Wow, He Is Good

Monday was a tough morning all around. I was exhausted from sleeping 3 hours a night for 4 days in a row due to work and everything that could go wrong was. I knew I was yelling every other minute at the little ones to "Hurry up please!" and "Listen to me!", but couldn't seem to stop myself. Once in the car and nearing preschool Ashton, my three-year-old who had been quiet in the backseat, suddenly said "Mommy, it's a beautiful day outside...". I grumbled in agreement but really had to strain to hold the tears back when he followed in a softer voice with "...but you are having a bad day today. Can you please stop yelling at me?" I sent myself to time out after that and man, I deserved it. He is so perceptive for such a young soul and can humble me with one sentence. He is going to be a great man someday.

Holy Gasoline Batman!

For those of you NOT in Charlotte, thank your lucky gas gauges! There is a gas crisis in NC and people are now manic over the shortages. It is surreal to see lines of cars waiting to get gas at gas stations that don't EVEN HAVE GAS, people are simply camping out overnight, sleeping in their cars and hoping a tanker comes. Costco has been out of gas for 10 days now and there's not much of a supply anywhere else. At preschool everyone was talking about it, the library random strangers asked me if I had gas and where I got it from, Wal-Mart was dead due to lack of shoppers that chose to wait in line instead...it's everywhere! People are cussing at each other and cutting each other off to get to pumps that do have gas and police are being asked to patrol stations as the tankers arrive. Crazy crazy crazy!

**SPECIAL NOTE: We had to miss Ashton's OT appointment Wed. due to lack of
gas (we are in Matthews and they are in Pineville) and they want to charge us a $140 no show fee. What the heck is that??!!!?? So, we need a
new pediatric OT if anyone knows of any.

Kate's 2nd Birthday!

Yea! We have a Video Channel!

Yea! We have a video channel on youtube.com! Aol's Uncut video was rejecting wayyyyyyyyyyy too many of my videos for one reason or another (length, failure to upload, etc), so I'm now posting to YouTube.

• Check us out at http://www.youtube.com/dawnelizabeth8i .

• The older AOL videos will still be there - http://uncutvideo.aol.com/search/relevant?value=dawnelizabeth8i

Ummmm, Ummm Yuck!

Tonight for dinner Ashton got to pick what he wanted and ate every little bit of it. (Ashton is a picky and skimpy eater, so this was of great note).

Peanut Butter with Jelly, American Cheese and Ranch, all between two
slices of bread. He didn't eat the crusts of course, but did chomp right down to
them.

I say, "Hey, to each their own!"

Festivus For the Rest of Us in Fall

Yesterday we had a great time at this year's "Festival in the Park". The kids really had fun riding the carnival rides, playing on the playground and in the sandbox, catching a show by a clown troupe and taking in all the sights and sounds of a fall festival. Previously we've gone to events like this one, but for some reason or another (tantrums, nap time, over stimulation) they've not been the greatest experiences. But this time, it was magic!



Kate and Ashton both not only wanted to, but enjoyed, going on the rides by themselves. This was the first year they really did it! It was so much fun and gave me unbelievable joy to see them both get in ride cars together not fighting with, but having fun with each other! They were so good about siting right next to each other and taking turns steering or turning or whatever the rides did. (Kate is so fearless at 2!)

The only minor blip was Kate and good ol' Gus the Talking School Bus. As of late she's become fascinated with school buses, always pointing them out as we drive down the road. I was soooooo sure once she saw Gus the Bus parked and open to anyone who wanted to go inside and explore, she'd run up to it and climb those giant stairs. But, surprisingly, she did not want to get on. I'm guessing up close a bus is quite larger and dirtier than she anticipated. As she stood there staring at Gus, she was very certain and firm when asked again and again if she wanted to go on, saying "No. Nope. No. No. No. NO!" But she continued to hang around the open door, playing peek-a-boo with the driver and carefully watching all the kids getting on and off. As I began to give up on her, out of the blue she puffed her little chest out and said "Mommy, up!" pointing inside the school bus. So, I carried her up the stairs and deposited her in the seat next to her daddy. She immedietly got up, ran to the window, and let out the loudest Tarzan-like bellow I've herd from her yet. "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" to the festival, crowd, and anyone within a mile distance.





I guess that was her way of telling everyone how proud she was of herself for conquering her fear of the giant yellow machiene. I was proud of her too!





All-in-all it was a great time and it cemented in my mind what a wonderful season fall really is!

Arrrrg Me Maties!

Did you know today is "Talk Like a Pirate Day"? September 19 every year!

http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html

"Ahoy! - "Hello!"
Avast! - Stop and give attention. It can be used in a sense
of surprise, "Whoa! Get a load of that!" which today makes it more of a "Check
it out" or "No way!" or "Get off!"
Aye! - "Why yes, I agree most heartily
with everything you just said or did."
Aye aye! - "I'll get right on that
sir, as soon as my break is over."
Arrr! - This one is often confused with
arrrgh, which is of course the sound you make when you sit on a belaying pin.
"Arrr!" can mean, variously, "yes," "I agree," "I'm happy," "I'm enjoying this
beer," "My team is going to win it all," "I saw that television show, it
sucked!" and "That was a clever remark you or I just made." And those are just a
few of the myriad possibilities."

ChaCha Guide

If you text a random question to 242242 you may very well get an answer from me! I am a newly appointed ChaCha Guide (part-part-time job) and, while the money is hardly anything, it's a great way to leave the potty-training/kid squabbling world behind me and enter back into the adult realm.The questions range from interesting t0 weird, but I enjoy attempting to craft witty yet correct answers in record time with a 160 character or less limit. Try it sometime! ChaCha!Here are some recent questions with my responses:
Q:What is the sexiest thing to do to a woman? A: I think the sexiest thing to do to a woman is listen to her. ChaCha the night away!
Q:What are the 7 colors found in the rainbow? A: The 7 colors of the rainbow are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Use the acronym Roy G. Biv to remember!
Q: What time does Jimmy John's open? (In Iowa) A: The Jimmy John's located in West De Moines located at 5465 Mills Civic ParkwayTel: 515-440-6666 opens at 10am. Pick me up a sandwich!
Q: Comment: You rock! A: Yes, ChaCha Guides are the best. Tell all your friends to text 242242 and join to join the cool kids club!
Q: What is the score of the Yankees game? A: The Yankees lost to the White Sox tonight, 2-6. Boooo! Get' em next time sluggers. ChaCha!
Try it sometime, you just might get me!

Is Ashton going from 3 to 13?

While discussing (well I would say discussing, he may think lecturing) Ashton on how he should love his sister, not hit his sister and share things with her, he jumped 10 years ahead in time to the dreaded teenager years in one quick moment. The little booger stuck both hands in front of his face with thumbs touching to block me from his view and said "Mommy, stop talking now". So I did.



Well, it was either stop talking or yell at him that "I am the mother and I will talk as long as possible and he'd better be glad I even want to talk to him after hitting Kate". Today I took the high road, stopped talking and concentrated on driving. But if he does it again I think I will try to laugh instead.

The Priorities of a Newly Turned Two-Year-Old.

At night, when I put Kate to bed, we say a simple prayer asking God to bless all of our family and friends. We begin with "God bless (insert name here)" and end with "Amen". Lately, Kate has taken to making sure God blesses everything she values. Here is a list of things she has thrown into our nightly prayer mix, somewhere between her various Grandparents and Aunts/Uncles:

• "God bless t.v."





• "God bless chocolate milk"





• "God bless fan" (ceiling I think)





• "God bless outside"





• "God bless baby doll"





• "God bless Elmo"





• "God bless light on please" (Is this her way of searching for a sign?)

My one prayer is that both she and Ashton look away from organized religion and begin a transcendental approach to life, possibly through the worship of nature. I would like to see them taking the time to stop and not only smell the roses, but appreciate all the flora and fauna around us. As Ralph Waldo Emerson one said "Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. "

Hush My Little Babies, Hush

After the party today (more on that later) we had to pack up two exhausted children and ride over to Paul's friend's house to get our newly brake-padded Corolla. On the way, the sleepy birthday princess was crying and carrying on while fighting sleep. Frustrated and tired myself, I began to ignore her when all of a sudden I hear a very soft voice out of the back seat quietly singing "Lollipop, lollipop, oh lollipop". When I turned my head to see the source of this sweet song , it was Ashton singing Kate to sleep with her favorite song. My heart just melted and I was so...I don't even know the word to describe it. But when times are tough with him, and oh yes, he is a tough one, this moment will carry me through. I love my children.

Hurricanes Haunt Me (Partial Party Cancelation)

Hurricanes are famous for ruining my special days. This year is no different. For those of you who don't know, Hurricane Wilma wrecked my honeymoon and left Paul and I stranded for many days in Mexico. (See photo to the left of downtown Cancun).

As the song "One way or another, I'm gonna find ya, I'm gonna get you, get you get you" springs to mind, Hurricane Ike is (brace yourself for a bad pun) going to rain on my parade tomorrow. No, we are NO WHERE NEAR the path of this monster storm, heck, it's supposed to be 90*F and sunny! But as the Texas gulf gets pounded and oil refineries have shut down, the price of gas in our area has shot up so high (over $1 per gallon in the past 24 hours) we must cancel the driving part of Kate's party tomorrow. Of course, only because I wanted to visit the drive through ranch does this happen. Oh well, the new change of plans involves having Angelique and rest of the NC mountains branch of the family (Mom, Freddy, Auntie Karen and Dominique) come down earlier than the 4pm party to hang out in our neighborhood pool. It's predicted to be stiflingly hot tomorrow and the pool is open weekends so the party will go on, but man oh man. What did I ever do to anger the hurricane gods?

SIDE NOTE: For those of you who have never lived through a hurricane, pray for those unfortunate souls who are in TX and SW LA. Their property will be water and wind damaged, followed by the mold and mildew that erupts from the heat and moisture. They will be without power or food for who knows how long, but the one thing that really stands out in my mind about the aftermath of Wilma is waiting for the water to recede. You may not realize it, but not only is the saltwater/flood water everywhere and destroying most things it touches, it's full of sewage, oil, gas, trash, dead bodies of animals and whatever disgusting things there are about. And to get anywhere - you have to wade through it, sometimes through waist high levels. The stench is something I will never forget and chances are it may be a while before there is clean water for them to wash it off. Those poor, poor people. I hope FEMA has it together this time around and they can get back to normal as quickly as possible.

Always Judging, Always Judging

I found this great and reasonably priced carpet cleaning company through my neighbor. When I say reasonably priced, he will clean my entire house for $65. (Stanley Steamer wants $200+)That's including stairs, hallways, walk-in closets...I even catch him cleaning areas I don't pay him for when I want less than the whole house done. He's great!

The only thing is, well, he judges me. I mean REALLY judges me. He always talks about how dirty our carpet is. I've always been so embarrassed and he gets more and more dramatic each time! (We use him about every 3 months or so.) After he left the last time I said to myself "Self, you don't have to listen to him. Be prepared next time he comes, you don't need his crap."

When Daniel came into the house today, he took one look at our carpet, put his head in his hands, started shaking it back and forth and emitted a low "Oh no". But this time I was ready. "Well Daniel! OF COURSE IT'S DIRTY! If it wasn't I wouldn't need you, now would I?" He nodded quickly, saying "Yes, yes. Si." and I think, ladies and gentlemen, that will be the end of that.

WOW! THE HOUSE LOOKS GOOD THOUGH and is all ready for Sat's party! If you are interested, give him a call at - Diaz Carpet Cleaning - 704.965.0311.

Birthday Party Fast Approaching

I don't know who's more excited about her birthday party this weekend...me or Kate?!?!





The theme is "Jungle/Zoo Animals" and I've worked it in to everything I can. In the morning we are going to the Lazy 5 drive through exotic theme ranch. Then we are heading home to a house decorated with monkeys, lions, zebras and tigers and pink, fusicia and green! The guests get pink camouflage gift bags filled with jungle themed things and the cake will have jungle themed animals on it.





I do hope to play at least 1 game - musical chairs and then let the kids play and the adults eat. If you are coming, great! And If you can't make it, pictures will be posted soon!

At school, for her actual birthday, since she is such a fruit lover, I'm going to core apples and fill them with strawberry cream cheese and sprinkle with raisins and sprinkles in lieu of cupcakes. (Last year I brought sweet potato cakes). YES..I KNOW... I am that weird mom. ;)

Also, on a side note, my mom is sharing the party with Kate and I hope she feels well enough to enjoy herself.

I Hate Potty Trainning

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School Daze

Wow, what a 1st day back to school! The kids did not want to make it out the door this morning. Correction...Ashton did not want to go to school but Kate wanted to go without pants on. They rivaled cats and dogs when Kate decided to wear Ashton's Lightning McQueen underpants (backwards no less) without his consent. But eventually we got to St. Mike's with pants on and Ashton in tow. The following happened:

• Kate wanted to go back to her old classroom and did NOT want to take off her backpack. She did mention she approves that all the chairs in her new classroom are purple, which is the best color in the world apparently.


• Ashton wanted to hide behind me in the hallway outside his class and was more clingy then he ever was as a toddler going to daycare. He also decided today he did not like his favorite shoes in the whole wide world and wanted a pair I gave to Goodwill weeks ago. :(


• I eventually just had to hand the kids over to the nearest adult and run out of the building *yes run*. I was surprisingly sad to see them go. Really sad, but I got over it quickly by slowly and quietly walking around Kohl's department store and trying on everything I could find only to purchase one VERY cute turquoise top. What a perfectly good waste of a morning!

Wednesdays Ashton has OT 8:30-9:30am then I drop them both off back at school. I am very much looking forward to organizing our lives and spending more quality time with the kids in the afternoons now, while I think Ashton & Kate will have some desperately needed time apart. (Click on the photo to read what Ashton's schedule is like this week. OMG, he has a schedule! Where have my little babies gone and who are these school children?)

Ha! Shows What You Know.

As reported by Paul:

During a drive home Paul and the kids were singing the ol' standby "Old MacDonald" when, after horse-cow-pig-sheep-chicken, Paul was running out of animals. So, naturally, he throws out monkey. Stopping the singing Ashton asks the question, "Daddy, Monkeys don't live on a farm. They live in the jungle."

Almost there...

1.5 days until preschool starts back!

WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO! I'm not sure who's more excited, me or the kids!

Angles

Ashton sees different things in everyday items.

He sees a helicopter in our dishwasher sprayer.

He sees a playmate in his shadow.

He sees a pocket when he wears his undies backwards (and likes them better this way).

He sees the world through a different perspective and I think this is the greatest thing about him. I wish I was more like him and I love him for this.