Christmas excitement

Ok, so its December 31st. The christmas excitement is really over. But....I have been too slow at blogging. Now the new year is almost here and I still haven't posted about christmas. My partial excuse is that I left my camera over at my grandmas. So, when I get that back, I should have pictures galore to post and talk about.

The Kayelynn Distructive Christmas Count is as follows: 4 broken ornaments, 14 ornaments drowned in the toilet, one glass candle holder shattered, and 5 bows removed prematurely. Wait, bring that broken ornament count up to 5. She just broke another one as I am typing this. No joke. See why I don't get much blogging done these days!

Currently, I have pink eye, Kayelynn is recovering from pink eye and Trey still has a never ending runny nose which he is sharing with all of us. My sister laughs in the face of sickness and is having us all over to her house for a New Year's Eve get together. Should be fun, 4 kids and a wii.

That's all for now as Kayelynn is bringing ornament after ornament to me off of the tree............

Hope your new year makes you smile as much as Trey with a candy cane full of m&m's!

Naughty or Nice?

Funny Story....(on myself this time)

It was VERY cold yesterday. The weather made me hungry for soup beans. I sifted through my cabinets to see if I had everything I needed. I did. I pulled out a box of Jiffy cornbread mix too. This is somewhat of a staple at my house. I have been known to buy a dozen boxes at a time if it was on sale. We will never starve because there will always be a box of Jiffy on hand. So, I had to laugh when I pulled the last box out of the cabinet. I've gotta get this on the grocery list!

Trey helped me make the 'corn muffins'. He still has a thing with muffins. (If i knew how to link back to old posts, i would send you back to read about his muffin obsession. But, I haven't figured that out yet. So, on with the story.)
The muffins came out of the oven looking less poofy than normal. As I handed out muffins around the table, I noticed they seemed heavier than normal too. Something wasn't right. Kayelynn ate her muffin without hesitation but the rest of us noticed that the taste wasn't quite right. I reviewed making them in my head. How could I have messed them up? I added water and an egg as called for and a pinch of sugar as I always do. Trey stirred them very well.....

While I was cleaning up later, the cornbread box caught my eye. I laughed out loud and took it to Rex. I pointed out to him what I had noticed and he gave me a funny look of disbelief.

The expiration date was June of 2006!

Trey Saves the Day (well, kind of... i think)

I have been needing to go back to the mall for a few things. Rex had to work today. After naps I felt brave enough to pack the kids up and go out for a few things. I needed to pick up Trey's 4yr pictures. While I was out I figured I might as well look for a few more Christmas gifts. I am slowly chipping away at the Christmas list. I feel like I'm doing well for someone who has been shopping with a 4 yr old and a 1 yr old. I feel no holiday stress. At least not yet anyway.

Guess who we saw in the mall......if you guessed Santa you are absolutely right! I asked Trey if he felt like visiting Santa and telling him what he wanted for Christmas. Trey sighed, " I sometimes feel too shy to talk to Santa". He said it in a tone that made me imagine him adding, "I've told you a thousand times......" OK. So, no Santa. "Noooo!" Trey answered with irritation and aggravation showing in his voice. That was that. My kid has Santa issues. I guess I'll have to learn to deal with it.

I successfully got Trey's pictures, grabbed 3 other Christmas gifts, fed the kids, found 'polka dot' ice cream (aka Dippin' Dots), rode the carousel in the mall (the last two things were not originally on my to do list) and headed home all before 7 pm. Again, I felt good about this since I didn't start until close to 4.

The car ride home is where my story actually begins. I think most moms will agree that this has happened to them before.....The kid in the back seat says "Mom....I dropped such and such". And they continue to whine and "really need" what was dropped. In my case it was a sippy cup. The sippy cup was desperately needed to rinse down french fries. So, while driving, moms reach back with their 'extra' arm and start feeling around for the much needed object. While doing this, you, of course, are still watching the road and trying to be as cautious a driver as possible...of course.

Have you noticed that the further you reach to the back seat, the further your foot seems to press the gas pedal? Well, I noticed--- as the the lights from the hidden cop car lit up. I checked my speed. Yup, it was me he wanted.

Trey saw the lights too. He was excited. He was jabbering away. Did I see them? Did I see them? (How could I not) The officer pulled me over and gave me the speech about what my speed was, license and registration. I know the drill. (not that I get pulled over a lot but it has happened a few times...) As I'm digging for my registration, Trey pipes up from the back seat,

"Can I talk to that officer?"

"Ummm, sure Buddy" I mumbled. The officer shines his flashlight back towards Trey and tells him hi.

"I'm Trey Stroud!" Trey answers. "And this baby is Kayelynn. She is my sister. She is sleeping. She is very fussy today."

The officer didn't really answer him but seemed amused. Trey kept on without any prompting.

"Police Officers are our friends and they can shoot bad things that might hurt us. My daddy likes police officers and he goes to jail to help them."

I handed the officer my info. He still looked amused. Maybe a bit confused too. I'm not sure. He may not have been accustomed to 4 year old speech, but I had caught every word.

"What's registration?" I heard Trey ask from the back seat. I just gave the cop a weak smile. As the officer turned to go back to his car to run my information Trey announces. "I like your flashlight. My daddy has a flashlight too. I have one too but its not that bright."

I sat in my car and prayed that the police officer liked kids and would feel soft towards me. It seems that whenever I am pulled over, I ALWAYS get a ticket. My husband drives way faster and comes home with warnings. I get pulled over every two or three years and ALWAYS get a ticket. I was already feeling miffed about the situation. I've been trying to save here and there for Christmas gifts, now I'm going to be using everything I saved to pay a stupid ticket. I kept my fingers crossed for a warning but I knew there was a ticket in my future. While all of this is going through my head, Trey is still grilling me about what a registration is and what a license is and isn't my license on the back of my car.....

The Officer approached my window again. "Ok, here's what you're going to need to do..." My heart sunk. I knew this speech about court dates or paying a fine.....

The officer continued, "slow down some to keep those kids safe. Its always a good idea to pull over if you need to reach in the back for the kids." ( i had told him my story in case it would help show I wasn't just a speed demon) I could see Trey smiling at him from the back seat, hanging on his every word. All I could feel was relief. The officer reminded us to always wear our seat belts and be safe. Trey couldn't be still any longer. "We ALWAYS wear our seat belts! Its dangerous to not wear your seat belt, isn't it Mommy!?!" I nodded and smiled at the officer again. He said goodbye or told us to have a good evening or something to that affect. Trey waved wildly and yelled "Bye Officer. Good to meet you."

I had to smile. Its probably the first time I've ever smiled after being pulled over. I am thankful to that officer for having mercy on me. Maybe he could see I'd been Christmas shopping and was worn out and just wanted to get my little ones home. Maybe he felt a bit of the Christmas spirit. Maybe Trey's happiness was contagious. I'm not sure what it was that got me out of that ticket. But, thank God it wasn't Santa Claus that pulled us over.........things probably would've ended differently!

Its the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I am supposed to be cleaning the house but blogging thoughts keep running through my head. The kids have been full of energy the past week and have provided me with endless material to write about. So, I am going to put the housework on hold and see if I can give the recap of the happenings here in Stroudville.

First off, I got the tree put up and house decorated for Christmas with the help of two eager children. One was really eager to help the other just eager to be in the middle of things. For the first two days Kayelynn stopped dead in her tracks every time she saw the tree. She would stand and look at it in awe, her eyes wide sparkling reflections of the tree lights. She was adorable. I would stand and watch her as she looked at the tree with such wonder. Then after day two she was not quite as cute as she discovered that the ornaments would come off of the tree. I am sure I have redecorated the lower 1/3 of the tree at least a dozen times this past week.

Kayelynn is walking well now. In fact she can run. This is best demonstrated when I catch her taking an ornament off of the tree. Once she knows she is caught she runs (waddles quickly) down the hall - ornament in hand - laughing the whole way. Mommy doesn't find this game near as funny as Kayelynn. Also not funny is Kayelynn's latest discovery - opening the toilet lid. I found three of my tree ornaments settled in the bottom of the toilet a few days. Since then I have found Kayelynn headed towards the toilet carrying various items from around the house, remote controls, Trey's trains, combs, spoons..... Kayelynn must believe that the toilet is some sort of special hiding place for "treasures" she finds around the house. I am personally getting tired of sticking my hand in the toilet and am going to need a jumbo sized bottle of hand sanitizer from Santa this year. My sweet little Kayelynn is giving Trey a run for his money in the "who is most mischievous" category.

Trey is already bringing so much joy to my holiday. I love to talk to him and hear what he thinks about things. Or explain things to him about the season and watch as his eyes light up with understanding. There may not be any Treyisms this month because I'm not sure I can keep them til the end of the month.....

Picture Trey sitting on his potty seat with a book on his lap. (he has developed the habit of reading while on the potty) I over hear that he is "reading" his book aloud. I can tell he is reading the Nativity story....."Mary went to Bethlehem on a donkey. Mary and Joseph are in the stable with the Baby Jesus. Angels come to the shepards and sing to them.......jingle bells, jingle bells....."

This morning, Trey was overjoyed with the snow. He scuffed around in it while we were getting ready to leave. All through our car ride I heard "Whoa, look at the Trey's! They look awesome! Look at that house covered in snow! Look at that car covered in snow! Look at that fill in the blank!" Everything was "awesome" and "covered in snow". With all of his excitement, I couldn't help but smile as I cleaned the snow off of my car.

I could tell stories on the kids all morning but my housework is calling. Trey did tell me that he had a good birthday. I will try to post pictures of that later.