The Locked Cupboard

Our kids, some more than others, love to snack. We repeatedly find Jenna in the kitchen helping herself to whatever is in her reach. And if it's not in her reach she finds a way! It has gotten so bad that Jason decided to move all the snacks into the cupboard above the stove and put a lock on it. Now Jenna finds herself with a stool but no where to go. Jason tells our kids, "If you want something to snack on then eat a piece of fruit." Okay, I agree but. . . what I don't get is what then made Jason do the following. See we just started Eric on oatmeal and I wanted to start introducing him to fruits and vegetables. Since Jason was on base I asked him to pick up a few jars of squash, sweet potatoes and peas. But what does he come home with? I open the grocery bag and find, no kidding, coconut pudding, banana apple dessert and banana pudding.

To Jason, I say this, quoting the movie Ever After,

"If you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners corrupted from infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded, sire, but that you first make thieves and then punish them?"

So basically, let's get Eric hooked on sweets now, and then when he gets older let's punish him for being not being able to live without them. Needless to say, I quickly locked up Eric's desserts before he too entered this corrupt system.

A Date With Myself

It's a dangerous thing to give me a book. I can't sleep. I don't eat. I don't notice anything beyond the characters and plot of the book. It's wonderful and terrible at the same time. It's always amazing the time you can find to sneak in a paragraph here or a page or two there when you want to. And I did. This book had me at the get-go. It's called, The Thirteenth Tale. I loved it and now I'm paying for it. The condition of the house is proof. But it was worth it. I feel like I had a date with myself (I know that sounds wierd) and I had a great time. Hurry, quick, I need another one.

To my husband and kids who I somewhat neglected today and who didn't complain. Thanks!

Saved by the . . .Insurance Co.

I love our homeowners insurance. We've had a few storms this winter, a lot of rain, wind and hail. A month or so ago we noticed water marks in our Master bedroom and in the hallway. Uh oh. I was worried what that might mean for our pocketbooks. KA-CHING, right? Long story short, thanks to our insurance company, we are getting a new roof and new siding. We get new siding because they couldn't match the color to what we have now. You see it's a real unusual color. . it's white. Anyway, the roof guy came over today and we looked over samples and learned all about the different kinds of siding and roofing. Pretty exciting. I don't think it would have been as fun though if we were paying for it ourselves. It looks like we'll have a new house in a couple of weeks. What a blessing this is to us for resale since we will probably be putting our house on the market next summer. As I walked through the kitchen I told Jason that I knew something else that might help with the resale-the stove. It's old. I mean really old and besides that it doesn't work very well. He didn't even blink, probably because he realized how many thousands of dollars we just saved with our insurance, and said, "Well, let's start looking."

To answer the question that Jenna constantly asks me all day long, (so much so that I'm beginning to develop a complex) which is, "Are you happy?" I can definitely reply, "Yes. I'm happy!" Thanks insurance company.

I'll post a before and after picture when it's all finished.

Say "Cheese"

We need to get our family picture taken. My mother-in-law has been asking for one and the last time we had family pictures taken was a week before I was due with Eric and I was "great with child." I'd really like to have that one replaced ASAP. There's a problem. I have to trick Jason. See, he has an aversion to getting his picture taken. I take that back, not all pictures just POSED pictures. According to him it's, "Now smile and be phony." Okay, I can understand that. So I just have to find a photographer who can capture the "real" us. That might be even scarier come to think of it.

A friend of mine has a photography studio in Alaska. Since we are heading up there this summer I thought maybe we'd have our pictures taken during our visit. Last night, as I was looking at his work on his website I did a double take. Many of the pictures in his portfolio included people I knew. "Hey, I know her. . .and him . . . and them." Except everyone was older, but in a good way. Girls who I taught as teenagers were married. Families I once knew, now included spouses and a bunch of kids. I think that's what I love about pictures. They capture moments in time, whether posed and unposed and help us to REMEMBER. Now I just have to convince or trick Jason. Hey, if I can get my picture taken while 10 months pregnant then Jason can put on his phony smile and say, "cheese." Or I might just have to hire him his own personal jester to help capture the "real" him.

Those of you who used to live in Alaska, check out Stanton Photography and enjoy a trip down memory lane.

My Phantom

I'm tired. I got up a little earlier than usual with Eric. He's usually a great sleeper but today he wanted to eat around 4:30 am. It wasn't that big a deal because he quickly downed a bottle and went back to bed. I did the same and as I snuggled back under the covers I debated over whether to turn off the alarm and forget the gym. After all, I was up extra early and I need my sleep. That's when I heard Eric crying. I got out of bed to check, thinking maybe he was still hungry and found him fast asleep. I climbed under the covers trying to go back to sleep when I heard it again, more crying. Once again I got up to listen and heard nothing. Was this all in my head? Was I imagining it? I told a friend about my experience, that I kept hearing the baby crying when he wasn't. She replied, "Oh, you mean phantom crying." Yes, that's it! I'm validated. Now I know that as moms, our hearing is extra sensitive. We need to be able to hear when our babies need us. I don't mind that. What I do mind is getting up when they don't. Okay, maybe I am a little crazy.

By the way, I did force myself out of bed to go to the gym. I really didn't have a choice. With all this crying in my head, I couldn't sleep.

Go Cards!

A couple nights ago our family went to a Cardinals baseball game. We went to watch Ryan and his class sing, "God Bless America." The 1st and 3rd grade classes in their school are given this opportunity each year.

Kate has done it a couple of times already.
What I want to know is how come I never had a field trip like that when I was in school? Our field trips always seemed to be. . . educational.

As we were heading to our seats Jason called out behind me, "Uh oh, I feel a nosebleed coming on." I quickly turned around to look, wondering if I had a Kleenex to give him. Then I realized he was smiling and more likely referring to the location of our seats. Unfortunately, he was correct in that assumption. Not only were our seats in the top section but our seats were on the very top row.

Ryan had a great night. Not only did he get to sing in Busch Stadium in front of thousands of people but his friend had special tickets to watch batting practice before the game and invited him too. So Ryan was given "field access." How cool is that? They even gave him a baseball to keep. The rest of the night was fun. The Cardinals had two home runs. We saw a line drive knock the glove off the pitcher's hand and a bat was broken in half after a hit. Oh, and I can't forget the fireworks and cotton candy. Even though we left at the top of the 6th inning it was a great night.

Boot Camp

I love that Spring is here and the weather is warmer and I can now wear capris and shorts, except there's only 1 problem. Nothing fits!!! OH, so that's the reason I been enjoying my sweats this winter. Okay, Eric is 5 months old today and I still haven't lost the baby weight. I've gone back to the gym but for some reason it's still sticking with me. It couldn't be the chocolate and peanut butter ice cream I had last night, could it?

After baby #4 I joined Weight Watchers online and between that and working out I lost the weight fairly quickly. As excited as I was to have another baby I was sad that I was going to lose the figure I had worked so hard to get. I worked out throughout my pregnancy determined to fight it all the way, that is until the last 2 months and then it was downhill from there. UGH! Since I've done it before I knew I could lose the weight again but that was before I was sidetracked by Christmas goodies and introduced to Mint Oreo Cookies. So 5 months have past and I'm still stuck where I was a few months ago. Personally, I think if you've endured that many pregnancies that your body should automatically be given a special award. Something along the lines of "weight loss without the work" or " pick the body you want". Come on, my body has already been through enough, I really think it deserves some sort of award.

Then last week I saw a flier for "Boot Camp" at the YMCA. I decided I needed a kick in the pants and signed up. What I needed something outside my comfort level and this was definitely it. It was so tough today that I immediately came home and rejoined Weight Watchers. No way was all that hard work (running and push-ups and planks, you know, everything I hate) be all for nothing because of what I was eating the rest of the day. It's Day 1 and so far so good. Wish me luck!

And no there won't be any "before" picture!!