Little Spitfire.

For those of you who really know Maggie, you know that she is a little pistol. She is constantly spouting off some sort of randomness or another that usually makes some sort of logic in her head. The past few days she's said some doozies that made Chip and I laugh pretty hard.

Situation #1:
Chip and I were chilling out talking on the bed (Rated G) and Maggie came in and started climbing all over the both of us. Not knowing what she was wanting from us Chip asked "What are you doing Maggie?" she replied with her newest catch phrase and her answer to most everything asked of her "I donno!" (giggle, giggle). "Maggie, " I said "What do you want to do?"
With a glisten in her mischievous eye she giggled out "Let's get neked!"


Situation #2:
A little background to the story: Chip has recently been taking the girls on lots of Daddy/Daughter dates. He has really enjoyed spending alone time with each of the girls. We often use it as a bribery tool "If you guys do ________ you'll get to go on a daddy/daughter date!". It usually works.

While Chip's sister Molly was here I set her up on a blind date with one of my co-workers. I'm usually a pretty good match maker (Just ask my brother and sister-in-law.... yep... it was me who got my brother to ask Leah out.... we are sure thankful that he did!) but this date just didn't quite go well.... and that would be a gross understatement. After my co-worker and Molly left on their date my girls were a little upset. Alli thought he was taking her back to the airport. Maggie was certain that he was taking her away forever.
In a huff, Maggie stormed over to Chip with her hands on her hips and this was the following conversation:

M: Where did THAT BOY take my Molly!
C: He took her out on a date, they will be back after you go to bed.

--- pause while Maggie thought about this for a minute---

M: HE'S NOT HER DADDY!

I guess she thought that only daddies can take girls out on dates.... This one actually might work in our favor. :)


Situation #3:
For the past few weeks Maggie has been very interested in presents and gifts. Mostly things for her. She is three years old and already has a very specific list of things that she wants Santa to bring her (This is new for us, as Alli really had no idea what Santa really did until a few years ago.... Maggie is a little ahead of her time in that). Every time I go shopping and bring Maggie with me she has been pulling things off the shelf and saying "I want THIS!" to which I always reply "Maybe Santa will bring that to you". She always nods her head, accepts this answer, puts back the wanted item and continues on her journey.

(Public enemy #1)

Today while we were shopping at Walmart Maggie started in on her usual asking for things. After about the 10Th item that I said "Maybe Santa will bring that to you", Maggie shouted back "I DON'T LIKE SANTA!" This stopped me in my tracks, as she has been talking nothing but good of Santa for the past few months. I got down to her level and asked "So you don't like Santa anymore?" to which she answered "Yeah. I don't like him. He makes me wait for things."

What a funny kid.

Courtesies are so Mayberry

This morning as I was heading to work I remembered that Chip's tire was a little low on air. I stopped at the nearest gas station to use the air there and noticed a quarter slot and a sign saying 75 cents on the pump. Forget that! I drove to another gas station.... where another sign for 75 cents was posted at the air pump. Then TWO more gas stations after that where I was greeted again by two more 75 cent signs on the pumps. When did free air become a thing of the past? Isn't it a courtesy for the customers to do free air?!
I finally decided I had to get air in the tire, I bit the bullet at the Shell station. I put in my three quarters, started filling up the tire, only to notice that the gas station's air gauge was broken. 75 cents just doesn't buy what it used to.

Lots To Be Thankful For

Blue Turkey by Maggie
"Realistic" Rainbow Turkey by Alli

This year for Thanksgiving we had an awesome surprise! Chip's sweet sister Molly flew in to be with us for 3 days. It started off a little rough as both of the girls had that lovely 24 hour bug, but after Molly got initiated into the 'I got puked on by a little kid' club, things got better. She was a trooper.

We started off Thanksgiving day with a little non traditional game of Blockus. The girls have found a love for putting the little pieces on the board. It keeps them out of trouble, so I'm thinking it's a good thing. :)

Chip and I made the centerpiece for our table. I guess one of the good things about being so sick at Halloween was we never got around to carve one of the pumpkins. We thought it would look great as a vase. It did indeed!

We had lots of silly pictures together.
After all, isn't that what a family gathering is all about?

Chip was so proud to have carved our turkey this year. First of all the turkey was awesome- It was $5. You can't beat that. Second- It was so tender that it literally fell off the bones. When we took it out of the oven the ribcage was sticking out. All Chip had to do to 'carve' the turkey was lift up the ribcage and the meat fell off. It made for a super yummy dinner, for sure!

I'm sure like all of you, we made enough food for an army, and only ended up feeding a platoon. When we got done eating, it looked like nothing had been touched... the table was over flowing!

What Thanksgiving would be complete without pie? Great Aunt Gloria's famous cheesecake was a no-brainer, My friend Lora's sweet chocolate cream pie, and Chip requested a Walmart brand pumpkin pie (he says it tastes awesome.... go figure. I secretly think he just doesn't like my home made pumpkin pie. )

This lovely Friday morning Michelle and I took off to Toys R' Us for some Black Friday shopping at 1am. Once we finished up there, we came back and got Molly to stand in line at Kohl's with us. We had a blast this morning :) Good news: All of my Christmas shopping was done at 5 am!

After a little nap, we had to bring Molly back to the airport so she could go home. We've had some sad faces here today because of that. I guess that just means we'll have to visit again soon!

We are really thankful this year for all of our many blessings that the Lord has seen fit to have given us. We are thankful for healthy children, a new baby on the way, changes in employment, the best family and friends on this planet, and of course the true gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. I can't wait to see this next year unfold, I know there is going to be many wonderful changes and exciting things happening in our lives. It's going to be good. :)

Happy Thanksgiving.

Baby

I normally don't like surprises. I am the one who opens all of my Christmas gifts with a razor blade and carefully tapes the box back together. I have the hardest time waiting to find out what I'm going to get.

Chip on the other hand, could care less about finding out what his surprises are, and waits patiently for the day to come that he can just open the gift and enjoy it. He knows that it bothers me when I want to give him a gift early and he says "I'll just wait". What person waits? Seriously.

As far as finding out the sex of our babies, we have always chosen to wait until the baby is born. In some regards it's the funnest surprise ever! There is no way I can 'open the present' early and find out what I'm having without cheating and getting some sort of doctor's help. We always go into the hospital with at least 2 girl names and 2 boy names, so nobody ever knows what we are going to really name the child until we announce it. (Our poor parents really believed us when we said that we were going to name our first child Giesela if it was a girl, and Godfrey Jesus if it was a boy.... I still think they might needed some therapy)

There are a few downfalls to not finding out what the baby is going to be. I always get yellow/green outfits from people (I'm really sick of them), I get generic styles of baby blankets, and I'm never as ready for the baby as I want to be.

As far as our pregnancies have been Chip has never desired for a certain gender over the other. I wanted our first born to be a boy, I was convinced it was to be so. I was so surprise when after I delivered Alli the doctor shouted "It's a Girl!". Our second pregnancy I really wanted another girl... and my wish came true. This time around I'm not sure what I want. For the first 12 weeks I thought it was a boy. I don't know if that is just because I feel like a boy should come to our family (Chip is a little lonely being the only one with testosterone.... and when the girls go through puberty, he's going to need someone to hang out with....), or if I want to try out buying blue clothes and trucks instead of pink everything and Polly Pockets. The past few days however I've been starting to feel like it's another little girl. I don't know whether to chalk it up to inspiration or insanity. Either way, I'll be perfectly happy. At least I know what to do with a girl... (throw them in a room that is covered in fluff/pink/Barbies and they are perfectly fine.)

I put up a poll on the side bar of my blog to see what you, my loyal readers think I'm having this time around. We won't see who's right for another 26 1/2 weeks.... but I'm still curious to see what all of my friends and family are thinking.

Polls are open until next Saturday night.

Have fun voting.

If you have any sort of magical mind reading powers to see what this baby is... feel free to use it liberally.

Questionable Behavior

As Thursday night approached, I was at my wits end. The girls had been at each other all day (week) long. I was in desperate need of some alone time. My fervent prayer was that my children would magically go to sleep instantly so that I could get that rest that I needed. Instead I was granted with the chance to earn more patience. Not my favorite, for sure.

I put the kids to bed at a quarter to 8, we had read a few stories, I sang songs, I had heart to hearts with each of the girls... thinking that they would calm down and go to sleep. Wrong.
By 10:30 I had already broken the wooden spoon on the banister, thinking that the instillation of fear itself would help the kids know I was boss and I was going to win. The only thing it actually accomplished was screams of fear coming from the girls.

At 10:45 I peaked up the stairwell to see if Maggie was still turning all the lights on, and there she was... sitting on the landing, happy as pie. She had gone into the bathroom, filled up the squirt gun we use in the bath tub, and was sitting at the top of the stairs with the barrel of the gun in her mouth, pulling the trigger and enjoying the cool squirt of water that was entering her mouth.

I didn't know whether or not to scream (as she still wasn't in bed), laugh at her attempt of suicide by water gun, or correct the behavior and give her a lecture about not sticking barrels of guns into our mouths (squirt guns or not).

I think at that point my nerves had a mini-breakdown. I just laughed.



What would you have done?



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Edit: She ONLY acts like that when I'm alone putting her to sleep. If Chip is home 95% of the time we have absolutely no issues with bedtime. It's that whole "I need mommy 24/7" attitude that she has....

Single

The entire time I was growing up my father kept making me promise to never marry a truck driver. Not because he thought truck drivers were bad people, because after all, he was one. He simply thought that a husband should be able to be home with his family all week long and not just come home on weekends. I think he felt bad that he couldn't be there during the week, but we know that he was just doing the best that he could and I am very proud of him for that. He is a great dad.
When he met Chip and realized that Chip was going to be my partner in crime.... I mean, life.... he even made Chip swear that he'd never become a truck driver, no matter how desperate the situation got. So far, Chip has upheld his part of that promise.

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I have been so blessed that Chip has always been at home every night. I love that he's here. He gives me the break that I need after dealing with the beautiful and lovely drama princesses all day. He puts the girls to bed every night. He tells them a story. That's right, I said tells them a story, as he rarely reads them books. It's one of my favorite things to listen to the adventures that he takes the girls on nightly. If ever he's gone or has an appointment and I end up having to put the girls to bed, they always want me to tell them a story. I'll let you folks in on a little secret, I may be very creative in a lot of different areas, but story telling and writing are not my strong suits... the only story that comes to my mind to tell the girls is one that my mother always tried telling us... it goes like this:

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Alli and a little girl named Maggie, and they went to bed. The End.

It didn't work out well for her either.

Last week, Chip was in Atlanta for a telework summit, where Telesaur was a sponsor. Although it was a fabulous trip for him, he made lots of great connections and we are excited about the progress he made, but it was a miserable couple of days for me.

I am not a single mom.

I DO NOT function well in a roll as a single mom.

I like taking my own showers all by myself. When Chip is gone, Maggie thinks she owns me 24/7. This includes my shower time.

I like relaxing after the girls are put away. (aka, bed). When Chip is gone the girls don't do so well at bedtime, they tend to stay up and giggle and tattle. Only when I come upstairs and bring Mags in my bed with me do things quiet down... the catch is, I have to stay there for the rest of the night. No So You Think You Can Dance or Big Bang Theory for me while he's gone.

I like sleeping without a cat between my legs. Finn loves Chip. Chip is his human. Finn usually sleeps under Chip's armpit, crotch, or between his ankles. He also likes to wake up with Chip at 5:30. They have 'bonding time' in the morning before the girls wake up. When Chip was gone, Finn also thought that I should wake up at 5:30.... and when I 'played dead', he thought Maggie should wake up at 5:30 too. Maggie thought it was great..... she is now convinced that Finn loves her. I was not thrilled. Not only did I have to deal with the cat that early... but Maggie as well.
Finn also thought he should sleep between my legs while Chip was gone. Usually by 2am he moved, as he was sick of getting kicked.

I like to get a sound night's sleep. I am a very paranoid person when I'm the only adult in the house at night. I hear Every. Single. Noise. I am awake every 15 minutes thinking.... knowing... that someone is breaking into the house at that very moment. I'm very glad that I don't have any firearms in the house... I'd probably have some bad things happen. Instead, I sleep with my cell phone, home phone, hammer, and a pair of scissors. I don't yet own a baseball bat. I'm sure that will come too.

Basically, I like that Chip is here every night.

This next week... the whole week, Chip will be in Chicago.

I really hope that this next week flies by quickly. This prego girl needs her sleep.

The day the music died.

This past few months have been a little rough for me on the music front. Chip brought in my CD case from the van.... thanks to little fingers, some of my rockin' tunes have bit the dust. 4 Cd's to be exact.

Let's take a moment of silence to remember my music that has now passed on to a better place:

This was a good one for my ANGRY TEENAGE years.... and yes, I had them.
I remember crusin' around L-Town blasting this CD.
Good Times. Good Times.

I got this CD the first time I was "IN LOVE" (gush, gush... gag....)
sigh.... I was such a romantic.

This was just a great CD. In fact, it's still 'in', so I might go and buy it again... or just have Chip download my favorite songs off of it.

As one of my friends call it, this is "angry lesbian music"... haha.. I kind of think she's got a point. This is good music for anyone who's feelin' like they need to kick bum. Angry bum.
On our road trip this summer from my Mom's Only weekend, Tracie and I blasted this CD for a good few hours. It was so funny to see that even though we're from different backgrounds, different states, and different lives we totally connected the same way with these songs, and had fun sharing our memories attached to them.

Sorry you guys had to suffer through that. :)
I was really sad about some of it.

I might be over it now.

On Brushing Teeth

For as long as I can remember I have always brushed my teeth in the shower. I know that my parents practice this ritual also, so it must be the Hoogland in me. (I'm not sure if Scott does it or not.... ) For non-shower brushers (like Chip), it seems absurd to brush in there, but to me... it just seems like a perfect balance to brush your teeth while rinsing shampoo out of our hair. Plus, it saves time.

For the past five or so weeks I have suffered from morning sickness. It's not my finest hours... trust me. Included with the morning sickness, this little baby has an absolute disdain for me brushing my teeth. Each session usually ends with me praising the porcelain gods. The only thing I could deduce what was making this baby so upset was the foam that builds up while brushing. I decided to use the next best thing and start brushing with mouthwash. Sure... it's not as good as a good gritty toothpaste... and it definitely doesn't leave your mouth minty for long, but at least the fuzz on my teeth was cut back to a minimum. (Sorry for anyone who's had to chat with me face to face these past few weeks! I feel your pain)

When you brush with mouthwash, you can't do it in the shower. It just doesn't feel right. So for the past five weeks, I've been completely out of balance with my ritual of shower brushing, it just knocks my whole day back. I don't know how... but it does. Promise.

Last week I decided that I was going to try toothpaste again. It had been a few days since my last visit to the porcelain gods, so I thought what was the harm in it? I loaded my tooth brush with a pearl size dollop of sweet minty paste, inserted in mouth, and it was a miracle! I didn't throw up! I decided before jumping back into my usual pace and brushing in the shower, I'd give my fetus a little time to get used to toothpaste again.

Today was my big launching date to try brushing in the shower again. I was so excited. No longer would my days be messed up. No longer would my teeth feel like second class citizens. I started rinsing the shampoo out of my hair, inserted tooth brush, and instantly opened up the shower curtain, leaned over to the toilet and started shouting out to Ralph.
Success was not mine.

I vow to keep trying to build up this kid's tolerance to toothpaste and shower brushing alike. It will catch on that it's just the natural order of things.... at least I hope it will.

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Alli has now started taking up the ritual of shower brushing. I didn't teach/tell her to do it. I just observed that ever since she's been showering by herself I notice her little tooth brush left on the ledge when she's done. Good girl, Alli. She's got a little bit of her mother in her after all.

Three Trees

Ever since I moved to Ohio my absolute favorite season has been fall.

Idaho has pretty falls, but Idaho has mostly forests. Forests = pine trees. Pine trees = not much color change.
Ohio has woods. Woods = beautiful, fabulous, most wonderful vast areas of the most vibrant colors known to man.

For the past 7 years of living here I've been able to enjoy these three trees. They are my absolute favorite trees of autumn. They are trees that I pass every time I go to work and church. They turn the brightest shade of red. Every year I tell myself that I need to take a picture of them, and every year time passes and a big storm finally knocks the last of the red leaves to the ground, and I regret not taking a picture.

Last week on my way to work I purposely took my camera with me so I could take a picture of the trees during my lunch hour. On my way into work (7:45am) I decided what the heck, why not snap a quick picture from the car as I was driving. I'm glad I did. I fell asleep during my lunch hour. I forgot about taking the picture on the way home. Today as I was driving to church to my great sadness, most of the leaves are now on the ground.

It's not a perfect picture of these trees, but at least now I have them documented.

I think Heavenly Father really does make the most beautiful artwork in nature.

I'm thankful for the years I've had in Ohio to enjoy these beautiful trees.

This Kid

This is the dirty little face of a three year old who is officially potty trained! We've gone a week without a single pull-up! Woo-Hoo!
(It's about time kid.... )

Spooktacular

I'm finally getting around to posting our Halloween pictures. I took them with my old school Kodak Easy Share camera, it really doesn't take wonderful pictures. All of the pictures I took of Alli solo turned into one big white blob. Bummer.

Introducing:
The most beautiful bride, ever and the puppy.
Nunnums (Chip's sweet mom) made the costumes for the girls. I really love how every year she has made the girls their costumes. It means so much to me that she takes all that time to make her granddaughters so happy. (Thanks Mom!)

Our Halloween tradition is going trick-or-treating with our friends the Beck's. Zoe was Rapunzel, Allie was a princess, and Geneva was a chef.
The route that we go on is sweet. All the parents and big kids get a soda from the Pepsi man, hot fresh popcorn from a neighbor guy who owns an old fashioned popcorn maker, and the best part: One house gives out dollars! Our girls think they are rich.

When Maggie first saw her puppy costume she got excited, but then refused to put it on. On Halloween night it took everything... and I do mean everything for that kid to put on her costume. All the way over to the Beck's she was screaming and stripping in the back of the car. Forget about getting her to put the ears on.
As soon as she saw everyone else in the Halloween spirit... she decided it was okay, even enjoyable to be a puppy. She was all giggles and grins after that. She loved wiggling her tail. (the picture on the right)

And the girls are off... running to get their candy prizes...
It was a great Halloween!

Camera News

Today the Geek squad called us. He told us the sad news that our camera is going to need a funeral. They couldn't fix it.
The GOOD news, is that we are getting a new one!

Old camera: 7.2 Mega Pixels...
New Camera: 12 Mega Pixels!

Chip is at Best Buy right now getting our new baby. I am hoping that pictures will be posted again soon :)