The good, the bad and the ugly

The Good

I had the best Birthday ever. The night before friends from church took me out for ice cream. It was all young moms we ate then talked for hours at the ice cream shop. Totally fun. Then on Friday I slept in a bit, then the boys got up and my mom called. I got SEVEN vintage aprons (photos soon) from her. Awesome. I have no idea where to store seven aprons, plus the 5 I already have, but whatever. Then me and the boys had a nice day, they were good all day. After nap time though Ethan had a fever, more on that under "the bad". In the evening Marcia watched the boys and Brian and I went out to dinner.

The Bad

Ethan is sick. So far Stephen seems ok. Ethan had 104 then 102 then 103 fevers. That's Friday, Saturday and Sunday. He is not hot today but is super snotty. Coughing some, must mostly super duper snotty. I'm hoping he is ok.

The Ugly

Two days in a row the boys have gotten into terrible trouble in their rooms in the early hours of the morning. Sunday they pushed a box over to the changing table and got down a new HUGE tub of A&D Ointment. For the record even carpet cleaning professionals cannot get that out of carpet. We know that from a past ointment experience. It was everywhere. On clothes, in hair, in eyes, in carpet, in miniblinds, on puppies. It took hours to clean up. Boys were in so much trouble, no tv for a day, no puppies, no blankie, no fun, no candy, no craft time, no happy parents. Ethan was sick too. Then today I get up to the same thing only with poop instead of ointment. Ethan's poop. Stephen actually tried to clean it up, but you know how it goes when a 3 yr old tries to clean stuff, just made it worse. It was everywhere. Not in hair. I had to shave their hair yesterday because we could not get the ointment out of it. *and by the way if you shave a very blonde kid with a fever and bags under his eyes he looks like a lukemia patient, and no, I don't have a photo of that*

I do have a few photos though so let me share them now.

This is Ethan in the car. We couldn't take him into the nursing home when we went to visit Brian's grandfather. I don't think they like you to take very sick children into nursing homes. So me and Ethan sat in the hot hot car for the visit. Not one of my most brilliant ideas. Should have stayed home. See his misery?This is the boys, sitting in a box that our new computer came in watching TV. Oh, did I forget to mention the new computer? Our old one died. We had to get a new one, I was without the internet for almost a week. It was horrible. Also the AC died in one car and our pool pump broke. It's been a fantastic week. I'm ready to jump off a bridge. *to offense to the relatives of those who have jumped off bridges, suicide is very serious, I'm not QUITE that desperate yet* Anyhow this was really cute in real life, I don't know why they all look to snarky in this photo.

there is more crap, but don't you think that's enough of a downer for now? yea, me too.

Magic, Potty, Library... that might be all.

Look, Mom! Photos.

Brian and Stephen went to an Orlando Magic game this week. The next morning (they got home aftermidnight) I got this report from Stephen, "Mommy, it was super fun, there was a green dragon and fireworks came out of his hands, then he did flips with some guys and I ate a big big hot pretzle" Later he told me he ate a huge bucket of popcorn too. Apparently Brian's trick to get Stephen to watch an entire basketball game is keep him busy with food! I approve of course. :)

Doesn't he look old in this photo? Crazy. Here they are in their seats during the game. Still smiling.
I'm sure Brian knows who this guy is...
The Magic did win that game so they go on to the next level of whatever it's called. Brackets or something. I dunno.

Stephen is finally willingly potty training! Hurray. He told me he wanted to the other day. Today is day three. He had two accidents on day one, two on day two and none today! Only pee though, he only poops overnight. So he's still in diapers for bedtime. I'm still happy. No diapers during the day for us on him is awesome. What's super cute is Ethan. He's really interested in all this, he has to sit on the potty each time Stephen does, he gets you to take his diaper off and everything. So far nothing from him, but he's thinking about it. Yesterday he pushed his penis down and said, "Come OUT" but nothing. Totally cute though. We are doing sitting down. It's working for us so that's what we do. I'm also doing rewards. Stephen gets one skittle each time. If he brings it up he gets two skittles. Like if he says, "I need a potty break" that's worth two skittles. I'm trying to say, "Time for a potty break" every hour or so and if he pees on a mandatory potty break he just gets one skittle. I'm trying to get him to tell me when he needs to go.

We have gone out two times during this. Once to Chilli's resturant. No accident, I made him sit on the potty there, but he said he didn't have pee and he was right. We went to the park after so that was a good two hour outing.

Then today we went to the library. The BIG Main library down town. It was awesome. We had never been. I gotta get a babysitter and go for hours alone. I could live there, it was like libraries in movies, seriously you can't imagine if you have a dinky library *MOM* what this is like. HUGE. So they have this giant Children's Libary section, and seriously it's about the size of most branch libraries. We did story time, then a different story time where an owl tells you the story, it's in this room that looks like you are outside and it's an animatronic owl. Super cute. Then art time, today was painting where you flick wet paint at paper. After that we had lunch in this courtyard they have. On the second floor, which was really the third floor. *they had a "basement" but it was above ground... that's Florida for you* Anyhow in the courtyard there were trees and such. I love gardens that are above ground level.

My point, besides that it was super fun and I forgot my camera, is that this whole thing was over 3 hours. And NO accidents from Stephen!

Oh and Stephen has always had bad skin, eczema and lots of diaper rashes. But no rashes on his butt now. So that's great for him, as he totally hates the cream. He does like the powder and asked about that. I guess we don't really powder our bums anymore once we wear big boy/girl underwear.

Oh and other news. Me and my mom have started another blog. It's called Thrift Finds and we are writing about all the magical deals we find at garage sales and thrift shops and such. It already has a bunch of entries so go ahead and click on over there and check it out. We are considering adding other contributers to it over time, so all our friends can blog about what they find all over the country on one blog. I got an awesome dining room table that I love for $20 last weekend! CHA CHING!

Well that's about all. Oh tonight's tick us off moment is when we opened a brand new bill! We now pay $120 a year for garbage and rainwater removal. It's actually half and half. $60 a year for garbage doesn't sound horrible honestly, but $60 to let rain water run into existing gutters? And it's not MY water, we all know who is responsible for that water, although I rekon I'd rather pay it than send Him a bill. So they break this joy up for us into two $60 payments a year. I tell you guys every single month there is an unexpected bill of $60. I guess this is May's bill because I had a bunch last month from the mamogram. *seperate bill from everyone who looked at it, and you'd think I would be charging to let people look at my boobies, nope I gotta pay people to do it*

And that really is all. good day to you.

MoHawks

not your panty waisted fauxhawks, the real deal. Cuz that's the way we roll around here at the KelloggShow.

Pool fence, and big news for Erin

Two big things today.

First is our new pool fence. My dad and Sue had offered to have one installed for us. After calling around for quotes and such we decided on a company. It will be great to be able to let the boys play outside without having to worry so much. Of course I'll go outside with them, but I won't have to chase them every second of their time. :) And, heaven forbid, if the ever get away from me and get out back they won't be able to get in the pool. Not to mention neighbor kids and worries about them getting in. Here are some photos:

My other news is super fun! A few months ago I was thinking about cardmaking and rubber stamping. *you know, for a change* and I realized that there are not really any great cards or stamps for some tough situations. I have a friend who is slowing loosing a family member. "Get well soon" isn't what she needs, but neither is "sympathy" And she wants to tell her loved one more than "Thinking of you". So she needed a sentiment that showed support, that showed how hard the struggle is. I know people who have lost babies, who are long term caregivers, all sorts of tough things. I wanted a set of stamps that addressed all this.

So I emailed one of my favorite stamp companies. Gina K called me within an hour. I know none of you know who Gina K is but she's HUGE in my stamp world. HUGE people! A bonefide celebrity. Calling ME on the phone because she loved my idea. Not only that, but she wanted to know if I'd write sentiments for the set! I wrote a pile of them. It was hard to think of such terrible situations, but I managed. Well now these are made into rubber stamps!

Here is a card I made using them:

Full write up and more card samples on my Craft Blog and you can read Gina's post about it HERE. Oh and how nice is that flower? I didn't draw that, I don't draw.

The response has been really good. Of course the people who hate it probably keep that to themselves, but whatever. HAHA. I'm getting lots of really positive feedback. I generally feel like a rockstar today!

I think I'm going to make chocolate cake later. You know, to celebrate. I found this recipe that has sour cream and brown sugar instead of regular and lots of eggs and cocoa. YUM.

Baseball night!

We went to a baseball game tonight. It was really fun, the boys were very well behaved, and Ethan didn't try to run away once.

The best part was when we took the elevator, it opened up and guess who was in there? South Paw! He's the super cute mascot for our team. He's a dog who is a baseball player. Stephen talks about him a bunch. Anyhow we got to ride with just us and him, now how fun is that? Super fun, that's how fun.

Anyhow here are some photos of the boys playing at the game with their awesome gloves their Grammy got them.

Speaking of Grammy, this is funny. Stephen's obsessed with color. Today it occured to me to mention that his Grammy's last name is "Brown" which is a name AND a color! He was completly boggled by this. He insists his Grammy is "Green" because she has a green garden and because she has a green house. Stephen also doesn't believe that we have a last name at all, much less "Kelloggs" which he recognizes from ceral commercials. *rolleyes* I'm trying to get him to be able to say his full name. So far, no good. He can say his town and he can sometimes say our street. He is obsessed with street names lately. "Mommy, what's this street were turning on?" So now when driving I'm reading every sign and telling the name of every street. If you happen to be with us, please remember. "All yellow signs say "be careful"." Let's leave it at that please! I mean they pretty much DO all say that.

So Sunday Brian took Stephen to that Xoey's party. Apparently it was AWESOME. Stephen came home sweaty and dirty and super happy! And they had the best favors ever, buggy cages with all sorts of candy and stuff inside! Totally cute. Anyhow I stayed home with Ethan who was just super tired. After he woke up from his nap I got almost two hours of just me and Ethan time. I rarely get time with just him. It was AWESOME. He talked a whole lot and he wanted to do all the things I do, he did art time, he wanted to sit on my lap while I read a book to him, he just loved it. I did too. We decided we will be making it a priority to spend more one on one time with each kid. Stephen actually gets some every day because he doesn't nap, he just does "rest time" where he has to read or something, but quietly. But I can't remember the last time I was alone with Ethan.

one more thing, go ahead and expect more videos. I think youtube is tempermental or something, some times it takes like 10 minutes to upload one, and sometimes it takes an hour then kicks me out. So I'll keep trying, but if it's taking forever for some funky reason then I might have to just do it a different day.

Video from the party

In this next video you may note my horrible posture. I REALLY need to work on that. SHEESH.

Happy Birthday Stephen

Stephen turned three on Friday. We had a party Saturday morning. We had it at the park near our house. Stephen wanted his party to be themed "yellow" I kid you not, that's all I got out of him, "I want a yellow party" Finally my friend Cristy (Hey Cristy!!) Convinced him that he wanted balloons. So I had that to go on. And here are photos.

Cake. He picked those tacky candy things, I would have done something fancier.

Stephen rocking a yellow shirt and sitting with his cake.
Ethan, also in yellow with super flushed cheeks, he played HARD at the party.
Me and Stephen who didn't want a picture with me.
Friend Elly Opening presents. Xander, Brian, Stephen, Ethan and frind Nathan
Friend Xoey and her cute, skinny, mom Shara. Xoey's birthday party is tomorrow. She is the happiest baby ever and I've only heard her cry like once. In the background is friend Dean. Ethan got some rain boots, I know it's not his birthday, but Stephen got them too and I don't want to deal with one kid having them and one not having them for the next two months. They are insanely cute with his shorts. I'm hoping it rains soon! Stephen amid a pile of presents. He got this cool art stand thing and one side is dry erase board, so he got markers too. These are from Marcia. Stephen loves it! He loved everything he got.

And that's all I've got. Stephen got a pile of art supplies, froggy rain boots, a "buggy cave" which is a cage for bugs *joy*, a Cars movie toy that is pretty cool and a Tonka Truck front loader digger truck that we can't wait to take the beach.

We did take some video and I'll try to upload it sometime soon, it takes a while to upload videos.

Playing with our new camera

I'm hoping you see a video there. A video of us. Playing with our new video camera.

here's to hope

Garage Sale and other great deals... AKA ERIN GETS SPOILED

This weekend was great! Yesterday my mom and Jack drove down. I fed them a nice dinner, which was a real pleasure to be able to do. This morning we got up and went to a huge neighborhood garage sale. We got a TON and took photos.
Me and the tots looking for bargains.
Ethan and his Grampy Jack.
Me and my boys walking from one sale to the next. Ethan rocking the monkey leash.
A digital video camera! It works and everything, it was new. We have no idea why he was selling this, but whatever. So soon I can put video on here. :)

Maps for the boys and a thing about how a frog's life cycle. These are in storage behind my dresser right now, I'm going to use them when the boys are a bit older.
A pink Jaguars hat for me, sticker still on it, child hinge door gaurds for the closet in the kids room, a drying rack and a laundry basket. Sorta boring, but good useful stuff. I think those are my feet too, but I've had them for years, didn't just get them. Oh a Tony Dungee book and a propane lamp too.
This strange thing is a CD tower. It is hand made and not sanded or painted. Well it wasn't, I already painted it. I've put it in my craft area and will hold my unmounted stamps in it. I keep them in CD Cases so they will be perfect and this will hold plenty of them. Best part? It fit perfectly in the spot I had in mind. I painted it the wall color *dark red* so it looks built in! LOVE it.

Kickboards. They were five cents each. I'm going to start teaching Stephen to swim this year and kickboards is a part of my plan.

Books and games and a movie. *HEY! that movie is not for us, Mom, did you get that movie back?* That "Body" book is the awesome kind with overlays and even a CDROM and it was a quarter. Heck, almost all this stuff was a quarter.
This was my idea, feather dusters! I figure they can "help" me dust with these. I got an unopened box of crows *licorice candy* there too. I love licorice, crows are ok, but not strong enough I like really, REALLY strong stuff, anyone know any? Please provide a link. *wink*
We got a computer for the boys *we have one great one from Christmas, but they fight over it, so for $3 I got a second, this one is bigger kid stuff, but they seem to find stuff to do. There are some other goodies here the kids picked out. My mom and Jack are unable to say no it seems, but just look at the joy!
Clothes, shoes, socks and other odds and ends. The shoes all look almost new and were fifty cent a pair! SCORE!

At lunch a very nice man had this Harley. Well when the boys oooh'ed and awwww'ed over it he said, "Would you like to sit on it?" and then he asked if we had a camera, Mom did!

After lunch my mom took me to Bealls and bought me a ton of clothes. Nice shorts, a beautiful skirt *seriously, it's the nicest thing I own* and tops. FUN stuff. Also we didn't take boys and we DID take Marcia, so it was super fun girl time.

,

Disney's MGM Studio

Oh and Disney is trying to call it "Hollywood Studios" now, which I think is lame to change the name of a park but whatever, same place.

We went to MGM yesterday! It was stinking fun. Unfortunately the boys woke themselves up at around 6, so they crashed and burned a little early. Perhaps I will have to NOT mention that we are going somewhere super cool next time.

The first thing we did was ride the Tower of Terror! Me and Stephen I mean. He was a little scared but he loved it anyhow. If you are inclined then call us and let him tell you about it, he is super funny when he tells it. I can't type what he says, he does sound effects. He's definately a thrill seeker.

This first photo is of the boys meeting characters from Little Einstines TV show. I don't know their names. Stephen calls them, "the red one" and "the yellow one". There were a lot more characters hanging out at MGM than the other parks. (You may remember my complaining about that in my other Disney park reports)

Next we have a look of wonder on Stephen's face. We are in a show called "Playhouse Disney" Stephen KNOWS that we saw the REAL Mickey Mouse Club House, the REAL Mickey Mouse and Handy Manny, Little Einstiens and so on. The other ones that you can meet and hug are "Characters". He leaned to me and said "Wow Mommy, that's the REAL Mickey Mouse, not a character!" The "real" guys were puppets and smaller than the hugely oversized characters.. not sure if that's what made them so real? This is the real Handy Manny.
Here we are on the Studio Backlot Tour, right before all heck breaks loose.
All heck breaks loose
And terror ensues We found out that Ethan is no fan of special effects that have fire, loud noises and such. Especially gun ones, he really doesn't like those. We also learned that if he's scared he will either hold his blankie over his face or hold your hand over his face until he feels brave again.

Being very scared is tired business.

Stephen had a little rest too. *not asleep, note open eye*Who are these people you ask? I don't know. This was the closest we got to Mickey Mouse, but they had to cut off the line on us so we didn't get to meet him. But Stephen saw him and wanted me to take a photo. I did later ride a ride with these people, they were with me in line. They seemed nice. It's a small world after all.They had a collection of outstanding Alice in Wonderland art. I love this one. That's about all. It was a nice day. We stayed until the 10pm showing of Fantasmic and that was good. Ethan thought a lot of it was scary, and Stephen slept through it, but I liked it. :)