Before/After

• Before my girl's night out I was frazzled, frumpy and frustrated.
• After my girl's night out I am fashionable, fresh & flirty (but only with Pat).
• Before my girl's night out I was grumpy, glum & grouchy.
• After my girl's night out I am glowing (self tan), giddy & grateful.

Jyl, I can't THANK YOU enough for a fun girls' night out. I am a new woman and ready to take on the world!! It also helps to have Bachelor Night on Mondays (thanks Erin and girls) to keep me centered and happy. TO all the girls out there: Take a time out! You deserve it!

(I tried to post a before picture of me, but it was too depressing and yucky, so you just get the after! :)

Are You Kidding Me???

I know I just posted about this wonderful idea of a "Bedtime Fairy"...Well, I'm sending my kids to sleep camp b/c NOTHING IS WORKING!!!!!!!!!! I mean, the bedtime fairy is wonderful when it works (which is about 2 out of 7 days with Lukas, not Max. Max doesn't get it. At all.) So the other 5 days (no, 7 days actually) I am pulling my hair out. Like tonight for instance. I was supposed to go to Whitney's at 8:30 to scrapbook. So, I get Max in bed by 7:40 and it takes 2 hours before he is finally asleep! (Lukas went to bed at 8:30 and fell asleep, good boy!) But I am sitting next to Max's bed thinking, "What the heck am I doing sitting here until he falls asleep? He should do it on his own. I am missing my favorite show on TV, which I can't record b/c we got rid of cable and I really want to hang out with girlfriends tonight, but instead I have to put this kid back in bed every 5 minutes." As soon as I stand up to leave screaming, crying, whining and tantrums occur. What's a mom to do? Well, I'll tell you what a tired, frustrated, frazzled mom is gonna do-- A GIRL'S WEEKEND! A weekend getaway (with my awesome friend Jyl) with no kids or husbands (sorry Pat) and lots of sleeping in and pampering and eating whatever we want! I'm counting down the hours. :)

Funny Conversations

I was making dinner yesterday and gave Lukas a piece of chicken to try that had been cooking in the crock pot. This is his response:

• "Mmmm. This chicken is sooooo good. What are the ingredients?"

We were playing a game of Monster Snap and Lukas would NOT let me lose. He won fair and square and he gave me half of his cards b/c he didn't want me to lose. How sweet is that? And he'd purposely not slap the cards so I could get more. :)

I was asking Lukas his favorite food and I said, "You know, something you could eat over and over and not get sick of." He said back to me, "Well, I'd get sick if I ate it over and over."

Then I was playing with Max today and he came to give me a ripped piece of paper and this is how the conversation went:

• Max-"I ripped Daddy’s book."
• Me- "Why did you rip it?"
• Max- "I don’t know. I didn’t do it. It wasn’t me." (all the while shrugging his shoulders)
• Me- "Then who did?"
• Max-(with a devilish look on his face) "Max" !

I love my kids!!

The Bedtime Fairy

After months of struggling getting the kids to bed and stay in bed, I think I finally found something that is working. I've gotten great advice from my sister-in-law (put the kids to bed BEFORE 9 p.m. and they will stay asleep longer and get better sleep). Max now goes to bed and is usually asleep by 7:45 p.m. Lukas ususally gets to stay up until 8:30. It's true, Max does stay asleep longer, but he still gets out of bed around midnight, sometimes later. But it's a good compromise for me if I can have a few hours in the evening to do what I want. And Jyl gave me the idea of a bedtime fairy that brings little treats or toys for kids that sleep in their beds all night. I tried it one night and nothing. I decided my kids are visual like me, so I went to the dollar store and got all kinds of tempting toys and treats and put them in a big jar where the kids could see them. Then I sewed little bags that hang on their door and told them that if they slept all night long w/out waking me up, the bedtime fairy would put a toy or treat in their bag in the morning. It totally works! Not every night, but more nights than before. Lukas says, "Mom, can you tell the bedtime fairy that I want that airplane?" And when he wakes up, he is so excited to see what the fairy put in his bag. There are nights that one or both boys wake up and come to sleep in our bed, but it is getting better and I don't feel so sleep-deprived. I heard Lukas telling his friedn about how the bedtime fairy comes when he sleeps in his bed. It was cute. It's like Christmas every morning to see what's in the bag. Yay for the bedtime fairy!!!

Weekend Update

• Thursday I had several orders that I HAD to get done, so I bargained with the kids that if they gave me two hours to sew I would make cookies with them, take them to the clubhouse, let them play games...whatever they wanted. I set them up with a movie, snacks, cars, games right next to my sewing room so they could be by me and I could still sew. I can't tell you how many times I had to come out to stop them from hitting and fighting. It was less effective, but alas I got my orders done. I took them to the playland at Carl's Jr., I made cookies with them, we did this fun "hand art". Let me tell you, it all sounds fun, but the boys were at each other the entire time. It was so frustrating for me. I was totally frazzled. But here we are at the end of the day. How deciving that we all look so happy...
• How ironic is it that my goal this year is to exercise more, and by so doing I fit into less clothing than before?! My loose jeans are not so loose anymore and I am spilling out of things. Gross. Why can't fat be the new thin?
• I have neglected my house lately and it was too much for me to handle alone, so my superman husband tackled it with me. We hit EVERY room in the house (it took all day Saturday) and now there is a sparkle on everything. I love it! Thanks Pat. Now the question is how long can it last??
• We now have a computer again! It died on us a month or so ago. I can't tell you how lost I felt not having one and working off a laptop that spontaneously shuts off and would lose all my work. We're back, baby!
• We went to the Dinosuar Museum with my parents this weekend. It was so fun. And much bigger than I remember, or maybe that's because I recently took the kids to the aquarium that is so much smaller. The kids loved it and had a blast! I so want a membership there!
• 

Is it really only January? Do we really have MONTHS of snow still? I think I need a vacation to somewhere warm.

Finally A Warm Day

Yesterday was so nice, my kids decided they wanted to go to the park that is buried under the snow. We bundled up and headed out. It was GORGEOUS! I can't wait for warm weather... Anyway, the kids were so funny and we had a great time. They have these cute scarves that my friend made and then Max wanted my sunglasses and would NOT take them off. He was all decked out. How many more months of snow?? * Sigh * (Lukas took a picture of me in my new cute mudflap hat...THANKS to my cute friend JYL! She made the boys scarves, too! She is one talented chic!!! Check her out. )

Sleepless in Herriman

You'd think after 3 months (or 4 years, really) of my kids constantly waking me up during the night I'd be used to it.  On the contrary...I am exhausted beyond reason. Say hello to Queen of Grouchville!!  I was really hoping to start the year off right with getting my kids to bed and having them stay asleep.  I tried the no-more-Mr.-nice-guy approach, bribes, threats, candy, sticker charts, the bedtime fairy, and even the gate.  Which Max quickly figured out that he just had to push with all his might to pop it out, or move his heavy bookcase to climb over it.  So they still have not slept through the night yet despite my efforts.  And on top of all this sleeplessness Max got croup.  So no sleep, no showers, no cleaning, cooking or laundry and nothing but holding Max 24/7 for 4 days and nights straight!  Yeah, I'm as fresh as a flower that was picked in the spring.  I really envy you moms that can tuck your little ones in and walk away to sleep a full 8 hours undisturbed.  I have to remind myself that this can't last forever and to bear all things with patience.  But I'd also want to see how you'd do after spending an hour getting kids to sleep, only to lay your head on your own pillow and drift off for a moment to hearing the groggy cries of BOTH kids saying the want milk or to come sleep in your bed night after night after sleepless night.  I'm gonna go get a hotel...  

Some funny things that Lukas & Max said lately...

• Lukas was in the bathroom washing his hands and he asked me, "Mommy, what day is it?" And I said, "It's Sunday, we have church today." Lukas said, "So, what's the game plan?"
• Our poor fish Simon is not doing well, and I was sure he wouldn't make it through the night, so I was preparing the kids for his death. In the morning I woke up to find Simon alive and well. I said, "Lukas, come see Simon. He's still alive." And Lukas replied, "I'm so surprised!" Then Max chimes in, "Simon died."
• Lukas' new primary teacher's name is Sister MacDonald. He came home from church and said, "Sister Old McDonald has a baby. She's funny, she tried to get my feet." (He also refers to McDonalds as Old McDonalds--guess the farm song really stuck with him.)
• Max loves to say "I tooted" or "I burped". Gotta love boys.
• I put a gate up in the boys room to keep Max in his bed at night, but he pushed his little bookcase over so he could climb over it and he said, "I moved the shelf. I strong like Hulk." (I don't know how he even knows about Hulk...?)

Happy 2009!!

Here it is...a new year. A clean slate. A fresh start. We're ready for change. We've set our goals and resolutions and are ready to take action! I don't know how good I'm starting off the year since today I stayed in my PJ's ALL day and we were just minutes late getting our Redbox DVD's back! Baby steps, people. HAPPY NEW YEAR!