Friday, January 15, 2010

Sometimes being a mom is just plain gross!

Although I've always wanted to be a mommmy.

Although I try to always put my children's needs ahead of my own.

Although I love being a mommy.

Sometimes, being a mom is ...just plain gross...

Take today for example....

This morning Porter's first words to me are:
"Mommy, Lizzy pooped in my room."
(Lizzy is our pet Lizard - don't you love our original name?)

I answered: "You didn't try to clean it up by yourself did you?"

Thank goodness he hadn't. So I'm cleaning up lizard poop.

...gross...

Then I have to feed the Lizard and open her container of 500 crawly mealworms and tweeze 12-15 worms onto her plate.

...gross...

Ella had 3 poopy diapers before 2pm (not even diarrhea just regular poops, not sure why she was so productive today)

...gross...

Ella has a little cough and on the way to the movies tonight Ella got coughing and majorly threw up all over herself. Rather than disappoint the kids, I undressed Ella and put her in Sierra's jacket and we pressed on to the show.

Throughout the 1 hour and 21 minute long movie I could smell a hint of barf in the air.

...gross...

Ella must be allergic to her car seat because she began coughing again and threw up 3 times on the way home. Now, I know she enjoyed her soda pop and popcorn.

...gross...

When we get home, I have to unbuckle her amidst the puddles of "sweetness", undress her again, remove her car seat from the car, clean barf from the car floor, pickup the coats that were on the floor in front of her when she barfed, and wash them.

...gross...

I have yet to unpeel her car seat cover off and throw it into the laundry, but I'm sure it will be...

...gross...

To all the moms out there who sometimes have to do just plain gross things in the name of being a mommy, (Including my sister who was recovering from a lice invasion for weeks.) My hat is off to you all!!!

From snotty noses, to barf, to poop and pee (from children and their pets), may we all cherish the moments that make being a mommy worth it.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

October Trip to Iowa

Obviously I'm still playing catch up since I'm writing about an October event in January. All I can say is, thank heaven November was boring as can be, that will help me catch up on my blog history.

In mid-October we took a road trip out to Iowa to visit Jeremy's family (Papa, Shelly and family, and Cody)

We over-nighted in Laramie, Wyoming and drove straight to Kaiden's football game, stopping only to fill up our tanks and empty our other tanks :)

Fall was in full swing and the huge trees around Chris and Shelly's house provided for tons of inexpensive entertainment.


First, we would look out the 2 story windows and watch the leaves fall like rain. Then we would rake them or leaf-blow them. Finally, we would jump in them. Endless entertainment.

Let's talk a little about me discovering my hidden passion for leaf-blowing. Have you ever used a leaf blower before? MAN - it is FUN!!

I plugged that baby in and I was in my own little leaf blowing world. The hum of the motor, the dancing of leaves .... **sigh** And when I had cleared a patch of leaves, I felt immense satisfaction. I found myself saying to myself, "Ok, I'll quit after I clear just this one little area of lawn." But once I'd cleared the area I just couldn't stop. I was addicted to leaf blowing. Finally, Jeremy made me come in for dinner.

All I could think of through dinner was getting out there and clearing more leaves!!! I was lucky, because the sun was setting and I was able to use that as an excuse to resume my leaf-blowing activities immediately after dinner.

The following day it rained and I was unable to leaf-blow. :(



Besides leaves, there was another theme for our Iowa trip
***CATS***
Or better entitled ***Porter and Cats***

Chris and Shelly have two cats. One is a black cat named "Sunshine" (go figure) and the other is an orange and black cat named "Flash." Porter became obsessed with these cats. And you can only comprehend the deepness of the word "obsessed" if you truly know Porter.

Those poor cats never had a clue what was coming to them. Porter would wake up and hunt them down, rub his face against them, taunt them with string and other toys, and then torture them as much as the adults would let him get away with before being put into time-out. Then he would repeat, until it was time for eating or bedtime.

One particular morning he was experimenting (torturing) with the cats in Chris and Shelly's room. Little did he know that Aunt Shelly was still snuggled in bed watching his every move. Porter would pick up Flash and throw him towards Sunshine to try and get Sunshine to hiss at Flash (or something like that.) He repeated this several times until he heard Aunt Shelly's convicting voice from behind the covers, "Porter.. what are you doing."

Again, if you know Porter well, you also know he can be a pathological liar. Apparently, he is also a very quick thinker.

With outstretched arms, he dropped the kitty and continued extending his arms and replied, "I'm stretching my arms" Nice cover up kid.

So, the cat issue literally dominated our trip. But it didn't end with Chris and Shelly's house. We went to visit Uncle Cody and not only did HE have cats also, but he had THREE, (count 'em 1,2,3) KITTENS. Well, the intensity and obsession was just exponentially increased with those cute lovable, soft, kittens!

This is turning into a long post, but the other highlights of our trip included:
*Watching Kaiden's football game.
*Going to Reiman Gardens
*Playing with science at the science center in Des Moines
*Eating breakfast at a quaint restaurant in Plymouth, Iowa
*Eating an early Thanksgiving Dinner at Cody's house.
*Watching college football

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Playing Catch Up Entry 3 - Porter's 1st Backpacking Trip

The trees were ablaze with color in October and Jeremy was aching to get in the mountains for a closer look.


He thought it was high time for some down and dirty father-son roughing it, so he took Porter on his first overnight backpacking trip. Since I wasn't there to witness the details this post contains mostly images.

But, I'm sure I can correctly conceive that Porter was in his element getting distracted by every crawly thing on the trail, and full of energy as they ascended to their campsite.

Cute little boy with his cute little backpack.






Playing Catch Up Entry 2 - Penn State Game

I'm sure Jeremy would be a better person to blog about this particular entry, but I'll try and do it justice from the less fanatical fan's viewpoint.

In late September Jer and I went to the Penn State vs Iowa game in Pennsylvania.

However, we begun our trip in the usual Franklin standard of excitement that happens whenever we fly, and we missed our flight.

Although, there were many reasons we missed our flight, one of the reasons was because Jeremy had to send out a last minute trash talk email to his Brother-In-Law (a huge Iowa fan).

We finally arrived in PA after some difficulties but Jeremy managed to get a free upgrade on our rental vehicle and it was a match made in heaven!


Just look at that gorgeous navy blue car. Even though the soft top was a little noisy on the interstate it was well worth the fashion statement.


A run to Wal*Mart the night before to get some car markers would have made it even better. Except it was raining. So we had to take pictures of the car before we drove it out in the rain.


Rain would be the theme of the day. But it didn't stop us from having a wonderful day!


We shopped around at some clothing stores on campus to get geared out for the "whiteout."


Then we hit the bleachers. Thank goodness we had ponchos and such, because the rain didn't let up until the VERY end of the game.



We had tons of fun watching the Nittany Lions play. They came out roaring and scored a touch down on their first possession of the game. Unfortunately, the roar turned into a little meow and very little offense took place the rest of the game. Even though Iowa won, we had the best time watching our team lose in the rain than we've ever had!

Playing Catch up entry 1 - Porter's Birthday

Man, has it really been 2 months since I've last made an entry! I'm not even sure I remember how to blog! I'm going to travel back in time and make an entry about Porter's awesome birthday!

Porter's Birthday September 18th

Since Porter is obsessed with bugs we threw him a bug party.

...With a frog pinata (no bug pinatas in town apparently)


He loved the dirt cake I made him.


And we went all out on the cheesy birthday decorations!


Finally Introducing the newest member of our family...

Lizzy



It's been Porter's dream to have a lizard ever since he saw one for the first time in Arizona. Lizzy is our cute little bearded dragon. We did lots of research in order to find a reptile that would tolerate being held a lot, put onto toy tractors, housed in Lego-made buildings, and toted all over the house. Bearded dragons are the best. Mom even likes to hang out with Lizzy sometimes after the kids go to bed and watch "So you think you can dance?" with her.

Check out this video with all the little boys huddling around Lizzy. I think it's so totally CUTE!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The Busy Person's Best Friend

At first I was going to title this post:

"The Busy Woman's Best Friend"

But then I thought it might not be politically correct so I titled it:

"The Busy Person's Best Friend"

But if you ask me it doesn't have the same impact.

"The Busy Man's Best Friend" would have been equally as impacting, but also politically incorrect... I suppose... and not as relevant since I am obviously a women.

So the best friend for a busy person is a TO DO LIST

I don't do it if it's not on a list.
I don't buy it if it's not on a list.
I don't cook it if it's not on a list.
I don't go to a store if it's not on a list.
and so on...

Some people keep it in their phone, some on their hand-held devices, some on their computer.

For me, it has to be a piece of paper, because their is nothing so satisfying as crossing off a task completed.

But, I can't completely black it out because I'll forget I accomplished it as I continue to look at the list in the coming days.

I will add to the list as I think of things I need to do. When I run out of lines on my paper, I transfer all the undone tasks to a new piece of paper.

Sometimes the unthinkable happens and I do things that are not on the list at all. So, I add them to my list and cross them off immediately just so I can have that immense satisfaction!

Here is a picture of my current to do list. I thought it'd be interesting to post.


There was a certain task that was literally on my to do list for nine months.

Nine months, I kept transferring this task to my updated to do list.

Nine months, the task glared me in the eye and said "Do me, Do me"

Today I finally can cross it off my list!!! Victory!

The task was to make these little puppies....



You may be asking yourself, what in the heck are those things?

They are eye patches for Sierra to wear over her glasses, for her vision therapy of course!

Sierra has been wearing one since she was five years old for 4 hours a day, doctors orders. "It helps my bad eye get stronger," she says to people when they ask her about it.

For years she has worn this patch.


Not a very glamorous accessory to be wearing four hours a day if you ask me!

It's been lost a bazillion times. Sierra has hidden it another bazillion times. So I always meant to make more. (She hates having to look through only that "bad" eye.)

I hoped by making some new, more fashionable fun ones, she'd be more compliant to her vision therapy.

I bought the fabric back in December and it's been on my to do list and today I finally accomplished it!!!!!

(A little side note: it looks like I need to go back to preschool because I wrote the "S" backwards on one of her patches. "Doink")

Sunday, August 30, 2009

My First Backpacking Trip

Two weeks ago Jeremy took me on my very first overnight backpacking trip. Growing up, I enjoyed camping with my family, camping at girls camp, and so on. Now I have young kids and I'm really not a fan of it at all. I can't figure out if it's because I don't like camping anymore, or, if it's just that I don't like camping with kids.

Jeremy had two days off, so he wanted to go backpacking. "I just don't know who to go with," he said. I piped up and volunteered to be the one.

After all, I AM his wife, so why shouldn't I be the one to go with him? Plus, it would give me a chance to wear my new cute cowgirl hat!

So we took the kids to my parents (thanks again parents!) and set off on our overnight backpacking trip.

Being a naturally nervous person I found many things to worry about... Bears, snakes, camping out in the middle of no where, what if one of us broke our legs while we were out in this remote area?, what if our kids needed us and my parents couldn't get a hold of us?

Finally, I found one more thing I could worry about when I saw a helicopter putting out a forest fire a few hundred yards off the trail WE were hiking on. VERY comforting. (Ok - maybe it wasn't a forest fire - one tree was smoldering... but still...)

"Are we sure we should be hiking back here with this forest fire?" I kept nagging. But in the end I found comfort in the fact that it was a well hiked trail and if there was any danger, the firemen wouldn't even be letting people hike back here... RIGHT?

The trail to the peak was 4 miles - not too long. Which actually also gave me comfort - 4 miles - no biggy right? I often run for 3 miles at a time - so 4 miles isn't as removed as it feels. Plus, I have an emergency medicine doctor hiking right beside me for crying out loud, I think I'm in good hands!!!

Where do I get those nervous genes?? Mom??

Well - I eventually was able to relax. Especially as I lay eyes on the breathtaking surroundings. "Are we in heaven?" I felt it necessary to ask because the mountain was so beautiful. The wildflowers were in bloom and completely A-Mazing!







After hiking for what seemed to be a long time we found ourselves at a point on the trail where we began to anticipate nearing the peak. But in my little (and I mean minuscule when I say little) bit of hiking experience, I've found sometimes when you think you're close to the peak, you reach the crest of the trail only to realize you have found a whole other mountain waiting to be climbed.

So while Jeremy began saying, "Ok - we could reach something really special here!" I found myself thinking - "Or we could just see another mountain waiting to be climbed."

But being a descent wife I didn't pipe up to squash his hopes. ...But I was right...

We reached the crest of the trail only to find a huge peak waiting for us. "No - that surely couldn't be the peak we are meant to climb right? I mean it's huge! I feel like we've already gone 3 miles and that peak is definitely more than a mile away!!" I began to convince myself it wasn't the peak we were to conquer, but eventually I came to realize it was.

"We have to climb that!!!!" I exhaled in desperation.

We hiked on - at least the beauty of the surroundings numbed the pain in my shoulders and back. Also - I was in the company of my favorite person in the whole wide world - so don't feel too much sympathy for me! Plus, it wasn't even as difficult as I thought it would be.

We reached the top and I'll use the cliche "Words can't describe how beautiful the scene was." It's been a long time since I've been on a summit hike and I remember how good it feels to conquer a mountain.


The summit was windy and very cold. I saw snow still waiting to melt from the winter, right next to where the campsite was.



We set up camp quickly and devoured our delicious reconstituted meals. (no sarcasm here - they really were delicious) Our sleeping bags were very warm (thanks Papa for the Marmot hook up) and we settle in for the night.

We awoke to this sight out of our tent window...

Outside it looked like this...


It had snowed!! What luck. My sleeping bag was warm so it was difficult to slip out into the brisk foggy air, but slip out I did.

Here is a ridiculous picture of me on the hike down. Socks on my hands, a pillow case on my ears, and pants tucked into my socks. Comfort gave way to beauty in this case, but at least my husband was the only one who saw me (well at least until I post this on the world wide web) and he knows I don't always look so ridiculous.


One of Jeremy's boots began to fall apart on the hike down. He had to do the "Third Reich march" in order to keep from tripping over the floppy soles of his shoes!


Finally the sole fell off completely. Then the sole of his OTHER shoe started becoming unattached. What gives?

So what's the final verdict? Did I like it?

I loved it.