P's Birthday Party

For Padyn's birthday, we went to the Nut Tree Theme Park with 5 of her friends (and a few of their family members). Padyn claims the best ride was the Merry Go Round...she and her friends only went on it 8 times. After a couple hours of play, we went to get ice cream. I personally thought the best part of the day was my chocolate chunk peanut butter ice cream.

Photo Friday-Birthday Present Play

Currently, we down in the desert for the Thanksgiving week, which explains why it's been all quiet around these parts lately. I am just now looking at the 300+ photos that I've taken over the last couple weeks, so there will be more coming soon. For now, you can observe Padyn and Kate playing with one of P's favorite birthday presents-the Baby Alive doll. Padyn's friend, Emily, has one, so Padyn wanted her very own. The girls spent a good amount of the morning feeding the doll and making sure she did her business on the potty. It was great entertainment. Totally worth all that money I spent on it.

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday. Happy Friday.

Title Change

The only question is, come May, will the blog's new title have a 3 in it or a 1?

I'm Going to Tell You a Story...

So, you've probably noticed I've been off the blog thing for a while. I have some theories as to why I'm not so interested in writing much, but none I want to share. It's not a recent phenomenon...it started last December after NaBloPoMo (which you notice I'm not doing this year) and has gotten steadily worse from there. I just feel like there are no good stories worth sharing. So I don't.

Well, today I'm going to try to make up for it by telling you a story about my horrible no good very bad day. Actually, it was just the span of a couple hours, and the fault is all mine. It's not a funny story, but maybe in a few years I'll find it amusing. Or, maybe just you will find it amusing.

I locked myself out of the house today-no keys, no phone, and no way to get back in. Trust me...no way. I tried to take windows and sliders off their tracks, but no...nothing. That would not have been so bad except that I had to pick Padyn up from school in 5 minutes and it is too far to walk it in that amount of time. So, because of no phone, I frantically showed up on my neighbor's doorstep. (I really do have nice neighbors). My neighbor wasn't home, but the babysitter decided I was trustworthy enough to let in and monopolize the phone for 30 minutes. I called Daddy so he could call my friend who could call her mother-in-law who was picking up her daughter from school and ask her to pick up Padyn as well. (No phone means I have no one's phone numbers, because really-who memorizes people's numbers anymore?) Then I called the school to give the friend's MIL permission to pick up my daughter. And I'm trying not to break down in tears with the school secretary. Then I left Kate with my neighbor's sitter and went back for more jimmying. Nothing.

Trying not to panic, cry or throw-up, I went back to the neighbor's for the phone. I had to call Daddy again and give him the full story. And bless him...he didn't get upset or impatient. He calmly told me this was easily solvable and then gave me instructions. I really needed instructions at that point because I was not capable of thinking clearly left to my own devices. I did what he told me to do: called information (because the sitter and I couldn't find a phonebook) and got a bunch of numbers for locksmiths. I had Daddy call the locksmiths because, guess what? I also left my purse with all my money and credit cards at my sister's house. Yep. No phone, no keys, and no access to a purse-even once the house was opened. At least I hadn't locked the car. And I had snacks. It could have been worse.

So, Padyn gets dropped off, she complains about having to eat her snack outside, my neighbor comes home, I keep answering her phone because Daddy and the locksmith are calling me back. Finally, Benny comes. Benny the locksmith. I was expecting a truck. He drove a piece of you-know-what Honda. There's a reason he's a locksmith. Oh, and he can't pick the lock. He's never seen a lock like this. (What? It's a pop-lock! Why can't you open this?) So you know what he has to do? SAW IT OFF. Yep. So now my garage door into the house is minus a doorknob. Oh, and it's more expensive than picking the lock, of course. And I had to get the credit card number and all of our secret information from Daddy via phone so I could pay the guy for rescuing me from my stupidity.

The end.

Nope, it's still not funny yet.

I think I'll go to bed now.

Photo Friday-Happy Birthday Padyn!

Want to know what a 5 year old girl looks like on her birthday? Well, look no farther...

I think she's pretty excited to be five. Now she's the same age as most of her friends and she can stop asking when when her birthday is. Until her friends start turning six, that is.

Happy Friday. And Happy Birthday my beautiful Princess Padyn.

Photo Friday-More Halloween Fun

Ok, I'm a total liar. But now, here are more picture from Halloween! They are in reverse order from how the day actually occurred, but I'm sure you are smart enough to figure things out.

Daddy recovering from Trick or Treating Enjoying her bounty

A cowgirl ladybug?

Showing off the goods

Checking out what they scored

Look what I got!

Cowgirl PadynHappy girls, ready for Trick or Treating

They do mostly like each other...see?

Posing

Happy Friday.

Potty Update

Kate seems to have made the transition to underwear. I don't know why it is so much easier with her than it was with Padyn. Well, yes, I do know why. Kate decided to do it on her own. There was no need to bribe, set the timer, and spend a whole weekend of our life at home on the kitchen floor just to get used to peeing in the toilet. She just woke up and decided it was time to pee and poop on the potty. That's it. And I respect her decision.

She still has the occasional accident, but that's usually my fault or because she's totally distracted by something new and exciting. And just about the worst punishment for her is to be in a pull-up, so when she has an accident in her underwear, she's in a pull-up for the rest of the day. She hates it. And I hate her whining, "It's BUGGING me!!!" and trying to pull her pants off. Underwear makes everyone happy. If only every thing in life were that simple...

Things that Make Mommy's Life Easier...

...but might not be as much fun for the girls...

I'd had it with bath time. We'd always bathed the girls together, ever since Kate was steady enough to hang out in a big tub. But lately, that whole bath thing has been a nightmare.

The girls are crazy. They obviously have a lot of fun, but they are crazy. Just wild. And I got really tired of yelling at them, getting soaking wet, and quickly losing what ounce of patience I had left at the end of the day. The day really should not end like that.

So, no more. Starting a few days ago, the girls now bathe separately. We alternate who goes first, and while the first one is in, the other one plays or finishes their dinner, or something equally non-water soaking. While the second on is in, the first is putting on their pjs and brushing their teeth. When the second one is brushing their teeth, the first is picking out a story to read and sitting quietly, calmly on the couch waiting for us. No more fighting over the stool while brushing. No more running around the room trying to egg each other on while we wrestle them into their pjs. No more.

I was worried that the girls would be really upset and throw a fit about not bathing together anymore. But so far, it's gone very smoothly. They get in and out when I tell them to (that wasn't happening before), water doesn't end up all over me and the floor, and the bath time/bedtime routine is now calm. It is such a wonderful change, I really can't recommend it strongly enough. I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner.

And now, I don't hate bath time after all.