Wii Fit - Fun (at my expense) for all

I found out a sure fire way to make the girls laugh. Just pull out the Wii Fit....

I got the Wii Fit for Christmas. It was not exactly a surprise, given that I actually purchased it myself. Apparently neither was the Guitar Hero I scored for him on Black Friday, which was, might I add, hidden waaaaaaaay back in the bottom of Einey's closet. But it was, a very much appreciated gift. I first tried it out after they were in bed, Christmas night. Then, we were busy so I skipped it for two days. Know where this is headed? Yeah, it yelled at me. You should come back everyday, yada yada yada.

So back to the kids. I turned it on and waited for it to load. And then the lionesses started stalking for the kill.

"What happened to your Mii?"
"Why is it so fat???!!!"
"Look at your Mii"
"Heehee, it's belly is sticking out"

Kids, you know, that's not very nice, your mom doesn't actually look like that does she.

All eyes gravitate to my middle.

"No, not really"

And then the games started. I started with hula hooping, since I didn't do too bad on that the first night and I knew they'd like it. Of course, I did okay, but there was alot of snickering from the peanut gallery. And when I inevitable missed a hula hoop Moe's mii threw at me - there was no stopping them.

Next was soccer, where they took turns lobbing balls, cleats and panda heads at my head. Seriously, these kids.... Oh and Einey, "I can't wait to play soccer again, I can throw my shoes at people..."

"Mom, does your head hurt from getting hit with the shoes? Do you need boo boo bear?"
"Mom, you should avoid the shoes..."

Then it was onto ski jumping where they laughed their little asses off everytime whenever I missed a jump and ended up rolling down the hill as a giant snowball.

"Hey mom, can you see with that helmet on?"

You mean, can I see standing right here? Um yeah, the mii on tv, doesn't have to see...

Running wasn't bad, and they actually lost interest once they lapped me.

Then the strength training exercises, they tried to mimic, often taking up my space. And yoga, forget about it. I had little hyena's crawling into my space, standing on the balance board and knocking me off of balance. Which in turn, made Jeremy, my personal trainer (what, you didn't name your trainer??? Well neither did I, but they did) tell me I was a bit shaky. Well, yeah, but he wasn't working out with three little beings who insisted on climbing on and knocking over him.

So all in all, while I enjoy my Wii Fit, I think I'll be leaving it alone until when they aren't around. That way, Jeremy doesn' think I'm some kind of unbalanced couch potato....

We have a winner

We have a winner for the dropps laundry detergent giveaway. I'm just waiting to hear back from them before I post!

The winner was comment number 11, picked using a random number generator.

Reva Skie said...

I wash for two. I like washing and folding ok, I detest hang up clothes. I avoid it til the piles mound up and spill out of the basket.

Congratulations and thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday, Einey

Happy birthday, Einey. I still can't believe that you are now seven. No longer a baby nor toddler nor little girl. Recently, we gave you your own room and transformed it from the nursery to a room fit for a tween like you. Your growing up fast, as is evidenced by your tastes in clothes, music and playthings. Sometimes we get glimpses of the little girl you were and other times of the big girl you are yet to become. There are days where it seems like you are stuck in the middle, not sure which way to embrace. But overall, you are a fantastic daughter. You are polite, smart and not afraid to stand up for yourself. This year, you made sure no one forgot that you share a birthday with Jesus. And so, tonight after our Christmas dinner, we will dine on birthday cake. Lemon creme if I recall.

Merry Christmas!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Flake watch 2008
I like snow. Really I do. But I don't like it all at once. As I write this, Sunday morning, it's pretty much been snowing straight since Friday afternoon. We've probably got 10-12 inches (give or take a few because I can never tell) with another 4-8 inches set to fall today, before turning to sleet and freezing rain. Unless of course, the forecast changed, I haven't actually checked this morning.

Anyway, Friday was a snow day. The kids had no school, despite the fact that the flakes didn't start falling until 1:33 pm (exact time I posted on Facebook). The kids literally asked every 2.5 seconds where the snow was. They accused ME of lying to them. "I thought YOU said it was going to snow". "Are you sure we didn't have school, it's not snowing". We had friends come over while waiting for the flakes because both of our sets of kids were going stir crazy with anticipation of the non-existent promised snow. But finally it started. And it hasn't stopped.

And I haven't left my house since. Oh sure, I did go outside to shovel three times already (after all, Husband needed a place to park his car when he got home from work). And we played outside for hours. And we fell dove walked across the yard to our neighbor's houses bearing gifts of fresh baked breads and muffins as Christmas gifts and so the girls could hit them up for GS cookies. And we refilled the bird feeders. But that's it. We have yet to travel out of the roads. The roads, which BTW, are craptastic at best. I've barely seen a town plow on our road (we live on a main road through town) and when I do, they're driving around with their plows up. And judging by the amount of hard slop that wasn't at the edge of my driveway this year, I didn't miss seeing them. Call me crazy, but I think you remove more snow/slush/ick with the plow down.

Anyone want to guess how many times my kids have pee'd in their snowsuits? Two. And anyone want to guess who didn't grab laundry soap Friday before the snow started falling? Yeah me. Speaking of laundry... So yeah, I'm snowed in, in the sense that I could leave if I had to, but then I'd have to take the car and use only 2 car seats and I don't want to unless I have to, and running out of laundry soap, contact solution, mayo, hot cocoa and dog food. We can make it until tomorrow though, when either the kids have school and I can go to the store, or when Husband is only working four hours and will be home before lunch to you know, help.

And I'm about ready to staple a fleece blanket over the playroom doorway. The door, it behind the tree so I cannot isolate that room. The windows, are super duper drafty which means, it's making other areas drafty. Not that they need much help because we need to update our windows. I think this summer we're going to start two rooms at a time because we cannot afford to change all 28 windows at one time. But the playroom - freezing!

So yeah, my muscles ache and I'm cold (my next house is going to have a garage and insulated walls!). But overall, for being snowed in with my girls for the last few days, we're all in pretty good spirits. We're enjoying out hot cocoa (like the one on the left) which is probably why we are almost out and have enjoyed playing outside. Today's agenda is more shoveling, more playing outside and more baking.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow....

Here's to a cleaner New Year

With Christmas just seven days away and New Years right on it's tail, now is the time to start thinking about your New Year's resolutions. Maybe your going to try and save money, spend less, lose some weight or just be less stressed. Maybe your going to vow to volunteer more and work less. Maybe your going to live greener. Or maybe your going to try and keep your laundry down to a minimum.

If your like me and have multiple little beings running around, you know they wear tons of laundry. And chances are, if your like me, you procrastinate until their laundry baskets are overflowing. Or you go to grab a school uniform only to find out their isn't any clean and you have to pull your cleanest one out of the hamper. ***ahem, not that I know anyone who does that***.

Well, if laundry's in your New Year forecast, then stick around. The lovely ladies at Mom Generations have set up The Giveaway Connection and have given me the opportunity to give something to you, my readers. Wanna know what your playing for?

Two 2-Packs of Scent + Dye Free dropps, which will cover 4 loads of laundry

Dropps is a biodegradable, phosphate-free, chlorine-free and NPE-free laundry detergent, and they can be found at http://www.dropps.com.

Here are the rules:
You have from today, December 19th until next week December 26th at midnight EST. Winners will be announced during the day on Saturday, December 27th. You need to leave an email address or link to a valid blog so that I can contact you for shipping information.

That's it.

The task?

You need to answer a few questions (answers can be found on my blog)....

1) I have three daughters, they go by the names Einey, Meenie and Moe. How old are they and when are their birthdays (and yes, since I'm sure you'll say no fair, it could be TWO answers fro Einey depending on when you answer, let's go with her age she will be on her birthday this year).

2) How many pets do we have? Bonus points if you can name their species.

3) Did I ever resolve my issue with the Christmas card from Hell?

4) When did I get my Christmas tree this year?

5) How many times has Moe cut her hair?

6) What did my kids want for Christmas this year?

7) If my kids had an Ipod, what type of music would they want added?

8) What is Moe's favorite drink?

All answers can be found on my blog. You may need to did harder for some. In the event that more than one person gets all the answers correct, I'll randomly draw a name for the winner.

Seems like I didn't think that through very well. Leave me a comment about how much you love doing laundry (because we all LOVE laundry, right ?) and how many people you wash for. And EVERYONE gets a chance to win. All comments left will be eligible to win, I'll pull it randomly from everyone who comments.

Worth playing for? Good then go! There can only be one Survivor winner. Good luck!

All I want for Christmas is....

Baby go pee-pee ~ Moe, age 4
Easy Bake Cupcake Maker and an American Girl Doll ~ Meenie, Age 5
A turtle ~ Einey, age 7*

Unfortunately, Santa has no plans to actually deliver said wants. So we'll probably have some disappointed kids on Christmas morning....

There are 11 days until Christmas and we were pretty well done all our Christmas preparations.

Tree ~up and decorated~ check


Cards ~issue resolved and mailed ~ check
Cookies ~ made ~ check

Holiday Festivities ~ Light Parade ~ check


Snow ~ check

Stockings ~ hung by the chimney with care ~ check


Presents ~ brought and mostly wrapped ~ checked
Letters to Santa mailed ~ check


Visit with Santa ~ Ah shit. Um.. no.



Oh wait, does Santa riding on a firetruck around town count? They didn't get to sit on his lap or tell him what they wanted though. I'm working on trying to get Santa to visit the house, but I think a trip to the mall may be in order. We missed visiting Santa a few weeks ago due to icy weather.

After leaving Santa (we ambushed him in the village because we were late for Einey's game and they had heard him coming and wanted to wait. So we drove down and met him in the village behind us), Moe looked at me and said "That wasn't the real Santa. He didn't talk like Santa". That and they commented on his fire boots....

And Holiday outtakes....

Did you know Menorah is another word for poop? ~ Einey
Um, no, but manure is another word for poop. A Menorah is a Jewish candle holder.
Oh, yeah...

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"Heart the Herald angels sing..." ~Meenie
It's Hark.
No it's not.
Yes it is.
No it's not.
Moooo-oooom....

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* we'll just call her seven, she's close enough!

What a weekend!

It's been a busy weekend. Our weekend started Friday as the girls did not have school. In true fashion, we invited some friends over for our annual cookie decorating party. We supply the cookies and usually the frosting, and they all bring toppings. This year, I realized too late, that we were out of some ingredients to make frosting and the frosting I had hanging around was old. Very, very old. So I asked a friend who was coming to bring some. No problem. Only, it started to get late, so just as I was sending another friend out to get some, he arrived. The kids, I think, had a blast. And of the 5- 6 dozen cookies I made, we had only a handful left that didn't get decorated. And true to fashion, my younger two girls put frosting on their cookies and then dumped heaping piles of toppings on top. Even Einey was stuffing handfuls of sugar into her mouth.

After that, we had to head over to school for parent teacher conferences. Einey is doing great. Her test schools for her first standardized tests surprised us. Her language skills are just way up there. Her math skills are normal for her age, but it's something we need to work on. Overall, she's doing great in school.

Next came Meenie. She's doing as well as she should be doing. She had some issues adjusting to kindergarten at first and took her teacher a little bit to figure it out. You see, while Meenie is very outgoing, when it comes to new situations, she withdraws. She watches and observes and once she reaches her comfort level, she starts to come out of her shell. Now that she's comfortable, she isn't as nervous in the class anymore. Her biggest issue is speed. She races through things just to be done and move onto the next task. So, we need to work on getting her to slow down.

Moe is doing okay as well. Her evaluation was done in October, right after she turned four, so there were some things she didn't know. In just a few short months, we've watched transformations. She went from hieroglyphics with writing her name, to actually writing her name so you can understand it. It's still rough, but it's getting better. She never wanted to write before and even now, it's hard to get her to pick up a pencil and do her homework.


Saturday, was, by Einey's opinion, the best day ever. We had her seventh birthday party and she didn't stop smiling the whole time. The house, while a bit crowded, didn't feel overwhelming. We had her friends arrive an hour before the entertainment. We did cake and presents, and as she was opening the last presents, the entertainment arrived in the form of a man and his reptiles. So we all went down to the basement, which was a little more crowded then I expected, but not overly. Einey got to be the helper with every reptile and invertebrate he had, holding it first and then bringing them around to her friends. Every time she was asked to reach into a bag to pull something out, she didn't hesitate at all. Seriously, she just reached into bags of snakes to pull them out. Even when she was told, "Our next creature is a carnivore, and do you know what carnivores eat? meat. Yeah your made of meat, so just put your hand out like this" she didn't flinch. We had everything from geckos to an alligator. From the sounds of it and the looks on the girls faces, they had a blast!

And this morning, we woke up to a slight covering of snow. Einey has her first cheer leading game this afternoon (she missed yesterdays game) and then hopefully, if the weather holds out, we'll be able to go to the light parade tonight.

I hope everyone else is having as great of a weekend as we are. I don't remember the last time I've been so relaxed on a weekend so full of activity!

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Congratulations to Lauren and Karen who were winners of my blog giveaway.

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I posted a review of the party over here.

On the second day of Christmas...

...my babycakes gave to herself. Today at school was the annual children's craft fair, where the kids could bring in money and buy gifts for their family members. I sent each girl in with money and instructions to try and get something for each member of their immediate family. And if there was any money leftover, they could spend it on themselves. Moe came out and said she got me something, and her sisters something and herself two somethings. When I asked if she got her dad anything, she said she "trogot". These gifts, while different always hold a special meaning because they are something they picked themselves, without any influence from family members.

So I asked her to show me what she got for herself and sh pulled out a hair thing-a-ma-bob and a tea cup, filled with biscotti, tea bags and a honey spoon. She was sooooooo happy and asked if she could open it RIGHT NOW. Once I stopped laughing and I told her it was tea and that it wasn't, in fact, a lollipop in there, she still wanted it open. I convinced her that maybe, just maybe, we could give that to daddy since she "torgot" him. She agreed and I offered up a lollipop at home instead.

When we got home, she watched me pull out a gift for Husband that I picked up from a friend who braved the Black Friday madness (of which I will not name in case he actually reads this). She looked and exclaimed "you got something for daddy!". And then was happy that her daddy wasn't "torgotten".

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The winner of my NaBloPoMo posting everyday is C Sierra from Suburn-dwelling Sierra . Congratulation's!

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Only two more days to try and win free stuff! And only one person has left a comment to win over here. Seriously, if you click over now, you'll have great odds of winning!

The first day of Christmas

When did Christmas get extended from Twelve Days to Twenty Five? And if there are twenty five days to Christmas, why has ABC been airing Christmas show for the last two weeks (as their countdown to the twenty five days of Christmas). And on the subject of ABC, why for the love of god, do they start their programming at 8-9 pm? My kids are in bed at 7:30 pm, so it is entirely frustrating to them that I won't let them stay up (no way are they staying up to 10 on school nights watching TV!) and frustrating to me for being the bad guy for telling them to go to bed!

Back to the subject of Christmas....

Yesterday we decorated the tree. For the first time since before kids, we put glass ornaments on it. Within a half hour, Moe broke one. This morning, Einey ran by and broke another one.

Broken ornament total: 2

The perfect tree

Yesterday, we took the girls to the local Christmas tree farm to pick out our tree. It's a bit earlier than usually, but with Einey's birthday party next weekend and Husband working the following weekends, we wanted to go when we weren't rushed. We grabbed a saw and walked down towards the back of the farm. The day, was thankfully, not to bad out. It was in the mid 40's, so definitely not "oh my god, lets grab a tree and go" weather.

We found a great tree and the kids had a blast running up and down and across the rows. Einey thought it was great - just like a maze. And while we didn't take the wagon ride, choosing to walk instead, and Santa wasn't there yet - he arrives next weekend - the girls had fun. I believe this was only the second year we actually cut down a tree (the first year being the year we were married and only because the place where we had our reception gave us a free tree). I think it will be a tradition from here on out.


Today, we decorate!

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I did it! I made it to the end of NaBloPoMo with posting every. single. day. So I guess that means I owe you reader's something. So, tonight I'll draw a random number based on comments and will award one reader a Starbucks gift card. So leave a comment by midnight tonight and I will draw the winner in the morning when I awake. Winner will be announced upon notification of the winner.

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I can't believe you guys don't like free stuff! Not a single person has left a comment to win over here. Seriously, if you click over now, you'll have great odds of winning!

'Tis the season

Do you want to know one of my favorite things about this time of year?

Baking with the girls!

The hottest Christmas toys

Who needs to stand in line all morning for Black Friday deals?

The hottest new toys can be found just about anywhere. IN fact, I'm sure you have them laying around your house, in the basement, garage or attic. You may even have them in other rooms of your houses!

Who needs toys when you have these?

Yup, a plain old cardboard box. Currently being used as a secret hideout - for a secret bonus, when you close it up, you can see a starry sky!


And a smaller version currently being used as a doll house.

That's right, this Christmas season, forget the toys and just wrap those empty boxes!


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Speaking of inexpensive, do you want to win a free tune up for your computer? I'm giving four away over here, so click on over!

Giving Thanks

I am thankful for:

• waking each morning
• the sun shining
• the off-key notes sang through the house
• the giggles of little girls
• grass beneath my toes
• family and friends
• health
• a warm fuzzy dog
• a warm home
• laughter and love
• kisses and hugs
• hearing "mommy, I wuv you"
• not needing to worry about jobs
• food in the pantry
• birds chirping outside

Wishing you and your families a very happy Thanksgiving!

What's on the menu today? We are having:

Turkey
Mashed potatoes
Gravy
Sweet potatoes
Green bean casserole
Wild rice stuffing
Bread stuffing
Corn
Broccoli
Rolls
Cranberry sauce
Kielbasa
Pirogies (blue berry, mushroom and sour kraut, and potato)
Apple pie
Pumpkin pie
Salad

This is the first year in nine years we are hosting Thanksgiving dinner. We've invited over his parents and my parents. The girls are very excited and cannot wait!

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Do you want to win a free tune up for your computer? I'm giving four away over here, so click on over!

The wisdom of a six (almost seven) year old

Is insert name here your boyfirend?

No, he's my husband.

You can't get married.

Why not.

Because, you need to be footloose and fancy free right now. You can have a salty husband later.

(conversation between Einey and Meenie, overheard while they were doing crafts)

What do you do in that unexpected time alone?

You play with play dough, of course!

Today, found Meenie and myself alone after school. Einey had pep squad and Moe was invited over a friends house for a play date. So I picked one kid up at school, left one at school, and sent the other on her way from school with another mom. I told Meenie was could do anything she wanted, after all, it's not often that we get to spend time together alone. She thought and thought.

First she suggested the Wii.

The she mentioned play dough.

Once we arrived home, she decided play dough was it. So we pulled out all the beautiful colors of containers of purply-brown play dough and we created. We made chocolate chips. We made hair for Pinkie Pie. We cut, we squished we had fun.

Then we made hot chocolate. Hot chocolate with whipped cream and Halloween holiday sprinkles on top.

And all to soon, it was time to pick up the other two.

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This morning, I had my mom all to myself. She came over after I dropped the kids off at school. We went Christmas shopping. It's not to often that I see her without the kids around. Or one of my siblings. Or my nieces and nephews. It's not to often that we go and do something together, usually our visits are at one another's house. And usually they involve one of us doing housework. Or a party. Or busy with something.

It was nice. Very nice.

And all to soon, it was time to pick Moe up from school.

The Christmas Card From Hell

I thought I was on top of things.

I had my Christmas photo taken.

I had my cards designed by a friend who is a graphic designer.

I went to print them....

And holy crap. They look like shit. I've opened them in numerous programs. My friend opened them in other programs. Amazing. Truly amazing. Go to upload them to any site to print them. Shit. Crap. No way am I purchasing them.

I spent over a half hour on the phone with Shutterfly tonight only for them to tell me that my boarder won't work and to try and use on of theres. Um no. I want MY pictures dammit!

So now I have a a few things to try, but none of them involve spending $500 on pictures (which printed professionally would solve the issue). Tomorrow is another day, right?

Oh and the kicker, I usually mail them the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. So not going to happen.

Weekend review

The leaves have fallen.
The weather is cold.
Christmas is almost here.
Nerves are fried.
I can't remember a thing.
There's frost on the windows.
Husband is off of nights.
Moe has a PPT for speech finally this week.
Were hosting Thanksgiving.
Followed a few days later by a cookie party.
Followed a day later by a birthday party.
Christmas shopping (for the girls) is done.
The room renovation is causing me to pull my hair out.

The end.

Photo Hunt Saturday - Reflection

Tis the season!

This was Moe checking out a new christmas ornament today. I love how I caught her reflection in the ornament.

PhotoHunt

All it took was a simple question..

"Mom, can we stop there one day? "

As I looked out the window on the way to bring the girls to school, I saw where Moe was pointing. She was pointing to the small building on the right, across the street from the post office. Already at 8:30 am, there was a line forming in the cold air. It didn't matter that the temperature was a mere 26 degrees. The people in line was waiting, waiting for the door to open at 9:00 am. The building was painted like no others in the area, with murals on the outside. One was a picture of God, and that was the picture that caught Moe's eye. They weren't standing, waiting to see Twilight. Nor were they waiting to buy the newest, hottest toy on the market. Today, like many other days, they were waiting. Waiting in the cold. Waiting to pick up food for their families.

"Mom, I really want to go there. I want to see God."

And in that moment I knew. We would go there. That day. That morning. After we dropped the older two girls off at school. We ran some errands. And before we headed back home, we stopped at the grocery store. My cupboards were full, there was nothing we needed. But we filled the card. Potatoes. Vegetables. Stuffing. More vegetables. Gravy. We filled the cart to the top. And then we checked out. Today, I didn't pull out my bag of reusable bags. I let the fill our cart with paper and plastic.

And then we drove to our last stop of the morning. We stopped at the small building across from the post office. The one we usually drive by. We pulled in and walked inside. The waiting room was full, two hours after we passed it this morning. We went in and said we had some food and could we get some help bringing it in. And older lady stopped Moe to talk to her. And so, back out to the van, with three volunteers in tow, we filled their arms with the food we had. Back into the small building we went. And then, we silently slipped out the door.

"I didn't see God, but I'm happy we gave them some food".

Such a simple question but it inspired me to act. To do something for those people standing in the cold. It something we could do. Moe and I talked the whole morning. She knows why we brought the food and who it was going to. And now, she knows what that little building on the corner is for. It's the local food bank. It's where people who need it, go and get food. For themselves and their families. And we'll go back. Keep going back. As much as we can.

Thank you Moe.