Ok...so maybe I am a lame cheater?

I have not posted since last Monday? Seriously? Geez. Sorry. Anyway, back to the lame cheater part. I have been blog hopping this morning, you know, because I have hours to sit and do nothing this morning. Nothing better to do. Ha! Yea right. I commented on a post in a community that I belong to and got a few visitors. One of the ladies was nice enough to leave me a link back to her blog and I found this...ok, so the cheater part...today is not Friday and I needed a quick blog post to let you know I was still alive. So here we go. She does a thing at her blog called Five Question Friday and it looked fun.



These were the questions and here is what you are supposed to do. Copy and paste them to your blog then go back to her post, if you like and link up to join the fun. I think I might try to do this weekly. What do ya think? Sound fun?

1. Would you ever vacation alone?


2. Do you go the speed limit?


3. Why did you start blogging/following blogs?


4. Where do you shop for yourself?


5. What was the song that you danced your first dance with your spouse to at your wedding...or...what song would you like your first dance to be to?

So...here are my answers.


1. Would you ever vacation alone?

Humm, well...actually, I probably would have at a different time in my life. I would not now because I would not want to leave my wonderful husband or our children at home. I would love to go on a get away with just my hubby, but when the kids are older. Back before Boog came along, when the other two were older, we took weekend get aways sometimes monthly or at least every few months. Boy have times changed! I cannot imagine leaving my two little sweeties over night, muchless for a weekend!

2. Do you go the speed limit?

My answer is complicated here. I mostly do the speed limit. On the freeway, I might go about 5 mph over but not usually more than that. Sometimes I go faster. In more residential(ish) areas, I nearly always go the speed limit. So...my answer is mostly.

3. Why did you start blogging/following blogs?

Wow...let me see. I started following blogs when a friend of mine gave me the link to hers so that I could see her daughter's halloween costume. At that time, I really was not aware that there were actual blogs that were like a website. Duh!?! I thought they were just mainly something that people did on myspace under the blog section. Haha. Look how far I have come. I think that was a little over 2 years ago. Maybe 3 but I cannot remember. As for starting a blog, I started one in early 2008 when I was pregnant with Tutti-Frutti but really did not do much with it. I did not know what to write about, what to post pictures of, if anyone would even read it. I started actually giving the address out to family in emails when they would email to ask how we have been and for me to send them some pictures of the kids. I used to put albums up on snapfish all of the time and then email them all links and it was draining at times. I had to remember to make sure that EVERYONE got the email invite to view the pictures or I was toast. If someone got it and not someone else, there was major explaining to do. This ended up being a lot easier for me to keep up with. Until Tutti-Frutti got mobile that is! I decided to try to keep up with it because it is a great place for far away family and friends to catch up on what is going on with us and see recent pictures of the kiddos.

4. Where do you shop for yourself?

Shop for myself? Seriously?!? I do not really shop for myself but I guess when I do it depends on what I am buying. I shop at Bath and Body Works because I love their body washes and lotions, I love Old Navy and Kohl's for clothes, and I love me some Target! I do not even have to have a reason to go to Target, but I usually do not end up buying myself anything there. I really only buy things for the kids unless I JUST NEED something.

5. What was the song that you danced your first dance with your spouse to at your wedding...or...what song would you like your first dance to be to?


Are you kidding? I am Baptist, we do not dance! Har dee har har! Ok, seriuosly I was raised Baptist and as a general rule, they do not dance, I do! But, as for a wedding dance, it did not happen. We got married in Vegas! Woo hoo! We love to dance though, some of my fondest memories from early in our relationship are of us dancing. Not necessarily to soft, sweet, slow songs though! Ha! As a matter of fact, we danced just last night. If I had to pick a slow, sweet song for a dance with my husband, it would probably stress me out. There are a lot of great songs for that. My mind just seems to have drawn a blank right now. Get back with me later if you really really want an answer to what my all time favorite soft sweet slow dance with my wonderfully sexy husband would be.

Hey, that was actually pretty fun. Maybe I should have a Q&A post sometime. What do you think? Leave a comment if you would like to see that happen and tell me what you want to know. Humm, I could be asking for serious trouble!

If you enjoyed this, head over to My Little Life and let Mama M know, you should give this a try too, it was fun and I did not have to come up with something new and orginal today! Yay, it was a win/win!

Not me! Monday

Welcome to Not me! Monday, where we can be brutally honest and live to tell about it.

There is no way that today I was considering taking a day off and not doing Not me! Monday because honestly...I didn't think I had anything. Nope, not me!

This morning when we got up, it was not me who had completely forgotten about an appointment for Boog at the ENT that we have been waiting for for several months. Nope, not me. I keep everything on my calendar and set reminders and reminders for the reminders. I would never forget an appointment.

Upon remembering the appointment at 7am, it was not me who began to freak out and rush and try to get kids up and ready and myself into the shower. Nope, we had a leisurely morning getting ready for schoool. I would never rush my children in the mornings, especially because I myself had forgotten about something.

It was not me that had forgotten that Sour Apple had one more basketball game, TODAY after school. It was not me who did not find this out until we were pulling into school. Of course, it is also not me who will be taking a basketball uniform to the school on my way home from Boog's appointment. Nope, we are prepared and always ready for anything!

It was not me who on the way to school was about to get seriously hacked off at my car because it would not warm up this morning. Our crazy Texas weather always has us guessing so it was not me this morning who did not start the car 15 minutes before we left. It was not me who discovered once we were half way to school that the reason my car would not warm up is because the thermostat was half in the middle of hot and cold! Oops!

It was not me who once arriving back home, tried to let the dog outside by opening the pantry door! Nope, I know what I am doing every second of every day! I would never make an idiot of myself! NEVER!

Lastly, it was not me, with lots of help from Sour Apple that spent most of the weekend cleaning and organizing the downstairs and playroom. Nope, I mean seriously...the playroom? Why on earth would we do that? You know as well as I do that as soon as these two little creatures get in there to play, it will be back in the shape it was in, if not worse, in less than half an hour!

Wheew...Ok, off to finish getting ready for the appointment that I did not forget about!

Happy Not me'ing! Now head on over to MckMama's and join the fun because she will not be hosting a Not me today...I mean seriously, she was on a cruise last week, no way she'll join the fun!

Ice Skating...take 2

Ok...as promised here are pictures from our second round of ice skating. But...consider yourself warned, picture quality is awful. Rest assured we all had a great time (most of us anyway) on the ice. It was cold, dark and the little one was cranky, we swapped out on who was taking pictures, we have red eyes, shadows and babies pulling on arms...you name it and it probably contributed to the picture taking ability!

Good news is, we ran into friends and family while there!

At this rink, they had little walker type things for the little people to skate with, Boog was gettin' after it! The only complaint we had was they only had the double blade skates that buckled over shoes and they were hard to keep on. The place we went before, the double blades were actually boot skates with a double blade, much better, but...



Movin' right along.



Big brother taking little brother for a quick spin. He loved it when we took turns pushing him fast around the rink. Sorry to say (well maybe not sorry) that there are not any pictures of me pushing him around the rink! I do have some of Lemon Drop's friend pushing him but do not have permission (well, actually I just did not ask) to post them.



Big sister and little brother, and yes, I know she is blurry. Refer to top of post! Haha



The older kids skating along, or holding on in Lemon Drop's case...she did a lot of holding on. I do not think she got skates that actually fit right until right before we left.



Silly girl.



Here we go...she is actually skating here. Way to go! Woo hoo!



A shot of the cousins (well, part of them we were missing the 2 little brothers in this picture) they had such a great time skating together.



We really did have a great time and it worked out perfectly that it was actually cold (like really cold) when we went. It made it more of a real experience for the kids. Living in Texas, they do not get many "real winter" experiences.

Boog's Snow Day

Thursday, Boog's school had snow brought in for the kids to play in. They had a big slide covered with snow and a square(ish) area of snow for them to dig in, have snowball fights, walk around in...you know, whatever they wanted to do. Why oh why could this not have been a few weeks ago when our daily high was somewhere below freezing? Oh well, who doesn't want to play in the snow when it is 72 balmy degrees outside? Although, by the way the kiddos were dressed, you would have never been able to tell it was a warm day.

When I arrived, the kiddos were still in chapel. They were learning about Jonah and the whale. After hearing the story and answering questions, they were able to "crawl into the belly of the whale" (which was a tunnel covered with paper to look like a whale) and be spit from the other end. As each child would enter the belly of the whale, the teacher and other students would pretend to uh, uh, uh putuey...and out would fly the child from the mouth of the whale. They had a blast...

In goes Boog...uh, uh, uh putuey...



and out he shoots...



quite pleased with himself actually!



Checking out the snow before trying it out...my careful child...



loading up for the first ride



situating...



get ready



get set



here we go



ooooh, what have i done?



woah...



wheew, i made it



playing in the snow



affter a tandem ride with a friend



after a rough landing, remember it is 72 degrees and snow does not like 72



playing with friends



snowball fight



stopping by for a quick picture



after another muddy tumble, glad I put the jacket on him. He does not like to get dirty and he had already asked to go in and change!



watching



that was funny



uh...I don't know



digging in the snow



watching friends slide



look who got some snow



wonder what he's thinking?



I love this picture. My beautiful boy who did not want to turn 4, who is already planning to turn 5...saying he is almost 5 actually. Sigh...where does the time go?



I love this kid.



Humm...I wonder...



Let's see, they just said to never eat yellow snow...



This does not look yellow to me. I'll just give it a little lick while no one is looking.



Mmm, forget a little lick...



just shove it all in



mmm tasty



crunchy



cold



my 4 year old, wanna be 5 year old beauty.

Save the day...part 2

Haha, like the to be continued?

Ok, where was I? Oh yea, DQ...long line...not seeing anyone I knew. Right!

So, instead of just waiting in the line, I figure it is Sunday, at DQ...I am not going to know anyone. I do not know anyone who goes to DQ as much as I do. I never see anyone here that I know. The place was packed, but still...

I should probably back track a bit here and tell you about my "I'm not so secretly in love with our pizza guy" story. Ok, so that is a bit of an over exaggeration but stay with me here. He is Italian...owns his own pizza place here in town, we go really often, he calls the ladies honey, darling and dear, in his oh so sexy Italian accent (and before you get to worried...this is nothing my husband does not know, it is our little joke.) I should mention too that my husband is Italian but he does not talk like this...Anyway, it is not that "the pizza guy" is all that good looking really. I mean he is a 40something year old guy, average looking I guess but it is totally the accent that will knock your socks off. Ok...there is the "set up." You totally see where I am going with this, right?

So anyway, I think, "Ok, I'll just run in really quick and be right back out, unrecognized and carry on about my day." So in I go, cash in hand ready to purchase the beloved dipped cone and Dilly Bars for the kiddos when what do I hear behind me but, "Hello darlin'. Have not seen you in a while, how are you doing?" Oh my...thought I was just going to pass out and die, right there.

That's what I get for looking like a lazy bum on a Sunday. Maybe it will get me out of my "I'm gonna stay in pjs till bed time kick!" Nah, I doubt it. He told me I looked nice anyway...

Not me! Monday

Welcome to Not me! Monday, where we can be brutally honest and live to tell about it.

I am not totally sure if there will be a link up at MckMama's today, but I thought I would carry on. I do have a pretty good not me...hehe.

While picking up a few (ok maybe not a few) things at Sam's Club the other day, my wonderful hubby and I did not see that they now carry Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake and there were not 3 different flavors in one box and 2 of the 3 were not our favorite flavors! I mean seriously, how lucky would we be if that were to have been the case?!? I love you White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle...I do!

I did not seriously debate whether or not to actually attend my high school reunion that was last night. Nope, I knew I wanted to go all along. I never once thought, well...we could always leave early and do something else, I mean we do have a babysitter so the kids are good. Nope, that would have been rude. I mean seriously, I grew up with these people!

Back to the cheesecake...after dinner the other night, we did not realize that we should have taken the cheesecake out of the freezer hours earlier so it could be thawing while we messed around so we could enjoy it after dinner. My wonderful hubby took it out of the box and removed the little pieces of wax paper and neatly arranged them on a plate to thaw. It was not me who verbally assaulted him, demanding to know where he put the little pieces of cheesecake smeared wax papers. It was really not me who then proceed to take them back out of the box and lick them clean. Nope, I mean seriously...I have more self control than that! Who does that???

It was not me who on Sunday went out in public with 3 children dressed in their pjs still, while being dressed myself in sweat pants, a baggy tshirt and boots with my hair pulled back, all because I was too lazy to get anyone dressed and ready. I would never take my beautiful babies out in their pjs. What kind of parent do you think I am anyway?

It is not my dog who is outside right now because he managed to wreck himself and has turned the lower half of his body from white to black! It is not me who is going to ask in my sweetest most sincere voice ever if my husband will clean him up when he gets home!

I am not excited that the kids are out of school tomorrow! Not that I will get to sleep in, but you never know...I might just stay in my pjs again all day!

It is not me who wrote a post yesterday and then right in the middle of the story ended with, "to be continued..." Nope, I would never leave my readers hanging like that just to see if they will actually come back...hehe

Ok, that is about it for me. What did you not do? I would steer you on over to MckMama's but she is on a cruise right now so I do not know if she is going to put up a link. I guess it is worth a try. I mean she is probably in her room sulking right now because she is not having a wonderful time at all!

Have a wonderful Monday and enjoy your not me'ing!

Here I come to save the day...

Mmmm good. Finally got my DQ dipped cone today and boy was it good.

Last night was my highschool reunion. We went. It was fun. Not a lot of people from my graduating class there though. It was a combined reunion of sorts. Everyone who had ever graduated from my small school was invited. I would say there were maybe around 50ish people there. I did not know all of them, recognized quite a few though. One of my BFFs was there with her husband and little girl, another was supposed to come but for some reason did not show up nor did she call. I do not know what is up with that. Quite a few faces that I had not seen in years, some I see fairly often. It was great to see them though, I think we should do it again sometime.

The (we will call it a party because I do not think it was a formal reunion) reunion was at a (I am not sure if you call it a bar) place on the lake. They play music and sell drinks so maybe it is a bar...well, they have food too. Humm, I wonder. Anyway, back to the story, there is a point I am trying to make here believe it or not. My parents came over to watch the kiddos and we left around 5:30 for dinner, mmm sushi. (insert the licking of my lips here) We made it out to the party around 7:15ish and finally decided to go in around 7:35. Said hello to a few people and had a seat by the door, you know...the welcoming committee. There was smoking and drinking to be done...(woah there, not by us...calm down) We are not smokers or drinkers. We have an occasional (would it qualify as occasional if I do not remember the last drink I had because it was many YEARS ago?) drink but just really have no interest in it. Geez, I sound like an old lady. Back to my point...ADHD (did you see that rabbit? LOL) There was a lot of smoking. I cannot stand smoke, makes my eyes hurt, makes my throat hurt, makes me just feel crummy. The company was good so we tolerated it. People continued coming until we were ready to leave but as some were coming, others were leaving. We left a little before midnight, had to get home before we turned into pumpkins.

I guess I probably went to bed somewhere after 1am because I had been texting friends who were too chicken to come (not mentioning any names...hehe) to fill them in on the nights happenings. By the time I went to sleep, I was beat. I could hardly hold my eyes open any longer. Tutti-Frutti woke me up at 5:30 that morning so it had been a looong day already. He has been getting up so dang early and for no apparent reason. Of course when he wakes up, Boog wakes up and there is no hope for a nap. Ugg...

I woke up with the most horrid headache I have had in a while. I honestly felt like I was hung over, like I had drank and partied all night long. And I can honestly tell you that all I had to drink was water at dinner. I have felt horrid all day. Took a shower, that didn't help, someone would not take a nap, that didn't help. A few others were being loud, that did not help. All I can come up with is that it must have been the smoke. Which puts a very important piece in a puzzle that I had not thought about in years...I do not think it was the vodka causing the headaches afterall! LOL. Back in the day, when I would have a little bit more than the occasional drink, one of my favorites was vodka sweet and sours. I would have one or so and wake up feeling like I was going to die. Worst hangover in history. I never could figure out what the deal was because I could drink anything else and never have an issue. But thinking back, I think it must have been the smoke. Too bad I do not drink...I could try out my theory. Nah...

So, after feeling like blah (you know what) all day, I finally drug myself and 3/4 of the kids out and we drove thru the Taco Bell over by the house. I thought maybe eating and some Dr Pepper might do the trick...I felt a little better. I thought for a minute and decided it would be nice of me to take the kids thru DQ for a treat...got a dipped cone and I must say I feel much better now! Thanks DQ, I think your new motto should be, "Here I come to save the day!"

Oh yea...forgot to mention that the kids were all still in their pjs, I have on sweats a tshirt and boots. What's the harm in that, right? We were only going thru the drive thru, right? We would not see anyone, right? Made it thru Taco Bell...got to DQ, the line was horrible so I thought...I will not see anyone I know, right?

To be continued...

Silly boy...

Last week Boog brought home an Epiphany candle from school. We are supposed to light it each night at dinner, say a prayer and each say something we are thankful for. It has been a neat thing to do with the children. Seeing what each of them has to say is heartwarming. Boog has been the funny thankful one, he is not really at the age to understand what being thankful is all about, he knows that he is thankful for material things but thinks it is somewhat funny when you list people as what you are thankful for.

Anyway, we have been lighting the candle each night and everyone continues to have nice things to say. Boog is always the one that blows the candle out after dinner. I guess somehow or some time in the last few days we had been discussing his birthday (which by the way is not until the middle/end of April) and he thought about it when we were sitting down to start dinner. As I was lighting the candle, he asked us if we were going to sing Happy Birthday to him. We all snickered and told him that it was not his birthday, to which he responded that it is almost his birthday...

Needless to say, here we are in the beginning of January, singing Happy Birthday Dear Boog...it made his day.

We have such a silly boy. Of course, Daddy's birthday is a week before Boog's so we asked if we could sing to Daddy first. Nah, that was not happening. That kid is too funny.

Ice Skating...take 1

The weekend after Christmas, we took the boys ice skating. I was all geared up and ready to take them before, but the weather was bad and the little one was still sick. Then I thought Christmas Eve or Christmas night would be good but we ended up missing those too. So...Sunday after Christmas, we picked Daddy up from work and went on our merry way. Thinking back, we should have waited until Monday and picked him up. The place was packed so Monday would have probably been a better choice.

Stepping down on to the ice, notice the sign to the left. Ha! They have no idea!



There were so many people, it was hard to get focused on my family to get a shot. But, here are a few...strange people and all. Sour Apple, concentrating hard.



Daddy and Boog.



again



Looks like he is miserable! He assured us he was having fun though.



The had a small square of blocked off ice for the little folks. Boog loved playing in there. He was getting really good and working the skates.



I am sure if we lived somewhere where we could do this more often, he would get really good, fast.



He had a blast!



This one just sat and watched...and got cold hands.



Fun times!



He even liked to fall I think.



Those are some big ole skates!



Daddy



Go Daddy!



Daddy and the big boy.



I can't find my hands!



Looks like I am really moving along!



He would be really good too. He did quite well too considering it has been years since we have been.



Me? Well, my feet hurt...and I was afraid to fall. I did pretty well too though, considering. I was more afraid of little kids falling in front of me. There was no way I could stop.



Boog decided that he could even skate out there without holding our hands. Until this little girl came skidding into him. I grabbed her, a man beside me grabbed Boog, neither of them were hurt thankfully, but it scared Boog.



After skating, we walked around the park to check things out and look for a place to eat. Something smelled wonderful. We never found out what it was though. The little burger joint was super expensive so we decided to leave and get something on the way home. But while we were there looking around, we were approached by a homeless guy, asking for money. He told us his story, how he had gotten in this prediciment and a few other things about himself. My husband only had $2 on him thankfully. I am always weary about handing out cash, so I offered to just buy him dinner. You could tell he was thankful. He inhaled half the food while we were still there, my husband talked to him a bit more while I got the food. I think he did not want to seem to eager to inhale it all but I am pretty sure he did after we left. It was obvious he had not eaten in a while. I cannot imagine being in that place. It broke my heart. It was a great teaching moment for the kids and I am glad my husband is the giving man that he is so that our kids will grow up watching a man that has compassion for others.

It has been super cold around here this last week (we love it!) and I have received several emails from groups that I have been a part of, asking for donations of coats, sleeping bags, blankets and such. One group was donating to the Salvation Army for the homeless and another was donating to a homeless shelter. I took in 4 adult sleeping bags and 2 child sized ones. I have been thinking a lot about our homeless friend and hoping and praying all is well with him. He truly seems like a guy that was at the wrong place at the wrong time and some bad things have happened recently. I hope he was able to find a warm place to stay.