Gotta Watch Out for Those Repeaters

My husband says our kids are going to learn to cuss from me. Now before I go any further, let me defend myself by saying, I don't cuss. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't cuss. In this particular case, my husband is referring to words like "crap."


"Crap, crap, crap! This is going to taste like crap!" ...is what I yelled when I realized I had forgotten to set the timer on the meatball subs I had in the oven. They were supposed to broil for 2 minutes. Because I had not set the time, I forgot about them until, "what's that smell?" and so then ensued the "cussing" my hus referred to.


So, Elliott is 3 and quite the repeater. Like, word for word repeater. Immediately after the "cuss" fest, she sing songs, "cRaP", in such a cute little, inoffensive tone.


The hilarity came at the dinner table, while we were eating said burned food. As I was munching away on my meatball sub, of which I had scrapped off the black parts and was actually pretty tasty, Elliott, watching me says, "See, that doesn't taste like crap!"

Oh goodness.

The Pumpkin Personality Test

You've no doubt heard of several different types of personality tests. They are supposed to tell you what kind of person you are and how you are bent. Well, we did our own accidental, kind of personality test the other day.

One thing I love about fall is the potential for a lot of great crafts for the kids. With Halloween being this weekend, I thought this week was perfect for decorating pumpkins. The kids got to pick out their own "baby pumpkin" and we decorated them with felt and yarn yesterday. I had cut out a bunch of different shapes to use for the faces and then they got to choose how they would use the shapes. They were pretty creative and showed their personalities through how they decided to decorate their pumpkin. Grace especially surprised me by using what were supposed to be eye shapes and making them into big teeth. She has always been our wild, fly by the seat of your pants kid. Kristin was predictable and very her. Her pumpkin was clean and looked just how you think a jack-o-lantern is supposed to look. Very by the book. And Elliott's is the product of a 3 year old just learning how to do things all by herself. She did a great job. They all did.

Elliott's pumpkin, Grace's and then Kristin's.

Cat Time Out

It seems that we have had to establish a "cat time out." I recently posted about our new kitties. Pumpkin, 8 weeks and Kitty, 6 weeks. I'm amazed the cats haven't cut and run at this point. They constantly have 3 pairs of little hands grabbing, jostling and toting them around. Kitty, being so little and never really having had a chance to get used to another home before ours, is pretty accommodating. And she's so playful. Pumpkin, on the other hand, had a previous owner for a few weeks, which I'm guessing is a pretty long time in cats time. She was pretty skiddish when she first got here. You had to catch her to hold her. However, once you do get a hold of her, she is very docile. Her claws never come out. Yet. I'm waiting for that. She is warming up to us though. She still doesn't like it if you charge her in your eagerness to pick her up, or if you make any sudden movements in her direction or if you close her up in the little play kitchen fridge and claim she likes it.

Regardless of her unsure attitude towards us, she does like to be around people. If she is not in the same room with one of us, she'll come find us and then just sit there. She also needs to know where Kitty is at all times. If she can't find Kitty, she'll make this moaning, meow sound until she finds her.

Anyway, Cat Time Out. We are constantly telling the kids things like "be gentle", "don't hold the cat like that", "no running with the cats!", "don't touch the cats while they are eating or using the potty." If you break any of these "rules", or any other "rule" mom or dad come up with on the fly concerning the cats, you get Cat Time Out, meaning, you can't touch or be near the cats for a certain amount of time.

They do love those cats. Here are some unrelated cute cat pics:

Elliott fell asleep on the couch yesterday afternoon and Kitty climbed up and joined her.

Cute, playful Kitty


Pumpkin just chillin

Pumpkin spent most of yesterday with Chi Chi, Kristin's most favorite thing in the world. As you can tell, Chi Chi has been well loved. I'm hoping the real cats wear better than Chi Chi has.

The Tooth Fairy Strikes Again

It's seems that the best way to get a loose tooth out around here is to be haphazardly near mom and I'll eventually accidentally knock it out.

Grace lost her first tooth last night. The thing was practically dangling by a thread. Gross. You could see a small space between the tooth and gum. Grosser. I don't like pulling out teeth, even those that are perilously close to falling out all on their own. Even so, I was tying to pull a tooth of Kristin's last year, mainly because I was so tired of hearing her fuss about it bothering her, I forced her to let me give it a go. All the while she is pitching a fit as much as she possibly could while I had my hand in her mouth. As I kept trying to grip this teeny, tiny bottom tooth, I slipped and knocked out her top tooth with my fist. Needless to say, screaming and freaking out ensued. I laughed.

The accidental tooth knocking out of Grace's tooth was much less traumatic. We were all sitting around in the living room about to pray before bedtime when I got up off to floor and accidentally bumped Grace in the mouth with my knee (very gentle and yes, an accident). Next thing we know, she spits out her tooth. I have never seen a kid so excited to loose a tooth. She was pretty cute. The blood didn't even bother her like she thought it would. I think she was like, "hey! that didn't hurt a bit!" Her experience with loosing teeth comes from seeing her older sister freak out and act like we had pliers to teeth that had no business coming out. So, Grace, of course, thought this was how she was to behave. She's been very nervous about it coming out and wouldn't let us touch it. After it was all said and done though, she did great. She really likes the way she looks. Now I'm afraid she's going to be trying to get the other loose ones out before they are ready.

And so we got a cat(s)

Yep. We got 2 cats. And yes, Grace is allergic. And yes, we knew that before we got said cats. BUT, we also have rodents. We chose to get cats, not rodents. The cats are meant to rid us of said rodents.

I feel a bit like an irresponsible parent getting a cat knowing my daughter is allergic. She's not deathly allergic. Obviously, we wouldn't be that irresponsible. But she does get these itchy red bumps. It seems to mostly come from contact. She's fine as long as she doesn't touch them. Which it is impossible to tell a 5 year old who has been begging us for a pet practically all her life, not to touch these incredibly adorable kittens. (who are named Kitty and Pumpkin). Benedryl seems to help, but I don't want to have to give that to her everyday.

Our plan is to eventually put the cats outside for some or most of the day. These will be working cats. No free loading in this house. We are also hoping that once the newness of the cats wears off, the kids won't want to be holding them 24/7 and that that will help keep Grace's allergy in check.

Our reasoning is that cats are a LOT cheaper than paying someone to rodent proof the house. We got an estimate on that. $4000!! Ya. I know. And no, we don't have $4K sitting around the house or the bank for that matter.

They sure are cute though! Kitty (yes, I know. very original.) is about 5 weeks old and Pumpkin is 7 or 8 weeks. They are both orange and female which evidently is very rare. Most orange cats are male. The funny thing is, my husband seems almost as enamored with the cats as the kids are. He checks on them (we keep them in the basement for now) before bed like I check on the kids. It's cute.

On Aging

Well, today is my birthday. And I'm feeling it. My knees hurt. I grunt and groan when I have to get down on the floor and even more when I have to get back up. My arms have started having this weird circulation problem where they fall asleep and get all tingly if I hold them above my shoulder for more than 60 seconds. Sometimes, I just ache. And I'm only 35!!! Golly! What's it gonna be like when I'm 65??!! And my brain is showing my aging too. Yesterday while trying to iron a shirt to wear for church, I spilled my coffee. So, after watching it waterfall onto the already nasty, basement carpet, I finally made a move to stop the spill and clean it up. Then I hear this weird puffing noise coming from the iron. Of course, in my "haste" to clean up the coffee, I had set the iron down, face down, ON the shirt I was ironing. What a dummy! And then I spilled my coffee AGAIN! Not 2 minutes later! Fortunately, it was not near my time of the month or this chain of events would have really set me off and most likely ruined my whole day and therefore ruining the day of my family.
So, as I fight the effects of aging, I will most likely be spending my birthday doing laundry and running errands and shuttling kids around. You know, fun stuff like that. I do know I'm not cooking tonight. We did already do an official celebration over the weekend with my sis and her hus at a rather fancy restaurant. Minus the kids of course.
I'll pontificate later about what a good year #34 was and how much God has greatly blessed me and my family and about what I hope for year #35. Right now, my knees hurt and I'm going to get some Tylenol.

Fall Fun even though it doesn't feel like fall right now

I am SO behind on posting stuff. Yall can get off your pins and needles now, I'm back (I am so teasing. I'm fairly certain none of you have been on anything sharp anxiously awaiting my literary return). I think I've shared this before, but I post a lot in my head, so if you count all the posts I've posted in my head while driving along in my car or sitting at gymnastics, then I've been blogging a lot lately. Today, though, I thought I'd actually write out my post.

I posted a little while back about my love for Fall. We had an awesome week or 2 of beautiful fall weather with the coolness and crispness and all. That has since disappeared though and even though it's now mid October, it's been a tad warm. Chesley McNeal tells me, however, that it should cool down in the next few days.

Anyhoo...we did manage to already squeeze in 2 of my favorite fall activities. A visit to the pumpkin patch and apple picking. My parents were able to join us for apple picking again this year, all the way from sunny Florida. (I think they may have brought the warm weather with them and so may be responsible for such.)

I had to convince Paul to do the pumpkin patch with us. Last year wasn't the most fun. We went later in the month and so a lot of the pumpkins had been smashed and had a most awesome smell. Plus, we had an unexpected cold snap and mommy did not plan accordingly with the appropriate outerwear. Hence, the children complained a lot. A lot.

This year was nice though. Not as crowded, no smashed or stinking pumpkins and very pleasant weather. It seems that everyone had fun. Even dad!



Both Kristin an Grace have loose teeth and so have to work hard and at an angle to get a good bite. Poor Grace is trying really hard.

The kiddos with Mimi and Papa.

Not Helping

You know you are getting old, when your 7 year old asks if you liked living in the "olden days". Apparently, the olden days, were in the 80's.
She is not helping my "I'm getting old" complex.