I personally love butter sponges.
Author Archives: Jen
Just hanging out.
This cat. She just climbed up and stopped. Cracked me up.
Three deployments, three tags, three ranks.
#thingsyoufindwhenpreparingtoPCS #amateurhoarders
This is what it looks like when you’ve waited three years to start sorting and organizing bins in the basement and now you only have months left. In an hour we got rid of one bag of recyclables and two boxes of garage sale/donation stuff. Now we only need to get rid of about 35x more stuff. 🙂
Our first snow day!
And really, it was more of an ice day as we only got 1-2″ of slushy snow (and it was called last night with just the threat of snow and ice). But, Tom had a 3-hour delay which he turned into a telecommute day so everyone was home!
Friends invited us over to play in their yard and go sledding on the hill behind their house.
On our way!
This is what sledding looks like when you can still see grass. 🙂
Cool icicles off the top of the fence!
Owen loses Liam on a bump!
The kids were having a blast, even though the snow wasn’t great.
I wish I’d been recording when Owen slammed into the signpost so he could see just how close he was and why we tell them to be careful. We’d warned them all to try and steer clear of the trees and sign and to ditch the sled (roll off) if they came close…but of course that didn’t happen. I held my breath as I realized Owen was going to hit the post and there was nothing I could do to stop it… In the span of about three seconds, he hit the sign and slid forward, his knees stopping short of the sign by inches—and then he toppled over himself with his head and shoulders missing the post by inches. He immediately gave a thumbs up and then I could breathe again. As I’m sure you can imagine, the sled was quite damaged…
Our reenactment of the sled carnage (though he was actually 180° from what is pictured).
Time for a group picture!
Afterwards we came inside to warm up and play. Even though Owenlooks somewhat annoyed in this pic, he was having fun and is such a good sport.
Taxes are annoying. And water is wet.
Normally doing the taxes isn’t a big deal. Ever since we sold the house and have no rental income, there’s not much to them. But then. This year. Ugh. This year they gave me a headache.
I’m annoyed that since we got a tiny life insurance distribution mailed to our Virginia address instead of our home state (Michigan) and the company refused to reissue a corrected statement (that’s you, Principal Life Insurance Company of Des Moines, IA), we now have to file a Virginia state refund for $36. For all I care, Virginia can keep the $15 but you can’t mess with the IRS. (I’m also sure I could have completed the return without using TurboTax but that adds time and more confusion.) Consequently, I’m also annoyed that I now have to mail in said Virginia return because we have to include paperwork proving we are military and this isn’t our home state/state of record.
This is how I help earn my keep—Tom doesn’t touch the taxes. 🙂
PJ day and a new shirt
Owen’s class earned pajama day for Boosterthon pledges…and Katie has a new shirt.
On what planet is this a legit pizza?
The local pizza hut didn’t have good yelp reviews but Owen had a free personal pan pizza coupon for competing his February reading so we ordered. Yeah. Look at this pathetic Meat Lovers pizza.
Where’s the meat? Hell, where’s the cheese?!
Never again. If Owen gets another coupon it will be just his pizza.
Laundry transfer fail
This is what can happen when you ask your 8yo to switch his laundry (remove pants from dryer and move clothes from washer to dryer and start it). Keep in mind he’s successfully done this before.
You will notice that in addition to all the socks that never even made it into the dryer, the dryer door isn’t. even. shut. (so it never turned on). Yet he did remember to turn the dryer to permanent press and put in a dryer sheet.
This won’t be happening again.
Katie didn’t like dinner tonight (sloppy joes) but she wanted more chips and the M&Ms Owen got for dessert so we told her she had to finish her sandwich half. She didn’t HAVE to finish, though…just if she wanted the extras.
Guess how long she sat there eating her half a sandwich? Ten minutes? Twenty? Thirty? Ha! Try ONE HOUR. (And I think it only ended then because I told her it was getting ridiculous and I was setting a timer. So she had five minutes to finish or lose the extras.)
This is the first time she’s sat there/we’ve let her sit. Normally the table is cleared when dinner is over and if she’s hungry later she can eat her dinner then. This hour business won’t be happening again, that’s for damn sure.
#tinybabybirdbites #whymomsdrink
Homeschooling would kill us both.
Every once in awhile I try to teach Katie some basic language stuff like letter sounds or how to spell basic words. Today I was trying AT (since we just did it the other day at a friend’s house) so AT. BAT. CAT. She did AT but cannot (or most likely just won’t because she’s being stubborn) manage any other AT combinations. I quickly lose patience because she just squawks that she can’t do it but I know she can because she’s smart.
Me: At. A-T. Bat. B-A-T. Cat. C-A-T. Mat. How do you spell mat?
Katie: …W?
Me: Does W make the mmm sound?
Katie: Life is getting horrible for me.
She won’t even spell CAT immediately after I do.
Me: Cat. C-A-T.
Katie: C……Z?
Me: 😐
And she gives up too easily:
Me: Katie, repeat after me. C-A-T.
Katie: C-A-T
Me: B-A-T
Katie: B-A-T
Me: Mat
Katie, whining: I can’t.
I posted to Facebook and there was a rousing set of comments, which basically consisted of “Yep, same here. That’s why I let the teachers deal with it” and “She’ll do it when she’s ready.”
Katie is 4 years 8 months old!
Spirit Day: Bow Ties or Ties
I happened to be shopping at Kohls earlier in the week and found a clip-on tie on clearance. Score! Owen asked if he had to wear it with a fancy shirt. I said no. Hence the tee.
Belly Swingers
Swinging with one of her best friends (our neighbor), Kayleigh.
Waiting for our ride.
Waiting to go to the park with our friends…
Owen’s 8-year well-visit
Yeah, we’re a little late this year. For some reason I was thinking we didn’t have to do yearly visits anymore… I tell you my brain is NOT the same these days. 🙂
The kids kept busy playing I Spy and messing around. I’m not exactly sure what they were doing here but they were having fun! The best part was when they thought they heard someone coming to the room, one would yell POSITIONS! and Katie would run to the chair and Owen would hop up on the table. 🙂
Height: 55″ — was 53″ at 7y
Weight: 85# — was 85# at 7y
Trying on a dress
I was going to get this dress for Katie at Kohls but she wanted to try it on…so off we went. She twirled in front of the mirror for MINUTES.
If my kids won’t cuddle, this is the next best thing.
Apples in his eyes
Subtitled: Our imaginative boy…
Both phones were turning on so the Apple logo was on both… And he did this. 🙂
Saturday Night Dinner!
Pre-dinner selfie.
Pre-dinner family selfie.
We loved that the three of them all crammed together on one side even though they didn’t need to. The boys were at the other table. 🙂
And I forgot to take a pic of the food (Slow Cooker Bacon Cheeseburger Sloppy Joes, Tangy and Creamy Macaroni Salad, and KFC’s Cole Slaw) and our group!
I love this lap dog.
She literally waits in front of me to put a blanket on my lap and get settled so she can jump up.
Cat, you’re doing it wrong.
Me and the old girl
Entranced…
Dress like a character from your favorite book day!
We slacked and didn’t plan ahead so we went with an old standby!! Katie was bummed she didn’t get blue hair but I haven’t done a test on her super blonde hair and didn’t want to potentially dye her hair.
Our White House
We finished it before vacation but never got around to taking the photo.
The story of my life (why moms go postal).
I’ve posted comics from this website before (Fowl Language Comics). They’re all sorts of awesome and always hit home.
It’s like Christmas all over again.
When you’re cleaning your bedroom and you happen upon a Christmas present that you left inside something else so it’s like Christmas all over again.
Kidisms 38
We were going to a bowling birthday party.
Owen: I hope I get a strike. [pause] What’s a strike again?
The kids were playing go fish all on their own.
Owen: Do you have a 6?
Katie: No. Go to the fish area.
Me: Katie, when did you become a big kid?
Katie: Ugh. Mom. At grandma’s.
Me: At Gram—???
Katie: WHEN I TURNED FOUR.
Katie: Mama, I love this kitty.
A rare event: napping Katie
We knew the kids would be up late so we asked them to rest and/or take a nap. Both whined. Both slept. Ha! Owen only napped for maybe 30 minutes but Katie slept for about two hours!
Blue bug eyes
After the playground, we treated them to lunch at Uno. They LOVE playing with the dough balls, and this is what happened today.
