Eat out...it saves your sanity!

A cousin recently posted about all the yummy things she has made in the first 22+ days of marriage. I remember those days. Now days this is how dinner goes. Walk to gas stove with open flame and put pan on stove. Step over 10 month old crying & crawling on the floor because nobody will hold him. Remove 2-year-old from off the stool in front of the stove. Step over 10 month old still crying with 2 yr old now joining in. Move stool out of kitchen. Go back to stove and remove the 4 year old from in front of it. Step over 10 month old. Move second stool out. Turn around to see the 2yr old & 4 yr old both standing on the first stool in front of the stove, pushing each other, scratching, hitting and calling each other "stupid fat". Now baby is holding on to foot screaming and 6 yr old has turned on the Disney Channel at full volume. Ask 6 yr old to please turn it down. Turns it down by 1 bar. 10 yr old comes in and asks whats for dinner. Informs that its yuchy and sheis not eating and stomps upstairs. 12 yr old comes in and proceeds to make everybody cry and scream. Pot is now boiling over. Its 6:40 and I'm still not half done. Guess we'll be eating at 7:30...again.

So please cousin dear, enjoy your carefree cooking days. They are numbered.

Another Parenting Milestone

Last night Steve and I performed MacGyver-style nasal surgery using only a flaslight and a pair of tweezers. What makes kids think...hmmm, my life will never be complete unless I shove a piece of corn up my nose. Then listening to Kenna scream her head off as we went (literally) fishing for gold, Isabelle wanted to make sure she didn't miss any of the excitement and SHE stuffed corn up her nose. At least last night's antics didn't include a trip to the ER. I suppose that's all you can ask for since you apparently can't ask for common sense in children.

You're Stupid, Fat and Poo-poo

We've recently had problems with Isabelle calling people fat. She will say things like "Mom, that man is fat." She also points out who in the family is fat. Steve and I can't figure out where this obsession came from. We purposely don't talk about weight at home having one extremely thin daughter and one curvy daughter. I worry the correlation between saying things like "I look so fat" to causing eating disorders in girls. So we've tried to tell Isabelle that it's rude. (Which it is). We've tried to tell her that it hurts people's feelings. (Which it does). Nothing has worked, and finally we told her that it's a BAD word. Which is why now when she's mad and insults us she has added "fat" to her repertoire of her old favorites "stupid & poo-poo"

Lemonade Mouth, New Orleans and Other Things

I had the best couple of days ever! I had a spa day and it was fabulous. I have had massages and I've had pedicures but never have I had a massage/pedicure/facial all at once. Oh, and I went with Steve to New Orleans on a business trip. Just kidding, New Orleans was better than the spa trip at the hotel. I've never been to New Orleans before so I had a blast. Steve and I went to the aquarium, took a riverboat tour, ghost tour, city tour and swamp tour. Since we had a limited amount of time and no transportation, that seemed like the best way to see the city. I also went on a tour of the World of Mardi Gras Warehouse where 80% of mardi gras floats are made. It is a very interesting process and I learned that eevery year during a 2 week period around Easter there are 54 parades, each consisiting of 14-32 floats. On the ghost tour I learned a bad tour guide makes it cheesy not spooky. On the city tour I learned that they bury their dead above ground so they don't pop out of the ground and body surf during floods. And on the swamp tour I learned that alligators like marshmellow and weenie roasts just as much as we do.

I also realized on the way to the airport that I had Texas cousins close enough to possibly visit. So if they feel like shunning me for not calling...sorry.

On the way home from New Orleans we had a short layover in L.A. In the airport we ran into 3 of the actors from the Disney Channel movie, "Lemonade Mouth." (They also happen to be on Zeke & Luther, Good Luck Charlie and Wizards of Waverly Place sitcoms). If you don't have kids old enough to be into the sitcom/movies on Disney or just don't have that channel then I say...lucky you! However, Katie, our 6-yr old is obessed with these shows. She knows all the episodes, characters, actor's real names and all shows they have been on. I am surprised at what she knows. She was so excited she wanted to get on the plane and go to L.A. and find them as if these kids actually live in the airport.