What I Saw....

So last night the big boys had their belt ceremony for Tiny Tigers karate. It was a pot luck party. I, in my lack of time to cook or bake, decided to take pizza. Don't judge! It was tons of homemade delicious food, none of which the kids ate. There were several pizzas there-ALL gone before my family made it through the buffet line, which means they ate dessert and I had to stop for another pizza on the way home from the dinner party.

Anyway, I pulled into the Little Ceasars across the street from my neighbor hood for a couple of $5 pies. As I was getting back into the car and car had pulled into the spot next to me. So naturally you glance in the window. The back seat had 3 small girls, and by small I'm gonna guess they were each younger than my 3 (so probably between the ages of 1 and 4). And not a SINGLE car seat in there. And the 2 girls on each end didn't even have their seat belts on. I couldn't tell about the smallest in the middle, she could have had the lap belt across? The sad part is, I see this sort of thing ALL the time. Or older kids (out of car seat age) not buckled, or 5-8 year olds not in boosters, or kids in the front seat. I take this personally. I can't help it. I am aware of all the car seat laws and think it's one of the most important things we could do to protect our babies. Plus, what if I, the best driver ever, had an off day and hit your car with an unprotected child. That would kill me.

So anyway, my first bad thought was, mamma could afford and iPhone and an ear piece, why not a car seat. My second thought was to give her mine. I lived across the street and have extras, plus could afford a new one if I needed to . I debated saying something. But an offended mom can be a pit bull. And a pissed off black mamma could be a could be a big fat nasty grizzly bear. I was already in mommy time out for the drive, meaning I has asked for complete silence to get my attitude back in check thanks to my little wild nuggets who had annoyed me to no end just moments earlier.

So how to handle things like this? Part of you wants to call the cops. But I am a big believer in karma. And I would hate for my turtle to fall off his bike the one time he didn't put his helmet on. Or for me to get a ticket for rolling that stop sign in the neighborhood like every-single-other person just because I tried to do a good deed.

I thought about those kids all night long. Almost to the point of tears. How could a parent put their child in that kind of danger?

More Christian

from the party.....

 Colton and his god mother, Linda

 Christian and Nannie, my MIL

 helping himself to the cake

 Con and his 2 best TX buddies

Ben (L) and Ilan (R)

 High five for the birthday boy

And now for some Thanksgiving pics.....
(and maybe now I can be caught up on last year?)

 climbing the big tree at Pappa Lou's house

 All the little Lenzer's

Connor-5, Kyle-1, Christian-2, Colton-4, Carson-3

Anybody feel sorry for my MIL?

Mark, the boys, and good ol' Pappa Lou

bad picture

plus me

Christian's 2

Somewhere in my lazy lack of blogging this little guy

turned 2

and he knows it

 he gets his own treats

and double fists it

 he is CONSTANTLY climbing something

 or putting things in his hair

it's a darn good thing he's so freaking loving and cute

Christian's birthday was over Thanksgiving
you know
well over 2 months ago
We happened to be in Dallas that weekend
So we asked our friends to meet at
Chuck E Cheese
nothing formal
just some pizza and fun

Thanks to my MIL
for this delightful gift
sigh

 This one is just as nosey
but it has finally made its way outside

Christian is my baby
but boy is he
busy, busy, busy

He can't decide now if wants his crib or bed
He really just prefers to sleep with me
Wouldn't be so bad if he slept the right way
But he sleeps sideways
There is not a bed big enough
for a sideways sleeping kid
No matter what
it's always a kick in your kidney

He has given up the high chair
It would take him an extra 20 seconds to get on the table
He tries so hard with a regular cup
The first couple of sips
not so bad
After that, it's on the floor
or his shirt
or both


Happy Birthday to my Christian
Maybe this year he can have a real party
and maybe
just maybe
I will post about it

Stroller Trouble and a Screwed Up Day

I am back in stroller shopping mode. I didn't really think I would be here again, but Colton is walking places now so much that it is not always convienent to have the big mamma double stroller. So I am doing my research and trying to find the best deal. I will use the single stroller for probably 2 years. I want to make the right decision, as I do with any type of purchase like this. So that in a year when I have buyer's remorse, I can be really pissed at myself for not "thinking of that" for whatever it is I decide I don't like about said item.

I think I just want a light weight umbrella style stroller. The down side to that is, they most have to handles instead of 1 bar. It's easier to push single handed in the middle of a single bar, instead of trying to keep it from going to the left or right if you are holding another child's hand or holding them on your hip.

That being said, I would love to get the single version of my double for that exact reason. But it is more than I wanted to spend. It's the baby jogger city mini and it runs around $200

Then I found at Target the Chicco light weight stiller. It folds easy but is still over $100. So if I was going to spend that much, I have heard great things about maclaren strollers. I actually found a brand new one, still in the box on Craig's list for $145. Still expensive, but 20% or so less than retail. But I am still with the 2 handle delima.

I also found on Craig's List a Peg (Aria) I don't even think they make this one anymore. It's on $50. It has a single bar for the handle, but unlike some Pegs, it does not have the "stand" on the back that another rugrat can stand on.

So should I go with the good name and cost efficient or spend more? I don't know why I have to make this such a big freaking decision.....


My screwed up day. I was going to take the little boys to Babies R Us this morning to test drive some strollers. Then I was going to call the Craigs list ad to see if I could look at that stroller. Then I had an errand to do at the mall. All this and be home for lunch and nap time. These boys need some serious rest and we have this test karate class this afternoon (ggrrrr). Then Colton reminded me it's Monday and I have a reading appointment at the elementary school. I do this every Monday, but last week was no school, the week before that Colton was sick and before that was Christmas break. So I was out of my routine and completely forgot. It's only 30 minutes, but it's right in the middle of the morning so that I can't do anything before or after!

Stroller advice please. Any new mommies out there, you might know of a new hip brand that I'm not down with....

Happy Monday

Christmas with the Lenzer's

And by Christmas

I mean 2011

All of you are OVER the holidays

Some of you may even be planning 2012

I'm still harping on last month

I don't even think I posted about Thanksgiving yet?

WARNING

tons of pictures

and they are out of order 

since that's how blogger works

stupid blogger

Last chance to log out....

We visited Santa

you won't see Christian in this photo

because the big guy hadn't offered the candy yet

We baked

correction....

I baked

the boys licked the spoons

And the dogs

Can you guess their favorite kid?

The little boys had a Christmas program at their preschool

I forgot my camera so the crappy pics are on my phone

Colton was a shepherd

He is still singing 

"Away in a Manger"

Cutest kid ever

He kept getting up and trying to do tricks in front

The teachers kept stopping him

I thought it was a great photo op

they totally disagreed

mean teachers

Christian only opened 2 gifts early

and it was 2 days before Christmas

Amazed it didn't happen sooner

Christian's Santa pile

Connor's santa pile

doesn't look like much

Looks sad actually

but I'm pretty sure he got plenty

And Colton's

The most used gift 

A trampoline from Nannie

the boys are loving it

It keeps me and Mark in hysterics

The big boys bounce Christian all over the place

Con had a class party

He made a gingerbread house 

Christian found it

Thinking about it

And....got it

this kid is a mess

More baking

At least I got help this time

 The family room tree

AKA tacky tree

Decorated with the kids home made ornaments

and hung by them

ok mostly connor

but  rearranged 1453 times by Christian

Opening gifts is so much fun at this age

Christian wanted to put on everything he got

immediately

Connor kept score

Colton just went with the flow

Christian got into the cake

It was our Christmas dessert

and we were saving it for Colton's birthday 

2 days later

Colton did not get any

This kid is nuts

 And this is when it's nice to have a "formal" room

I got to have a tree with grown up ornaments

If I had know this was how it was going to work out

I would have bought a tree with white lights

I love white lights

So "my" tree is not quite how I like it

But I still sat in this room a lot

and enjoyed

Did you survive?

Still awake?

Still to come

visit to my moms and pops

(more Christmas)

thanksgiving?

Christian's birthday

and what ever else I missed

Thanks for playing

Hope your week is going well

It's finally Friday

Mark has made it back into town

I am getting my "hairs did" tomorrow

YAY! no more gray

2 hours in an adult location

No body better have the stinking brats there

If my hubby really loved me 

he would schedule me to get a massage while I'm there

somebody text him