I Recommend Dr. Seuss

I decided to play my "patient" mom card and asked Slade if he wanted me to read him a book. He screamed "Yes!" and was very excited. I heard him rummaging through books in his room. I have been trying to take time and read more books with him, so I put down my Parents magazine that I just got in the mail (I was way excited about my new magazine). He runs in the room and sits down.


He brought me the Children's Atlas of the Universe (with detailed maps and charts-it advertises on the bottom), 128 pages to be exact. Hmmmmmm. I was thinking Green Eggs and Ham.

I talked him into his library book from school.

Moral of the story: Pick the book, then ask if they want to come read it with you. That would be playing the "smart" mom card. Gin!

Two Little Monkeys....

Before................................


And................................

AFTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I finished in record time tonight. Of course all my decorative touches aren't added and hung, but I couldn't wait to post. It's a wonder what some fresh paint, new shower curtain, and fresh towels can do. As you can see, the so-planned stripes took a different turn. I was in bed last night and dots popped into my head. Plus there are dots on the curtain. So here you go. I traced them with chalk and free handed them with an angled brush. Then I just wiped the chalk away. They turned out rather cute I think!

Here's a ceiling view. I got fancy with this big dot. The brown background seemed to really make the dots pop.

This is my blue-turqoisey wall and the old pic that was already in the bathroom. If you notice, the "M" has almost the same monkey as the shower curtain. That is Slade's monkey piggy bank and I just sat it in there bc I thought it looked cute.

Towel holder already back up with the cute new towel.

Monkey wastebasket

Monkey toothbrush holder-wouldn't this make you want to brush your teeth and rinse!!!!!

Monkey Business

Friday and Saturday at a glance.

1. Finley got motion sickness in the Polar Express and vomited on me. Third times a charm with the puke this week. Lovely. We were supposed to drop the kids off and go to a Christmas party right after the train ride. Not so much since I had barf all down my leg. It was the last straw of the week-I cried.

2. Woke up with PMS and cannot take Advil because of my horrible stomach problems. Tylenol ain't cutting it, girls!

3. The Iraan Braves got the poop kicked out of them by Stratford today. By the sound of how some of Iraan players acted, looks like they got what they deserved. Shame on the few that make everyone look bad!

4. I'm apparently INSANE. In a nutshell, I repainted the kids bathroom tonight. I have a third of the walls finished. I'm striping (as in marking off with tape and putting three different colored stipes on the wall) the other wall tomorrow. Should be interesting. I'm channeling the PMS cramps into something productive. The monkey pic at the top is what they bathroom will be decorated in-they are sooooo adorable!

5. My Christmas shopping is finished. All I have to do now is wrap and finish making my Nana's present. I have a few odds and ends stocking stuffer left to get still, but that will be easy.

6. The director from Sugar and Spice called and they have a spot for Finley starting in January. I'm sadly going to send her. I'm making a decision in her best interest, not from my heartstrings. I know she needs to go for her sake. She will go Tuesday/Thursday for about 5 hours, so it really isn't too long. I just hope they don't kick two year olds out for fit throwing. She needs to be around other kiddos and learn to share and all that good stuff. It will be good.

7. My wonderful friend, Tandy, finally started her blog today. I will be ever so happy reading the daily happenings of the Nelson bunch. Now we just need to get Jennifer on the blog wagon!!!

And those, my friends, are the highlights of the past two days.

Sugar Rush

What's better than one lollipop? TWO lollipops!!!

If you can believe it, my son puked in the middle of the night last night. My darling husband rinsed the sheets all off last night and started the washing this morning. He must have fever, haha! I'm telling you, my kids puke more than any nurse has ever cleaned up! Evidently he overate at dinner last night. Seemed fine this morning. How many times have I said puke, barf, or vomit since I've started blogging? Too many, but at least I don't resort to photos, huh!

My mom and grandmother are coming today and I plan to finish my xmas shopping this weekend. We are going to the Polar Express tomorrow and Slade is nervous that we are actually traveling to the North Pole. That's what he told Kyle!

Finley Funny. The past few nights she has been coming up to Kyle and saying, "Touch my Fever, Daddy". She thinks that her forehead is called "fever". Is that not the funniest!?!

Just so you'll know, I did not space this paragraph like you see it. I have fixed it three times and when I publish it, it has a mind of it's own. Does anyone else experience this problem? So annoying!

Week in Review

I am so pleased with the final product. We all have a stocking now. Good job, Chey-Anne. I'm tooting my own horn.

The kids get a special ornament each year. I found this cue little soccer dude for Slade. Look-it's holding the goal!! I'm still looking for our family one.

And of course, Minnie Mouse for Miss Priss. Her little eyes lit up when I showed her the ornament. She loved it. So much fun this year-Finley is really into the tree and decorating.

I let go and let the kids put the ornaments on the tree last night(I did fix them later-couldn't help myself). This is Finley's jumble of ornaments. Slade really couldn't stand for them all to be together. He kept trying to "fix" them and we had lots of fights between brother and sister.

They were so funny decorating last night. The red beads were strung all over the place.

Finley getting a push from Daddy during Thanksgiving weekend. It was a little chilly so we busted out the new coat that Cita bought.

Slade helping Big Dad at the barbecue pit-not sure how we have escaped any major burns.

When my mom pulled this ornament out to put on her tree, she asked Finley who it was. Finley said, "Me". Looks a lot like Finley but it's not. I was about three or four-mom always had the sponge rollers in my hair!!!

Thanksgiving day with a little chocolate left over on the face!

Yes, Kyle let him crawl onto the roof at Nana's house. He just sat there and showed the guns up sign mostly.

Thanksgiving feast in his Kindergarten class. Mrs. Hendrix went to a lot of trouble, but he will always remember eating "Friendship Salad" and making butter for his pumpkin bread.

WalMart Fiasco

So let me tell you about our little shopping excursion this morning. My sister and I decided to make a WalMart run this morning. I was excited that I would have only my child to watch and she would have Campbell. So much more manageable with one. So we meet in the Christmas department when she gets there. Of course Finley acts as though she hasn't seem Campbell in three months, so she had to get into the basket with her. I was across the way when I hear Brandi asking Fin if she was alright. I look over and Campbell is in the seat of the cart facing Brandi. Finley is standing up behind Campbell and is puking all down Campbell's back, in Campbell's hair, into the seat cover, on herself, shoes, and it's splattering on the floor. Lovely. So I run over carrying my seat cover and catch the remaining barf in it. Luckily, we look over next to us and we are beside a "Clean-Up Zone". I use the garbage bags and collect all the dirty seat covers and clothes. I let Campbell use Finley's extra set of clothes seeing that my child barfed on hers. I got Finley a shirt out of the Toddler section and cleaned off her shoes. We used the paper towels and wiped up all the puke off the floor and put those into a garbage bag. Brandi cleaned Campbell's hair with a wet wipe. We wiped down all the carts with wipes since we had no more seat covers-like they could have much worse than barf on them!!! We then continued with our shopping. When I checked out, the cashier asked if I had forgotten to put the sack onto the counter. I told her no, they were barf clothes and we arrived wearing them. Another day in the life of the Smart children.

Monday Madness

Please work Prevacid, Please work Prevacid, Please work Prevacid..........

It has already been a very busy Monday thus far. It's about 1pm and I've run all over Lubbock this morning. Only 2 hours until time to get Slade. I got Slade off to school, went to the stomach doctor(more about that later), Emma's birthday party, shoe store, lunch with my sister, the hardware store, and a store to look for a Christmas gift for Brandi. We missed music class, so we'll have to make that up later. Kyle got our tree out of the garage and fixed the missing lights, so all that is waiting for me. I am exhausted bc I didn't sleep a wink last night-partly bc I was nervous to go to the doctor and partly bc Finley had to get into the bed with me and we were in Slade's room. He couldn't sleep and had gotten into bed with Kyle and I didn't want to mess up another bed. So I got in his bed and Finley was crying for me a midnight, so I had to get her. I hate sleeping in Slade's bed which is a twin. Add Finley and it makes for a miserable night of sleep. We are a house full of dysfunctional sleepers!

The doctor came to a quick conclusion this morning and thinks that I have a hiatal hernia and stomach damage from taking Advil. All the symptoms seem to suggest hernia and I've taken gobs of Advil during my lifetime due to my horrible sinus headaches. So there you go. He said that the hernia can get worse from pregnancy bc the baby presses on it, and I have basically had stomach problems since I was pregnant with Finley-so that makes sense. He doesn't seem to think it's post-gallbladder. I didn't have the heart to ask him if I really should have had my gallbladder removed. We are trying to fix it with medication(Prevacid) for a month and then I'll have to be scoped if it doesn't get any better. Please pray the medication will help bc from what I've gathered, surgery an option. Please just let it work!!!! I am in a bad mood about it. I'm glad to know what it might be, but upset that is STILL HURTS. Everything takes time. Time never ends when your stomach hurts everyday. If voodoo medicine would work, I'd try it.

Finley went to her first official birthday party that only she was invited to, not like usual when Slade was asked and she comes along. They had tiny little ice cream cone cupcakes with pink icing. Very cute. They mostly licked the icing off. Yummy! She was really nice and had fun playing.

BTW-Lil' Footprints has buy one get one free shoes till December 13th!