It was a trick...

As an update to my previous post regarding the extreme numbers at the zoo trick-or-treat occasion...I KNEW there were more people there than had ever been there before, and now I have proof. I received the following email from the zoo today!

I hate to say it, but I cannot ever share this information with my husband...he might not forgive me for making him go!

I'm it again...

I got tagged again...I told you I was popular! This tag was a journey of self discovery. Oh, how I wished that I didn't follow the true instructions, but I did! The rules are: You have to take pictures of the following things immediately! There can be no cleaning, straightening, or wiping your child's nose! 

Here goes a peek into my life...hold on!!

1. The kitchen sink...complete with dishes that you would assume were from last night's dinner, but we didn't eat dinner at our house yesterday.  Angel and Mike had us over for dinner--Mike

 cooked!! We had Taco Bell the night before, and dinner at D's sister's house on Sunday. So, it can be easily concluded that these dishes have been here for a while...

2. The laundry room...we believe in piling things on top of the dryer. Hey, it is the only place in my tiny laundry room that there is room to put something. Well, there is the washer, but then I couldn't open it to do the laundry I obviously don't do. (Notice the basket FULL of towels on the side).

3. The fridge...well decorated with pictures, bulletins, and other random items. This one could have been much worse if I would have taken a picture of the inside!

4. Bathroom...I chose the kids bathroom. Notice the cute decorations in the mirror, but please ignore the water spots on the bottom of the mirror. If the cupboards would have been seen, you would have seen the toothpaste marks on the cupboards below the sink.

5. Closet...I chose mine and D's closet. I really don't know why. I know...we need to de-junk! 

6. Favorite room...I chose the living room, because it is really the only one that is slightly presentable right now! Of course there is the mini volleyball in front of the fireplace. Fuss likes to stand at the top of the stairs across from the living room and throw balls down to watch them bounce into my living room.

7. Favorite shoes...I would wear flip flops year round if my feet didn't get too cold! Do you like the spot on the floor next to them though? I found my shoes right where they belonged...in the kitchen. Someone needs to mop around here!

8.  Self portrait...if this doesn't inspire me to get ready before the middle of the afternoon, nothing will! Seriously! No makeup, hair not done...so scary!!! I am wearing an old "design team" t-shirt from cosmetology school, and if you could see my pants you would see they are plaid pajama pants--pink, green, and white---I so don't match or look good in any sense of the word!

9. Children...the older boys are at Luci's, or more likely school! While I was running around taking pictures of my house and sadly me, Fuss decided to climb onto the counter in the master bathroom, which is his favorite spot recently! Earlier I found filling the sink. He thinks he is so funny. I can hear him on top of my kitchen table as I type this...ugh!

10. Dream vacation...Luckily I have a picture from Paris in my living room. I want to go to France more than anything! D is fluent in French, which is really just a bonus in case we ever make it there!

Now I get to tag...I choose Brianna, Carly, Julie, Kacy, Lisa, and Rachele! Have fun! Hopefully you will be better prepared than I was!

Trick more than treat...

Yesterday I had a brilliant idea! We (I) decided that we should take our boys trick-or-treating at the zoo. This year we joined the zoo as a family membership. I didn't even know that you could join the zoo. I had hoped that there would be a habitat for us with comfy beds and food served regularly...there wasn't. It just means we can go to the zoo as often as we want for a year without paying anything more. D and I have never had the opportunity to take our kids trick-or-treating. The way the custody agreement works out, Luci has had the boys on Halloween every year since holidays have been split. So, I decided that it would be fun to take our kids trick-or-treating, and since you can't really knock on your neighbors' doors 6 days early, so going to the scheduled trick-or-treat at the zoo seemed like the best idea. The problem is that we weren't the only ones who had this fantastic idea...half the people in the state did too! I guarantee that there has never been that many people at the zoo at one time ever before. I think that 90% of the people that have ever been to the zoo were there yesterday.

Our day began at 7:00 am because I was sure if we were there near 9:00 when the zoo opened that the crowd would be significantly less than in the warmer afternoon. Whether I was right or wrong really doesn't matter, because if there was more people there in the afternoon they would have had to put a sign up that read: "Full to Occupancy--Every Square Inch Occupied!" Let's face it, my plan was the greatest one that I have ever come up with. It was so full of flaws right from the beginning. Since we don't ever have the kids on Halloween, we don't have costumes. So, I bought some face paints, but Olie and Moo didn't want their faces painted. So, our make shift costumes were as follows: Olie wore jeans and a T-shirt and left his hair messy. When I asked him what he was he said, "a boy who just woke up." Skater wore jeans and a T-shirt and painted his face like a bloody, dead zombie. He said he was a "Skater zombie." Moo wore jeans and a T-shirt with a plaid flannel shirt over it and a straw cowboy hat. He was a cowboy, but didn't have any boots or really look like a cowboy. Fuss had a costume. He was a dragon, and a cute one at that! 

When we first arrived at the zoo, people were parking blocks away and walking. D asked if we should find a parking place. I assured him that we shouldn't park miles away. As we got closer we discovered that the entire parking lot was full, the 2 parking lots across the street were full, and there wasn't a spot on the street as far as the eye could see. The line of people waiting to get in was the entire length of the parking lot and back around the first line of cars. D is not a patient man when it comes to crowds, so I assured him of a secret parking lot with its own entrance. Luckily, we were one of the first to find it and were able to get in with just a short wait in line. However, that was the only short line we stood in for the next hour and a half! By the time we left, our secret parking had been discovered and over taken by countless cars. The insanity continued!! 

We got to trick-or-treat at a couple of booths without waiting 10 minutes just to get to the booth, then we hit the main part of the zoo! All I can say is "HOLY CRAP!" There were so many people lining up just to get a piece of hard candy, or some tootsie rolls, that you might think that all the stores ran out of candy and this was the last chance anyone had to get any. An hour and half after we arrived D asked if we had been there long enough for the kids to experience the "Boo at the Zoo" and for us to have experienced taking our kids trick-or-treating. We had only visited 10 booths at the most! He promised that if we left we could stop at the store and buy the kids candy, but we didn't. Regardless, the kids had a fun time. I am still wondering what possessed me to experience this once in a lifetime adventure (because we are never doing it again!), and D is learning more patience in crowds. There really is nothing like filling a large area like a zoo to its brink and sticking my honey in the middle of it! Most of all, Fuss learned that if he dresses in a cute costume and holds a bucket that people put candy in it. This fascinated and delighted him for the rest of the night! Oh, the joy of what the real Halloween will really be for my 1 year old!

Tagged again...

I was tagged again...I must be pretty popular! Anyway, for this tag you are supposed to go to your photos on your computer and find the fourth file then pick the fourth photo. We actually have 2 files of photos, one under my profile and one under D's. I liked the picture under D's better, so it wins! This is a picture of Fuss and his favorite nanny, Didda, on New Year's Day 2008. We went sledding as a family. Since Fuss was only 7 months old, it was obviously his first time, but not his last! We love the outdoors, and D's Grandpa has the perfect sledding hill at his house in Idaho, so we will be going again when the snow starts falling!! Anyway, when we got to the sledding area, the largest hill was facing the sun and mostly melted. At first we were a little disappointed that there was such a small hill to sled down, but the kids had a blast! I actually love the expression on Fuss' face in this picture because it shows just how much he loved it! He didn't know what to expect and this may very well have been his first time down the hill! As a parent it is hard to trust other people with your child, but with Didda I never had to worry for even a second! She was the best nanny a child or parent could ask for! Obviously I trusted her...I let her take my 7 month old son on a piece of foam board down an icy and snowy hill with no protective gear!

So, I guess I am now supposed to tag 4 people...hmmmm...I choose Kati, Rebecca, Elizabeth, and Monica! Get those photos ready!

I am expanding my horizons...

I have a lot of time on my hands. I am only a wife, a mother, a step-mother, a medical transcriptionist, a web content writer, and I have church responsibilities...so not a lot at all! And because I have SO much free time, and I am so good at keeping up on this blog, I have decided to create a second blog. This second blog is not a reading blog, that would require way too much thinking on my part. It is a photography blog, so to speak anyway.

I would like to reassure my friends that have photography blogs (many of whom I worked with as a professional photographer), my blog is in no way competition for your blog. See I used to be a photographer in a studio. I was pretty good if I do say so myself. I had many customers request my skills for taking their children's pictures. When you view my skills on my second blog, you will undoubtly ask yourself, "WHY???"

Here is the thing...In the studio things were set up for me: the camera was in position, lighting was set, backgrounds were in place, props were available, and all I had to do was get children to smile from the side of the camera. Behind the camera I am horrible snapshot, point and shoot photographer. My husband bought me a very nice camera that after 2 and 1/2 years, I still don't know how to use! So in my angst, I have decided that it is time to share my photos with the world. I mean with as many skills as I don't have, what is the point in hiding them? So, please feel free to visit the second stop in my insane reality. Enjoy, comment, and return here for more enlightening opinions and observations of life...

www.hownottotakepictures.blogspot.com

He just doesn't get it...

The other day D and I were watching "Two and a Half Men" on TV. Charlie was teaching his nephew, Jake, stupid jokes that all kids learn sometime in their lives. For example, Jake's dad, Alan, was sneezing and Charlie said, "You'd think it was a cold, but it-s-not." I couldn't help but to think back to Sunday. We were at a church and the boys were eating from their mini baggies filled with goldfish crackers. I know, why do our kids have snacks at church when they should be old enough to survive without them? It is for my sanity. Our church is from 11 am to 2 pm, which means that it is right in the time frame that I would be making them lunch if we were at home. It is because after several weeks of complaining about how hungry they were and could we please just go home, I decided that I would let them take a small bag of crackers to ease their "starvingness" and complaints. Anyway, they were eating their crackers. Olie was sitting next to me, and although Fuss had his own plethora of treats and snacks, he insisted on eating Olie's with him. Once Olie's were gone, Skater decided it would be funny to tease him. Skater leaned over and asked Olie if he "liked seafood," to which Skater promptly showed him the chewed up crackers in his mouth. I am quite familiar with this prank since my brothers and sisters and I showed each other what we were eating in the same manner when we were kids. I am sure all of you probably did too. Anyway, as the boys were giggling (quietly), Moo decided he wanted to play along. He turned to me and said, "Annie, do you like fish?" When I said, "Yes, Moo, I like fish." He moaned in realization that he had no where to go with it...if only he had asked if I liked see food. 

So, you admit it...

Every day I hear the words, "I didn't do it!" by one of the boys. Whether it be a question of leaving the bathroom door open so that Fuss could get in and climb on the counter or play in the toilet, or if it is who was hitting and kicking who, no one admits to whatever it is they are doing (or not doing). A brief synopsis of my day would be:

"Who left the milk out?" "Not me!" (up to 3 times)
"Who left the fridge door open?" "I didn't!" (up to 3 times)
"Who left their snack (or wrappers) on the family room floor?" "It wasn't me!"
"Who kicked who first?" "He did!"

I would give anything for a peaceful moment of honesty in my house. When the kids aren't not admitting anything that they have done, I have the great pleasure of being ignored. I call the boys to dinner 3 times, then I am done and they go without. Yesterday morning, I was fixing Fuss a bowl of cereal. Olie was still sleeping, and D had gone to work. Skater and Moo were upstairs in the family room. I called up to them to ask if they too would like a bowl of cereal. The second, more stern yell received a positive response from both of them. I told them to come down to the kitchen and I would fix a bowl of cereal for them. Skater came right away and was happily eating while I was still waiting for Moo. Wondering if the TV was too loud, or if he was just choosing to ignore me, I asked, "Are you ignorning me?" Imagine my surprise when I received a matter-of-fact "Yes!" from upstairs. At least he admitted it. I guess you've got to start somewhere.

He's on the move...

From the minute Fuss showed even the slightest promise of crawling on his own, I anxiously awaited the minute that he would actually crawl. I was so afraid that he would crawl for the first time while I was working and that I would miss it. The day after Christmas we were sitting around upstairs, and Fuss crawled for the first time! I saw him! I was so excited that my little guy was self-mobile. D and I would laugh at how fast he could go on all fours. He was like a little speed-demon crawling through the house. It was only a couple of days, maybe a week, before he was pulling himself up to everything. Within a few more days, he was walking around the furniture he was pulling himself up to, and my anticipation of missing his first steps while I was at work began. I should have known I didn't have to worry. He is my child, which means he is a little on the wussy side. He could have let go and taken off, but he was too afraid to do it. Finally, he did take his first steps a couple of months later, and again I saw it! It was just a couple of weeks before his first birthday. 

Now at 16 months, my child has become a climber. Today I was in my office, typing at the computer. Fuss had been behind my chair playing. Suddenly I heard a cry that sounded like he would have been calling for help if he knew that word coming from the kitchen. I have a desk that is next to a wall that is about 5 feet tall. The older boys Nintendo DS's were on top of that shorter wall. Fuss had climbed on the chair that is up to the desk, climbed on the desk, and was reaching for the DS. He couldn't quite reach the DS, but he couldn't get down either. I immediately put him on the floor and told him, "We don't climb on the desk!" We both went into the office. A few minutes later I heard Fuss giggle from the kitchen. I went in to find him sitting on the counter. He had climbed up the barstool and onto the counter top. I picked him up and put him on the ground and told him, "We don't climb on the counters!" We both went into the office. A few minutes later I heard Fuss talking to himself from the kitchen. I went in to find him sitting on the table. He had climbed up the chair and onto the table. I picked him up and put him on the ground and told him, "We don't climb! We stay on the floor!" I gave up on finishing up my work in the office.

I went into the bathroom to finish getting ready for the day. Fuss followed me. As I was putting on my makeup, Fuss climbed into the basket with my toiletry magazines in it, onto the toilet seat lid, onto the toilet tank, and onto the bathroom counter. I picked him up and put him on the ground and told him, "Why do you keep climbing on everything? We don't climb on counters!" He held his hands out to his sides with his palms up, shrugged his shoulders, and said, "Mmmm" in a high pitched voice, which is Fuss' version of "I don't know," which I have found to be a typical answer from any child for any situation. 

I don't do windows...

While cleaning my house on Saturday for my family to come over to celebrate my mom's birthday, I decided to dust the window sills in my kitchen. It was at that point that I stopped to think..."When was the last time I washed the windows in my house?" I thought and thought about it for a bit, then I realized...I have only washed the windows in my house 1 time (we have been in our house for 2 years and 4 months)! And that was only the insides. I have only washed the outside of my living room windows, because I am afraid of heights and the living room windows are the only ones that I can reach without a ladder. However, I have no excuse for the inside windows, except the one above front door because our front door is 8 feet tall. 

The thing is, I never open my blinds. In the summer, it makes the house too hot and the air conditioner has a harder time keeping my house at a nice cool temperature. This is the first winter that I won't be leaving before the sun comes up and getting home after it goes down. There has never really been anyone here during the winter to open the blinds to see what the sun could do for us then. So, since I never look out my windows, I don't have to clean them. I have also decided that I really need a maid who does windows... Besides, if I don't clean my windows, who is going to notice? The peeping Tom that I don't want looking in them anyway? 

I'm not the first...

Here is the thing about being the second wife of your first husband, you will make sacrifices that you never thought about previously. I want to preface this with, I love D and I would not change him or our marriage for anything else or anyone else! When D and I got married, I was 29 years old. We were set up on a blind date, and the only thing I knew about him was that he had 3 kids from a previous marriage. He was so romantic when we were dating. He was so thoughtful and affectionate. He was everything that I had dreamed the man of my dreams would be--tall, dark, and handsome included. 

So, when we got married, I expected the romance to continue and fulfill my fantasy of the honeymoon phase of my life. Here is what no one tells you when you marry a divorced dude, he starts the next marriage pretty much where he left on the first one. There is no rewind on a guy. So, D started our marriage on year 8 and I started it on year zero. The honeymoon phase did not exist. Really, I don't know if it does in real life for anyone, but I hope that it does. All the things that you hope to experience with the man of your dreams, he already has experienced. The wedding night, your first home, your first pregnancy, your first child, your first anything...all ready done... 

During one of my specifically emotional times (remember, I am on hormones in an attempt to get pregnant so it is not my fault I cry a lot), I was complaining about how much I have missed because he is now on year 11 of our marriage and I am still wishing for the first year of bliss to happen. In an effort to keep me happy, my husband seems to have found his rewind button, and he is making an effort to be more attentive and romantic, like we were dating again, but without the dates. I love that my husband is making the effort. Even if we have already purchased our first home together, made it through the first pregnancy, and are surviving our first child together, we could have been married yesterday! Lucky, lucky me!