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Saturday, October 31, 2009

Halloween!!!

WalMart

This is an additional post for the previous one titled "The most wonderful, terrible weekend". If you read that one...you would know about Jack's involvement in flushing my keys down the toilet at Wal-Mart. I recently went in the Wal-Mart in Slidell, LA. We visited the restroom. We always do. On the way in the door Laiken tells me "Take your keys out of your pocket, Don't lose them." Unbelievable. She really said that word for word. Don't worry, my keys were definitely in my purse this time. We walked into the stall and there it was!!! A little tiny "keep Jack out of trouble" chair. Where was that when we needed it last weekend!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Jack

Jack is stealing noodles from Laiken's plate. (He knows she isn't going to eat them, she never does.) Jack eating broccoli??? Nope, he was just moving it to Laiken's plate.

Monday, October 26, 2009

They are so sweet!

The most terrible, wonderful weekend!

Sit back and get comfortable, this one is going to be long. But every word will be true. No part of this outrageous weekend was embellished for your enjoyment or mine. This past weekend was the Baton Rouge State Fair. Trey's mom, the kids call her Gran Gran, was coming to stay the weekend and go to the fair with us. I got out Friday night for a quick trip to Walmart, before she got there. I had all three kids with me, but the list was not too long, so we should have been in and out. But as I learned this weekend from several people, I am accident prone. Wild, unusual things happen to us. My life is full of "you had to be there" and "you will never believe what just happened to me" stories. I am in a hurry, and down to the end of the list. I am so ready to get home. Laiken has to use the bathroom. She probably doesn't, but has just become used to it because we would visit the bathrooms on the way in every time we came when she was potty training. So I went in with Laiken and Jack. Jack came with us b/c since Trey has been gone, Jack will most often cry when I walk away from him. So we usually use the big stall, for extra room, and this time a little girl ran in front of us. With her in the bigger stall, we chose a smaller one next to it. Jack took his usual position as flusher and Laiken pottied. I went next. Jack is pulling nonstop on the flushing handle and Laiken is trying to open the door and get out. I stood up to keep the door from opening and whipped around to Jack who is about to reach in the toilet with his free hand and one sharp move too many and my keys fell out of my back pocket and swooooooshed!!!!! Down the toilet they went like a flash of lightening! My apartment key, car key, keyless entry, and a large decorative 6 in. key chain ribbon. All disappeared (along with my dignity) in about 1 second flat. I was literally shaking when I called Trey, "Please, please, please, oh god, tell me you didn't take my spare keys with you to Wyoming!!!" He did. One minor/major detail forgotten in the hustle and bustle of him leaving. Trey also said that they are industrial strength commercial toilets designed to be able to flush a whole roll of toilet paper at once. Oh yeah, it went down with no hesitation at all. So I asked for assistance from the customer service counter and was only slightly relieved to learn that the assistant manager had done the same thing recently and his keys were not recovered. They had to rekey all of the locks in WalMart. Ok, well at least I had a two and three year old to help me. I was not alone. I also learned that I was in the only stall in all of Walmart that does not flush automatically when you stand up. You have to pull the handle. So Jack's assistance in nonstop handle pulling played a key role in the flushing of the keys. I called pop a lock to have the doors opened and a key made. They quoted an "estimate" of $250 plus tax. I then called Trey and asked him to go to the post office and send the key to me express mail. Next I called a ride to come and get me. The car stayed in the parking lot all weekend. The key arrived today and I had someone to take me back to my car to pick it up. It cost me nothing, but a small amount of humiliation. I am so proud of myself for not getting mad or letting it ruin my weekend. I was able to laugh and make jokes and not be offended when everyone called me accident prone. I remember telling someone, "I can't help it if everyone else's kids are boring. I will just have more stories to tell my kids when they are grown up." But I can't help but wonder what makes us so accident prone. Despite the drama of Friday night, we still made it to the Baton Rouge State Fair Saturday. We had the most wonderful day together. Me, the kids, and Gran Gran. We all laughed and laughed all day. When we arrived, the petting zoo was the first attraction. We fed baby goats and sheep. And we sat on a bull to have our picture taken, minus Gran Gran. You can tell by everyone's expressions in the picture below, that this was not that great of an idea. The babies were fine until the head moved. Jack went nuts! I think he scared Laiken because she was ok until this point. Next we ate fair food. I had alligator on a stick. (just tasted like greasy chicken). The babies had ribbon fries and a funnel cake. Gran Gran had an enormous sausage dog with onion and peppers. Mmmm, it was so so good. We rode the carousal next because it was first and also Laiken's favorite ride. Right before it started she told me she loved me and kissed me. Then she said she loved the fair, she was having "much fun". It was a precious moment. We played games and rode the rides until 8:00 that night. Gran Gran rode the bumper cars and the big swings. Later on the ferris wheel alone with Dylan he told me that Gran Gran closed her eyes on the swings and he asked her what she was doing. He told me that she said she is praying. He said she must not have felt good. I laughed so hard. She didn't want to ride any rides, but later she said she was glad she did. It was fun and special to have shared that with him. On the way out of the fair we won 3 goldfish. Jack points and says "bish! bish! I see bish!" We were about to leave and I saw the cotton candy vendors. You cannot go to the fair and not have cotton candy. So I bought two. It was one of the most enjoyable days we have ever had. Fair admission...$45, Fair food...$40, Games and attractions...$50, Goldfish...$15, The memories I made that day with my children...priceless!
Am I the only one enjoying this?? Whose idea was this anyway? Not Jack's, that is for sure!
Squint your eyes and look really close...Yes, that is Dylan AND Gran Gran (Trey's mom)! How did she get suckered into bumper cars?? I thought she was just going to stand in line. Grandmother's will do just about anything for the Grandkids!
Say cheese!
Dylan climbed all the way to the top of the rock climbing wall. And very quickly, I might add. Impressive!
Cotton Candy was our final purchase of the night!

Oct 17th...Annie's Birthday Party

October 17th Our good friend Jennifer, here in Denham Springs, was throwing a birthday party for her oldest daughter Annie. They have only lived here a short time and wanted to have her party in Monroe, where they used to live. So we went to north LA to celebrate with them. Dylan was out of school on Friday and decided to go to his Mom's Thursday night so he could spend an extra day with them. Highlights from that weekend are my speeding ticket and the party. The speeding ticket was for 59 in a 45. But in my defense it was a highway where the speed changes constantly from 65 to 55 to 45 to 55 to 65....and so on forever. Well, I just missed the last change from 55 to 45, but I should have known it was 45 through town. The only problem with that is I didn't notice the town. He said, "You were going 59 in a 45." I said, "It's 45 here!?" He said, "No, in town it is 45." Oh, what town. I didn't see a town. That is what I thought. I was careful what I said. I was hoping for a warning. No such luck. But I was lucky that I did not get a ticket for my illegal tint, and he is going to change my ticket to a non moving violation when he submits it to the state so it will not be on my record or change my insurance. Sounds shady right? Well I asked around, and apparently they can do that in the great state of Louisiana. Annie's party was awesome. It was a Halloween theme. Jennifer really went all out! (Between Lil's party for Abigail and this one...mine are looking kinda boring...we need to step it up in 2010! lol) She had a costume contest, in which Laiken won prettiest and Jack won spookiest. Laiken was a ballerina and Jack was a triceratops. There was a bean bag toss and a dart game. She even had bobbing for apples. The stems were left on because the "bobbers" were mostly small children. Laiken and Jack both got apples. It was so cute to see them come up with apples dangling from their mouths. She had a pinata for the last game. It only took a few whacks by the little boys and candy covered the ground. Annie was so cute opening her presents. She was so happy and excited about each and every present. It a great day for everyone.

Oct 10th...Good Friends, Good Times

I am 3 weeks behind on my blog. I have been so busy. I have not had time to update. So I will attempt to catch up today. The weekend of October 10th I went home to Southaven. Highlights of the Weekend included meeting up with my best girlfriends from high school and Miss Abigail's (Lil's youngest) first birthday party. With Trey being gone, we were really starting to feel the stress. This trip home was the best one I have had in years. I was so happy and it was such a good change of scenery for us. All of my kids were thrilled. Even though they may not see my family as much as I would like them to, they love them dearly. Friday night I had arranged a little reunion with my two very best friends from school, Kate and Hillary. As soon as we sat together at Outback, it was like old times. We started with what everyone is doing now and stories about how we all met our husbands and what our jobs and lives are like now. We spent most of the night remembering all the crazy things we did together in high school. The good, the bad, and the outrageous! I haven't laughed like that in years. I loved every minute of it. I enjoyed being with them again. We were all mad at ourselves for not keeping in touch over the years and made promises to get together every time I come in town from now on. Saturday I stayed up late with Lisa icing birthday cakes, as usual. I say as usual because everytime I visit it seems that we are up late icing cakes. Well, first let me clarify here, Lisa iced the cakes. This is the first time she offered to let me help. She was going to let me do one by myself. I practiced on a paper plate to show her how I would do on the actual cake. After a few minutes she showed me a second time how to do it...then a third ....then a fourth...then she politely said that she would do it. I laughed, and agreed. She is much better and faster. If I would have helped, not only would it have taken longer, but we would have spent half of the night correcting my mistakes. So I helped in other ways, as I have done in the past. She does the icing, and I assist (clean up, get things for her....small jobs). Sunday afternoon Lil hosted Abigail's birthday party. It was really cute. Laiken loved the princess theme. And Jack loved the cake. We know he did because he climbed on the table and helped himself to a taste while we were playing games. The kids played pin the crown on the princess and busted a pinata full of candy. They had a blast! We had an amazing weekend!

Saturday, October 3, 2009

flu shots!!!!!!!!!

Today was Flu Fair at our doctor's office. Fair? Are they serious? So I unloaded all 3 kids out of the car, and had to carry an overly dramatic Laiken in (she overheard that we were there for shots!). I was met at the door with clipboards full of paperwork. And greeted at the next door by another nurse and coordinators giving directions. Laiken is just before crying the whole time. And just in case she was not completely sure if we were there for shots...They were giving them in mass quantities to adults in the lobby. They were really having a fair! Booths set up everywhere with all the necessary supplies right out on the table! It was very efficient and set up well. So well, for anyone who knows me at all, by breathing got shallow and it was hard to swallow. I have a phobia of needles. Since having been pregnant twice, I am making progress in that area of my life. I no longer cry and hyperventilate at the sight of needles anymore. Just gets hard to breathe. I know. Big Baby. So I hand the nurse at the pediatric booth our paperwork. She said "mama first". Oh that was unexpected..getting hard to take a breath in...So I sat down and put on my brave face. And managed to hold it together for the kids. I know, I know. So then she says, we do kids in the back. Of course you do, you wouldn't want any small children, elderly, or weak at heart to see the ginormous fit Laiken is about to throw. So the nurse takes us to a table just behind the door. Who's first? I picked Dylan so that MAYBE Laiken would see him not cry and gain an ounce of bravery. NOPE...I picked her up kicking and screaming! The doctor, the nurse, and myself had to physically restrain her. She screamed and screamed. I couldn't even assist with Jack for his turn or comfort him afterwards, b/c Laiken is still screaming. He only cried for a few seconds and the nurse strapped him back in the stroller. I asked the doctor if maybe Laiken could have a sucker, over her screams of course. She stopped just long enough to pick out the sucker, and to eat it on the way to the car and in the car. When the sucker was gone, she grabbed her leg and screamed again. We went to have the car washed, thinking that might cheer her up. She screamed the whole time. We got out for them to vacuum and wipe down the inside and she still screamed. Finally about an hour after the shot she quit screaming. She just whined and held her leg. She limped and whined for a few more hours. Finally, sometime after lunch, she recovered. My only question is....WHO is going to take her to get her 2 swine flu shots in November?! Any volunteers????