Oops, He Did It Again

Bret went to the pet store on his own again. And brought home a dumbo rat. A rat! It's time to put up a "Do not sell an animal or rodent to my husband." poster at every pet store within a 50 mile radius.

It's very deceiving. He's actually kind of cute looking at first, what with his cute dumbo ears (hence the name dumbo rat).

But then you see his tail (which is hidden here in case it gives you the heebie jeebies as it does me) that is some 10 feet long (ok, it seems) and it reminds you that he is a rat.

While I'm willing to give it the two week trial time that the pet store gives you, I'm having a hard time with the whole long rodent like tail thing. Just last year when the corn fields next door were being cut down, I almost had a nervous breakdown when a mouse ran in front of me when I grabbed the bathroom trash can.

We've done hamsters with both good and bad turn outs. Just this past month alone we've had two baby hamsters die in a week's time. The dumbo rat is suppose to be more domesticated than the hamster and I do have to admit that he is. He runs right to you, snuggles into your arm and is very playful. He might work out after all, if they keep that tail away from me.

My 3rd child husband also bought a leash for the thing. We're really going to end up with a reputation around here.

Vegas Bret Style

Bret made it home safe and sound at around 11pm last night. We all had some good laughs while we went through his pictures, so I thought I'd share. They started off as the pretty and scenic kind...

(He scored big time for Ryan with the souvenirs at Excalibur. More on that later.)

Then the fun began. He partied with Hugh Hefner.

Had a little peep show with Brangelina.
Was interviewed by Al.

Got hitched to George Clooney.

Gave some much needed pointers to Tiger Woods.

The four greatest minds of the United States.

Home now from his big exciting trip, he scored big time with Ryan in the souvenir department. Looks to me like he had himself in mind while they were shopping. LoL.

My little warrior.

Vegas

So, now that my husband is coming home tonight, I can freely tell y'all that he's been in Vegas for the past few days without fearing that someone reading this might try to break in and attack me in my sleep. Because I'm a little nutty like that.

He and our neighbor/friend, Scott caught a flight out there Wednesday morning and left Teri and myself home to be single parents for three days. I have to admit that I never realize just how much Bret helps out with the kids and things like dishes and homework, until he's not here and I'm on my way to the loony bin from trying to do it all.

Last night I had to take Ashley over to her Grandpa's house for help with her math homework because my own daughter passed me up in math two years ago. They say "use it or lose it" - and I'm here to tell you it's true.

This morning I woke up for the second morning in a row by almost falling out of our king size bed. Both mornings Ryan has climbed into bed with me at 4am. Does he sleep on his dad's side? Of course not. He sleeps on my side and wedges in next to me to keep warm. We end up using a quarter of the bed with the whole rest of it wide open. If it hadn't been 4am, I might have been coherent enough to realize that I could just climb over him and sleep on the other side of the bed, but at 4am I'm not running on all cylinders.

I now have the rest of the afternoon to myself since Chloe's mom got out of work early today, so I'm off to do some decluttering of my own.

Bigger IS Better

Or so we've heard. It was time to replace our family room TV, so we bit the bullet and did it up right. We got a great deal at Sam's Club on the TV, warranty (5 years!), wall mount and cables. The plan is to hang it over our fireplace and hide the wires behind the wall. I'm excited about all the new furniture arranging possibilities!

Bret's excited about getting his big plasma TV. He's been wanting one for quite some time, but didn't see the sense in replacing a perfectly good TV until it went out.

We were up until midnight last night just trying to mount the wall bracket and ran into problems putting the brackets on the back of the new TV. For some reason the screws are too long. Hmm. Bret's Dad is over here this morning to help out and there will hopefully be a TV hanging over the fireplace soon. It's suppose to be negative 4 degrees today, so they may not make it to the attic to get all the hidden wiring taken care of.

The kids are having fun with the box, which Ryan can barely see over when he's up on his tippy toes.

We may have a new time out spot.

I'll be back later with an update.

I Tried

She wasn't expecting me when I came around the corner and caught her pretending with my purse.

And if she drops it and isn't touching it, then she's pretty sure she's not in trouble. LoL.

I actually made dinner last night. I was looking for some new ideas last night and found a Betty Crocker recipe and thought I'd give it a try. Bret and Ashley scoff at anything vegetable (and I knew not to even try with Ryan) so I figured they could just pick out the cheesy meatballs and be fine. When Bret came home, he requested that I just make a batch of meatballs in barbeque sauce for him. I was disappointed that he wouldn't even try it, but did as he asked anyway. We've had too many meals here where I've tried to make something new and they've not liked it because it had more than one ingrediant in it. (!!!!) So, like I said, I did as he asked. However, the only barbeque sauce we had on hand wasn't the sweet and tangy kind he was expecting. It was just plain ol' regular Open Pit and very strong and spicy. He forced it down, but admitted he liked the cheesey meatballs better. Ha.

The meal was pretty good (I love vegetables and cheese) but a little on the bland side. I also have yet to make a decent batch of minute rice. I know - who messes up minute rice?! Apparently, I do. It's just never as light and fluffy as it looks on the box.

Losing My Mind

It's been a pretty busy day over here today. I got myself all riled up about smoking bans in my earlier post, been obsessed with this game that I heard about over at Busy Mom and working on plans for the school carnival. Let's just say I've been in computer mode. Bret asked me tonight if I still needed an item that I had on our shopping list and I told him, "No, you can delete that." He's still laughing at me.

That's What You Get!

The kids haven't been the only ones busy working on their Christmas lists lately. Bret has decided to go ahead and join the 21st century and enter the world of iPods. So in hopes of getting a brand spanking new shiny iPod for Christmas, he's informed me that I get the lucky task of importing all of his CD's to the computer so that they'll be ready to go. Lucky me. This is only a fraction of his collection.



I love me some clutter free shelves, so I will give in and do it.

Taking It To Another Level

Ryan's baseball craze is now being taken to the next level. This morning, Bret and his dad headed out for some guy time - fixing snowblowers, shopping, lunch, etc. They came back with a box of this year's baseball cards for Ryan, who is thrilled and has been going through and organizing them by team ever since. Bret finally has someone to pass down years of baseball card collecting to. (They can stay in his parents' basement for now though!)

You Know You're The Mother Of An Almost Teenager When...

...her room is a constant disaster area with no hope of seeing the carpet in the forseeable future and you're forced into buying her the ugliest shoes you've ever seen in your life because she thinks they're cute. Okay, the shoes may be starting to grow on me now, but you should have seen some of the other ones she wanted.

And do I dare ask what this picture was doing on the camera when I went to upload pictures onto the laptop? Nice legs, though. LoL.

Finding Your Inner Child

To find your inner child, all one needs is a trampoline, fellow wanna be gymnasts and a lack of dignity.

Bret and Scott doing their warm up.

Bret scores a 9.8 for lift. Deductions taken for belly and shirt defying gravity.

A perfect 10, is it not? It takes a great deal of skill and strength to launch someone that high off of the trampoline.

This may have been an attempt at a backflip. 5.0 for effort.

1.0 for the total wipeout. I nailed Teri.

9.9 for the "Butt Bomb". Could have been a perfect 10 with no hands.

Whew. That was fun. Embarassing, but fun.

Moonlighting At The Zoo

This is what you get when you send Bret and Scott to the zoo with the kids and a camera so you can clean the house in peace...

I'll post the rest of the pictures later tonight. I'm heading over to Teri's to join everyone there right now.

Not Sure What I'm In For

Ashley is off and on her way to her horseback riding trip and Ryan will soon be over at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Bret and I are going to see The Bob & Tom Show down at the Civic Center with some friends and I'm not really sure what to expect. I've heard some of their stuff when Bret's alarm clock goes off in the morning, but still couldn't tell you anything about it. I have been warned that I will probably pee my pants from laughing so hard, so we'll see. It should be a good time, especially since we're meeting for drinks before hand.

Top Four Reasons Why My Husband Is Not In Charge Of Decorating Our Home

Over the past couple of days, Chloe has almost mastered the whole crawling thing. Out of fear and knowledge of what could happen, my husband and I moved Ryan's Lego table into Ryan's bedroom. Moving this table will also make room for Bret's Grandma's China Cabinet (or whatever the proper term for it is) that I've managed to talk Bret into getting.

.

Luckily for Chloe and Cecelia, they're cute so they'll be forgiven for whatever they get into.

Taking advantage of the temporarily free wall space, Bret tried his hand at decorating. He says he wanted more space in the livingroom.

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So, let me give you:

The Top Four Reasons Why My Husband Is Not Allowed To Decorate Our Home:

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Reason #1:

Reason #2:

Reason #3:

Reason #4:

Yes, I know. You never thought you'd see my house filled with baby toys again, but where did my hallway go?

Am I wrong to change it back and break his heart? LoL

Super Baker Bret

What have his coworkers done with my husband? He's baking cookies. From scratch. (Well, from a mason jar of ingrediants, anyway.)

I guess I should go tell him that leaning over watching the cookies isn't going to make them "dry" any faster. Um, dry?

Something strange is going on over here. Everyone is acting like lunatics.

And guess who caught it all on camera?

I'll let you know if we're still alive over here in the morning after sampling Bret's cookies.

Taking A Beating

Bret always knows how to get them all riled up right before bedtime, doesn't he?

Ryan and Brooke give it to him good.

Woo Hoo!!!

After three years of begging, I'm finally getting the storm door for the kitchen door that I've wanted since the day we moved in. (My early Christmas present from Bret's parents - Thanks, by the way!) Only problem is that I haven't seen it yet. Bret and his dad went and picked it out and are installing it right now and won't let me see it until it's done. (Should I be nervous?)

Now I can finally have a visual to the front side of my house.

The kids can play on the driveway with their chalk and I can watch them from the kitchen.

We'll see the school bus in the morning instead of having to strain our ears to hear it coming.

When friends come to the door they can see and hear me say "Come on in." instead of me finally having to get up and go to the door. (Laziness on my part there - I know!)

And most of all? AIR FLOW!!! There will finally be a cool breeze floating through my house on a nice day!

I'll just finally feel like I'll know what's going on in the front of my house for a change.

* * * * *

My new door in all of it's glory!!!

Don't even think about nosing it up, Daisy!

Bored

I'm bored and my house needs cleaning. The only way I can get into it today is if I (gasp!) rearrange the furniture in my house. Ryan's room has already been done. Hope he doesn't have to get up in the middle of the night to pee. He might get lost.

Up next? Ashley's room because we will soon have baby number 2 (Cecelia) here during the day and their pack n plays are in the kids' rooms.

And then maybe the living room. I have to keep Bret on his toes so he doesn't succumb to early Alzheimers, so maybe I should rearrange the kitchen cabinets again.

Prom Night

Bret and Scott took the girls to the Girl Scout Prom tonight. Don't they look adorable?

Ashley, in a sea of pre-teeny boppers.

Aww, Bret's first prom!