It's Officially Official

I got my proposal tonight, on a pumpkin. I love it and I wish I could keep it forever, but I guess that would be pretty gross after awhile :-P. Good thing for cameras and pictures! And obviously I have the ring to keep forever. It's so pretty, I can't stop looking at it :-).

A Letter

Dear P.M.S.,

I hate you. I hate that you make me feel so angry and moody and sensitive. I hate that you make every tiny thing irritate me. I hate that when you're here, I don't even feel like smiling or laughing. I hate that you make you want to crawl in a hole and hide until you leave and I start to feel human again. I hate that you make me not want to be around anyone, even (and especially) myself. I hate that you make me cry over trivial things. Most of all I hate that you actually make me look forward to my monthly visitor coming because then I will actually feel like ME again.

Sincerely (with hate),
Jen

You Might Not Want to Read This...

...if you easily get sick or grossed out at the mention of poop. Yes, I said it....poop. That's not all this post is about, but it definitely plays a part in last night's adventure. I'll start at the beginning.

I was planning on making a chicken and stuffing dish for dinner last night and early in the day, I tore up bread for the stuffing and put it in the oven on low to get crunchy. Later on when it came time to preheat the oven for dinner, I totally forgot the bread was in there...until it was too late and burnt to a crisp. I sent Joe, who was at work, a text and he called me right back to say he was on his way home and we would just go out to eat before church.

That's how we ended up at Smokey Bones. We were waiting for our food to come and I decided I should take Brooke to the bathroom to see if she had to go. I went to pull her pull-up down and realized she had pooped (4th time yesterday! 4th time in her pants!). So back to the table we went to get the diaper bag and wipes. I laid her down on the changing table in the bathroom and pulled her pants down and immediately saw poop...everywhere. Down her leg, in the crotch of her jeans, in the waistband in the back of her jeans, and upon closer inspection, UP her back. I cleaned her up and cleaned her pants up the best I could. Silly me didn't bring an extra pair of pants, thinking the pull-up would contain any messes. Ha ha. We went back to the table and I told Joe I hoped we had time to stop at home before church because she was a mess.

Joe had the idea of just stopping over at Walmart and grabbing her a cheap pair of leggings since that would be faster. I go to put Brooke in the car as we're leaving Smokey Bones and the door handle just came off in my hand! Joe got it back on, but it's not really fixed yet, although it seems to be working fine as long as you don't pull too hard on it. We were almost running late for church and I planned on just changing her in the car before going in so after we left Walmart, I reached back and slid her (new, just got the day before) boots off. The next thing I hear is, "Ewww. Yucky sock." and I'm thinking, how can her sock be "yucky"? So I ask her if it's wet (from sweat) and Joe looks back and says, "Um no, there's something brown on it". I look back and sure enough, has poop smeared on her sock and leg. Seriously?!

We get to church and Joe took the boys in to get everyone signed in while I changed Brooke. I got the wipes out and started cleaning her leg off. The poop was like cement on her leg. I guess it somehow fell out of her pull-up and in to her boot at the restaurant?? I have NO idea. I asked her how she got poop on her leg and her sock and she said, "Myron did it." Myron is Joe's golden retriever. LOL. No idea where that came from. I cleaned her boot out the best I could with the wipe and got her changed and off we went. I met Joe inside and he gave me Brooke's tag and I dropped her off at her room.

Joe and I went to our group. We were sitting there waiting for it to start and everyone was chatting and he realized his phone wasn't in his pocket and that he (thought he) left it on the table at the restaurant. So he left to go get it. About 40 minutes later he gets back. Halfway to the restaurant, he realized that the phone was in the car and had been there since Walmart whenever I called him to let him know I was in the checkout line so he could come pick me up at the door since we were running late. Clearly, neither of us were thinking very clearly by the time we got to church last night. LOL.

So, how was YOUR Wednesday night??

Christmas Shopping - Round 1

Has anyone started yet? We did this past weekend since we didn't have the kids. I'm sure we'll do more in 2 weeks when we don't have them again. Toys'R'Us was having a pretty good sale on clearance items, so got some things there and we also found a couple good deals at other places. We both love a good deal.

~For the boys...although, I'm sure Brooke will get in on the action, too: Super Hero Squad Bop Bag/Glove Combo. Listed for $24.99 on Amazon and we got it for I think $6.99 at Ross (I think...lol. We went so many places on Saturday!). I think this gift is a mistake, but there was no arguing with Joe :-P. We don't plan on giving them the gloves (I still don't like it lol).

~For all three: VTech USA Explore & Learn Interactive Map. We actually got this awhile back on sale at Target for I think $15, regularly $20. Brooke was playing with it one day at Walmart and really seemed to like it. We thought it would be good for all 3 of them.

~For Brooke: Lucky Ducks. She loves ducks and she needs (I think) to start learning her shapes and colors.





~For Brooke: a set of assorted Littlest Petshop animals. These are listed for $29.99 on TRU's site. We got them for $12.99 at Big Lots! She LOVES her some LPS animals. (This isn't the exact set we got.)

~For Cole & Ryan: War Machine and Iron Man Bobble Heads. These were $4.98 each, so too cheap to pass up for how funny looking (I think) they are. Hopefully they won't be too mad about not being able to play with them :-P. They'll go on a shelf in their room.

~For Ryan and Cole: Bulls-Eye Baseball. Another great steal at $10.98, originally $26.99. This was something I almost got Ryan for his birthday, but changed my mind. It will be a "kitchen table" game or the marbles will be missing in 5 minutes.

So far that's all we got....that I remember, anyway. I have a few more ideas for Brooke right now.

I would like to get a new lamp/nightlight for her room and I think this is what she's going to get. She loves Dora and while I'm not a big fan, I don't have a problem getting her some Dora things as long as it's nothing that makes noise. LOL.

And she also loves bags and purses, so this is something else she may end up getting. I don't like the plastic talking ones they sell, but this one is pretty cute. It even has a rolled up map in the side pocket that unrolls to reveal an actual map like on the show.

And lastly, this will be her biggest gift. They have it at Toys'R'Us. I think she needs something to use with her baby dolls and it's something that should end up getting a lot of use. The bassinet part of the stroller comes out so you can use it as a regular stroller as well. I may end up changing my mind, but right now that is the plan for her.

The boys have me stumped! Joe has some ideas...Iron Man transformers, the Super Hero Squad game for the Wii, and I don't remember what else. He'll probably be more in charge of the boys while I figure out things for Brooke. LOL.

Look for another update in a couple weeks on more Christmas finds!

Brooke's bedroom

I guess I will slowly start posting some before and after pictures of the house! If I wait for everything to be "perfect" and just the way I/we want it, then I'll never end up posting pictures. So keep in mind that we're still working on things and I'll tell you what I/we want to add/change eventually :-).

We'll start with Brooke's room, which is the smallest (aside from the bathroom...although maybe not by much lol). We will eventually be taking part of a wall out and moving a doorway in order to expand her room. I'm not sure if I can explain this right, but there is a small room you walk in to before you get to her bedroom. If you go straight through, you will end up in her room, but on the left wall of this "extra" room is the doorway in to our bedroom. So eventually we will take out the wall between her bedroom and the "extra" room to make it one bigger room and close our doorway off and move it so it opens in to the hallway. But for now, her room is just the right size for her...and despite it's smallness it has a nice closet in it so that's awesome!

I started looking for toddler bedding for her because she never had a crib set. I just used a basic crib sheet and bought her blankets to use in her crib when she was a baby. I wanted her to have an actual set for her new room and "big girl" (toddler) bed. She loves animals so when we saw this set at Target, we knew it was so "her". Then we found Littlest Petshop wall decals on clearance and got those, too...and she LOVES them!

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*BEFORE*

As I'm sure you'll be able to tell from the pictures, the previous owners were using Brooke's room as a nursery. She did like the animals they had painted, but they had to go...lol. Don't mind the blue painters tape in the pictures. I didn't start taking pictures until after we had started taping off to paint.

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*AFTER*

We painted the walls a soft pink. The trim still needs done, but it doesn't look too bad. We still need to figure out what we want to do as far as curtains for her. Probably something white since it will be right above her bed and her comforter is "busy". The car bed used to Cole's and blue :-). Joe painted it for her. She LOVES it. The dresser used to be mine (and it is waaay older than me and SOLID, but is in need of a new paint job). We had to get something to hang over the dresser to cover where the monkey was because we didn't do enough coats of primer and the pink just would not cover it's arms and legs. She LOVES the kitty poster we found at Walmart. I would also like to find her a cuter lamp (hmm, that might be a good Christmas idea...she is all about her bedroom, lol). I just ordered her 2 more bow holders to hang on her wall since that one is overflowing and the plastic dresser thing-a-ma-jig needs moved out of there. Not sure what else I want to put on her dollhouse bookshelf since all she does in her room right now is sleep :-). Maybe I'll put some stuffed animals on there (of course then they'll probably all end up in bed with her). Almost every time she goes in her room, she spins in a circle and looks at the walls and says "awww" or "wook at the animals" or "wook at the kitties" or something like that :-).

Engaged!

Sorry to disappoint, but I don't have a fabulous engagement story to share :-P. LOL. I told him we should make one up since people want details and it's no fun saying we just went and picked out rings together. There's been no question for awhile that we will get married someday (hopefully in the not too distant future). We just weren't officially engaged. Perhaps we still aren't since he hasn't proposed. Hmmm. I actually don't even have my ring yet since it needed sized, so I guess there's still time ;-).

I'm so happy and excited! This really is my happily ever after :-).

P.S. Yes, that is a picture of the ring I picked out.

Still here!

We moved in to our new house 2 weeks ago tomorrow, but we just got internet (and phone) hooked up on Wednesday. I have some catching up to do on here!

Ryan rode the bus for the first time yesterday and LOVED it. I was nervous, but the good thing is he is the last picked up in the morning and the first dropped off in the afternoon and we live about 2 minutes from the school, so it's a short ride. I did get a call from the bus garage yesterday afternoon saying Ryan was "tripping up the steps" getting on the bus after school and the bus driver had to help him which they aren't allowed to do. His aide should have made sure he got on the bus okay (he has an aide at school only for transitions, in the cafeteria, and on the playground), but it wasn't his regular aide yesterday, it was a sub, so I'm not sure what happened. I talked to Ryan's teacher and her and the principal are looking in to it.

Brooke is potty training! We started Sunday night and she is doing great! She pees about every 20-30 minutes, though. It will be nice when she can start holding it longer. She is having less and less accidents and starting to go on her own instead of just when the timer goes off and I think she is starting to be able to hold it a little longer. The first couple days she got an M&M every time she went, but she stopped asking for them so I stopped giving them to her. She gets very happy and excited and proud when she goes. She has even pooped in the potty every time except Monday afternoon and yesterday afternoon and she even used the potty at church Wednesday night! I'm so proud of her :-).

I will share pictures of the house *eventually lol. I don't know how soon that will be because I am a huge procrastinator :-X. We got the 3 bedrooms and the living room painted. We still want to paint the playroom and the bathroom and the kitchen. The kitchen is waiting until we get some cabinets from Joe's aunt who is remodeling her kitchen. There's no sense in painting before then.

That's it in a nutshell for now. Maybe I'll try to blog some more this weekend since the kids won't be here. Have a great weekend, everyone!