Chickens lay WHAT?

My eldest child is certainly been good inspiration lately. He's cracking us up!

Last night a few hours after putting Owen to bed, he woke up crying. Scratch that. He was sobbing. I ran in there and tried to console him. He had his pajamas unzipped and was trying to get them off. He also continued to sob so hard that I couldn't even calm him down enough to understand what had upset him so badly. I finally had to take him out of the room because he had woken Eli, and now Eli was sobbing too.

Once I got him out of the room and gave him some time to calm down, I was able to ask him what was wrong. Turns out he had a nightmare. I asked him what it was about and he finally, in choppy little gasps, told me that he dreamed that he got soap on his pajamas.

Yes, that's right- SOAP ON HIS PAJAMAS!

I would have loved to have been able to see into his mind to figure out what made soap on the pajamas so scary...


THEN- this morning. I fed Owen and Taryn breakfast and I decided that while they were eating I would go take care of the neighbor's dog, and let the chickens out of the barn. My neighbor had called me last night and told me that she had bananas on her counter and that she wanted me to take them home so that they didn't go bad before she returned. So I took care of the dog, went in to retrieve the bananas, went to let the chickens out and returned to the house.
Owen and Taryn were watching by the door, and saw me come out of the barn. They were SO excited when I got back up to the house, and Owen was shrieking, "My chickens layed bananas! My chickens layed bananas!"

I was laughing so hard I couldn't hardly breathe!

Seriously, Oh Owen!

Last night, Matthew and I were scouring the house looking for our camera. It had been missing all evening and we couldn't find it anywhere. I remembered that I had it out on the back porch over the weekend so that I could show my neighbor some pictures- and then I began to worry that it was still out there.

I went outside and looked all around, but I didn't see it. I finally decided to check with Owen and see if he knew anything about it. We had just put him to bed, but he was still awake. I opened his door and said, "Owen, have you seen Mommy and Daddy's camera?"
"Yes." He replies.
"Where did you see it?" I ask
"ummmm, I don't remember." He tells me
"Owen, did you have it outside?" I ask
"Yes! I did have it outside!" He replies enthusiastically.
"Did you have it outside when Jodi was here?" I prod, trying to remember a time when he might have snagged it.
"No, it was before that." He answers "Maybe we can look for it later."
"No Owen. Mommy and Dadd need to know where it is now." I tell him.
"We'll talk later Mommy." He tells me and then rolls over in his bed.

I had to walk away. Matthew and I were both about to die laughing and we clearly couldn't let him see that. It was totally an unacceptable response, but yet so funny. That kid is SUCH a stinker.

The good news is that I found the camera later that night. It was in my purse all along! So he never had it outside, and he knew that he'd never had it outside. He did want the upper hand though!

Another favorite

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

If you have never looked at this website, you need to. Pronto. Don't do it if you don't have lots of time on your hands though. It's incredibly addictive.

Some of the best laughs I get come from this website!

One of my very favorite CakeWrecks!!

A few of my favorite deals!

Okay so you all know that I LOVE a great deal!! I am frugalista extradonaire these days!! Well there have been some super exciting deals these past few days, some of which I didn't get to take advantage of- but they're exciting nonetheless!

1. I missed this one, but I want to tell you about it just to illustrate what is possible! Last week, there was a deal that involved using shopathome.com and stamps.com. Basically, after the coupon codes and cashback, you scored 40 photo stamps for $15.67. That's right folks- 40 PHOTO stamps at $0.40 a piece!! "But aren't REGULAR stamps $0.44/piece now???" You ask. Why yes they are! (I googled this to be sure... I tend to have no idea how much a regular stamp costs because of my infrequent use of the things.)

Like I said, I missed out on this, but what an awesome deal! I always get excited when I find out that I can save money on something that I woulc have NEVER believed I could save money on!

2. http://www.seehere.com/ This is photo site powered by fujifilm. They have LOTS of exciting deals going on right now. You can get 50 free holiday photo cards using the code, "newbaby"- this also includes free shipping!! You can also get 100 free prints just for signing up for their website- you do have to pay for shipping; But, wow! 100 free prints is great!

3. This is another one I won't be taking advantage of, but that I want to share. Amazon has a promotion when you spend $80 on Wii, PS3, or Xbox 360 games, you will receive $20 off at checkout with code BUY80G20. This is a stellar deal if you're planning on buying some video games for anyone on your list this year.

4. http://www.1-800flowers.com/ is offering a promotion where if you enter 10 gift reminders into their reminder program, they will give you 400 points. 400 points translates into $40 that you can use to send flowers to someone for CHEAP! What a nice gift to be able to surprise someone with!

Well those are a few of my current favorites. Anyone else have any deals that they'd like to share??

Also- does anyone have any blog suggestions for me. I'm not feeling very inspired at the moment. I'd be happy to take requests!

Oh Owen

Today I took the boys to Steak and Shake for lunch. We were enjoying our meal when a group of elderly folks took the seats right beside us. One of the gentlemen from the group turned around and started talking to Owen and Eli. He asked Owen for he and his brother's names. Owen told him, and then the group's server came, so the man turned back around.

While the man was turned away, Owen asked me, "What's that guy's name?" I told him that I didn't know, and Owen replied, "I think that it's probably, 'Grandpa'."

I laughed, and just then, the man turned back around to talk to the boys more. I told him what Owen had said, and he got a kick out of it. He asked Owen, "Am I your Grandpa?"

Owen looked at him and replied, "No! But you're somebody's grandpa!"

The man and I both cracked up laughing at Owen's assessment.

That Boy!

The New "Regaler" Shoes

Let me start off by saying that no one has thrown up since last Friday!! Hallelujah! My fingers are crossed that we've seen the last of whatever nasty bug it was that invaded our home for the last several weeks.

Now, back to "regaler" shoes. This story actually happened several months ago, but I wanted to document it here anyway. It's one of those stories that I hold dear and that I never want to forget.

Now if you know Owen, you'll know that he is creature of habit. Much like his mother, he doesn't like or appreciate unnecessary change. When he was about 15-16 months old we were getting ready to enter his first "walking winter". We needed to buy him his first pair of *real* shoes. I tried getting him several different pairs of shoes, but his Fred Flintstone feet are so darn wide, that none of the shoes available for purchase in normal department stores would fit him. We ended up taking him to Stride Rite to get properly fitted. They sized him as a 5 1/2 XXW! We tried on several pairs of shoes before we found the brown and orange "Prodigy". It was clear that they were *his* shoes! He wore those shoes out of the store, proud as can be- and he continued to wear that pair of shoes for an entire year!

When those shoes began to get a little tight, we returned to Stride Rite. He was again fitted, and placed in 6 1/2 XW, brown and orange Prodigy. We left the store and Owen was happy. That boy WORE those shoes. Both pairs saw a great deal of wear and tear, including one of the shoes being left in the CVS parking lot, and then being ran over by a car! We got home that evening, realized the shoe was missing, retraced our steps and eventually found the flattened shoe. We brought it home, cleaned it up, and he continued to wear it for another 6+ months.

Those shoes were good to my little boy and he loved them. He wouldn't wear any other shoes for any reason. Those were his shoes. I didn't realize how strong the attachment really was until the day that the 6 1/2 XW Prodigy began to feel a little snug. I asked Owen if his shoes were hurting him, and he told me "No". for quite a few weeks. Finally, he started admitting that his shoes were pinching his feet. I took him back to Stride Rite to be fitted again, and sure enough, he was now a size 7 1/2 W. The sales lady asked him which shoes he'd like to try on, and he confidently replied, "I'd just like my 'regaler' shoes please". She explained that Prodigy only went up to size 7, so he'd have to pick another style.

Ooooooh Boy. Owen went into total meltdown mode as we brought other styles over for him to try on. He laid on the floor of the store and cried big crocodile tears. "I just want my regaler shoes!" He sobbed. We ended up leaving the store that day, with too-tight "regaler" shoes upon his feet. I tried again a few days later with similar results.

Finally, I decided to call in reinforcements. Sara and I boldly headed off to the shoe store with Owen in tow. On the drive there, we tried to get him excited about the prospect of fun new shoes. He was not so easily swayed from wanting his "regalers" though.

When we arrived, we were fortunately greeted by an enthusiastic sales associate. She had a touch for dealing with kiddos attached to their "regaler" shoes. She convinced him to try on a pair of shoes named, "Bear Cub". She told him how fast he'd be able to run in Bear Cub shoes, and encouraged him to try them out in the store. He eventually decided that he could get on board with the Bear Cub shoes.

Now, the Bear Cubs have been a member of our family for several months. They eventually gained a place in Owen's heart as the NEW "regalers". I am dreading the day that he outgrows the Bear Cubs and we have to go on the search again, but for now, we're happy to call them Owen's "regaler" shoes!

I recall this story with fond memories because it is so indicative of Owen's personality. From an outsider's perspective, I'm sure that it appeared that he was just being a brat. But being his mother, I know when my kid is being a brat; this wasn't one of those times. Those shoes really meant something to him. They were like the best friend that I was asking him to leave behind. My little boy was far too loyal for that. I don't know if he'll ever feel that way about another pair of shoes, (part of me hopes that he doesn't!), but I still smile when I think about Owen's first "regaler" shoes.

Will we ever return...

...To the Land of the Living???

We have another week of vomit under our belts. I can't believe it. This week, it's only been Eli that's ill, but Owen still "doesn't feel good". They're sleeping a lot and pretty whiney. Eli threw up Monday, Wednesday, and then again today. It's the weirdest thing. The doctors are running some tests on them to determine if they have been exposed to e.coli, salmonella, or a variety of other nasty things.

This picture sums up Eli's activity level over the past week pretty well.




Over the weekend, we were in a "vomiting remission" of sorts. No one threw up during the 48 hours of Saturday and Sunday!! (WOO HOO) So we did a mini-Halloween, so that Owen didn't miss out all together. We trick-or-treated 3 houses in Sara and Todd's neighborhood and called it an evening.

Eli was too funny because I don't think that he realized that he was wearing anything out of the ordinary. He just kept looking at Owen like he couldn't figure out why on earth *HE* looked so funny. We got a kick out of Eli staring at Owen like this!

Sunday, it was beautiful and we were all tired of being stuck in the house- so we took a short trip down to Oliver to enjoy the beautiful weather. We had a lovely time with our best friends who love our kids even when they're sick and whiney. (We Love You Guys!) The boys and I were exhausted by the end of the day, but all in all, we had a wonderful time!

Monkey see-Monkey-do

As you can see, we had a really lovely day.

...Too bad Monday brought the puke-bug back to our house in full force.

Hopefully we'll be over this soon!!!

I lied...

Eli's throwing up again. Poor little thing.

Please God, just let us get through this!

Back to the land of the living... Hopefully!

At the writing of my last post, I really thought that my family had a rough week with sickness. Boy was I wrong. It got soooo much worse. For Owen, this all started LAST Thursday night, not this past one, but the one before. He threw up in the night, and then several times on Friday. I luckily still had some Zofran in the house from our bout with Rotovirus last spring, so I gave him a dose of that and he seemed to perk up some.

By Saturday, he seemed totally fine. He ate, drank, and played. I thought that he was better. We went to Jodi and Brett's on Saturday night for game night, and Owen was fine. Eli however developed a fever while we were there. We went home, and I took Eli's temp... 102.8! (Owen hadn't been running a fever) I gave him tylenol and kept him up until the fever came down. I put him to bed around 1:30 am.

3:30 am rolls around and Owen wakes up screaming his fool head off. He had thrown up in his bed. Matt and I both roll out of bed and deal with the mess. We get him cleaned up and back to bed.

Sunday morning- Owen seems fine again. Eli, however has respiked his fever. We fought the fever most of that day and into Monday. He also just wouldn't eat-- and if you know Eli, you know that is NOT normal!

Monday- I took the day off from watching the kids because I was worried about my kids still being sick. (Although the D. kids had already been sick before mine). Lo and Behold they seemed pretty much fine. Eli still didn't want to eat much, but other than that- no fever, no vomiting. We were golden!

Tuesday- I started coming down with it. By Tuesday evening, I felt terrible. Tuesday evening is also the day that Eli first vomited. (While I was at RCIA- poor Matthew. He had a *REALLY* bad evening!) I came home and and Eli and I went straight to bed.

Wednesday. No one vomited, but Eli slept 20 hours. I felt like sleeping 20 hours, and Eli and I didn't eat anything.

Thursday- I took Owen to his Halloween party at school. He seemed pretty much normal and hadn't thrown up since the middle of the night Sat/Sun. I felt really bad during the party and had to step outside because I felt so queasy. Eli slept 20ish hours again, but finally started eating some again. That night, we put Owen down for bed, and about an hour later- he threw up AGAIN!

Friday- Owen seemed fine again. Eli was much improved and my sickness seemed to be lifting.... Until that night when- ELI THREW UP AGAIN!!!


ARRGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Thankfully, my mom was here to help me Thursday and Friday. I was getting so run down. We've done a collective 40+ loads of laundry since this all began!!


This weekend, everyone seemed a little better. We even got out of the house finally!! We did have to miss Matt's cousin's wedding, but we didn't want to get that far away from home with all that we had going on.

Hopefully, we're on the upswing. No one's thrown up since Friday- so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's over!

I'll be back later to post some photos from our weekend.

It's just an "N"

On Tuesday I had my first go around on the "other" side of the parent/teacher conference table. I was actually pretty nervous going in there and I couldn't pinpoint why. Owen's teacher had lots of nice things to say about him and gave him plenty of positive feedback. The majority of the "grades" on his progress report were "S"s, but there were a few "N"s.



For whatever reason, I felt really let down that he hadn't done better. I felt as though *I* had failed in some way. The areas where Owen received "N"s weren't areas that surprised me. They are areas were he'd receive an "N" at home too! I spent most of the day thinking about it, and I eventually realized that, A: To "need improvement" is not necessarily a bad thing. It's good to recognize areas where we could improve and strive to be better. B: This is preschool. He is three. This is NOT that big of a deal. (Matthew helped me figure that one out!)


In the end what I realized was really bothering me was the fact that a parent of one of my students once told me, "You don't understand what it's like to have to hear these things about your child."
I scoffed. It clearly wasn't *me* that didn't understand. They were the ones who didn't understand! What was so difficult to understand about your kid not being perfect. No one is. Why was that so hard to hear??

Now I get it. You spend the years leading up to school hearing from all of the other adults in your child's life how perfect they are. (Think: Grandma!) As a parent you know that they're not perfect... Of course they're not, but still somewhere deep inside, you appreciate hearing from everyone else what a perfect little angel your child is. Suddenly, they're in school and lo-and-behold the teacher tells you that your little angel is indeed NOT perfect... In fact, they "Need to improve"! Ouch.

Now I get it.

It was one of those moments of Karmic retribution for me. :)


In other news, we've been fighting off sickness. I started the week not feeling the best, then Owen started vomiting (FUN!), and Matthew is also not feeling too great. Hopefully we'll be able to kick whatever is plaguing us quickly!


Final Funny Story...

We were sitting around the dinner table the other night and Matthew asked Owen what he had done that day. Owen replied, "Played with the chickens". Matthew asked, "What did you play with the chickens? Baseball? Cars? Did you take them fishing?"
Owen looked at him and said, "Daddy, you can't take chickens fishing! They don't have any hands to hold the pole!"
His voice and face as he explained this fact to his dad were priceless. He couldn't believe that his daddy would not know such a simple thing!