My Little Own Trail of Tears

Well, it has been a productive day. I got those children dressed and fed and out of the door by 10 o'clock. The day got better when Honey and G-Daddy said that they could watch the kids for a bit so I could run to Belk and look for a new dress (one that I can wear comfortably and breathe in/ yes, most of my clothes are snug and reveal the craziest looking- post babies muffin top that no pair a spanks can help- be jealous!!). The shopping trip was a success, 2 dresses and 3 shirts, I almost felt as if it was my birthday.

On the way to pick up the kids, I stopped and got us all Chick fila (ummm, Chick fila) and then off at the grocery for EL Fudge cookies (ummmm, cookies) (sorry the stop for cookies, but they make everything so much better. I then spent a wonderful time at momma n nems house, the kids played and I got to visit with 1 of my bruthas, my mutha, and daddy. Good times.

2:30 rolls around and I notice the kids are looking a little weak eyed and I say it is time to head to the house. These children are gonna nap (I am the new nap enforcer and now a days I make my children take a nap (around 2 ish, it is complete quiet and happiness at my house during this time).

Well, we get home, I take B-Baby to bed, he is already asleep. Sophia runs around the house, sits on the couch, jumps off the chair, runs around the kitchen, jumps in the laundry (as if it is a pile of leaves)- ya catch my drift (my child is full of energy, still! Those darned cookies! Sheesh!

After 15 minutes of the fun, I tell Sophia, lets go get a blanket and it is time for a nap. I go to pick her up and I smell poop. (Ya have kids, this is normal- ya don't have kids this could come at an odd thought to think when you pick up a child).

So I ask my precious one, "do you have a dirty diaper?"

Precious one answers, "no."

So, not believing my precious one I check her diaper. No Poop...?

Humm?

I check myself (no, I did not have a poop diaper, I was checking my clothes people!!) Sheesh!

Hummm?

So, I put Precious Angel baby down on my couch and she puts her sweet precious angel baby shoes on my lap. I put my hand on a shoe..... I have located the poop.

I guess while my precious girl played outside for 10 whole seconds before she was put into the car to go home she stepped in some sorta feces! Grrr! The smell is atrocious!

I then looked at my carpet, which itself is a poo brown color, and am thinking of all of the places that this child has ran in the past few minutes! Vomit in my mouth!

Well, during this naptime I had hoped to read the second Hunger Games book, but nooooo! I have been on my hands and knees, crying and dry heaving, (my little own trail of tears or should I say trail of poop), cleaning... spraying.... blotting.... scrubbing.....spraying more.... blotting more... and rewashing the 4 loads of clean laundry that I should have folded earlier in the week.

Yes... this is my life...

This is the kind of stuff that people do not tell you about before children.

Note to self: call carpet cleaners

New house rule: shoes off at the door

A Lil' Bit of Free Time

In the past week, I have had a lil bit of some free time come about. I know, I know. I have two small children, a husband who needs every bitta attention I am not giving to the children, a small dog who needs to be walked and fed, the shoppin', the fruit choppin', painting those cabinets, there's the laundry and those dishes, the cookin' and the cleanin' (okay, not so much cleanin'!), but yes, with all of those go-ins ons I have managed to find some free time! UNBELIEVABLE!!! How did I do it???? Well, last week, Lent began. Yal know what I am talking bout- LENT. I kind of understand that for 40 days (until Easter) Christians observe this time to really work on their relationship with Christ (through prayer, fasting, and giving up certain luxuries). Honestly, I have never given up anything in previous years, but I just thought since Jesus died on the cross for my sins, surely I could give up something for 40 days (and spend that time more focused on Him and working to better my relationships here in my home and with my family and friends. So for lent I gave up my social networking- that is right, no more Facebook and Twitter! Sounds so silly, I know! Who knew how much time I spent on FB and the Twit- well, it was A LOT! While my children would eat (I would tweet), while my husband would sleep (I am always awake so I would see what FB peeps were up to during their days), while I would have any moment of free time that I could have been spending doing something, anything, of worth, I would sit on the couch and focus on the lives and tweets of people who I do not even talk with on a daily/ weekly/ monthly basis! It is so crazy that I was spending so much time doing that and not spending that time on what is REALLY important. The first day was a little rough, I just kept picking up my phone to check on peoples status updates (can you have a fb addiction, if so, I might have needed treatment!haha!) One week later, I am not missing FB and Twit at all! Success! I have been spending more time reading the word- working on my Bible Study (that I have been doing at home)- I have played with my children more- finished my cabinets and soon to start more!- I have read 2 books- I am actually talking to my husband (really looking at him and having conversations (not looking at him while status' are updating). It has been such a good week Hope you are having a great week too!

Project: Cabinet Face Lift

As some of you are aware, I have been working on a special project. Those sad plain jane cabinets in my laundry room needed a BIG face lift! Well, the lift is finally complete! After weeks of sanding, priming, painting, and then applying a new beautimous paint with a mixed glaze... I am finally able to take laundry room cabinets off of my TO DO LIST!

Here they are.... the cabinets (minus one of the doors, since I forgot to take a picture before I started taking down the cabinets)!

and..... WA-LA!

I am soooo happy with how they turned out! Now to paint the walls and to do the laundry that is piled up on the dryer and the floor!

Now, I am going to rest my arms!

Caryn

This is a good day....

"The Help"

Well, some say that it takes a village to raise a child (and I most certainly believe that person)! I am so glad that over the past few days, I have been able to call in my "back up team" or "the help" (AKA: Honey, G-Daddy, Katie, Maggie, Annalee). Where would I be without this group of helpers.... probably locked up in my closet! Haha!

Thank you to my sweet family that has helped out with the kiddos for a few hours over the past few days! Because of you assistance I was able to do a load of laundry and fold it, clean up my kitchen, take a shower, go on a date with Aron (to do our taxes), and run to the Wal-Mart. What a blessing to have a bit of a breather.

G-Daddy and Brayden

Annalee with the kids (cousins)Honey with her grandbabies

Katie and Maggie with Sophia

Brayden and his G-Daddy.

Annalee with Brayden

Love having family right down the road to come and rescue me when I need it!

This should explain how we are doing.....

Well, things have been a little rough around here. Brayden opened his mouth wide enough for me to see inside and there was this gargantous tooth back there! I really think that it is taking up two spots (is that even possible??) I am kind of glad that it was a tooth coming in... I was beginning to think that I just had a baby that cried all of the time! I know that the pic is fuzzy and that he has a piece of cheeto on his tounge but the white blobish thing on the ledt back side is a HOLY MOLAR!!

How are things in your house this week?

Caryn

Nick Lachey Cake and Chubby Fingers!!

Okay, odd title for the post, I know. Onto the stories...

First of all, it was a happy day for our family yesterday! We went over to my sil and bil's house for a birthday celebration! Happy Birthday to some of my most favorite guys, Ryan and Abram!!! Yal, we ate so good last night! Fried chicken, real mashed potatoes, rolls, and home made mac n cheese (good thing that I wore my stretchy pants!) Yummy sounding I know! I was most excited about the birthday celebration, because I know that at some point we would get to eat BIRTHDAY CAKE! I love me some icing!! Well, not so much. My bil, Ryan, wanted something called a tres leche cake. Ya heard of it? Tres leche. What does that even mean? Is that made by Betty Crocker? Is that Spanish? What-ev. The cake sounded so foreign to me, which was made worse by my sil! She could not pronounce the name, tres leche cake, so she kept calling it NICK LACHEY CAKE. So, now, I am concerned. I am at a celebration that should have cake (with icing), no one can pronounce the name of the cake (thus I think that I am eating some 98 degree singers baked goods)! It was a mess! Then to top it off, my bil (Ryan) translates the name (tres leche) to (3 milk). Immediately in my mouth, I vom! I yack at the thought of milk and now to consume a cake that does not have 1, 2, but 3 milks? Are they the same milks? Is it a 1 percent? A whole milk? Goats milk? Soy milk? Cats milk (yes, cats have a teet from which milk is produced). Yes, yal. These are just a few thoughts that are going through my head at this time. After all of the racing thoughts and the queeziness a brewing in my belly, the cake is placed on the table......

Umm. I know. Where is the icing? Why does everything look like it is wet, like the whipped topping melted (it has been in the fridge why does it look like it is hot and wet?). "Ummm", that is all I could say. I am sure that my face told a different story. Then the cake is cut up and placed on a plate. "Ummm!" That is all I could say. My thoughts at this time were...... my cake looks wet..... my cake is a leaky mess..... where is the icicng? Betty Crocker would be so upset at this travisty of a desert!!!!! So, I look at the others at the table. "Ooooh, aaah." Everyone loves it. Everyone is slurping up their cake (yes, this is a slurpable cake!) Even the children are lapping up this cake. Then I look at my bil's daddy. He is such a sweet man. He takes one bite (just one) and then pushes his cake away as if his pants are so tight that another bite would send his pants button to pop right off! Well there you go. That is all I needed to see, someone not loving the cake! So, I placed my fork down on the table and decide this is not the desert to try!! Then my bil's daddy said, "it is like biting down onto a sponge and all of the milk comes out."!! Ummmm. Gross!! Needless to say, the Nick Lachey Cake was nooooo bueno!!! Besides the cake, the family time was delightful!!

Onto the next story!

As I sat watching the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit photo shoot on VH1 earlier (I know, why am I watching this, all it makes me want to do is run and forgo any food for the rest of the month), but I watched. While watching this riviting documentary on the making a swimsuit magazine, I was scrolling through the latest updates on Facebook. Do yal FB? I am a FBer. I have a love/ hate relationship with the site. I love to see what people are doing (my friends and the people that I have not seen in FOR-EV-ER), and then I hate that I have a false relationship/ friendship with some of the people that I am "friends" with on FB (because we dont really talk all of the time, and honestly, I do not know a lot about some of the people that I am "friends" with) It is wierd. Isn't it? Some people I am FB friends with, I have seen at Wal-Mart and they do not acknowledge me, makes me NUTZ but what-ev! Anyways, while watching the ever so skinny bikini wearing women on the S. I. special, then telling Sophia the names of the animals that the bikini wearing too skinny women are posing with, and checking FB status updates (do you notice that my focus is not soley on one thing, MULTI TASKER!!), I see a girl that I went to high school with (she is married, I notice her last name is different), and I click on her profile, then see that she is married to.... blah blah. I think...humm? Do I know him? So I click on his FB profile, and then it SENDS HIM A FB FRIEND REQUEST!! Dang chubby fingers!!! My stomach dropped! OMGosh, I am now busted for FB stalking! I could not even take back the friend request! Mortified! Here I am FB stalking a girl that was older than me, that I went to high school with, whom I have not spoken to since 1996, and I am looking at her photos and her husbands photos to see if I know him from our home town and now I am busted for being a stalker! The only friend we would have in common is his wife! I am sure he looked at her and said who is this, she is your FB friend, and now she wants to be my friend on FB. Holy Moses! The jig is up. Hi my name is Caryn and I am a FB stalker! I hate that my chubby fingers just clicked on send friend request! Good thing I am watching the Sports Illustrated models, I wonder if they have any tips on not only getting a slender body but also slimming down my chubby pointer finger!!