And the Oscar Goes To.....

I am not a huge Oscar fan

I actually tend to find it 

BORING

minus the first and last 10 minutes

But I am a girl

And I do loves my fashions

(hard to tell, I know, since I live in sweats and t's)

I actually had several faves this year

But my number one choice:

I

Halley Barry

Of course she could wear a freaking potato sack and look like a million bucks 

in my opinion

Of course she has a million bucks

Kind of makes a big difference

I also loved the looks of 

Hillary Swank

Reese Witherspoon (minus all the fake hair)

Mila Kunis 

(I don't even know who this chick is)

Helen Mirren

And on a manly note-

Justin Timberlake

'course I would rock the cradle with him anytime

My worst dressed pick:

Gwenyth Paltrow

It was a little too "future-esqu" for me

And the super slicked straight hair

went with the outfit

but not formal enough for my taste

I also did not like

Nicole Kidman

Melissa Leo

Jennifer Lawrence

Scarlett Johansson

As far as the hosting goes

HORRIBLE

But I don't think they will be invited back!

Who did you like the best??

We're a Sad Bunch

I'm referring to

The Lenzer's

We ALL suck

Mark came home late Friday night 

from a business trip

And had to leave again Sunday

I was so looking forward to 1 GREAT day 

with the hubs

BUT.....

he had thrown his back out

AGAIN

and was in pain

and a crappy mood

needless to say-

he did nothing

we did nothing

and it ruined my mood too

The boys had a birthday party to attend Saturday night

and I made Mark go with me

hurt back and all

By the time the party rolled around

My eye was in serious pain

If it is possible to break your eye

that's what I would have thought was wrong

Couldn't blink, touch it, close it

PAIN

By bedtime it was red and swollen underneath

like a black eye

but not bruised, just red

It is finally starting to feel better today

Christian has been snotty for 2 months now

no doctor can fix it

believe me, I've tried

At the party he started running a fever

Kept a fever most of Sunday

finally today just back to his regular snots

Picked Colton up from school yesterday

and he felt warm

He didn't talk in the car

ding, ding,ding

(my little bell ringing)

knew something was wrong

He came home and layed on the stairs

He was VERY hot with fever

But since he won't let me check his temperature

not sure what it is

He layed on the couch all afternoon

Ate a little supper

We went upstairs early for jammies

I made my bed with freshly washed sheets

because his diaper had leaked the night before

(yes he is still climbs into my bed every.single.night.)

A few minutes later he's watching TV

I am putting Christian to bed

Connor comes running in to tell me Colton threw up

my poor baby

my poor sheets

thank goodness for my new washer & dryer

or we would have been sleeping in Colton's bed

He has not puked again

but is still with fever

PLEASE CONNOR

stay well!!!!

The bad thing about always a sick kid

you can't go to the gym

it's weeks like this I wish I had something at home

Had the plumber here yesterday

He informed me our problems are never going to go away

if we don't invest in some sort of water softener

We have major sediment build up

HEY, what's another couple grand?

On a healthier note...

Connor is reading like a champ

listening to your first born read words

REAL WORDS

wowza

such a warm fuzzy feeling

We went to the zoo twice last week

soaking in the warm weather as much as possible

It's cold again this week

not freezing by any means

but wearing the coats again

Sunday zoo trips are great for people watching

We don't usually go on a weekend

and I quickly remembered why
but...

kind of makes you feel good about yourself

Colton is shirtless and running flying around like

SUPER MAN

so his fever must be down

let's hope it and his breakfast stays down

What I Got

Just after I posted my V-Day post

I went to turn on the front porch lights

I glanced out the window

(like I do everytime)

And noticed a box

It was from my pops!

He didn't forget me

My dad has given me a valentine every year

for as long as I can remember

Sunday night when we were skyping for his birthday

I asked him where my chocolates were

My mom said they ate them

I was just giving him a hard time

Eventually it has to end right?

I mean I am 30 20-something

and he is 60-something

But it was here!!!

You know what I  love about it

besides chocolate

He picks out the card himself 

AND

he signs it himself

Think about that

most every card or present you get from your parents

or that, we as parents now, buy for our kiddos

who does it?

M.O.M.

but not on V-day!

And he sends peeps!

they're not just for Easter anymore

And my hubs gave me flowers

It has made for an all around special week

I have a Dyson

LOVE IT!!!

bought it over 6 years ago

It recently had an accident

It was knocked over 1 too many times 

and a very important piece of plastic popped off

Now it is duct taped together

It never lost suction

just like Mr. Dyson proclaims

However, you have to hold it down low

Which makes for a painful vacuuming process

And if you want to use any attachments

or stretch the hose out

you have to un-duct tape it

This house has central vac

So I have been using it

HATE IT

It works ok

but what a pain in the ass to haul the hose everywhere

I want a new Dyson

But it is not in the budget right now

I recently got sucked into an infomercial about the Shark vacuum

It was comparing itself to the Dyson

never loosing suction and all

but at far less $$$

Mark was out of town

SNOWBOARDING

treat to myself for having to be home alone all weekend

LOVE IT

Big Mamma gives it 2 thumbs up

If anyone is in the market for a new vacuum

This one truly is just as good as the Dyson

and under $200

Let me now take a moment to share a vacuum story

It took me all afternoon yesterday to vacuum

only 1 floor of my house

I started while Connor was at school and the little boys were napping

Then I remember we were completely out of milk

but I had invited Connor's buddy over to play after school

which meant I could not stop at the store

So I had to stop vacuuming to wake up the boys 

so we could run into the store before I picked up Con and his friend

After we returned home

I started back at my task

vacuum, vacuum, vacuum

whoops Christian is half way up the stairs

get him

vacuum, vacuum, vacuum

whoops Christian has dumped the pantry

clean it up

vacuum, vacuum, vacuum

whoops Christian had a pack of crackers in his hand and dumped it

where I just finished vacuuming

revacuum, revacuum, revacuum

damn Christian is up the stairs again

hold Christian

vacuum, vacuum, vacuum

Colton had a snack

crumbs EVERYWHERE.

go to the bathroom and cry

revacuum, revacuum, revacuum

give up

Mark thinks I am a lousy house keeper

And I'll admit

I'm not great at it

Hell, I'm not even good at it

But it's not for a lack of trying

And after breakfast this morning,

it needs to be done again

(get off the computer and vacuum right?)

Enough of that...

Here's what Connor got

A letter

in the mail

from my nephew

Cutest thing I have ever seen

He had to write it for  school

And here is what Colton's got

some worn the heck out Thomas boots

but lucky for him he will be getting Connor's batman boots

And the oldest gets the new

FAIR?

I heart you

And this day

not because I'm a sucker for all this love mush

but because I'm a whore

a chocolate whore

It's no secret

I have already raided the boys candy

The boys have made lots of hearts over the last several

snow days

weeks

we even copied a valentine idea from last year

and made crayon hearts

Super cute idea

But sometimes being crafty is just way more work than fun

I was up last night finishing everyones valentine's 

I felt like I was in high school again

Last minute doing homework

This morning I gave the boys chocolate

Holy Batman

Thank heavens Colton had school today

KID WAS WIRED

literally turning circles

I "worked" the party at Connor's school today

I love that

PTA here I come

Forced the boys to sit for a V-day pic

always with next year's calendar in mind

I was going to have them shirts made

but dropped the ball on that one

So my hand made signs had to do

It says

I heart mommy

if you can't tell

Hubs brought me home roses

I go him a card

I'll call it even

I am going to cook him dinner tonight

if he will do bath and bedtime

I love you Mark

I love you Connor, Colton, and Christian

I love you all my sweet family and friends

And I love my bloggies

who have become quite the sounding board for me

giving me advice when needed

and telling me when to stick it when I need that too

I bought chocolate for all of you

But I ate it

get over it

Shout out 

Happy Birthday to my pops

and happy adoption to my puppies

Precious-on the right

8 years ago

Frisco-on the left

7 years ago

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope cupid fills you up with love today

What I've Learned

• My new washer and dryer hold a LOT of clothes. It's great. I can do laundry twice a week or just one load a day if I want. But doing massive loads means you have to put UP massive loads-ggrrr!
• Melted snow=NASTY! I love the snow. It is gorgeous. I really don't even mind staying home so much. It is certainly better for everyone's napping schedule when we just stay home. 
• We have a lot of birds, specifically red birds. They are easy to spot in the bare trees, especially with a blanket of white on the ground. I bought a bird feeder.
• Colton's "blankies" have bad static electricity. You can really tell at night when they actually spark. Kind of freaks me out.
• Connor can read! But mostly he is just memorizing the story. I find it a bit irritating.
• Blowing my nose so much lately is making me really dizzy. 
• I'm tired of being fat! I may have hit rock bottom today.
• When you live in an old(er) home at winter time....brrr rabbit! The boys windows had ice on the inside. You can feel major cold breezes by all the doors. I have the rolled up towel "snake" at the doors. 

Here is what I have NOT learned lately

• How to get the birds to find my bird feeder. I hung it on the deck from a planter hook for now. I don't want to keep it there because I don't want the birds pooping on my deck, but I will need to purchase a hanger of some sort or find a good tree limb when the snow is gone.
• How to get Connor to read more and memorize less! Is this part of the normal stages of learning to read?
• How to get those clothes to fold themselves!

What have you learned (or not learned) lately?

Boy Talk

Connor hugging on Mark:
Con-Daddy I don't want you to leave
Mark-Daddy has to go to work
Con-I don't want you to go to work
Mark-Daddy has to work to pay for your legos
Con-OK, I want you to work alot

The boys and I are shopping at Target
Connor is grabbing himself
Me-Con, are you ok, do you have to go potty?
Con-No, it's just so long I need to hold it up
Me-(after I pick myself up off the floor from laughing so hard) What are you talking about?
Con-my pants, they're too long
Me-oh, ok!

To Colton:
ME-what's mommy's name?
Colton-gan
Me-Where do you live"
Colton-hohoma
Me-that's how I feel about it sometimes too

Colton-headed to the bathroom and trying to shut the door
Colton-I need pie-cee
Me-you need a potty seat?
Colton-No, I need pie-cee
Me-What? You need a potty seat?
Colton-NO!!! I NEED PIE-CEE (and shuts the door)
Me-oh, you need privacy?!
Colton-That's what I said. I need pie-cee
Me-hey! I can respect that

Hope my boys brought a smile to your face today!

REDRUM REDRUM

Do you ever feel like you're trapped in a freaky movie

Try being stuck at home for 4 days

with 3 kids

2 dogs

and NO husband

You might have a little freaky moment or two

We did not leave the house for 2 straight days

Not totally uncommon

But when mother nature tells you that you can't

Well of course it's all you can think about

The boys managed to play outside for all of 10 minutes

It was way too cold

And I could not take Christian out

Which means I could not go out with the big boys

DARN the LUCK

By day 3

 I was over it

And out of most food

We braved it and headed out for Chick for lunch

Then I picked up Connor's BFF for a playdate

At least there was someone to help entertain for a couple of hours

Day 5

The cupboards were bare

It was the day before grocery day anyway

But the snow had started again that morning

Nothing big

The kind of snowfall that is gorgeous to watch

and under normal circumstances would not do much harm

That stuff fell ALL.DAY.LONG.

Seriously

So all the tracks that had been made in the driveways

COVERED AGAIN

I had to go get food

So while Connor was at his buddy's house

The other 2 boys and I headed out

The city had finally gotten all the roads plowed

So it was very drivable

I decided to go to the grocery store right across the street

They were plowing the parking lot

but it was pretty crowded

And since I am not crazy about that store

We headed to the neighborhood Walmart

It's parking lot was a mushy disaster

So I decided to try Target

At least they have bigger shopping carts so both boys could ride

SCORE

their lot was not too bad

But they were out of everything

Of course they usually are

***side note to any Target employees, could you please work on your speed of stocking the shelves? This is really annoying****

On the way home I encountered a small problem

On the ever so slight hill on my street

UM, YEAH

I could not get up the damn thing

I got half way up

and rolled back down

Got half way up

and rolled back down

The entire time a nice little crew of yard workers 3 houses up

were just watching

No one offered to come help the stupid lady who couldn't get up the hill

I would have just parked and walked the rest of the way home

But I had a car full of groceries

Finally on the third of fourth try

and steering it clear to the left

almost on the curb

I made it

I wanted to shoot the helpless yardies the bird

But I didn't

I gave a victory cheer instead

In all my sliding backwards down the hill

I was reminded of my dad taking us out to do doughnuts when we were little

We had an orange fiesta car

stick shift

and on icy occasions we would go the abandoned Fred's parking lot

My dad would throw it in neutral and pull up the emergency brake

Now that's fun

I don't know if that's exactly how it happened 

but it sounds good, so go with it

The snow is beautiful

When it's white as far as your eye can see

And during the day with the sun shines on the ground

It can cast a wonderful glow inside your house

that is different,brighter than you would usually have

And when it melts

It is a nasty, muddy, slushy mess

We are expecting more snow this week

Nothing like last week 

But truth be told

I didn't mind it so much

The way I loathe our schedule

I am glad when we don't have to go to school

It's not like I get a break 

In fact it's better with everyone home

Cause naps don't get shortened or missed

It's during these home bound times that I wish

I were a better cook

or baker

or crafter

But I am pretty good with the wii

And I make a mean bucket of popcorn

snow on my friends

snow on

Blizzard 2011

Day 1

I say day 1

not because we are getting more snow

but because we will be stuck inside 

ALL

DAY 

LONG

again tomorrow

The snow and winds came in over night

So we woke up to this

A good 7 or 8 inches of snow

and major snow drifts

The wind blew all day long

Still going actually

Mark suited up this morning to shovel the driveway

So he, in his brilliance, could go to work

I swear he could rob a bank dressed like this

HA

He got stuck only a couple of times there and back

But when your boss lives walking distance from the office

You gotta show up

I had already grocery shopped over the weekend

And Sunday night had taken an outing to cruise Target

for some alone time

But did not get anything "needed" for the storm

because, quite frankly,

I assumed the weather guy was over talking the whole bit

like the previous 

So I went back Monday morning

killing time really between Colton school drop off and Connor swim lessons

I picked up these ugly snow boots for $9

That store was a mad house

I have not seen lines like that in a long time

CRAZINESS!!!

This picture is outside the basement doors

It is underneath our deck

You can tell how bad the wind was blowing the snow

Explaining to a 3 and 4 year old

42 times

why they cannot go out and play in this winter wonderland

sucks!!!

It only got 9degrees today

And the wind was unbelievably cold

After Mark finally made his way home this afternoon

And the wind had died down some

I did get the guys out for a picture

It took longer to get them dressed 

then they spent outside

The boys looked like the kid from

"A Christmas Story"

when he was padded up with clothes that

he couldn't even bend his arms

Frisco loved it

I swear he is a cold weather dog

He kept "asking" to go outside today

And he would run along the fence 

looking for his neighbor doggy friend

who of course was inside

The boys are 3 for 3 with snotty noses

I am sure our 2 and half minute outing today did not help

We played lots of Wii

and watched a movie

Not sure whats in store for tomorrow

Maybe some arts and crafts

and lego organization

Mark leaves tomorrow for his boy trip

I "gave" it to him for Christmas

Well, I gave him permission to go Thursday thru Sunday

meaning, I would not bitch and moan

And let him enjoy himself

Now it has turned into Wednesday thru Monday

Not sure how I feel about that

but what evs!

He deserves a break too

And is quite excited

Originally I was going to drive him to the airport

UM, yeah, not gonna happen now

He might have to transport himself in this snowy mess

Writer's Block

Or just not in the mood?

I have no excuse really for my absence

Not much is going on

Does anyone really want to read about 

weekly swimming lessons

or my trip to the grocery

highly doubtful!!

I have been spending my time entertaining the boys

 I can now officially call my littlest a walker

He is walking more than crawling 

MY GOD! It's about to get real crazy around here

With a 3rd walker 

and these two:

You would think just chasing after them I could drop 30 pounds

but NO!

It's not working

(that's a whole other issue that's about to beat me down)

Connor had open house at his school last week

It was also dinosaur week

He made this clay stegosaurus

 And this guy

 complete with q-tip skeleton

I love this one

We were getting ready for dinner the other night

and he wanted to sit at the table

instead of the counter

Fine by me

He set it himself 

with no instructions

did you notice the knife, spoon, and fork!

Pretty smart kid I tell ya

When I asked him where he learned that

(cause it sure as hell wasn't from me)

he said OSO

(show on the Disney channel)

Who said TV was bad?

Speaking of Disney

the vacation is being planned

will post on that later

We are up to our window sills in snow here today

It is too cold to outside and play

and windy

blizzard it was called

Kind of secretly glad

Playing in the snow is just miserable to me

 if it is for more than 5 minutes

I have been Debbie Downer again lately

Feeling very lonely out in OKC

That's all I got 

toodles