Nightly Routine

Every night, Kalaya and I have a routine. It goes alittle something like so:

• I give her 10 mins warning before it's time to get ready for bed.
• I spend the next 10 mins either

A) picking up 2395820598 craft supplies or B) Trying to save Diesel's poor little life.

• After said 10 mins I announce that it's time to go brush our teeth and get ready for bed.
• 15 or more mintues later I've had to do one of the following to get her distracted and in the bathroom"

A) intrigued her with a "get ready for bed race" that would rival NASCAR

B) called to her like a doggie/kitty to tell her to come get her puppy/kitty treats. (obviously located in the bathroom)

C) used my superb threatening skills

• Once we've got into the bathroom we throw a little toothpaste around, possibly touching our teeth a moment or two but more in likely hitting the shirt, lip, or floor.
• Next, we go potty. ( This one is pretty straight forward)
• And now we run to the bed to read some books.
• Storytime is always in this order: I read them and she places them to the right of the bed. Then when I have read them all, she picks them up from the right and reads them to me to place on my left. ( My little OCD princess! Mommy love you precious!)
• We then turn the lights off and either " tell stories" ( new favorites are PawPaw stories (about my daddy) or we sing songs.
• Near the end of this routine we have our prayers. ( With full discussion on why we hold hands and how when we hold said hands " we make a perfect circle".
• And then, finally!, at this point, we have my favorite part of the day--------The Best Part and Worst Part of the Day discussion.

Everynight i ask Kalaya, " What was the best part of your day?" and " What was the worst part of your day?" The answers are priceless and entertaining to say the least but I do have an alterior motive for this. I want her to be glad to share with me the good and bad parts of every day. So hopefully, when she's older and getting more angst in her attitude- she'll still want to tell me about the good and bad stuff of her day.

My favorite responses for " the best part" have been:

1. My growl was my favorite part of my day.
2. The chipmunks that flew in the sky after you hit them. ( no idea)
3. Taking a nap ( to which I replied with an astonished "really" and got back a " hahahahahhaha no, not really!"----------can you say " Smart" "alec"?)

My favorite responses for " the worst part" have been:

1. Going to bed.
2. Taking a nap.
3. Having to get in this bed.

( yes, we have a pattern here)

When we tell our "best part/worst part" stories for the day, she makes me lay my head on her chest and she hugs me and gives me kisses on my head.

It is by FAR the best part of my day! EVER!

(Oh, and I liked my growl pretty well too)

Day Number One

We began clearing land this weekend.

Yes, that is my 80yr old Grandaddy and 75yr old Nana cut, pulling, and burning dead trees. They are hardcore-- you have no idea.

If you don't know yet, Nana is basically my rolemodel and hero.

Burning all the dead stuff off.

Snack time! (Notice the Dr.Pepper-- it's a must for the morning break)

Kalaya was outside the ENTIRE day. Rode the 4 wheeler and helped me pull logs and dead trees out, picked up sticks for the fire, and basically was really a HUGE help. She never wore out and was a champ.

Happy 1st work day!

Even Diesel came to help!

Four Generations

BLESSED BLESSED BLESSED BLESSED!

Who Ya Gonna Call?

Why I Should Be A Stay At Home Mom

To grow this: To be here:

To have more time to be silly:

To work more with the church:

To make this:

To teach Kalaya things like this:

To be with them:

Moments in Terror: Part 1

AGGHH! Instead of " When Pets Attack"--- "When Toddlers Attack"!

AGGHH! Our dental bill just came in and it's OUTRAGEOUS!
AGGHH! It's Christine: The Redneck Chronicles!

AGGHH! What is that?! No seriously! WHAT IS THAT!? AGGHH!

AGGHH! My belly is slowly taking over my body!

AGGH! My cousin posted a picture of me on her blog getting my bootie handed to me in a basketball game by my little brother!

I Am Big- It's The Pictures That Got Small

Alright Mister Demille- I'm ready for my closeup.

A Baby Changes Everything

A baby does change everything doesn't it? With the birth of Jesus in that lowly stable- my life was saved. With the birth of my daughter- my life was made whole. I can't think the Lord more for these babies. One to one day become my Holy Father and the other to call me 'Mama'.

Enjoy your Christmas everyone! I'm hopping the next sled out of here and will be gone till after the New Year. (Don't hate me) Look for new posts and pictures in 2009!

( If your lucky and I get bored this afternoon I may come up with an extra post to grow on for you for the holiday season. The more you know......)

A Regular Cornucopia of Christmas Accouterments, Notions, and Asundary Items

Grana spent the night with us this weekend and Kalaya knows who to call in the morning when she wakes up.
Kalaya: Grana! Come get me!
Grana: (rolling out of bed) Ok I’m coming. Let me go potty first.
Kalaya: Grana- are you coming?
Grana: I’m coming baby- I’m just slow. I’m old.
Kalaya: Well, I’m Dora.
(P.S.- She's named me Boots and Daddy is Swiper.... so get your own character. I think there are still some of the Wiggles left for any brave men out there to impersonate)

While riding in the car with Grana the other day, Kalaya was looking at some pictures of Justice.
Kalaya: (holding the picture of Justice) Hey Gus-Gus! (moving it towards her nose and sniffing) I smell you Gus-Gus!!
( I don't know-- made me wonder too)

One of these things is not like the others, One of these things just doesn't belong, Can you tell which thing is not like the others by the time I finish my song?
What can a 50+yr old Grana be so desperate for that she'll stand in line by herself to see Santa in the middle of the night in 20 degree weather? And, more importantly,do we really want to know? Oh yeah- that's right Mr Claus! You know whose house to stop at first this year!

Also- you may be wondering why you didn't see Baby Jesus in the first picture. Here's why:Can you see him? Sadly, at this point Baby Jesus AND Joseph are both missing. We'll have to do some search and rescue tonight. As Kalaya says:

"Baby Jesus, where's your daddy? Ok, well here's Mickey Mouse instead."

Just Muddling Through Till Friday

To say that work is slow right now is like saying Madonna likes to work out.

It's as obvious as the sinewy muscles that are slowly taking over her body and converting her to Mum-ra with a good singing voice. Scratch that- with a voice that sings.But to prove to you just how slow work is ("How slow is it?" I don't know- I'm just saying it's slow. Man, could you just pay attention for like 3 minutes to something I say? It's like talking to a 2 yr old)

Anyways, to prove how slow it is, I'd like for you to read an email that I received from my co-worker on a day when I was working from home. This is all we have people- nothing else can get us through the day.

On Tue, 10/21/08, Aaron wrote:
From: Aaron

Subject: Tuesday without you

To: "Cupcake"
Monday
6:30PM : Made a turn in the locker room and BAMN! 40 year old naked man, almost lost my lunch.

6:35PM Saw Laura, said she sat outside and read a book all day and was bored. Sounds pretty awesome to me. Said to call her if we are going to lunch this week. Guess not, since neither of us are here on payday this week.

7:something PM Went to get changed, 60yr old naked man as soon as i turn the corner, I almost bought the farm at the sight of that

TUESDAY
8:30am read a blog review of the new Viggo Mortinsen movie! It's same author as No Country For Old Men and it looks crazy/Mad Max/Post-Apocalypse world and people eat people for food.

9:13 Nail clipping in the Bullpen.

Hmm...if I had a new baby,(not an old baby or used baby) I'd say to it "now that you are here, time to bone up on your Norse mythology".

9:34 Non came by and asked 'Where's your partner, is the baby sick?'
'Naw, sara's not sick' ZING! I actually said "Sara is working from home, her brother just had a baby." Then she told me to bring something back from Japan for her and she'll give me money, $20.

Seriously, writing this email is all that is keeping me going today.

Time to watch Flight of the Conchords.Scratch that.
10:00 Working on my OCD by fixing my board.
10:20 You called to make sure I was at my desk working. Sir, Yes, Sir.
10:21 Still working on my OCD board
10:39 Finished my OCD physical Excel sheet.
11:30 Saw the episode with 'Leggy Blonde' with hair down to her legs and legs down to the floor.
12:05 Still watching it and eating lunch.
1:00 Got me some milk and a lemonaide. (actually limeaide)
1:18 Sent text message
1:20 Sent text message
1:48 Some nerd is in the cube next to Nick. Now, allow me to justify that comment. He has two lava lamps in his cube. I'll check later to see if he has; a beanbag chair, a 311/Scarface/Dave Matthews Band poster, a frat t-shirt from Greek Week/Pledge Week, and empty liquor bottles lined up on his cube wall.

2:02 Got 3 episodes of Flight of the Conchords left, he wanted to dress like Prince but 'not normal Prince but like how Prince would dress if he is going to the Zoo or shopping'

3:20 Someone was helping Dirty Snoop with his computer problems, it sounded like Jindy but I can't verify that. I do know that her msn was set to away, but I thought she is still teaching. Interesting...

3:21 Decided to watch Gladiator to kill time faster.
Isn't the black guy in Blood Diamonds too?
'Strength and Honor'
Enough Gladiator quotes for you? How 'bout some more

3:40 Wait so Maximus has a thing with that other woman in the past before the movie?
'You sold me queer giraffes'

4:08 Writing on my board, Mary-beth walks over and says BOO!, Scared the poop out of me! Seriously!

'Rome's the mob' That is the truest line out of all Gladiator and describes Rome the best. I want a film thatmakes Rome like it really looked like, overcrowded, dirty and full of evil.

4:40 Can you imagine going to the collusium? Watching people die or Christians fed to lions? OMG that's crazy.

4:50 You know they used to flood it and re-inact boat battles? That'd be cool to see, minus the killing

4:52 Vin Diesel is making a movie about Hannibal, they maybe good or at least it'll be nice to see another film in this time period

5:01 My Name is Maximus Desimus Meridius, you're the man that killed my wife and son...prepare to die!

Thumbs up actually means death in Roman times not life, thumbs down was life/freedom.

Ciao, Bu-chan

So in closing: Is it Friday yet?