FIVE!

Hey!  How's it going?  Yes, I know, the blog break was a bit longer than I initially planned but I'm back!  
We've been a busy bunch here.  Oxy celebrated her 5th birthday!  FIVE!!!  That sends happy currents through my heart as well as giving it cardiac arrest at the same time.  I can't believe it.

In true crazy fashion around here, we had two birthday parties for her.  Yes, TWO!  What can I say... I'm a glutton for punishments, especially since the last one had 14 children running around my house (It was only 4 invites but it was spring break so we invited all the siblings).  

Oxy has grown into such a great little girl.  Last year, I worried a bit about her, not knowing if she would be ready to move from preschool to kindergarten but this last year she has made leaps and bounds in speaking and maturity.  She knows her ABC's, attempts to spell out small words and is learning to do math on her fingers.  The biggest thing was when she initiated conversations.  That put the biggest smile on my face.  I now feel she is ready to start kindergarten in the fall, but, I will still cry my eyes out, cuz that's my job.

The one thing I do for my princess is make her cakes (until she no longer wants me to).  I made her two birthday cakes, fitting for a princess.  (That damn Disney store makes money off of me - tee hee).  My years at baskin r0bbins taught me lots of things and I let my creative side out when making them.  She was pretty excited about them.  

Gosh, here I'm typing this post and I've got two kids fighting and screaming in the background.  Le sigh.  Kids.  Double le sigh.

Later Gater

Sorry, lost my blogging mojo or have blogger's block.  Whatever the reason,  I'm gonna take a break.

Be back in a couple of weeks :)

oh sweet valentine

Oxy is feeling under the weather. I feel bad for her. She missed her Halloween party and now the Valentine party at school. Suckage. We've already made some valentine cards for each other and now she's watching a movie. But she gets spurts of energy to go and tease the cat, her playmate for this morning, since Hydro is in school. Poor crazy cat.

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I'm working a casino on Valentine's day for our community league. I'm not really looking forward to it, especially since it's the late shift. I'm the cashier and I'm worried it's going to be very, very busy since it's a saturday night. My hope is that people will go out to dinner and somewhere else instead of the casino on saturday. One can only hope. But then, I can see all the singles coming to gamble their sorrows away. le sigh....

Mooning you...

I took this picture at our science world. They have a big dome and had a show about the planets. This is one of the very few pictures that turned out. Pretty good considering it was pitch black and I was balancing the camera in one hand and Hydro with the other :)

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Got stood up again. I don't understand people who "forget" we have a playdate when they are the ones who make it in the first place. I was trying to not let it bother me but I ended up fuming most of the morning, waiting for her to never arrive. Unfortunately, this has happened too many times to me. I'm changing the way I deal with people.

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I have a girl crush on Kate Winslet. She was on The View yesterday and she was so sweet. I hope she wins at the Oscars. We watched an older movie of hers called Little Children, it was good. I'd like to see the 2 new movies she's in too since they are winning so many awards. Did you see her photo shoot, where she channels Catherine Deneuve, in Vanity Fair some months ago? wow. I wished I looked like a yummy mummy like her.

Stockpiling for the year.

Last week, I went to the local grocery store and stocked up on toys. They had great prices, as they were clearing out for new stuff. Plus, I had a few grocery items I needed and they had a coupon that if you spend $150, you get a big box of oranges free. Sounds good to me.

As I was walking around with my shopping cart full of toys, I certainly got glances. I shot back smiles as people stared.

One by one, I put toys on the conveyor belt and the guy behind me asked "is there a sale on toys?". "Yup, yup, there is!" I replied. Then the cashier gave me a "looks like you got next christmas covered."

My husband, he makes fun of the "store" I have downstairs. Every time we have a birthday party, he makes a crack that "Mommy is going shopping... downstairs".

The thing is, we do go to a LOT of birthday parties. This month has 4 birthday parties. So does next month. I prefer not to go to the store every week for a gift and this way, I get toys on sale. Nothing worse than running last minute, frazzled looking for some toy. The downside? My furnace room is stocked. Nope, I won't take a picture of it, cuz you all will think I'm crazy for sure.

Teamwork!

Freshly made playdough, in their favorite colors, of course.

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The first day of "Project get Hydro to stop calling for us every bedtime" worked out well. He didn't say a peep and the next morning, the kids got to glue a W0nderpets picture onto the "Teamwork" chart I made for them. They have to get 7 wonderpets spots filled up to get a toy. (I bought some wonderpets toys at the store recently). The reason I believe it worked out so well the first night was because hubby wasn't home to put the kids to bed. Hydro luvs his daddy a lot. That's why he constantly calls for him.

But, the last two nights. Not so good. Poor Hydro. I really want him to get a toy but he's not complying. We've resorted to completely ignoring his calls and only having me (not the hubby) go up if they need some help in the bathroom. He's gotten better but not enough to move ahead on the chart.

I'm thinking of trying one more day and if he doesn't get the sticker, I'm going to show him the toy prizes to motivate him. Here's crossing my fingers.

I've declared a war on dust and cat hair.

I should be cleaning right now.

I've been complaining almost all winter about the dust in my house. I can't stand it and there are no shortcuts in making it disappear. I realized I have to wipe down surfaces and vaccum. Often. boo hoo.

Being at home, me and the kids probably make more mess than kids that are in daycare or school. No lunches leaving crumbs everywhere at school, nope, it's all at home. Snacks in the family room, popcorn bits between the couches while watching movies. It's never ending.

After our kitty got spayed and she was in a cone and a tshirt for 2 weeks, there was cat hair everywhere. She couldn't lick and clean herself so everywhere she went, she left tufts of white hair. (WHY oh why did we get a white cat!) You would see dust and hair particles in the sunshine streaming in the house everytime she jumped off a couch. She's better now but when I get up from my couch to see white hair on my black clothes, I'm filled with rage.

So I declared a war on dust and cat hair.

I win as long as I keep on top of it. THAT is the hard part. I've been trying to wipe down & vaccum almost every second day. If it goes to the third day, you can see it. And today is definitely the third (if not 4th day).

This is where I shall end the blogging to go and battle the never ending battle.