Returns

I'm not talking about returning all the silly gifts you got for Christmas, like the pancake flipper pan.

I'm talking about me returning to blog land.

To return 

or 

not to return

that is the question

There is so much going on in my life that I would love to share and plenty of things of would love to be able to "talk" about with the bloggy friends I actually know and those who I feel like I know.  I suck at new years resolutions and I am fearful of quitting this again. And the truth is I am not 100% sure why I stopped blogging 3  8 months ago. Some of it was boredom. Partially it was time. But I believe most of it was a funk. I get it them every now and again and it can take a long time to return to normal. Ok, so I am never normal  but you know what I mean. And a new year, a new beginning if you will, seems like the perfect way to make some much needed changes. And blogging is a good relief of your own stresses and following other peoples stories is fun. 

Over the last half a year, I have been trying to read everyones posts. But it seems a lot of folks have slowed down on posting all their tidbits. Is anyone still out there. Does anyone still care?

So the question remains....

should I blog again?

And Frisco would like to wish you a 

love you
Jann

Hello Doctor

Hello Dr, it's Jann. Listen, could you please triple my zoloft mg and call in a Zanax or 2 for me. I have a 2 year old......

He likes to paint!

 I was in the kitchen with Connor and came in to find him helping himself to the blue paint.

 All over the freaking floor. 

Thank GOD it was kids washable paint.

 I got him all set up on the table instead. 

He was happy.

I went to fix dinner....

He had the washable paint all over. 

I am pretty sure he used up all 4 bottles worth. 

It's my fault. 

We had been painting yesterday and I did not put it back into the cabinet.

 It was sitting out on the desk. 

So I took it all away. 

Went back into the kitchen. 

Big mistake

HUGE

When am I going to freaking learn. 

He found the non kids washable paint. 

This is art paint.

 An entire bottle of art paint on the floor. 

And all over him

It washed off of him pretty well. The bath tub might be  stained for life and I'm pretty sure if we hadn't just spent and ungodly amount of money on the flower beds, we would be shopping for new floors. I have steamed it several times. Guess I'm going to break out the paint thinners after everyone is in bed.


I know I haven't posted in ages, but this seemed immediate post worthy

Can I get that zanax and a bottle of wine now?

WTH

So obviously haven't posted in a while....ok ages! Wasn't planning on it today either. But I sat down to read my faces because I haven't even been doing that lately. I know, I SUCK!!!! But then I had to post...what's up with the new blogger "look". I almost couldn't even figure out to post.

Change stinks!
My heart stinks lately too! I'm in a "life sucks" kind of place and trying frantically to crawl out of it. More deets on that another time, maybe.

Other than that, we are alive and well. Headed to Dallas this weekend so I can go get my teeth cleaned Monday morning. I refuse to give up my dentist. She should feel very honored!

Ready for school to be out. Not sure if I am ready for 3 kids all day every day. Oh wait! I already do that. I might need a mental day or two first. A good pool side drunk fest with some girlfriends or my hubby could totally mentally prepare me for the next 3 months.

Promises to come back soon......

Spring Break

Day 2.....
BUST

Just thought I would share that my kids, okay just one of them, is killing me this morning. Guess that's what happens when he gets up at 5am....he's a brat by 8am.

Just saying

Sending Connor off for a play date and the little fellows are taking a nap. I have some cleaning to get done, laundry to fold, and birthday invitations to make.

Sunny and beautiful all last week and this week it's rainy and cold. Go figure. We have exhausted our lego playing, play dough making, and coloring all in 1 day. Now what??

What happened to Spring?

I had to turn on my AC on last night so we could sleep. I only turned the heat off a few days ago it seems. And where are my weeks of fresh air and open windows?

I am ready for the trees to turn green and the flowers to bloom (oh wait I don't have any flowers yet). But I want to see my curtains blowing in the breeze too.

I definitely have spring fever! Spring Break is next week and I cannot wait to not have to get up and go somewhere. School is kicking my butt. I am so ready for my job to be over! Of course with that means summer, and I don't necessarily want that much sun!


Time to get ready for the day.....

How Many???

This is a serious question peeps....
How many towels does one family or person need?

While doing some laundry today and tidying up (Oh shut up! It happens occasionally)
I discovered we have about 5000 towels. But we use the same 4!

Mark uses the same 4, that gets him through the week until laundry day. I have my couple faves. The boys still use hooded towels. Each bathroom has a cabinet above the toilet and they are all stuffed with towels. Under Mark's sink has several. Plus I still have a closet in the laundry room with half a dozen more at least.

I hate to have them all taking up space. I hate to get rid of them. What will I do when suddenly I have 35 guests over at 1 time who all need showers?

I laughed at myself today as I was looking at the freaking towels because not too long ago my neighbor was telling me she helped her mom work on her house one weekend. She said her mom was borderline hoarder! And she had about 40 towels that she made her throw out. I am so not a hoarder but where did the towels come from?

When Mark was living here for 6 months in an apartment before the family moved up, he had a couple sets. And he is notorious for being on his way to the gym in the mornings, where he showers more than at home, and realizes he forgot a towel. So he will run into walmart and buy one. That can account for at least a dozen. The rest? I don't know. Cause I'm pretty picky about towels. I like nice thick, fluffy ones. And I want the ones in each bathroom to match. Now it seems none of them do.

How many do you have?

Once Again

I completely suck at blogging lately. I have no excuses. I just haven't been in the mood. Truthfully I'm in I am way behind on my blogging. I have no excuses. I just haven't felt like it. I've been in a weird kind of funk that I need to get pulled out of...somebody help me please.

So I thought the easiest way to get caught up is to take it person by person. That will need to be done daily, so maybe that will help me get used to posting again. Or I could go back and finish the half dozen posts I have started in recent weeks. Either way, right?

So lets start tonight with my sweet baby Christian. Anyone need a 2 year old? I kid, sort of.  It's a darn good thing he's cute, because the monkey will run you bananas. You cannot leave him alone for a mili-second or you will pay for it. All though I have discovered that if I want, need, to fold laundry I can stick him in the tub to play and he is content for an hour. I have to put down a dozen towels to catch all the water he dumps out, therefore causing yet another load of wash! But hey, some things are worth it! And don't freak out that I'm leaving a kid in the tub. I am 4 steps away and he is chatting the whole time. 

He loves the trampoline. (Best thing EVER to all you moms out there) When I jump with him it's the best because my fat butt can bounce him super high!

He's still trying to figure out how to get his clothes on and off (the right way). I found him with his shirt like this during a nap. I'm still not sure how he slept comfortably. The shirt was so tangles around his body that I don't think he could move his arm?

He loves his doggy! And thank goodness Precious is getting very patient in her old age. This photo is bad, but that's her covered in hand towels. You know all the clean ones that Christian took from the half bath to cover her with, that now have to be washed.

We had to replace our water table (today actually) thanks to a lovely crack the old one sprung during the winter. Just the same, but a different color. Bought it at Wal-Mart this time, about $10 cheaper than Target! Makes me happy. It also makes a great water dish for Precious.

 And for Frisco

And for Christian

nut job

And yes

he's naked!

I mentioned earlier he was obsessed with taking his clothes off

He's also obsessed with suckers. Don't you just love how he took it upon himself to find the bag and open NOT 1, NOT 2, BUT 3 suckers for his enjoyment.

 It wouldn't be quite so bad if they had not been the "super hero" decorated suckers that I worked all afternoon on for Connor's class valentines. And of course I had the exact number made, now minus 3!

Another obsession....unloading the dishwasher. This kid had a lot of OBSESSIONS. What's the deal. Someone needs to have a chat with his mom. Maybe he needs some help. Oh wait that's me. Yeah, I'm on it. But I'm not gonna try and fix this one. I'm glad someone enjoys the dishes. I sure as heck don't. He gets to empty the silverware. It's suppose to be Connor's chore, but he never seems to mind. In fact, I think he must be encouraging him. I can almost hear him now, whispering so softly into Chris' ear "the most fun ever putting up the forks"! It's sweet really. The bad news my drawers now look like this....

 I just with it. My head feels like a big jumble like that most of the time so it's really not so out of place in my world to have your drawers a mess!

He's still putting crap in his hair! ALL THE TIME!

 I think this time it was hair gel and baby powder? The hair gel seems to be his favorite lately because he has learned how to unscrew the lid. And I move it to different places, he always seems to find it.

 Thirsty? Why wait for mom to fill up your cup. Help yourself there, kiddo!

Still a climber. Won't be long before he can actually get that deadbolt turned and the handle pushed down. It's called an alarm folks. That way you get the little "beep beep" noise whenever a door is opened.

We recently moved him from the crib to a bed. Not so much for him. But for all his crap!

 There was no room left for him. And since he could climb out....

 He was looking for more creative places to rest. I personally think this is one of the hardest transition, from a caged in crib to a all the freedom you want bed. It's still not mastered. Today he refused to settle down and nap. And 6 out of 7 nights, he wakes up and we have to go lay down with him. I did learn my lesson with that last time, and bought a better bed.

I think that's enough Christian news. I better get my rest to start chasing him tomorrow.  He has started saying Connor and Colton's name, not just Bubba. It's so sweet. And he still loves kissing. But now he has to kiss one cheek, then the other, then your lips. LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!! 

More on another kid tomorrow if I feel like it!

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