What a week!

So it's been busy and interesting around here lately. Did you all know that Time Warner makes service calls on Sundays? Who knew? We've been having trouble with our modem, I think mostly because it's ancient, but they couldn't just bring us a new one without coming to test it first. They still claimed it was fine but we ended up with a new one anyway. Jason must have given the guy one of his looks.

Lucky us, last Sunday wasn't our only day of waiting around for a service call. On Wednesday our refrigerator decided to break. It had been making a weird noise, but we chalked it up to it being the ice maker. Afterall, a refrigerator less than three years old couldn't have anything wrong with it, right? Joke's on us. It happened of course when I was out having dinner and shopping with my mom for her birthday (Happy Birthday, Mom!!!). We had to wait four days for a service call and when the tech called to say he was on his way he asked some questions and determined that it was the compressor, which of course he couldn't just show up and fix. So today was day seven of living out of our coolers and a mini fridge. Luckily we have a freezer in the garage so we were able to salvage all the frozen food that was in the house. Aside from buying ice every other day I'm actually getting used to the cooler system. Drinks in one, condiments in one, produce in one and leftovers in the fourth. I'm kind of feeling like a waitress....I ask who wants what to drink, I disappear behind the door (into the garage), I pour drinks and then I come back. The new compressor came yesterday and was installed today. Now, 10 hours later, it is 76 degrees in the refrigerator and -6 in the freezer. Supposed to be 38 and 0 respectively. We called but we can't get a service call scheduled until tomorrow because we had an appointment today and it shows up as pending until the next day. Oh the joy.

On the upside, Jason won this month's poker game with the guys from work. Gotta love an extra $80. I also got a new cabinet for the toy room. It's my happiness. Xander's occupational therapist suggested picking up toys so he can't dump them out all the time when he's angry. Obviously they don't all fit in there, but most of the loose ones do. And so does the Play-Doh. So now if we want a new toy we have to pick up what's already out. It's pretty sad that I find this pretty exciting. I even took pictures.



The kids had a fun week also, as it was sunny and warm most days, so we spent some time outside. They were really excited about the new bubble machine Jordis got for her birthday (thanks, Megan!) It puts out a TON of bubbles and was a huge hit.



Jordis also got a new tricycle this week. She's still not quite able to ride it properly, but she loves it just the same and wants to ride it all the time. She calls it "my own bike." We've started calling her Nomey (the "y" is so that it doesn't read like gnome). Anyway, she wants to do everything herself now. EVERYTHING. If you get too close to her or try to help her, she screams, "No, Me!" So that's her new nickname. Here's Nomey on her new bike.



Let's see, what else? Xander and I have some strawberry plants we're trying to grow in containers on the deck and they started to flower this week. So he's excited about that. He's taken to talking to Jesus, which is quite cute, so he thanked him for the flowers. Then at the park Friday he asked him to make the wind stop because it was blowing our napkins around. I told him maybe he should talk more politely and not scream at him if he wanted him to stop the wind, and he replied that he had to yell at him because he's way up in the sky and might not hear him from down here. Made logical sense and I'm all about logic, so I told him maybe he was right.

On Saturday we had our neighbors Dena and Dustin over for a cookout. Between the two of us we were able to come up with some food spur of the moment, which impressed me since I had to get creative without a fridge. We had hamburgers in the freezer and I was able to make deviled eggs, escalloped apples and peanut butter cookies. Dena had hamburger buns, hot dogs, hot dog buns and she made pasta salad. Then she tried to tell us she didn't know how to play poker, but she ended up taking all of our chips, so I'll have to think about whether or not to invite them back. Dena is teaching me how to grow vegetables though, so I suppose I can keep her around at least through the summer. (Ha, ha, just kidding, Dena!)

Sunday was Xander's very first fishing trip. Jason was up during the day this weekend so he and his dad took Xander out to see how he did. My mom and step-dad got him a Cars tackle box for his birthday and he's been dutifully organizing it with his rubber bait or whatever you call that stuff. I don't fish, so I don't know. It's not that I don't like fishing, just only been twice in my life. Anyway, he had a great time even though he kept pulling his line out of the water and thinking his minnows were fish that he caught. He lost his SpongeBob stopper, too, but PawPaw bought him a Happy Meal for lunch so I think he's okay.






I guess that's about it from here. Sorry to put over a week in one post. Hopefully I can keep up more frequently in shorter spurts. You know, when I'm not digging around in my various coolers looking for food.

Girls Day Out!

So after a bad day with Xander on Tuesday, Jason decided I should take Jordis someday soon and go have a girls day. Excited at the prospect yet befuddled at where to take her, I wasn't quite sure what to do. We had a playdate at the park schedule for today so I didn't want to go there, and it was to nice to go somewhere indoors like Magic Mountain or the mall. Then I remembered that the city where Jason works recently got a tea house, which sounded like something girlie we could enjoy together.

Jason has worked in this city for eight years now, it was actually still just a village when he started. The main street has some little shops, all inside old houses, and I've never really been in them. Partly because a lot of them sell antiques which isn't my thing, but also because I don't parallel park. The traffic there in the afternoon is bad enough anyway, but the thought of getting someone to let me on the roadway from a parallel parking spot is too much for me to undertake. Far be it from me to speak ill of said city, but aside from them providing for all of our material needs for the past eight years, I'm not real fond of the city itself or the skills of the people running it. The two businesses I used to frequent (with parking lots of course) are long gone, so I really have no desire to be there if I don't have to, especially now that we've switched pediatricians and I don't even have to go there for that anymore. But with the price of gas being what it is and the fact that Jason informed me of some other parking options, I decided some food and strolling with my little girl could prove to be fun even if it was in a locale I'm not fond of.

I decided to capture the afternoon in pictures which shouldn't surprise any of you. Jordis was quite a trooper considering she didn't get a nap. We had a great time!

Off we go!



Fascinated with yard ornaments for sale.



Hello in there.



Ribbit



Had to see the duck in the pond.



Then a train came by Daddy's work.




Time for tea. Fresh flowers and good food, though the food picture turned out blurry.










The fairy room had boas to try on.



Let's go Mom!



Off to Pink Moon Cupcake Bakery across the street, then to Petland to look at puppies (and some other animals).





We also went to some other stores and to visit Ba and Ba-Dee (my mom and step-dad, named by Xander for reasons we have yet to figure out), but I figured at some point I just didn't need that many pictures.

Today my little girl traded in her frilly dress for shorts, and after falling umpteen times at the park and on my neighbors driveway she looks like she was in a playground scuffle. She never flinched, just got up and kept going, not even accepting my offers of band-aids. Maybe she's not as girly as her mom afterall.

The kids' birthday party

So today's party was the quickest whirlwind of chaos I've ever seen. The first 45 minutes was supposed to be games with the kids led by the parks and rec staff. About 10 minutes into the start of the party I had to tell them to get the ball rolling and the late people would just have to miss that part. If I'm paying for 45 minutes of activities, I want them to start on time. Then they couldn't get the kids engaged. Part of me felt sorry for them, because my kids are rough to work with anyway, but I'm thinking since that's their job they should kind of have a handle on it. We were able to get some small excitement with a parachute and some hula hoops, but that's about it. The rec leaders were pretty much oblivious to the 10 kids.





Then it was time for presents. Only 45 minutes is allotted for gifts and cake/ice cream combined, so the kids had to both open their gifts at the same time. I pretty much have no idea what Jordis got. My mom worked with her and I helped Xander. The rec leaders were writing down who got what with me shouting back and forth at them to make sure they got it. They said they're sure they got Xander's but not 100% about Jordis. So hopefully I don't miss anyone when it comes to thank you notes since I didn't see everything for myself when she opened it.







The kids seemed to like the cake and ice cream, though I thought it was pretty unprofessional that they were hacking up the cake with plastic knives and no spatula. I'd think if you do this often enough you could keep a good serrated knife and a spatula on hand so you're not touching everyone's cake, but maybe that's just me. And maybe they did wash their hands first and I didn't see it. I'm not going to comment on giving little kids purple Kool-Aid. Enough said there with just the mention.

At any rate, the kids are telling us they had fun, and I think after they go to bed tonight and we sort through their gifts and they can play with them tomorrow they'll be even more excited. And I didn't have to clean my house before or after. So I guess it was worth it for the money.

After arriving home we gave Jordis her gifts from us, like we did Xander on his actual birthday last Tuesday. These few pictures are our favorites. We're raising a diva indeed.





We decided to let them watch TV after dinner so they'd quit running around the house screaming. I think this last picture just about sums up how Jason and I feel about now, too. I'm pretty sure there will be no more joint parties. We can only take so much excitement in one day.

The first post!

So today's weather is fitting with the name of our blog...mayhem. For anyone who doesn't know, one of my biggest fears is tornadoes. Tonight we had tornado warnings in the county to the west of us and the two that border us on the north. Mind you none of the counties were the ones under the actual tornado watch, as is typical. But no worries, I knew they weren't headed our way so it was okay. But as is typical with the weather here, we'll go from tornado warnings today to the possibility of some snow over the weekend. Which is precisely why I made sure my kids' birthday party was indoors this year, which seems to have been a teriffic idea.

Speaking of party, it's been a busy week here with both the kids having a birthday this week. Jason's parents came last Saturday to bring presents, then Xander got cake and presents from us on Tuesday, his actual birthday. More presents and more cake to come this weekend with Jordis' birthday and their joint party.

Anyone who was at Xander's first birthday party will find his "waiting on cake" pose below a familiar one.




Also this week the kids and I took a trip to the park with Aunt Mo. I'm still learning how to do the picture thing here, so hopefully these won't be so scattered next time.

Xan and Aunt Mo being loud.

Jordis says, "Don't look at me!"

It took this to get Jordis on the twisty slide, but she went over and over again by herself.
















Peek-a-boo!














Jordis was the Michael Jordan of the park.