Tuesday, November 27, 2012

A November to Remember

November is not over yet, so I bring you more photos.  This time they are courtesy of my cell phone camera and are a truly random selection of my life.

There is a crazy-ass detour that goes under, over, around and through (ever since they condemned my favorite bridge).  Someone mocked up a fake road sign and placed it along the detour (thanking our governor for it as well).



What? Like you don't take a photo of your odometer when your vehicle goes off of warranty.


If you've ever been a nursing mother, I present this photo as "The View From Here".  Oh yes, that baby is nursing, yes he is laying on the My Brest Friend Pillow (dumbest name/best product), yes that is a TV remote control.

This photo is called "Waiting for Cake" a/k/a "Now We're Cooking on a Light Bulb".

This is a photo of a kitchen table I might want.  Our growing family will require a new kitchen table.  We think we want a bench and chairs.  We aren't sure.  What do all of you think about kids and benches (the bench will be against a wall so no one should fall off the back of it)?

Windshield wipers make me nervous and agitated.  So normally, I will not turn them on and just use Rain-X instead.  Obviously, I was not driving when this photo was taken so I did not get a choice about keeping the wipers off, so I spent my freak out time trying to time the photo to get the wiper in the picture.

The "Come and Be Blessed Cuts" barber and beauty shop.  Because, why not?

This is what I like to call a sketchy van.  You see that van?  It says "Caution Kids" and also "Mobile Fun".  Further, it has hand prints in house paint in primary colors. It looks like every cliche don't take candy from strangers van you've ever imagined.

I mentioned someone who wanted to be a hamburger and fries for Halloween.  This is the diaper box that is now immortalized in costume.

 For his birthday, we got Bobo a "doll house".  I did not actually want to kill my m-i-l by getting him a pretty pretty princess doll house, so I got him a fire house/fire station.  It's from KidKraft.  <$70 from amazon.  I highly recommend it.  Right now, it appears back ordered, but there are some fancier versions.  Anyway, the doll house, has a bathroom and in the bathroom is a toilet (and a urinal on the wall).  This is awesome and the best thing ever at my house.  Potty (hee-hee). 


Passive-Aggressive Notes from inside the Potty at work.  Also, please note the inappropriate use of quotation marks (unless these are "air quotes" and refer to the person writing the note you-know-who-you-are).



Finally, I leave you with proof that Chuckles is a perceptive child.  Nice to see that it ranked a "good" from the teacher.


Thursday, November 15, 2012

It's still November and I still feel guilty

Where is this misplaced guilt coming from?  It's not like you pay me.

Anyway, this post is a total cop-out, so you get that for which you paid plus pictures.

Here is Bobo.  He is my worker bee.  He is not lazy.  He likes to do work.  With tools.  "Daddy?  Do you need to change the oil in  mommy's car and rotate the tires?  I can hand you wrenches."  He also likes to rake up leaves and sweep the front porch.  I encourage such behavior.


This is Trip.  He was laying down and now he's sitting up. He looks pretty pleased with himself.  Hi Baby!


All three children have their faces toward the camera whether they are actually looking or smiling is beside the point.  Their faces are toward the camera!  Also, my kids are sitting in a big pile of leaves (that Bobo raked, no doubt).  I am a cliche.  Bobo has had a hair cut since this photo was taken.  However, Chuckles has not.

Here is Chuckles.  He is swaddled in his new blanket.  He is also a Packers fan.  Somewhere I went wrong with this child (whose parent-teacher conference had no surprises but just makes me yearn for third grade that much more).  He gave up his old blanket to Trip because Trip appears to sleep when surrounded by Chuckles's old, stinky blankie.  Awesome.  You can have all the Packers stuff you want provided your brother is sleeping (and sleeping some part of the night not attached to me).

Lastly, this is Bobo.  He will be 4 on Friday.  He's come a long way.

Bobo, Roughly Four Years Ago


Tuesday, November 13, 2012

It's November so Guilt Dictates that I Post Something at Some Point this Month

I am never at a computer during downtime hours because I am usually reading stories, wiping counters, or holding a baby who would much prefer to sleep in my arms than, well, anywhere else.  it's nice and snuggly and wonderful and I will never get these moments back, but uhhh, it's exhausting and I don't accomplish much.  But if the lowest accomplishment I have in my life is my sons, then I am rather successful despite the fact that there are dust strata on my chair rail.

I leave you with something I wrote for a different purpose, but you'll get the idea anyway.


Dear Santa,


I have been a _very_ good mommy this year. Please bring me sleep. Also, I would like 2 more hours in each day for a month so I can catch up on filing monthly statements and sorting the mail. I'm not on the naughty list. I'm nice. Just ask my kids. No don't ask them. I'm mean to them. But only so they'll grow up into responsible adults. Maybe ask my mother-in-law. No, wait, not her. She still doesn't understand the whole grandson as a butterfly {Halloween Costume} thing. Ask my mom...she'll vouch for me. Wait, maybe not her...since I may have implied that she's crazy {which she is}. I'm sure you can ask someone who will confirm that I have been nice this year. Maybe my husband?  Perhaps not, since he is sorely neglected (even moreso than the houseplants since I have actually tended to them).  The lady who waxes my eyebrows will corroborate my nice story.

In conclusion, Santa, you're my best last hope.

Love, Carrie

=======   That Butterfly Thing never came to fruition.  Bobo had wanted to be a butterfly.  Then a pirate.  We were all a-go with the pirate until the day before his class party when he decided he wanted to be a hamburger.  And I said fine as long as I wasn't involved with the costume change.  Let's just say he went as a hamburger and fries and I wasn't involved so let's all praise the nanny who used construction paper, duct tape, scissors, and a diaper box to take 15 minutes and make Bobo's world.  {Note:  he removed the box at the first opportunity because it was not so comfortable for walking and sitting, though he did wear it for trick-or-treat.}   I'll have you know that my other child who can speak also changed his costume the night before but I wasn't involved in that either so it was fine.  He switched from a Green Bay Packer {where did I go wrong?} to a police officer {a costume we already had....be still my thrifty heart}.   I thought Trip was going to go as a zombie but that was me who was a zombie after no sleep ever OMG killing me, but I guess we started co-sleeping and then some stuff happened and now he only sleeps in my bed part-time and in his crib the other, so he no longer sleeps in the car seat and I don't know what happened, but EVOLUTION.  He was teh itsy-bitsy spider-man for Halloween but he fell asleep in teh stroller while trick-or-treating so maybe he was actually Rip VanWinkle.