Kujo, aka, Killer, aka Bucky, aka, the D O G

Yep as most of you know, we have put off, made excuses, and bought time up the wazoo when it comes to getting a dog.

However my 4 year old has been in LOVE, I mean LOOVE with the mangy little things since she could bark, er um, talk.

Every where we drive, "LOOOK MOM a dog!"  (at times i admit to silently going DUH, yes it's a dog) 

And then there is the playing she IS A DOG.  Interesting to see your little girl, crawling around with a leash trying to be a dog, even eating out of a bowl like a dog.

And the most recent development, she has her little sister being a dog.  it is like they hypnotized her, whenever they say "dog".  She gets down and starts crawling, saying "arrrf arrrrf:

I had dogs growing up, hubby did not.  I loved them when i WASN'T mom, wasn't the one to take care of them.  Since that moment has passed, I was less than thrilled about getting a "D O G"

My hubby even less so.  We had a laundry list of what a dog we got needed to be/have.  Quiet, not yippy, not shed, not drool, not need walks all the time, be good alone at times, not jump on your or knock you over, etc etc.

Well, one day, these three little princesses all had him cornered asking for that D O G.  The laundry list of excuses had been met, and they were pleading their case that it was in fact time to get a dog.

If there is one thing that can bring a sane man to his knees, it is the pleading eyes of three little girls.  All who have wrapped themselves tightly around his fingers.

So, we go, to check it out..."we;re not buying any tho" he says.

 

And we leave, (with mans best friend) with the intention of two days later, he convinces me we need this dog.

So here he is, as if he has always been a part of the family.  Hubby fell in love with him right away, however has lovingly dubbed him Kujo, because he is so protective of the girls already.

 

He goes to sleep on their beds, and if we make a noise, one as quiet as a mouse, he will start barking as if the house was caving in. 

Meet, Killer....I mean "Bucky" (yes the girls named him after Bucky Badger from the WI badgers)

The funniest part?  He actually met all our above qualifications.  He really is a great dog, and a wonderful addition to our family.  Another mouth to feed, yet another adventure to be had, and three little girls BEST firend!  Alyssa can't stop telling everyone she got a D O G.  She loves saying it that way, probably since she has heard it since the beginning of time.

The worst Halloween fright!

He was trying to be sweet.  He really was, but it didn't end up that way!  See I have this weird control thing.  I don't like when things are done for me, that I  can't control that is.  

Case and point.  Today, I was SO looking forward to my slow morning routine.  Drop kids off at school, come home, have my cup of caffeine alone with my IPad and my favorite APP Early Edition.  It pulls all my beloved blogs into one and I can read them like a newspaper.  I LOVE IT.

The only problem with this was when I opened my Ipad it was EMPTY!!
Yep that sweet little update had erased everything as I knew it! 

Talk about the morning fluster...

THIS is how I had to go about my morning!  Forced technology break....

.I had to revert to GASP a normal old fashioned morning of my magazine and up of coco!  The horrors!'

]

Happy Halloween!

The Great M&M caper

Who knew?!

Those sweet cherub cheeks, the tiny hands, the baby giggles.  it was all a plot, a ploy.  Look cute get m&m's.  Oh my what on earth have I done?!

I am a professed chocoholic, and I admit my two lil girls do like their chocolate.  Even the dark kind, but I didn't realize I was turning them out so young!  Maybe the two bribery  bedtime M&M's had a hand in it?

 Either which way, I was at walmart with the Kbean and had her sitting in the cart for a quick whiz through the store.  I only had about 5 items on my list.  One of them the above mentioned bribery tool.  I threw a bag of them in the cart with her and went on my way.

Only a few minutes later as I am strolling about I hear this tiny, doink. Ding, dink.....ping, ping, fwoosh....   I look down, I look back, and there was a trail of beautiful fall M&M's following me. 

Dont mind the flash, I think people thought I was a crazy lady taking pictures of her M&M trail!

Eyes forward, into card and there is that cherub cheeks.holding her precious M&M's, and in that bag, there were not one hole I discovered, but about three.

 

Lesson to be learned.  Never underestimate the power of a teething, chocolate loving baby/toddler!

Needle in a haystack...

AKA lost treasure!

Do ya see it?  Can you find the pearl in this picture?

One of the hardest lessons as a MOM is when your child looses, breaks, or something tragic happens to a prized possession.

Yesterday was going to be one of those days for me.  The problem, I refused to go through it.  I couldn't stand the look in my sweet Big Girls eyes when I told her that her treasured pearl seemed to be lost.

Confused?  Ok backing up.  When we moved last year, one of the only fun things to the girls about the empty house was they went on a treasure hunt.  And oh the treasures they found!   (can you say old paper clip, something resembling a dust bunny, a wrinkled flower, a pom pom, and oh how the list goes on.)
And we kept almost all of them.  Among them was the rarest find.  A pink/white pearl. 
Was it real?

In her little eyes, oh yes!  But what we really had was a cheap small bead for making kids necklaces or something like that.  Though I doubt it was one of ours, I think it had been there from previous owners.

Either way this became her most prized possession. Chipped "paint" and all.

Now yesterday was share day at school and she was to share something special to her and tell why.  She chose to bring her memory box which was filled with treasures from WI.  And among them was the pearl.

Said day went really well, that is until she was outside waiting for me.  On the blacktop.  The black top that wasn't so black.  The black top that was in fact sprinkled with embedded little white stones.

I pull up ready to get my sweet Alia in the car, who then informs me that she can't get in the car.  "Why not honey?!" the pearl rolled under my car.  Mind you there are another row of cars behind me waiting to drive by.  So I pull over and proceed to get out of the car after they passed to look for this tiny treasure.

When I say tiny, it's an understatement.  Have you ever tried to look for something white on blacktop that isn't so black?  Oh and then there is this little part about a slight downgrade...that ends in a drain hole!

So here I am, grown woman, college degree, mommy, crawling around on my hands and knees on the blacktop with my nose almost literally to the ground looking for this little ball.

One of Alia's friends mom pulls up, and another person whom I don't know...both ask me, "so what we looking for".  When I reply "fake pearl" they kind of look at me as if I lost my mind.  Maybe I have, but darn it I don't want to see the loss on her face when I tell her it is gone.  One of the only pieces of her old home, her old state, is forever lost.

I will myself to crawl around for a few minutes longer.  And it pays off!!!!  There it is, I have no idea how I saw it, but I did.  That is the little lost pearl!

 

He returns safely to his ecstatic owner and is now nestled safe in a little "remembery box" once again.

Did you find the pearl in the above picture?  Its right there, can't you see it?  it's in plain sight!  :)

Don't clean your house!

No really, I mean it!

I was sitting tonight looking at my mantel.  Remember it from my post the other day?  How pretty it looks...

Sometimes we (I) get so caught up in our houses looking perfect, our decoration looking perfect, and everything looking nice, we forget to notice the imperfections.

Like this one.  To my eye at first it is just unbalanced and not looking right.  I resist the urge however, tonight to pull it down.

See it?  See what I am talking about?  That ugly green McDonald's monster bucket?

 My sweet little Alia has put it up there three different times.  The first two I kept pulling it down, annoyed that she was messing up my mantle.  Then this third time, I admire her perseverance.  And through that I see her reason, and it wasn't to annoy me.  It was to add to something she finds special that I do. 

See I tend to decorate when they are gone or sleeping, and when they see it, to them something magical just happened.

My sweet little girl wanted to add something to that.  She was complimenting me in the best possible way.  I see that now.  And I am thankful for the minute of down time I got to really see and appreciate it.

I stop and realize in another handful of years, I will have that perfect house.  Or at least closer to it.  There won't be little annoying toys to step on, there won't be tiny clothing everywhere and crayons strewn about.  

Right now I tend to look at them as an inconvenience.  An imperfection, when in fact they are the epitome of perfection.  My perfectly normal, adorable, wonderful little girls.  

Princess dresses everywhere, drawings and creativity peak around every corner.  Their little budding personalities promising to reveal a little more every turn I take.

So, for now, for tonight, I am remembering to cherish all these things that I know I am going to miss all too soon.

I challenge you to do the same.  Let go of CLEAN and embrase the perfect gift(s) from above. 

New take on an old pumpkin ~ 5 minute DIY

Ok so not exactly 5 minutes, but close. Maybe 15 minus the drying time.

So I have not been a spray painter like a lot of the ladies out there. But they come up with such UHmazing stuff I had to give it a try.

I just don't know if I'm cut out for their talent, because I can't seem to figure out the stuff. I can't see how it is cheaper? Man that stuff is expensive, even with a discount. And when you spray it, it goes all over, not just one concentrated spot.

That being said, these turned out pretty darn neat don't you think?

I have a very formal looking living room and wanted a little more of a professional touch. I opted for the stone look on my pumpkins. Liked it, but not LOOOVEd it. Then I realized what they needed. Just a lil bit of this ribbon.

See pretty isn't it?

Ps Like the Spooky Blocks? (I got those from one of the bloggers I met at that blogger party I attended. Her etsy shop is here (you can get her blog from here too))

The little neighbor boys even came in and commented how pretty they thought they looked.

So here goes: You better sit down, this is a hard one.

Purchase spray paint you want to use, I actually preferred the Rust-Olium, whereas I see a lot of bloggers usin the Krylon.

Gather a few cheapo pumpkins, most of these were either a dollar or under.

Here were a few I didn't paint...

Spray away. I needed two coats, or more like tries, because I have no clue how you can spray a whole item and get it all in one shot. Can you? Do enlighten me if you can!

Let dry.

Add a few festive pretty ribbons.

Arrange in a festive way and there you have easy, inexpensive, pretty home decor, done by none other that wonderful marvelous you! Or in this case...me. :)

Challenging Murphy's Law:

Well, I didn't actually challenge her, but she sure must have thought I did....

See I haven't written in a few days for good reason! Good ole Murphy has proven herself correct on every account possible.

Each day has thankfully gotten a little better, however, it has been a LONG week! Yes I am fully aware it is only Wednesday. It can only go up right?

So Monday started pretty normal. Though I was slightly thrown off because I had to take my dad to the airport and that would mean my perfect schedule would be altered. I don't do well with change. Heck I cried when I turned 13! So even little changes like this bug me.

But I guess i shouldn't have told myself I would be glad to get back home and resume normal.

We arrive at the airport and I get out of the van to hug my daddy good bye. I hate good bye's. Never have liked em, any sort of em. Anyhow I hug him, and look over to my hubby (who is sweet enough to walk my dad through the airport and security because he gets so easily confused) and gesture toward our right rear wheel. It was pretty flat.

"Go to the nearest gas station" he suggests, "I'll be there in a little".

So I attempt to do just that. However Salt Lake airport is NOT Green Bay airport. I had no clue where a close gas station was. And when I finally chose a direction, it did not take me "close". As a matter of a fact I believe my husband put it, "Why did you want to go to the ghetto?"

I had been driving for about 10 minutes, which then led to a damaged rim as well. So hubby in his work clothes is changing the tire. In the meantime I realize the poor baby, who had been on antibiotics, has another runny diaper.

I proceed to go into the gas station to purchase a very expensive $4 diaper, uh-hu, one diaper, for her. Then have to sit on the bathroom floor (EWWWE) and put her on my lap to change her, wriggling and screaming the whole time.

Spare finally on the van, hubby directs me to a tire place close to home. I go there to see how long it will take to get fixed and they suggest a half hour. Ok, we stay. And she strikes again. Another poopy diaper, fortunatly after some rummaging through the garbage in our van, not littlerally, I find a diaper and i change her on the floor of the waiting room while all the thrilled customers watch. Oh well it wasn't them was it?

Finally an hour later we were done. Day could only go up from here. Got the baby down for her nap and a few things done in the house before I had to wake her, go get the girls and head BACK downtown to take Alia to her doctor appointment at Children's Hosptial. This is not my favorite place to drive around if you haven't figured that out by now.

We arrive one minute to spare, so I quick grab the baby out of her seat, grab the diaper bag and my purse and we start running to the hospital.

I feel something, well moist. Hmmm no actually quite moist. I slowly move my hand a little further down her bum to readjust her. Yep, she was soaked through..did I dare to peek? As we make a quick stop at a reception desk I do, only to discover to my horror, it isn't only wet, but another ummmm, runny blowout. Only this time all over me. Wonderful.



We get to Alia's receptionist and I ask her if I can rush to the bathroom, only to discover there that I am out of wipes. I send Alia back to the reception desk to ask for wipes, which they give her, but upon opening it, they are bone DRY. If you have ever used a dry wipe on a babys bottom you know there is no working with it! So now I have to hold KK with one hand and rush back and forth to the sink to wet them down and to change her outfit.

Problem solved Again.

We get into the doctors office and the poor Bean is screaming her head off because she thinks it is for her. If you know me at all you know she has gone through quite a bit of doctor visits in the past year.

Finally she is calm and sitting on my lap. Alia's doctor comes in and we address all the issues and what not. Thankfully nothing is major wrong. She is doing well. We thank the doctor and I stand up to be on our way. Only then do I realize I look like I WET my pants! The baby had wet yet again, and this time it was positioned just right so it looked like I was the one who had the problem!

No time to worry about that, time to rush off to make Lissy's dance class, then Alia's.

We make Lissy's only about 8 minutes late. Then when it is Alia's turn I tell her I have a quick errand to run with the girls and will be back to pick her up. The only problem? I was 26 minutes late!!!

Good thing she wasn't too mad at me though, because as if this day hadn't taught me enough, I informed her we were on our way to pick up the new dog that daddy just got!

And then, they all slept peacefully!

Not to self: Never ever again will I question Murphy and her Law!