Monday, March 31, 2008

Law and Order

So I'm on my 3rd or 4th Law and Order of the day...I know, I know...I have serious issues. I really like Law and Order...the original, not the others ones so much.

My college roommate, Cari and I share this excitement. We always told each other that one day, a long, long time from now, when we are old and wrinkled, we would be roommates again in some nursing home and watch Law and Order on Nick at Nite...because the world would be in such disarray and turmoil that Law and Order would be on Nick at Nite.

Is Nick at Nite even still on? Does anyone even know what Nick at Nite is?

Anyway, So I'm watching another one. Earlier today the kiddos were asleep so I was working on some VBS stuff on my computer and watched a couple of episodes...I actually saw one today that I had not seen before...not the case right now, or very often for that matter.

Just for the record...Lenny Briscoe is my favorite character. He is so funny. He always has these one liners at inappropriate times and they are so hilarious. The new Assistant DA, Cotter, I think is his name is doing pretty good on the new episodes, but he will never live up to Jack McCoy...who, by the way, is the new DA.

Ok, seriously, I need help. Maybe tomorrow I'll Google "Law and Order Anonymous" and see if I can get some help.....maybe I won't, the first step is admitting I have a problem and I'm just not willing to give up my Law and Order.

Monday, March 24, 2008

"Camo" Coloring

So at one point in the crazy "Paul-less" weekend this...happened...






That's right, my children, (lovely as they are) colored ALL over themselves...actually Jacob was the true culprit. He wanted to be "mote-control" aka "remote control" aka Camoflauged.

Side story about "mote-control". A couple of summers ago, Jacob (somehow) began associating army men/military men dressed in camoflauge with the Star-Spangled Banner. He also had a remote control tank that was green camoflauge at the time. So all these things in his little mind were inter-connected. Because of this mental connection of all these things, anything camoflauged became "remote control" or in his child-like vernacular "mote-control"...

So anyway, Jacob wanted to color himself "mote-control" so he began to do that! And then he proceeded to make everyone "mote control!" It was "colorful" camo! It kept getting worse and worse and I had only two options...

1. Explode with anger at the sight of my children covered head to toe in washable marker. Bathe them and put them straight to bed at 4:00.....or.....

B. Grab my camera and document the hilarious-ness of my children covered head to toe in washable marker.

As you are seeing, I opted for option B. I pretended to be mad when I walked in the room with my camera behind my back. I said, in a pseudo-angry voice, "What in the world are ya'll doing?!?!?!" They looked at me with sheer terror at the thought of mommy catching them with their hands in the purverbial "cookie jar." Then we all started laughing and I told them their punishment was for mommy to take pictures of them and put them in my scrapbook! They all laughed and we took pics and then took a bath, thankfully all the marker was washable. They had access to permanent ones in the same general area as the washable ones! Thank you Lord, I did not have to break out the steel wool to clean my kids! After Easter was the next day...how hilarious would that be...my kids...in their brand new Easter outfits...and permanent marker!

Anyway, it was funny and totally worth the pics! Enjoy!

Friday, March 21, 2008

So Paul is gone again...

This time he is on a youth retreat. This is the 5th out of 7 weeks that either he or we have been gone...mind you "we" have only been gone one of those weeks. Needless to say I am growing weary of him being gone on the weekends.
I was telling someone the other day that the Spring is the busiest time for us. I have no idea why?!?! It just always has been that way.

...pause, the phone is ringing...and it's Paul...

Ok...I'm back. He's having a great time and I'm trying to not tell him EVERYTHING that is going disastrously. Right now I must tip my hat...figuatively, of course because I'm not wearing a hat...to single parents. No matter how they find themselves single, being a single parent has to be one of the most difficult jobs in the world...maybe that's why God intended it to be a partnership between a husband and wife. Often, when Paul is gone, I tend to let my mind wander to what it would be like if, tragically, Paul didn't come back. I must quickly take those thoughts captive because I don't have the time or tears to spend...because as I said earlier, Paul is gone and I have three kids vying for my attention.

Which brings me to my next point. It's not necessarily the kids that make this so hard. I have fantastic kids! They are easy going and they travel well, they are well behaved in stores and restaurants. So, Tanya, what is the hardest part, you might ask? Ok here's a good example...just now, not two seconds ago, I asked Abby to be careful where she was stepping because my coffee cup was on the floor next to the couch where I'm sitting. So while she was looking at where the coffee cup was, she leaned on the couch pillows and the remote control fell off the couch, hit the coffee cup with a direct shot and spilled it. All I can say is UUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHH! Not really her fault, but still...frustrating. Last night we had another such incident. As I was dressing Abby for bed after her bath, I heard some mild splashing, nothing to be alarmed about, so I dismissed...you know...pick your battles. So I get Abby ready for bed and then went to the kitchen to fix everyone's chocolate milk. When I got back to the bathroom...you guessed it...the entire contents of the bathtub out on the floor and two naked boys looking and pointing at each other saying, "he did it...nuh uh...he did it!" so it took 5...F-I-V-E towels to clean up the mess! I was really mad. I got everyone into bed and just left the bathroom the way it was...I would only get madder(?)(is that a word) if I dealt with it then. So, I don't even want to go into the whole bed time fiasco! Needless to say it finally ended at 11:15 when Abby and I went to bed together.
All this to say...I don't think any of these things would have happened or had the impact that they did if Paul was around. For whatever reason things are just more even when he's around. Again, that's why God intended it to be a partnership. I think I'm ready to begin my day, I have a bathroom to clean, coffee to clean up, and plenty of other general chores around the house. I will probably prioritize and get very little done! Oh well, Paul will be home tomorrow and the universe will return to proper balance!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

IPhone, Horton Hears a Who...and a not-so-great day...

So today we took the day and went to the mall to FINALLY get Paul his IPhone. Paul has been waiting since February 22, his birthday, to get his IPhone. He has been saving all of his extra money to be able to get the silly thing. We started out on our day and Paul and I had a little miscommunication to start the day off on a not-so-great foot. The kids were ok...(side note) Parents, you know when you have such high hopes for a wonderful day spent with the kids and they just don't cooperate? Today was just such a day. It was as if the kids lost all ability to obey, listen, pay attention, act properly...etc. It got really frustrating really quickly...(end side note)

We had one scary moment...Paul, Jacob and Abby were walking ahead of me and Caleb and there were a BUNCH of people at the mall (which is an outside mall, by the way). As they turned to go into the Apple store, they "disappeared" from my direct sight. I turned into the store and I saw Jacob and Paul and no Abby. I asked Paul where she was and he said she was just here. Then a store clerk pointed to a window display (she was a little put out about the little girl playing in the window display) and said there she is...I relaxed for a split second and turned to look at the window display...it was not Abby. I yelled that's not her! Then I yelled at Paul and said, she's not here! Paul grabbed Jacob and ran out of the store to look for her and I followed him, because outside was the last time I had seen her. A minute/ETERNITY later I went back into the store literally dragging Caleb along and started yelling Abby's name, I did not care what the people thought of me. She came around a corner from the back of the store and immediately started crying...she knew she was lost. Needless to say this only added to the frustration of the day and from that point on it was even harder because we glued the kids to our side.
On the way to our next place we talked about what to do if the kids got lost...etc...

We eventually made it to the movies to see Horton Hears a Who, which was the whole point of the day..next to the IPhone...

Horton Hears a Who is a VERY cute movie! We loved it and the kids ended up being excellent in the movies. We enjoyed our popcorn and our smuggled in fruit snacks and beef jerky while we watched the movie. Abby only went to the potty 4 times during the movie which, I believe, is a new record! After the movie we went to eat at Red Lobster to finish out our day. It ended better than it started, thankfully.

And now I am happy to report that I am writing this blog to you on my NEW COMPUTER! Yeah! Ok, now that I have gotten all that out I am going to watch American Idol.
(insert huge sigh of relief...)

Monday, March 10, 2008

Random Things...

So I needed something to blog about and my friend Cari is always inspirational! So here is a list of a few random things that come to mind...

3 Things I did tonight...
1. We had salmon for dinner tonight...just in case you were wondering.
2. Paul just bought me a purple computer with flowers on it because my other one is toast.
3. We are watching "Employee of the Month" right now...it's kind of dumb

3 Pet Peeves of mine...
1. injustice on any level
2. talking when I'm trying to pay attention to something...good thing I have a DVR
3. when things don't go exactly as planned

3 Halloween Costumes of years past...
1. Crayon...my mom made it...I think I was red
2. Cinnamon sugar...same pattern as the previous year (red crayon)
3. Rainbow Brite

3 Jobs I've had...
1. Accounts Payable Dept at the Promise Christian Store
2. Office Manager for Primerica
3. Bank Teller at Texas Star Bank

3 pieces of art I'm looking at right now...
1. A 10 commandment train made by Caleb and Abby in AWANA's
2. A map of the US with Texas a different color because Jacob was learning about Texas
3. A heart with "I heart you" on it from Jacob...it's a drawing of a heart...not the word "heart" fyi

3 things that make me laugh
1. Jacob
2. Caleb
3. Abby
ok make it 4
4. Paul

I've been late in the last week...
1. Sunday morning...even though we Sprung forward...we still woke up at 7:52...keep in mind that we are supposed to be at church by 8:15...we made it by 8:25!
2. This morning (Monday, day after the Sunday we were late) we woke up at 7:20...keep in mind that we are supposed to leave to take Jacob to school by 7:25...we were late!

3 Secret things I like to do...that aren't going to be secret anymore...
1. Play with Legos...(I really like to build according to the instruction manual...I know it's sad)
2. Color with "Color Wonder" (It's really fascinating to me that you color with clear and it magically turns to color on the page!
3. Play Guitar Hero...which really isn't a secret at all...it's an addiction

Ok so there you have it...some randomness about me. I hope you enjoyed these random facts about me.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

I know it's been awhile...

So it's been awhile since I have blogged...not for a shortage of activity around us, but because my computer is a pain in the "you know where!" Both of the hinges are broken on my laptop, so I can't even open my computer unless I lay it back completely flat...not real easy to work on your computer when it's flat. It is so annoying. So I'm propping it up to type this and check my email...hopefully a new computer will be in the VERY near future!
...Speaking of...I just went to Dell.com and looked at a really cute pink computer and super cute stripey neoprene sleeve to keep it in. I just emailed it to Paul...he's probably reading my email right now, rolling his eyes several times, thinking to himself..."Why does she need a pink one?"...to which I respond..."Why do you need a Mac?"
Oh well, hopefully I can get back to some posting soon. Don't leave me, keep checking back, keep commenting! I'll be back!