Merry Christmas!

I know I haven't written in a while but we have been so busy with school and schedules and therapies and extra curricular activities but I had to just write in about something that caught my eye today that cracked me up:

Two words:

Soy Nog.

Oh brother. You have to be kidding me.

Have a wonderful birthday celebration for our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Merry Christmas

Wow! I haven't been posting in a while. School starts next week for my two oldest jumpin monkies. The 3 y0 is going to preschool and the 5 year old is going to Kindergarten! I can't believe it. Kindergarten! I feel like he is being pulled out of my womb again! But this time, it won't be my loving arms there to hold and protect him. I'm so excited for him but scared and anxious for him, too. I know how kids can be and how will I handle his hurts?

I'm sure I'll be back to write about it on Wednesday when it actually happens.

Here's vent, though, on buying school supplies:

School supplies! I have a one in Pre-K and one Kindergartener and have spent approx $150 on school supplies. I had to buy paper towels and 4 boxes of wipes and "treasure box trinkets" and kleenex boxes and 4 different types packaged construction paper and 6 boxes of markers and 5 boxes of crayons. I literally had to buy 20 sticks of AND 4 large bottles of glue! Then there's the folders and scissors and paints and play doh and back packs and lunchboxes and water bottles...good grief!! What does all this have to do with the three R's?? Why am I buying paper towels for a school that I am paying nearly $200 A MONTH for my child to attend??!! I don't understand it!

Until next time!

Venting about Clothes Shopping

Yesterday we had a neighborhood dinner party. A Progressive Dinner. The kind where you start at one house for drinks and progress to someone else's house for appetizers then to someone else's for the main course and then dessert. It's a great way to reconnect with your neighbors. Since I am 8 months post delivery, I don't have anything to wear which really means I don't have anything new to wear. I have clothes in my closet but they are old and "pre-baby" oriented. Not that they're maternity wear (although I do have plenty of that), it's just that they are not the "in style" sort of clothes that I want to wear now that I am not trying to get to pregnant or already pregnant. So, all this to say that I need to go the mall to get some clothes. Ideally, I was going to run in and run out with an updated fashionable new outfit possibly with matching shoes. It was going to take me about an hour.

Yeah right. I started at the value clothing at Macy's simply because I haven't been able to find anything more than shorts and tees at Penneys. I grabbed a couple of dresses and headed to the dressing room. First of all, I am not 20. In fact I am not 30. I am not even 35! That's as far as I'll go with that online, but you get the idea. So why can't I find clothes that are stylish but made for someone who is not just out of college and has had 3 children? The new styles are very trendy and as I have said before, I don't want to look trendy. Fashionable, confident, but NOT trendy. Sure, I could pull off the silk giant turquoise circle dress with the yellow beading, but I don't want to! I don't' want to have to "pull off" anything! In contrast, I am not 80 either or 70 or even 60! I am a not a grandmother with my knitting needles. I don't need or want bulky, frumpy old lady clothes. What I want is something that says I am in 2007 but that doesn't say I am trying to be 20 or that I have given up. I just want to look nice.

So, as I make my way through the clothing sections, I finally see a few racks of clothes with clean lines, and elegant and fashionable style for someone my age. I grab some of those items and run to the dressing room. Finally, well-made clothing that fits like it is supposed to. I try on a lightweight sweater and skirt that I think are going to be fine for the evening. The price of the sweater is $80! The skirt is $179. Over $200 for one outfit?! NO WAY! I checked it twice just to be certain. I look at all the clothes I brought in from that section and they are all that way. Very pricey! I'm not cheap, but I can't pay $260 for one evening's clothes. So I put everything back and head out of Macys. I go to a couple of other stores but don't see anything like what I am looking for. I decide to go Dillards in hopes that they will have more "mature" clothing than some of the other stores. (I really hate calling it "mature" because that is usually synonymous with frumpy but what do you call clothing for my age group?) I look around a little and find a section of clothing that has exactly what I am looking for. Unfortunately it is in the Ralph Lauren and Jones New York section. I have already been shopping for almost 2 hours and haven't found anything. My window for shopping is closing very quickly so I decide to try on a few items to see if there is anything for me that I can get into fast. Within the first minute, I have about 5 outfits to try. The sales lady comes over and actually takes the clothes I am holding and gets me a dressing room. The room is made of dark red stained wood and there is a button to push if I need her to come back and get me a different size. Ah, the perks of money.

I find the perfect outfit and decide for the sake of time and effort to just get the outfit. I am not going to say how much I spent. But it wasn't a value outfit. In fact, I really can't believe how much I spent to find something simple and nice to wear. I ended up with a white light weight tank sweater over stylish capris. The tank was rather low-cut but I couldn't find anything anywhere that wasn't! The style these days is cleavage - no matter what age you are. I had just read in MORE magazine about how cleavage is in but I didn't really understand exactly just how much cleavage is in until I couldn't find anything that didn't show mine! I asked KingRob if the outfit showed too much and he didn't think so. (haha like he would) I was a little self conscious until I got to the party and saw that every single gal there had on some sort of cleavage baring outfit! I fit right in. In fact, my top was very conservative compared to some of the others. So it all worked out.

I guess I just needed to write about the lack of inexpensive, realistic, fashionable clothing options for women my age. And on that note, I have to add that several years ago I bought a Jones New York sweater that I still wear every year and it still is "in". So I think I got my money out of that one. I am hoping the clothes I bought yesterday will last me for many years as well. I won't be able to afford anything for a long time, so they have to!

When I got home I complained to KingRob about the problems I had shopping and he actually said "Can't you just go to the Gap"? I turned around and showed him my backside and asked him if he had ever seen a rear end that looked like mine in a Gap commercial. We had a good laugh about that. It's a good thing I can laugh about that. It just goes to show you, though, that if the people who are closest to you don't understand what I need in clothes, who can?

Until next time...

Let's pick the kids up off the pavement

Today was officially the last day of school for the monkeys. Both had the last day of preschool last Friday but JM2 had the last day of Speech Therapy Preschool at the elementary school today. He has had a little cough that turned into a big cough with a runny nose today. I let him go to school for the last day party and then I took him to the dr to figure out what to do about the cough.

Here's where it gets ugly. I pulled into the parking lot at the pediatrician's office and turned around to unbuckle JM2's 5 point harness. I hopped out, got the stroller out of the car, unhooked JM3 from the carseat and refastened him into the stroller and wheeled him around to the other side of the car to open the backseat door for the big boys and get my purse and diaper bag out of the front seat. As I opened the back seat door I passed it to get to the front seat and get my stuff. The back seat door flew open and JM2 comes flying out face first on to the pavement. I drop all my things and rush to the ground to pick him up. He is lying face down. I pick him up and try my best to comfort him while trying to get everyone together to get into the dr.s office. JM1 gets my keys off the ground and JM2's shoe which fell of during the fall.

We got inside and quickly get back to a room. Although I have already told the nurses what happened no one is cleaning him up, so I try and dab away the dirt with a paper towel and water. It's then that I realize that the black on his face is not from dirt. It's bruising! The RN comes in and checks out the damage and gives me some cough medicine for the viral infection. She also tells me to go get JM2 an x-ray to be sure he didn't break anything in his face. (it looks that bad). So, me and all three monkeys head to the x-ray shop to get him x-rays. He is so tired and in shock that he just lays where they want him to which made it go so much faster. JM1 and JM3 are in a dressing room since they can't come in due to x-ray exposure.

The nurse just called and JM2 did not break his face. He is sleeping with Motrin right now but is still in a lot of pain. And he's coughing which just makes it worse.

He also hurt his little knee in the fall. Poor kid.

I'm supposed to go play Bunco tonight with the ladies in the neighborhood. I guess it will depend on how the monkeys are doing before I go.

Until next time...

My 2nd Baby is Three Today!

Happy Birthday JM2!

I put helium balloons all over the house last night so when he woke up this morning, the house said Happy Birthday to him. He came in my room and we watched Sesame Street in my bed while we woke up. JM1 came in and we all just laid there until the monkeys started getting restless and JM3 woke up. I gave JM1 and JM2 celebratory donuts for breakfast and then JM2 got to open his presents. He got a Leapster and a bubble machine. We had lots of fun outside with the bubbles. JM2 had speech therapy this morning as well. Overall it was a nice morning.

Then we went to the movies.

It was a good idea overall. I would take all the monkeys to see "Meet the Robinson's" around the time for the baby to take a nap and then I would nurse him during the movie. What could go wrong? We got to the movies early enough to get tickets and make it to the concession stand. I had the older boys split a hot dog since it was close to lunch time and then I spent $30 on popcorn, cokes and giant boxes of candy. Still things are going well. JM1 helps with the stroller and I carry all the food and we get to the theater with still a few moment to spare to set up. JM1 opens the door for us to all go in and it is already so dark in the theater we can't see anything. Since JM1 can't steer the stroller into the small door and I am holding the giant food holder with all our drinks and foo, the only way to actually get into the room is for JM2 to go first and JM1 to prop the door open so I can push the stroller through while balancing the food on top of the stroller. This would have worked except that JM2 is afraid of the dark because he can't see anything so he won't go into the theater. I finally lead him just inside the door so we can all get in and have our eyes adjust before we get seats. I tell him to stand right by the door and then I go and push the stroller in with all the food through the door while JM1 holds it open. As I go through the door, I can't see JM2 at all. He is gone. I can't see anything and begin to get slightly ticked because the movie isn't supposed to start but the reason it's so dark is because they are playing this stupid cartoon that I don't let the kids watch anyway!! Finally I see that JM2 has already found a row and a seat on his own and we head down the aisle to catch up.

The row he chose is on the left side and it's good and we all pile into the row so I can sit on the aisle by the stroller. JM1 goes in first, then JM2, then me and the stroller is in the aisle. We sit down and the kids eat the hot dog and I realize that we are the only ones in the entire theater. YEA! What a relief. Everyone was doing great and I realized that since we were the only ones there we could probably move down a little closer to the screen. JM1 and 2 agree and we choose a row a little further down. It's on the right side and JM1 goes in, then JM2 then me and the stroller is on my left this time. The previews start and I realize what a mistake we have made. Where we were before was under the section where the movie projector is so the ceiling is lower. Therefore they don't have huge Dolby speakers in that section. Where we moved to had giant speakers on either side of us. And they had the sound turned up so loud we could have probably just heard it at home! Needless to say, the baby wasn't so happy with the new position and didn't hesitate to let me know by way of screaming. By this time 2 other families had come in behind us so it was really too late to move all of our stuff and the baby and the monkeys. So we toughed it out and I prayed that God would spare the children's hearing.

The seats are those kind that flip up when you stand up so JM2 isn't heavy enough to keep it down. So while I held the baby, I also draped my leg over the edge of his seat to hold it down.

Since JM3 was so upset by the noise I decided to go ahead and nurse him which I had planned on doing later on while the movie was on. I took him out of the stroller and hooked him up. He did great. So all was well despite the volume for a little while. Then about 1/3 of the way into the movie, JM2 decided he was bored with where he was sitting so he got up to move to the seat on the other side of JM1. That was fine with me. He held the seat down and proceeded to enter the seat feet first. Then the seat popped back up and he got stuck. I am still nursing the baby so I can't just get up and help him and if I put the baby in the stroller he is going to scream, so I try to talk him out of it but he starts screaming that he needs help. I adjust my shirt and get up with the baby and squeeze in front of JM1 where I attempt to pick up JM2 but he is really stuck. His legs are stuck through the back of the chair. I attempt again to lift him out but to no avail. One leg pops out but the other one is not moving. JM3 decides he will have no more of this jostling around and proceeds to tell me so. I maneuver the baby somehow to be able to hold the seat down and wedge JM2's leg out of the seat where I find out that his sandal is caught on something behind the seat. I stick my hand through the seat and figure out what has to be done and then I pull his leg out. (Thank goodness there wasn't anyone directly behind him!) At that point JM2 decides that he no longer wants to watch the movie and starts to cry. JM3 is already screaming because of the all the commotion. I decide that since it is JM2's birthday that he is the one that needs to stop crying first so I put the baby in the stroller which makes him scream even more. I get JM2 and hold him in my lap and ask him if his feet still hurt and if he's ok. JM3 is not quieting down so I reach into the diaper bag and get a container of baby food which I manage to open with one hand and start to feed him as fast as I can with my left hand. (I am right handed but the right one is holding JM2.) JM3 is really not interested in what I am trying to do so although he stops screaming, he is still making way to much noise for the movies. JM2 decides he doesn't want to sit in my lap anymore so he starts moving to jump down but all the food we bought is on the floor directly in front of me in the jumbo food container. I quickly tell him to not jump but he is intent on it and starts to scoot off my lap. I grab his arm and yank him back just as he was getting down into the popcorn and put him in the seat next to me. He starts throwing a fit as does JM3. He is so upset that he hits my arm in his fit and knocks the babyfood spoon that I was holding onto the floor. So no more babyfood! I pick up JM3 to comfort him he snuggles up for a second. Meanwhile JM1 is oblivious to everything. I don't think he even knew that JM2's legs were stuck! After about 5 minutes, I see that JM2 has taken one of his shoes off. I tell him to NOT take the other one off and I put the shoe in the stroller so we don't loose it. JM3 starts to fuss again and so I stand up to bounce him. He needs to be walking around so I tell the boys I am going to be right back and I take JM3 for a walk to the back of the theater. I can still see the boys and they are doing great as is JM3. That last for about 3 minutes. JM2 gets up and runs to the back of the theater where I am. He only has one shoe on. Great.

I lead him back to the seats and we sit down. JM3 has pretty much had enough of the movies but we still have about 40 more minutes! I try to calm the baby down by bouncing him on my lap while he is standing and he seems to be in a fairly happy mood so things go ok for a few more minutes unless I stop the bouncing. JM2 takes off his other shoe and hands it to me.

Finally we are in the home stretch. The movie is almost over and JM3 has settled down enough for me to attempt to nurse him again. As the credits start rolling I look down and he's asleep. Figures.

The lights come on and I hand JM2 his shoes and proceed to clean up our mess.

We grab lunch on the way out of the mall and head home. At home, JM2 will not eat his lunch so he goes to nap immediately. I haven't had much sleep the last few nights, so I read a few verses in my Bible, talk to God for a minute and then take what I thought would be a 25 minute nap. I woke up an hour later to the baby crying. He got a nap also.

So we get up and open Nana and Uncle J's presents. Then the monkeys play in the packing peanuts and I try to figure out what to do for dinner. Red Robin wins. I'm not sure why but maybe I just like the idea of spending $10 for a hamburger. Who knows? So we (me and all three monkeys) head to Red Robin and get a table right away. JM3 gets cheerios immediately and we get our drinks and place our order. The monkeys were pretty good at that time. But then the food took a while and by the time it got there. JM2 was just done. Literally, he was done. He wouldn't eat, drink, sit still, sit in his chair or mind me in any way. And JM1 decided he was tired of the sitting up part of the high chair so he tried to lay back in it. He was doing it pretty well but it couldn't have been comfortable. I pulled out the Gerber Stage 3 Chicken and Vegetable Dinner I brought for him. He snarfed that up, but I had to hold him after a while because he wouldn't sit up. Then JM2 wanted to sit in my lap so I hold him too. I finally was able to get all the older kids in their chairs so I could eat my Turkey burger. I told the waiter to bring on the sundaes and he just looked at me like he felt my pain. I hate it when they do that. For one thing, nobody had started crying so it was still a successful meal. And even though I paid $10 for that Turkey Burger and had to wolf it down, I still didn't' have to cook it myself or clean up afterwards so all in all it was a great meal. They came and sang the cute s birthday song to JM2 and we got outta there.

Tomorrow is Carsons Birthday celebration at preschool. I am supposed to bring stuff for the class. Nothing fancy, but more than I have at home so we had to make a quick stop at HEB. The kids were GREAT and amazingly we got in and got out in record time.

When we got home, Memaw and Pawpaw called to sing happy birthday to JM2 and I threw all their jammies on and put them in bed.

Heavy Sigh. This day is over!

Just another Tuesday

Last night we took JM2 to the ER since JM1 slammed a door into JM2 which forced the plastic tube he was holding in his mouth into JM2's soft palate. He's ok just a little shook up but it kinda set the tone for today. Everyone got up late (except the baby, of course) and our morning got off to a slowish start. We (me and all the monkeys) headed to Target to get JM1 some jammies. JM2 has so many he can't shut the drawer and JM1 has 2 pair! So we went to remedy that problem. Target with all three of my monkeys can be somewhat harrowing, so we did the Shopping-at-Target ritual where the kids share a bag of popcorn and slurpees for everyone (except JM3) We got situated with our stuff and heading on over to the boys clothing section. We found the jammies and I got him 4 pairs so he would have plenty. (spongebob, and spiderman)

Then I decided to go see the hard floor vacs. They had one on sale but it was sold out so I was looking at all the others. JM1 and JM2 found some kid recliners on a floor shelf and decided to take a load off and sit down to wait on me. All of a suddden I hear a loud crash and a shelf holding 2 more chairs has fallen on top of my monkeys and they are screaming. I run to pull the shelf off (as did a Targeteer) The boys were ok but they had literally pulled the shelf above them on top of themselves! And somehow JM2 had made his toes get tangled up in his sandal straps and it had cut off his circulation and he was crying about that. I have no idea how his toes even got involved in all of this, but we fixed his shoes and he seemed to be ok. The Target lady kept asking over and over again if he was ok. (can you say Lawsuit?!) Of course it was the boys fault and they were ok so I wouldn't even think about doing something like that, but I could tell that she thought I might. Right after that another Targetian came over and asked if I needed help getting a vac. I told him that the one I wanted was gone and he said he would get one from the back. More waiting. The monkeys were getting restless so JM2 head butted JM1 and his popcorn spilled all over the floor which didn't go over very well with JM1. So JM2 decided he would just sit in the floor and play with the spilt popcorn. Whatever makes him still and quiet!

We got a vac and picked up a couple of other things including a bin to hold the rest of the Easter stuff. JM3 had had enough shopping and didn't hesitate to let the world know just before we got to checkout. We paid and they were loading our cart up when the checker noticed that the lid I got for the bin didn't fit. Now this is my LIFE STORY! You would think by now that I would ALWAYS check the lid! So now we have to go all the way back to get the lid and of course the bin section is in Anchorage Alaska. We finally get over there - and did I mention that JM3 is done shopping? We're in the aisle and come to see that there are no lids that fit my bin. The same Targetite that helped with the vacumes went to go and get a lid but before he did another Targetonian noticed that the bin I bought was missing a wheel so I needed to get a whole new bin too! Finally, we got out of there!

I gotta go to bed.

I want to squoosh my Blackberry!

I got a new cell phone the other day since my awesome yet ancient SonyErikson T616 finally bit the Hi-techasaurus dirt. KingRob suggested a handheld so I could check email and have access to the internet while I am waiting for all those things that moms wait for e.g. the dr, the car pool line, the McD's drivethru circus, etc) So I got a Blackberry Red pearl. Very cool. Except it has one huge problem. When accessing the BB with the computer, it erases your internet and WAP browsers. I spent at least 8 hours over a two day period trying to find out how to correct this problem. There were lots of solutions that didn't work. I think I re-registerd my phone about 10 times and had them "resend the service books" about 7 times. Don't even ask me what that means! Finally I had to call CS at Cingular. After talking with a guy who literally was reading the manual to tell me what to do he told me that I need to talk to the BB specialist and transferred me over. The BB specialist was a nice guy who had all the answers so I did everything he told me to and he fixed my problem until I did the last step and it happened again. I lost my icons again! He told me to do everything again except that last step and it would work this time. Sure. So I did. Nothing. Now, I have been researching and downloaded and re downloading for the majority of the day just to fix this silly "little" problem. I have 3 kids which I have neglected today simply to have internet on my phone! I am going to get a new one tomorrow. I don't have time to mess with it anymore.

Wow. It's been a few days since I have had a chance to write anything! JM3 learned how to sit up by himself today. It's been coming on for a while, but today he figured it out without falling over. This is a good because now we won't have to take in the giant ultra-heavy infant carrier wherever we go. He weighs about 21 lbs and the carrier weighs about 12 tons, so do the math on how my back pain is going to decrease!

Took all three monkeys to the grocery store today. Big Fun. I waited until they were all tired and hungry because there is nothing like shopping with the Under-5-Set when they want food and need naps. Thank goodness someone at HEB had the brilliant idea to give away free cookies. The cookies are at the bakery about 1/2 way through the store so if I can make it to the bakery, then I am half way to finishing and everyone gets a cookie! The kids know the drill so when we start edging up on the bakery, they don't hesitate to remind me repeatedly that it's time to get a cookie.

Went to Angie's house today and brought Sonic. JM1 finished his GS sandwich before any of the other kids were even served. Everything is a race to him now. JM2 wants to be just like him but he can't eat as fast so his solution is to cram an entire sandwich in his mouth and hope he won't gag. This usually results in his inability to move his jaws at all and he eventually has to spit it all out. Makes eating lunch with him quite pleasant as you can imagine.

T-Ball is almost over. Just 4 more games.

The kids got to see the Easter Bunny before we ate brunch on Easter Sunday. Nobody cried. Next year, JM3 probably will care about the bunny a little more than he did this year. They had the most adorable little matching outfits. Seersucker plaid shorts, butter yellow polo shirts, JM3 had a sleeveless onesie made out of the seersucker plaid. Very cute. Of course it was 38 degrees on Easter so instead they wore khakis and heavy sweaters. So "springy"!


Until next time..

Another day in the Jungle (not really) More Like Another Day like Any Other Day Except Different

Ah what a day! JM1 had a great day with Wacky Wenesday. He wore all of his clothes backwards and inside out and "we even got to eat dessert first, Mom!" It was a good day at preschool for him. JM3 had a well check that I forgot about. The office called yesterday to remind me. I'm pretty good at putting things on the calendar-especially doctor appointments and stuff like that so I don't know how I missed this one. Oh well. We made it on time, though, and my littlist jumpin monkey is doing great. He did get 4 shots though. Even though I have seen it with my other two, babies getting shots is one of the worst parts of babyhood for the mother (and not so great for the baby, either!). The nurse lines him up on the table and I get to hold his little arms while she leans in on his little knees to keep his legs straight and still. He thinks it's a game and is all smiles and coos and then BAM! the sweet smiling eyes turn quickly into shock and then to pain as they fill up with tears and he looks at me like "how could you do this to me? I thought you loved me!". It's over almost before we know it and he gets two Snoopy bandaids. I think the pain lingers longer with me than it does with him.

JM2 had occupational therapy today. His therapist is so nice and she brought a trainee with her today. I have to wonder what these therapist really think while they're here doing their assessments. They ask a few questions I give them answers based on what I know and what I think they are looking for and then 45 minutes later they write up a review and tell me what I need to work on and they're gone. I wonder if they get in their cars and roll their eyes. Not that it matters in the long run. They get paid whether I do what they want or not.

JM1 had a T-ball game tonight. Some mom on the team ( I think the coaches wife) gives out huge wads of bubble gum to the kids right before the game so all the kids are out in the field smacking and chomping their gum and pulling on it and playing with it. It's so gross. Plus, they aren't focusing on the game because gum is just too cool! Since JM1 doesn't get gum at home then it's like a forbidden fruit AND T-ball! What a combo! KingRob doesn't see it as quite the dilemma that I do so I may have to let this one go. (chose your battles, choose your battles choose your battles...sigh)

Just Another Tuesday

JM3 slept for nearly 6 hours last night without eating. Hopefully this will be the new trend for our nights. He had pears tonight for the first time. Since he was also eating green beans, I can honestly say that he prefers pears over green beans. JM1 concurred.

JM2 had speech therapy this morning. He is so cute with the therapist. Her job is to play with him and tell me how she sees his improvement. She also asks me if I am doing the exercises that she has told me about with him. I do them occasionally but when she asks me it's obvious I don't do them enough. Once she mentioned how much one on one time I get with him daily and I laughed. He's lucky to get one on one time a couple of times a week. It's not that I don't want to spend that time with him- it's just that other stuff happens because we have lives to live and I don't live in a box. Do you hear that rationalizing? That's me trying to get the Mother-guilt out of my system.

We went to the Jumping Place today. It's one of those bigs rooms that is filled with giant jumping inflatables. The kids go berzerk there and get lots of energy out. They've been storing energy for 2 days now since it's been raining. They had so much fun that all of us got a nap when we got home. (now that's fun!!)

Not much else exciting today. Tomorrow is Wacky Wednesday at preschool for JM1. He is so excited. He told me tonight at dinnertime that he is going to wear his underpants on his head! We'll see.

Rainy Days and Mondays - Both Make Me Crazy So You Can Tell Where I Am Today

Today has been one of those days. I dropped the kids off at school, went to the drycleaners, then headed to the mall. You see, yesterday when I went to the mall I bought a purse in addition to the shirts. There were two purses that I loved. I couldn't decide between them but went ahead and bought the one I thought I liked the most. By the time I got home I knew I got the wrong one so I decided that if by this morning I still was thinking about the other one, I'd go and get it. Sure enough. I was. So I headed to the mall and got there 30 minutes before opening time so I was able to get in little exercise and walk around the mall until it opened. I got the purse (which was still on sale) and got some footie PJ's for JM3 and headed home.

When I got home I fed the baby and recapped on my purchases. (I always have to do a purchase recap. You know, where you go over everything you bought and then you look at it all again.) I was just getting ready to go get JM2 when I noticed my wedding ring was gone! Wasn't on my hand, in the jewelery box, by the sink, on the floor. NOWHERE. Panicking and crying I run all over the house balling my head off trying to find the ring. I never take my ring off and when I do I leave it in the jewelery box. After JM3 was born I couldn't wear it all the time because my crazy hormones caused a rash to develop under it and I had to leave it off for it to heal. But now I can wear it all the time so for me to not have it on is more than shocking. Anyway, I run all over the house and finally decide to call KingRob at work and tell him so he will come home and help me look. (because of course, he has nothing else to do but surround himself with my insane panicky requests) The phone rings and rings. I call again. Again Ring ring ring. I call again and again ring ring ring to voice mail. I call again. Still off to voice mail. I put the phone down and run back into the kitchen and check the sink. Nothing. The phone rings. KingRob whispers "I'm in a meeting" and I break down into the phone and sobbingly tell him I have lost my wedding ring. He starts asking me all the questions about where have I been and what do I normally do with it. I run to the bathroom to look at the sink. Nothing. But I see something else. Not the ring, but the jar of jewelery cleaner. Then it all comes back to me. Since I am wearing my ring more now, I decided early this morning to soak it in jewelery cleaner and then promptly forgot about it! I tell KingRob quickly that I found it and that I love him and good bye. Then I collapse internally for 2 seconds, grab JM3 and head to preschool to get JM2. Good grief!

As I was loading the car with JM3 with the garage door open. I notice the bug guy (Bulwark Exterminating the best bug guys ever) had parked his car in front of my house. I remembered right then that they called last week to remind me that I was due for external service today. I didn't see him in the truck so I figured he was already at the door. I needed to check to make sure the gate was unlocked so I finished buckling the baby in and turned to go around to the front door. As I turned around, the bug guy was standing in my driveway and had been there the entire time I was tending to the baby. He scared the crap out of me! I jumped at least 3 feet and started to laugh. He apologized profusely and said that he had been waiting until I finished to say anything. I guess after losing my ring, I was pretty jumpy. I'm sure he thought I was a mental case.

I really need to cut down on the coffee!!!

Tonight is REALife Group. I need to get my house cleaned up.

Shopping Therapy

Boy was today a nice day. It didn't start out so great though (e.g. JM3 (Jumpinmonkey 3) got up too early, couldn't go back to sleep, argument with KingRob, missed church because we were running so late) But it did get better. About half way through the day KingRob asked me what I was planning on doing today. He asked me if I wanted to go shopping while he watched the monkeys. I didn't waste a second of time and headed over to the mall to get a couple of shirts. Just shirts. I don't have any that look better than a potato sack so my goal was to find a shirt or two that looks "fashionable". I'm too old for trendy, so I'll have to go with "fashionable". And at my age, it HAS to be written with quotations or it just doesn't make sense.

So I get going in the direction of the mall and immediately have a mini panic attack because I don't know where JM3 is. It lasted approximately 2 heartbeats then I remembered he's with KingRob back at home probably taking a nap by now. Whew. I really should get away from the kids more often so I remember what that feels like!

At the mall I go to my favorite little boutique where everything costs twice as much as it should be but it's oh-so-cute. I am hoping to find something on sale. I only have one hour to shop so I decide to start there to get it over with. Of course they have adorable "age appropriate" clothing with flair. And shoes too. And purses (but the purses are ugly) . The sales ladies start to visit with me and we begin to talk about raising girls in todays world. Now I usually have an opinion on this sort of talk and even though I don't have any girls, I am a girl so I get interested sometimes in what goes on in the girl world. However, today I have only 1 hour to get in, get my shirts, get out and get back home. The lady starts telling me about her friend who's daughter is dating a criminal and blah blah blah... I look at my watch... only 45 more minutes to go! On and on she goes about this poor girl. Finally she just stops as if she's realized she's said to much and I am free to get out of there. I make haste to Macy's and don't look back!

I got home an hour late but KingRob wasn't mad and he even wanted me to model my new "fashionable" shirts. The first was an olive green Tee with buttons at the center of the neckline. It had a white undershirt with lace that pokes out of the buttons of the top shirt. Very stylish compared to what I had at home. KingRob thinks it's a little too sexy for a T-shirt. I think he likes it but doesn't at the same time. Hmm.

He took the boys to play golf while I made fajitas for dinner. Yum.

Monday morning looms ahead. I hope to get more sleep tonight. Hopefully JM3 will do well tonight and not need me too many times.

T-Ball at 10

Today was the third game in the official T-Ball season for JM1(JumpinMonkey1). He has improved so much in just 3 games. The "pitcher" on the other team got hit in the leg with the ball and tried to be brave, but finally gave in to the pain and cried like any little boy would. He's only 5 so it was understandable. He had to be carried off the field by his dad. JM2(JumpinMonkey2) dug up rocks in the mud and with his dirty little hands ate popcorn shared by his 3 year old friend, Kam. The mother of Kam noted that some of the popcorn was coming from popcorn spilt in the dirt. "Builds their immunity" she said. I'd have to agree. Four years and 3 kids ago, I would have wiped his tongue with a clorox wipe and flushed him out with a gallon of water. Now, I just check to see if the popcorn is old or new. Newish in this case.

KingRob took us to our favorite outdoor restaurant for lunch and the kids got to watch the boats and play in the fountain. Pink and yellow flowers were all over ground and JM1 picked up a few for our table. JM2 thought the flowers would tasted better in Queso. We had to remove them after that.

Then it's home for naps and quietness. None of which I got simply because I can't sleep during the day and JM1 and JM2 have yet to quiet down. Could be a problem except that it means early to bed for non-nappers. Myself excluded.

KingRob just announced that he wants to go for a hike in the woods today. When JM3 wakes up, I'll put him in the snugly or backpack and to the woods we'll go.