my little dum dums

No, they're not dumb...but today, I brought the little rascals with me to clean the offices in Little Canada.  I'm the substitute cleaning lady while Natalie is away on her adventure.  In an attempt at saving him distress, I brought Reg with because Ken would be working in the basement all day and I figured he'd be scared.  He whimpered and ran around on pins and needles for 4 hours while we cleaned.  Oh, well.  At least he wasn't scared and lonely.
The girls were entertained by their pack packs for a bit...they did very well...and then...I gave them a sucker.  Auntie Natalie keeps dum dums in a basket on her desk.  There were lots and lots in there.  Every time I saw them, they had a different one.  I am convinced they each ate 30+ dum dum suckers in 4 hours.  For co-workers that may find wrappers under their desk, my apologies.  I tried to get them all.

I interviewed them today.  Click their links below to hear...and, yes, they're wearing elf hats.  We cleaned the office today - they thought it was time to embrace the holiday spirit again.
Macy's Interview - Just FYI - Macy loves Scooby Doo - that is why her favorite thing to do is go to Spooky Island.  And, I have no idea why Ken, Gracie, and I are her favorite sisters.  Jorey made her mad just prior to the interview. ;)
Jorey's Interview - know this.  we don't just feed her hot dogs and water!

6 years...

For two people in a marriage to live together day after day is unquestionably the one miracle the Vatican has overlooked. -bill cosby

Well, we've done it for 6 years, now.  I've had one person tell me that they had been married for 35 years...and liked each other for about 14 of them.  It's hilarious.  I guess you have to have a sense of humor about the fact that marriage isn't perfect and that sometimes it's downright painful, but that it's totally worth it to be on the journey with the only person in the world you've ever felt truly comfortable with and that you've laughed and cried with - someone that you know you could trust to be with Megan Fox - alone - with her in full seduction mode - well, I'm starting to get a bit jealous of my fake analogy, so I'll move on...

Anyways, at the end of the day, when you really think about it, you know you need each other so you keep working on all the things (mine are so few...ya, right!) that drive each other crazy.  You hope that with each passing year, it will get better and better. 

First, we did this:

Then, in 2005, we did this:

(I know that's a pretty pic!- 23 hours of labor and an extra 70 pounds will do that to a girl.  Look at my handsome Love Bug, though!)

check out that belly...we suffered through this together.  Really?  My stomach still looks like there's a baby in there! (in my head...)  Then, my husband - with lack of now sufficient "how to be a good husband and not say all that's on your mind" skills, asks, "What's the deal with your stomach?".  Me, raging and stressed..."I don't know!"  Well, eventually it went away.  And...so did that extra 70 pounds.  We learned a lot that year.  :)

Then, in 2007, we did this

And, bought a new house, and really maxed ourselves out on potential stress-level with the combination of the two.  I don't think I showered for a 2-week period that summer until my sister, Natalie, came over that summer to say, "Wendy, give me that baby and go take a shower right now."  The following summer, when we saw all the neighbors (after winter hibernation ensued), none of the neighbors recognized me.  I guess that was a good thing, huh?

I'm enjoying the journey and can't want to see what the future holds for us.  As we've always said, we're perfect for each other and we deserve each other! 

It's raunchy...

Macy - "Mom, I farted..."
Me -"Oh, ya?"
Macy - "It's raunchy..."
Me - "Great..."
Jorey - "Pew - that's a stinky one!"

we are a classy, classy bunch.

My Valentine

OK Ladies.  For those of you that have a valentine...and even those of you that have had one but may not have one this year.  Sometimes, I find myself forgetting to think of all the ways I cherish thy husband.  Though he does sometimes make it hard when he:

-has a tupperware replacement deficiency - if you open the door of the cupboard and see some stacks of like-sized containers, you gently put the container WITH THE LID (that goes in a drawer and you know this) into the cupboard on top of containers that are 1/8 it's size. 

-will not take the shoes off.  no matter how dirty, they are clean.  come on, love bug.

-folp-a-lot maximus - flop around in bed like you're trying to have the personal challenge of turning 360s while in the air.

-blow the raging trombone all night long next to you in bed - so loud sometimes that it wakes you.  play that funky music, white boy.

  that's just a small list of some dirty deeds that need to go away... 

But then, he goes and does something so remarkable and unbelievable that you remember why you will try hard to ignore the previously stated items.  It's like he can sense he's about to get that karate chop to the forehead and responds just in the nick of time...It's moments like this that the loud music plays in your head and you wonder how you were the luckiest girl in the world to find him.  You think of all the hugs, kisses, extra phone calls (that generally annoy you, but you know they're great), and the wonderful father that he is to your kids and say ahhhhhh. 

The girls got valentines, I got valentines, I got perfume, a necklace, earrings (i may or may not have been told by my eldest fledgeling that this was coming) If you look closely, you'll see a heart shaped box of Turtles.  These were for me, but in addition to the first category today comes - giving chocolates and then eating most...but, then again, my butt and thighs don't need those chocolates anyways  -- or, as Macy would say, ChLOCKates.  Love bug, you're my man.  I hope you have enjoyed your homemade dish cloth.  It really was made with a lot of love -

Granny Kay says, I blew my wad...

I've always been so thankful for my granny Kay.  She's a feisty little thing who always stood up for herself, but took care of my Grandpa Ed so well at the same time.  She's strong and funny and beautiful.  I love her so much and think of her so often, it only made sense that when we had a daughter, she'd be named after her.  Macy will take the Kathleen through life and I hope she gets to spend enough time with Granny to see how truly awesome she is.  There's just something in a name, huh?  Well, today, Granny displayed her funny side when we (my father, Grandpa Ed, and Granny) were playing pfeffer.  Granny was my partner against those darn boys.  She was after my dad and doing quite well in her quest to set him, when she looked at her hand, realizing she had no ammo left and said, "Well, I blew my wad."  I laughed until I had tears running down my face.  Seriously, that's the greatest.  1.  You're 80 - when have you heard that?  2.  You ROCK!

Valentines and a bummer

"Macy, let's get working on your valentines for all your friends"
"Ok - I want to send one to ...(8 names...)"
"Well, we have a list - let's just send it to everyone in your class."
"Oh, great, that will be fun."
"OK - the first one will be for Ayden."
"Oh, I really hope Ayden isn't naughty for our party because then he'll just have to sit at the table and cry because that's a bummer."
"Oh, yes.  That is a bummer."

She can do maaaaarvelous things...I too will praise her with a new song.

You know my sister - by now, most of you have likely read her blog to learn that she's pretty amazing.  (both sisters are, but this time, I'm talking about Natalie)  Well, one thing you likely didn't know about her is that she knits like a fiend!  What's that you say?  A Fiend?  Yes.  When we get together to have "knitfest", I generally knit a dishcloth.  I've done a couple scarves - lost one, and don't like the other...I tend to drink the wine and lose track of what stitch I'm on so I end up with a rather poor finished quality that I'll never want to show anyone.  Well, this year at knitfest, I made Ken, my lovely husband, a dishcloth for Valentine's day.  (on a later post - when we talk about V-day, you can see what he got me - it's in sharp contrast to his dishcloth.  Anyways, back on track - Natalie was working on a sweater.  Not just any sweater...an amazing and totally impossible sweater.  One that I would have believed was only possible when using a machine and sewing the pieces together.  There was some question on whether the girls would wear it because they only want to wear t-shirt material.  The day I presented it to them, they argued about who got to wear it.  Since Macy was the biggest and it was meant for her, she gets it.  I asked her to model the night before she wore it to daycare to dazzle all her boyfriends with it.  Not bad, eh?

My Sister's Blog

Well, my sister has shared her blog with the world, so I can finally feel free to tell all of you that she is moving on to her next big adventure.  I'll tell it a little differently than she will (not nearly as entertaining), but she has started a blog that will detail her trip to Duke University to receive treatment for her weight and food issues.  Natalie has always struggled with her weight - it has reached a point where all of us that love her very much wanted to help her get a handle on it - so, we talked about it one day.  It involved a little trickery and maybe some less than 100% honest meeting requests.  Her funny version of what happened can be read on her blog.  It's true enough and might bring a slight tear to your eye.  I've added her blog, Slimming Down To Sexy...Eventually @  http://www.slimmingdowntosexy.blogspot.com/ to my blog list and you can also get to it by clicking the link to this post.

Natalie -  can't wait to see you take on this next chapter in your life, and know that you'll be a great success story.  We love you so much and can't wait to giggle through your stories of bra-less stress tests and all other adventures.  I know you'll tell the story better than anyone else!

Whaaaat Ever!!!

We arrived home from daycare tonight (after a brief dangerous adventure with a snow plow on my trek to Owatonna for work) and parked the car in the garage.
I got the girls in the house, helped get shoes off, instructed them to take their coats and hats off, and said I was heading out to shovel a little bit of the yard out for Reggie to go potty.
Macy hollers out the door at me, "When are you coming in?"
"I'll be in when I'm done."
"How long is that going to take?"
"It'll just be a couple minutes."
"Whaaat Ever, Mom!" (in the tone of a sassy valley girl)

Later that night, Ken told the girls to not color with markers while they were on the couch.  Macy responds with a really quick ( in a nice tone), "Ummm, Ok...whatever...that's fine".

I am starting to prepare for my lack of sanity when she's in high school...

Mo 'mercials

A commercial comes on for Electrolux stoves.  They have just made cakes.  Jorey says,

"Mom, I want to watch that one with those cakes."

"Oh, honey, that's not a show, that's just a commercial"

"I want to watch mo mercials"

yo, mo!