Before and After getting DUMPED on!

Here is a picture of our swing set in October and another one today, January 27th 2011.  I think this is the most snow I've ever seen on the ground in my adult life.

3rd Annual Painting of the Bathtub

The other day marked our third annual "paint the bathtub in the middle of the winter because we're running out of other things to do inside."  Here are some photos:

 

I'm am SO done with Vomit!!

I bet you're all super excited to read this entry with a title like that!!!  I'll keep the details to a minimum. :-)  Two weekends ago Jeff and I woke, and by "woke" I mean that we were ripped awake from a deep sleep in the middle of the night, by the sound of our beautiful boy violently vomiting in his room.  Long story short, Jeff spent the rest of the night in Kate's Disney Princess toddler bed (Brian and Kate share a room) and Kate spent the night with me.  Poor Jeff was up at least 4 more times with Brian, and I "almost" slept well with my three year old daughter.  It's amazing that even though we have a king size bed, she was still right up on me all night (I believe she was even on my face at one point).
Kelly (age 2) was up bright and early and when I went in to get her I discovered that she too had vomited -a lot- overnight, but had just done it and then gone back to bed.   I'm going to spare you all the gory details at this point, but I will say that almost everything (including her favorite baby doll) went into the wash, and a few things (including one of her stolen babies from her brother's preschool class and some books) went right into the trash.  It's important for me to mention the baby doll that went into the wash because there was an opportunity for me to be a "supermom" when it came out, and BY GOLLY, I rose to the challenge!  You see, when I opened the washer door the baby doll had somehow gotten it's head wedged inside the washer and I had to use all my might to pull it out.  When baby finally came out, baby didn't look so good.  It's head was severely indented on one side and I just couldn't get it to pop out.  What did I do you ask?  A little plastic surgery.  Get it, "plastic" surgery? :-)  I made a small incision in the mouth and then inserted a screwdriver so I could reshape baby's head from the inside.  I know I know, I truly WAS Supermom that day (look, I feel like I'm "Crappymom" most days so let me brag a little about this).  Here are some before and after shots:

See!  Nice, huh?!
Anyway, the week went on and eventually people stopped having stomach virus type issues and we "thought" we were in the clear.  We were wrong (At this point insert laughter and then a huge sigh).   On Friday night we were having dinner and Kelly was sitting in my lap, when all of a sudden she started to cough/choke and next thing we knew - BLEH! - all over her plate and the table.  Awesome.  We decided not to push dinner on Kelly anymore that evening and let her leave the table.  Within 5 minutes of this happening Brian, who had overstuffed his mouth in an attempt to finish eating so he could go watch a show, went past his gag reflex and then - BLEH! all over his plate!  I began wondering at that point if I was going to get some type of a prize if we could get the third child to also vomit on the dinner table.  Happily she kept her dinner in it's correct place.
So that's the gross reality of my life over the past few weeks.  As I type this I'm starting to not feel so great - please please let it just be all this writing about vomit - I really don't want to get sick! :-)

Synchronized Snow "Angeling"

I think it's so funny that their arms and legs are in almost the exact same position in each picture.  They're practicing for the 2020 winter Olympics.  We're hoping that synchronized snow angeling will be a sport by then!  (I'm kidding).

Poor Buzz

Last week I was in the kitchen standing at the bar, using the computer.  The kids were at the kitchen table painting or coloring, and Jeff was helping them out.  All of a sudden I could hear something going on right behind me, and I could tell it wasn't good.  From the sound of it, Jeff had slipped on something or was in the process of slipping on something, and he was going down HARD!  Before I could even turn around or react in some way, a newly decapitated  Buzz Light Year doll skidded up to my foot and said, "To Infinity and BEYOND!"  It was hysterical.  Jeff was okay, but had done some extensive and violent leg stretching, courtesy of Buzz, that he wasn't planning on doing that evening.

Rest in peace, Buzz.  To infinity and beyond indeed.

First Snowman of the winter

We had a VERY small storm back in December and even though there was just a tad more than a dusting (okay okay, maybe a few inches) on the ground, we managed to make a snowman (perhaps the world's smallest snowman :-).  Make sure to take a good look at Kate, she was really "shoveling in" the snow!

Final Posts of 2010 (and the first few of 2011)

While typing my last post I just happened to look over my shoulder to see my two daughters licking shredded cheese off of the kitchen floor. I think they like me insane......

 

I don't even think I can put into words how much better I feel now that the TWO week Christmas/New Years vacation is OVER!!!!!!!!! I do not do well with huge amounts of open time/no schedule, in the winter, with three small children. Don't worry kids, Mommy went away mentally for a few days, but I'm back now.

 

The Big Bald headed man sitting Behind us at Bertucci's Barely missed Being Beaned off the Back of the head from Brian's Blob of Bread dough that he was swinging around.

 

In this the year of 2011 I haven't gained any weight, gotten a headache, spent any money, yelled at my kids, or felt any regret. Granted it's only 7:55 in the morning, but I'm thinking 2011 is going to be a GREAT year!

 

Questions my three year old daughter has asked me in the past two days: "Who much do houses cost? How much did our house cost? What does murder mean? Can you defeat a dragon?" I think she's thinking about killing me with a dragon and taking the house!

 

Starting to think about a New Year's resolution. I'm thinking about doing something like paying someone a compliment every day, or to stop exercising out of obligation but to do it because I love doing it (just have to find something I really love doing). Anyone out there ever made a resolution that you've actually stuck to or made one that's "unique"??

 

Quote of the morning by Kate (3) to me: "Good thing you didn't call me an idian!" I know for a fact she was trying to say "idiot" because she heard that from Monsters Inc. yesterday. I said, "No Kate, I would never call you an idian."

 

My kids got a new toy for Christmas with an "off/no" button. Obviously it wasn't made in a country with a strong grasp of the English language.

 

My dad wants the grandchildren to call him "B", for "Brian" (instead of Grandpa). My brother and his wife are here this week visiting from California (lucky them :-). My brother's little boy, Michael (16 months) keeps calling my dad "Boo-b". They're like, "Michael, where's B? Call him!" And Michael will look around and say, "Boo-b?! Boo-b?!" Pretty darn funny!

 

And just like that we're under a blizzard warning...and you KNOW it will happen because they HAVEN'T been talking about THIS storm for days!

 

My sister-in-law gave my two girls purses that were made by women who have escaped slavery and are now rebuilding there lives. I was overcome with emotion when we opened these gifts. To know that purchasing those gifts is helping women to reintegrate into life and remain slavery-free, is what Christmas is all about. For more info you can go to www.MadeBySurvivors.com Merry Christmas to all!!!

 

I just started uploading "My year in Status" and decided to stop it when it got to 15 pages...and it was still only in November. I exited out of the feature that was tallying all my posts thinking it would stop...it didn't. Right before I put up this post it was at 60 pages.... I'm not sure if I'm embarrassed or proud of myself.

 

Happy 2nd Birthday to my Kelly Belly who, while watching a scary part of Beauty and the Beast, reached out her little hand to me and said, "Don't worry Mama, I'm here."

 

My son just learned that hard way that when you ask your mother to have a snowball fight with you, and your mother has no aim, you're bound to get nailed on the side of the head and then right in the eye. Sorry Bry....throwing is not one of mommy's strengths.

 

My 22 pound little peanut just ate SIX prunes....looks like a magnificent early Christmas present will be coming my way very soon! Yay me!!

 

Well, my day isn't going as well as it was in my earlier post. I just yelled so loud (there's only so much whining, screaming, & fighting on person can take) that I believe I blew my right vocal chord right out of my throat and it's now somewhere over in the corner under the Christmas tree. Colleen M Ladino is on the fast track to Crazyville right now. Oh, no I'm not....yes I am...no...yeah, I am.

 

We are on day one of the "KID'S" two week vacation from preschool. In an attempt to make it something other than day one of "Mom's two weeks of living he!!", we have been watching a lot of t.v. movies (yes, it's only 10am) & we just finished playing "cookie tunnel" (that's when mom throws a cookie into a tunnel & the kids crawl through to get it...kind of like throwing a treat to a dog).

 

I am going to pray the Rosary tonight & every night this week, including Christmas night, for every family I know that has lost a loved one at much too young an age this past year. The families include The Bocs, The Desmonds, The McIsaacs, The Counighans, & The Spada & McGrath families. If you know of another family that needs prayers, or if you want to join me, let me know. Blessings to you all!

 

It's not too late to start fighting fat with me! Don't be the person saying, "I'll have just ONE more drink, cookie, cupcake, peanut butter ball, piece of lasagna....", just to then find yourself up at 3am sick to your stomach and curled up in fetal position...oh wait, maybe that's just me. Anyway, I'm still trying to fight fat through these holidays and ALL are welcome :-) The blog is below.

 

I went Christmas shopping with my three kids today (yes, I'm insane). I was looking for something for my mom and I said to my kids, "What do you think Nonni would like? Isn't Nonni sooo pretty, we need to get her something pretty." And my son said, "Nonni IS pretty, aaaaaand she IS NOT stupid." Okay then, good to know. I'll be sure to tell my mom.

 

I was putting Kelly to bed last night & all of a sudden one of her dolls (one of her 25 baby dolls, including the two stolen ones from the preschool - she's a small time criminal & hoarding toddler) started talking, "mama mama (kiss kiss) mama mama (crying crying) mama mama (blowing raspberries)...I'm wondering if this malfunctioning doll is what's been waking her up so darn early! The problem baby has been removed.

 

We are having our first snowfall (just a dusting) so my older two wanted to go out. It's 20 degrees out so I bundled them up and sent them out without me (they're crazy, not me). I've been watching them through the kitchen window and they're currently licking snow off the minivan. That's only mildly disgusting, right??

 

I was just showing my older two the video I just posted, and during the most spectacular point of the song (I was overcome with emotion) my 5 year old son turned to me and said, "Mom, can we watch who let the dogs out now?" He was also clearly overcome with emotion.

 

We are having a very small & early b-day party for Kelly today (she'll be 2 on the 22nd). Brian got up this morning and said, "Happy Birthday, Kelly!" And she said, "You're welcome Bry." Then at church today she stood up tall on the pew, stuck out her little chest and through her pacifier yelled, "Tooooo infinity and beeeeeeyond!" She's a hoot I tell ya!

 

It was 3 degrees out when I went to the gym this morning. I'm not a fan of 3 degrees.

 

Kelly's version of "My Favorite Things" from the Sound of Music: "Tampons in purses and paint on my body, juice on the floor and hands in the potty, screaming in line at the Edaville train..these are a few of my favorite things. When the show ends, when the pop's done, when I'm feeling sad, I simply remember to scream with my lungs, and then I don't feeeeeeel soooo bad."