laugh

there are a few people in my life who make me laugh a lot, Mike first..he makes me laugh EVERY day, and Ranner next. I love her qirky sense of humor! check it out, its definitley good for a Laugh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq2oPmttDMk

the big three

in the next month I have three BIG events coming up. all three involve a lot of people, food, and lasting memories. Two of the three are Brigette's in charge events, the middle one I am not in charge of but have A LOT to do during the week of and day of the event. I woke up this morning and realized nothing on my end is set in stone for any of these events...the the first starts in two weeks with one occurring every week after that- not including Jacks birthday ( which must include an awesome cake) or the Family BBQ at the school or my two trips to AZ........hmmm...looks like I have some work to do!

a hot dog...

I have been posting about Jack a lot, but that's o.k since he is the middle child and often gets missed in all the craziness. I just found these two pictures- several months ago we found this suit for 20.00 at Marshalls, it could not be cuter if we had spent 100.00. He is SO handsome in it. It forces me to realize that some day all too soon my sweet little Jack will be big and gone. I usually try to forget that fact.
The hot dog picture I took on an interesting day. I was having a "bad" day; nothing huge had happened, it just was " one of those days", you know the kind I am talking about..right? Every one has them.
While we were grocery shopping, Jackson found some gluten free/dairy free hot dog buns. He begged and begged for them until I gave in. When we got home I was tired and grouchy, but he begged me for hot dogs. I finally did make him his hot dog ( it took a whole forty seconds) and then The Lord helped me open my eyes to Jacks daily lifeh a little bit.
Jackson was SO excited about the fact that he ACTUALLY got to eat a hot dog IN A BUN!! To you an me this seems so small, but to a little boy who just wants to be "normal" the moment he got to have a bun with his hot dog was huge. It really made me stop and think. Maybe my day wasn't so bad after all, I mean I never had to go with out anything, or dream of eating a hot dogin a bun like every other child. Needless to say with a heart that felt a little more humble, the night was a good one, I am thankful for the challenge I have in feeding my family a little different, it forces me to grow and improve the cooking skills that God is blessing me with. Now off to figure out what on earth we are going to eat this week! wish me luck!!

grape fruit for cleaning!?!

About a year ago I was watching a episode of clean house UK. It was about a man was a living in a NASTY situation, I don't remember the circumstances, only that is was gross. The ladies came in, fixed everything and taught the man how to live a cleaner life. The main thing I remember about this show was that they used grapefruit and baking soda to clean the grossest tub I have even seen. The result was amazing, life went on and I forgot about it.
Now flash your self forward to this morning, a morning when I had my house almost where I wanted it ( including laundry!) I had a few chores to do and then off to a V-day party in livy class. Some how in a the peace that was to be today, I created madness!! It all started when Jack and I were reading...Jack was doing a great job..until Joey started screaming like crazy..it was nap time. so we sat down with a sippy cup and watched a bit of t.v only to be pounced on over and over by Angie. SHE STUNK! After half an hour of trying to get joey to bed and battling a stinky dog, I decided she needed a bath.
on to the bath.....
she is crazy and sheds like no dog I have ever seen during a bath. After joey screamed through angies bath, and I fought her the whole time...I realized I need to clean and sterilize our bathroom, and all the sudden I remembered the grapefruit! luckily, ( or not so lucky) livys teacher had given us some grapefruit earlier in the week! I have not found a single cleaner yet that has worked on the old stains in my shower, the previous owners must not have cleaned it too often for the buildup that is there.....
So I went to work. As I started the scrubbing on the shower glass door I felt a sense of pure euphoria! It was working and not only did it work- but it smelt heavenly!!! little did I know, but half an hour after that, I would be still cleaning the shower basin, the "heavenly aroma" now smelled like stinky dog grapefruit, Joey kept eating the baking soda and the dog would not leave me alone she, was trying to lick everything in sight. I ended up scrubbing my whole bathroom three times, trying each time to get rid of the pieces of grapefruit. I THINK I got them all. the smell did not stay nice, it was a huge mess, and now I need a second shower for the day...at least I really love my other bathroom, which is brand new and beautiful, I will post some pictures this next week!
anyway I would not recommend using grapefruit as a cleaner, it was fun at first but quickly turned a disaster for me. If any one knows any was to get rid of calcium and water stains on class let me know...and I also need to figure out how to get the build up off the tile the surrounds the top of my pool...any one know????

oh my goodness-melt my heart!

Joey loves the phone, his favorite people to talk to are dad and aunt carianne( she got a lot out of him last time). I took this picture about two weeks ago when he was on the phone with his dad. he wasn't saying much but his expression said it all. I love this little man, with him in our home we feel more joy the we ever thought possible...and maybe more stress too! =) I just wanted to share his cute cute smile!

valentines cake...

Jackson LOVES to cook, his very favorite channel on T.V is the food network and his all time favorite show is Cake Boss on TLC. Since he has several eating issues, Its been fun to include him in my cooking over the last two years. He comes up with the most random ideas for creating " new dishes". last night is a perfect example- we ate pizza; now obviously with a no wheat/ no dairy diet that makes pizza hard thing to eat. The crust is no good and either is the cheese ( my favorite parts) so we bought a gluten free crust and put sauce and pepperoni and pineapple...it was missing something, so he decided the finishing touch would be sprinkles...yes sprinkles. It wasn't my first choice but since he had his own pizza, it didn't matter, after one slice ( I put the sprinkles on slice by slice) he decided he needed more toppings next time...and no sprinkles.

Tomorrow Jack has a preschool v-day party. I knew there was a good chance he would be handed something he couldn't eat..by accident. I have great friends who all try very hard to give his preschool things he can eat, but with such a limiting diet, accidents are bound to happen. Jack and I talked about it and decided we would not do valentine cards but make a yummy gluten free/ dairy free cake for every one! since we spend every day watching pervessionals deal with fondant, we also decided this would be a great cake to try it on! It was fun designing it and putting the pieces together....the recipe was awesome! I have tasted the cake and frosting already. we were going to stick to pink red and white..but last minute jack had to add blue. He did almost the whole cake himself..not bad for 4!

lucky charms..

Joseph likes to eat..I mean he REALLY likes to eat. Each Sunday we take snacks and a sippy cup for him. I never liked to do that with my other children, but with him, it seems like there is no other option for getting through church. Yesterday, his dad packed his snack..so he hit the jack pot with lucky charms and extra marshmallows! While I was anything but thrilled to be feeding him straight sugar, I realized really quick that this was a good thing for joey.

Normally, when he eats he tries to use utensils; he lacks the skills of course but he tries really hard for the first half. after a while he decided the effort is not worth it. throws the spoon and fork to the ground and double fists his food into his mouth..seriously, its amazing to all who have witnessed it. Since he has chosen this path to eating, his fine motor skils are....dare I say lacking? yes I dare.

BUT in a sudden twist of fate, he was fed Lucky charms yesterday. So he spent his three hours of church carefully digging through the bag of cereal with his two little fingers, insuring that he only had to eat the marshmallows. After a while this became pretty sticky, no fear, when the actual cereal got stuck to his hands he would just wave them as hard as he could until it all shook off, and reach his hand back into the bag. It was very funny and sweet. I was impressed with the amount of fine motor skill he actually had....thanks mike for being a great dad!

some many things..

This last week and a half I have been with out the internet. there were "so many things" that I wanted to blog about....and now I can't remember a single one. life changes so fast and things happen so quick if I don't write it down when it happens...I loose it. Jack has been hilarious as always, since I remember one story I will write it just to keep it. =)

the other day we were shopping at Marshalls and I had been looking for a new bra. ( I will keep this PG rated...just kidding. ) ANYWAY, I was walking down one of the Isles and Jack points to one and says " mom, I think you should get this one." (me, laughing on the inside that my son thinks he should help out here) " why?" (jack) "Because it's sexy!"
all I could do was laugh..where on earth did he hear that word? hes FOUR! the lady in the isle about fell over, she even bent down to look under the racks and see what kind of mom I was...lol. of course I told him he was a little to sweet and a little too young to use that word. It just didn't sound right coming out of his mouth- but it was funny.

little Livy told us all about tether ball last night. I have watched the kids on the play ground, it like being called out to a ring fight. they sand on the outside of the circle and wait to get picked, then when you do, yelling erruptes from all those watching, name calling, and betting. its INTESNSE. Livy has been braving the circle for about two months now. as always her few girl friends have long since given up, the sport being to harsh. But not livy. one of her very best friends ( a boy) is even making fun of her skill at this point. but she just refuses to give up. he determination is inspiring at times and worrisome in other times. We encouraged her to keep on fighting and show those boys she is not to be made fun of. its what she would have done anyway, hopefully we just gave her the courage to do her best. she is a fascinating little girl. so much like me and mike in different ways.

Joey...what to say. he climbs on everything..eats what ever he can, he taken a keen liking to pencil erasers and dice...just what every mom dreams of. He has the most amazing smile. and he can light up any room. he is cuddly and sweet and the only time he cryies is when you take away a tool in his hand and when he hungry. having the contractor here every day has been a dream to him. the other day I walked into our tv room to find him almost to the top of a 6 ft ladder....yeah, my heart skipped a few beats on that one. he thinks he is big, and has the look in his eyes of " this is just what big people do!" when he colors or eats with his utensil, and yet hes barley 1 so he lacks the skills to do big things.
I love being a mom now more then I ever have. Life is to wonderful, and my only complaints are so petty that when I say then I know I am not being to person I should be. Life is to wonderful to complain about dumb things, so please forgive me when I do..I just haven't mastered that perfect thing yet! =) I hope all is well with you all. I love you and have enjoyed catching up one everyones blogs.