The marriage thing

This weekend my husband and I had a fight. I'm sure you're thinking 'big deal, all husbands and wives fight', but for me it kind of is a big deal. We've been married for twelve years now and I can probably count on one hand the number of times we've had a fight. Oh, and just to clarify, by fight I mean argument. Nothing physical. It was kind of a dumb argument in retrospect, but at the time it didn't feel like it. 

As most of you know the past several months I've been watching what I eat and exercising regularly so I can get in shape. Well my husband has been doing the same thing to an extent. For him it's mostly been cutting back on what he eats, he rarely exercises. Apparently he's lost a few pounds and guess what? I didn't notice. Basically he fussed at me because I don't pay him enough attention and I got mad because he was being mean. I know, we sound like a couple of two year olds right?  
Afterwards I was thinking about it and came to the conclusion that umm, he's probably right. When it comes to my kids I notice everything. If they get a bruise or scratch I notice. If they come home from school with a stain on their shirt or with their hair messed up I notice. If they don't eat all of their breakfast I notice. However with my husband unless it's a huge thing I don't notice. I kind of want to blame it on being a mom and just not having the time or attention span after dealing with my kids, but really for me that's a cop out. I'm just being lazy.
So I'm going to try to make more of an effort to be attentive. Because when you think about it if I don't pay attention to him then he could always turn around and do the same thing to me and I definitely don't want that.  Do any of you have this same issue? If so how have you dealt with it?

Star infatuation

About a year or so ago I bought the girls this little boy doll from the North American Bear company. They were all three delighted because up until this point they had never had a boy doll. They named him Jack. Cute, isn't he?

 Whenever they are playing dolls it never fails Jack is the mischievous one that everything gets blamed on.  

Which brings me to today's post. Last year when the song "On the Floor" by Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull came out Sophie fell in love. She sang the song constantly and even told me that she couldn't wait to start kindergarten because she wanted to make friends with a boy so he could sing Pitbull's part of the song. Can you just imagine the eye rolling I'm doing here? I thought her 'love' would be short lived but as usual I was wrong. We were in Target once and she started yelling, "Mom, look it's Pitbull!" Naturally everyone started staring at us, but yet she insisted that he was in our Target and she would prove it to me by showing him to me. Oookkkaaayyy. So we walk around the corner and there he is. The man that was most definitely NOT Pitbull. She saw him and said, "There he...oh, wait that's not him." I then explained to her that not all bald, dark complected men were Pitbull which in turn got me an eye roll and a big 'duh'. Then a few weeks ago the girls were dancing and Sophie did a handstand while leaning against the bed and spun herself around. She was so proud of herself and said, "Look mom, this is so cool. When I grow up I'm gonna be in a Pitbull video." What can I say? The girls got big dreams. 

I haven't heard much talk about her fantasy boyfriend lately so I thought maybe she had moved on. Until last night. I was reading to the girls at bedtime when I noticed that Jack was in the doll crib smack in the middle of all the other dolls. I asked Sophie what the deal was and her response. "Oh, that's Jack-bull and all his girlfriends."

If this is what age six is like I am really scared to see what the teenage years are going to be like.

Note to self

Because I'm getting to the point in my life where I need to remind myself of these things.

• Never clean the kitchen with bleach when wearing a black shirt. Especially your new, most favorite in the world black shirt.
• Layers are never a good idea. Also, if you find a good hairdresser stick with him/her.
• Do not send husband to the store for more than two items at a time. Why? Because for every item you send him after he will call you at least twice to ask about said item. E.g- Hi honey, what size box of cheerios did you want me to buy? The big box? Okay talk to you later. Three seconds later.... Hi honey, me again. What is a good price on cheerios? Okay talk to you later. Two seconds later.... Hi honey, do you think I should go to Walmart for the cheerios or do you think they're cheaper at Target?
•  Items only cook in the oven if you remember to turn it on first.
• Wearing a v neck tee while riding your bike=epic fail. Unless you're the pervy old guy out walking your dog that gets to watch said bike rider, in that case you're golden.
• If your child forgets to take something to school it is automatically your fault. Doesn't matter if you were never told that the child needed to bring the item. It is still your fault.
• Walmart is never a good idea for someone with anxiety. Ever.
• Never, ever complain about any kind of noun (person, place or thing) on facebook. No matter how small your friends list is someones cousins, brothers, dogs girlfriend is going to find out and be offended.
• And last but not least when you are already really, really getting burned out with volunteering never, ever open your mouth and say, "Oh, just call me anytime." Because guess what? They will.

Sometimes homemade really is best

Every year at Christmas my mom tends to go overboard on the gift buying. I mean really overboard. For years I've been telling her to scale back and she just ignores me. Usually when we leave my parents house my kids come away with more gifts than they had under the tree at home. Well now that she and my dad are retired and money is tight she finally listened to me (parents can be so hard headed can't they?). 
Unlike me my mom tends to have a little bit of talent when it comes to making things so I asked her if instead of buying the kids a bunch of stuff if she would make them some things. She never really gave me an answer so I thought that once again she was ignoring me. She proved me wrong. Not only did she make the kids things for Christmas, but she also made some things for Sophie and Kylie's birthdays. Since I always share my diy/crafting disasters I thought I would share some of my moms success'. 
For Sophie's birthday she made a doll crib. I'm not positive, but I think she got the plans from Ana White. This thing is really heavy and solid so I don't have to worry about the kids overloading it and it breaking.

  For Christmas she made the girls a ton of doll clothes and this little rack to hang them on.

 The little containers on the bottom are from Targets dollar spot and hold shoes, socks, etc. On the ends are hooks for doll back packs, purses, hats, etc. The rack currently has two boxes (24ct.) of hangers from American girl and some from pottery barn kids and could probably hold a few more. She also made a doll bed and bedding. The bedding plans are from Ana White and the bedding she made from a duvet cover from Bombay kids that I bought to make stuff for Kylie's room (but obviously never did).

 

 

 Now that I'm looking at the picture it's driving me crazy that the bedding is so crooked. Ugh. She also made Kylie a bolster for her bed with the left over fabric. 

 Audrey's birthday is coming up in March and I'm already thinking up a wish list to give her!

Parental faux pas we should all try to avoid

Earlier today I went to the kids school for their honors program (don't worry this isn't going to be a brag post). I'm at the school a good bit in a volunteer capacity, but I have to say every single time I go to one of the programs I always leave shaking my head. Not because of the kids mind you, but because of some of the parents. It truly never fails to amaze me what is considered acceptable dress and behaviour by some people. Believe me if you're a parent then your kid is most likely already embarrassed by your mere presence, you really don't need to add to it.  So please allow me to present my own personal list of do's and don'ts:

• Take a shower before you show up at your childs school. Please. I understand if you have a very physical job and you took some time off to run up to the school to see your kid and can't help that you have a bit of body odor. However, if you are a mom that stays at home with no younger children to chase after then it kind of becomes unacceptable. 
• When the teacher asks for parents to hold their applause until all the childrens names have been called out that generally includes other noises as well. Wolf whistles and screaming "All right Jessie!" are kind of annoying.
• Midriff tops are not really appropriate for elementary school. If I want to see a puffy, pale belly covered in stretch marks I'll just look in the mirror as I'm getting dressed. Trust me I don't need to see yours.
• If you have a tattoo that you think might embarrass your kid then consider covering it up. I'm sure when you got Big Boob Betty tattooed on your forearm it probably seemed like a good idea at the time, but your first grade daughter might disagree when all her friends are giggling about it.
• Your sweatpants and flip flops look about as good in January as your daisy dukes and uggs did back in August. 
• If you are coughing up a lung you have my sympathy, but please cover your mouth. Or at least don't sit by me. I really don't want your tuberculosis I promise.
• If you walk by me and I can still smell your perfume or cologne when you are on the other side of the gym then that might be a sign that you are wearing too much. 
• When you get up to take little precious' picture please be considerate of those you are standing in front of. I really don't enjoy having your butt 1/2 an inch from my face. Also, I would kind of like to get a picture of my own child.
• If you are sitting next to me and your best friend is on my other side and you want to talk during the program ask me to change seats with one of you. Having you talk over me is just kind of rude.
• If you can't turn your cell phone off at least put it on silent. Sure your ring tone is cute, but it gets kind of old after awhile.

The ugliest doll in the world

A few months ago I bought Audrey a new book series called Frankly Frannie. Apparently there is some mention in the books about a character making sock dolls and selling them. So Audrey of course decided that she just had to make a sock doll. I didn't even know what a sock doll was, but the Frankly Frannie website was kind enough (insert sarcasm right here) as to post a link to a site that shows you how to make one. I took a peek at the site and begged her to just let me buy her a doll. Nope, she wanted to make one herself. Great. I told her we would try to make one, but not to get her hopes up too much. She and Sophie both ran to their room and grabbed a huge handful of socks. Not even cute socks, but stained up, grubby socks with lots of pilling on them. I cut the first piece just as the directions stated and told them to fill it with stuffing which they did and then I sewed it up. Hmm, not too hard I thought. Then came the arms. Again, I followed the directions to a T. That's odd I thought, why are the arms so out of proportion? Then came the legs. By this time the girls and I were about to cry we were laughing so hard at how dumb these 'dolls' looked. I didn't even bother with the hair or face at this point. I just told the girls to finish it up themselves. And they did. With creepy results.

 Yep, we've got some mad craft making skills in this house.

Turning ten

This weekend marked a huge milestone in our home.

Kylie turned ten. 

 

Her actual birthday was on Saturday and she requested that I take her to her favorite restaurant. I told the waiter that it was her birthday so he and the other wait staff brought out a dessert for her and sang. And then much to her shock put a spoonful of whipped cream on her face. The look on her face was priceless.

Afterward we went and shopped a little (I might or might not have bought myself a little sumthin-sumthin). Since my husband works Saturdays we waited until Sunday to do the whole cake/ice cream/presents thing.

 

 Kylie has the little stuffed dog Coconut from American girl and she just adores it so naturally that was what she wanted on her cake.

Cake made by granny

Since she didn't ask for anything for her birthday I was a little stumped on what to get her. Judging by the look on her face I think I might have done okay.

Afterwards we spent the rest of the afternoon playing with new toys and then went bike riding through the neighborhood. 

I think year ten is going to be a great one.

I'm having a party

Hey guys! Just wanted to let all of you know that I have finally decided to host a scentsy party. Normally I try to run as fast as I can when I hear about home parties of any kind, but scentsy is a product I love to buy anyway so I thought I would give it a go. If any of you are interested in placing an order just click on the link for Lana's party to shop and I would greatly appreciate it.

If you don't know what scentsy is, it is a safe, wickless alternative to candles. It comes in cubes that you warm in an electric warmer and makes your house smell fabulous. The great thing about the warmers is that they are different from many of the traditional electric tart warmers in that they use a light bulb to slowly warm the wax. Using the light bulb to heat causes it to heat evenly and at a safer temperature. If you have any questions or want to know more just leave a comment or email me at lana_h16@yahoo.com. Thanks!

The fastest two weeks ever

My children like most other school age children in the U.S returned to school today. Being the schedule oriented, neat freak I am I kind of thought I would be happy to see them off this morning. 

Prior to today I had fantasies of a nice clean house, no arguing, and no requests for chocolate milk every ten minutes.

I even entertained the notion of going shopping on my own and perhaps eating lunch somewhere that doesn't offer cheap toys with your meal. 

So can someone tell me why on earth I'm sitting here about to cry because I miss them so much!?! God, I'm a sap.