This Crazy Life

October 22, 2008

Back to Work...

Well, sort of. This morning Chris called me and was in need of an extra person to come in and work the lunch hour. In case you didn't happen to know, I should first tell you that my parents own three local Arby's restaurants and Chris is their General Manager. Right now he spends most of his time at one specific store and they are a little short on help. Seeing as how there was no school today, and there is a sub sale going on ($5 sub combos... shameless plug) he thought they would need another set of hands "behind the slicer" For those of you unable to interpret that, it means making sandwiches. Apparently he scraped the bottom of the employee barrel and decided that I should come in to help. Now I have worked in the stores off and on since I was 14, but I haven't actually been in any of the stores working since Kennedy was about 4 months old. Yet, I was curious to see whether or not I could still hack it. So, I dug my uniform out of the back of the closet, called a babysitter, and went in. It was actually quite fun! I was surprised at how much of it just came back, I guess its kind of like riding a bike. Sure there were some things I didn't know how to do, or others that I didn't know where they were but that was to be expected. All in all I survived, and was more of a help than a hindrance. I was actually proud of myself! I started thinking, "Hey, maybe I should do this more often." It would be a good way to get out of the house and it was so sweet that I got lots of hugs and kisses when I got home. The kiddos missed me even though I was only gone for 3 hours. However I did get a reality check when I took the $15 my husband paid me and handed it straight to the babysitter. Maybe going back to work isn't such a good idea after all!

Chris making Beef-n-Cheddars

Have you ever wondered what a fast food joint looks like "behind the scenes"?

The sandwich I made myself before I left... Marble Rye Bread, Swiss Cheese, Roast Beef, and Horsey Sauce. The best part about working is making up your sandwiches!

October 21, 2008

The Apple Orchard

Today I went with Reagan's pre-school class to Kercher's Apple Orchard . It was so much fun! The kids had a great time getting to pick gourds and twist apples off of the tree! We went on a hay ride and through a corn maze. We even ended the day with a snack and some apple cider in a cute little apple cup. I absolutely love watching Reagan interact with her friends! She is getting to be such a big girl! I love that I am able to go with her to do these things and see her in a different light. I bought some apples in the store there that I plan on turning into an apple pie, or maybe even an apple crisp. I haven't quite decided yet. Have I mentioned yet how much I love this time of the year?!

Riding the hayride into the orchard

Picking the perfect apple

Eating an apple

October 20, 2008

Fall in Indiana

Lately as I have been driving in my car I have been so struck by the beauty of the landscape around me. The Fall in Indiana is truly gorgeous! I have lived here my whole life and I have always loved this time of year. The trees are changing color, the smell of burning leaves is in the air, it all reminds me of my childhood. So, today I decided to try to snap a picture of my surroundings. Don't worry I was at a stop sign and there wasn't anyone else around. I love how amazing this quick shot with my simple little camera came out. Yes, there is a lot of road in it, but the rest is very "Indiana". There is a red barn in the distance, a pasture, and the trees are breath taking! This was taken about a mile from my house! I just wanted to share it, and take the time to appreciate the natural beauty that God has surrounded us with.

"Not Me!" Monday

It's that time again folks! Time for me to clear my conscience by telling you all of the things I did not do this week. So, here goes! Feel free to join in the fun!

I did not feed Jack macaroni and cheese for lunch and dinner three days in a row because that was the only thing he would eat.

I do not have three baskets of clean, yet unfolded clothes sitting on the floor in the laundry room.

I was not slightly happy that I spent Saturday morning at Medstat with Dee Dee who has an ear infection. I was not happy about this because it meant that I was not at home with Chris where we had planned on spending the morning cleaning out the garage.

I did not ask my mother what she was doing for dinner, with every intention of inviting myself over simply so I would not have to cook.

I did not tell my husband it was okay for him to go play poker with the guys so that I could spend an evening alone, catching up on all my shows on the DVR.

October 18, 2008

Happy Birthday Valesca!

Today is my baby sister's 11th birthday. I can hardly believe that she is turning 11! My how time does fly. A little over 9 years ago my parents brought her home from Guatemala and our lives changed forever. (See this post) She was the cutest little baby with chubby little chipmunk cheeks! I nicknamed her Gus Gus, like the mouse from Cinderella. There were many nights she slept with me in my bed because she was too scared to sleep alone. I used to sing You are my Sunshine over and over again to calm her down. Little did I know then all that she must have been going through. Looking @ my Jack, who is almost two... I can't imagine how it must have been for her to be uprooted from everything she had ever known. But I wouldn't change it for the world. I love being a big sister to her, and I love that my girls have a younger and much cooler Aunt to look up too. We love you Valesca, have a wonderful birthday!

This is a picture I found on the Families thru International Adoption Website. It is the earliest photo (that I know of) that we have of her!

Valesca a month or two ago with Jack

October 16, 2008

Gingerbread @ Halloween?

This week @ school Reagan has been learning about the letter G. Yesterday, they made Goulish Gingerbread houses and I went in to help. Let me just say that my MIL (who happens to be Reagan's teacher) has got to be the most creative woman I know! I am constantly amazed at the things she comes up with. She started with empty milk cartons glued to cardboard and used icing for glue. We glued graham crackers to the milk carton and then the kids proceeded to put on whatever "goulish" decorations they wanted. It was the perfect little fall activity, and I had a blast helping out with it! The only thing that would have made it better was if I could have saved mine until at least Halloween. Unfortunately, 2 hours and 3 sugar rushed kids later ours looks like a tornado hit it! It was fun while it lasted! Oh, and if you are looking for the answers to the cartoon trivia, scroll down!

Choosing the decorations

Smiling at her accomplishment

The finished product (before it was demolished)

October 15, 2008

A Trivia Celebration!!!

*Trivia Contest is over, see below for answers and winner!*

I am so excited, I actually won something! Okay, so there wasn't really a prize, but I still won! My brother Shawn's best friend Sara hosts a trivia contest every Tuesday and yesterday I won! They have been friends since elementary school and I just love her! Oh, how I dreamed he would marry her someday and I would have another "sister", but alas my brother is gay and my dream was not to be. Anyway, I wanted to celebrate the good news I got at the doctor yesterday so I am passing her trivia on to you good people. I added a few of my own of course just to make it interesting! So, the topic is cartoons of the 80's. Below you will find a picture from a cartoon, all you have to do is give me the name of the show. Sounds easy enough right? I thought so. Oh, and by the way... NO GOOGLING!!! I will keep comment moderation on until tomorrow and then I will post the winner, and I may just have a very nice prize waiting for that person! So, come out from hiding! Stop lurking! Play my game! Please?

Ducktales

Smurfs

Pound Puppies

School House Rock

Rainbow Brite

The Gummi Bears

The Wuzzles

Dungeons and Dragons

ShirtTales

#10

The Muppet Babies

#11

Snorks

#12

Garfield and Friends or US Acres

#13

Transformers

#14

The Littles

And the winner is... Kameron @ A Wrinkle in Time! Kameron email me (kpolk2420@comcast.net) and I will send you your prize!!! Thank you all for playing along, it was fun!

October 14, 2008

A Sigh of Relief

My doctor's appointment went well today. I seem to be having a little bit of a hormone imbalance issue, but it is nothing serious. So she prescribed me some hormone pills and hopefully that will kick start my system to start working correctly again. She also did some blood work to see if we can pinpoint the problem so I let you know if and when they can give me some more answers. I can't thank all of you enough for your thoughts and prayers. I really felt so at peace with the situation as I was sitting there wearing only my little paper sheet waiting to be seen. They sure do give you a lot of time to just sit there and think don't they? I had come to terms with the fact that whatever was meant to be was meant to be. So, I guess in return for my trust in God I was able to walk out of there breathing a sigh of relief.

October 13, 2008

To Share or Not to Share? That is the Question!

Contrary to popular belief, I do not divulge every detail of my life on this here little blog. Yes, Not Me! Mondays force me to share some of the little insignificant embarrassing things, but then we all have a laugh at ourselves and feel better. It is the bigger things in life that are harder to share. It is difficult to put some things out there for the whole world to know. I debated back and forth over writing this post tonight. I try to keep it light and funny here and I usually only talk about my kids. Finally, I decided that it was worth the risk in sharing. Last month I went to my high risk ob because I hadn't had a period in 3 months. I was terrified I was pregnant, even though he had tied my tubes when Jack was born. Lucky for me, I wasn't. My doctor prescribed me some hormones and poof, it came. I didn't really think anything of it, but lately I have been having some really sharp pains in my left breast. The combination of these two things got me thinking. So I did a self exam, and I think I found a lump... it is about the size of a marble. I called the local ob/gyn today and they want to see me TOMORROW! That kind of freaked me out, because usually doctors can't just fit people in so soon. It kind of hit home with me that this might actually be something serious. I have spent my whole life despising my big boobs. To me they have always been nothing but a back breaking curse. I even had a breast reduction @ 14 and they still continued to grow, like they were taunting me. Yet, however much I may have complained about them over the years, I am still kinda attached to them. As I sat here tonight thinking about all of my wonderful new bloggy friends asking myself whether to share or not to share, I realized that the only thing holding me back was the idea that if I wrote it down, it might be real. But you know what, no matter what I do it is going to be real. I can kid myself all I want, but at some point I have to face the "reality" of the situation. So here it is people - I am going to the doctor tomorrow @ 1:00 and would rather go in there knowing that I have the power of prayer on my side. So if you feel so moved, say a little prayer tomorrow for me and my peace of mind. I thank you in advance! Now, I'm off to take a nice long bath and shave my armpits. I sure wouldn't want the doctor to think that just because it has been cold here lately, that I was trying to grow a winter coat under there!

October 12, 2008

Not Me! Monday

Okay so technically it is Sunday night still, but I wanted to get a jump start on my Not Me! Monday post. I must say that I think I probably get more enjoyment out of doing these than any of you who are reading. There is something so freeing about honesty. Plus, I guess it makes me feel a little better to know I'm not the only mom out there who isn't "perfect". Here are some of the things I did not do the past week...

I did not put Jack to bed wearing a pair of Kennedy's old Ariel jammies. I would never dress him in girly clothes, even if it was only to sleep in. I wouldn't want him to grow up with a complex or anything!

I did not not realize that Kennedy had peed her pants @ the McDonald's playplace. I certainly was not so wrapped up in my conversation that I forgot to ask her if she needed to go potty. I would never have let her keep playing only to notice her wet pants as I was buckling her into her car seat.

I would never make cookie dough from scratch without intending to make cookies. I certainly would not just eat said cookie dough because that would be gross and unhealthy! Further more, I would not justify eating it by telling my kids that they couldn't have it because it was yucky diet food and they wouldn't like it. I wouldn't have wanted them to get salmonella poisoning right?

Finally, I did not simply turn on the TV when Reagan came to my room in the middle of the night saying she had a nightmare. I did not just go back to sleep and let her stay awake by herself watching Noggin for 2 hours. What kind of horrible mother would do that? I did not then let her sleep until noon the next day because I knew she needed to catch up on her sleep.

Does any one else out there want to join in the fun and free yourself from the burden of the things you did or did not do recently? Seriously people, I am saving thousands of dollars in therapy here, I wonder if I can say the same for my kids?

Fun in the Pumpkin Patch

It must be that time of year again, because it seems like every blog I've visited this weekend included cute pictures of smiling children in a pumpkin patch. Well this one is no different people. Yesterday was a gorgeous day here! It was 80 degrees, and that is really warm for October in Indiana. My MIL had the wonderful idea to go west, and take all of the kids to the pumpkin patch! I must admit that this is not a trip I would have ventured to take on my own! It was exhausting! However with help it was a really fun day. We all piled into my van (Nini, me, my kiddos, my SIL Rachael, and my nephew Austin) and took the 40 min drive. I do believe it was worth it though! They had pumpkins, hayrides, face painting, balloon animals, we even ended the day with an apple dumpling! Reagan had a butterfly painted on her face, and Jack was supposed to be a pirate. Dee Dee didn't want her face painted so we convinced her to let them paint some pumpkins on her arm. Austin wanted Spiderman and everywhere we went, people said "oh look at the Spiderman!" He though he was pretty cool stuff! We took the hayride out to the pumpkin patch and each of us got to pick our own pumpkin, the kids loved that. You should have seen them, agonizing over which one was the right one. To steal a word from Rebecca, I was a mamarazzi. I took so many pictures even I couldn't keep up. It isn't any wonder why at the end of the day, when I really wanted that perfect group shot of my kiddos that it took six or seven shots to get it! Thank you so much Nini for a wonderful day that I'm sure I will be hearing about until at least Christmas! Anyway, enjoy my little video of our day at the pumpkin patch, that last shot was worth it all!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

October 10, 2008

My Love Affair w/ Murphy's Oil Soap

Okay people, I have decided that I must share my new found passion for Murphy's Oil Soap. I realize that this probably sounds really silly but it was just too good not to pass on. As many of you probably know, both of my girls are in pre-school this year. This means art projects and that means stains on their clothes. Now at the beginning of the year the teachers always tell you not to send your child to school in any clothes that you don't want ruined. This is impossible. For one thing Reagan is the oldest, which means all of her clothes are new, or at least fairly new. Either way, I spent my husband's hard earned money on them and I want them to last an entire season. I would also like to be able to pass them onto Kennedy, so yes I mind if they get ruined. A simple solution to this would be to send her to school in garage sale or other hand me down clothes. This bothers me too though, since I want her to look nice at school. It may be vain but I feel like how she looks reflects on me and also on her Nini (grandma), who happens to be her teacher. Thus, this my internal conflict every day of what to have her wear to school. I do have a point and I am getting to it. A couple of weeks ago, Reagan was drawing with a dry erase marker and she got some on a pair of brand new pants! As in she purposefully drew a line down the middle of her pant leg. I freaked out, I was so upset about it and decided to google it. I came across a suggestion to pre-spot and scrub the area with Murphy's Oil soap. For some reason, I always have Murphy's in my house so I decided to try it. And it worked! The marker was out in less than a minute and I was amazed. Since then I have had a few other marker, paint, ink pen related incidents both at home and from school and so far the Murphy's has worked every time! I am so happy that I have found this miracle solution that I had to share it. Now, I don't have to stress as much about what I dress the girls in for school, because if it comes home stained I can fix it. And if I can't then I guess it isn't really a big deal. They are just clothes after all.

October 9, 2008

A Quieter Time...

Okay, so Kameron over @ A Wrinkle in Time blogged about this photo contest they are having @ 5minutesformom. They are giving away a entire toddler size bedroom furniture set! I couldn't resist entering, I absolutely love watching my kiddos sleep. They seem so peaceful, so "angelic". This is a photo from the not-so-distant past. It was a quieter time, when my baby fell asleep on the bed @ my in-law's house. After last week I really needed this memory! I love this picture, and when I read about this contest it was the first one that came to my mind. Who doesn't love a picture of a sleeping baby? And for that matter who couldn't use new bedroom furniture?!

October 7, 2008

The Antics of a Nearly Two Year Old Boy

I have officially discovered that raising a little boy is very much different from raising a little girl. Yes, I had been told this by numerous people, but it never really seemed all that different until recently. Jack ,is in a word a handful. Lately he has been such a little pistol and I can hardly stand it! Some days I want to scream, some days I want to cry, and then there are the days that he just makes me laugh. He climbs EVERYTHING! He opens the refrigerator, the microwave, the dresser doors and pulls out (or puts in) whatever he can get his grubby little fingers on. He hardly says anything... I know that his speech is not delayed, but it sure seems that way sometimes. He just doesn't talk near as much as the girls did at his age and it is frustrating for me to not be able to communicate with him. He has no interest in learning the parts of his body, shapes or colors. But he does seem to have interest in how the toilet works. Most of his antics seem to occur in the kitchen as this is the heart of our home. I almost feel the need to "baby proof" but at this point that seems so overwhelming. So, I decided instead to try to document it. I figured if I wrote it down that maybe someday I would be able to look back and laugh. Here are some of my favorites from the past week.

This is Jack in the dog kennel at my mom and dad's. He went in and didn't want to come out.

Climbing the kitchen cabinets to get some cereal. This climb happens about 20 times a day. Oh yeah, and he never wants to wear a diaper anymore, what is with that?

I honestly couldn't tell you what this is that he got into... I know it was chocolate. Pudding maybe?

Filling the microwave with stuff...

What he put in the microwave: 2 XBox controllers, a pencil, my keys, a toy, a toothbrush, a can of hairspray, and a spider Halloween decoration. And that was just on that day.

Yes, that is my lacy red bra that he pulled out of the drawer and put on his head. How embarrassing! Yet, still funny!

Getting the milk out of the refrigerator to let me know he wants milk. If he'd just say "milk" I could just get it out for him!

Hope you enjoyed my little bundle of energy! He may be a handful but I wouldn't trade him for any other nearly two year old boy in the world!