Happy New Year!

New Year's Resolutions....
1. Exercise 3x per week
2. Do at least one educational activity per day with daycare kids, instead of the normal do three in one week, none the next
3. Scrapbook more (Goal of 200 pages this year)
4. Spend more quality time with my family

Would You Believe.....

...these trains are from Collin? And it's amazing to me, despite the loss of a little paint, that these little puppies stand the test of time. Who knew that when we bought each train that they would someday be in another boy's hands? It's funny, as I feel guilty that Griffin's not given the same opportunities as Griffin to accumulate all these goods. But things are definitely different now, and three is definitely so much harder to spoil than one on our modest salaries! We enjoyed being able to spoil Collin with whatever he wanted.

I'm a Lazy Doff, and other Ponderings....

....so I was up until 2am this morning reading The Nanny Diaries ....and I'm not even done with the book yet! So I've done nothing much of anything today aside from reading. There could be worse things, right? I feel guilty, because I've essentially wasted away a perfectly good vacation. *sigh*

....We went to Aaron's grandpa's in Terre Haute yesterday, which was fun. I got to snuggle not just one, but two cute babies, making me very clucky. *curses her defunct uterus* If I could afford to adopt a kidlet, I would do it in a heartbeat. The kidlet we could manage to afford. The adoption, notsomuch. I really sometimes wish that my uterus could carry a baby full-term without killing me in the persuit. But then again, here I sit with three wonderful kids who are usually a delight to anyone who meets them while there are so many people out there with empty arms. *bucks up*

....And the ponderance of the day is how ironic that we get so mad that we're turning into our parents. It happens. We don't always take the best attributes of the people who brought us into this world. Then again, we don't always take their worst, either. And with a couple my age, there are no bigger fighting words than..."YOU'RE JUST LIKE YOUR MOTHER/FATHER!" Say it's not true with you, but I've a feeling you're kidding yourself. I hang my head to admit that there are many ways in which I'm like both of my parents. Then a thought occured to me.... I may be like my mom or dad, but couldn't there be a few people who it would be worse to emulate? What about him? Him? Him? The crimes of my parents don't touch what these people have done. By a long shot. Sure, neglect is a serious crime in the eyes of the child on which it is inflicted that will render them friends with someone named Dr., which isn't a good thing. But the things I've endured pale in comparison with what has happened to so many people out there. So, I'll take the fact that "I'm just like my mother!" and keep in mind that there could be worse people that I could call Mom or Dad.

A Busy Old Day...

...doing much of nothing, though, I might add. Slept in, went to lunch at Schlotzky's Deli (most of which have closed around here, but there is still one open, which we went to), went to a tile shop to look at ideas for our backsplash in the kitchen (left promptly when it was apparent that this is NOT a store to take three year-olds), went to Target and bought a curtain rod (my life is utter domestic bliss here, folks), to Wal-Mart to buy a few things we forgot (grocery items, continuing on the path of domestic bliss), and back home again. I tried to clean, but the babies really prohibit any such action, really, and played with all that I'd picked up, making any effort in vain. We feasted on steak fajitas, homemade Spanish rice, and homemade salsa, none of which was made by my own hands. After supper (and a bit more in the futile cleaning binge), I took a shower with the babies. Then we went downstairs and watched Aaron's gift from Santa. A Ben Folds DVD. Live in Austrailia with an orchestra backing him up. Was very very interesting. Love that man. I finished up this day by reading a Jodi Picoult book. Songs of the Humpback Whale. Was a good book. Makes you think about love and doing what's right for the good of a collective.

Christmas....

....was awesome at the best parts, and "interesting" at the worst.

....we went to Aaron's parents' house for Christmas Eve, which was relaxing for the most part. It's very neat to see not only the kids opening presents, but their interactions with Aaron's family. You no doubt have read about my dabbling in Christmas Cheer, so the rest of the night was a happy blur! :)

...Christmas morning, Griffin pops into our bed at 6:30, and goes back to sleep. We don't wake up until almost nine o'clock! Which is nice for the most part, but did make my heart beat faster at the thought of being out of the house by ten! But we opened our presents from Santa, and the kidlets loved their presents, which included a Dora flip-out sofa, a Cabbage Patch Doll, a Thomas movie, and a Megaman Gamecube game. They didn't get to enjoy their presents much, though, for then we packed them up in the van and went to southern Indiana.

....Now, I don't like to dish much about my family, so I'll not go into much of it here. Suffice it to say that familial tension runs high these days, and it's shamefully obvious that I'm glad to leave. I hate that, but it's the truth. It pains me to see my dad and stepmom so unhappy. To see the look on my dad's face that his heart is broken about things he can do nothing about. It kills me. To not be able to help in times of need also kills me. Couple this with all the other family dysfunction, and you have a not-so-good time on your hands. I love my family, I really do. But it makes me want to crawl back into my hole (my suburban hole away from them) and pretend that there isn't so much strife in my family. It makes me just think that I have to be the best mom that I can be to make sure that MY kids don't have to feel that they need to run. I'm not a perfect mom, but I hope that my kids know that I love them and hope that they are happy and feel safe in the loving and clean home that Aaron and I are trying to give them.

So....

...if you live in the Indy metro area, and were at the I-465/I-70 interchange and saw a woman jump out of a minivan and hork up her guts on the side of the road, you would have seen me.

....now, say a little prayer that I have the flu and not a nine month (give or take three, given my past history) itch. EVERYBODY ON THEIR KNEES, PLEASE!

...Christmas updates shall come at a later time when I don't feel so delicate.

Merry Christmas to all!

And to all a good drunk..... oops... did i really say that? Why, yes, yes I did.... Since I don't drunk-dial people, I'll give everyone on the good old information superhigh-way a drunk post. Captain Morgan Spiced Rum and diet Cherry Coke makes a pretty damn good combo. Anyway, here's some Christmas cheer from here. I thought this made a sweet picture. :D

So Cute....

...I know...I'm sounding like one of "those parents." But I surely can't help it. She's my daughter. The other bit of estrogen in this heavily testosterone-laden house. My girlie-girl.

....I am so glad that there is only one of her. ;)

You Gotta love Your Kids....

...yes, this is a sippy cup being thrown at me. There seems to be a little (lot) of picture-taking retaliation going on in this house right now! Mean, mean kids! hehe

...nearly ready for the holidays. I've got a lot of wrapping to do, but that's typical of me with Christmas. For the first time ever I bought coordinated "Santa" wrap. Each kid's getting different paper so they'll know exactly whose present is whose on the big day. Of course, it just hit me this very second that we have a couple of gifts that are for both Erin and Griffin. Those might have to be wrapped with both papers!

...I need to sit down and work on a few more presents today. One needs to be finished by tomorrow evening, and the other by Christmas evening, so I best get my big tushy in gear! I'm decorating Starbucks travel mugs for my dad and father-in-law. I hope they like them. It's funny that I should feel so out of my league with that, but have less fear in making a book from scratch. Not that I wasn't uneasy about the calendars, but even still.

...Best wishes to my friend Mike, who will be leaving Jolly Ol' England to take up residence in New Zealand!

...And Merry Christmas to everyone! Enjoy the time with your families.

Even an Artist Needs Nourishment....

....Aunt Andrea had bought the kids lollipops at the Black Belt Extravaganza. In order to keep two wily toddlers entertained (for what turned out to be four hours!), I had brought along some art supplies. Erin is definitely the artist in our family, with her little leftie-style. The laughter with this girl is never in short supply. Neither are the headaches, but I'll just savor the laughter at this time, thankyouverymuch. hehe

Points To Ponder.....

....While reading my Sitemeter, I've discovered that many of the "referral pages" are none other than from Katie. (I'll wait while you click around on her site, paying careful attention to the Google Ads...she has five kids, you know) So, does this mean that there are several of you out there who are not leaving me comments when you drop by, or does Katie herself visit my blog 50 times a day? HMMM??? Comments please....I am a comment whore....Speaking of whores, we shall visit this topic later on in my Points to Ponder. The second topic is the little piece of information that you probably don't care to know but I will tell you anyway....Did you know that if you Google "zookeeping" that my blog will be the first to pop up?? (Go ahead, I'll wait some more while you go do it in disbelief....I'm quite patient, you know...I deal with kids all day... 'tis the only way to keep from killing them!) I find it quite amusing to look through Sitemeter, if only to find out from where I'm getting hits and to be sad at all the people not at least telling me hello when they read my personal thoughts. *sigh* But I've had several hits on every thing ranging from "braless nipping pics" (which was soooo not what it sounds like...go ahead, Google it, and you will come across my blog...but it's totally not what you'd think...) to "library pocket calendar." 'Tis quite amusing, I must say...and quite the time waster.

And, coming back to the whore reference....since I just got payment for the last of my commissioned scrapbooking/papercrafting work, does this make me a scrapbook whore?? Aaron has said as much. And what's funny is that I lost my "virginity" to my best friend (whom-i've-known-since-childhood-calm-down-i-still-love-you-judy), Katie.

Just a few points to make you shake your head at me....again.

(and yes, i really did shit my pants and tell you all about it....keep on shaking your head, cos i'm sure that there is more quirkiness to come...just hopefully not of the "sharting" kind. but, even if it were about shit, wouldn't you still love me??)

Bono's Got Nothin' On My Kid....

This, and the Clone and I pictures were taken at Collin's Black Belt Extravaganza two weeks ago. I can't believe how rediculously huge my kiddos are getting!

The Clone and I

The Brag Book Is Up!

....go on, take a look....you know you want to....and you know you want to order something from me, too! ;)

Crap (but Productive) Weekend.....

....OK, so there are many reasons why the weekend was crap....I've still been feeling ill, despite the fact that my stools are no longer emergent and liquid in nature....Griffin burst an ear drum, so Aaron wound up taking him to Emergent Care to affirm that it was, indeed, a burst ear drum. He is now the proud owner of a bottle of Omnicef. All of that took three hours of Aaron's time. None of which he'll get back......Collin's got a cold and is getting the flu....We're as broke as the day is long (of course, my "mad-money" spending habits have been out of control right now)....and the fucking Colts lost their game today. OK, so I'm a fairweather fan, but I'm totally sad that they let San Diego control the game today. So their 13-0 is now a 13-1. Let's hope for a good post-season, though!

....So, I just have to say that all is not lost. I did get a lot done today. All of my commissioned work is officially finished! :) Can I just give myself a pat on the back and tell you how happy this makes me? Hopefully I've been able to finish them in time for Tiff to give them all out. I still have to take pics of the album that I made for her, but here is a sneak peek at the covers. And if you look closely to the left of the calendars, you can see the cans that are red and green and say "Merry Christmas" on them? Those are gifts for Collin's specials teachers. I finished those this weekend, too. So, very happy with myself, I am. This evening, I also managed to wrap the calendars that I am giving as gifts. All eleven of them. (So that does make 21 of these damned things that I've done in the last month a half!)


So, now I think I'm going to go to bed. Am very tired and still feel ill. I'm not sure how acid reflux is supposed to feel, but if what I had last night was it, I know why babies SCREAM bloody murder when they have it. I do, in fact, remember getting this same deal when I was a kiddo. Not a happy time. So I'm going to go take a fist-full of meds and see about reading my current book "the Nanny diaries".

Does Anyone Know where the Heck The Week Went???

....I'd sure like to know! lol My head is positively floating with all that I've accomplished this week. Much to Aaron's chagrin, though, it's not really to do with the house. Most of it, however, has to do with getting things in line for Christmas! Today, I made the cutest (humble, eh?) decorated cans for the "specials" teachers at Collin's school. Someone told me that the specials teachers get ripped off during things like teacher appreciation and Christmas, so I busted my hump to get all these things done, just for Aaron (who also teaches at Collin's school) to tell me that they DO, in fact, make out like bandits. *sigh* Right, cheer and goodwill to all. Anyway, they're stinking cute, and I'm hoping to get a pic put up on my scrapping blog when I get the chance. Someone once said in a scrapbooking magazine "Take as many classes as you can, because you'll always learn *something* new." And, you know what? She was right. Because most of my gift ideas this year have been due to a class that I've attended (or that a friend has attended). So, there you have it. Go take a class in whatever turns your crank! ;)

....The past few hours have been spent trying to get some order back into my office. Which is really difficult to do with toddlers running amock and also trying to craft on the run. Crafting on the run is the only way I can get anything done. So I'm pretty much running in circles, creating huge messes. Lovely. So, I've spent my Friday evening living it up, sorting my scraps and throwing away clutter. Flylady would keel fucking over if she saw this joint, I tell ya!

OMG....They've Just Dumped out All the Toys....

....And I wonder why I have no energy?? They just dump, dump, dump. Half of me really wants to get some sort of sand and water table in the daycare and taking out half of the toys (more than half, really). I sometimes wonder if they'd have more fun that way? I'm not sure. *sigh* But I do tell you that I'm sick of picking up toys. LOL

....Anyway, the day's going fairly well so far, but I must get back at it, or it soon shall be hell. Can't take your eyes off these guys for a second!

My Thoughts On Children Who Don't Want to Potty Train....

...OK, so those of you close enough to get a phone call know that my digestive system has been a little delicate the past few days. And, to further explore this and go deeper into the realms of my personal information than you ever wished to, let me tell you that I honestly shit my pants the other day. I thought I was going to make wind (pass gas, fart, cut the mustard....whatever you wish to refer to it as) and honestly shit my pants. Yes, folks, I'm admitting the unthinkable. But as I ran to the bathroom and IMMEDIATELY cleaned myself off, I wondered why on earth a child would not want to use the potty in order to prevent sitting in their own excrement, especially those of the "Number Two" kind...and MOST ESPECIALLY of the wet fart kind. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Katie Fleck (quoting Ralph) so aptly put it "A child is a curly dimpled lunatic." Someone would have to be a lunatic to not wish to have their bottoms cleaned off (which so often happens when I tell a child to come let me clean off their poopy) or to just run around sporting a load. Because lemme tell you. That day was not fun. I so prefer a dry bottom, and would thank my mom for potty training me, but I don't think that she actually *did* any of the work in doing so. So I suppose I shall thank MYSELF for potty training, as I am so thankful that I can sport a clean ass.

A Crazy-Ass Day.....

....So it started out as usual, despite the fact that Aaron's home sick. I went back to sleep after my Brazilian Boyfriend got here, and slept until the usual eight o'clock when the rest of the kids show up. The problem being that Aaron was sleeping, too, and didn't wake Collin up and neither did I. So I had one unhappy camper this morning!

...Next on tap is the fact that these children are seriously becoming curtain-climbers. This is not a joke. Well, ok, they don't climb curtains, but they do climb any surface their grubby little paws will attach themselves to....

...I can't think of all the other shit that went on today, but suffice it to say that my brain is utterly and completely addled right now, and I'm going to drown my sorrows in my son's Strawberry Milkshake Poptarts and some Rold Golds.

Do You Ever Get the Feeling....

....that your favorite rock band has totally sold out? I was just pondering while listening to Lifehouse that my favorite band has totally sold out. Anyone familiar with Better Than Ezra? Well, they were in concert in Indy just this past week with Lifehouse. At one point, Better Than Ezra would have been the headliner, as they have been...until now. This year, they were not listed first...but second. Making them the not as popular band, no? Well, the past few albums of theirs have left a lot to be desired for the die-hard fans, who own the Deluxe album, who have the words to their first three albums completely memorized, who have sworn that they were going to have Kevin Griffin's love child (yes, it's a total coincidence, however, that our second son's name is Griffin...LOL). While not all of the songs on their most current albums aren't terrible, they lack the same luster of previous songs, such as "Good" or "This Time of Year".

And then it hits me....it just might be *me* who is changing. I'm getting older. My tastes are getting more subdued, perhaps? Then why do bands like Linkin Park appeal to me? I don't get it. Which brings me back to my previous thought. My favorite band has sold their souls and song writing abilities to the devil himself, who takes the form of little teenage girls who buy their records and wear clothes that make me feel like Bessy. I thought that artists' styles would mature as they get older, like Ben Folds singing about his kids. But Better Than Ezra Seems to be going in the backward direction. Perhaps it's because the life of the typical middle-aged person wouldn't necessarily appeal to the record-buyers out there. But damn it, that just hurts my feelings. tee hee

So I think that if I were going to have an artist's love child (and they would pick me, right? I'm cute, dammit!! ROFLOL! I slay me.), I think I would have to pick someone like Ben Folds who would probably write a song about it. hehe

Bet you weren't expecting a critical editorial, were you?

I Fully Understand....

....that it is a toddler's responsibility to drive the caregiver as far to the edge, if not over, as they possibly can. It is totally understandable. There is no need to clarify this rule. However, I do believe that the toddlers in my care are taking their job way to seriously.

Wrong Day to Stay Up Late....

...so I was up late last night....no, Judy, not crafting all BY MYSELF-so-i'm-not-cheating-on-you, but writing out the Christmas cards that I didn't have addresses for until just recently. And can I just say, the dispenser for the linerless self-adhesive stamps? Crap! Don't buy it. Worth a buck to try, but not worth EVER buying again....

....I got the flu shot this morning. Coupled with me feeling already yucky, I'm scared of feeling worse. You know, I never thought that the flu shot was that big of deal, but ever since I haven't been getting the shot, I have gotten the flu more than ever before in my life. Not that I had the shot that often. I only received it for two years in a row, but the year the twins were born, I missed out on seeing them in the hospital twice because of the flu. TWICE. For FIVE days at a go. And once I missed seeing them for STREP! So of the umpteen million days (ok, like eighty or whatever it wound up being), I missed fifteen days because of being sick. And for the past two years, I didn't get the shot, and we've been suffering from the flu, too. So, here's hoping that the shot does it's fucking job this year!

....OK, I think that someone just got bitten, so I best be going now....

So We Had a Good Saturday and Sunday....

....Yesterday, Collin did very well at the Black Belt Extravaganza, put on for the Karate USA Shorei Go Ju Ryu style. It was boring at best, but interesting in certain parts, from watching higher degree belts, who had been practicing karate for years, to the extreme hilarity I found in hearing everyone do their Ki-i's, or the gutteral sounds that martial artists do with a punch. Seriously, when everyone did their sounds, it wasn't in synch, so it sounded like some medieval war going on. And that, well, just made me snigger every time. There were also this one man, who happened to resemble a younger looking cousin of mine, who was very very animated with his movements. I didn't see a wedding ring on his finger, which prompted me to think that perhaps he needs to find himself a woman and not take his karate quite so seriously. (I never said I was a nice woman...these are simply my observations) So we suffered though the graduation ceremony, though I do have to say, that Collin STOOD throughout the whole thing, and did a marvelous job. After the program was over, Aaron's dad (not by our intention, as we had fully expected to pay for the meal...until they chose the location) treated us to Carraba's, an Italian grill to which Aaron and I had never been. Yummy food...LOOOONG wait, however.

Today, I wake up feeling very worse for wear. Not sure why, but I felt dizzy, and my abdomen was very angry at me. So, I suffered through church with the gruesome twosome, and went home and slept for two and a half hours. I woke up and felt much better, which was a good thing, because a friend of ours had made plans with Aaron to go out to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the game. Which, I was glad he got to go. The downside, the gruesome twosome lived up to their names and also Aaron got pretty tipsy. Luckily the friend had driven, so he didn't drive home, but oy, vey. There is nothing like dealing with Aaron when he's tipsy. So, I did what I've done in the past after Aaron's liquored up. I took him shopping. Only, to my great dismay, I didn't find anything worth buying, really, so that was pretty much all for not. I did wind up with about fifteen bucks worth of miscellaneous scrapbooking things. A magazine, a larger corner rounder, and some ribbon (which I'm becoming quite the whore at collecting...). We also went to Steak n' Shake, where I ate my weight in a chocolate mint milk shake, and the Philly Melt combo, for which I substituted the fries with onion rings, and had to fight Griffin to be able to eat them! lol

Anyway, I'm a little over half-way through on the calendars. :) Tiff and Katie should be happy girlies that their gifts will be done on time. The biggest task left is to have Aaron make the covers for the books. After that, it should be smooth sailing! It's been fun to make these this time, because I've been doing some further enhancements to them, which my own family members didn't get. ROFL. Oh, well, the more practice, the better you get, right? ;) I just hope that everyone likes them....that's always my biggest problem with doing things for people. I get really really self-conscious!!

OK, I'm rambling, so I'm going to skee-dattle off to bed. Drop me a comment and let me know how your weekend was! :)

*Yawn*

Was up until TWO O'CLOCK this morning......Aaron did have the sweetness to let me sleep in until 10:00. (Isn't he really the best?) I tried to pin the funny guy with the lewd names on him, but he can't lay claim to it. He gave me a little hint as to whom the culprit might be, but I shall find out for sure later on. ;)

So today we get to battle twin toddlers as Collin officially is sworn in with his black belt in his style. I can't spell it anymore, or I'd let you all know what it is. LOL After that, if we're not in jail for killing our offspring, we shall go out to a nice dinner to celebrate. :D

Right, I'm off to iron a karate gi! ;)

Calling All Readers....

....am looking for the true identity/identities of one Jack Mahoggoff and Mike Hunt? If I were as funny as you seem to be, I would want to claim my humor. hehe

Snow Day!

So today's a snow day for school! Which is good, because it also means I'm down a couple of kids today. Makes it a bit nicer than having all of them. The bad thing? I said yes to my friend again, and her child screamed for over.an.hour. after she dropped her off. At 6 o'clock. My nerves are completely jangled. I am going to have to tell her that it isn't working out at all for me. Instead of getting better, the situation's getting WORSE. I'm sorry. I do believe that I'm a patient person. But my patience was stretched to the very limit this morning. As soon as I pick up the phone to tell mom to come pick her up, she fell asleep. *THANK FUCKING GOD!* But, I do have to tell her mom this. Because I seriously can't do it anymore. An hour is just way too excessive. I held her, she screamed. I put her down, she screamed. Thinking that if she knew I meant business, and that I would hold her if she'd just shut up, I picked her back up again. She screamed. I put her in a pack n' play, where she screamed some more.....

....and now, after about a 2 hour nap, I'm afraid that she's up, and I'm going to go have to deal with her again. My ENTIRE household was up this morning, on a SNOW DAY, because she is so miserable. *sigh*


****** update*******

I called Mom, and Grandma came and got them. Of course, I nearly bit my tongue in half to not say anything rude to her when she came in and the bit wasn't crying. She stuck her hand to her ear and said "I don't hear anything." Grandma can be such a bitch, I tell you! :(

Tale Of Twin Toddlers....

Why is it that no matter what you do, there's going to be a bunch of jealousy when it comes to toddler siblings. And this said jealousy is no doubt going to plague me for the rest of my life??

Prime example. We've moved the babies from their cribs to toddler beds. Well, Aaron's parents had a toddler bed leftover from when they kept Collin over night during our college days. So, why buy two of the things when we only need one, right? Well, I found at a local resale shop a Wiggles toddler bed. Perfect for Griffin, who is already showing signs of being a promising singer/songwriter (haha). So, I know that I need to do something special for Erin's bed, as so not to make her feel like the kid who gets the sloppy seconds (though I found out she gave two shits about it and never once complained that her brother had the better bed). Well, Martha Stewart I'm not, but I'd bought all the things to contruct a canopy to fit over her bed, only to have the good old mother-in-law go out and buy one that she'd found on deep discount (though, not five-finger, in case you were worried). So, we hang on to said canopy until we get the time and energy simultaneously to put it up. And, well, Aaron finally found both simultaneously while I was out last night. I came home to Aaron telling me that Griffin was mad at me. So, I march up to their room to see why on earth this little sprite of a two-almost-three year-old could be upset with me. I ask, "Griffin, are you mad at Mommy?" "Yesth," he replies. "I want Thomasth Printhess."

Oy..... I can't win!

Wahoowee!! It's Thursday already!

The weekend is fast approaching, and a full one it shall be. Tomorrow evening is Aaron's school Christmas party, located at the principal's house, and for which the principal takes a day or two off of school in order to cook for it. She always has quite the spread! And my 163.5 lb. fat ass is going to snarf it down, too! And I'll likely go back for seconds. Better to be fat and happy than to be starving and miserable at this point, I say!

Saturday will be a day all about Collin, as he officially gets promoted to Black Belt status within his Karate style. From here on out, the fun stuff happens, and he learns more and more. It's quite exciting to think about, though methinks we need to push him a bit more to going. It's so hard for Aaron and me to muster up the energy to take him sometimes, and he is so quick to say that he doesn't want to go. I'm not sure, but methinks a change of scenery is in order here. A new project for him would likely do him wonders. Time for another one of those "do you really want to do this?" chats. I really really hate shelling out eighty bucks a month for him not to go.

I think that Sunday I have free, because Aaron and a family friend are going to go "Krogering" on Sunday afternoon. I'm totally letting his secret out when I say that "Krogering" means that he'll be hitting a local pub for a beer with his friend, watching the game. hehe Anyway, this leaves me at home, which is not a big deal, since I really have a load of things that I need to get done. Namely all those calendars that I've not yet completed! :) Which, in all reality, is something I'm looking forward to working on (so stop feeling guilty, Tiff). I just need time and energy simultaneously. Which is sometimes hard to do around here.

Speaking of the lack of energy and time simultaneously, the bulk of that comes from the fact that I now am running a full ship and getting my sorry butt out of bed at 5:45 to catch my Brazilian boyfriend (cool off, Judy, he is two after all, and...well, that's just icky! tee hee) at 6:00. I really did miss him, but so didn't miss the early hour. I really relish the days of sleeping in until 7:15.

k...gotta go....a toilet flushed, and i'm currently scared to go look......

Day Three of Good Zookeeper

So yesterday, we did chalk drawings, today we've done (yes, already) snowflake pictures, where we painted glue on the snowflake image and then sprinkled clear sparkly glitter on the glue. :D

My Brazilian family brought me back the cutest t-shirt. It's blue with white and yellow stripes on the sleeves, and says "brasil" with a huge "9" on it. am needing to look and see whose number this is. :D

I finally got my postage in the mail yesterday (can I reccommend the USPS site? it's 1.00 for shipping!!), so the bulk of my cards went out to the mailbox yesterday. They shall be picked up today, and sent out! Woop! :D

Am feeling tired today. I feel like I'm starting to get a bit of a cold. Blah. Doc's appt. is today at 2:30. We'll see what she says about all this yucky girl stuff. I just have this feeling that there is something wrong, but can't figure it out myself. Am I the only one who ever feels that way? Not that I'm a hypochondriac, because there *is* at least one thing wrong with me, but I have this sense of dread that something else is going on. We'll see.

Off to tame the masses that are on my kitchen counter.....

Attempting to Turn a New Zookeeper Leaf.....

here i am with the boy at disney on ice. he was a great date!

....two days in a row have i planned and executed little lessons for the animals! tooting my own horn, here. lol we're doing winter/christmas countdown for the month, so most of our stuff revolves around snow, santa, and the countdown. i'm amazed at how well erin and griffin are doing with this as of late. they're really being attentive to stories, and are participating in the crafts that we have going on. no more eating the crayons for them! hehehe

....other than that, no real news as of late. well, none that you're gonna wanna hear. if you would like for me to share all the intimate details of the babies bowels and my broken girl parts, let me know....otherwise, suffice it to say that my sorry butt's back at the doc's tomorrow and the twins are now on a daily laxative. *sobs*

....sorry that i've been lax at communication lately. it's been busy here as of late! can be both good and bad.

A Quick Update Before I go Krogering....

....we're all doing OK. My mom and stepdad were in for the weekend. It was painful at best, as they stress us out sometimes, and Aaron has a tendency to ditch me with my family....

....So yesterday I took four boys to the movies. We saw Harry Potter, which was OK. I'm really having trouble getting into the Harry movies. They just don't do the books much justice.

....today we went downtown to the Old Spaghetti Factory. It was yummy yummy stuff. I love how reasonably priced and family friendly it is.

....OK, so off to make my menu for the week. My Brazilian boyfriend is coming back from his three week break tomorrow, so my sorry butt is up at 5:45 tomorrow. *sigh* I did miss him, but I surely didn't miss the early hour.

Living Room....

...I can't remember and am to lazy to look back on whether or not I informed you all of my husband's redecoration of our living room...but here are some pictures for you to look at....i did help pick out the clock... :D of course, i think it's a crap battery from the store, and the time's stuck already....piss me off.

Gina....Set a Place at the Table....

...for a couple of more for dinner. I want to escape the cold! LOL Gina is a blogger buddy of mine that recently moved to Hawaii. She's also a SU! consultant. So, go email her about buying stamps! ;)

Anyway, methinks a group trip to see her is in order! hehehe

It's Snowing!

...we'll not get too much, and it's melting off the roads fairly quickly, but it's pretty, nonetheless. Especially for the girl who never gets out of the house to get lunch out!