Longest. Week. Ever.

This has been the worst week. UG... I can't believe it's only Thursday. Still another whole day.

Let's see... Maddy threw up all Sunday night, so that was some great rest. She was home sick on Monday. Then Larry comes home and is talking layoffs at work. So that's stressful. Then I had to go to school.

Tuesday Larry comes home thinking he probably won't get laid off so that was good. Then Connor started throwing up. I basically got no sleep.

About 9:00 Wednesday morning I started feeling like arse. Plus, it was a half day and I had Shane. So not only is Maddy home early, I have an extra kid in the house. No extra rest for being sick, plus extra work. Larry comes home with weird news about the layoffs and again we are not sure where we stand. And then I had to go to school.

Today we got news that we would hear on Tuesday about the layoffs and Larry is sick. I feel like it's been 3 weeks since Sunday night. I'm exhausted, sick, and stressed out.

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Connor started crying while I was writing this and when I went in there to comfort him he slapped me across the face... hard. That pretty much sums it up.

Good. Night.

The lost art of the Knock Knock joke

Why do kids love knock knock jokes? Seriously. They don't understand them at all. They can't make one up to save their little lives. Not a decent one anyways.

"Knock Knock"
"Who's there?"
"Connor"
"Connor who?"
"I don't want to"

"Knock Knock"
"Who's there?"
"Mommy"
"Oh"

Finally we had something going...

"Knock Knock"
"Who's there?"
"Connor Bennett"
"Connor Bennett who?"
"Connor Bennett!"

"Knock Knock"
"Who's there?"
"Mommy"
"Mommy who?"
"Mommy Bennett" and hilarity ensued

Finally.... after a million tries...

"Knock Knock"
"Who's there?"
"Connor"
"Connor who?"
"Connor Bennett"

Yay!!! I'm so glad we worked for a half hour on that extremely funny Knock Knock joke.

Smell my sock!

"Mommy! Smell my sock."
"I don't want to smell your sock, that's yucky"
"It's not yucky." sniiiiiiffffff "I like it."

Speaking of Connor, he got a big boy bed this week. It's going waaaay better than last time I tried to get him to sleep in a big boy bed. We went out and bought a real twin bed, skipping the toddler bed altogether. I think that's part of our success this time. He's also quite a bit older now, so I think that's part of it.

The only problem we are having is that he is kind of obsessive about his blanket. He needs it to be perfectly smooth and covering all of the sheet. Which he doesn't have a blanket big enough to cover the twin bed. It's wide enough but not long enough. So when he lays down and pulls the blanket up it shows about a foot of sheet at the bottom. Which then he has to get out of bed and pull the blanket down to the end of the bed. Then he gets back in and pulls it up again. And over and over. He just doesn't understand that it's too little for the bed. You can see how this is a problem. I have to shut off the light and lay the blanket on him after he is laying down. He just has to fall asleep before he notices the uncovered sheet and then we are fine. We are working though it for now. Hopefully we will get a proper blanket soon.

But he is doing very well as far as staying in the bed and sleeping his normal hours. Which is good. Last time he kept getting up and would refuse to lay down long enough to fall asleep. So much much improvement here.

A break up

Dearest Old Navy,

I hate to say this, but I think we should start seeing other people. Our relationship just isn't working for me anymore. It's not you; it's me. You continue to offer inexpensive clothes in trendy styles, but well... I've just outgrown you. It happens, please don't feel badly. I no longer feel that I should be wearing jeans that are literally called "The Flirt" or "The Sweetheart". I'm in my 30's after all.

I hung on longer than I should have because of your sweet talking size chart. Always telling me I'm a size smaller than all the other stores. But I now see those were just sweet nothings. I am what I am, you can no longer pull me in with your lies.

Besides, you haven't found me attractive for some time. I have too much around the middle and we both know it. You can't hide it any longer. Let's just face facts, you prefer skinny girls.

So with this letter I say good bye. I wish you well.

Ashley

We're home from Disney

We got home Thursday night. Besides when Connor was a newborn, I would say those 5 days were the most exhausting 5 days of my life. Wow... I was beat, but in a good way.

Let's see. I've been putting off writing about it because I don't even know where to begin. First off, the crowd level was wonderful. Most rides we practically just walked right on and I think the longest line we stood in was about 20 minutes. Maybe 30. It was great! Which I think is partly why it was so tiring. It was ride, run to the next thing, ride, run to the next thing, ride, and on and on. Most rides we rode twice, some three times. We rode the train about 6 times because it was a chance to actually sit down and rest.

Needless to say, we had a blast! Connor lost his dang mind. One of the little shorts they show between actual shows on the Disney Channel is this song about the Bullet Train in Japan. It's very catchy and about a train... so it's one of Connor's favorite songs. He thinks the Monorail is the exact train they are singing about. It really does look like it. So going on the Bullet Train was the absolute highlight of his trip. The bad thing about it was that we tried 6 times to ride the dang thing before we actually got on. Apparently they shut it down if it gets over 80 degrees, which it was for the vast majority of the time we were there. But we did finally get to ride it on the last day and we got to sit in the very very front which was cool. In one part you go over what looks like the Golden Gate Bridge. Then yesterday at Walmart there was a picture of the Golden Gate in a frame and he pointed it out and said that we went there on the Bullet Train. That boy doesn't forget a damn thing!

We did the breakfast with the characters again this year since it was so fun last year. Only this time since there were no crowds it was even better. There were only about 10 families there so we got to spend as much time with the characters as we wanted. Plus we like that breakfast since it's a buffet and they have an omlette bar. Mmmm. Anyways, at the breakfast we saw Minnie, Daisy, Tigger, Pooh, Eeyore, Chip, Dale, Captain Hook, and the Fairy Godmother. I have mixed feelings about people in costumes. It's fun for the kids and I do think it's neat to see every character. The five year old inside of me can forget it's a person in a costume and it can actually be Minnie for a second. But the rest of me knows full well that there is a person under there. And that is weird. I can't see their face, I don't know if they are annoyed or smiling or sad or making faces at me or what. They just have this weird perma-grin on their plastic face... and that kinda freaks me out.

The characters in masks aren't supposed to talk. We saw Mr and Mrs Incredible and Mrs Incredible went all nuts for Connor. She got down on one knee and gave him a huge hug and was whispering in his ear. I was taking the pic and Larry was up with Connor trying to ear what she was saying but he couldn't make it out. When we got home that night I asked Connor what she said and he said that she said he was "very cute" and "so sweet". lol. That was really neat. I'm guessing she had or has a chunky blond haired, blue eyed boy herself.

We saw one show called Drawn to the Magic. It's real Disney animators and they sing and dance and draw a picture. Maddy got picked to go up on stage and do a princess pose so that the lady could draw. She drew Sleeping Beauty and gave Maddy the picture. Then Sleeping Beauty came out and signed it for her. It was very cute. And the best news is that we were able to get the picture home and it is now safe in a frame.

Maddy finally went on the Tower of Terror. And it lived up to it's name for her. She won't be going on that ride again. But Space Mountain scared her the first time a few years ago and this time it was her most favorite ride. So maybe she will get the nerve up again someday.

And for those of you who saw the first Rock of Love... we saw Lacy at California Adventure. We were walking over to the Toy Story ride and she was walking right towards us. I'm looking at her thinking "Wow... that chick looks exactly like Lacy." And then as soon as she passed Larry said "That was Lacy!" and I'm like "I know!" Then later she was walking right in front of us. Despite Larry's very best efforts we only got a pic of her from the back. But Larry did get a little taste of what it's like to be in the paparazzi.

Connor had a hard time accepting it was time to go. As soon as he realized we were not going back to Disneyland he started screaming and saying "I want to ride the Bullet Train!" After about an hour of that Larry had to pull the car over and give him a talking to. Then he was better. We were out yesterday and I told him it was time to go home and he whispered in my ear "I want to go to our Disneyland home"

I've uploaded our pictures, so if you know me in real life you should be getting an email at some point here with all our pics from the trip. If you don't get one, let me know.

Disneyland or bust

Have I mentioned we are going to Disneyland tomorrow? No? Slipped my mind I guess. Despite the fact that we have been planning this trip for almost a year it totally snuck up on me.

But as you can see, I'm all packed and ready now. Well, clothes are packed. I had to lay it all out so that I could make sure everyone had a whole outfit for every day. Including jammies. I'm notorious for forgetting jammies. Really, the clothes is the least part of the packing. Food, lots and lots of food. And extras... blah. Toys, books, stroller, pack and play, cameras, batteries, DVD player, movies, phones, GPS, laptop, and chargers of all sorts. That's where the lists really come into play. I have a list of stuff that takes up a whole notebook page, and "clothes for everyone" is only one line.

The irony of it all is that I'm surprised how little stuff we are taking. It's the least amount of stuff we've taken anywhere thus far. :) Maybe I'll feel differently once it's all in one spot. Right now it's strewn all over the house, so perhaps I don't have a feel for it.

We also upgraded to a two room suite so I'm totally excited about that. The only other time I had a two room suite was on my wedding night. And that was only because we showed up all dressed up in our tux and gown and they had lost our reservation. So they gave us a free upgrade.

But the two room suite means that me and Larry don't have to go to bed at 7:30. Score!! We can potentially put the kids down and then (gasp!) go in the other room and not lay there in the dark and pretend we are going to sleep. You can read my post about our trip last year right here. I talk about going to bed for the night at 6:30. Good times.

See you when we get back!!

Knot Head

I was walking in the house yesterday and the phone was ringing. I run to it and it's the school nurse... again.

"Hi is this Madison's mom?"
"Yeah"
"This is so and so, the nurse from such and such school"
I'm trying to think... allergies? asthma? what?
"Madison ran into a pole at recess. She has a bump on her head and it will probably bruise but she's fine. I just wanted to let you know. I'll be sending a head injury form home so you know what to look for."
Now, I'm sorry but I had to hold back giggles. She ran into a pole... in the playground she has played on three times a day for a year and half. When she got home I asked her what she ran into. It was a tether ball pole, without a tether ball. So yeah, just a pole. lol.

Now despite the amount of time Maddy spends talking she is really bad at telling story, so I'm not 100% clear on what happened but from what I can determine she was spinning around the pole and then turned to look to look at someone and bang. So not only did she run into a pole, she actually had her hand on it when she hit her head on it. How does a person do that, exactly?

It's a real beauty

Connor calls his pant legs "tunnels". lol. Isn't that cute?

He has also been calling his booty his "beauty". As in, "I'm sitting on my beauuuuuuty". I'm going to start calling my butt "my beauty". lol. I think it's fitting, don't you?

OH! I can't believe I almost forgot this. I'm sure you don't remember but back in the summer I met a mom at the park and we totally seemed to hit it off. She had a daughter the same age as Maddy and a Son the same age as Connor... to weird. Our husbands even have very similar jobs and hobbies. Totally bizarre. We chatted for like two hours while our kids played so nicely and at the end I gave her my number and we made tentative plans for them to come over and go swimming.

She never called.

I was so bummed. Seriously, so so bummed. I did the whole check your phone to make sure it's working routine. Went over the whole thing in my head thinking "Was it something I said?" But you know... that's life.

Anyways... I saw her at Costco today. Her son has bright bright orange hair. I saw him and I thought... "Hm... he looks familiar." And I looked at the mom and bang... there she was. For a moment I thought of saying Hi, but I didn't. I mean, she didn't call for a reason right? What was she going to say "oh hi! I'm so glad to run into you because I wanted to call but I lost your number." Um... doubtful. Possible, but doubtful. I'm sure it would have been more like "Who the hell are you?" So I skipped that bit of humiliation and went on with my day.

Does Medicare cover that?

I was driving the other day and was coming up to a light where I was going to turn right. I know you are supposed to stop at normal stopping place and then inch up to turn right on red... but come on, real life here people. I did what normal people do when they are out and about and went up to where I could see if it was clear, like a half car length into the right turn. I stopped there and out of the corner of my eye I see someone on the sidewalk. He was close enough to scare me, like I was going to hit him. It kinda took my breath for a second. He was going fast and I didn't see him til the last second because I had been looking left for cars. There was no danger of me hitting him because he was just turning the corner on the sidewalk but we met at the corner at the same time and it startled me.

Anyways, so I look closely at him and he is like a 70 year old man... on roller blades! I was like "you go boy!" How cool is that? It reminded me of this story that I want to say I heard from a friend that worked in the emergency room. But that doesn't make sense because I don't know anyone who works in the ER so I don't know where I heard this story. But anyways, there was this 80 year old man who got admitted to the ER with snowboarding injuries. Snowboarding injuries! Rock on old guy. Rock. On.

Good morning 2009

Wow wow wow wow WOW! It's 2009. Here is my post from last year talking about the new year. Now that I have been doing this blog for a while it's amazing to look back over the year and see how things have changed.

I was hoping that 2008 would be the last year of diapers. It wasn't. While Connor rocked the potty training he is still wearing diapers at night and nap. In another post I talked about my fears for putting him in a toddler bed. They were well founded because it was a disaster. So bad that he is still in a crib to this day. So again... I will hope for a big boy bed in the new year.

I also mentioned paying off Larry's car in 2008. Also didn't happen. What can I say? Maybe in 2009. 2010 for sure because that is when it's due anyways. :)

Ok, Hopes and dreams for 2009...

I like to make fun resolutions like eat more colorful foods, rather than boring not fun ones like lose weight. So my fun resolution is to add more style to my life. I'm currently wearing my first attempt. I never wear patterns. I'm scared of them. But I bought this shirt yesterday and it has a pattern on it. So there! And it wasn't even the new year yet! I rock at resolutions!

My plan is to put Connor in preschool in September so I can take my classes during the day. That will save some time since going to school at night is kind of a pain. They have a preschool on campus that is super cheap but the kids have to be 3. Plus I think it will be good for him.

Maddy will finish first grade with a bang and start second grade. Wow.

We are planning to go to Disneyland twice. Once in January and once in December. Hopefully that pans out.

I hope to diversify my income with some online income and babysitting. This year I made almost $1,000, clearly I have a lot of room for growth. Let's set a goal. Ummm...(complicated calculations including pulling numbers out of the air and guessing) $5,000. I hope to make $5,000 from side hustles in 2009. We'll check back on this in a year.