Before You Die, Could You....

At dinner tonight, we had a little girl who was upset because she was told she couldn't have dessert unless she ate her dinner. There is nothing new about this rule. She went on to tell me that when I die, she gets to make the rules. And I'll bet she gets dessert every night. I went on to ask her how she was going to feel when she didn't have someone to sleep with every time her daddy goes out of town. And who would make her lunch? And what about the laundry? Her response to all of this deep thought was, "Well, before you go, could you teach me how to turn the T.V. on?" It's nice to know I'm valued for such an important task.

As Cold As Edward

I had a nice thought last night. I would get all the kids in bed and have myself a little bubble bath. It has been over a year now and it might help me sleep better.

I ran around, getting the kids in bed. Then, I did a quick "pick up" of the bathroom. What good would it do to try and relax with cleaning supplies staring at me? Then, I cleaned the tub, found some candles that didn't make it in the garage sale box, started running my hot water, and got my Edward book into position. One last check of the kids and I was off to becoming a raisin. The room was ready to go. Well, I went to check on the kids and when I came back, there was about 1 inch of water in the tub, and about 8 inches of bubbles. No need to panic, I'll just fill it up again. Unfortunately, the only water that was left was frigid. The candles were so pretty that I tried to bear it for awhile. I made it through one chapter before calling it quits. I will be trying again soon. Until then, thin mints will just have to suffice as my vice.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Oh, the music in the air!

An' the joy that's ivrywhere -

Shure, the whole blue vault of heaven

is wan grand triumphal arch,

An' the earth below is gay

Wid its tender green th'-day,

Fur the whole world is Irish

on the Seventeenth o' March!

~Thomas Augustin Daly

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In Addition...

No, NOT another addition. In addition to the list below, I need to add a spilled gallon of Kilz. Did I mention it is right outside of the door from the kitchen to the garage? I should have known that list was going to grow.

Top 5 Messes This Week

It's only Wednesday and I'm already learning new ways of cleaning this week. Here are my top five messes so far this week...

5. Toilet paper unrolled onto the floor...in all three bathrooms.

4. A child covered in chocolate pudding running through the house, thinking it was a game of chase.

3. Bubbie thinking he needed a whole roll to wipe that little behind of his.

2. Smooshed banana in the carpet. This had to be the most challenging task ever. Did I mention that it was two smooshed banana's?

1. A green crayon that somehow got washed...and dried... with a load of laundry. Brand new outfits and all. Well, at least they'll be wearing green on St. Paddy's Day!

Would someone please call CPS on me? PLEASE!!

Barbie

Barbie's turning 50. I wish I could look that good now while I'm in my thirties.

My Barbie's were probably my most beloved toys when I was young. I can still remember the day when my neighbor, who was an older girl, called and asked if I would like to have her Barbie house. Forget Santa! I had hit it big with the tall townhouse with the elevator on a string. I even got the furniture with it! I spent endless hours rearranging the furniture.

I wasn't all caught up in the "Barbie" image. I didn't care that she had the perfect body or a zillion careers. I just wanted to dress her up and fix her hair. Well, and give her hair cuts, pierce her ears with stick pins, and dress her up again. I can't tell you how many dolls I had that had been decapitated. I just stuck their heads back on and eventually they would start to rip under the chin from being stretched.

Eventually, I learned how to take the town home apart and turn it into a two story ranch style abode. At Christmas, my Barbie house was decked out! Everything from a tree to a dining room table complete with the fine china and Christmas dinner. And the wreath and presents, no less. It looked like Chevy Chase had hung lights on the outside. I did receive the yellow Corvette with the attached controller as a hand-me-down also. However, my Barbie preferred to drive around in her black and tan Tonka jeep.

I had all sorts of Barbie's. I had at least three of the original vintage ones. They're probably all headless now. The horse was part of my beloved collection, too. Most of mine had the obnoxiously huge hair of the eighties. I remember burning one of the doll's hair with the curling iron. Ugh!

Still to this day, I am fascinated with Barbie. Don't know what it is that I find so captivating. I do know it's fascinating to know she's transcended through so many generations. Kathryn has a bunch of them because of that. However, we're a little selective with which fashion statements get to enter our home. I tried to get to the anniversary edition, but Target was sold out of them before I even saw the ad in the paper. I'm going to keep looking though. Maybe when the kids leave home, I'll pull them out and play with them again.

Disney on Ice Giveaway!

The lovely ladies over at Mom Central.com and Notsoaveragemama.com are graciously giving away four tickets to see Disney on Ice. How sweet is that! The tickets are for opening night (March 18) at 7:30pm. It's a local giveaway. Head on over there and get your name in the hat!

You can also purchase a four pack of tickets at www.ticketmaster.com and entering coupon code MOM.

Good Luck!

Poopie Doopie

Guess what? Yep! I've got another "poop" story for you!

This morning, I was trying to take one of those "just remove enough stink to make it through the day" showers when I was greeted by Big E. He just happened to be bare from the waist down. This is a bad sign because he always does his business in the morning. At least he told me there was a "poopie" involved. I started scrubbing a little bit faster.

Then, his noisy twin comes bursting into the bathroom. He had been caught by the diaper-removing monster, too. Ugh! There were two diaper-less toddler boys loose in my house and no telling what evidence was waiting for me. At least they were on tile, right?

Since we're in the "me do" stage, they decided to replace their missing pee pads. Big E would run and get a diaper and return to the bathroom. He would lay down and try to figure out how to get it to work. Meanwhile, Mr. Copycat would do the same thing. Big E could never figure it out, so there must be a mechanical problem within the diaper. So, he would go back and get another one. This continued until there was a mountain of diapers in my bathroom. They were contained and occupied, so that was a good thing.

Needless to say, there wasn't too much damage done. Most of it had been contained in the yucky diaper. Potty training is around the corner and I can't wait! Hopefully, you can't smell me through the computer.

A Life...Could It Be?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7Uqw6syLIk

We, at the Robertson household, passed a major milestone today. It was sort of a rite of passage. My poor husband once again thinks I'm nuts, but this was a major event for the children and I. And it all happened because I made a mistake. Me? Mistake? No way.

Our church has long been void of a married couple's class. A new class started today. I've been so excited to go and meet other couples in the same season of life. I've had this date marked my calendar for two months now. Well, the class (in my mind) is supposed to start at 9:00 A.M. I remember thinking it was going to take a whole lot of effort to get every little body up and out the door on the weekend to be able to get to this class. We rushed around and made it on time. However, the class was moved to 11:00. So much for that idea! There was no way the kids were going to wait through two services. We were out of there by 10:45.

I had been craving On the Border for three days straight. I'd even considered calling the babysitter and getting a date. My poor husband would think I was just enjoying time alone while I really just wanted food. It also did help that the choir sang some jazzy Latino worship music which causes my mouth to start watering for fajita's.

We have not been out to eat as a family in at least a little over a year. Too much work and no enjoyment. You have to understand what it's like. We are that family everyone stares down because their kids are a major disruption to the peace. Four little ones can produce quite a mess, too. However, my stomach won over my brain, so I started hinting to Eric that maybe we should give it a try. After all, it was only 11am and still a way's away from cranky naptime.

Believe it or not, the kids were wonderful. Bubbie even ate a corny dog. Pods was great. Frijole Man got his feelings hurt a few times and just ducked under the table. No tears though. Big E was content using his knife to saw up chips. I actually got to eat until I was stuffed! What a wonderful experience! There is hope for our family yet! All I could do was shout HALLELUJAH!