Weekly phone picture dump

I've decided that Wednesday will be my weekly phone dump here on the blog. Of course I'm extremely late posting my second edition. Do you expect anything less from me?

Ready, set, go!!

Riding Sandy the horse at Meijer.

Addie's turn. Sister couldn't figure out how to hold her sugar cookie and hold the reigns at the same time.

I'm trying to work with Addie in hopes that she can start saying her numbers so I was making construction cut outs in the shape of fish. She had to try out her new scissors on all of my scraps.

Lazy Sunday here at home. Everyone is asleep but me and I've had the least amount of sleep.

For the very first time, she brought me a hair pretty to put in her hair. I don't think she had even had her breakfast yet.

Sunglasses? Check, Cell phone? Check.

After watching Daddy cut Bandits nail's she had to try as well.

Apparently this is the new way to sit in your recliner. 

I'm going to try really hard to have the next issue published on Wednesday. Please don't hold your breath or place any money on it! :)

Spoken like a true toddler.

Since my surgery in April and receiving my ileostomy, I have begun carrying around a little bag filled with ostomy supplies in case we are ever out and about and I run into issues that require a flange and bag change. I am still getting used to this process and I pray that I will never have to do it out in public, but I take my bag just in case.

Often times I will keep it with the diaper bag and Addison always insists on carrying out mommy's "poop bag" because that's what big girls do. Such a good little helper. I love her and her little sister so much.

Anyway, since Addie usually always keeps a toy or two in the Yukon so she has something to hold on to, we didn't find it strange that she switched out her stuffed pink unicorn for her purple, talking picnic basket. Addison being the funny child that she is, has decided that her purple, talking picnic basket, is now her "poop bag" and she isn't shy in telling people that that is what it is. I can only imagine what people must think.


She also isn't shy when telling people of my little issue. She finds my actual "poop bag" or ostomy bag as we adults know it as, as the most fascinating thing ever. So now my lovely child walks around saying "mommy poop comin", "mommy poop bag"...thank you my precious child for outing me wherever we go. She is always making me smile!

When the cats away, the mouse will play.

I've had a very eventful weekend so far, last night topping it all. Daniel has been out of town on business since Friday morning and while I don't mind his trips, it gets awfully lonely without another adult here and it wears me out taking care of the house, the girls, and the dogs all by myself.

We've encountered a little mouse problem here at the house. Now one would think that between the girls and three giant dogs that we have, mice would know not to enter this home. Apparently our mice aren't scared though and they know that I am. Typically I don't have issues with the little rodents, as long as they aren't on my turf, but now that I am aware of their presence, I spend a lot of time with my feet elevated and picturing them climbing all over me. It really is quite humorous and I find it appalling how rude these little buggers are. You see, they only come out after everyone else has gone to bed. I think Daniel was beginning to think I was losing my mind. That was until after a night of witnessing three of them, I put my foot down and called the land lord.

Traps were set and the hunt was on. I trapped my first one earlier this week. I guess the little guy couldn't turn down a good piece of popcorn. Daniel was home and properly disposed of his body before I awoke the next morning. I'll set the trap but I would prefer to not see anything else. Daniel left for New York Friday morning and not before he re-set all of the traps. They remained empty until last night, when all hell broke loose.

The girls were in bed, the dogs were out here in the living room laying peacefully as I watched a good Hallmark movie and then it happened. The dogs heard a noise. Bandit and Toby didn't care, they remained firmly planted on the plush carpeting. Lennon though, began his mouse hunt. Now I hadn't seen the mouse, I just heard a few noises so when Lennon began taking his hunt to the front door and then out to the kitchen, and then back to the living room where he laid back down, I assumed it had been a false alarm. Turns out, it wasn't a false alarm. After I secured the dogs back into their "dog room", I heard the noise again. The noise was coming from behind the bookshelf and it kept getting louder and closer together. I knew then I was in deep trouble.

I worked up the courage to check the trap which had been behind the bookshelf and I didn't see a thing. We have very dark carpeting and the light wasn't the greatest so I went back to the couch. The noises continued so I put my big girl britches on and grabbed a flashlight and it was then that I discovered we had a mouse...a mouse that was still very much alive.

I returned to the couch to contemplate my next move. I decided then that I would allow nature to take its course and I would have Daniel remove it tomorrow when he returned home. I was secure with my decision until I made the mistake of calling Daniel to report another capture.

I believe the conversation went something like this...keep in mind that he was aware of Lennon mouse hunting earlier because we had been chatting on Facebook.

Me: Lennon did smell a mouse, its caught in the trap behind the bookshelf and it's still alive.

Daniel: Well get rid of it then.

Me: Nah, I think I will just let it die and then work up the courage to get rid of it in the morning.

Daniel: You can't wait until the morning, it will start to stink up the whole house.

Me: Quietly wishing my Dad lived near by, was rendered speechless.

That quickly ended our phone conversation because I knew the outcome wouldn't get any easier on my part.

After saying goodnight and I love you, I proceeded to gather my thoughts once more and mentally prepare my mode of attack.

I gathered the girls Disney princess fishing pole, a box that once held my ostomy supplies, and on tip toes as if being on tip toes would allow me to run faster after its complete capture, I moved in for the kill. Just one problem though, the mouse and trap were GONE. I had sat and planned to long.

It had scurried off, trap still attached, and had wedged itself under the girls hot pink mini recliner that Santa brought them last year. If I wasn't panicked before, I sure was now. I stood there dumbfounded for a minute or two and then began re-evaluating my current situation. I gathered more supplies and by more supplies I mean the broom and a legal sized pad of paper and tried the capture thing again.

I gently moved the recliner to the side and then it happened, the mouse with trap attached moved. I jumped repeatedly, may or may not have squealed like a little girl a few times and then mustered up the courage to turn the recliner upside down to throw the box on the mouse with the trap. One itty bitty problem though, after turning the recliner upside down the mouse disappeared. You know the saying "quiet as a mouse?" Yeah, well, they aren't so quiet when they are trying to get out of the trap, but when they are trying to run from a frantic stay at home mom, they are dead silent.

Even after I took the broom and went from the recliner, the ottoman, and both ends of the couch banging along in hopes that it would make a sound, I courageously got on all fours, mind you my butt was high in the air because with these ostomy's I can't lay on my stomach, I located it under one end of the couch.

I knew there was no way I could lift the couch and with not being able to lay on my belly, there was no way that I could flush it out with the broom handle without doing it blindly. I pictured myself laying there and the mouse with trap, running full force into my face. Not going to happen! You may as well have dug a hole and buried me alive, because had that have happened, I would have died right then and there and you would have had to drag my lifeless body away.

Mind you, I was posting each of these earth shattering moments on Facebook after they were occurring. Thank God for good friends, because one of them came to my rescue. Chelsea, Daniel's best friend Mike's girlfriend, drove over and I helped stood and watched while she captured the mouse and properly disposed of it. I'll leave out all of the details that took place after the initial capture, but lets say I did a lot of praying for mercy on our souls. God doesn't like accomplices to murder anymore than he does the actual murderers.

Chelsea after the capture!

 I am well aware that between her, my husband, and her boyfriend Mike, I will never be allowed to live down this moment in my life. All I know is that its good that the girls and dogs were in bed because it would have been a three ring circus if they would have all been up and helping.

On another note, any mouse hunting and trapping, will be put on temporary hold while Daniel is away on business trips in the future. Lets just hope that after two deaths in their family, these mice pack their bags and leave after realizing we aren't messing around!

Well, after realizing Daniel and Chelsea aren't messing around anyway.

My morning was great, how was yours?

A morning in the life of a stay at home mom...

8:00 a.m. - proceed to wake up. First stop, get Cadence out of bed, set Cadence on floor, crying begins for her blankets, you cave and give her her blankets knowing that you will have to drag them back upstairs for nap time and this is after you know once she gets downstairs, she will no longer want anything to do with said blankets. Cadence proceeds to Addison rooms, shoves door open, door hits wall. Wait for the next two minutes while Addison continues the waking up process. Set Addison on floor, endure more crying and screaming. Addison wants her blankets. Give child her blankets. Crying and screaming continues. Child now wants her sippy cup. Give child sippy cup. Crying and screaming does not cease, she now wants her stuffed animal. Give stuff animal. Proceed to staircase. More screaming and crying ensues. Both children want carried downstairs. Ostomy bag is full, must hold it so that it doesn't fall off and proceed to get poopy everywhere. Arthritic knees are throbbing, makes descend downstairs unsteady, holding crying children is out of the question for the safety of all involved. Do not have a life alert for when we all go crashing down to the bottom of the stairs and end up laying there in a broken and bloody mess.

8:04 a.m. - stand at the bottom of the stairs waiting for crying children to make their descent. Crying continues because you have taken their blankets downstairs with you to prevent children tripping on blankets and rolling down the stairs head first.

8:05 a.m.- walk up stairs and plead with children to come downstairs. Must empty ostomy bag which has hit the maximum capacity. Should not have had late night snack!!! Cannot leave children standing on stairs crying, for fear of Addison, in a fit of mom took my blanket and won't carry me downstairs rage, pushing Cadence down the stairs.

8:07 a.m. - children and mom are safely at the bottom of the stairs where children have proceeded to step over blankets and forget they ever wanted the damn things.

8:08 a.m. - proceed to bathroom to empty ostomy bags. Cannot shut bathroom door as children will stand their screaming and crying while banging to get in. Begin the process of emptying ostomy bags while yelling at children to stand back and get their hands off the rim of the toilet. "NO I don't need help! Hands off." Prepare to have toilet seat slammed on top of your hands because older child thinks you are done and is  ready to flush the toilet. "Mommy poop bag...poop all gone!"

8:10 a.m. - Proceed to stand up after having to kneel on arthritic knees to wash hands. Remind oldest child that we only need to flush the toilet once...not twice...not three times...just once!

8:11 a.m. - Head to couch after gathering the diapers and wipes to change nightly diapers. Ask nicely for children to exit bathroom and get diapers changed.

8:12 a.m. - Ask nicely again for children to come out of bathroom and get diapers changed.

8:13 a.m. - Ask a little louder for children to come out of bathroom and get diapers changed while wishing your knees didn't hurt like a mo fo so you could just get up and drag them out of the bathroom.

8:14 a.m. - Flat out yell for children to come out of bathroom to get diapers changed. Children come scurrying out, clapping and rubbing their hands together with silly little grins plastered all over their face. Yup, children got into their baby lotion again. I'm going to throw that blessed bottle of lotion out since it's to tall to store in any of the upper cabinets.

8:15 a.m. - grab first child, place them on ottoman to change diaper. Get diaper off, begin to wrap it up. Child rolls off ottoman and takes off with a bare butt. Child runs by you laughing, grab child, and place her back on the ottoman. Hold on to a leg for dear life so we don't repeat the 8:15 a.m. process.

8:17 a.m. - round two diaper change for second child. Second child more cooperative. Rocks side to side with legs flaring in the air. Does not actually leave ottoman until clean diaper is securely fastened.

8:18 a.m. - crying starts back up. Children are starving, act as if they have not been fed in days. Walk to kitchen...don't trip over children that cut in front of you and then just stop abruptly. Make it to the kitchen in one piece. Get out cereal and bowls. Pour cereal into bowls, Addison gets EVERY SINGLE spoon out of the silverware draw. Walk away from bowls to get milk, screaming and crying starts back up because youngest child thinks you aren't going to give her her cereal. Get milk out of fridge, don't trip over crying child now kicking and screaming in the middle of the kitchen floor. Pour milk into bowls, young child is obviously bi-polar as she is now screaming with delight instead of frustration.

8:19 a.m.- walk bowls of cereal to dining room table. Watch out, kids cut you off AGAIN! Children are securely fastened in highchair/booster chair. All is quiet. Mommy sits on couch and savors the peace and quiet. 

8:21 a.m. - quiet is over, children want down. Famished children only ate about half of their bowl of cereal. Swear up and down you're only given them a cracker for breakfast from now on.

8:22 a.m. - go start a load of laundry. "Addie, quit throwing dirty clothes into the dryer." "Addie...that doesn't go in the washer." "Addie...get out of the dryer." Addison hits head on dryer upon exiting. "See...that's what happens when you play in the dryer when you aren't supposed to."

8:23 a.m. - children begin asking for "Mouse". You begin searching for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but it isn't on until 11. Children begin crying while asking for "Mouse." You quickly hit the button to access the kids on demand feature on your cable box so find an episode of "Mouse." In your hurry to find an episode you hit the button to quickly, the box freezes, the screen is black. The child is beside herself wanting to see "mouse." You begin begging to the cable Gods for the box to un-freeze, it un-freezes, you find an episode, all is right with the world again.

8:51 a.m. - you start singing the hot dog song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. You couldn't sing along with any new songs on the radio because of your lack of words, but you can bang out hot diggity dog like it's nobodies business.

8:52 a.m. - oldest child goes back to the table to finish eating her cereal. Cereal is gone, thought child was finished a half hour ago. Child begins crying. Give her a pop-tart to make her happy. Youngest child wants a pop-tart. Refuse because you know child will get it everywhere. Youngest child begins crying, you cave and give her the pop-tart thinking that for once she's hungry and will actually eat it instead of playing it.

8:53 a.m.- curse under your breath as you watch youngest child crumble the pop-tart in her hand and throw it all over the carpet. Curse under your breath again when you ask youngest to pick up her mess and she instead flashes you a toothy grin and takes off for the staircase.

8:55 a.m.- finish sweeping up pop-tart mess. Young child is missing. You hear feet running across the wood floor upstairs. Those old, creaky floors are handy for something other than waking the whole house up at 3 a.m. to pee. Find missing child playing in the upstairs bathroom. Toilet paper is everywhere, child is wet, obviously she had been playing in the toilet. Two minutes kid, two minutes you were alone, and in those two minutes you caused more damage than hurricane Katrina.

9:00 a.m.- pick up bathroom, sanitize child's hands and arms. Take everybody back downstairs, have to carry them, can't listen to anymore crying. Pray to God with every step you take. Wonder if you would fall and die as soon as you hit the bottom of the stairs or if it would be a slow and painful death instead. Picture children surviving said fall and then witness them circling your limp body like a bunch of Indians circling a campfire. Remind yourself to always carry your cell phone in your pocket so that you can call for help if you don't die instantly. Must prevent Indians from scalping you before nature takes it course.

9:01 a.m. - watch more "mouse." Try to Facebook on the laptop during children's program but you find yourself humming along and tapping your toes. STOP immediately and say to yourself, "I am not losing my mind, I am not losing my mind." Go back to Facebook, you start singing again. "Stop it I say, stop it. You will not be sucked in by the mouse and his pals. Remain strong."

9:02 a.m. to noon- Repeatedly ask for children to get off of staircase, stop turning on the dishwasher, get out of the toilet, don't touch the water and ice dispenser on the front of the fridge, get off of your sister, don't you scream at me little lady, put down the remote, don't play with my cell phone, get off the table, stop licking the window, don't you dare let the dogs out, stop playing in the trashcan, get out of my purse, don't you take your diaper off, find then, go pee, did you pee, go pee, did you finally pee, no, then get me a diaper, get over here so I can put a diaper on you, don't you pee on the carpet missy, I can't believe you just peed on the carpet, no I don't need help emptying my poop bag, I said flush it once, don't flush it again, eat your lunch, hold still while I wipe off all of your lunch from your face and hands, do you need to go to bed, I thought you were done with your lunch, that's it, you're going to bed!

Nap time- my second favorite time of the day!! And to think, my husband doesn't want anymore children. I'm the one who shouldn't want anymore children, you don't even want to know what the afternoons are like. There's no place I would rather be though, than at home with my girls. Greatest job I've ever had, hands down.

Cell phone picture dump

Just a few pictures from the past couple of weeks.

Putting her hair pretties on her toes.

Washing the car. It was a family affair that night.

Cadence eating a chocolate cupcake with her body guards near by.

Skyping with daddy one night while he was out of town. Our lap top didn't have a camera so Daniel bought one from work for $10 that did. It's come in handy when he's been out of town on business.

Enjoying the warm weather before naps one day last week. Addison was checking out the latest Avon catalog.

The girls needed some lipstick just like mommy. I was getting pretty for a quarter auction with my step-mom.

Hands down, the messiest eater ever!

Someone is starting to do without her afternoon nap. On this particular day she lost the battle and fell asleep on the couch.

Helping mommy wash the dishes this afternoon. I think it was more about playing in the water than actually helping.

Did you notice a trend with Addison? She seems to always be missing a piece, if not both, of clothing. She hates having clothes on and she hates wearing shoes when we're at home or outside playing. She's our little country girl.

Wallies

During my stay in the hospital for my resection surgery, I had the privilege of having a room right by the Care Flight pad. The noise wasn't terrible and most nights I was so drugged up I didn't even notice it coming in or leaving.

The girls got the biggest kick out of watching it come in for a landing. Addison especially loved it and since then she has been calling any helicopter or plane that she sees a Wallie. I'm not sure where she came up with the name but its adorable.

Since money is extremely tight around here we're always looking for fun activities that either cost very little or are free. We aren't ones to sit around at home on the weekends. How lucky are we to live about fifteen minutes away from the National Museum of the United States Air Force?? Not only were there plenty of Wallies to be seen, but it was free to get in.

The girls loved seeing all of the planes and I am so glad that we took them. It ran into nap time so Cadence decided she had had enough before we got through the entire museum but we were OK with leaving. The place was packed!

I'm done Mom. Shoes are off, tummy is empty...let's get this show on the road.

We finished our journey off at Bob Evans where I got my favorite chicken salad sandwich and then we spent a couple of hours at my dad and Donna's to visit for awhile. The girls love seeing their papaw and NeNe and this visit they also got to visit with Donna's granddaughter, Mia. Addie was calling her Mian all afternoon and it's all we heard on the drive home. Where's Mian?

Show us your mantles.

Today over at Kelly's Korner she is having a show us your life, mantle style. The house we are currently renting had a fireplace at one point in time, but sadly it was covered up when they added the second bathroom to the downstairs. While I wish they had left the fireplace, I am appreciative of the fact we have a second bathroom. Especially since the downstairs bathroom is our main bathroom as the upstairs bathroom has no shower, just a tub that takes days to fill.

I love having a mantle to decorate and I am seriously considering buying an actual mantle to hang on the wall so that I can display photos and most importantly, our Christmas stockings. While staying with my mom we occupied the front room which had a fireplace and a nice mantle so the picture you're seeing is the one from our time there. While I don't miss being there one bit, I do miss the mantle and how I had it decorated.

Halloween 2011.

This picture isn't the greatest since I took it with my cell phone, but it works. I like to consider myself an amateur photographer and I love to display favorite pictures, taken not just by me. The big picture in the middle is of Daniel and I on our wedding day. The other large pictures resting on the actual mantel on each side of our wedding photo is the girls' newborn pictures taken the day after their births. Both pictures were taken with them in the same position, wrapped in the blanket that their Mamaw Blankenship made for them. The next black frames are in between their pictures and ours, and it is their first ultrasound picture. Lastly the two silver frames on the very end are each of the girls from the spring of 2011. I love those two pictures and what makes them even more special is that I took them.

Addison in May of 2011.

Cadence in May of 2011.

Aren't my baby girls precious? Now their pictures litter the built in bookshelf at the top of our staircase. They are surrounded by our favorite books, school books, cookbooks, and Wagner's ashes.

She loves her...

Corn on the cob.

This post needs no further explanation other than I'm glad we have lots of corn growing in our garden.

Yay for corn on the cob!!!

Festival Time=Family Time

Not many know, but I was a private school kid while growing up. I was born and raised Roman Catholic and I attended a private Catholic school from first through eighth grade. Every summer our church would throw a festival and up until last year, I hadn't been to one of the festivals since I was a small girl. 

This past summer marks the second summer that my Uncle Dan and Aunt Robin have lived right behind the church and school. It makes it perfect to be able to attend with the girls. When we start hitting meltdown mode, we just stroll back to Dan and Robins and chill out for awhile. 

This year Cadence was old enough to ride a couple of the rides, even though this was the day after our late night/early morning ER run for her. It was so hot that after spending about an hour or so at the festival, we went back to Dan and Robins and allowed the girls to swim in the kiddie pool. I had serious mommy guilt by that evening because it had been so hot out that her rash just got out of control by the time we got home. Looking back on it we should have kept her home in the air conditioner, but we had been looking forward to this day for months and it didn't help that my sister and her kids were in town and would finally be joining us. I hated to miss out, not only for me, but for the girls as well. We made it up to Cadence over the next few days by not allowing her to step foot outdoors. My poor baby. She had a good time up until the end when she was just tired. 

Remind me never to drive with these ladies. Neither one of them have their eyes on the road.

Daddy had to ride with Cadence because she wasn't tall enough. She's back there behind Addie's head.

See, she's there right next to her Daddy. Mommy sat out to take pictures.

Addie and Haley riding the big swing.

Princess took a beverage break while waiting for her sissy to get off of the swing. This was her very first Icee, we put it in a bigger cup with a straw though so she didn't end up wearing it like her sister did last year.

Cooling off with the pool and mommy's milkshake.

Still slurping away at mommy's milkshake. My beverages are never safe with her and Addie around.

 While we enjoyed ourselves at the festival, we enjoyed our time with family even more. Now that my sister has moved away and my cousin Heather doesn't always have a reliable mode of transportation, we don't get to spend a lot of time together like we did growing up.

My niece, Ireland. Such a cutie!

As my sister called them...The Diaper Gang.

A few of the adults.

I think we have one more summer with them at their house to attend the festival, as they will be moving shortly thereafter to be closer to us and my cousin Heather and her family.