"Nothings Gonna Stop Us Now..."

Reese was kind enough to teach baby sis that if something is out of reach, you go get the stool from the bathroom sink and use it to give yourself a boost....and also, drawers are no longer off-limits, apparently.
It's hard to believe that I just organized these bathroom drawers 2 weeks ago, because they look like junk drawers now. She's like MacGyver, that girl. There is a very good possibility that she is building some kind of explosive device in the back of her closet from all the floss and Qtips she swipes.
Her goal?
1) Take everything out of the drawer and leave it on the floor.
2) ...except for the pokiest, most toxic item, with the really sharp edge...that is to be carried around the house in her kung-fu death grip. 3) Do this when said item is taken away:

We had her first little tantrum the other day, after taking away a permanent marker, a sharpie, to be exact. The name alone gives it more stealth than the other pens, which is, I think, why she went for it, first. My favorite part (other than the dramatic hand over her forehead) was that she called for Reese when she realized the rest of us weren't going to give her the attention she was hoping to get. Reese just kind of looked at her. I'm sure she was thinking..."that wimpy cry isn't going to get you ANYthing, Sweetheart. You're gonna have to pull out the big guns and hold your breath till you pass out, make your eyes bleed, bang your head on the driveway, throw up, or at least pee on the carpet before those guys will cave. Quit your belly aching... it's just pathetic."
We had a good laugh, but I'm no dummy. Quincy is merely a young jedi in training, and still has a lot to learn from her master-tantrum-thrower-older sister.

I've spent most of this week collecting nail clippers, nail files, hair clippies, toothbrushes, toothpaste, silverware, measuring cups, Tupperware, DVD's, socks, tampons, diapers, and shoes from all over the house. I seriously need to relocate my knives, quickly. No no, not because I'm worried that Quincy will hurt herself with one of them. She will leave it strategically placed in a high traffic area of my room, so I'll step on it and hurt MYself the next time I get up to go pee in the dark...which reminds me that I think I'm due for a tetanus shot.

In other Willy House happenings, I made the CUTEST little Christmas cards with Kasey yesterday, while the kids were napping and Aaron was golfing. You know your kids have had WAAAAAY too much Halloween candy when you wake up to discover that several of the little red pom-pom noses have been picked off the reindeer on your Christmas cards by your children, and sucked on because they looked like free candy. You would think that after one, they would have realized that candy is not furry and does not taste like glue, but they each ate a fair share of the unused pink pom-poms before moving on. I think the Halloween Witch is going to HAVE to come to our house tonight, (against Aaron's will, who claims I got the idea for the Halloween Witch from Communist Manifesto) and eliminate the possibility of mysterious "leftover candy" for the kids.

I am utterly disappointed in my daughters for their lack of candy discernment. Seriously...pink and red tiny pom-poms? They didn't even touch the brown ones...which clearly would have been the chocolate. Better luck next year, girls.

Cinderellie Cinderellie, Night and Day, it's Cinderellie

Well here they are!

Unfortunately, this little Cinderella dress didn't come with the naturally sunny sweet disposition that our well loved Disney friend is known for having. Cinderella also let me know that I was the "worst mommy ever for Halloween" this year, because I made her put on the long sleeved shirt under her dress and "ruined the outfit". Life is full of disappointment, Cinderella. Just wait 'till I put you on laundry duty.

The dresses also came without Cinderella's knack for mopping floors. False advertising, I say.

I have a little skunk costume for Q to wear tonight to the trunk or treat party at our church, but I'm not sure if she's going to let me take off the Snow White dress she put on herself this morning. I was kind of hoping they'd want to dress up as something other than princesses for Halloween, since Cinderella, Belle, Snow White, and Tinkerbell can usually be found at our house the other 364 days of the year. At least they are getting plenty of use!

They are pretty cute...even with the stink eye. I'm sure a little candy will help fix that!

"No. I Won't Put My Hands Up and Surrender"

I'm bragging I know.
But it's my blog, so I can.
and I will....

It started with a horrible, no good week...that wasn't REALLY all that horrible at all. Well, not when I think of my life in comparison to the really horrible things that are happening to other people in the world.

But for me, in comparison to normal....it was just a horrible week.
I hadn't really complained about it to anyone, and I wasn't whining or sulking or anything...but on the inside I was feeling pretty horrible. It had just been a HORRIBLE week...that kept getting more horrible.

Then, without asking...or even knowing "the trouble's I've seen", or "the sorrows":

-a friend offers to pick up Reese from preschool and bring her home for me

-a friend shows up on my doorstep with these:

complete with 2 kinds of schmear. awesome, right?

-I get to have a chat with a friend I haven't talked to, or seen in WAAAAAY too long, and she had googled 10 different ways for me to get the ball point pen out of my sofa (see: bad horrible day/ daughter/really long time out....for me, not her. Upon my discovery of her "artwork/furniture alterations", I put myself in time out so I wouldn't do something I'd regret later...and came back to discipline daughter once the steam stopped coming out of my ears and my horns had shrunk below my hairline again). Anyway, it was so nice to catch up with her, joke around a little, and be excited about the new adventure in her life. It was nice to stop thinking about myself...which is just what I needed.

-a friend picked up my children and entertained them for the afternoon so I could take the Young Women from my church to volunteer at an assisted living home.

-I got some Good Mail from my sister, HolleeAnn on my way out the door. (thanks for the Pop Rocks!)

-I got to watch a couple of 80 and 90 year old women have their first experience with Pop Rocks. Their reactions were pretty funny...I hope it doesn't mess with any of their meds.

-6 really old ladies told me over and over what a beautiful, charmed and blessed life I have, and how lucky I am to have a family, a social life, and a young, healthy body that is able to do everything I need it to do.

-I had breakfast with two of my favorite people, followed by an hour of kid free grocery shopping at Aldi, thanks to a friend who kept my kids at her house for a play date.

-Quin told me "I love you". She's been "saying" it with hugs, kisses, smiles, snuggles, and looks in her eyes, since she was born, but to hear her express love with words, well....sigh.
-a friend called and invited me to her house for lunch. Even though I couldn't go (because I'd signed up to help with Reese's preschool field trip) it was still really nice to be invited.

-Reese (finally) stayed in her bed all night last night. A relief after a week of freshly developed bad habits.

-my husband arrived home from work early tonight and took the girls to the park at the lake, while I got to visit a friend in the hospital and hold her beautiful, precious newborn baby in my arms for an hour and soak up her yummy, sweet, only 10 hours old, straight from heaven baby smell.

-generic rocky road ice cream mysteriously showed up in my freezer tonight (thank you, friend!)

-my brother, Scotty, called... just because.

-Most were just little gestures...things that could have so easily not been done...but the fact that they were done, well they made me so happy. My cup has been filled and I feel very blessed...and well fed. My week was not so horrible after all. Everything in life has it's opposite. I am so lucky that the few horrible cards in my hand this week did not cause me to overlook the rest of the deck and ruin what turned out to be a pretty rockin' hand.

And the week's not even over.

With a Boulder on My Shoulder, Feeling Kinda Older, I Tripped on the Merry Go Round

It must be getting closer to Halloween, because Q thinks that she is a ghost. For the past few weeks, when she's ready for bed, she gets her blanket, puts it over her head, and wanders around the house. Usually, her whole face is covered so she can't see anything, so she just laughs as she bumps into furniture and the counter tops. It's pretty funny...especially the muffled ghost giggles that come from under the blanket. Muffled by her thumb, not her blanket. I'm really quite surprised she hasn't had a head injury yet. I'll try to get more pictures of our little ghost.

"At Worse... I Feel Bad for Awhi-i-ile, Yeah But Then I Just Smi-i-ile..."

Ok People. (and by people I mean my husband and the good folks at our local Walmart Supercenter) THIS is Rocky Road ice cream:

Contents:
Chocolate ice cream.
chopped or sliced almonds almonds.
mini marshmallows.
that's it.

My husband is a great guy. He really is. Every once in awhile he does a really nice thing and asks if I want a treat and every 'every once in awhile' I say, "of course".
Every time, I am dumb enough to request rocky road ice cream...and every time I am even dumb-er enough to convince myself that he will return with some.
A few times, he came home with Tin Roof Sundae, and once it was Pralines and Cream.
More often than not, it is Cookies n' Creme.

Finally, I questioned his love for me in a sweet loving way,

"what the heck is wrong with you? Don't you know what rocky road ice cream is? Seriously Aaron, is this a joke? Are you trying to set me up?"

Loving right?

His defense is weak.

A:"Well I never get the right kind of rocky road, and then you get mad at me...and I don't really even LIKE rocky road so I might as well have something I like, since you're not going to be happy with what I bring home anyway."

(wait, are we still talking about ice cream? This sounds like some kind of weird therapy session. That's fine....but if that's going to be the case, well... you should know by now that I EAT ICE CREAM FOR THERAPY. Rocky Road ice cream.)

Me:"of course you don't get the right kind. If if doesn't SAY "rocky road" on it...IT'S THE WRONG KIND."

Well, tonight I understood what he meant. I requested the Great Value rocky road ice cream. usually when it comes to rocky road, you can't go wrong with the generic stuff...they are too cheap to put anything weird in...just the basics. And in my experience, generic chocolate ice cream is some of the BEST stuff out there. Really.

He returns with Great Value Premium Rocky Road ice cream.
The carton has a lid. Well that's a bad sign in itself...generic ice cream comes in the crusty box. You open once side, eat 1/2 the ice cream, then flip it over and open the other end. This prevents your knuckles from getting a paint job from digging to the bottom of the box. Also, ice cream is less appetizing when you're scraping the last little bitties from the carton. It's just not the same as a good healthy scoop. Flipping the carton halfway through provides the illusion of a fresh box to work with.

Apparently there is Great Value ice cream, and Great Value Premium ice cream. Wanting to make his impossible-to-please-wife happy, Aaron opted for the premium. Nice Right?
Mistake numero uno, buddy.
Not examining the photo on the carton was mistake numero dos.

Does this photo represent my description? No? Ok then. It is NOT rocky road. Simple.
Seriously, what is that? Marshmallow swirl? chocolate chunks??? no. no. NO.

Great Value Premium Rocky Road:
-has a heaping amount of Chocolate chunks (buzz)
-a "delicious" blend of marshmallow swirl (buzz)
and
-premium chocolate covered whole almonds (buzz)

Three strikes and you're OUT Great Value Premium.

I hesitantly mention my disappointment to Aaron and he pulls out an "I TOLD YOU SO"

WHAT?
he then reminds me of the time he bought the Edy's Slow Churned Rocky Road.

" Sugar Free gross "

And the time he bought Heavenly Hash....which LOOKED like Rocky Road in the picture.

"Um...For the record, Heavenly Hash is wannabe rocky road. There are chocolate chunks, and instead of almonds you have peanuts. Good, but not as heavenly as PLAIN OLD ROCKY ROAD!"

Ok, so MAYBE I'm being a little harsh on the guy. Especially since he is not a lover of the Rocky Road as I am. Maybe they're really all the same to him.

Or maybe, just MAYBE, once he has a taste of the good stuff, he'll fall under the marshmallow spell, as I have, and come on over to the good side of the fight. Upon closer examination of the ice cream aisle at Walmart, I'm going to cut the guy some slack. For now, my request is simple:

Dear Walmart,
Could you PLEASE stop providing SO MANY loser rocky road options? We've had enough of your gross low-fat, made-with-Splenda substitutes. Marshmallow creme and mini marshmallows are only equal in value when you are making rice crispy treats. I don't eat my ice cream melted...and I WANT MINI MARSHMALLOWS. I'll be back soon. Yeah, me again...I'm pretty sure my Aaron has given up on ever attempting to bring home Rocky Road again.

And could you please call me the next time you have Edy's Special Edition Girl Scout Cookie Thin Mint in Chocolate in stock? Yes, I know it's only once a year...I'd like to stock up before you run out on me, like last time. It's ok, I forgive you....but I hope you've hired new people in your replenishment dept. Thank You.

Now I'm going to go "enjoy" some Rocky Hash (well... that's what you SHOULD be calling it anyway...it's not good enough to be called Heavenly Road) Great Value Premium ice cream.

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker,Television, North Korea,South Korea, Marilyn Monroe!

Some people have asked me about the relevance of my post titles. I guess some of them are more cryptic than I had thought. Wanna play name that tune?

The scoring is totally subjective.
I'll "keep track" for about a month, or until I grow tired of the game.
The winner will receive an award (meaning something freaky and awesome from craigslist) to parade on their blog among their other pieces of flair from the blogosphere.
If you are REALLY in it to win it (and who wouldn't be? Music trivia is the best) feel free to scroll back through the archives and rack up some points. Annie and Kasey already earned herself a few snaps for Tainted Love, and People Are People.

Today's post is worth 1 gold star an 5 brownie points to the friend who gets it first.
Points will be awarded to those who complete an extra line or two of the song, give the title, or name that band.

Demerits will be given for:

- poor sportsmanship

-if you correct me for misquoting a song (ever see that commercial where the guy sings "pour some shook up ra-men!" instead of "pour some sugar on me"? Very funny, but in most cases, I prefer to just continue to sing the wrong lyrics...and I don't like to be embarrassed on my own blog...or at all really, but some things are unavoidable)

-not playing.

-if I just don't like you.

Have Fun!

Ok, on to the actual post for today:
Yesterday we went to the Fire Dept. for "F week" with the kids in our preschool group. We had a smaller group due to new babies and a few rounds of strep, but the kids that came had a great time!



Reese had a pretty good time, until Mr. Fireman turned on the truck while she was sitting on it. She was not a fan of the noise.

Or Mr. Fireman, apparently.

I guess Mr. Fireman wasn't too fond of us, either. This is the photo he took of me, Reese, and Quincy sitting on the firetruck:


Reese got over it when he gave her a hat and a coloring book. I disliked him even more for giving her temporary tattoos.

"I'm on a gurney!"

Dad, these helmets smelled weird. I actually expected it to smell like "DAD" when I put it on. It did not. It smelled like plastic and engine exhaust. I guess it takes a good 30 years of BBQ to build up a decent Essence of Hal. I was disappointed.

I was hoping for a little "stop, drop, and roll speech" or "check those smoke alarms" from the Fire Guys, but they didn't come through....which leaves Fire Safety 101 up to 'Mother of the Year" over here-who let her friend's one year old use a hot stove to practice cruising (his chubby little fingerprints are still on the damper...sorry about that Samantha!), and Husband Who Uses My Oven Mitts to Poke Logs in the Fireplace and Has Repeatedly Run Through the House With His Hand On Fire in a Beeline to Put it Out in the Snow Drifts on the Porch.
Yeah. We're great examples of safety.

I'm Gonna Be Ready This Ti-i-i-ime

On Saturday, Aaron played in our stake volleyball tournament. I was at the church for Reese's primary program rehearsal (the program was sunday and she shocked us all and actually said her lines into the microphone...we were expecting her to cry and refuse to even sit on the stand with her class, but she did great!). After the rehearsal we watched Aaron play a few sets.

It was fun watching him play, and it reminded me of the very first time I went out with my roommates when I went to college. We went to a nearby park and watched a group of guys from the apartment across the street play volleyball. A few of my roommates joined in. I sat on a blanket on the grass and pretended to read a book. It's not really like me to play shy...yeah, ok it's NOTHING like me to play shy, but the fact is that I can't play volleyball. It's not in the cards for me. I can pretty much fake most other sports, with the exceptions of volleyball and football. So rather than totally expose myself as the non-athletic freshman with the tomato-red arms after making contact with the ball only once.... I sat on the grass to cheer on my roommates and check out my prospective suitors.

And there he was.

Chuck was at least a head shorter than the other guys on his team... and even shorter than some of my super tall roommates (that means you, Leisha...you supermodel!)

But it wasn't his height that made him stick out...it was his smile.

and the way he stuck out his arm pointed at people with one finger when he laughed at their jokes. (who does that?)

and the fact that he was mellow...not so much a teller of stories, but a laugher at the stories others would tell. I'm totally aware of my need for people who make me feel funnier than I actually am. (another reason to love Wendy, and HolleeAnn...both are laugh out loud at your jokes kind of people).

and his "mom" style Subaru Outback that he thought was "sporty" because he didn't have to
take apart his fly rods to fit them in the trunk.

and the fact that the following Monday, when he was in charge of the spiritual thought for our FHE group, he gave a chastity lesson. (that was probably for you, Kurt! j/k...I think you guys were the only couple who actually did follow the curfew).

and his sister, (also a supermodel) who introduced herself to me when she came over to his apartment that night with a Papa Johns Pizza in hand, and funny stories to tell....that's my kind of girl.

He was great.

and somehow I tricked him into picking ME.



Our ward made it to the semi-finals before they were defeated by the winning team. Aaron said he had a lot of fun. I think he started missing his "glory days" of intramural sports at BYU with his brothers (I guess the fantasy football teams just don't suffice). I didn't realize how much I missed hanging around and watching him play. What I don't miss is standing outside in the flippin' FREEZING snow watching him play football on the packed snow, or caring for his nasty infected broken toenail (a result of playing football on ice), hearing about his hurt back from playing roller hockey, or hearing an embarrassing play-by-play from a roommate about Aaron almost getting into a fight at a basketball game (good thing I wasn't at THAT game), or the really ugly, too-small, t-shirt he got for winning the intramural championship...that he wore all the time-even with the cheese stain on it-just to spite me.

But I DO miss how happy it made him, and I think he missed it too.