Kid Quote

From December 15, 2009:

Natalie: "Mom! When I went to teach Jack how to play this game, he already knew how to play!"

Me: "Yeah, I play it with him when you guys are at school."

Natalie: "That's amazing! He's actually learning something from you!"

Let this be a lesson to... me.

I realize that what I'm going to write about happened this last weekend, but honestly it's taken me this long to be able to laugh about it. Now you get to as well. You're welcome (in advance).

So, on Saturday Natalie and I had a "girl's day." We went out to lunch, went shopping, and we went to see Tangled in 3D. While we were shopping, I decided that Natalie could buy a candy treat to take to the movie because I'm too cheap to buy $8 popcorn. While she was pondering her endless choices in the candy isle of Target, I started to get a sugar craving. As you know (maybe you don't) I've been "off" refined sugar for the past 4 weeks, so candy is out... or is it? While I was waiting for her to make her choice seriously, she is SUCH a girl! I saw the "sugar-free" section of candy (although "sugar-free candy" seems like quite the oxymoron) and I thought, "Maybe I CAN have a little something sweet in the movie... I'm going to try it!" So, I bought these...

Perfect, right? It was so nice sitting in the theater eating these little Jelly Bellys one at at time, totally savoring each unique flavor (and even though they are sugar-free, they tasted pretty good to me because I've all but forgotten what sugar tastes like).

We finished the movie and started making our way home by way of a few thrift stores. On the drive home my stomach started cramping up a little and by the time we got home it was WAY more than a little bit. I could hardly stand up straight and I thought my stomach was going to explode it was so bloated.

Jeff could tell I was completely uncomfortable and started going over what I had eaten that day that would possibly make me so miserable. I told him exactly where and what we ate for lunch (Mucho Gusto - heavenly!) and then what I had eaten at the movies. I said that it had been hours since eating anything and this sudden pain just didn't make any sense!

I wondered if there was any way I was possibly allergic to something in the Jelly Bellys (since I've had Mucho Gusto salads a number of times before, I ruled that out and possibly because I simply refused to have something from there cause the pain as it's my FAVORITE place to eat). I grabbed the Jelly Belly wrapper from the car and Jeff and I read the ingredients...

... most of which we couldn't even pronounce (never a good sign). Then we saw it. The WARNING on the bag. What the bleep kind of candy has to have a warning on it!? (And why isn't it written bigger - ON THE FRONT of the package!?)

This is what it says, "WARNING: Consumption may cause stomach discomfort and/or laxative effect. Individual tolerance will vary. We suggest starting with 8 beans or less."

Seriously, WHAT!? 8 BEANS OR LESS!? Yeah, I ate more than 8. Come on - who eats 8 tiny Jelly Bellys and thinks, "Yes. Totally satisfied." - NO ONE except possibly my sister Jeanna, but she's kind of weird like that (love you Jeanna!). So my stomach? It totally felt it.

I didn't feel better until I woke up on Sunday morning - God bless my sweet husband who lovingly sympathized with me over the pain while laughing hysterically at the whole situation and I vowed to never eat sugar-free Jelly Bellys again. EVER.

And if you do choose to partake in those evil, gut wrenching, candy-of-doom-that-are-sure-to-cause-death, don't say I didn't warn you. Or at least don't eat more than 8 of them.

{Not} Wordless {At All} Wednesday

The kids and I have been really struggling in the evenings (you know, getting through them... ahem) on school nights. The kids are tired. I'm tired. They have an afternoon chart to follow to help guide them through the transition from "school mode" to "home mode" but as soon as they're done with the chart, more often than not it becomes melt-down central around here.

Yesterday I decided that something needs to change. Before Jack and I left to go get the kids from the bus stop, I made a list (it's what I do. I make lists...). I wrote down what the kids were going to make for dinner. Yes, they were going to make dinner. All of it. I assigned each kid a food group and made a list of what they would be doing (including every detail so they felt like each task was a HUGE deal to accomplish). Then I set out everything on the counter that they would need to set the table so that they could keep busy doing that while I was prepping for them to get started with their cooking.

Can I just say TOTAL SUCCESS?! The evening went great! They were so excited to cook (they usually only help with baking) and they were each even more excited to taste what the others made - they even wanted to take the leftovers to school today in their lunches (WIN!)!

Carter cleared the table after dinner and Natalie loaded the dishwasher while Jack, uh... supervised. No attitudes, no whining, no melt downs and no time-outs the whole evening. It was amazing! However, since I'm really good at procrastinating and generally not planning ahead, I'm going to have to make a few a lot of changes if I want to keep this up (which I do!).

So, there you have it. I officially have my kids making dinner and cleaning up afterwards. HOLLA!

{Jack's job was the green beans. He claimed it was the best part of the meal.}

{Carter was on "baked potato duty." I'm pretty sure our water bill will be doubled this month, but the potatoes were definitely clean...}

{Natalie did the lightly breaded baked chicken breasts. She LOVED it!}

{If you could kindly look past my disastrous kitchen to simply take in how adorable these kids are working together it would be much appreciated, mmkay? Thanks.} ;)

I "Might Have" Monday

I might have accidently set my alarm for 6pm instead of 6am the first morning back to school after Spring Break...

And I might have been grateful for my three year old who woke me up at 6:35am which meant that I did turn into "crazy mommy" and make it to the bust stop right behind the bus on time.

I'm just sayin'... it might have went down like that this morning - because honestly, when you've had a good amount of this:

Combined with a good amount of this:

Who would want Spring Break to be over?

Kid Quote

From May 23, 2010:

(As I was praying with Carter before bed) Me: "Dear Jesus, thank you for the great day we had today. Thank you for being w/Carter as he did such a good job at the music program. Please help him to not pick his nose while Mommy's praying. Amen."

Carter: "My turn! Dear Jesus, please be with Mommy and help her to not be such a tattle-tale. Amen."

Happy Birthday, Mom!

{My Mom and me last Thanksgiving.}

Carter: "Wait - it's Grandma's birthday today!? How old is she....34?"

Natalie: "No Carter, she's 33. Grandpa told me."

Jack: "Her needs some ballooons."


:::Happy Birtday Mom, Sis. We love you SOOOOOOOOOOO much!:::

Weekend WIN!

After barely making it through Friday We had a remarkable weekend!
Saturday morning we got up WAY before the sun (which I'm pretty sure is illegal in most states - no?). Jeff and I woke up at 4:30am to get dressed quickly and pack the Suburban because we were taking the kids CLAMMING (a first for us all)! Jeff's brother John met us at our house at 5:20am and after getting the kids up and all bundled and ready for a (possibly rainy) day at the beach we grabbed some coffee and headed out.

Can I just say it was perfect? Because it really was. It was so much fun! It wasn't windy, it didn't rain, there wasn't anyone else around, and we all had a blast.

{Our gear's all ready to go!}

{Uncle John, Carter and Jack}

{Natalie}

{Uncle John and Carter}

{Jeff and Jackson}

{See? I was there!}

Immediately after clamming and hitting Dutch Bro's for some hot cocoa we headed to Jeff's parent's house for some cards, March Madness, a long walk, and a warm fire. It was a great day!

Sunday we slept in (oops) and my brother Zach came over with a friend of his while they were down in Eugene visiting from Portland. It was so nea to see the kids get so excited to see him (and by "see him" I mean "clobber him"). After their visit, we took the kids to town to see their (our) first 3D movie at he $1.50 theater - again, major hit! On the way home, my husband (who must love me more than anything) drove us to a thrift store where we browsed for about 45 minutes (I.love.thrifting!) and each found at least one thing we considered a treasure (a pair of name brand jeans that fit perfectly for $4? Holla!).

After thrifting our little hearts out, we stopped and grabbed a RedBox movie to watch after the kids were in bed.

Jeff took today (Monday) and tomorrow off of work for an extended weekend and the kids will be spending the night tonight with my parents (again - HOLLA!) so we'll get a date night (yay!).

Seriously - SUCH a good (much needed) weekend. Apparently the kids enjoyed it too, because on the way home last night Natalie could hardly contain her excitement as she said, "Wow! I have so much to write about for my 'Spring Break' entry in my journal at school next week! This is awesome!"

Win!