Ever wonder what this stay at home mom does when she has time at home alone? At the moment, other than blogging, I am listening to the Wicked soundtrack which is being blasted through my ipod. LOVE it. It is my favorite thing to do when I am here alone; I sing along at the top of my lungs while cleaning up. I am also secretly going through all my kids toys to get ready for the garage sale on Saturday, my own little version of being wicked I suppose. My kids are pack rats, someone has to help them de-clutter their lives! I am also watching our fish closely, as there was yet another "accident" this morning which is far too crazy to get into but I have a feeling both Inspector Fishy and Shiny may be taking a ride down the porcelain throne today and I do not want my kids to find them floating. Again.
Doesn't my life sound thrilling?
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
A Fish Story
This crazy lady that I know decided that it would be a good idea to give away Beta fish at her son's Great Barrier Reef birthday party in May. I don't know what she was thinking. First of all, it was a good thing one party guest didn't show up because we ended up needing an extra fish when after an hour one of the fish who had already been chosen and named had to make a visit to the porcelain throne. Then she she spent weeks with her stomach tied in knots knowing that every time the phone rang it could be a child in tears because their fish friend was "sleeping". Fortunately that only happened to one other one, until recently.
KJ and Camden shared one fish, "Tiny", and Bennett has his own named "Inspector Fishy". A couple of weeks ago Kendall and Bennett found Tiny, eyes wide and floating sideways, in his bowl. And of course, it was right before bedtime. It took me a good hour to calm Kendall's sobs as she mourned the loss of her favorite fish. I tried the whole "God takes care of all creation and you will see Tiny in heaven" but it didn't help. The next day we had to make another trip to the pet store for a new friend, and named him "Shiny". They were all excited because he is kind of different looking, a shiny silver blue, which I thought was really cool until yesterday.
Because we are trying to make sure Shiny lives a long healthy life, I decided to clean his bowl yesterday. During the process I learned something about Shiny, he is feisty and apparently wants to find a way home. I poured him in a cup to clean his bowl and when I went to pour him back he jumped out of the water (must have been a fish gymnast in another land) and landed on the bathroom counter. I think I screamed. All I could think of was the fact that Shiny had this "special" look and there was no way I would be able to fool KJ with a duplicate if he didn't survive. Not to mention Camden was helping me and the last thing I wanted to do was to have to teach him how to lie to his sister. Fortunately I was able to flip him back into his bowl and I think he has recovered. I must admit I even said a little prayer for him, desperate times call for desperate measures you know! Hopefully she won't find him floating anytime soon. And you wonder why we don't have a dog ;)
KJ and Camden shared one fish, "Tiny", and Bennett has his own named "Inspector Fishy". A couple of weeks ago Kendall and Bennett found Tiny, eyes wide and floating sideways, in his bowl. And of course, it was right before bedtime. It took me a good hour to calm Kendall's sobs as she mourned the loss of her favorite fish. I tried the whole "God takes care of all creation and you will see Tiny in heaven" but it didn't help. The next day we had to make another trip to the pet store for a new friend, and named him "Shiny". They were all excited because he is kind of different looking, a shiny silver blue, which I thought was really cool until yesterday.
Because we are trying to make sure Shiny lives a long healthy life, I decided to clean his bowl yesterday. During the process I learned something about Shiny, he is feisty and apparently wants to find a way home. I poured him in a cup to clean his bowl and when I went to pour him back he jumped out of the water (must have been a fish gymnast in another land) and landed on the bathroom counter. I think I screamed. All I could think of was the fact that Shiny had this "special" look and there was no way I would be able to fool KJ with a duplicate if he didn't survive. Not to mention Camden was helping me and the last thing I wanted to do was to have to teach him how to lie to his sister. Fortunately I was able to flip him back into his bowl and I think he has recovered. I must admit I even said a little prayer for him, desperate times call for desperate measures you know! Hopefully she won't find him floating anytime soon. And you wonder why we don't have a dog ;)
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Coffee
Growing up I wasn't fond of coffee. Cream and sugar, yes, but coffee not so much. My distaste of coffee grew when my junior high English teacher drank black coffee, and breathed in our face when we had questions leading me to want to hurl. That being said, one of the beautiful aspects about my relationship with Matt was that we both shared this uncommon dislike of coffee. Friends and family were shocked when we got married and didn't register for a coffee pot, which is probably why we ended up with 5 crock pots. All that to say our world was turned upside down when our besties encouraged us to try new things at Starbucks until we found what we could tolerate. Thus, my love affair with coffee took shape. My darling iced grande nonfat white mocha (sometimes with a shot of peppermint at Christmas) has become a new friend. We look forward every year to Fall when our birthdays roll around and Christmas is here because we hold our breath hoping for gift cards to feed our addiction. All this back story is written to explain a bizarre dream I had last night.
Last weekend I decided to cut out carbs/sugar for a while. Shocking, I know, but I need to cleanse out my system. I have resigned myself to the nonfat sugar free vanilla latte, which is not even close to my darling drinks taste. So last night I had a dream that we went to the movie theater and saw a Starbucks outside. We snuck out to get coffee and I ordered the SFV but they made a mistake and I found myself drinking my white mocha. It was like pure joy being poured down my throat. When I woke up I realized that even in my dreams I can't stay on a diet. Suck.
Last weekend I decided to cut out carbs/sugar for a while. Shocking, I know, but I need to cleanse out my system. I have resigned myself to the nonfat sugar free vanilla latte, which is not even close to my darling drinks taste. So last night I had a dream that we went to the movie theater and saw a Starbucks outside. We snuck out to get coffee and I ordered the SFV but they made a mistake and I found myself drinking my white mocha. It was like pure joy being poured down my throat. When I woke up I realized that even in my dreams I can't stay on a diet. Suck.
Monday, October 18, 2010
New Look
So what do you think of the new look? I figured it had been ages, and if I was going to start blogging again I should do something new. Not that I actually did anything but press a button, but it seems somewhat impressive doesn't it?
I am not going to even bother playing catch up, but there is a lot going on in the Patterfam life that I will post soon. I don't have a ton of time today because I am getting ready for our third brownie meeting this afternoon. If you had told me when I was 9 years old, walking home alone on a cold dark night because my girl scout leader had forgotten to tell me that our meeting was cancelled, that I would someday be a brownie leader I would have laughed in your face. Or cried, given the circumstances. I must admit I kind of went into this kicking and screaming but I am having a lot of fun. Nothing like living out your childhood dreams through your kiddos, just one more thing that they will have to talk about with their therapist later ;)
Hope you all are doing well! I promise to post again soon!
I am not going to even bother playing catch up, but there is a lot going on in the Patterfam life that I will post soon. I don't have a ton of time today because I am getting ready for our third brownie meeting this afternoon. If you had told me when I was 9 years old, walking home alone on a cold dark night because my girl scout leader had forgotten to tell me that our meeting was cancelled, that I would someday be a brownie leader I would have laughed in your face. Or cried, given the circumstances. I must admit I kind of went into this kicking and screaming but I am having a lot of fun. Nothing like living out your childhood dreams through your kiddos, just one more thing that they will have to talk about with their therapist later ;)
Hope you all are doing well! I promise to post again soon!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
My Baby
My baby boy turned nine today. It seems absolutely impossible that nine years has passed since his birth! He is getting so tall and I love that he still wants to sit in my lap even though he is way too long for me :)
As part of his "birthday week extravaganza" his teacher asked me to put together a special birthday book for Bennett and come read it to the class. All of the parents have done it for their kids, and I had seen a few, but today was the first time I stayed for the whole "experience". Bennett sat next to me as I read his book and I could tell he was both proud and a little embarrassed, which is okay with me. After I finished reading it and showed everyone the pictures, his teacher asked if any of the students wanted to pray for Bennett. I was overwhelmed at the joyous response and then completely touched when I heard their prayers. It was sooooo sweet! They thanked God for Bennett's friendship and kindness and prayed blessings on his day. It took everything in me not to burst out in tears! As a mom there is no greater gift then seeing your kids showered with love and praise! It made me so thankful for our school and our friends. And not only was he blessed at school, but his day started out with finding a decorated car as he headed out the door to leave this morning. His best buddy came last night to decorate our car and Bennett was definitely surprised! My heart is so full of love not only for my baby boy, but our amazing circle of family and friends who do so much to show us that we are loved!
And since I am now completely balling as I write this I am going to end this post with a heart full of gratitude and thanks ;)
As part of his "birthday week extravaganza" his teacher asked me to put together a special birthday book for Bennett and come read it to the class. All of the parents have done it for their kids, and I had seen a few, but today was the first time I stayed for the whole "experience". Bennett sat next to me as I read his book and I could tell he was both proud and a little embarrassed, which is okay with me. After I finished reading it and showed everyone the pictures, his teacher asked if any of the students wanted to pray for Bennett. I was overwhelmed at the joyous response and then completely touched when I heard their prayers. It was sooooo sweet! They thanked God for Bennett's friendship and kindness and prayed blessings on his day. It took everything in me not to burst out in tears! As a mom there is no greater gift then seeing your kids showered with love and praise! It made me so thankful for our school and our friends. And not only was he blessed at school, but his day started out with finding a decorated car as he headed out the door to leave this morning. His best buddy came last night to decorate our car and Bennett was definitely surprised! My heart is so full of love not only for my baby boy, but our amazing circle of family and friends who do so much to show us that we are loved!
And since I am now completely balling as I write this I am going to end this post with a heart full of gratitude and thanks ;)
Monday, May 3, 2010
Just another day as a crazy mom
On Friday I almost wrecked my car. Okay, maybe it wasn't that bad, but it came close. You see, I had to go the bank and as I was leaving and my mind was in a thousand different places, I happened to see Taylor Lautner and almost crashed my car. Let me remind you that I am a happily married woman who really has no interest in young boys. That being said, when I saw him my mind and body simultaneously focused on finding my cell phone to call my besties and grab a picture instead of driving. Can you imagine what would have happened if I had actually hit a parked car? "I'm sorry officer but it wasn't all my fault, I was distracted by Jacob from Twilight...." To make matters worse, did I mention that the Taylor I saw turned out to be a cardboard cut-out deceptively placed to fool us poor women and cause us to crash our cars? You can stop laughing now, I know I am crazy.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Mammoth
I have been patiently waiting to blog anything until I could tell you all of our amazing Mammoth adventures (yes, I know it was like three weeks ago) and upload all of my beautiful pictures. Unfortunately, the technical gods have not been shining on me lately and I have officially lost all my pics and completely destroyed my memory card for my camera. I am trying really hard not to be overly bummed out by this. I am also trying really hard not to strangle the people at Sammy's camera or the makers of the SD picture card. Apparently what happened to my card is not unusual, because there are thousands of posts online by people who have had similar issues. I will not admit how many suggestions I read through, but sadly must confess that I did try three outrageous Macgyver moves to try to mend my card with no success. So even though I don't have pictures to show and it has been forever since our trip, I will still fill you in on the details.
First of all, I don't know why I was worried that there wasn't going to be any snow. I have never seen so much in my life! My kids were in snow heaven. Bennett has declared that he officially wants to move to Mammoth, and Kendall's favorite new food is snow. We had such a good time sledding and riding the Gondola. No skiing for us (major budget buster - how do people do that?) but we had a ton of fun. And one of the biggest highlights was the gorgeous place we stayed at that had 2 sets of stairs which of course meant free rides for my kids. It is amazing how much fun a staircase can be when you are in slippery snow gear and you are not old enough to feel/realize the damage you are causing to your tailbone. It was definitely a much needed vacay for our family, and I am hoping and praying that we are invited back to do it again someday. I have heard that they are predicting the ski runs will be open until July this year, can you imagine that?
First of all, I don't know why I was worried that there wasn't going to be any snow. I have never seen so much in my life! My kids were in snow heaven. Bennett has declared that he officially wants to move to Mammoth, and Kendall's favorite new food is snow. We had such a good time sledding and riding the Gondola. No skiing for us (major budget buster - how do people do that?) but we had a ton of fun. And one of the biggest highlights was the gorgeous place we stayed at that had 2 sets of stairs which of course meant free rides for my kids. It is amazing how much fun a staircase can be when you are in slippery snow gear and you are not old enough to feel/realize the damage you are causing to your tailbone. It was definitely a much needed vacay for our family, and I am hoping and praying that we are invited back to do it again someday. I have heard that they are predicting the ski runs will be open until July this year, can you imagine that?
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