Wanna come play?

So, in just a few short weeks, anyone that wants to come play on this...



...just give us a call. We'd love to have you!

Crossroads

Brian is growing up way too fast for me. We're at this major crossroad with him in a few different areas. Three major changes are coming and I don't know which one to do first. He's already moved into his big boy car seat, as you can see in the post below. Now we have to 1)move to the big boy bed, 2)take away the paci, and 3) potty train. Seriously - why are we running into these all at the same time for him? I really don't know which one we should do first. And to be quite honest, I don't really want to do any of them because that's just one step closer to not having a "baby" anymore. Don't get me wrong, I know Brian is far from a baby, but he's our last and I'm just sad to let go of these last glimpses of babyhood. I still struggle from time to time at that thought, but God is slowly giving me peace about it all, thankfully. So now as I look back at what I wrote, I think I should go in that order...bed, paci, potty. What do you think?

And of course I can't post about Brian without leaving you with a super-cute picture of him!

The seat is here!

Emma's new seat came in the mail a couple days ago. She was terribly excited to check it out!

everyone took a turn trying it out...it's crazy that Brian is on the same slots as Emma and Jackson...he's got the longest torso!



Nobody will ever say that they aren't safe! Some think we're crazy to have a 7 year old still in a car seat. It would be different if she was the size of an average 7 year old though. I should send this picture into Britax as an advertisement!

She's super happy with the seat. The fact that it's pink just made her day. I think I win mommy of the year award from her!

Yay!!!!

Double yay! Car seat problem solved! I was talking to my sil and Heather about the issue. Heather wanted to know what it looked like so I went online to remember the name of the pattern. I did a google search and clicked on an online retailer that popped up first. I was so shocked to see they had the color we wanted in stock, on sale, and there is no shipping fee or sales tax! I called Dave and he told me to just get it without much thought at all. Soooo....I did! I got a Britax Regent in Madison for $239! Emma will be one happy camper having a girly seat, and Brian will be super happy to have the big boy black seat. I figured I would get the girly one so Emma would enjoy being in a 5-pt harness even more. Brian will use her old seat until it expires and then I'll just put the black cover on the new shell. It will work out fabulously.

And just so inquiring minds don't have to ask...here's what her new seat looks like...




Isn't it so pretty...any girl would be proud to ride in this seat. I hope she loves it. I'm kind of excited about it too. When we had Emma baby products hadn't gone the route of gender specific yet. So all of her gear was navy blue...nothing girly for her. So it's fun to get to buy one thing girly for her. Even if she is almost 7!

It's been a while...

Not much is going on around here. I'm really happy about that. School is winding down, only 6 weeks to go. I'm really looking forward to the summer. I'm selfish - I like to have my kids with me. Work is going well, other than leaving Dave with the kids all the time. I've recently gained more responsibility at work doing their cash office on the weekends. This is one job I used to just love at Bed Bath & Beyond, so I'm happy to have the opportunity to do it again.

I'm not so happy about it for this coming weekend though. I'll be doing it for the first time by myself, which isn't a big deal really. I just don't want to screw it up. But the real reason I'm not happy about it is this Saturday, May 3rd, is Britax's warehouse sale. It's in the morning, from 8-12, and I have to work! It wouldn't be a big deal except I really need to get a new seat for Brian. It would be great to not pay full price for that crazy seat. I keep racking my brain trying to find a way to get there. Dave would go for me but the kids have soccer in the morning, including team pictures. He could go afterwards, but he wouldn't get there until after 10:30, and what we need will probably be gone by then. They don't do this sale every year, so when they do they usually sell out before it's over. Pooh. I'd even be resigned to it with less angst if I could get my work discount online. The seat we want to get we only sell in one color and it's not the cutest. We have other colors online, but I don't get my discount online. Grrr....

Anyway, didn't want you all to think we fell off the face of the earth...just nothing too interesting to write about.

Hope you are all doing well....drop a line and let me know how you're doing.


Oh, for those of you that care...I've lost 12 pounds! Woot woot!

New hobby?

So I've always been into scrapbooking, however since having kids and the invention of the digital camera, I have been much less productive. I found a great new site called scrapblog.com and it lets you do digital scrapbooking - for free!

Here's my first (and meager attempt) at a layout. At least the pics of Dave are fun to look at! He's so cute!




We had a great time in Asheville. Very relaxing and fun to get to spend some much needed time refocusing on each other. I love you Dave!!!

Our TERRIFIC Kid!

We had the immense joy of seeing our sweet little girl be presented with a school award on Friday. Emma was chosen to be her class's "Terrific Kid" and we got to attend the ceremony held at school. It was so neat to see all the kids so full of pride knowing they were being recognized for their special talents. Emma was beaming from ear to ear. The principal read each teacher's description of what made these children "terrific." I have to say, the things Emma's teacher said about her made me burst with pride. We couldn't ask for a sweeter girl, and she's smart to boot! We just wanted to share our Emma's achievement with all of you!

On the mend

The boys are back to normal - crazy as ever. Miss Emma just got back from the Dr. and now she has an ear infection. I thought those things weren't contagious. I know, they're not. But sheesh!

Emma has her Fun Run at school tomorrow, and the Dr. said it was fine for her to go. So she will still participate. Heaven forbid if she didn't get to go. So much angst from such a young girl! We'd better keep an eye on that. Oh, and for those familiar with Emma's growth issues, today at the dr. she weighed 41 pounds fully dressed (with shoes). Yay! Still significantly small for her age, but at least she's gaining.

Something else fun is happening on Friday for Emma, but it's a surprise for her, so I'll post about it this weekend. Hopefully I'll figure out how to post video and share it with everyone.

The "P" word

I had to take Brian back to the dr. yesterday for a follow-up visit. I had taken him on Thursday because he had the same thing Jackson had, but much worse. Turned out he had a double ear infection, red/raw throat, and he was wheezing. So she put him on Omnicef and prednisone and breathing treatments every three hours. We made it through the weekend and he seemed to be getting better. And he is, however when we went back for his follow-up, she said she still heard a lot of junk in his chest, so she wanted a chest x-ray. Can you see where this is going? We had the x-ray done (and I'm not going to dwell on the trauma that caused both Brian and me) and went back to the dr's office for the report. Miss Wendy came in the room (after a 45 minute wait) and said she didn't like what she saw. Brian has inflammation/fluid/congestion in his right lung. She also noticed how he was holding his breath a lot and told me that was his way of changing the pressure in his lungs to get more O2. Poor little man! I had no idea he was that bad. He's actually been more normal through this illness so it wasn't totally obvious how sick he was. She basically said it was borderline pneumonia and gave him a high dose antibiotic injection. She also told us to continue the omnicef and the nebulizer treatments and come back on Thursday. So we're just hoping that by Thursday she'll hear some improvement in his lungs and we can put this illness behind us. Although Emma did wake up with a cough and runny nose this morning, but I'm not so worried about her just yet.

I'll leave you with a couple pictures. The first one is a drawing done on the magna-doodle (or 'drawing board' as Brian likes to call it). Brian drew this picture all by himself! It's supposed to be of Joe and Blue from Blue's clues. I'm still in awe that he can draw a face like that at his age!

The one of Emma is of her her first "friend from school" phone call. I felt it necessary to document when the "socialite" behavior first started. Dave and I are sooo not ready for this!

Illness has returned

The boys are sick. Jackson started out with a little cough on Thursday last week. I decided to keep him home on Friday just in case it turned into something worse. He started running a very low temp (99.8) mid-day Friday - he usually is around 97.8 normally. So I was glad I kept him home. On saturday he was fever free and just coughing a bit. He sounded much worse through the evening and on Sunday his fever jumped up over 101...I decided at that point to take him to urgent care because I knew a few kids in his preschool class had the flu. We waited almost 2 hours just so the Dr. could tell me they were out of flu tests and he most likely had the flu. Fine. Monday morning before he woke up I went to CVS and filled the scrip for Tamiflu and went home. Got Jackson up, took his temp - it was 98.4! No fever. He was much more alert and happy. So I have to believe he didn't have the flu but just a cold virus. He's still coughing a lot, it's getting productive, so hopefully he'll work it out soon. He's also pretty congested, but it's not running and it's not slowing him down any. I will continue to keep him home from school though. There's no need to expose the class with something else - they've had enough illness this year.

So I always pray hard when a cold bug comes into the house because Brian still trends towards asthmatic with any kind of virus. Jackson used to be this way, but he's grown out of it mostly. Since Jackson started coughing last week, I have been waiting for it to hit someone else - all the while praying it wouldn't be Brian. Emma is still doing well, Dave and I are fine, but Brian started coughing last night. He's definitely got it, but so far no fever and no breathing treatments have been necessary. Keep fingers crossed that he's old enough to fight it...I would love not to have to break out that nebulizer again...

Happy Birthday Michelle!!!!

Hope you enjoy turning OLDer like me!!!!

Happy Birthday Maria!!!!

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear Pia
Happy birthday to you

I promise not to mention how old you are...because I'm older than you!

And way to go on the weight loss - that is awesome!!!! (I'm a bit envious!)

Oh, and I know I'm a day early, but I had to do it while I was thinking about it, otherwise I would have been late!

Committed

And I'm not sure how to define that word...either it's committed in the institutional sense (as in I should be) or in the determined and definite sense. Today I made a big step in furthering my weight loss/health goals. Dave and I joined our local gym a few weeks ago, but today I signed up for one full year of personal training. The thought of that is honestly overwhelming, especially as I sit here in slight agony from this morning's workout. But I know me...I need someone else to kick me in the tush, otherwise I'll give up.

I am really motivated now...I even ran on the treadmill this morning instead of just walking quickly. I hate to run, so this was a big step for me. I burned over 600 calories in an hour. It felt great at the time, but I'm a little out of it now. Hopefully I'll regain some energy before I head off to work tonight.

As of today, my weight loss is 4 pounds...only 36 to go!

Emma's first sleep over

I have been meaning to post these for over a week now. Emma spent the night at our neighbor's house down the street. Addison is in kindergarten at the same school and we pick her up a couple days a week. The girls are great friends and it's so exciting to see these relationships forming. They had a great time and I think Dave and I had a harder time with it than she did. She came home the next morning begging us to have another sleep-over the next weekend. We've decided to delve into the world of giggling girls slowly - we'll let her have a friend over in a month or so.

Enjoy the pics!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Happy Chinese New Year from the Turner kids! (Thanks Auntie Heather & Uncle Jeff for the cool threads!)

blogger's block

I am seriously struggling with what to write about. The kids are good, Dave is good, I am good. Dog is three shades of crazy - to the point that I'm considering talking to our vet about drugging her out of it. I know it sounds harsh, but you should really see this dog. She's nuts. And it's a pretty sudden change...it's weird. I hate thinking that we've done something to her to make her act this way. But we've don't exactly have the best track record. We've done everything we know to do to keep the peace, all for nothing. Even the days that she's getting adequate exercise she's still a looney. So, I'm going to call the vet. I'll keep you updated.

So, I guess I did have something to write about...pooh.

future possibilities...

So I've been told many times that I have cute kids. Of course I agree, but I'm also their mom, so I am kind of biased! However, we get a ton of comments about Jackson specifically. Most people who know him will say how gorgeous he is - his eyes are amazing. And how much personality he has (isn't that the truth!) - he's a very outgoing and friendly kid with an enormous imagination. I've even had people tell me that I should get him into modeling or acting. I thought about it, but never considered it seriously. I just didn't want to force anything on him at such a young age. I always thought that if he ever had an interest, we could pursue it, but not until he was old enough to have an opinion on the matter.

Well on the way to school today, Jackson was chatting away in the back of the van as usual. Then he started singing in the most high-pitched voice ever. I asked him "Jack, why are you singing so high like that?" and he responded "Mom, I want to be a movie star."

So there ya go. He's just given me his opinion. I asked him if he really wanted to do that and why. He said he did because he loves to make people laugh and act silly. I still don't think I'll do anything about it right now, but it sure did make me think more about the possibility. Is it possible to raise a young actor to maintain family values and morals? Looking at the current celebrity society - I have my doubts.

But he is one cute little kid. And he does make us laugh. A lot. A lot a lot.

Let's check in ladies!

Okay, so we've been doing the diet/body challenge for a bit now. How are you ladies doing at this point? Any butt kicking needed? I think I might need it! But - I just joined the local gym, and I'm also going back to work part-time, so I think I'll be back on the ball here shortly. I've only lost 2 pounds, but I guess that's better than nothing!

So check in and let me know how you're doing!!!

certain things about the south I cannot grasp

Now, I will be the first to admit that while I may have grown up in the mid-west (or north, as it is referred to here), I've never felt like I belonged until I moved to the south. However, that does not mean I can forgo all the habits and mentalities of northern living. Life for instance, I still don't quite understand the term "fixin' ta" - actually I think I'd spell that "fixin' tuh" but you get my point. And why if the meteorologist predicts any kind of precipitation and a temperature anywhere near 32 degrees, the grocery stores become overwhelmed with alarmist shoppers fearing the end of the world. So, we got to experience this to a whole new level today...these pictures are for my "northern" friends and family...you'll understand.

This "storm" caused school to be delayed 2 hours today. Mind you, the streets and sidewalks were not cleared by anyone.




Frightful, isn't it? Sheesh. Although I shouldn't complain. After we got the school-wide phone call alerting us to the delay (at 6:00 am), we didn't have to get out of bed until after 8:00. And the kids are off Friday and Monday. I like sleeping in.

Wowie! Owie!

Okay, so my first session?  Piece of cake.  Last night's full hour session?  Ouch.  Funny thing about that hour session - it lasted an hour and twenty minutes.  Hmmm.  But my trainer Emily was wonderful and full of encouragement and advice.  She was kind enough to say that I'm not as bad off as I make myself out to be.  And she said that I'm actually pretty strong considering I haven't worked out in 2 years.  Sooo, today I can hardly walk up the stairs - but it's weird.  I'm not sore at all, just weak.  Like my legs know what to do but I can't make them do it.  I'm trying to decide if I go in today and just do some cardio or if I take one day off to recover and then hit it hard again tomorrow.  Alison and her three boys are coming today around lunch time, so that may keep me from heading out this evening.  They're staying for over a week, so I won't be using them as an excuse not to go past today.  We'll see how the afternoon plays out.  

On a totally different topic - holy hannah is it cold here!!!!!!  I'm soooo annoyed at this weather.  It really feels like Chicago right now and I'm just not happy about it.  I know I have no right to complain considering it was 80 degrees just a few weeks ago and it will be close to 70 by next week, but we're not supposed to get this cold!  I'm not mentally prepared for it!  Luckily the kids are all set w/heavy coats, hats, and gloves.  Can I just say thank goodness for mittens?  Jackson tried his best to figure out how to get his fingers into the right holes of his gloves but there was no chance.  He couldn't understand how to keep his fingers apart.  And he kept curling them inside the glove.  Luckily we still had mittens from last year and they still fit him (surprise, surprise).  I just didn't have the patience to sit there and try to teach him how to do it, plus we were late for school.

Okay, I must go clean my house a little bit for our guests.  They deserve some consideration!  Later taters!

Let the games begin!

Soooo, I had my first work-out at bally's last night.  They called me in the morning to schedule a time to come in and tour the gym and whatnot, and then said, "do you want to fit a workout in while you're here?"  I couldn't very well say no... so I let the ever so insanely muscular trainer have a whack at my fat flabby self.  It was actually a wonderful time, not to say that I didn't work.  But he made me laugh during the session and I didn't even realize I had done 100 crunches!  He kept having me do sets of 20 in different positions and before I knew it he said "that's 100."  I laughed because with all my c-sections, I didn't think I could do 10 crunches, let alone 100.  I did a few of their circuit machines after doing about 10 minutes on the elliptical machine.  Tonight I go back for the full 1 hour session.  This time I have a female trainer (I think Dave is much more comfortable with that) and she used to be a body builder.  I'll admit - I'm a little scared of her.  But apparently she's really good at motivating people and gets quick results.  That's exactly what I wanted.

The guys I met last night were of course trying to get me to commit to signing up for membership, and I'm tempted, but I want to try it out for a few weeks before doing that because it's a pretty long drive.  I need to see if the perks are worth the drive, or if our local gym would be sufficient.  We'll see.

So, my team members are Maria and Kristen (and I'm trying to coerce Heather into joining in as well).  Let's get it going ladies!  Did you sign up with Discovery Health yet?  Are you working out?  I've got a long way to go before I'll be happy with putting on a bathing suit, and only 4 months to get the job done.  Git r done.  (sorry, had to say it)

Updates

I promise - an update with lots of pictures is on the way...life is just a little busy.  But I'll get something up in the next day or two.

who's going to join me?

I've never been one for new year's resolutions. But I have to say, if there was ever a time where I needed one, it's now. I've spent a total of half a year in bed when you combine all three pregnancies and bedrest. I was in bed for 16 weeks with Brian. I lost almost all muscle mass and my metabolism went in the toilet. Now I know what you're all thinking...Brian is 2 years old now. But let me be the first to say that while baby weight comes off easily for me, putting muscle back on doesn't. I have been struggling with my weight for the first time the past 18 months and I'm now certain that I'm not going to win unless I do something pretty significant. So, I've decided to participate in the Discovery Health National Body Challenge. You can see my countdown to sign-up on the right side of this page. I need a buddy, or two, or three! I can't do this kind of thing on my own - it's way too hard to stay motivated. So a buddy is a must. And it's also why I'm posting it here - so that there's documented proof of my goals. Please don't let me forget them! And with that said, if you do want to be my buddy, believe me, there will be no quitting! Nope, not me, not you.
If you decide to sign up for the body challenge, a great perk is a free membership to Bally total fitness for 8 weeks! I think that's perfect for me because it's just long enough to get me through the winter months before it starts getting warm enough to get outside to exercise. Unfortunately, the only downside for me is the closest facility is about 25 minutes away, but I already talked to Dave and he said he'll support me in it. At least it's only 8 weeks being that far, and if I get into a good routine, then I'll join the local fitness center since I'll know I'll actually use it.

So who's with me???? PLLLLEEEEAAAASE??????

Famous family

My cousin is famous, once again. Check her out on the follow up story...

http://wcbstv.com/video/?id=106290@wcbs.dayport.com

My oh so pretty puppy!

I realize that I am so far overdue for an update on Greta. But honestly, she's a bit of a crazy puppy and getting a good picture of her isn't so easy. I mean, I've tried, but not a whole lot of success. Lately she's been behaving a bit better. Of course, we took her to the vet last week and had them cut out some organs, so that probably has something to do with it. Or maybe she knows she starts obedience school tomorrow and is trying to play us. I dunno, but I don't care. I'll take a calmer dog any day. Now, don't be mistaken - this girl still has a good case of the crazies, but she's slowly getting better.

Anyhow, onto the more important things. As mentioned before, Greta had her surgery a week ago. Yep, that's right. Our sweet puppy girl is now a sweet puppy it. Gender neutral. Poor thing. But, our vet is a rock star and Greta did fabulous. The fastest recovery I'd ever seen. She's already completely back to normal. Sad thing is Dave and I both worried ourselves crazy over her. She's definitely turned into a member of the family. Before they took her back for surgery they put her on the scale. A girl's worst nightmare, unless you're a Great Dane and size matters! Proudly, Greta hit the scales at 75 pounds! She's only 6 months old! And the vet says she's still just a tad skinny. Hey, we're doing our best! The girl can eat!

Okay, on to the pictures. I did my best to take a few shots that would show how big she is. Emma was happy to be a reference. For the record, Emma weighs 40 lbs and is 41 inches tall. And the last photo is my new favorite.


Here's Emma with her puppy. These two will be best buds once Greta stops knocking her over!


The main reference shot. Look back in the archives and you'll get a good idea of how much she's grown.


Okay - this is hilarious, but it's seriously one of Greta's favorite places to sit. Weird, I know.


Who could resist this sweet little face?!

Look what I did!

This is kind of a two part post. One is to show off my handiwork on the house, and the other is to show off the pics from the camera Dave bought me for my birthday!

I worked all day today, with some aesthetic help from Dave telling me to move something up or down. It was a lot of fun, but took so long. I'm very glad to be out of the midwest and in the south because doing this in 50 degree weather was still pretty cold! I know, I'm a totally weak, spoiled little girl. Yeah, don't care. I don't like the cold!

Okay, so here's two pics...one w/a flash and one without



So the camera Dave got me is a digital SLR - something I've really wanted for a very long time. I love taking pictures and have always wanted to make it a hobby. Dave made that dream come true for me (like so many other dreams in my life!) and now I'm a tourist in my own house. My kids are lucky they like taking pictures - wait, no, that makes me lucky. Anyhow, I'm sure to be posting lots of random pictures from here on out.

Cracker Jack!

Jackson had his 5 year well-check this morning and all is well (nice play on words). He measured in at 40.5 inches tall and 37 pounds. Another peanut...that put him in the 10% for height and 20% for weight. Amazing, considering he was in the 40-50% just last year. I swear I feed my kids! If anyone saw Jack eat, you'd think he'd weigh at least 50 pounds by now. But Dr. Hansen wasn't concerned, and neither am I. I think Jack is doing really well this year and I'm just excited he's been so healthy. After talking a bit about Jack's history w/the dr. we decided to do another allergy test - this time a blood draw. Mainly because he had some small things show up on his test a few years ago, but nothing definitive. I also mentioned how when he eats ranch dressing, if it gets on his face he gets hives. That was enough for him to want another test done, so off to the hospital for that. Jack rocks though, just a few tears, no screaming or fighting it. I even had him look once the blood started to go in the small tube and into the vial and his exact words were "that's cool" said in the middle of his tears. He's so cute. Good boy.

So a funny story, and you know if Jack's involved there's going to be a funny story. The nurse took us back to do the height and weight check. Jack thought the scales were cool and he wanted to count all the stickers on both of them. Then we had to go into the bathroom and he had to pee in a cup...okay - you'd think this is where the story comes in, but no. He thought it was funny and commented on how he had a lot in his cup - he was proud. After that we went over to do the eye chart. The nurse asked him some questions about shapes and then pointed to the chart and had him identify each symbol line after line. About the third line down there was the shape of a crescent moon. She asked him what that was and he said "chrysalis" so matter of factly the nurse looked at him like "huh?" With his lisp I don't think she understood what he said so I repeated it. She literally bent over laughing - and I said "can you tell what they've been talking about in preschool?" We laughed for a second and then she continued to the chart with colors on it...a green line and a red line (I was actually interested in his response since my dad is colorblind). She pointed to the green line and without missing a beat Jack's response was "verde." I thought - here's where we see if miss nurse can follow it...she giggled a minute, and then pointed to the red line and of course Jack said "roho." At this point a few nurses had stopped and watched all of it and they were all giggling at Jack. One asked "what preschool does he go to? I think my niece needs that school!" I thought they were joking so I laughed along. A minute later the nurse comes into our room w/a pen and paper and said "so what school does he go to?" Wow.

All in all it was a good appointment. Jack really seemed to like Dr. Hansen, so that makes us feel good about switching. I just could drive 45 minutes back up north to Dr. Flannery even though we really loved him. I just pray Brian's appointment goes as well on Friday...(I'm scared!)

Can You Say CUTE!!??

Okay, I know, I'm his mom and I'm biased - but come on - you tell me this isn't just the cutest little man you've ever seen!? Okay, so you might tell me he isn't, but I bet he's the cutest you've seen today! These jammas used to be Jack's, and I had gotten them for him at the consignment sale a few years ago. I loved Jack in them so much I almost didn't give them to Brian because they were kind of a special memory for me. But Dave gave him a bath tonight and decided to put them on him and comb his hair just so, and then call me up to see this sweet little thing. Oh how my heart just melted!!! How is one mom so lucky to have two such adorable boys! Seriously - teenage years are going to be worrisome! Oh those poor dads of little girls (oh wait a minute - we have one of those too!) I'm sure we'll have our worries on both sides of the equation.
Anyway - I just had to share his cuteness with all of you. Enjoy!

Blasted!!!

On Halloween, I wanted to carve one more pumpkin for our front porch. The kids were at school and Dave was home so I grabbed a pumpkin left over from Jack's party and got ready to carve. We had a bunch of those carving kits you can get with patterns and all the tools you need. Well I knew what I wanted to carve so all I needed was the marking crayon that came in the kit. I couldn't find one anywhere. We had three during the party and I know we kept the kits pretty well accounted for so I assumed they had to be somewhere. I asked Dave if he had seen them and he said he hadn't. Oh well, no biggie. So I use a regular crayon hoping it works as well, which it does not, but I get the job done. Now I was ready to do some carving! I knew Dave had put the carving pieces and the scoopers in the dishwasher so I opened it up to get what I needed. And holy sweet savannah to my eyes what did I see? A totally GREEN dishwasher!!!! Can you figure out how???? It took me a minute, but then I realized what happened - I know where the marking crayons were - or in this case where they had melted onto everything!!! I'll spare the details of how it happened to shield my loved ones... It was actually funny for a bit, until we realized that a simple rewashing of things didn't clean it up, nor did many loads empty on hot, or using vinegar, or this or that...we tried everything. We had lost most of the kids cups, utensils, our plastic cups and bowls, and lots of gladware. It was a disaster. We had pretty much given up hope and were looking at homedepot.com for a new dishwasher, which totally sucked because we hadn't even paid off this one yet (it's only 6 months old - we decided to trade out the builder's dishwasher for one that actually cleaned our dishes and didn't sound like a jet engine in our kitchen). It was nauseating for me to even think about doing that, so I decided I wouldn't consider it until I knew I had exhausted every possible cleaning idea out there. Well we found a suggestion on some message board about this cleaner called "Bar Keepers Friend" but you can't just go to the grocery store and buy it. At least not our grocery store. But their website said Linens 'n Things sells it, among others. I immediately went in and bought two cans of this stuff, plus some dish gloves and scrub brushes. I figured I'd rather spend $30 dollars on cleaning products that might work instead of replacing a $900 dishwasher. Just a thought. I get home and I'm so anxious to see if this stuff works I barely follow the instructions. It just has to work!!! So I make my paste and start scrubbing. Immediately the cleaner starts to turn green - it's coming off!!! I continue to scrub and scrub and scrub - I went through all the cleaner I had bought and had to go get more. It didn't matter though, it was working! In the end I spent over 6 hours inside my dishwasher, but it's saved! Unfortunately a lot of it is stained green still, but the waxy film is gone and the green doesn't rub off on anything we put in it. I felt very thrifty in putting so much effort into it, because believe you me, I sooo did not want to do that much work when first thinking about our options. Most of me wanted to just say heck with it and go get a new one. But when I thought long and hard about our current financial status - not such a great idea to go into more debt just so I didn't have to use a little elbow grease! Can you say lazy!? Geesh. Obviously we made the right choice. It'll be a fun story to tell at parties and such in the future (once a certain someone can embrace the humor in his error ;-).

Below are a few pictures to elaborate the story. Unfortunately, in our panicked state we didn't think to take a complete before picture - with the overwhelming amount of green in there - dishes and all. It was quite a sight!

Halloween Pics

I won't take up much time but wanted to post the kids' halloween pics. Emma was Snow White, Brian was a cute dragon, and Jack was Thomas. I still can't believe we made it this long w/o him wanting to be Thomas. The kids had fun and the neighborhood was just the right size for our kids. Big enough to feel like they were out for a while, but not too big where we were walking all evening. I'm sure next year will feel different when more houses are built. Enjoy the pics!