Overheard on Christmas Day

Luke, who is four, received his first Nerf gun from Santa this year. He quickly learned how to load it all by himself and rack the slide. We are now all immune to the slight sting of a suction dart smacking us somewhere on our bodies. After the morning festivities, HF was just out of the shower wearing a towel. He was confronted by Luke, wielding a nerf gun.

HF:  Don't do it man. If you shoot me, I'll shoot you back!

Luke:  (face going from a giant grin to concern) With your real gun?

HF:  (laughing and then serious) Uh, no. Not with my real gun. With the other nerf gun you got. (He got two).

Luke:  (smile returning) Oh! Okay!

Only in an LEO household would we find this hilarious. We of course clarified when and how daddy's gun would be used, and then simply let it go.

Also, that robot claw seen in the above picture? Luke put it to use immediately as "Reggie the Wedgie Robot" and began chasing us around the house in an attempt to give us wedgies. That little toy has quite a grip! We sort of hoped that he would just use it to pick up his toys or something. Four year old boys are fun. And HF says he and I are the most alike. . .

In other news, I may have picked up a bad habit or two from my mother-in-law's visit. Slapping HF across the shoulder or chest when he's being a pest. We even did it at the same time while he was sandwiched between us on the couch, me slapping one shoulder, and she the other. I'm going to miss that lady.

bits n' pieces

Hullo. Miss me much? If you've been wondering where I've been, don't worry. It hasn't been anywhere special or exotic. If you must know, we've been getting our butts kicked by our kids. I don't want to talk about it other than it's been a real doozy being a mom and dad lately. As you might imagine, we are tired. The above picture pretty much says it all except add 2 more kids and take away the dog. I tend to not blog when the kids and other atrocities have got me down.

HF is currently on "vacation". Romantic ideas of a weekend getaway or even home improvement projects have been replaced by romantic ideas of sleep and consoling one another. The most exciting thing that has happened was when HF almost kidnapped someone else's child. We were shopping at a big second hand store. We were looking for an old bookshelf that we could restore for the kids' room. HF was minding our 4 year old son. He was tired and just sort of robotically keeping track of Luke. They stopped to look at a pile of junk toys. Another little boy about the same age as our son was also there looking at toys. When he picked a toy up to look at, HF snatched it from him and put it back on the shelf. The little boy whimpered and picked the toy up again. HF again took the toy from the boy, put it back on the shelf, said "No, we aren't looking at toys" and took him by the hand and began pulling and tugging on him to get him to keep following us. The little boy resisted and protested (thank goodness) and began to cry. HF was saying, "Comeon Luke!" Meanwhile, I am watching him man handle someone else's child and am quite enjoying it. The little boy's mom began to take notice so I said, "Uh, HF? That's not our kid. . . " He looked over at our real kid that was standing next to him on the other side, grabbed his hand and rushed away, leaving that poor mom confused. It was hilarious. I think it was fairly obvious that he was mixed up and not a kidnapper, but he felt horrible about it anyway. I told him he should've "badged" everyone and said, "It's okay. I'm a cop." I always tell him to do that. He gives me a disgusted look. Probably because he thinks I'm serious.

Anyway, while HF is home on his staycation, I'm sure he would love to rest and play. Well, he has another thing coming if he thinks that's going to happen (evil laughter)! I have another honey-do list. Wanna see?

1.   fix electrical problem in laundry room
2.   fix upstairs bathroom fan
3.   build children's bookshelf for their room. See instructions here.
4.   clean out vents
5.   hang framed pictures in children's room
6.   hang closet doors in guest room
7.   hang curtains in living room window
8.   clean carpets
9.   buy me a piano and get it moved from there to here
10. clean up balcony garden
11. wash windows
12. clean out basement window wells
13. pull out fridge and dishwasher and clean underneath
14. whatever else I might dream up

What kind of a person would I be if we didn't have some fun too:
1.  camping
2.  plenty of date nights.
3.  take kids to see Toy Story 3
4.  bbq's with friends
5.  possibly a one night getaway at a B&B

the adventures of Mrs. Fuzz

We got back yesterday from camping in a little place I'd like to call Paradise. HF is a volunteer for the search and rescue in the area and had to do a little work with another friend of ours who is also a volunteer. Both of our families went along for the trip and we enjoyed a luxirious and private camping area. We had a little river/stream going through the site, with a little bridge as you can see that leads out to many of the park's trails. HF brought a hammock for the kids and that was played with nearly the entire time. The weather was gorgeous during the day, pretty cold at night with thunderstorms. Our tent leaked a little bit. So the nighttime was pretty much the only misery, but we'll be better prepared next time. The kids were in heaven, I was in heaven, and I am wondering why we aren't doing this each and every weekend. HF only had to leave a couple of times to do work stuff. They had one emergency that they responded to, and were essentially just the base camp for other volunteers and workers so they had to have their HAM radios on and listening and responding occasionally. . I love everything about camping. Camp food, setting up camp, hiking, listening to the rushing water at nighttime, roasting marshmallows, campfires, etc.  Even though it's not very glamorous and we get dirty and smelly, I come home feeling like we've had a little R&R. The kids did not want to leave. The only mishaps other than the leaky tent, were one kid going over head first into the river, and my 20 month old throwing everyone's shoes in the river, which kept the kids and adults busy for a while running down the trail after the floating shoes. Also, the said 20 month old worked on his pitching arm and clocked a few of the kids in the face with some rocks. Luckily, no one was seriously injured.

Later, our daughter presented us with this "Saftae (safety) map".

I'm glad she has a plan in place just in case. . .  (the map goes from our house to her friend Bradley's if you were wondering)

And finally, I hit somebody's car today as I pulled into a parking stall. I've never done anything like that before. I was so mortified. It just scraped the car. There were no dents or anything. I was on the phone with my brother and he was telling me my options because I kind of started freaking out. I decided to leave a note, but the guy came out of the store to get in his car as I was getting my kids out of their seats. He looked to be about 25 or so. I smiled and said hi, and told him what happened. I asked him what he would like me to do. He said over and over not to worry about it and that it wasn't a big deal. I insisted that it was. Finally, he said he really didn't want me to worry about it and that he would take care of it. I was so embarrassed, but I thanked him and went inside to do my shopping. When I came out there was a note on my windshield. This is what it said:

Dear Ma'am,

Thank you for telling me about you scraping my car. Do not worry about it. I appreciate your honesty, and showing your children a good example. I do not have children but it probably takes a lot of hard work. Keep up the hard work.

-Jason

Wow. I chose the right car to scrape up, didn't I? What a nice and gracious person. We need more Jasons in this world. I probably won't see this guy again, but he really made my day.

hello again

I just finished recovering from Mama Mia's visit. It usually takes me a good week to 2 weeks to recover. I don't know why, but that's just how it is.

Then as soon as I recover, I've got the Independence Day madness going on. I don't know about you, but where I live, the 4th is celebrated for a good 1-2 weeks! I love Summertime. I think my absence in blogland can be attributed to being in the great outdoors and eating lots of watermelon. And then there was that very brief Twilight obsession that overtook me recently. I am officially no longer Robsessed (addicted to Robert Pattinson) much to HF's delight. I'm not proud, but what can I say?

In other (terrifying) news, I just got home from hanging out with a Tongan friend. My baby Beau, who is 20 months old, bent over and put his head on the ground and looked through his legs. Babies do this all the time. It's not a big deal. She gasped and looked at me and asked me if I was pregnant. She said that in Tongan culture that means you are pregnant or about to become pregnant. I seriously doubt it's true for me, but who am I to discount Tongan traditions? So be on the lookout for your toddlers doing that. It may mean something more. . .

adventures in babysitting

Can you call it babysitting when it's your own kids you are watching? No. But, this week has proven to be quite the adventure on my own. Once again I have to mention how much I admire single parents and their ability to "do it all" (Athough being married to a cop is a lot like being a single parent. . . but that is a topic for another time).

Last Sunday, HF departed for Alabama to attend Cobra training. I still am not all that clear on what it was that he was doing, but he will post about it sometime after he gets back. While he was gone the following occurred:

I accidentally locked myself outside with the baby inside. We were so thorough in securing our home, that it is pretty much impossible to break in to our house. At least that's what I know now. Before, I spent much of the night lying awake listening to all the "break-in" noises. So hopefully I'll sleep much better now. To make a long story short, I had to call the cops to come and help get me in. And once he got here, it was done in probably 30 seconds. I also made a mental note that he had a mustache. It's part of my research. Cops and mustaches. Anyway, my neighbor across the street, who's daughter said , "My dad is really good at breaking into other people's houses", came over and he pushed our living room window in enough that he could wedge a stick in and he was trying to flip the bar out that was preventing the window from sliding. The cop pulled out a long bar from his trunk and stuck it in there and popped it out in no time.

We spent as much time outdoors as possible this week. One of the places I took the kids was on a trail that leads to a waterfall. I had the classic radio flyer wagon with the almost 20 month old inside. The kids were running along the trail exploring. On the way back down, Daisy, who is 7, asked if she could pull the baby down the hill in the wagon. I said sure. She began running down the hill with the wagon. Before I could tell her to stop, the wagon overcame her and went along down the hill without anyone holding onto it. On one side of the narrow trail is a river, on the other side trees. I began running as fast as I could after the runaway wagon, fearing the worst. The wagon was zig zagging all over the place, going towards the river, then suddenly turning the other direction toward the trees. Finally I caught up to it just as I believe it was going to fly through the air into the river. It was a very suspeseful and nerve wracking moments as a parent, but the baby was laughing and whooping the entire time and the kids had stopped somewhere behind us, bent over in laughter. I told them it was funny because nothing bad happened and I tried not to laugh as well.

Every morning I woke up to a kid sandwich. Except it wasn't very cute and snuggly. They were whining and fighting and wiggling and asking me what was for breakfast. And the sun wasn't even out yet.

The baby began saying words this week like, "NO!", "LET GO!", "GOWAY", "SHOE", "SOCK", "BIRD" and "DOG".

The dishwasher overflowed with suds all over the floor. The lights in the laundry room in the basement stopped working. I changed the lightbulb. Still not working. It's something I can't fix. One morning when we went outside, there were 6 little ant hills along our bottom step. Fun for the kids to look at, but I know those ants want something more than just living on our door step. There is a smell of a dead animal or rodent coming from the neighbor's apartment (he lives in NYC and only comes once or twice a year). I killed 2 of the neighbor's plants that I was watering while they were on vacation, and worked on this homelessness problem I discovered outside our kitchen window one morning:

I heard an awful sound and looked out the window and they were fighting. Then they all suddenly stopped and just chilled. They all have something wrong with them like a missing tail, a limp, or missing patches of hair. So why can't these things happen when HF is around??!!

And finally, we built a robot cookie jar. Except it has legos in it right now. The idea is from here. It was very easy and fast to make. We had all the materials on hand already except for the clear plastic pail. The kids love it. Turned out pretty cute I think.

Now we are rushing to clean up the house and welcome HF home! He will be here any moment and we are excited. We'll  celebrate his 32nd birthday that was on Thursday, and tomorrow he's got a man date to see the A-Team (rolls eyes).

one of those cheesy tributes

Yes. I'm about to post a cheesy lovey dovey post about HF. We celebrated 8 years of marriage on May 4th, although everyone we know corrects us that we got married on Cinco de Mayo. They call us on the 5th to congratulate us each year. That's okay. They can think it was the 5th if they want. As usual, I have been reflecting not only on this past year of our lives, but also of the past 8. I've spent time remembering the stories of when we met and what led up to our marriage, and what has happened these past few years since then. It's not all good. It's not all full of flowers and puppies, and rosy cheeks and giggles. Some of the hard times are difficult for me to reflect on, but I see the couple we are today as being a better couple than 8 years ago even though we might've been more bright eyed and touchy feely than we are now. One thing I've done this week is think of specific times where I knew that HF truly was the love of my life.

{cue dream sequence music}

I loved HF when I first saw him. He was everything physically that I ever dreamed of in a guy. It was weird actually, how he fit my "perfect guy" image to a T. Not only was he the best looking guy I had ever laid eyes upon, he had all the personality and talents that I found desirable in a guy as well. Isn't that what we all think at the beginning of a relationship? Well a couple of things stuck out to me after getting to know him. He was so kind. And so honest. He wears his heart on his sleeve. That is true to this day. He never says an unkind thing about anyone, and he doesn't fight or argue. . . {clears throat}This is pre police days folks.

The other night as we were falling asleep, I was snuggled up on his chest. I was listening to his breathing getting deeper and I knew he was drifting off to sleep. I said, "You would do anything for me". It was kind of like a surprised statement. And then I added, "you have". He squeezed me tighter to him and said, "yes. I would." I didn't mean it in the buy me diamonds and pearls and whatever I want way, but I saw with brand new eyes the kind of man he has always been and has grown into these last 13 years. If he knows that I want something or need something, he does what it takes to give it to me. I think that's in the nature of most men, but let me give you a few examples.

One day we were out enjoying the sun. I was 9 months pregnant with our first child. We were on campus of the school we were attending and there was a karaoke event. They were giving away free stuff to people who were participating. I saw a t-shirt I wanted. I said, "HF. Get me that shirt!" Without saying anything, he walked up there, and he sang, "Hit Me Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears. Not only did he sing it, he really got into it. He was better than Britney herself! At that point he drew a fairly large crowd of people. When it was over he walked back over to me and gave me the loot he won and life went back to normal. I tucked that away in my memory for keeps. Most people I know, myself included, would never in their lifetime make a fool out of themselves like that. He did it again a couple of weeks later. Except he didn't make a fool out of himself. He entered a talent show and sang a song that he wrote with his guitar. The song was about me. And about our baby that we were about to have. As tears filled my eyes, I realized that he had given everything to be with me. Literally. He sold his nice car, and sold a bunch of his music equipment so that we could be more comfortable. We were crazy and got married while we were still in college and without any monetary support from either of our families. A couple of crazy kids we were.

Now without delving into HF's growing up years, I'll just say it wasn't very good. To this day, his family doesn't realize the son they have. They don't praise him, they don't acknowledge his feelings and ideas. He has never been respected nor treated very nicely by them. He's never said anything and continues to treat them with the kindness and respect that he would want. Maybe they will never change, but he is a good example of someone who is Christlike, although he would humbly disagree. I love that I am his family now and that we are creating the family he wishes he always had. I love that I understand him and that he knows that I do. I love that I am usually good at knowing what his needs and wants are and vice versa. I love that my own family loves him and thinks the world of him. I love that he can now get what he's always needed. And I love that what I think about him is good enough for him.

The other thing about HF came as a pleasant surprise. You really have no way of knowing how good of a parent you or the person you marry will be. I never gave it much thought. Through the last few years I have noticed countless times the way HF talks to and teaches our children. He plays with them. I can tell that the kids need their daddy fix when he isn't home much or busier than usual. It's made me see how vital his role is as a father even though he is home so little. I beamed with joy at our daughter's birthday party when we needed to get things under control while we waited for parents to come and pick up their daughters. HF took charge and led them in games such as "Ballerina Says" (instead of Simon Says) and did all the ballet poses with them. He read them stories using different voices for each character, and when the girls began squealing and giggling so loudly in delight during one of the games, he put on his shooting ear muffs (I know, I know, I have no idea what you call them!) which made the girls laugh and squeal even harder.

HF saying, "Ballerino says, do the chicken dance!"

During the Olympic games in Beijing, HF would watch them with Daisy and explain the sports to her. I overheard him say to her more than once, "That's a girl that just did that. Isn't that cool? Girls can do anything. YOU can do anything you want to Daisy. Did you know that?" That made me smile. I don't know if he even thinks about it at all, or if it's because he was raised with a working mom, but I appreciate SO MUCH the respect that he gives me as a human being. It makes me feel strong and important and capable. But he also makes me feel beautiful and feminine and wanted and needed. And isn't that what every woman wants to feel? I've decided he has a gift.

Okay you can throw up into your waste bins now. Thanks for allowing me this cheesy moment. I promise I won't do it again for a while. . .

Easter Craft: Resurrection Eggs

Last year Stephanie posted about Resurrection Eggs. It was the first I had ever heard of anything like that. You can buy them here, but I decided to make my own. I didn't have to buy anything! We already had plastic easter eggs because we hang onto them every year, and then for the little objects inside, we used what we could find around the house, or we made it. Stephanie lists the items at the end of her post so you can make your own. For a few of them, I used something else. Here's what I did:

First, I gathered 12 plastic easter eggs and an egg carton to hold them in. This particular egg carton is from a box of confetti eggs. Then I labeled them 1-12 using removable stickers. You can also write the number in permanent marker directly onto the easter egg.

Second, I gathered all the object to put inside. You can refer to Stephanie's list on her post.

1. Palm leaves (Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. The people waved palm branches.) As you can see above, I used a pirate playmobil section of palm leaves. It fit perfectly inside the egg.
2. 
   
   Cotton ball with perfume. (Mary poured expensive perfumes on Jesus's feet.)
3. 
   
   Bread and Wine (the last supper). I used a piece of chex cereal, and a goblet from a Playmobil pirate treasure chest. (playmobil has come in so handy!)
4. 
   
   Silver (Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver). I raided HF's chest of drawers for spare silver coins.
5. 
   
   Cross (Jesus carried his own cross). we cut 2 toothpicks and glued them together.
6. 
   
   Crown of thorns (Soldiers placed a crown of thorns on Jesus's head). You could use a small branch of thorns, or a single thorn. We used a square of purple cloth to represent the cloak they put on him to mock him, and I printed off a small clipart picture of a crown of thorns to put in there with it. I didn't have any access to thorns.
7. 
   
   Dice (Soldiers cast lots for Jesus's garments)
8. 
   
   Nail (Jesus was nailed to a cross) Thanks again to HF. I raided his tool box.
9. 
   
   Sponge (they gave jesus vinegar mixed with gall to drink on a sponge). I found a perfect sized piece of sponge from a magic kit that Daisy got as a gift.
10. 
    
    Spear or Spices (you could do spices that were used to prepare for Jesus's burial, or a spear because they pierced his side with a spear) We used a toothpick to look like a spear.
11. 
    
    Rock (The stone covering Jesus's tomb was rolled away) Thanks to Daisy, I had an assortment of stones to choose from her collection.
12. 
    
    Empty (He was not there. He has risen!) you could also put in a piece of linen to represent that the only thing left in the tomb were his burial cloths.

Another idea would be to put excerpts of the story in each corresponding egg for the children to take out and read.

We had fun making this and the kids definitely were attentive during the story because of the objects "hiding" inside. When I was holding the carton of eggs and giving them a background on Jesus and what led up to his crucifixion, my four year old interrupted me with a gasp and said, "They killed him with eggs?!?!" Uh, no. My 7 year old was on the edge of her seat with such pain and horror in her eyes during the story, but the four year old just wanted to play with the eggs. I don't know if he'll ever be interested, but that's okay right now.

 Anyway, it was fun, free (or cheap if you don't have everything already), and a good way to tell the Easter story to children.

M.I.A.

Recap of the week:

1.  Baby Beau has RSV. Doc says he is contagious for another 2 weeks.

2.  Everyone else has been sick too

3.  I woke up one morning this week and vomited on and off for a few hours. (this is what, the 4th time in      just a couple of months? My body is seriously screwed up! No, it's not what you're thinking)

4.  Contemplated that I could've gotten sick from the previous day's raw vegan get together I attended.

5.  Decided I wasn't meant to be raw vegan.

6.  One of my big brothers is getting married in April. I like my soon to be sister-in-law.

7.  I went to a Bridal shower tonight

8.  HF and I were invited to go to Cancun next year at a timeshare. We think we are going to do it.

9.  I made some carrot soup tonight. Everyone gagged on it. Even me, but I pretended like it was awesome.

10. I also made some quinoa cookies and everyone gagged on those as well except for the baby. He likes them.

11. This week a creepy guy that's been hanging out at various elementary schools in the city (the police have been monitoring his activities somewhat) attempted 3 abductions. A 4 year old girl, a 6 year old girl, and an 11 year old girl. Two of the girls got away from him without any trouble. The 6 year old, not too far from where we live, he was watching her play in her yard and her babysitter looked out and saw him picking her up and she went out and confronted him and went nuts on him yelling and such. He followed them back inside her house! Anyway, he's been arrested. This stuff freaks me out. It's everywhere, but I feel like we've had too much in our city alone with guys like this. Our daughter is in R.A.D. kids right now. I also see many kids her age walking to and from school by themselves and they take this underground pass that is dark and creepy with gang grafitti. Anyone could be down there waiting for kids. I will probably walk my daughter to school until she goes to college.

12. HF has worked on all of his days off and had additional training, R.A.D. classes, and special events. It gets to me sometimes.

13. One of my good friends took Daisy to Disney on Ice for her birthday

14. Another one of my brothers came to visit and watched the kids at night while they were sleeping so I could go out. (I had to suppress crazy laughter of sheer joy at getting out)

15. When I was coming out of the grocery store a few days ago late at night, I saw a couple walk up to our car and put something on the windshield. I though they must've hit it and they were leaving me their insurance information. It was a note that said, "Only three more days until Friday! Yeah! Have a great night." They also put a kit kat in it. I love kit kats. They didn't know me. I didn't know them. That kind gesture touched me and lifted my tired spirits.

16. We moved our two oldest children upstairs from the basement. Now our baby is happy and he sleeps better at night having them near. I do too.

17. I am busy making birthday party plans for our soon to be 7 year old. It's going to be a ballerina party. I hit the dollar store and this is what I have so far. It's going to be awesome. Faux silver platters, colorful tutus, ring pops for the favor bags, and flower garlands for hanging up in the kitchen above the food table. The dollar store is awesome sometimes!

18. This is what my bed looks like right now (photo overexposed to keep the mystery surrounding our life). And I want to shove it onto the floor and crawl into bed, but I have been doing that for weeks. And it just keeps getting bigger. I keep hoping that it will bother HF and he'll put everything away, but I don't think he even notices it.

19. Oh, if you want to buy The Princess and the Frog when it comes out next week, print off this coupon and get it $10 off. If you go to Walmart on the release day, new releases are usually $13 or $14 so with $10 0ff you will spend $5 or less! Not bad, eh? We did this for Snow White when it came out. It works!

20. The OCD in me had to have 20 things, not 19.

Robot birthday party

 On Tuesday we had a Robot birthday for our now 4 year old son, Luke. We started the morning with robot waffles and fruit.

 

For the treat bag, I made "nuts & bolts". Idea here. Mine was made up of chocolate chex cereal, honey nut cheerios, pretzel sticks, and m&ms. 

 

 Another snack, "Memory Cells", is made up of Pirate's Booty.

 

 "Machine Oil" aka cranberry juice.

  Oh, and robot bentos for lunch. This is a Wall-E sandwich and Eve egg. See on fuzz food and link to anna the red's instructions on how to build Wall-E. She does amazing work.

 The robot cupcakes which look nothing like they were supposed to. The perfectionist in me was kind of ticked about it.

 

 Activity: Coloring robot pictures. I just googled 'robot coloring page' and found this guy.

 

 Activity: building Lego robots and building robot costumes out of cardboard boxes and tinfoil.

 

Present received: Robot pajamas by Carter 

  

Present received: lift off rocket by iplay seen here.

My sister made Luke this little patchwork robot doll. I love it. I don't know if he's as thrilled about it as me though.

All in all a very successful day. He loves being 4 so far.

policeman puppet

Our 6 year old, Daisy, came up to me last night with this puppet she made. She took a white lunch bag and drew everything on herself. I was pretty impressed with all her details, especially the belt. After she showed me her puppet, she gasped and said, "oh no! I forgot his radio and his badge!" And so those things were added on in red as you can see. She also mentioned that she drew his mustache black. I said, "why did you draw on a mustache? Daddy doesn't have one." She said, "I don't know. Cuz I just felt like it." I think she's been overhearing me talk about cops and mustaches. . . But secretly I loved that she added a mustache to the puppet. Even if it kind of looks like a sombrero on top of some teeth.

family

My grandmother passed away last week and I went out of state to attend her funeral. Honestly, it wasn't very sad. There was a lot of nostalgia. My grandpa died 22 years ago of Lou Gehrig's disease, and she's wanted to join him ever since. I haven't been to her home and the homes of my relatives that live in this little rural farm town since I was probably 10 years old, so it was fun to be flooded with memories of running around the farms as a little girl. I'm once again reminded of my rich family heritage. I forget. I always assume that I'm just a gal born and raised in California and that's pretty much it, but both parents are from 2 separate states, born and raised on farms themselves, and they are the only ones that left. We visited their families at least once a year every year, but once I got to be a teenager, that pretty much ended for some reason. Busy lives I guess.

Anyway, that's where I've been. Now I'm home, but my sister that lives in Denver has been visiting, and my brother Dan the Policeman has been visiting with his wife from California. I love when family visits. We are all in different states throughout the US and I miss them terribly. I am definitely one of those people that can live near family and thrive. I actually have this fantasy that my parents, my brothers and sisters, and I, will buy property in Montana or Oregon and build our own homes on the property, plant our own food, etc. etc. They've always laughed at my idea, probably because I'm the youngest and youngests always get laughed at, but with the current economic crisis, they have mentioned that maybe there is something to my idea.

To me, that's what this life is all about. Family. I miss 'em. And my heart longs to go back to the country. Back to my roots. Even if California is all I've ever really known, my parents did a good job of keeping us connected to our past.

Valentine's weekend

As I'm typing this, our neighbor, who lives in NYC, and only shows up once a year to visit and stay in his townhouse, is playing the piano. HF and I are playing "name that tune". So far, we have The Beach Boys' "Cocomo", The Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody", and Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World". Sounds like they have The World's Greatest Hits music book. I think Unchained Melody is his favorite. He's playing it over and over and over again.

On Valentine's Day, Hot Fuzz had academy, but only until noon! Even though we aren't big on celebrating Valentine's Day, it was exciting to have him home for most of the day Saturday. He said that they did more ground fighting. They did a drill where the cop was at the bottom and a "bad" guy on top. The cop had 10 seconds to get the bad guy off before the instructor sent in another bad guy. He won each time. Something about bridging and arching, or an oompa? Whatever all that means. Then when he got the guy off of him, he stood up and got his gun out, and told the incoming bad guy to get on the ground. He had a rubber knife and wouldn't drop it, so he shot him. He shot him by yelling, "Bang! Bang!"

We're not big into celebrating Valentine's, but we make it more of a big deal for the kids. In the morning, we made blueberry muffins in heart shaped muffin tins. They went so fast, this is the only picture I got.Then while HF was away, we made him his Valentine. His own blueberry mini loaf.


Sugar loaf seemed fitting for a cutsie-wootsie name to call him on V-Day. When he got home I took a nap and went shopping all by myself! When I got home he surprised me with a clean house, mopped floors and all. That's all I really want on Valentine's Day. A break from the kids and a clean house. It was pretty much the best day ever.

I forgot to mention that I had to give Luke, our 3 year old, the Heimlich tonight, or something like it. He always shoves way too much food in his mouth no matter how much we coach him on taking small bites and chewing it all up before eating more. It never works. Anyway, he was choking and not making a sound and I went over to him and dug as much as I could out with my finger. He still had something lodged back in his throat and so acting as quickly as I could, I just went behind him, put my arm in front of him and pushed him over my arm a bit and pounded his back. I don't know if that's right or not. I was trying to remember what I was supposed to do to a toddler in this situation. After it happened and I let myself cry in the fetal position for a few minutes, I realized that I didn't panic or freeze! I did everything I could calmly and quickly and so I was pretty proud of myself. But now he has to be supervised ALWAYS while he's eating until he goes to college.

just some thoughts on our busy life right now

Poor Hot Fuzz. He was so beat up last night when he got home. He said that they did one hour of PT and 3 hours of ground fighting. He said he definitely prefers doing the Arrest control and Defensive Tactics over ground fighting. During those three hours he was smashed, grabbed, rolled, and kicked in the crotch. It's so sad seeing him like this. Instead of coming home and being able to rest, he has to go straight to working graves. When he gets home he goes to bed and wakes up 7-8 hours later and does it all over again. I really feel for him. But he's lost some inches and his muscles are bigger. He looks good, except for the dark circles under his eyes. When we do get to see him, he's great about playing with the kids. He's been showing our 6 year old, Daisy, some Aikido moves that she can use if she's in stranger danger. A few days ago I heard her in the living room playing with Luke, saying things like, "Good job Luke!". When I asked her what she was doing, she said she was practicing her "taquito" moves and teaching Luke taquito as well. So cute. Now she stutters when saying Aikido because she's trying so hard not to say taquito.

On my end, I feel like a single mom except I'm not also working outside the home. I really have to give kudos to single parents out there that are working and caring for their children simultaneously. It wouldn't be so hard if there wasn't a tiny 3 month old in the picture because I'm up so much in the night with him, and not able to nap during the day when caring for Daisy and Luke, who no longer nap. Some days are great and I feel on top of things. I get HF's uniforms washed and dried, meals planned, there aren't any major messes, but after a few nights of being sleep-deprived, I feel a bit more like this during the day:

Jack Nicholson in the Shining incase you weren't sure.

It also might have something to do with all the snow everywhere too. I'm a born and raised California girl and I don't know what to do in this weather, even after 8 years of living here! So I basically hybernate until Spring, thus the Shining.

This is a typical day for me.

7 am-feed the baby
7:30-run on treadmill, HF gives kids breakfast
8 am- shower, get ready for day, HF takes Daisy to school
8:30-HF goes to bed
9 am-I play with Luke, do a load of laundry
10 - more laundry, cleanup kitchen, feed baby
11- pick up Daisy from school
11:30-lunchtime
12 pm-errands/activities with the kids
1 pm-time to feed baby again
2 pm- more cleaning/office work for me while kids play
3 pm-get HF's food for the day ready
4 pm- make dinner/feed baby/feed kids/HF gets up
5 pm- bath time for kids
6 pm- story time/play time/cuddle time/getting clothes out for next day
7 pm- bed time for Luke/feed baby/homework and reading with Daisy
8 pm- all kids in bed/ free time for me

I have all these projects once the kids are in bed, but I usually take a few minutes to enjoy being kidless by watching a show on tv or getting online, then I make dinner for me and Hot Fuzz before he has to leave for work. Then I feed the baby again around 11 pm and then wake up sitting up or slumped over and shuffle off to bed just to get up a few times through the night.

TIRED. But we're doing pretty good. We've had lots of visits from friends and family lately. And we've even been able to get a babysitter and go out on Saturday nights when HF is home! I'd say we're pretty lucky despite it all. Now if I could only get to the dentist, the hair salon, and the optometrist. And it would be nice to buy some clothes that are not maternity clothes. I'm not willing to take all 3 kids to these places.

shootin' guns fer Jesus

Our little 3 year old boy doesn't speak very well still, but means what he says and says what he means. He loves guns. He gets very excited when HF gets out his guns. He says, "Mine! Mine! Mine! Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" Last night HF brought home his brand new AR-15. Luke just about exploded with sheer excitement. "Gimme! Mine!" Of course the kids aren't allowed to handle guns without permission and supervision, but Luke and HF have reached a compromise. Luke is alowed to play with HF's red gun from the academy. He calls it a "poke". Because he likes to poke people with it. He usually says something like, "I a cowboy! Poke! Poke! Poke!" We think it's pretty cute.

On Sunday nights we have family night. We read scriptures together, say family prayer, sing songs, tell stories, have dessert, just spend time together. Last night Luke comes running into the room when we were getting started, and he said, "My Jesus! My poke!" This meant he wanted a binder I made of bible stories and his gun. We were laughing so hard because there he is on the couch flipping through scripture story pictures with one hand, while holding a gun with the other. "My Jesus. My Poke." I don't know about you, but I feel kind of weird putting guns and Jesus together.