Happy Birthday Will!

Nine years old today....  wow time flies.

It only makes sense

I really don't know why I was shocked yesterday afternoon as I went to load up the back of my van with my grocery purchases to find an ANT COLONY living in the trunk area.  I instinctively shot my head about two feet closer to analyze the moving dots to confirm they were indeed ants... yes, ANTS living in MY VEHICLE.  What?  

While i was cleaning, scrubbing and vacuuming my vehicle out this morning, going over every inch with a fine-toothed comb, I formed an answer to my 'what?' question.  Or rather, answered the question with another question:  Why WOULDN'T an ant want to live in our van?!   Our van has everything another living organism could ever need or want - dirt, grass, crumbs, half drank water bottles, old french fries, video games, movies and so much more!   I mean, I knew the back was untidy and had things that needed to be thrown out - after all, they're boys!  But, I guess I really need to venture into the 'abyss' of the vehicle a little more often to keep a handle on the situation.  During the process of folding the seats up, down, back and every direction that I didn't even know they could go - I found all kinds of remnants from the previous six months of happy meals and snacks, including an empty ketchup packet!!!!  Yuck!  Yes, I am officially grossed out.  

I must also mention, as I was tossing all the lego pieces, shirts, crayons, crumbs, etc out of the back of the vehicle onto the driveway, Jake was promptly retrieving and hauling each item (including a quilt) over behind the house and throwing it all in his baby pool.  AWESOME.  It never ends!!!

Color Confusion

Whew!  Back from the out-of-town Birthday weekend, and on to prepping for our own birthday/moving extravaganza this weekend.  When I originally planned this party, it was SUPPOSED to be at our new house.   Our conservatively estimated completion date of MAY 1 has come and gone, and at this rate we'll be lucky to be in the new house by the end of June.  Gee what a shocker - why did I actually believe my builder (and ignore all my friend's contrary logic) that he'd be the first builder in the history of mankind to finish up the project when he said he would?!  grrrr.  And to make matters worse, we sold our current house in ONE DAY.  I know, I know, it's a good problem to have, but if I end up having to move in to an apartment for even a single day because our house isn't done, it's ain't gonna be pretty!!!!  

So that brings me to my next problem. COLOR.  I hate color.  At least I hate picking it out.  It took me months to pick out just the right shades of BROWN for each room.  While I technically do enjoy color, I am terrible at picking it out.  Since our rooms are quite large over at the new pad, a bad color could really screw stuff up.  Sooooo I played it safe.  Here's the scary part.  I went out on a limb and picked out a multi-colored (sort of) glass decorative tile in our bathroom (see the pic below).  I picked this tile and the designer dude there matched up my floor tile and grout and the kitchen and bath peeps basically picked the counters for me.  I was feeling good about it all when I left.   Here's the tile samples:

And here it is installed in our shower, I like it.  Definitely different, but it does look very pretty - much prettier than the picture shows

Fast forward to yesterday.  I got my first peek of the installed bathroom counters and I'm officially beyond nervous.  (I'm going over there today, so I'll post a picture.)  I love the counters, but the strip of glass tile that will be going above it has me slightly cringing at the potential busy-ness.  yikes!

I'm hoping it's just because the counter looks so HUGE to me in comparison to the 3x3 inch chunk I've been toting around for the past months, or maybe it's because the walls are currently brightly primed white with no trim or lighting or door fixtures yet in sight.  *sigh*  Ben tells me to quit worrying about it.  So, I guess I'll just keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best!  

Supersonic Black Hole

Why do I feel like I'm the ONLY person around here who is able to find stuff?  Either I've got some kind of supersonic locating ability and super-stealth vision, or everyone else around here is blind, forgetful or maybe just lazy.   Huh.  It's a toss up.   If I had a penny for every time Ben asked me where something was while practically staring right at it,  I'd be rich 10 times over by now.  Instead, I repeat this sequence: march over, retrieve the item effortlessly from under his nose and present it to him with a big eye-roll.  This morning when Ben accused me of moving his phone charger, I skipped all the rest and went straight to the eye rolling, as I had no idea where the charger was.  The conversation went something like this - 

Ben: "Where is my phone charger?  Where did you move my charger?  I placed it right HERE (finger pointing to countertop) before I left yesterday".  

Nikki: "I have no idea.  I am 100% sure it wasn't there yesterday, and I didn't touch it."  

Ben: "Well I'm 100% positive that it was RIGHT HERE" (again with the pointing).  

You get the idea.  We all start searching around...  no phone charger anywhere.   We were stumped.  10 minutes later, Ben victoriously emerges from the hall closet with his COMPUTER charger in hand, shooting a smug "i told you so" glare in my direction.  Wait a minute.  I thought we were looking for a PHONE charger.  Yeah.  He of course "100%" denies that he ever said 'phone' charger..  uh huh... even Will chimed in saying "Yeah Dad, I heard you say "phone" charger while I was in brushing my teeth".  (High five Will!)  

Of course, had he originally asked me where the "computer" charger was, I would have promptly marched over and retrieved it from the place I put it - the hall closet!  

it's a boat, it's a plane... no wait - that's Charlie driving a lawnmower slash CLOWN CAR.

OK. Seeing this picture reminds me of when Ben first purchased this little beauty (aka the CAB that sits on top of this lovely mower)... which I'm going to have to dig through and post that baby up here. I think it might be one of the top ten hardest laughs I've ever had in my life. Ben - crammed inside of this redneck clown car mower is forever burned into my brain.

Now... before you freak out - this 'mower' doesn't even have a mower on it and it goes like point 2 miles per hour. It's more like a Jr. tractor. Why do we have it you might ask? (I too find myself asking that about a lot of the items we have around here...) and to be honest, I just don't have a good answer for you. I CAN tell you that we have held on to the cab out of sheer comedy. Check this out - it gets better:




YEP. I just don't even know what to say. YES I DO REALIZE THIS IS FREAKIN' RIDICULOUS!!!!! But I guess that is part of what makes it so hilarious. I must say, the kids could not get enough of this set-up. They even parked their atvs to fight over driving this - and Jacob was happy as a clam getting towed around in the wagon for hours. I'm just still trying to figure out which part of this photo is the funniest, and I can't!

A salad's a salad... right?

Good lord.  Does it really have to be this difficult to decide what kind of salad to bring to a birthday party?  Part of the problem of being thought of as a good cook is living up to the expectations of people who have eaten your creations before - and raved about them.  They compliment you, talk about it amongst themselves, tell their family - and before you know it, you've got the nickname "Martha".    It's something like the sequel to a good movie.  Can part 2 ever live up to the original?   So here I sit, thumbing through this stupid cookbook for the 29th time... trying to pick a dumb SALAD (a dumb PERFECT salad) to bring to a one-year old's birthday party.  Am I nuts?  Hmmm nuts would be good in the salad.     

Tah Oh Nah.

Translation: Chocolate Milk. Obvious, right? It is if you live at my house! Deciphering the statements (or shall I say DEMANDS) of our 2 year old has become second nature to our entire family. I had to laugh this morning when Charlie (6) asked for some 'tah oh nah' at breakfast. I wish the funniness could over-rule the frustration when he says 'sah-ee' (sorry) after deliberately tipping the stool over into the wall and chipping the paint and denting the trim in the process.... all with a smirk on his face... Ugh! Terrible twos have definitely hit us - and we're only one month in! I never had to worry with my older two boys that if I turned around for 30 seconds that I might find a completely undressed person - diaper in hand.... What?!

So, I'm practicing deep breaths today. I didn't even break a sweat when he threw his entire bowl of cereal and milk upside down on the floor this morning. Or when he took a big drink of his tah-oh-nah and then opened his mouth big... and just let it run all over himself. (the stool incident was this morning as well) - it's not even 10:00 am!