I *heart* the 4th of July!!

Here's a little snapshot of what we did!

Kiddos

So I'm sitting here, goofing off while I'm suppose to be doing my homework, and Mr. CB is getting the kiddos ready for bed. And then I hear this...
"Blue, come back here and give your sister her undies back!"
Followed by Blue running by waving Razz's undies above his head like a surrender flag. Mr. CB got him back in the bathroom to finish getting him jammied up...and then I hear...
"Blue, get your nakey bum back in here!"
Followed by Blue streaking past.
*Sigh* I love my life!

Neglect!

Sorry dear blog. I feel so bad for neglecting you so long! Hmm, what has happened...
1.Razz passed swim lessons! Yay, on to level 2! This is great because last year she was too sissy to even stick her head in the water. This year she has started swimming underwater and loving it! Thank goodness, because on the last day of class they took the kids to the deep end in inner tubes and Razz's got away from her. She did exactly what she should have and kept her head above water until the lifeguard could reach her. She was scared and crying, but then she was so proud for doing what she should have in that situation and then jumped back in the water.

2. Kay and I threw a surprise party for our Mom which ended up not being a surprise thanks to dorky Mr. CB. But it turned out great anyway and Mr. CB feels worse than I do about it so I can't really be mad at him.

3. School is taking up a ton of my time, but I'm enjoying staining potato cells and am the proud owner of a very crappy microscope.
4. Blue is attached to me more than ever. Sometimes Mr. CB isn't even good enough for him. He cries when I go outside to throw something away. I'm thinking of taking out a restraining order. This is getting ridiculous.

 Why does Blue have this awesome Mom Tattoo? See #7 to find out!

5. Found a GREAT recipe for whipped icing. I hate frosting, but this is awesome. It helps that Mr. CB gave me a Kitchen Aid for Mother's Day. All I gave him was a gift certificate for a massage.

The Best Whipped Icing Ever

1 8oz brick cream cheese at room temp

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 pint (2 cups) heavy whipping cream

Cream together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla ocassionaly stopping to scrap the sides of the bowl. On medium speed, add the whipping cream slowly again stopping ocassionaly to scrap the bowl. Once all the cream has been added, whip on medium high until stiff peaks form. Enjoy!

This even held up well in a warm room for a couple of hours and didn't melt. I made some the night before I used it and it didn't separate like other whip creams sometimes do.

6. My garden is growing well!! I have blossoms on my pumpkins and my peas! Can't wait for some homegrown veggies for dinner.
7. I made this sweet poodle skirt for Razz to go to a '50s soda shop party. Mr. Blue is a greaser, of course!

8. I LOVE being a SAHM this summer. Click here to see why!

P to the 3 for Eternity!

Last Saturday was a very special day for our family. We celebrated our 6 year family anniversary by walking for my nephew Peter in the Great Strides walk for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. (We also went to Chuck E. Cheese's for the first time ever! I don't know about the kids, but I had so much fun! It is definitely going to be an ongoing tradition!)

Our team name is Peter's Pavement Pounders, but when it's 2am and you're still tie dying shirts and you need to be out the door by 7am for the walk, things tend to get shortened. Hence P to the 3! We fell a little short of our team goal, but still managed to raise $470, of which little Miss Razz raised $200 by herself! Thank You so much to everyone who helped!

Wow! Way to go, sweetie! I'm sure her charming good looks and the phrase "Cystic Fibrosis Foundation" coming out of a five year old's mouth we her super fund raising powers.

Kay and I sported some fashionable leg wear as we ran around pushing the kids on swings and waiting for the walk to begin.

Some guy brought this awesome remote control cop car with a microphone and a speaker so the car would interact with the kids.

At last it was time to start! Yay! We were on of the first groups on the trail...and one of the last to return, but we had fun.

Even Blue walked (well, ran really because he had to to keep up!) as long as his legs would let him.

After the walk we had hot dogs and chips and fudgecicles! Yum! It started to rain right after we got back, but the weather was perfect otherwise.

As I mentioned, it was our family anniversary. What's that, you ask? Every year we celebrate the day Mr. CB and I were sealed together for Eternity in the Logan, Utah Temple. In our faith, we believe that families can be together after death through the sealing power of the priesthood in a special Temple ceremony. Often this happens in conjunction with a Temple marriage, but Mr. CB and I had a civil ceremony a year prior. This walk was a great reminder that even though Peter might not be here long on earth, we will be with him again.Since our wedding anniversary was May 30th  and our family anniversary is June 5th, we basically have a whole week to celebrate!

The knowledge that we as a family, and our extended family, all get to be together again is a great comfort, especially since CF is a death sentence for sweet Peter. We are hoping that organizations like the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation will be able to find a cure or create treatments that improve and extend lives of those with CF. Peter may well live into his 50s, but if he doesn't, it will be okay. He will be with us forever, no matter the length of his earthly life. We love you, Peter. We praise our Heavenly Father for the gift of Eternal Life. We testify of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the sacrifice that He made to take away not only our sins, but our worries, our pain, and our suffering.

NEW! Kid Quotes page!

 Today I got a sweet surprise when I opened my e-mail. My darling sister sent me html code for my Kid Quotes button so now everyone can play along! I created a new page dedicated to Kid Quotes, so to join in the fun just click on the Kid Quotes! below my blog title and follow the instructions.

Yesterday I had laid down with Blue for his nap. After he was fast asleep, I went downstairs to finish up some housework. A couple hours later Blue woke up crying. I went upstairs to ask him what the matter was. With those big, brown, puppy dog eyes he said, "I lost you!"

Razz is a super smeller. She can catch a wiff of something miles away, and is always asking "What's that smell?" Not too long ago, I had bought some pear scented deodorant. I stopped wearing it after Mr. CB jumped into the car, took a sniff, and said "What's smells like fruit?" and Razz answered "It must be Momma's armpits!"

Link up and have fun!

Blue the Biker Pirate!

FOOD!!

I have  a confession. I HATE meal planning. I think the worst part of growing up and being responsible is that I have to make 3 healthy, balanced meals a day for myself, let alone my sweet hubby and kids! It's probably why I am so overweight. When I get frustrated trying to figure out what to make for dinner, I zip over to the frozen food section and grab some fish-sticks, burritos, pot-pies, or anything that takes less than 3 brain cells to cook. I can cook, it's just coming up with WHAT to cook is the problem.
BUT, I have found something to ease my worries and increase my veggie consumption.... MealsMatter.org!! They have an interactive menu, recipes, AND shopping list!! My dreams have come true!! I just need to spend a day or so creating a couple weeks worth of meals and lists and I should be set. The site is completely free! I have honestly considered signing up for one of those other meal planning sites for $50 a year, but lo and behold my prayers have been answered! Take a look and tell me what you think!
Adieu! I'm off to the grocery store! (Okay, that's a lie. I'm going to go pick up the kids and take them to see and ambulance and get their faces painted and stuff ourselves with free hot-dogs and juice which is sooo much more exciting than going grocery shopping, but it went so well with the theme of my post that I stuck it in there. I'll go grocery shopping later today...or tomorrow...or when my supply of easy frozen food runs out, which ever comes first!)

House Cleaning!!

Oh, my heavens! I have spent the entire day cleaning and sweeping and toilet training (which added some extra mopping!). I only finished 2 rooms out of the whole house!! But that's okay, the rest will come. I haven't had time to clean this thoroughly since school started last fall. It is so nice to take the day and scrub, but oi do my feet hurt! I still need to fill out the FAFSA forms to finance Mr. CB and mine school for next semester, order my Biology kit for my internet class this summer, order Razz's flower girl dress for my brother's wedding in July, download pictures of my camera, do some more fund-raising for Great Strides, bake something for the pot-luck tommorow after church, and finish the rest of mine and Mr. CB's love story. Hmmm, I should probably go and do some of that stuff now...
See ya!

Blue boy

So I let Blue sleep in just his diaper last night. He was so excited to go "nakey". When I woke him up this morning, he was nice and toasty warm in his favorite blanket. He was not, however, happy when I started getting him dressed. He wanted nothing to do with clothes. Blue held his arms down at his sides, clenched his fists and screamed at me. AHHH. Dorky child! Thank goodness he's still so small, or I don't think I would have been able to wrestle his clothes on. Mr. CB just laughed at me. Oh, well. I just won't let Blue go "nakey" unless the weather is warmer and we're staying home!

Fever in the morning, fever all through the night!

( I know this pic is a little fuzzy, but it is 100% Razz. Her personality really pops through)

Little Miss Razz is sick. They sent her home Thursday from school. She said her throat hurt so bad she couldn't eat lunch. The nurse took her temp and sure enough I got a call. Problem was I was taking a final and had forgotten my phone. So they called Mr. CB, who works at the bookstore on campus. He isn't allowed to answer his phone while he's on the clock, plus he didn't have a chance to check who called, seeing that it was finals week and everyone was returning their books. So they called my Mom. Sweet, sweet Mother of mine. My Dad was out of town with the car, so she walked, WALKED, from her work to Razz's school and picked her up. Then, because she couldn't be gone too long, Mom had Kay come and meet her and walk Razz the rest of the way to their house so Mom could get back quicker. And Kay carried Razz the rest of the way. Oh, how thankful I am that I have people who love my sweet daughter as much as I do!!
Since Kay had had a virus earlier in the week with a sore throat, I just assumed that's what Razz had. She was acting fine, although she continued to run a low grade fever. She ate okay too, so I didn't think it was that bad. Thursday I kept her home and Friday too, she was running around sucking down milkshakes and more than happy to take advantage of the "all the TV you want when your sick" rule. Then Friday night we went out to eat to celebrate the end of the semester. Razz ordered a cheese quesidilla, and when it came she took one bite then started screaming. It took me a while to calm her down. She was so upset she couldn't eat her food. This morning I took her to the doctor (thank goodness my clinic has walk-in hours Saturday morning!). They swabbed her throat and left, letting me know it would take 5-10 minutes for the results. When the doctor came back in 2 minutes I knew it was bad news. STREP!!! First time having it too.
I feel so stupid. Wednesday night she complained of a sore throat. I just thought it was post-nasal drip from her allergies. Thursday I just thought it was a virus because she acted fine and her fever wasn't too high. I didn't even think of taking her in Friday until it was too late and she was screaming at the restaurant. Mr. CB and Dad gave her a blessing that night and she feel asleep quickly. Three days, though! My poor kid had strep for three whole days before I did anything! They should cancel Mother's Day for me tomorrow, I don't deserve it. To make it even more horrible, Wednesday when she first complained I didn't even think to take her temperature. Thursday when she came home I didn't think to check her throat. If I had, I would have known right away to take her in. I mean, for heaven's sake! I'm a nursing student! These are the first things we learned to do! I know what to look for, I can recognize the tale tale redness on her gigantic tonsils! I was so focused on finals I didn't apply what I had learned! What good is an education if I don't use it? Blah! Goodness, gracious. Well, at least I got her in today. I don't even want to know what condition she would have been in if I had waited till Monday.
We'll see how many of us get it. Mr. CB said something about a sore throat, and I can feel my tonsils swelling just talking about it. Serves me right. Thank goodness Dr. Tim said that if anyone in the family starting coming down with symptoms that we could just call up and they'd call us in a prescription. Happy Mother's Day indeed!

Bake Sale Success!!

Last week I held a bake sale with the help of one of the honor societies on campus for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (Thank you Mortar Board!). My awesome cousin Katie died of CF a few years ago, and my darling nephew Peter fights it today and every day. As always, I went a little overboard. I made seven different types of cupcakes, normal and chocolate rice krispies, s'more bars, and brownies. See that container under the table...

it holds 200 cupcakes. I filled 2 of them. That's 400 cupcakes, plus the odd 150 other baked goods I made. It only took me two days, and honestly wasn't that bad.
We held our "Goodies for a Good Cause" for 2 days, 5 hours a day. I have to say THANK YOU to my awesome sister Kay on the right who flew in Sunday and manned the table the next Monday and Tuesday while I was in class.

I honestly did not know how I was going to pull it off. I had a ton of volunteers help out from Mortar Board, like the sweet lady on the left, but there were a couple time slots that nobody could make, even me. When I came up with this idea it was a bolt out of the blue, as if the Lord said "Cherry, you're doing a bake sale. I know it's finals and this is crazy, but I'll take care of it if you have the faith." And He did! He flew in Kay unexpected! I didn't know she would be here until 4 days before the bake sale. To make things even more exciting, Peter's dad Jacob flew in too! It was awesome to show him how much we love and support his family in a tangible (and tasty!) way.
The bake sale was a total success! By the end of the first day we had $123!! We didn't sell anywhere close to half of all the goodies, so the second day we reduced the price. Nearing the end we started giving cupcakes away. Several people were so touched they threw whatever change they had on them into the pot. We moved a lot more cupcakes, but we made less. Grand total was $200, which coincidentally was the same number of cupcakes we had left over!! Mr. CB had the awesome idea of giving them to the Domestic Abuse Shelter. They were thrilled :)!

Here's Kay next to the poster of my sweet nephew explaining a little about CF.

100% of the money will go to the CFF via my Great Strides walk in June. If you haven't donated yet, there's still time! Or better yet, join our team and help us raise money to fight CF. For more information, please visit Peter's Pavement Pounders website and click on Walk with us!

Once again a huge thank you to Kay, Mom, Mr. CB, Peter's Dad and Mom, Mortar Board, and especially the Lord for helping out. I couldn't have pulled it off without you guys!

No more teacher's dirty looks!

I'M DONE WITH THIS SEMESTER!!!! AND I EVEN PULLED OFF ALL A's!!! 3 weeks of freedom then it's back to the books.

Finals!!

Boy, am I tired.

1 down, 2 to go.

Pharmacology final grade - A

Nurse Medical/Surgical final in 1 hour - I'm as ready as I'm gonna be. Mr. CB was sooo sweet and quizzed me in the car...until he fell asleep in the middle of a question. He goes back to the sleep doctor on the 13th to find out what his sleep study results were.

Community Nursing final in 1 day...I hope I do well. This is the one I'm the most worried about. I havent' started studying because if I study more than one subject at a time I mix them up on tests. Plus, the content is so abstract and the questions are very specific. Last test in this class the teacher threw out 5 questions out of 40 because we challenged them with information from the book, or they weren't in our assigned reading. I don't think anyone has gotten the grades they deserve.

Anyway, I better head to school. Say a quick prayer for me!

Husband 1.0!!!

I recently received this e-mail and it was too funny not to share with all my bloggy friends. Of course, this in no way reflects on Mr. CB. We all know how wonderful he is ;).
Enjoy!

INSTALLING A HUSBAND

Dear Tech Support,

Last year, I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slowdown in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as:
Romance 9.5 and
Personal Attention 6.5,
and then installed some undesirable programs such as
NBA 5.0,
NFL 3.0 and
Golf Clubs 4.1.

Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.

Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?
Signed,
Desperate


DEAR DESPERATE:

First, keep in mind,
Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while
Husband 1.0 is an operating system.

Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.html, try to download Tears 6.2, and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update.


If those applications work as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0, or Beer 6.1.

Please note that Beer 6. 1 is a very bad program that will download the Farting and Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)

In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0-program. This is an unsupported application and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend
Cooking 3.0 and
Hot Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck!
Tech Support

Kid Quotes! & Not Me! Monday!

 

I decided to share my Kid Quotes with a Not Me! Monday! today. Not Me! Monday! was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Blue and I play this game where I point to a body part of his, usually his chin or his nose, and tell him it's a different body part. He laughs and then corrects me. Yesterday in church Blue definitely did NOT decide to play this game with me. He did NOT point to a mole near my collar bone and shout "Penis!" for the whole congregation to hear. Nope, not me. My kids know it's not polite to shout out names of private body parts and would definitely not do so in CHURCH!

I did NOT wear knee high purple, black, and grey stripped socks with my knee length skirt to church yesterday. I always shave my legs and never use socks as an excuse to go another week without doing so.

Saturday, Razz was looking at her Star Wars book she borrowed from school in the car. When she stumbled across a picture of this guy...

she did NOT shout "Toyota!". When Blue saw the picture, he of course, did NOT correct her by shouting "Soda!" in response.

My kids did NOT barge in on my husband while he was using the bathroom. Mr. CB did NOT kick them out, saying that he needed some privacy. Blue, in turn did NOT start rummaging through the bag I was packing. When I did NOT ask him what he was doing, he did NOT say, "I'm looking for Privacy. Daddy needs some!"

Have a Kid Quote you'd like to share? Link up or leave it in the comments!

Toodles!

A well balanced diet?

 Here is what Blue had for dinner....

A cheese muffin

Some blue milk (otherwise he wouldn't drink it)

A side of ketchup

*sigh*

One day my sweet child will eat veggies like his sister!

Kid Quotes

Do you like it? I DO!! Thanks so much Lelan from Good Gravy Designs. It's so nice to have bloggy friends like you. Once I'm done with school I'll get a page set up so you can grab the button and join me too! So, I propose a vote. What day will be the official Kid Quotes day? Leave your vote in the comments and we'll figure it out.

So Sunday we were driving home from church and passed a cemetery. Razz looked out the window and said, "Look, a Grave Garden!"

Lately, Blue has a favorite catch phrase. At random times he shouts "Shoe Shopping!"
I couldn't figure out why for the life of me. I have taken him shoe shopping before, but not that often. I'm not addicted to shoes (Star Trek is another matter, however). We started saying "shoe shopping" at random times too, and it usually got a good laugh out of Blue. Yesterday we had a breakthrough. Mr. CB figured out that Blue's not saying "shoe shopping", he's saying "show you something"!!! All this time Blue wanted us to just watch him. Go figure!

So many things.....

First off, let's talk about Blue. Back in February when we took Blue for his 2 year check up, the doctor was concerned about his height. Apparently he dropped 40 percentage points down on the growth chart from his last checkup 6 months prior and his height was still that of a 18 month old. So, he sent us to a pediatrician. The pediatrician seemed alarmed as well and immediately took us down to x-ray to get a film of his hands and wrist bones. Why? Because by measuring the growth plates they can determine his bone age, or how many growth spurts he's had. You want the bone age to = the height age. Good news, the x-rays came back saying his bone age was 15-18months, same as his height age. So, basically he hadn't hit that growth spurt yet. Anyway, they had us come back in this month for a height check and, you guessed it, he's still short! This last Thursday we went to the Endocrinologist Dr. G (he's a doctor that specializes in hormones) to see if there was something else going on. Now, let me just say this. Mr. CB and I haven't really been concerned this whole time. Blue is small and short, just like Razz was. In fact, he's bigger than Razz was at this age. The only reason we've gone to all these doctors it because the doctors are concerned. First thing Dr. G asked me when he walked in is why I was there, if it was because I was concerned or because the doctors were! Finally, a doctor who listens to the parents! He didn't seem nearly as worried as the other doctors. Dr. G explained growth this way. All full term babies are born at 19-21 inches regardless of how tall their parents are. They then either speed up or slow down their growth in the first 2 years until they hit were they are genetically suppose to be. According to Dr. G, if Blue stays on the growth pattern he currently has, he will be 5'6 1/2", the low end of normal when you take into consideration mine and Mr. CB's heights. I'll say it again, NORMAL! Thank you Dr. G. He does want to see Blue in 4 months to make sure he's not dropping off anymore, but as for right now we'll do nothing. Yay! I definitely will remember Dr. G's example of good patient care when I'm finally a RN.
Now lets turn our attention to Blue's head...

It's huge! His bike helmet from last year was too small, so we went ahead and ordered him and Razz new helmets....in the same size! At least we know this one will last him a little while. We spent a little extra and got the multiple impact helmets because Blue is always hitting his head even when he's not on his bike or skateboard. You're suppose to throw a bike helmet away after one impact. That means we would have gone through three already! I'm sorry, but I don't have a picture of Razz in her's. She didn't really need a new one, but these one are more adjustable than her old one and a better fit = better protection. Plus, we got free shipping if we ordered two :).
One, final note, this last week has been tough! Sunday Blue threw up in the middle of church. Bad thing is, since our chapel is being remodeled, we meet in the middle school auditorium. Good news, the floor is concrete. Bad news, the floor is slanted. Luckily there was no one sitting directly in front of us. Mr. CB took Blue out to clean him up while I stayed behind, hurrying to make a baby wipe dam on the floor so the puke wouldn't continue flowing down towards peoples shoes. I feel sorry for the speaker. No one was listening, the whole congregation was watching me clean up the floor. After we left church we went to my parent's house, which was a hour and fifteen minute drive. It took longer than that since Blue puked all over himself and the car seat. By the time we got to my parents he was fine. He did well Monday too, until that night when Razz started throwing up. Then he decided to join her. Oh, and did I mention we were still at my parents? And that Mr. CB was helping my mom with repairing a toilet? And that there was no running water? And that Mr. CB got sick too? Once I got one kid cleaned up the other one would spew. I couldn't wash clothes, and I was relying on heating water up in a bowl in the microwave to wash my hands with. Not fun. I was up all night. Oh, and did I mention that I had a huge test the next morning? Well, I did. I could have taken it later, but I just wanted to get it over with. I only missed three (woohoo!) so that was okay. I took care of the kids the rest of the day. Wednesday, I woke up sick. Bad news because I had a quiz to take online, plus my mom was out of town and she needed me to help finish up dishes, vacuuming, and such because an inspector was coming Thursday. So I didn't get any rest. Oi. Thursday we went to the Endocrinologist and Friday I spent doing a huge assignment that's due on Monday. I'm not finished yet, so that will be the rest of my weekend. Here's to motherhood!

Peter and the Mucus Monster!

As I've mentioned before, my sweet nephew Peter battles Cystic Fibrosis (CF) every day. With CF, Peter's body makes extra thick mucus, clogging up his lungs, sinuses, and his digestive tract. People with CF have a hard time breathing and digesting food. The extra thick mucus also collects bacteria and germs, same as normal mucus does, except because it is so thick it's hard to get rid of. This allows the germs in the mucus to stick around long enough to get Peter sick and stay sick for a long time. Because of this, Peter doesn't get to hang around a lot of kids.

Last  summer we met up with Peter and my sister in Colorado for a family reunion. Before we went I was extra villigent with making sure the kids washed their hands and didn't pick their noses. I also made sure that we didn't hang around anyone that was sick so that we would all be super healthy when we got there.

We had so much fun with him! The kids are excited to see him this summer when we go to Portland for my brother's wedding. But before we do that, we are walking for Great Strides, a fundraiser for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. I would really appreciate if you would sponsor me on this walk. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has done a lot in the last 20 years to improve and lengthen the lives of those living with CF. My hope is that they will find a cure in Peter's lifetime so he has the chance to grow up and have a family of his own.

Join Peter's Pavement Pounders for Great Strides 2010 from Marchet Butler on Vimeo.

To donate, please click on the Great Strides button on the top of my blog. For more information about Peter, please visit his blog here.

Kid Quotes

The kids and I were walking to Grandma's house from the babysitter's last Wednesday when Razz noticed some trash on the ground. "Mama," she asked "why do people glitter?" I didn't have the heart to correct her, it was so adorable. But the funny thing is today, she and Blue were outside playing when he spotted a foil wrapper on the ground. "What's that?" Blue asked. Razz responded, "Oh, that's a glitter bug."
Got any good Kid Quotes? Leave a comment!

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's my birthday so I decided to have a party on my blog! Yay! And better yet, the cupcakes are zero calories. Enjoy!

Kid Quotes

Hopefully this summer we're making a trip to Portland for a wedding (fingers crossed). We told Razz that when we were there we would go on a trip to the beach. She was so excited and told us "I'm going to go to the beach and pick up 9 jars of sea shells and dead fish!!" I just hope the 'dead fish' are fossilized.
P.S. How do you make a button? I'm thinking of making a Kid Quotes one and hooking up Mr. Linky, but I'm technically challenged. I can do it, I just need some guidance. Thanks!

Guess who loves cupcakes!

Kid Quotes!

Last night Razz complained that her legs hurt. We told her it was probably growing pains. This morning when she woke up she jumped to her feet, stood up straight and asked "Do I look taller?

 It has been relatively warm lately. As such, the most common words that come out of Blue's lips are "Mommy! Coat, on! Shoes, on! Outside!"
What funny thing did your kid (or anyone else's for that matter!) say lately?

T I R E D !

So, last night Blue asked me to grab his fuzzy green blanket from downstairs so he could sleep with it. I went and grabbed it and took it back upstairs to give to him. When I went to cover him up, I realized it was purple...and that it wasn't even a blanket. I had grabbed Razz's coat! Oi, am I tired. I don't think any amount of sleep will cure it either. Poor Mr. CB is exhausted. He snores a ton and I'm pretty sure there's some sleep apnea going on. He'll have to go to the doctor to get some help, but we have no time for doctor visits! Thank goodness we only have another month and a half of school. Then we can sleep through the summer!

NEW! Kid Quotes!

Because Blue and Razz say so many off the wall things, I've decided to try to do a Kid Quotes post every couple of days or so. Please feel free to join me and share the wacky things your kids (or anyone else's, for that matter) have said lately in the comments!
To start it off, I offer these few classic Razz quotes from when she was 2.
 1. "I don't like potato pancakes, they're dangerous!"
2. "Mom, I'm thirsty. Can I have some marshmallows?"

And to finish off, here are some very recent Blue quotes.
1. March 19, 2010 "Mom, I sorry I peed you!"
2. March 20, 2010
Blue - "Dad, I have more popcorn dip chocolate milk?"
Mr. CB - "You want more popcorn to dip in your chocolate milk?"
Blue - "Yes, Sir!"

Join the fun! Leave a comment! Adios!

How I became Ms. Crackleberry, Part 3: The phone call.

Click on the links if you missed Part 1 and Part 2!

We were trying to be serious, but obviously I can't hold a straight face!

Where were we, oh yes! It was a lazy summer afternoon and my phone rang....and rang, and rang, and the answering machine picked up. I was sleeping (actually, I heard the phone ring but didn't want to get out of my comfy bed) so I didn't get the message until my sister Shay got home from work and told me that "some strange boy with a weird name" had called. For some reason, I instantly knew it was Mr. CB. His name just popped into my head the moment she told me. Why, I'm not quite sure. I had just broken up with James a couple weeks prior and had just resolved to be single a while because I needed to learn how to be myself without relying on a guy for my identity. I hadn't thought of Mr. CB for 6 months, and suddenly calling him back was THE most important thing in my life. I rushed over to the answering machine (total side note, I am just envisioning the future when our kids are reading this and they turn and ask what an answering machine is! Sorry, back to the story!) and jotted down his number. I dialed his phone and it started to ring....and ring, and ring, and the answering machine picked up. I left a message and hung up. Still I was anxious to reach him, so I called again, being careful to hang up before the answering machine picked up so I didn't come off as desperate (little did I know that Mr. CB had Caller ID so when he came home later he knew I had called twice in a row ~cringe~). It was the strangest feeling, knowing in my gut that I HAD to get a hold of him, but not actually having a logical reason why. My only explanation is Divine Intervention, literally! I truly felt like the Spirit was pushing me towards Mr. CB, and we hadn't even gone out on our first date yet! Whew, talk about intense. But to understand the whole story, we have to switch over to Mr. CB and his reasons for calling.

The same summer afternoon, Mr. CB was sitting bored at his apartment. With nothing to do, he picked up his address book with all his friends numbers in it, and started calling. NO ONE was home. He tried number after number and couldn't reach a soul. As he was flipping through, he kept passing my number and each time had the impression to call me. Each time he thought "No, Cherry and James are probably married by now and she probably doesn't have that number anymore." Still, none of his other friends were home and no one had called him back yet. The impression to call me came more urgently. "Oh, I guess it won't hurt anything," he thought and dialed away. The phone rang, and rang, and....well you know what happened! After leaving a message, there was a knock on the door. One of his buddies showed up, and off they went to skateboard.

So, here I am waiting at home anxiously and Mr. CB is skating around town. What happens when he returns home and finds I've called twice? Does he call me back? Do I call him a third time? Tune in next time for...The Return Call!

Time for Bed!

My sweet little Blue has been having a hard time going to bed lately. He doesn't want to be more than 10 feet away from me or Mr. CB, and preferably with no permanent structures between us (you know, like those silly wall and door things that are all over the house)! For a couple weeks I let him crawl into bed with us, but it's not a good solution. First of all, wiggly toddler + light sleeper Mom = not very much rest for me. Second, I try not to let the kids sleep next to Mr. CB because when his head hits the pillow, almost nothing can wake him up. Mr. CB has slept through screaming babies, super loud lightning storms, and trees crashing into the back of the house. Additionally, once when we were first married Mr. CB apparently wasn't comfortable enough on his side of the bed so he rolled over me to the other side. Yes OVER me. Completely steamrolled. He then snuggled down and continued snoozing, not even the slightest bit aware of what he had just done!

Luckily, I survived.

However, I don't know what would happen if it was our itty bitty kids in my place. Hence, I avoid letting them into our bed unless I'm desperate. I have been very desperate lately. Blue has slept with us a lot. I finally banished him to the floor next to our bed, which works well except for the whole forgetting-that-he-is-there-and-stepping-on-him thing that tends to happen more frequent than not. So for his safety, we decided that once again he was going to stay in his room at night. Since last week was spring break, I was able to stick to my guns once the screaming commenced. And it did. Immediately upon learning it was time for bed. And it continued. For hours! So, naturally, Mr. CB and I put in a DVD and turned up the volume until we couldn't hear him anymore. Cruel, mean, neglect? I don't think so, but after a couple days we had to come up with something else. He obviously needed some motivation. Blue has been sleeping in his crib converted to a toddler bed, but it was time to ditch the crib completely.

The next time we went to Walmart we swung by the baby furniture section. I casually pointed out all the "big boy beds" to Blue and guess what, he went for it! He was so excited I let him choose which one he wanted (out of the two I showed him, no plastic character frames, thank you very much!). We loaded it in the car, got dinner, and picked up Mr. CB, then whisked home to build it.
We removed the crib and got to work. I know I should have taken a picture of the crib, but I forgot, so you'll have to use your imagination.

(Please, please, please ignore the electrical outlet hazard right where his bed goes! Blue knows not to touch it, we've had the big ouchy burn talk and he completely understands. It's a weird outlet so the normal baby proofing stuff doesn't work. When you can't baby proof the house you end up house proofing the baby.)

Let's get started! Mr. CB and the kids got to work.

Hmm, nice work, but it looks like somethings missing. Did you read the instructions Mr. CB? No? Better take a look.

Oh, so that's where that big dowel goes!

Much better!

Who's bed is this?

Blue's bed!

Blue, I'm pretty sure your fingers don't go there.

Mr. CB started looking tired...

... so Blue and I took over.

Finally finished, we threw the mattress and bedding on. What do you think?

Well, what do you know? It's time for bed! Blue crawled in, snuggled up in his favorite green fuzzy blanket, and promptly started crying.

Razz had to come snuggle him for a bit before he calmed down and fell asleep, but he stayed there. When I checked on him at 6am he was still in bed, yay! When I came back up after my shower at 6:30am this is what I found...

He kinda reminds me of the Wicked Witch of the East with his stripped legs poking out from under his blanket! When I woke him up we did a little "Blue slept in his big boy bed all night" dance and song number and repeated it several times, telling everyone through out the day. The next night he started crying again, but still climbed into bed and went to sleep. So I guess this is our new normal. Still some tears, but no screaming for two hours. Plus everyone has been getting a good night sleep, just in time for school to start again.

Which reminds me, time to hit the books!