Where has time gone?

(A pic of our teeny tiny town. I liked it except for my shadow!) Seriously. Where has it gone?? The days and weeks and months just keep going faster and faster. I feel like a person on a roller coaster just trying to hold on and go with the flow but its going so darned FAST! (Have I mentioned I hate roller coasters? Not to the extent that I hate worms, but a close second.) Here is what I've been up to this week: I had to get a display ready for an open house at the school here in our itty bitty town. We are forming a PRIDE group and it is going to take a lot of work. Brochures, display, meeting times/dates, potential fundraisers... These are all swishing around in my head at pretty much all times of the day (and night) now. School also started. For me, that is. I started out with 12 hrs but for various reasons (children, prior commitments, poor communication, etc.) I am now down to just 6. I like the set up of the 2 classes I have. They are World Religions and Ethics. They are both interesting, that's for sure. I have also been debating on whether or not to send Carter to preschool. He is so smart and he would have fun. But maybe I want him to be home for a while longer :) And I have decided to get miss Kinsley's super cute little ears pierced. I will post a pic when it gets done. So between all that and traveling to see Darek's parents as often as we can (we usually only make it back once a month so we are grateful they are willing to come see us so often!) we are stretched rather thin right now. But it's a good thing. We are working towards goals and making things happen. And now I am going to bed. Everyone is snoring and I would be crazy not to join them. Goodnight! Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android

Ears

I am seriously contemplating having these teeny tiny, cute little ears pierced. At first I was completely against it. Nope, no way, not happening. She needs to wait until she can decide she wants them done. Then, the other night I saw a picture of a little girl (about Kinsley's age) with cute little earrings in. It was the cutest thing ever. And getting your ears pierced is kind of scary. If I could do it at a time when she will not remember it then maybe that would be best. I looked online for information about babies getting their ears pierced. Who knew it was such a hotly debated process?? Yikes. People were fighting back and forth about their stance on it. And all of that came up when I just searched for how young they can do it (2 months seems to be the consensus). On one of the heated discussions there was a very memorable response. A lady was talking about how she was pro-piercing at a young age and someone had replied in a not-so-nice way. She replied something to the effect of why should she wait, we don't wait to circumcise our sons just so they can choose or not. (I think that was a bit dramatic but a good point.) Besides, most girls/women do have their ears pierced and I am sure it will probably be a decision she would make anyway. And if she got to be 5, 6, 10 years old and HATED earrings then she could just NOT wear them, right? Oh, decisions, decisions. Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android

Regularity

(Kinsley being cute)

(Kinsley emptying her brother's toy bins. That one is trouble.)

(Carter Daniel on the day we opened his very first bank account)

I had been pressuring Carter to poop on the potty. This would inevitably lead to him withholding his poo, constipation, stomache aches, laxitives and the cycle would restart. Then, I decided I was going to stop. He is only 3- its not the end of the world if he poops in a pull-up. Besides he goes pee in the potty so that is a pretty big accomplishment. So, for a few weeks I wouldn't say a word about him pooping. When he asked if he could have a pull-up on so he could poop I would put one on his little booty and clean up the "mess" afterwards. He started going everyday again and things were back to normal. Then 2 nights ago at approximately (ok, exactly) 11:30pm, he woke up and couldn't sleep. Drinks of water were had, his back was sufficiently scratched, and still no sign of sleep. I was getting quite irritated at this point when he said that he had to go pee. I was pretty sure this was a ploy to push me over the edge into crazyville. (And with all the ruckus going on, Kinsley woke up so I now had two kids awake.) I told Darek that Carter had to pee and he had to take him while I dealt with the other maniac. And, unless you are a parent also, this may be TMI. But he sat on the potty, pee'd, gave a good grunt and Hallelujah! There was #2 in the potty. So, even though it was super late, I was tired and frustrated and Darek was dreading the prospect of work the next day on no sleep, we made a big hoorah about him pooping in the toilet. It was a fluke. It just had to be- he probably grunted too hard and it just happened. Bur it happened nonetheless. Last night, here we were: bed time again. I was having trouble getting the kids to sleep. The clock seemed to be working against me. It was staring at me with its green numbers, mocking me. 10:58, 11:10, 11:45. And just as I think everyone is asleep, Carter sits up. He wants to watch tv. He wants s drink. His back itches. No tv, back scratched and one drink later, he was still up. "Carter, do you need to pee?" "Yet." (Carter speak for yes- 's' doesn't come out so well.) He gets on the toilet and does the #1. Then he sits there for another minute and goes #2. Like he has been doing it for years. I was thrilled. He was so proud of himself. Now, we only have to figure out how to move "poop time" a bit earlier than midnight. Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android

Let me introduce you...

You, this is me. Oh, you know me? Well do you know the thirty-pounds-lighter me?? Now you do. Oh, and I met this beautiful woman today.

Once in a lifetime kinda thing

This week I got an opportunity that is a once in a lifetime kind of opportunity. You see, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition decided to help a veteran and his family in Ottawa, KS. They are a very deserving family and the dad suffers from PTSD. Loud noises can set him into a panic attack, so the family really needed a place in the country. And Extreme Makeover decided to step in and help them out.

I was trying to think of when I could volunteer but registration was always full with volunteers and so I didn't think I was going to get a chance. Then, I saw a post on Facebook that they were needing volunteers Thursday morning from 2am-8am.

So, I called Dannie and asked her if she would want to go with me. Luckily, Mimi was off on Thursday so she would be able to watch the kids for me if I needed to sleep after my shift. And since we decided we had better get there early to be sure we could volunteer, Dannie and I showed up at midnight. We decided to try and be brave and pull an all-nighter. (I am much to old for that now!)

We arrived at midnight and signed our waivers and received our hard hats. (Those cannot possibly be flattering on ANYONE.) They told us to go to the next tent to start working.

I guess I was hoping we could do more to help- like painting or something hands-on. But, they mostly have professionals do that and they weren't to the point of painting yet anyway. So we got to take bottles of water and gaterade around, then breakfast, more water, ice cream, etc. Then we picked up the trash. It was a lot of fun to see how fast they were working. A lot changed in just the time that we were there (even with the storm that came in).

I think the house is supposed to be done on Saturday. We are going to try and go to the reveal if possible. It was great to do my part in helping, even though I didn't feel like I was much help!

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My baby boy turned 3

For Carter's birthday, he wanted to do three things: open presents, go to Applebee's and go to Dairy Queen.

First, we let him open the big present from Darek and I. It was the whole Sunnyside Daycare bunch from Toy Story 3. He was in heaven! He was so darned excited.

Then we went to Applebees. We had our supper- a couple of his new toys joined us as well as Uncle Craig, Aunt Mary and cousin Cole.

Then on to the best part: DQ ice cream. Carter had a mini cookie dough blizzard (a quarter of one before he got bored anyway). I even splurged and had an ice cream cone!

Anyway, we had a great time. I cannot believe my little Carter Daniel is 3 years old now. He is such a big boy and I look forward to planning many more birthday parties!

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A fun time was had by all....

{I made toy story themed cupcakes. They were delicious!}

{Sno cones!}

{Cutie patootie Miss Kinsley}

{No party is complete without a bounce house!}

{And party favors. My favorite favor was the sunglasses.}

Here is a small sample of the festivities. I will post more pictures at a later date.

Because right now I am hungover. Birthday hungover. The kind where no alcohol was involved but rather lots of energy was expended and sugar has been consumed.

Goodnight.

Delusional?

No, not delusional. A bit ambitious, perhaps.

This picture is what Quenemo, Kansas used to look like. There were several businesses, restaurants, etc.

Today, there is a post office. And that is it.

I would post a picture of what Quenemo looks like today so you could make the comparison, but honestly, there is NOTHING to take a picture of. A lot of the houses are falling in, abandoned, or just not cared for. The buildings that used to house businesses are empty or completely gone. And a lot of the residents have moved out of town.

Thanks to Facebook, several of the remaining residents of Quenemo have decided to combine forces and clean up the town a bit. I am one of them. I have volunteered to scrape, paint, mow, or whatever is needed of me. It will be exciting to make changes.

We are also in the process of forming a non-profit organization so we can do some fundraising. We have our first meeting on Wednesday. I have been suggested for the secretary and spokesperson positions, which I will gladly accept if everyone agrees that those are the jobs for me.

I also am in the process of setting up a fair for next year. It will be small. And people may not go to it, but I will be able to say I tried. And who knows? Maybe it will be a success. Maybe this is all that this little sleepy town has been waiting for. A good kick in the bum to get goin'.

On parenting

I think about 98.25% of parenting is problem solving. Why are they crying? Are they sick? Hurt? Angry? Just trying to drive me bonkers??? My latest issue has been feeding Kinsley. She HATES green veggies. And that has recently turned into ALL veggies. She spits and cries no matter how many times I try them. So yesterday I was trying to think of why. Is it the flavor? The texture? Last night I decided to try something a bit different. Maybe she wants to feed herself? I made her some peas and carrots and put them on her tray (with low expectations). And she ate them! Peas no longer made her gag and carrots no longer made her shudder. Success! I guess she is a bit more independent than I give her credit for. Problem solved. Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android

Productive day

We had quite the day yesterday. We got A LOT done. And it was stuff that needed to be done for a while now. Mom has the perfect place for a pantry. But without shelves in there, it was really just a place to throw stuff. So, yesterday morning we were talking about how nice it would be to have shelves in there. I looked up several different types on Home Depot's website and found some perfect shelves. Inexpensive ($89), easy to assemble, and heavy duty (it holds 3600 lbs!). I called HD and they had some in stock so we made a quick trip to Lawrence. We got the shelves (3 of them), went and got groceries and then headed home to assemble our purchases. It took about an hour to assemble the 3 sets of shelves- each set has 6 shelves. Not bad in my opinion! And no tools required. Even better. We got the shelves into the former utility room and woolah! a pantry! (See pic above) Then, after supper I decided that the garden needed a little tlc. Risking my life, I decided to weed and hoe the garden. (I could have seen a worm, had a heart attack and croaked.) I ended up doing more than I had originally intended. And I am paying for it today. I can barely open my right hand (see other pic), and every,muscle is sore. Who knew that hoe-ing the garden works your abs?? Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android