Sadie Smiles

When I ask Sadie to smile for me, this is now what I get. And I have to say I just love it. She is such a smile squinter!


And two more of her just because.

Rock The Vote

I have never voted early, and I don't think I have ever voted in a Primary, but there is a first for everything. They were doing early voting at Jackson's pre-school so it made it super easy. I also really, really love being able to wear my sticker around all day. However, my Sade unfortunately ripped it off my shirt and now it is not wearable. Darn her!

Six On Sunday-Disappointed Edition

#1 I have been in the process of redoing my fireplace for sometime. I purchased the wood, stained it, and was just waiting on Eric to cut the pieces for me. Finally last Saturday I pinned him down and cut them. I was pretty excited because I had a vision in my mind of just how perfect it was going to look. Well, let's just say my disappointment was great. It was truly hideous. Unsalvagably hideous! Too hideous to even take the time out to take a picture. The wood is now banished to the garage. What is even more disappointing is that I spent money on a project that is now defunct.

#2 My house is in near constant flux. Although each room has been completed for some time, there is usually some small part or another that I am thinking of changing (hence the fireplace). Well I have been slightly unhappy with the area just to the side of my fireplace. Mainly I have been wanting to change out a certain hanging picture. I have been trying different ones out, but just could not find the right one. I am including the picture below just so you can see the area I am talking about. If I had Photoshop installed, I would make an arrow pointing to it.

Well I finally found a picture of a cactus that I fell in love with. I brought it home, hung it up, left it there for a few minutes to fully decide if I loved it or not, and then heard it crash down to the floor. Not only was the cactus picture harmed, but my most favorite pitcher (the yellow one above) was shattered. I am still not over this disappointment. All week I have been scouring stores for something to take its place, but I am afraid I may never find it. So right now there is just a big gaping hole next to the fireplace, and also in my heart.

Incidentally the cactus picture found a new home in my hallway. It had been hanging there happily for a few days until last night at 1 am when it crashed to the floor. It nearly scared me to death. Here is the state it is in today. Do you think it is unhappy in my house?

#3 My Miss Sadie has decided to poop everytime I put her in the bath. I do not do well with bodily functions so this is crushingly disappointing to me. I have gagged everytime and once it has caused me to actually throw-up. I am considering making her wear a diaper in the bath or at the very least putting Eric in charge of bathtime.


#4 I am also disappointed by my new Target brand dryer sheets. I have never bought them before and I have to say I never will again. My clothes have not been coming out soft and they have been full of static.

#5 Eric was out of town yesterday and I was disappointed that he ended up getting home late, partly due to this accident on the freeway. Can you believe these pictures?


#6 And lastly, I am disappointed and sad that my little Meg is sick once again. This time with a fever. This morning it was 104 degrees and she is just miserable. Doesn't she look like she feels terrible?

UPDATE: Megan's fever ended up being 105 degrees so Eric took her into Urgent Care. Of course they told him it is just a virus and there is nothing we can do. I so enjoy spending hundreds of dollars when it turns out I didn't even have to!

12 X 12 - March

Megan and Jackson work up early, and turned on the cartoons, as per usual. I was still in bed when I heard Sadie wake up. Wonderfully I have a daughter who is 8 that went and picked her up and gave her some milk. After she was finished with her bottle, Sadie wandered into my room, crying. She cried and cried until I finally asked her if her tummy hurt. She says Ah (which means yes) and stopped crying. However, she didn't stop for long and soon she was whimpering and fussing almost continually. Finally she laid on the floor and immediately fell asleep. She has never done that before, so I knew she must have felt terrible.

Here she is on the floor.

She then threw-up (a-lot), fussed a bit more, and then fell asleep again! I had to wake her up to take Megan to school, and ever since then she has been fine. Apparently instead of the 24 hour flu, she had the 1 hour flu. I can't complain.

Before school Megan was getting her water bottle ready, and when I saw her doing this, my heart broke just a little (in the best possible way). For some reason seeing her cleaning up some water she spilled, made me realize what a responsible and great girl she is. I love her to pieces.

As I said, Sadie made a full recovery, so since I was out of Dr. Pepper, Jackson, Sadie, and I went to get a fountain drink.

Sadie now walks from the car to the front door which I adore. However, she is quite and independent thinker, doesn't particularly like to hold someones hand, and is prone to take off for the street, so I do have to keep a close eye on her.

Does anyone else out there hate making themselves lunch? I never know what to have. So today I was super excited that I had leftover chicken salad and croissants from Costco.

After lunch, and after I put Sadie down for her nap, instead of cleaning, I watched T.V.

However, soon I got to thinking that if I didn't start cleaning I would never get everything done before Sadie woke up, so I resumed my usual afternoon cleaning duties.

After school the kids and I headed over to Costco. I had been there the day before and noticed just as I was checking out that Sadie was only wearing one shoe. I searched the store, but to no avail. I went back today to see if anyone turned it in, but unfortunately no one had. This is the kids and I looking sad because we didn't find her shoe. From the picture you can tell that Sadie does not seem that upset about it.

We also went to Target to get some things, and also to let Jackson use some coupons he has been saving for free HotWheels cars. The coupons came on the back of Apple Jacks and Froot Loops boxes, and since those are the 2 cereals of choice at my house, he has been getting quite a few free cars from Target.

Here is another picture of Sadie walking to the car from Target. Look at that stride! She looks like a grown up kid walker in this picture. Not toddling around at all. My heart is breaking once again.

You may be wondering why Eric has yet to make an appearance in this post. Well it is because he has literally been working all night and most of the day trying to complete a project. So the little time he has been home he has been sleeping. Here he is saying goodbye on his way out the door tonight. Here is to all those hard-working husbands out there!

Sadie Said

Sadie Said: "Hot Sauce"

She has been saying hot for some time, but hot sauce is definitely a new one.

Isn't this cartoon picture of Sadie cool?

What A Feeling

Today, I welcomed bedtime.

Six on Sunday-Full Week Edition

I feel like lately all I do are these weekly recap posts. Where does the time go? Anyway, here is another.

1. I have been dealing with sick kids for over a week and a half and it got me thinking what in the world would I do if I worked outside of the home. I would have just missed the last week and a half of work which I am sure my employers would not appreciate. Eric doesn't have a job that he can just take a sick day and we don't have family in town to watch sick kids, so I would be s**t out of luck.

2. This last week was Nevada Reading Week. I love that so many kids participate and so many parents make an effort. It was especially exciting because on most of the days the kids were not required to wear their uniforms. Here are a few pictures:

Pajama Day

Shirt With Words Day

Dress up like your favorite book character. Megan chose Junie B. Jones

3. Jackson's school celebrated silly sock day this week. He was also the spot-light and got to make a poster and fill out a booklet all about himself.

Megan went to the same pre-school when she was 3 and 4. Most of us that year were first time mom's with our first child in pre-school, and we tended to do things a bit over the top. Each time it was a child's turn to do the spotlight they would come in with a huge detailed poster all about them. Well the next year when our kids were 4 they sent us home with an 8 X 11 piece of paper to put the kids pictures on. I guess they decided we were all a little too gung-ho for our own good. Now that I have 3 kids, I am grateful for the small piece of paper.

4. Eric had a friend, Crystal, come into town last week for a conference. They were friends in high-school and hadn't seen each other in 20 years. Here they are at Prom in high school:

And here they are now:

If you enlarge the picture not only will you see one scantily clad woman on a billboard, but you will see two. Life in Vegas!

FYI: We went to the Rio Buffet and they are doing half price this month for locals. So instead of paying $24 a person, you pay $12. It is an amazing deal.

5. I have lightened my hair. Actually Eric lightened my hair and I am very happy with the results. I tend to change my hair color from brown to blond at least once a year, and every time I do it I think, "Oh yeah, this is the hair color I like." I am sure it will change again soon.

6. Today I also say goodbye to Sarah Prine. If you don't know who she is you should immediately read the book These Is My Words and then right after that read the other two books in the series. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a series of books so much, and These Is My Words received 5 stars from me on GoodReads. This is rare, so you know I loved it. You don't just have to take my word for it, everyone I know that has read these books, loved them also.

Five For Friday-Earthquake Edition

1. This morning we had an earthquake. When the house started to shake I immediately thought that it was awfully early for jets to be flying around. It took me a minute to realize there was no noise outside, and thereby no jets. It was quite surreal.

2. Just a random picture of my kids this morning. Instead of being wrapped up in blankets while watching cartoons, they took the towels that were laying on the couch awaiting folding. Don't they look sweet sharing the same towel.

3. Last year we broke down and bought a security door. I had resisted it for some time, for obvious reasons (which I don't want to go into but mostly encompass trashiness-not really trashiness but rather feeling like I live in a really scary neighborhood, when I really don't feel that way). But after hearing about a lot of break-ins and being envious of other people who had them who could leave them open to let fresh air in, I decided the time was right to purchase one. I have to say that I LOVE IT! Especially in this weather. I leave my front door open all day, which lets so much fresh air in, and I feel totally secure doing it. YEAH!!


4. I have mentioned before that Eric is very handy, and can fix anything. I love this quality in a man. Last week I was trying to take a bag of popcorn away from Sadie. She was resisting and in the process ended up flinging it all over the desk and into the printer. We cleaned it out, but it still would not work. Last night Eric stayed up late, took it all apart, and now it is working again. I am so thankful.

When he gets home from work there is a new project waiting for him. One of our toilets is broken once again. . At least once a year one of our toilets breaks. I know they get a lot of use, and they are probably cheap toilets, but really. If it were up to me to fix them our plumbing bill would be enormous. Do your toilets also break often?

5. And finally, I got a new phone. I have had my old phone for almost 3 years and it showed. The back fell off of it at least a year and a half ago, the battery only held a charge for about 12 hours, and worst off all I could only accept incoming calls. That's right, I could not make any outgoing calls, which is really what you need a cell phone for.

My old phone.

My new phone. So anyone that has not been texting me or calling me on my cell, I am now back in business.

Hide & Seek

Lately Sadie has been leaving me quite a few surprises around the house. I could use a few surprises so I welcome them.

Megan's Polly Pockets in a bag of chips.

Olives from the fridge in a Valentines Day bag.

Cupcake holders in a box of cereal.

The garbage can is one of her favorite places to put things. I am sure we have thrown away many things accidentally.

This shirt had been missing for weeks. I finally found it in a cabinet I do not use often.

My favorite hair brush also went missing, but it finally made its appearance in some books.

Yesterday I also found a cup and a fish in her favorite cabinet. Don't look too closely. This is the cabinet Sadie likes to empty out so it is a mess.

The one thing I do not find funny when it goes missing is the remote control. Here it is in the dishwasher. I have also found it in the garbage and in the laundry basket.

Four For Friday-Parent Of The Year

1. I am now ready to accept my Parent Of The Year trophy. Megan lost a tooth 3 days ago, and that darn tooth fairy has forgotten to come 3 days in a row. What is wrong with her?

2. Jackson wore this shirt to pre-school this morning. I don't usually buy shirts such as these, but I found this one funny.


3. I am annoyed by my neighbors across the street. We have always been very fortunate to have great neighbors, until now. They have a total of 7 cars, which seems excessive, but not a deal breaker in the bad neighbor department. I don't even have too many complaints on noise level late at night, which would drive me even crazier. My problem lies in the 6 to 8 teenagers they have outside of their house every afternoon who are loud and use every swear word you can think of in every sentence you can think of. I really, really, really, wish my kids didn't have to hear it every time we go outside. I fear retaliation if I say anything to them. What would you do?

4. Sadie. What can I say, she is very lovable. She is also demanding, a crier, and strong willed, but cuteness takes care of so much. She can now understand most of what I say, her vocabulary now includes up, Mama, all done, and soft, she tries to imitate the sounds animals make, and she loves to show off her new silver shoes.