Family

Posted by Colleen     February 25, 2010

Sick Day

Either everyone in our house has some kind of nasty virus, or we’re slowly being poisoned. I sincerely hope it’s the first, because if not this is a miserable way to die.

We’ve all had cold and flu like symptoms to one degree or another for over a week. The boys seem to mostly be over it, but Dave and I still feel like we were run over by a truck.  A really, really big truck.

I’m pretty sure this illness came home with us from the doctor’s office last week when I took Wade for a check-up.

You should never go to the doctor when you’re healthy. There’s way too many sick people there.

I thought the swine flu was bad when we all had in the fall. But it was over in three or four days. Whatever this is, it just hangs on.

It’s a weird virus, because some of us have had stuffy runny noses, some stomach trouble. Some both.

All I have is the headache, achy, exhausted part. I took a three hour nap this afternoon. I could have slept longer, but got up because I didn’t think Dave would appreciate me sleeping for 15 hours straight.

If I haven’t chased you away yet with all this talk about sickness, here’s some funny pictures of the boys since I don’t have the energy to write a real post.

David feel asleep wearing his birthday roller skates. He still hasn’t been able to try them outside yet. Hoping the snow melts soon.

Someone gave David an old pair of kid’s cross country skies. I’m not sure a Snuggie is the appropriate attire for skiing though.

Wade is the messiest baby ever. Even with a bib on he gets his food all over his clothes. You can’t see them in the photo, but he even had it on his socks. He is pretty cute though.

Besides being messy, Wade has very unruly hair. It sticks straight up most of the time, so one day I decided to take advantage of that, and combed into a mohawk. It stayed that way until his next bath. No gel required.

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Posted by Colleen     January 24, 2010

All That and a Case of Chips

We went shopping at the warehouse club store this weekend.

When we go there it’s usually to make purchases for the Family Business. I have nothing against those stores. It’s just that our little family of four, that includes two small children, doesn’t have much use for a 4 lb. can of tuna or 7.5 dozen eggs. And as much as I’d love that 5 lb. bag of Hershey’s Kisses, I don’t want to add those 5 lbs. to my backside.

We did pick up for ourselves a can of baby formula, and a 36 roll pack of toilet paper that will last us until spring. You don’t want to be snowed in without spare toilet paper on hand.

But there were a lot of folks who, I could tell by the contents of their shopping carts, were buying weekly groceries. Huge bags of frozen chicken, 2 dozen bananas, supersized cases of soft drinks.

In the parking lot on the way to the car we passed a family who was having trouble stuffing all their goodies into their mini-van. I think they were tying to decide which kid to leave so could get their side of beef home.

And that’s when it hit me.

What a testament to American excess.

Now don’t get me wrong.

We are very blessed in this country. And a lot of it’s due to good old fashioned hard work, and ingenuity. I have no problem with those of us who live here reaping the rewards of that. I’m a capitalist through-and-through. I bleed red, white and green.

But to a lot of the world we look ridiculous carrying around 10 lb. bags of shredded cheddar cheese, and 5 gallon containers of hair conditioner. Even in other affluent countries many consumers go shopping almost every day, and only buy enough for a meal or a two at a time.

And to some of the world, well they can’t imagine stocking up on something for a whole month, because they don’t even know where tomorrow’s dinner is coming from.

As we drove away all I could see in my mind were the images of Haiti on the news this week. How many Haitian’s thirst would those huge pallets of bottled water inside that store quench? How many hungry babies would those over sized cans of formula feed?

We have so much, and so many have so little.

Give thanks with a grateful heart for what you have, and where you live. And remember those whose don’t.

If you can, give. Just a few dollars in the hands of a reputable charity can mean aid and comfort for the suffering.

Even if you can’t give,  you can pray for the injured and the grieving and the lives that are shattered.

The large majority of us in America live in great wealth compared to the poverty of other’s.

Remember the others.

Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy… Psalm 82:3-4

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Posted by Colleen     January 15, 2010

First Day of School

Nope. Not David.

We sent Daddie off to his first day of school on Monday.

OK. Not his first day of school, but his first day of school in 12 years. Dave’s going back to college.

He’s studying economics. Or business.

He doesn’t need to make up his mind just yet.

Dave’s getting his basic classes out of the way at a community college. (No, I can not say that without thinking about the TV show.) Then he’ll have to transfer to a local university.

We’re all adjusting to the new schedule, and he’s ejoying school so far.

Though he was reminded how much older his is than all the other students. In one of his classes only he and two other “adult” students knew who Jimmy Carter was, and understood the significance of the fall of the Berlin Wall. In fact most of them weren’t even born in 1989 when the wall came down.

Oh, man.

We. Are. So. Old.

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Posted by Colleen     January 13, 2010

David’s Fifth Birthday & A Betty Crocker Giveaway

OK, OK.

Everyone keeps asking me when I’m going to post about David’s birthday.

My mom even called today to make sure I was alright, because I hadn’t blogged in a couple days.

Yeesh!

Give me a break here people.

I have been known to put the computer down, and spend time with my kids and do housework once in awhile.

Anyway, you can all stop asking, because here it is. I hope it lives up to your expectations.

Yes, David did indeed turn five on Sunday.

He came in and woke me up at 6 a.m. to ask if he was five yet. David has wanted to be five ever since he turned four. For some reason five is a magic number for him.

We gave David a new pair of roller skates and a few other little things. He outgrew his other pair this fall, and has wanted a bigger pair for months. He loves his new roller skates, and wears them around the house all day. Poor kid. There’s too much snow outside to try them out on the driveway.

We just had a small party with the four of us and David’s grandparents. Of course the grandparents all brought more loot for David.

We did a train theme so I gave David a special train engineer hat to wear. But he had to put on a party hat too. Baby brother Wade seemed to enjoy the party also.

A few weeks before David’s birthday My Blog Spark and Betty Crocker asked me if I’d try out the new birthday party planning ideas on the the Betty Crocker website.

I was so happy I’d agreed to do it when I went to the site, and found instructions for making a train cake.

David is obsessed with trains. Half his toys are trains. He even watches videos on YouTube of real trains going down the track just for fun.

I really am not very good at decorating cakes. But the train cake on Betty Crocker’s website looked doable. I watched the video, and the instructions and diagram were really helpful.

I actually pulled it off!

Here’s my creation.

David was thrilled with it.

If I can do this, anybody can. I’m not kidding when I say decorating cakes is not my forte. I really have to thank Betty Crocker, because honestly, without them asking, I never would have tried this. It was more personal to make David’s cake than just order it from the bakery. It made me feel a little like a Super Mom.

You can see my photos and story about making the cake on Whrrl.

Using a Betty Crocker cake mix, and pre-made Betty Crocker frosting was a big time saver. I just tinted the vanilla frosting with food coloring to get the colors I needed.

It did take me all day to make the cake. It was definitely a labor of love. And when I added up the cost of the supplies to make the cake, mostly because of all the candy, it about equaled the price of a small decorated bakery cake.

We just had a small party so we didn’t play games or send out invitations. But Betty Crocker has ideas for those, and even suggestions for dishes to serve at the party on their site. There are several party themes to choose from including a Magical Princess Party and a Robots Rule party. David would love the robot cake too.

So David had a great day.

Betty Crocker and My Blog Spark sent me a Flip Ultra video camera to record the day’s festivities. Here’s a video I put together.

And now for the giveaway.

My Blog Spark and Betty Crocker are giving away a prize pack that includes VIP coupons and all the baking tools you need to recreate the cake I made. To enter visit Betty Crocker, and look over their birthday party planning ideas. Come back here, and leave a comment about which cake you would like to try.

Extra entries:

Follow me on Twitter. (Give Twitter ID)

Tweet about this giveaway. (Leave permalink to tweet)

Subscribe to Mommie Daze.

Follow Mommie Daze on Networked Blogs.

Become a fan of Mommie Daze on Facebook.

Please leave a comment for each entry.

The contest will end at 11:59 p.m. on January 22nd. Open to residents of the US only. Winner will be randomly drawn and notified by email.

Disclosure: My Blog Spark and Betty Crocker provided me with coupons for free cake mix and frosting. They also gave me a gift card to purchase other party supplies with, and the Flip Ultra video camera to record the party.

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Posted by Colleen     September 12, 2009

Shameless Pictures of my Children

We brought the Exersaucer out for the first time this week. Wade is such a little guy he’s still a bit small for it. But I’ve been putting him in it a few minutes each day so he can start getting use to it. I’m looking forward to the day it keeps him entertained.

Wade does like to sit up, so I bought a Bumbo seat on Ebay to prop him up him. Otherwise he wants you to hold him sitting up on your lap all the time. I love snuggling with him, but I need to use both hands sometimes. It even has a little tray so he can sit in it to eat later on.

O.K. Every time I take Wade’s picture he has red eye, even with the no-red-eye setting turned on. Anybody know anything about taking pictures? Why does that happen?

Here’s David and Wade all ready for bed in their PJs. I just love those big grins! David wants to hold Wade all the time. Sometimes when I sit Wade on David’s lap he gets this look on his face like, “No! He’s going to drop me!” but David really likes to cuddle him. It’s always with very close supervision of course.

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Posted by Colleen     July 31, 2009

Grandma Comes to Town

My grandma came to visit this week with my mom and dad. I’m 34 and I was probably almost as excited to see her yesterday as I was when I was four. I don’t get to see her often.

I have some really fond memories of visiting her at the farm when I was kid. She’s faltering a bit now that she’s in her mid-80’s. Her mind is getting a little hazy. But she’s still my grandma.

David was excited about her coming too. He calls her Grandma G’s Mommie instead of Great-Grandma, because it blows his little four-year-old mind to think that his grandma has a mother. When I told him Great-Grandma was coming he asked, “Can she jump on my trampoline with me?” I said I didn’t think so, but he asked her later anyway. Grandma politely declined the invitation.

Time has shrunk and bent-over Grandma’s already petite frame. David kept asking why she couldn’t, “Stand up straight, like a tree.”

One thing Grandma and I have in common is our love of dogs. She always has a dog or two around. Grandma made the mistake of calling our Cocker Spaniel Elizabeth a “he” and David informed her that, “Elizabeth is not a boy. She doesn’t have a penis.” Of course we were all horrified and shushed him. But he went on to tell Grandma that, “Joey is a boy. He does have a penis.”

Grandma just laughed and said, “Oh, I suppose it’s alright to say that.”

Well, she was a nurse, and I imagine after surviving the depression, a world war, four kids of her own (two of them boys), 9 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren nothing probably shocks you anymore.

David did get himself into some trouble with Grandma. She dozed off on the couch, and before any of us could stop him he ran over to her and said, “Boo!”He thought it would be funny to wake her up. We were all horrified again.

I thought for sure he’d given Grandma a heart attack, and that was probably the end of her right there. But she just woke up, gave him a little swat, and went right back to sleep.

You don’t mess with Grandma.

Grandma met Wade for the first time, and spent quite a bit of time holding him, and talking to him.

After Grandma and my parents left late in the afternoon David told me, “Maybe when Grandma G’s Mommie comes to play with me again she can jump on my trampoline.”

Guess Grandma better start working out.

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Posted by Colleen     July 19, 2009

County Fair

Last Friday Dave’s quartet sang at the Elkhart County Fair in Indiana.

It’s a huge fair. David loves to go the fair, so the two of us tagged along. Wade stayed with Grandma and Grandpa for the day.

Of course David mostly just wanted to go on the rides. He was yelling at me to stop taking pictures of him when he was on the little train. I think I was embarrassing him in front of the other kids. It’s about time. He’s been embarrassing me since he was about a year old. (Faces of innocent bystanders have been obscured.)

David is tall enough this year that he can go on many of the rides, but he had to have an adult with him on several. Dave got elected to do that.

Did I mention that it was cold and overcast that day. More like a day in October than July. But it was kind of nice to not be boiling hot while we spent the day at the fair.

I have more photos of David on the rides, but I’m saving those for my next post.

David also got to go on a pony ride.

We did get to take a little time after we hit the midway to visit the animal barns. It was a good opportunity to teach our child who’s never been on a real farm important life lessons like:

1. Don’t stand right behind a cow because it may kick you.

2. Don’t step in the manure.

3. That smell is the pigs.

One thing we got see that I thought was really cool was draft horses being prepared to be hitched up. If you’ve never seen one of these animals up close, Wow! They are enormous. His hoof is bigger than my head. But aren’t they beautiful? They’re kind of like Great Danes. You want to take one home with you because they’re so neat, but you don’t haven anywhere to keep it, and you can’t afford to feed it.

What’s a trip to the fair with0ut sampling the food? Everyone with the quartet was treated to Port-A-Pit BBQ for lunch courtesy of the fair. Anyone who lives in Michiana knows what Port-A-Pit is. It’s pretty famous there.

But I couldn’t leave without trying of the many deep-fried treats there were to choose from. Deep-fried Oreos, Snicker’s Bars, Twinkies, Captain Crunch, Cheese Cake and more I can’t remember. I picked the deep-fried S’more.

Oh. My. Word.

Heaven on a stick! It seriously was super yummy. I kind of wanted to try the deep-fried pickles too, but I thought one arty clogging treat a day was enough.

Well, that’s our day at the fair, except for my David story I’ve saved for last.

That’s the next post.

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