of having a copy for Daddy to read to them at bedtime. Turns out, David likes for me to read it better. I had forgotten what a great book this is! Good stuff.

David's first morel mushroom hunt

Taken 5/3/10.