i was in a coma for a month

that, or april was never here. i remember march 31st—i had just enjoyed an awesome 4 day visit with my sister and her family. i went to bed that night and awoke on may 1st. i had somehow managed to skip a whole month of my life. (now before y'all freak out, i really wasn't in a coma! my health has not been compromised in any way for the making of this blog post!)

april never came for me this year. well, at least not for my blog.

because if there had an april this year, i imagine it would've looked something like this: 

my sister would come for a visit over easter, and we'd stay up till the wee hours of the morning watching episodes of the office.

my nephew would come home for a visit. 

i'd get to see my totally cute auntie alice in wonderland (you made it on the blog, al!)

i would've gone to minnesota for a week to see my parents, sisters, nieces and nephew, and grandma and grandpa.

my husband's car would get broken into.

i'd let the kids pick rocks at lake superior.

i'd labor over doing my taxes at the last minute, then decide to procrastinate on them and play farmville.... 

my nieces would make their acting debut.

my garden would get planted.

samantha would crack her head open right before bedtime and we'd spend the next hour and a half holding a cold washcloth to her head and google "when does my child need stiches."

we'd have a garage sale.

i would have waited in line forever with the kids to meet spiderman.

but none of that happened. you know, because april was awol. not to worry though. i've reported it to the department of Months & Years that Spontaneously Escape, Leave, and Fade into thin air (MYSELF!) and this fiasco should not occur again.... i hope.

so. how was everyone else's month?!

furniture fighter

my specialist of screaming, blower of raspberries, carrier of steak knives, tackler of daddies, breaker of dishes, lover of trains, expert of disobedience, epitome of cuteness, and master of mischief...


...can now add fighter of furniture to his repertoire.


the nightstand won.

thankful thursday

there are so many things to be thankful about concerning ryan, but as my day unfolded, i discovered a few incidents to be thankful for.

somehow ryan stuck his head in the handrail on our stairs this morning. it was lodged pretty good. and the metal balusters don't budge. at all. thankfully, after pulling and maneuvering, i got his head out. i'm SO glad he didn't stick it in there any further, otherwise i would've been calling someone. (who would i call? the cops? a blacksmith? do blacksmiths even exist still? boy i'm confused. i'm so thankful that i got his head out!)

fast forward to right before lunch. ryan emerged from the kitchen carrying a steak knife. apparently he's just now tall enough to reach the counter. i am incredibly thankful that his clumsy little self did not trip on the air and fall and letsnotevengothere...

and then at lunch stupid me decided to give ryan orange slices in a glass condiment bowl. bad idea. yes, he ended up throwing the bowl on the floor, shattering it to pieces. once again, i was quite thankful that he was restrained to his high chair—i would HATE to have to pick pieces of glass out his feet!!

oh, and i can't omit the immense amount of thankfulness in my heart when naptime rolled around. talk about my cup overflowing!

and as i sit here pondering the unexpected events and close calls of the day, i am thankful that tomorrow is a new day. let's hope he got all the accidents out of his system today!

what are you thankful for today?!

not me! monday

good morning and welcome to not me! monday!! hop on over to mckmama's blog for some more hillarious not me! monday confessions (but right after you read mine, of course!)


i did NOT blog about treating our house for fleas, and then blog a few days later about how i don't clean my house. i did NOT realize that this would make us sound like sloppy, messy, white trashy people. and while i can assure you that we're not, i will admit that we're simply NOT a little disorganized! (and our house doesn't look that bad anymore...!)'

samantha did NOT finally start school last tuesday only to have wednesday off because her friend came over. we are only a few weeks behind now and i did NOT just order the rest of her curriculum on saturday...!

while ben and samantha were gone all day saturday, i did NOT decide to go to target with ryan. and when we were walking towards the entrance ryan did NOT start saying "scary, scary." (all because we went to target a couple weeks ago and ryan bawled his head off because he was terrified when we walked past the halloween aisles.) after we made it through the store with only a few tears and $50 spent, i did NOT decide to go to another target for a repeat performance. hello, my name is erin, and i am NOT addicted to target!

i did NOT take a pregnancy test last monday after thinking that there was a slight huge possibility i might be pregnant. it was NOT negative. (although really, it was negative!) and as the week went on and on i did NOT get more and more nervous that the test was wrong. i did NOT resolve that i would take yet another test this morning, until finally last night my aunt flo did NOT show up eight days late! i did NOT breathe a sigh of relief and silently say thank you Jesus! because even though we do NOT want to have more kids, we're not quite ready to pursue that venture right now—sorry auntie di and gramma! (oh, and sorry dad if that was a little too much information!!)

on friday, i did NOT whack my head on the washing machine whilst bending over to pick up ryan. it still does NOT hurt. yesterday ben did NOT throw out his neck while he was clearing his throat. and this morning, i did NOT wake up to a thud when samantha fell off of her ladder. i am NOT wondering when and how ryan will hurt himself. might as well make this a family affair, right?!


happy monday, y'all. have a blessed day!

my babies' boo-boos

today was a day of boo-boos and almost boo-boos, among other things. here's the run-down of our day.

this morning i let the kids soak in the tub for a while. they were so cute and they always have so much fun in tub. usually when i want to take tubby pictures my camera doesn't have a memory card or the battery goes dead. so today i got some pictures of them.

1st boo-boo moment. ryan pulled the corner shelf in the bathroom over on himself. i think he was more scared than hurt though! i'm glad i finally have a tough baby! :-)

after we got ready we went downtown to margaritas to have tacos with the whole family. di and all the kids (except ethan) went and ben and dave met us there since they were working close. YUMMMM! it was so good!

tonight we went to ben's softball game. he'll only have one game on tuesdays now. yea! samantha played on the playground for most of the game. it's right behind the bleachers, so i could keep a good eye on her. there were a lot of kids there and toward the end of the game i couldn't see her, so i went to make sure everything was fine.

2nd boo-boo moment. right when i got to the playground she emerged from the tunnel crying and blood was dripping from her mouth. i looked quick to see how bad it was and determined that it was fixable and wouldn't require stitches or anything. we went to the concession and i got some water and ice and got it all cleaned up. (thanks, papa mike, for watching and entertaining ryan while i cleaned her up!) after she settled down she told me that someone had a softball and they threw it at her and it hit her in the mouth. ouch!

it cut her lip and she bit the inside of her mouth. she said her teeth hurt, but i think they're fine. she goes to the dentist next thursday, so we'll make sure they're okay then. on the way home we stopped to get an ice cream to ease the pain and keep down the swelling!

it cleaned up very well. it looked like there was going to be a blood blister or something on her lip because there was a big spot of blood i couldn't get off at the ball game. but tonight it wasn't there. i guess ice cream is really healing!

her injury didn't effect her smiling... or her talking!

after we got home we watched the olympics for a while and ryan was sitting on the floor by the rocking chair.

3rd boo-boo moment. samantha was walking and knocked ryan over into the chair. he didn't get a black eye this time, though! he did, however, get a popsicle to ease the pain and get his mind off of it! i'm sure his gums enjoyed it since he's cutting more teeth. (he got his 4th tooth on sunday and is trying to push two more through.)

4th boo-boo moment. something to do with samantha's finger. i was DONE with boo-boos for today, so i sent her to daddy to have him kiss it.

well all three kids are in bed, so unless i trip up the stairs on my way to bed i think our boo-boo day is over.

my abused children: bruised and neglected

last night before bed ryan was sitting by the rocking chair. he either wanted to lay down or crawl, or else he just plain fell over because he hit part of the chair and started screaming. i didn't see what happened because i was sitting in the chair. so i picked him up and searched his head for a bump or red spot but couldn't find anything. then this morning when he got up samantha noticed his eye. poor baby, that must have hurt!!! i guess it's a taste of the bruises to come when he starts walking around!

mom, stop saying "ooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." he's fine. :-)

and then there's samantha.... today she was doing her "homework," you know, one of those workbooks you get at the dollar store. i was telling her what she needed to do on each page and then, while i was feeding ryan lunch, she needed help on a page so i told her she'd have to wait. she just stood there for the longest time and when i finally looked at her she looked like she was about to cry so i asked her what was wrong. her lip started quivering and she sobbed, "you never have time for me."

i was thinking what in the world? i NEVER have time for you?!?!? i'm a STAY AT HOME MOM..... my days revolve around you!!!!!

but i just picked her up and cuddled her for a little bit and she told me she was feeling a little bit neglected. i appologized and explained to her that i can't always do things for her right away. so then she was asking me a bunch of questions like, "if i was bleeding, and you were feeding ryan lunch, would i have to wait until he was done with lunch?"
oh where does she come up with some of this stuff!!!

so this afternoon i spent time with her while ryan took a nap and we played a game of copycat (i hope this phase doesn't last too long... i hope this phase doesn't last too long...) that lasted pretty much until bedtime. regardless, i think she was feeling better tonight because she performed a little concert for me before bed. and no, that isn't a bruise on her forehead! just a little leftover cherry cheesecake (although, don't ask me how it got up there...).