Whew - take a breath

After yesterday and this morning I need to sit and take a breather!

Yesterday's agenda:
8 - 9:40 - Y
10 - home to change Makena and myself into different clothing and out the door
10:15 - Gymnastics
11:15 - home for lunch
12 - off to Rosedale for more returns. I returned "the Christmas dress" and that had all kinds of drama with it.  She had tears rolling and everything.  I felt so bad for her
2:30 - kids home to nap. I washed the kitchen floor, reposted my expired craigslist postings, and did random picking up
4 - short notice craigslist sale.  Who can turn down easy money?
5 - home for supper
6 - bedtime routine
7 - Mw to bed and play with Mk
7:30 - Mk to bed time for me to start my other chores (laundry, dishes, blah blah blah)
9:45 - bed for me!

Today we started with the Y of course, and then we rushed home for me to shower and change and off to dance we went.  While Mk was at dance I tried to get Mw's hair cut.  The wait was too long so we had to pass. Instead I headed to the diaper store (All Things Diapers) and got some more detergent for the dipes.  Wednesdays are "coffee mornings" there so Mw was able to crawl around and I got some mommy chat time in.  There were only 2 other moms there today, but one was Karla, and it's been FOREVER since I've seen her!  It was nice to chat, even though it was a very short time since I had to buy my detergent and pack back up to go get Mk from dance.

In a little while I have another CL sale and then we'll head back home for nap times. During that time I hope to get some packing done.  We're headed up north (yes, again) for the weekend.  This time we have a wedding.  It's bad timing for Jared's exam, but he's been planning for it and been studying accordingly.  The big exam day is quickly approaching. In fact it's one week away.  Then we will have Jared back!  It always hard at first when he's around again.  It takes time for me to adjust to not having to do everything and to not have everything done my way.

Anyway, I don't have too much planned for the weekend for myself, just the groom's dinner and the wedding. Jared, however, has a full Friday and Saturday planned since he's in the wedding.  I'm glad he'll get to do fun things like golf and hang with our college friends.

Well, the kids are done eating and I have to get them clean and ready to head out to our CL sale.  Don't worry, I always meet in a VERY public place that I know has cameras.  It's usually inside of a Target.  I also make sure that I'm not being followed.  However, some of those moms are super creepy.  Like yesterday's. Oh gosh, I'll write about that later  ....

Okay, it's later:
I had a sale for all of my swaddle blankets.  I figured they would sell soon since it's getting chilly out. Anyway, I met the parents and both of them inside of Target and they have "meth user" teeth and just look like total dirt balls.  I felt SO bad for the baby.  At least they were buying her some nice things, but STILL, the parents were clearly users. Dirty nasty users. My heart breaks for children that are born into that kind of situation. It's not their fault, however there is always that nurture (or lack thereof) over nature aspect when getting raised. It won't be their fault when they act out in school because they're staving for attention. No, I don't know for SURE if they were actual users and maybe they are excellent parents.  I truly hope so and I keep telling myself those kinds of things whenever I see parents like that. It helps me sleep at night. Anyway, they bought the swaddlers and everybody went on their marry way.  I DID check my mirrors a lot on that drive home.  It's they ones that are kind of sketchy that I worry the most about.  The moms with 3 kids in tow and clearly being smart with their money are the ones that I don't  worry too much about!

Ahhh fooey

So when the kids and I haven't been playing outside these past couple of weeks we've been spending our time shopping. Well, all that just came to a screeching hault. The GMC insurance, county taxes, and credit card bill (which had the stroller on it and that we pay off in full every month) are all due at the same time. OUCH! So today the kids and I went returning.  The hardest things to return were the clothes for the kids that I just got from The Children's Place.  Their "picture perfect" line and other lines in the girls' section are SO cute. Being responsible sucks sometimes. I also have some clothes for next summer that I got from Gymboree for AWESOME deals that I should return but am trying to talk myself into keeping.

I also realized that paying off my Kohls charge at the time of purchase has backfired.  Now I have money sitting in that account and I have to wait for the statement to come so I can call and ask for a check to be sent so it doesn't sit on there. I also purchased things with Kohls cash and the only way not to lose that was to get store credit.  Jared and I talked about that last night (because I had figured that would be the case) and we agreed that store credit would be fine and we would save it until we needed something.

Now I need to figure out what to do this weekend so I don't spend money but yet we have fun.  I see a grandparent's house in our future!  The downfall to that is that the kids sleep like crap, so I do too. I like that they get to visit and have quality time, but I like sleep. Yes, I'm being selfish, but I can't be a good mom if I'm walking around like a zombie.  Maybe I could convince myself to take pictures of the kids for our house.  I take all these pics, but I never print any off because I don't like them.

Anywho, the moral of my post: "being responsible sucks". The End.

The 'tude is fading

The screaming/yelling at me, the massive fits, the overall loudness are finally starting to fade. They're not gone, but they're fading.  It's about time that Jared grew up. HA, I'm so funny.  Anyway, Makena is starting to get better about understanding that she needs to ask nice for things instead of throwing fits.  She doesn't quite get that even if you ask nice it doesn't mean you get it, but I can't expect everything right away. She only had one fit today, even though it was a BIG one, it was only one. She woke up from her nap in a mood. She came downstairs and I looked at her, yep just looked at her, and she fell on the floor, flailed like a fish, and started screaming and crying. After I asked her to help me with supper she calmed down and we had a great evening.

This past weekend: we went to my dad's. Makena did some fishing, playing, walking, and overall enjoying the outdoors!

I'm not in much of a typing mood, thus a short post.

The Lion King

The weekend was spent up north celebrating Grandpa's birthday. It was such beautiful weather!

On a mission to get to the swingset

LEAVES!!

Running the rows of corn

Hey girlie! 

Hey - she's on a log

The morning started off with an outdoor run for me and a nice stroller ride/nap for the kids.  I was cruising along and not even feeling tired 25 minutes into it when my knee started to tinge with pain.  Not too big of an issue so I kept going. BAD idea. I ended up HAVING to walk home and that took a LONG time. Once home I iced the heck out of my knee and I hope it's fine tomorrow.  I still don't know what causes it to happen when I run, but it does, EVERY time.  Always my left knee.  I think it has something to do with the slope of the roads, but I can't be certain.

The day also consisted of a LOT of outside time.  Mw is finally getting to the point where he doesn't put everything in his mouth right away.  He ended up chasing a ball around the backyard. Mk was trying to keep it from him out of jealousy and he thought it was a game she was playing.  It worked out nicely for me. I spent this time sitting in a chair with an ice pack on my knee, haha.

We went out shopping this evening and I was able to get us a copy of "The Lion King". I used a $5 off coupon on the already discounted price and we got a free poster ($19.99 value).  It's a pretty cool poster, it's not paper and it's one of those that "moves" when you do. Sometimes toys-r-us can have some good deals.  Not often, but sometimes! I'll be saving the movie until Christmas rolls around. I also purchased my niece's birthday presents. I love checking things like that off my list. I purchased Mk's Halloween costume too. It was the last Rapunzel with a wig that they had. Good think I got it, she's been insistent on the Rapunzel costume for 2 weeks, so I figured she REALLY wanted it.

Now, let's talk about all the things I want for x-mas for myself MK. The princess aisle is amazing, they have piggy paint on clearance in the kids' makeup section, they have a Disney dance accessories section (bags, slippers, tutus, leg warmers), and they also had really cute cable knit leg warmers in the makeup aisle.  I was SO tempted to get some for Makena.  They are SO cute!  It's really hard to resist buying that kind of stuff. I wanted to crazy getting things for Mk's birthday and Christmas, but I didn't get anything for her besides the costume.  I was kind of proud of myself.

Nothing else to report for the day.