refridgerator quote of the week

"LOOK AT ME! DADDY, LOOK AT ME -

I'M HIGH!"

- linnea, age "almost" 3-yrs-old

statement is fine, said by a toddler while at the park swinging.
statement not fine, when said by a child in double-digits or older. am i right, or am i right?!

cyclONE NATION!

we went to the ISU tailgate gathering last night.

this is before we entered the "cycl ONE NATION"

this is the girls (and hubs...) meeting Cy, the ISU mascot!
this is wren in her sweet QB stance! still still sorta "threw like a girl", but looked good doin' it!
this is what nea (aka "the blur") enjoyed most. surprising, eh? wren loved it too!
sadly, this is as close as hubs wanted to get to jamie pollard (the dude in the white shirt - ISU AD)

wren was even on the KPTM-Fox 42 local news at 9pm! showed her meeting and "fiving" Cy...it was adorable. and yes, we recorded it! if i can figure out how to get it onto my blog, then you too will be viewing it! when i told wren about her being on tv, she asked if she would be in the newspaper also and if she was famous now.

"how'd going potty on the potty go today, nea?"

simple question, from the daddy, after he got home from work today.
here is "the answer", from the nea.

(please note that the words in ALL CAPS denotes the loudness and tone of her voice)

"I WENT PEE-PEE ON THE POTTY AND THEN I YELLED 'MOMMA! DADDY! GAM-MA! TO COME & SEE!" nea tells the daddy.

"did you say "wren", too?" her sister asks.

"NOPE. JUST THE BIG PEOPLE!" nea responds.

"umm, nea, that sounds like what happened at grandma's house. over the weekend. not today." the daddy says.

"LUP!" nea says as she dances off...(she replaces Y's with L's..."lup" = "yup", or "yep").

better luck tomorrow, eh, nea??

"please, let sleeping dogs lay..."

this is the lesson we will be continuing to teach.

again. and again. and again. and again...

wordless wednesday

oh, what to do on a monday...

the zoo, i say.

the zoo, of course!

here is the "lollipop club" at the lincoln children's zoo:

linnea, aidan & wren

("lollipop club" name chosen by wren. who is so totally into "clubs". and i informed her that she couldn't have a "just girls club" since there boy friend was along...or "polka-dot shoe club" since he indeed was not wearing polka-dot shoes...i think she did well in naming them)

another pic of the"lollipop club":

aidan, linnea & wren

this is the "lollipop club" going through the tunnel,

where it is required that you scream. as loud as you can.this is after the tunnel.

someone is still screaming. as loud as they can.

(or if you are linnea, you just smile. as cute as you can) these are 3 wee little eagle baby birds. seriously.
so, THAT is what to do on a monday.

conditions are favorable for...

i am sick. my head feels like it will explode. my throat hurts. my body aches. i have had a slight fever. i am coughing my fool-head off. and sneezing. and i am miserable. mommies are not supposed to get sick. but i am.

so, since my littles & i have travel plans for the weekend, i decided i ought to see my doctor to make sure that i am not: a) contagious, b) coming down with the flu (oinky or otherwise...), c) going to be more miserable. this is how it went:

p. a.: (not my doctor. not anyone i have ever met before 9am today): (upon looking up my left nostril) "wow?! can you even breath out of there? that is really, really swollen."

me: "nope, and that is why i am here...breathing is sorta something i enjoy doing..."

then after checking my ears, throat, neck, chest, etc. the p.a. tells me this:

p.a.: "you have conditions that are favorable for developing into a sinus infection."

me: "really? so, that sorta sounds like a "weather channel" answer to me. basically conditions could form a sinus infection, but one hasn't been sighted yet, huh? kinda like a "sinus infection watch" instead of a "warning"... (she did not think that was funny. she did not even smile.)

she continued to explain: "we can treat your symptoms and hope that it does not turn into a sinus infection in the next week to ten days. but as i said, you have conditions that are favorable for developing into a sinus infection, so give the office a call if you do not get to feeling better."

so, i guess that's that. she did give me a sample steroid/nasal spray. maybe that'll help.

and, no. i am not feeling better. so bring on the sudefed, nasal spray, tissues and hot-tea, okay?!

looking for a miracle...UPDATED

Josie is in Heaven with Jesus...

please continue to pray for her mother, father and siblings.

******************************

it is just a regular ole wednesday here in my small world. spending the day pretty much as usual...with my 2 little girls. hanging out together. we ran a ton of errands yesterday & so today we are not going anywhere. which is okay. because as i watch, listen to and smile & laugh with my girls...i am sad.

my thoughts are elsewhere.

they are with a mother from my church. who was having, what i suspect, was her usual tuesday yesterday. taking her three little kids somewhere. and then everything in her world changed. she is injured. her youngest has minor injuries. her oldest has broken bones and is in critical condition. and her middle child? her 4-yr-old, Josie? she is very, very injured. an inoperable brain injury. she needs a miracle. and as i type this, her mother, her father...and everyone else who knows this little girl is preparing to say good-bye...trying to figure how to hand her over to Jesus...wondering why...and yet, probably still looking for a miracle...praying for more time on earth with her...

so, if you can spare a few moments...

...please spend that moment praying for dear, sweet Josie.

and her parents.

her siblings.

her extended family.

and for each of the lives that this little girl has touched.

good one!

a beautiful necklace...

some beautiful flowers...

my beyond beautiful daughters...

one beautiful singer...

the other beautiful singer...

a very,

very,

very

good mother's day!

home-wrecker

every year a new family moves in.

every year they are not the kind of neighbors one would choose to have.

every year i do understand why they like this area.

lots of sun in the afternoon.

good shelter from the rain.

and, until this year, not much noise in the form of children or pets.

but their idea of "location, location, location" does not involve MY opinion.

so, every year i get rid of them.

one would think that the previous wasp family would pass along to their friends, etc. that the eave just above our patio just is not going to be that "summer home of their dreams". but oh wait - they cannot, because they have been blasted with a poisonous spray that makes their "moving in day" not such a good one. and i do not feel bad at all.

"juicy" and what-not...

with it being warmer weather and all sorts of *fashion* being paraded...i am going to try to restate part of a jeff foxworthy chat about fashion that i completely agree with:

women of a certain age should not wear clothing with words on the rear-end...unless they truly are "juicy"...in which case i need no part of that!

please note that i am paraphrasing and not 100% on the exact wording...but i think you get the point i am trying to make. or at least i hope.

song

If I Was Jesus

(lyrics to the Toby Keith song...)

If I Was Jesus, I'd have some real long hair

A robe and some sandals, is exactly what I'd wear

I'd be the guy at the party, turnin' water to wine

Yeah me and my disciples, we'd have a real good time.

Ooh and I'd lay my life down for you

And I show you who's the boss

I'd forgive you and adore you

While I was hangin' on your cross

If I Was Jesus.

I'd have some friends that were poor

I'd run around with the wrong crowd,

man I'd never be bored

Then I'd heal me a blind man, get myself crucified

By politicians and preachers, who got somethin' to hide.

Ooh and I'd lay my life down for you

And I show you who's the boss

I'd forgive you and adore you

While I was hangin' on your cross

If I Was Jesus.

If I Was Jesus, I'd come back from the dead

And I'd walk on some water, just to mess with your head

I know your dark little secrets,

I'd look you right in the face

And I'd tell you I love you, with Amazing Grace.

Ooh and I'd lay my life down for you

And I show you who's the boss

I'd forgive you and adore you

While I was hangin' on your cross

If I Was Jesus.

If I Was Jesus.

(please note: yep, i like this one. and yep, i like the "taliban song". and the one about not "smokin' weed with willie". and "i shoulda been a cowboy". and "she never cried in front of me". and "i love this bar". and, well, you get what i'm sayin', right?!)

not me monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama...

click here to read what she and everyone else have NOT been doing this week...

1. i did NOT purposely stay out on errands & what-not long enough to hit sonic's happy hour and get me a diet dr. pepper with raspberry flavoring for $0.95. nope. not me.
2. i did NOT tell the lifeguard at our ymca that, when i encountered her outside of the y, i did not recognize her with her clothes on. and then act like i did not understand why she was snickering. nope. not me.
3. i did NOT spend 2 hours in a comfy recliner last night watching "celebrity apprentice" while my husband finished up some laundry, did dishes, made our girls clean their rooms & the living room area and then he vacuumed. nope. not me.
4. i did NOT get angry at donald trump for ripping on jesse james, both behind his back & to his face, about how it is he "landed" sandra bullock as his wife. and why was he not "using" his wife's celebrity to bring in $$ and try harder to win the "celebrity apprentice" game. because, i am sure you will agree that donald trump is the most attractive man ever. especially love his greasy/plasticity jumbo comb over. he should really be the one talking about jesse james' marital situation. yeah, not me.
5. (added late monday afternoon) i did NOT just shout outloud when i read the email confirmation that my mother's day gift has shipped! i also did NOT place hints to my husband on facebook, my blog or login and bring up the payment screen that my husband only needed to enter his cc # to pay for "my cart". nope. not me.
6. i did NOT eat 6 cookies for my lunch. after serving up a delicious & nutritious & healthy lunch to my two small children. i also did NOT fib and tell them that i did not know who ate the rest of the cookies. nope. not me.
7. i did NOT roll my eyes at my husband when i told him i was going scrappin' tonight. and he said, "you just had that on friday night". i very politely and in great fun details told him that night was "stamp club" and tonight is "workshop-on-the-go" night and they are really totally different. i did not even get remotely annoyed when he answered, "uh-huh...". nope. not me.
   

"thoughts arrive like butterflies..." - pearl jam

here is what has transpired over the last few days:

gram marcia (my mother-in-law) came to visit. and watch the girls at their tumbling class. aunt sue (my sister-in-law) also joined us. we had a really yummy "girlie lunch" at wheatfield's - restaurant chosen by wren with no prompting from her mother. good girl!

this is aunt sue, wren & gram!

this is gram & linnea!

then i was trying to finish up some "work stuff" (getting ready for a "day of shopping" i was doing with some friends...) and my husband's printer went all loco on me! paper kept jamming. color was all distorted. so i changed the black cartridge. did not help the color. couldn't find the color cartridge. on a whim, i thought i would look in the "hoarder's room" (aka linnea)...she likes to sneak things into her room. but i did not think that is where the cartridge would be. i was wrong.

luckily, those hp people make their product thief/tamper resistance. what i like to call "child proof". luckily that foil wrapper kept linnea from making a $32 big ole mistake!

then i baked some snacks for the "say of shopping". my yummy chocolate/butterscotch chip cookies. when linnea should have been napping, and i was probably swearing at karl's printer, threatening it with a ball bat...she sneaked her self a cookie. or maybe a few cookies. she at first denied. but when i asked what was all around her month, she copped to having tried momma's cookies. she then gave her resounding approval that i could serve them. so if you need to have any cookies "taste tested", please consider linnea for the job. she has experience.

the girls are beginning to enjoy playing games. this week's hit has been "little einstein's bingo". they l-u-v to play it with the daddy! the concept is a bit over linnea's head, as she occasionally will have an almost full, near "bingo" card and she will then stack all the pretty red coins up in a tower. she has lost every game. not that we are keeping track, okay?

other kodak moments that kodak did not capture:

• monsters! the girls informed me that they would be "the good girl super heroes" and that i was the "bad monster guy". then they proceeded to run around chasing after the monsters that i was the leader of and eradicating them from out living room and kitchen. shew! so glad they did that job for me.
• shows! the girls have put on numerous shows lately. gram got to see a song & dance show, a play and a cheer-show. i get to be the announcer and wren is usually the headliner with linnea being her side-kick. it works for us.
• songs! nothing like the "johnny appleseed" prayer/song with a jazzy, loud ending!
• park! my sister & her fiance had the girls on saturday evening and they took the girls to a really, really good park. and dinner at culver's. we arrived at 10pm to take them home and wren was in a sleep-induce coma. linnea was still firing on all cylinders. 2.5 hours past their bedtime. linnea will not sleep if there is "action". and apparently the puzzles and nba 7th round of the series game was good action to her!

one-liners:

"we are not naughty, we are curious." - wren, age 4

"our home is in our homeland and church is in churchland." - wren, age 4

"i look in da trash and da dingo game was not dare." - linnea, age "almost" 3 (she squirreled the aforementioned bingo game into wren's room and when daddy caught them in their, not napping and with a game that was not to leave the kitchen counter, he told them he was throwing the game away. wren told me that the game got thrown away. linnea however used her mad-investigation skillz to prove her, and daddy, otherwise.)

"sponge-bob's pants are more rectangular than square, so i am going to call him "sponge bob, rectangle pants." - wren, age 4 (no, they generally do not get to watch him, but karl was showering and needed 15 minutes to finish something up online...so, thank you "babysitter" sponge-bob.) sigh.

"i think i have to stop letting mr. larson play doctor on me." - me...i did something to my back earlier in the week (probably totally unrelated to hoisting mr. larson's dinosaur of a entertainment center outta the basement into the garage...) and after listening to me complain, mr. larson offered to help me try to crack my back and massage the sore area. unsure if it helped or not.

get your SHOP on!

come & shop with me...and 7 other Vendors TODAY!

Saturday, May 2nd

17508 U Street

Omaha, Nebraska

10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

get your Mother's Day, Graduation, Spring Wedding, Wedding Shower...and a "few-things-for-yourself" Shopping done all in one place....

* door prizes from each vendor *

Plus, 10% off you Uppercase Living order...check out my website:

jodilarson.uppercaseliving.net