Mr. Mom

I woke up this morning to a wonderful surprise! Kensley got up at 6am, I nursed her & put her back down like usual & then she was up again at 7am... like usual. Corby woke up because I put her in bed with us & after she nursed, she wanted to play. I made the comment to Corby that I wanted to sleep a little while longer because I knew I wouldn't get to sleep in tomorrow morning (we are having a yard sale). He took her in the living room to play and I expected to sleep about 30 min more, but I woke up at 8:45 & he had made breakfast... pancakes... and he fed Kensley her breakfast! Wow! I loved it! Thanks babe. It's nice to have a treat like that once in a while.

Fowl smells & Fish and the Zoo

These 2 don't really go together... well, sometimes they do, but it's what my post is about today. We laid to rest the 2nd of our two fish that the kids got for Easter last year. Nemo, the beloved goldfish, was flushed down the toilet on Monday evening. As we flushed him, Chandler said, "that makes me want to throw up". However, a new fish was purchased by Daddy about a month ago because he felt Nemo needed a friend. Whether Nemo died of old age, toxic water (the tank rarely gets cleaned), a fungus.. who knows, I am waiting for this new fish, oddly named Yogurt, to kick the bucket as well. I'll admit it now, it was my idea for a fish tank and a bad idea at that. The boys really wanted a pet (fish seemed to be the easiest to take care of) and I don't care to have one because I have enough to care of.

So for the fowl smell. For about a week now I can't pin it down. It's in the kitchen & sometimes I smell it & sometimes I don't. Everytime I do smell it, it's around the sink. Hmmmm....I really hope something funky is not stuck in the drain. For now, it's an ongoing investigation. I'll keep you posted.

We went to the Hollywild Zoo today in Inman, SC. We went with some friends. It was fun. We've been before but it's been about 3 years. This is a picture of Chandler, Carter & Peyton with a brown bear in the background. All of the animals are really close. The best part is the safari ride. You ride this big school bus with the sides cut out & feed the animals. The animals come right up to the sides & eat off the ledge. Mostly we saw deer... a lot of deer & lots of baby deer. All the little ones laying on the ground in this picture are babies. I sat down to nurse Kensley at one of the picnic shelters & a peacock came & jumped up on the table I was sitting at.

Things are looking up

It's been a pretty good week so far. The boys have been getting along much better (knock on wood, cross my fingers... or whatever else I need to do to not break my luck). They spent a long weekend at my parents house. Me, Corby & Kensley went up Saturday afternoon to spend the rest of the weekend there. Corby, Daddy & the boys went fishing. They had a lot of fun & caught a good bit of fish from what I understand. We got to spend Father's Day with my Daddy & just relax for the afternoon. The boys did recruit Corby for a watergun fight. I even got in on some of the action as well, but I really don't care to get wet in clothes. Gimmie a bathing suit & it's okay, but I didn't care to have a wet t-shirt contest with my husband & sons. They were in the tree house peeking out the holes to soak Corby. By the time they were finished, you would have thought that they took a dip in the pool they were all so wet.

This week we've swam a lot so far. It's really nice having a neighbor with a pool. I also implemented the idea that a friend posted for the fruits of the Spirit. Today they got 2 leaves. I hope more will come this week.

A Nice Clean House

I love having a clean house. I sleep better, I feel better, I feel cleaner. However, I have 3 kids... it don't stay clean long. Why is it that you work your butt off for several hours, back & forth from room to room finding a spot for all the stuff. Then the next day, it all magically appears again... on counters, in the floor, on tables, etc. Why can't we all, including myself, just put it back where it was? I think, oh I'll just sit it here until I can get to it. That's half my problem, I've blogged about my scatterbrain before. Our junk spot is the end of the bar. Everything under the sun appears there. I cleaned it off today and I'll bet tomorrow, it will be full by the end of the day.

I've been on a cleaning spree the past week. Since the boys have not been here, I feel like I can devote some serious time to cleaning out. I've already gone through their room, but it could use it again. I've been digging in closets all week long getting rid of stuff for a yard sale. I don't keep hardly anything when I'm cleaning out. On the other hand, my husband keep every scrap piece of paper you can find. He "might" need a number on it. Sure, okay, whatever. I just add it to his ever growing pile that get transferred from room to room, to his car, to his office, then usually back home. Anyway, getting back on subject. I cleaned out the closet in the living room that seems to have the most random stuff in it. It's a pretty small closet, but if you would have seen all the stuff that came out of it, you probably wouldn't believe it all fit. I've kind of been at a halt with some of this stuff. Some of it I got for my wedding. I've been married for 11 years... most of it is not in style anymore, plus I don't have any of the same furniture, so it really doesn't match. Do I keep it for sentimental reasons or yard sale it? Because our house is so small & I need any extra inch of space I can get, I yard saled most of it.

Side note: I've found the best dish clothes ever... actually my Mom found them & told me about them. They are Scotch Brite (I think) microfiber dishcloths. I got them at Wal-Mart in a 2 pack for about 3 bucks. They were on the same aisle at the dish detergent, not with all the other kitchen towels. These should be an essential in every kitchen. They clean so well, soak up a lot of stuff & get rid of spots that never come up with regular clothes. You should try them.

Breaking habits, waitresses & movies

I can't believe I forgot to post this... it's HUGE... (at least I think it is). Carter has stopped sucking his thumb... on his own!!! Woo, hoo. About a month ago it hit me that I haven't seen him sucking his thumb in a while. I asked him about it & he said, "nope & i don't bite my fingernails anymore either". Wow! I thought it would take forever to break him of that habit, but he did it on his own. Yay, Carter!

The boys left today to go to my parents for a few days. It's been a pretty calm week so far. They were in camp the first part of the week & now they are at Mimi & PawPaw's. I totally feel refreshed. I hope them being there will help their ongoing feud amongst each other. Since they are not here, Corby & I went out to eat tonight with Kensley. Our waitress was in her face the whole night.. literally. I wanted to say " back off girl!" Kensley didn't seem to mind, she just stared at her the whole time. This girl kept kissing her & letting Kensley put her fingers in her mouth, getting up close to her face, rubbing on her face, talking about how she wanted to give her some food. Good thing it wasn't my first kid or I would have probably said something. Still, I didn't really like it, but I'm not gutsy enough to say anything to her. I'll just complain about it in my blog... LOL!

We rented a couple movies tonight. I had a coupon for Blockbuster that I redeemed from the Pampers Gifts to Grow program... (you enter codes from diapers & get points to redeem them for stuff which are mostly toys & books & a few other things). We watched The Guardian with Kevin Costner & Ashton Kutcher (sp?). It was REALLY good and I highly recommend it. Some parts of it were so intense that I couldn't sit still. Tomorrow night we are watching the Pursuit of HAPPYness.

Toothless

Chandler pulled his first top front tooth last night. That thing has been loose for over 2 months now. It wiggles all around, but just won't come out. Last night, Corby convinced him he could pull it himself. He wasn't too keen on the idea, but after a lot of convincing he did it. Corby tied a piece of floss around the tooth... it was tied above the tooth kind of in the gum, so he had no choice but to pull it to get the floss off. He cried a few minutes because I think it scared him, but then once he realized it didn't hurt he was fine. Then we had the case of the missing tooth. It went flying when he pulled it out & we looked all over the bathroom & couldn't find it anywhere. Later Carter was playing in the hallway & found it. Good thing... so the tooth fairy could come.

On a different note... my friend Holly posted something on her blog about rabies that I thought was interesting. Good info to have just in case.

Camp week..woo, hoo!

"Praise the hallelujah!" as Carter would say... the boys are in Y camp all week. I've got so much stuff to catch up on and now I feel like I have the freedom to do it. Although, I need to be working instead of sitting here blogging (I'm staring at a mountain of dishes that need to be put into the dishwasher)... but who cares... it's my week. I've heard so much arguing over the past couple weeks that I am looking forward to some peace and quiet for a few days. I've got a card order to finish, house cleaning to catch up on, yard sale stuff to go through, etc, etc,... the list goes on.

We heard a great message yesterday at church. Our pastor talked about the fruits of the spirit. It was an introduction message to the series that he is starting. My goal this week is to refresh myself so that I can exude the fruits of the spirit to my family. I need a refresher this week to get myself back into whack. I have a good idea that I want to do with my family. Each week as we study a different fruit, we'll focus on that in our house. I really want to follow through with this one (I'm bad to have great plans, but a poor follow-through). You blog readers can keep me in check.