All I Want For Christmas...

It's amazing how you kind of go full circle from when you're a kid to when you're an adult. Tommy really really really wants "The zoo I don't have". That's exactly what he'll tell you. And when you ask him what else, he says nothing. That's not so hard (except that this zoo was impossible to find, and only thanks to Uncle Todd, he'll be getting the zoo he doesn't have). I'm sure in the next few years consumerism will take over and he'll have a list a mile long. Now, that didn't stop us from getting him more gifts, but I just thought it was interesting that he'd most certainly be happy just getting one present.

I was that way when I was little (I think). Then when I got a little older, I had a million things I wanted. Now that I'm a responsible adult, I realize there's not much I can think of that I want. Maybe a pedicure. And a good Bible (I'm notorious for losing them). But really, that's it. Yet here it is on Christmas Eve and I'm fretting and running around trying to make sure things are perfect (they're not). I've discovered a great cinnamon raisin bread so I'm trying to make lots of that (each loaf takes about 4 hours) and I'm trying to keep the house clean while Tommy runs behind me and throws everything on the floor that I've just put in place. I found myself thinking this morning that all I want for Christmas is a day off.

And I realized how sinful that was.

Of all times, the Christmas season should be the least stressful. After all, don't we say "Jesus is the Reason for the Season?" (well, I don't because I think it sounds corny but the meaning is still true) And here I am, fuming while cleaning the kitchen floor for the second time in three minutes because Tommy opened one of those huge tins of popcorn and proceeded to dump it out, step in it, and eat what he had stepped in. Gross! And minutes later all I could think of was the verse that says "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Granted, that's not talking about being tired from cleaning and cooking, but the principle applied. I say I'm trying to make Jesus the center of everything, but really I was (and have been) relying on my own strength for everything I do.

I have to be the perfect mom. The perfect wife. Not only the perfect wife, but the perfect pastor's wife. The perfect friend.

And I'm not.

And now I can finally rest in that and realize it's ok. And that's what I want for Christmas.

Seasons Eatings

Tis the season for food. I have sugar-laden goodies coming out of my ears, and I'm not even halfway done baking. But I do have a couple really yummy treats that I've made this Christmas, so if you need some edible (easy) gift ideas, here you go!

Oreo Bon-Bons
1 20 oz. pkg Oreos
1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
1 12 oz. bag chocolate chips (any variety will do)

Bring cream cheese to room temperature. Finely crush oreos and mix with the cream cheese. Works best if you use your hands (but gross). Roll into balls and put on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, melt chocolate chips in microwave. Remove oreo balls from fridge and roll in chocolate. Refrigerate again to harden the chocolate. Sprinkle with desired toppings (crushed peppermint, almonds, peanuts, etc.)

Reindeer Kisses
Pretzel mini twists (I used Snyder's)
Hershey Kisses
M&M's (holiday colors are always fun)

Line a baking sheet with foil and preheat oven to 200. Place as many pretzels as desired on the baking sheet and put a kiss in the middle of each one. Bake just until chocolate begins to sweat. Remove from the oven and put an M&M in the middle of each kiss. Refrigerate and enjoy!

Success?

I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch, but I think Tommy is daytime (as in, still diaper during nap and bedtime) and home potty trained (as in he hasn't gone on a public toilet yet). We've worked really hard and Dean has totally immsersed himself... literally. My favorite text in a while was from Dean on Saturday afternoon when I was finishing my piano recital. It simply said "We have gone through 4 pair of underwear and peed on every square inch of floor but we've had 3 successes!" And that's what it's all about, folks. Successes.

After that day, we headed south to see Sally, Bennett, and Mac and then to Ft. Lauderdale to see my family, so we didn't know if that would kill the potty mood or not. He went 2 days without even trying to go because we were travelling and then on day 3, he wore the same pair of underwear all day and did not have a single accident! Next day, only one accident. Yesterday we didn't try because of travelling again. Today, no accidents. And now we stand at the toilet. Yes, this is a bit weird to use words like "we" but for any parent who's participated in potty training, it's a group effort. I suddenly have the urge to get Twitter and tweet every time he goes to the bathroom by himself. Don't worry, I won't.

Christmas Park

Last night we went with some Well friends out to dinner and then to Dorothy B. Oven park, officially known in our family as the Christmas Park. As you can see, we had a blast.

Time to Play Catch-Up

Oh boy. A lot has happened since Friday. Christmas on the Moon for one. Over 1,100 people crowding, no, pouring into The Moon until there was standing room only in the third balcony. Dean and Matthew have the scoop.

Recovery day Monday. I baked like a fool, burned more cookies than I'd care to count, and attempted some more potty training with Tommy. The kid held it for about 5 hours and then let it all out just as I was getting ready to put his diaper on him to get him ready for his nap. Go figure.

Yesterday more baking. And burning. I'm normally not a bad baker. my kitchen timer broke so I've been relying on my stellar sense of smell (it's supposed to be hightened in pregnancy) and the clock on my phone. Well, the phone clock doesn't do much good if you keep forgetting to check it.

Last night was Tuesday night adult small group Christmas dinner at the Merritts. Two fried turkeys, a ham, a ton of sides, and a plethora of desserts later, and I'm still stuffed. Plus they have more singing Christmas decorations than I can count and so Tommy had a blast putting them all in a clump on the floor and pressing all the buttons at once. Yes, they were all singing different songs. Ah, the heavenly choir.

Then we get word last night that Sally is finally in labor! We kept in close contact with Dean's parents, who left here at about 10:00 last night and arrived in her hospital room around 2 am. We finally got the text just around 11 this morning that Mac is here! Sally was a brave mama, but incredibly tired when I got to talk to her. But I'm an aunt! And Dean's an uncle! And Tommy's a cousin!! Very exciting!

Today we did more potty training. And had 4 successful pees in the potty. After the first one, we were so excited and he said he wanted to call Mickey Mouse. Thankfully my dad is great at voices, so I called my parents and told Tommy that Mickey was visiting them and could talk to him on the phone. I should've thought that one through a little more. As soon as he hung up, he wanted to know when Mickey was going to visit our house. Then he kept checking the front door to see if he was here yet. I'll plan better next time.

Oh yeah, and then there was this tornado that touched down about 2 miles from our house so when my first piano student got here around lunch time, we all crowded into the guest bathroom (yes, Dorsi too) and waited it out. Never a dull moment, folks.

Inserra Christmas Traditions

Lindsay and I are swapping blog ideas. She posted her traditions and now here's a brief overview of ours (hers is only slihtly more entertaining)

1) We get a real tree from Home Depot. This year Publix was having a sale so we went with that, but the guys didn't cut enough branches off the bottom. So next year we're back at Home Depot.

2) We have some college kids over from the church to help us decorate. This year Dean told me we were having 8 over. While I dreamed of drinking hot chocolate while singing along to Christmas music and everyone taking turns hanging our random assortment of ornaments and then all making s'mores together, he somehow neglected to tell me that most of them were actually coming over to watch the FSU basketball game. I would need to play my Christmas music over the computer. So not festive! So I hung ornaments and strung lights with a couple of the girls (thanks Giana and Margo!) and everyone else sat in tension watching FSU. Oh well.

3) Our tree crashes to the ground. This is somewhat of a new tradition but I'm sure it's one we will stick with. Last year it was at least twice because Dorsi kept running by and knocking it over with her massive tail. In 2007 it started falling right after Christmas so we dragged it out back (it was near the back door), where it stayed for about 9 months and turned into a little Christmas tree corpse. Kinda creepy. This year, after everyone left, Dean came into the bathroom while I was taking a late night shower (it was about 11:30) and informed me that the tree was on the ground and we had lost some ornaments and he couldn't pick it up by himself. It is a pretty big tree. So I finished and got out and the two of us hoisted the tree back upright and I unscrewed and rescrewed the base. At least twice. It still leaned really bad so we had to turn it around backwards and lean it against the corner. Where it remains to this day.

More to come later!

Moon Week

It's that time of year again.

Christmas on the Moon is less than 4 days away. It's something that we (and by we, I mean Dean and Matthew) have been preparing for for months. I had band practice number 2 tonight and I'm completey exhausted. I also had a lunch date, a 1:45 doctor's appointment, and 5 piano lessons beginning at 3. Then I rushed off to eat dinner and head to practice. Aaaaah. It's good to be getting ready for bed.

Last year our church decided to help out with the water crisis in Rwanda and raise money to build a clean water well. The goal was $7,000 for one well. We raised over $13,000. In one night. This year we're stepping it up a notch. We want to raise $100,000 to build lots of clean water wells in places where they can't just turn on the faucet, gargle, and spit. Every drop is precious. So we'll take our initial collection on Sunday night. And then there will be a benefit dinner in the spring. Watch for details.

Our family is cutting back on Christmas gifts this year so that we can give more for the wells. I would encourage you to do the same. Check out the website here.

Spend less, give more.

Thanksgiving Eve

We're T minus 10 1/2 hours from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade (aka, Dean's very favorite event... taste the sarcasm). My allergies are flaring and I'm completely exhausted from answering about a million questions that all started with the word "Why?" I guess that's what happens when you have a 3 year old. But before I head off to bed, I wanted to do the traditional Thanksgiving thing and list some things I'm thankful for:

- The fact that my adorable 3-year-old boy can drive me absolutely crazy by all his questions. He's asking me a new one before I even can answer the old one. But when he was born we were told he may never walk or talk. So I'll take the aggravation.

- The great date night I had with Dean tonight. Nothing too fancy, dinner at Macaroni Grill and then a stroll around a completely dead mall. No one's shopping the night before Thanksgiving. But date nights are one of my very favorite traditions that we have.

- My wonderful family that I'll be spending time with over the next few weeks. Between Dean's family here and my family down south, I've been very blessed.

- Pillsbury Cinnamon rolls. That's breakfast tomorrow. Need I say more?

- The fact that in about 6 months I'll have to change the name of this blog. That's right, we're continuing to populate the world with Inserras. Baby Inserra #2 is due on May 25! I'll keep you posted.

A Healthy Thanksgiving Recipe

Yes, I realize those are rare. But here's a fruit salad recipe that I found and tweaked. It's not creamy or overly sweet. But it's got a great tang and is very light. So here's my recipe. I think it will feed about 15 people (I'm guessing)

4 or 5 clementine oranges, peeled and segmented
2 cups grapes (I halved mine)
1 pound strawberries, quartered
2 20 oz. cans pineapple chunks (drained, juice reserved)
3 Granny Smith apples, cut in 1/2 inch (or so) pieces
2 bananas, sliced
Zest from 2 limes
Juice from 2 limes
1/4 cup honey
2 tsp. poppy seeds


Combine all the fruit in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, mix 2/3 cup of the pineapple juice with the lime zest and juice, honey, and poppy seeds. Mix into fruit and serve.

I made this salad late this afternoon and I'm taking it to our small group Thanksgiving dinner in an hour or so, so I hope it doesn't get mushy. I did sample some and was very happy with it. Hopefully I made enough so that I'll get some at the dinner! If it's not as good as I think it is, I'll post tomorrow and let you know.

What healthy Thanksgiving recipes do you have to share?

First Trip to Disney: Check!

Well we did it. We took the fam to Disney World yesterday for Dean's birthday. Actually it was more for Tommy and myself than Dean. I happen to think it's the most wonderful, most magical place on earth. And since Tommy's an excited three-year-old who watches Mickey Mouse every morning while he eats his waffles and bananas, we figured he'd love to go to Disney. We had an amazing ticket hook-up from an old classmate of Dean's who happened to be playing Eeyore yesterday and my parents covered the hotel room, so this trip was the cheapest Disney trip ever!

Tommy was nervous about everything. We knew it would be interesting when he cried because he didn't want to get on the tram that takes you from your car in the parking lot to the monorail. But of course we made him and he did just fine. And that's pretty much how we did the Magic Kingdom. He cried in almost every line we stood in and didn't want to do it but then afterward, was all excited and talked about how that was his favorite ride. Go figure.

The best moment by far was getting to meet The Big Cheese himself. We didn't tell Tommy we were going to meet him, we just walked through the tent and innocently watched old Mickey Mouse cartoons that they were showing while you waited in line. It was a very clever set-up. After about 15 minutes, they ushered us into another small room and Dean picked up Tommy (to avoid an escape). When Tommy saw that Mickey and Minnie Mouse were about 10 feet away from us, he totally freaked. But Dean reminded him about his morning breakfasts watching them and that calmed him down. By the time we finished pictures, he was high fiving Mickey and Minnie and giving them "knuckles". A couple hours later, he even asked to go back and meet them again. We did and made him get in the picture all by himself. He's happier than he looks.





And this morning when he woke up at about 6 am, he immediately sat up and said "Mommy and Daddy do we get to go to Playhouse Disney World (his own little name for it) again today?" I sadly told him no and he cried. So I would say it was a very successful trip!

Tuesday Randoms

- I think I just killed a brown recluse spider in my living room. I killed another one just like it a few days ago in the hallway. Maybe we're experiencing a small infestation of venomous arachnids.

- I got Tommy really excited about his first Christmas special of the year on TV tonight: "Merry Madagascar". It lasted for 30 minutes and 15 of those minutes were commercials. We feel gypped.

- In my never-ending quest to replace some dairy with a delicious non-dairy product with the same amount of calcium, I was introduced to So Delicious yogurt. And it is so delicious! It's made with coconut milk and it has a bit more fat, but I was told that you burn calories while you're eating it. Not sure if that's actually true, but it's so good, I'll believe anything! A bit pricey, but worth the splurge.


- "Biggest Loser" makes me cry in the end every week. I'm watching it now. And crying.

- Later this week we're taking Tommy to Disney World for the first time. He's totally pumped. We'll take lots of pictures and I'm sure there will be plenty of good stories.

10 Things I Don't Get

1. Professional Wrestling

2. Fantasy Football

3. Long engagements

4. Why baseball season is so long

5. Obama obsession

6. Vampire obsession

7. St. Patrick's Day when you're not Irish

8. New Hampshire

9. Praise teams that wear color-coordinated, jewel-toned shirts

10. Black Friday (at least the 3 and 4 am part)

Midweek Update

It's been a busy few days, folks. My parents came in town on Wednesday morning and left this afternoon. And as you know, if you have family from out of town, when they are in town you don't waste a minute. So between piano lessons and poopy shoes (both my parents and Tommy were victims of Dorsi's droppings in the backyard), we had a great time. Yesterday was more running around and going out to eat, but today we had more of an adventure. My parents have wanted to visit Wakulla Springs for a while now, so it was about 65 degrees and breezy with gorgeous blue skies and we figured it was a crime to be inside. We drove down there and even did a boat tour. Here are some highlights:




And I didn't use a zoom in this picture. The alligator is actually that close.



Then we had a delicious lunch at Piggy's (if you haven't been yet, you need to go. I could do the backstroke in their mac & cheese). We came home, rested for just a bit and then Dean had to take them to the airport so I could teach more piano lessons. It was a quick visit but a good one.

Just because my parents left, doesn't mean Tommy and Dean's fun was over yet. They had another boys' night out and Dean took him to Wendy's and then to the Leon vs. Rickards football game. While at Wendy's, Tommy learned a valuable lesson. There was a homeless man outside and Tommy asked Dean if he was going to eat chicken nuggets too and Dean reluctantly told him no. So Tommy offered to give the man his chicken nuggets. Yes, my 3-year-old split his chicken nuggets meal with a homeless man. I couldn't be more proud. Then they headed to the game. Dean was in his glory as Tommy chanted "Go Big Red!" and hung out with Dean's old coach, Coach Sauls. And apparently the Rickards band was awesome. As always. But Tommy's been taught to refer to them (and basically anyone else who's not the Leon Lions)as the bad guys. So here are some pics of tonight:

The Season for Giving

Here was a conversation I had with Tommy on the way to the mall this morning.

Tommy: "What will Santa bring me for Christmas this year?"

Me: "Well, you already have lots of toys, so I'm sure Santa will bring you a few more, but this year I think we're going to help him out by getting some toys for boys and girls who don't have any toys and won't get any from Santa. Can you imagine not having any toys? Those boys and girls would love to get something for Christmas too."

Tommy: "Are they elves?"

Teaching generosity. We're getting there.

Boys' Night Out

Well if we didn't know it before, it became evident last night. Dean is officially the fun parent. I was teaching piano lessons yesterday and so Dean took Tommy for some daddy/son time. They were going to have a football-themed afternoon, attending the Godby practice and then going to the Chiles vs. Lincoln game. As they headed out the door, I asked Dean to please have Tommy eat somewhat healthy. Like grilled chicken and vegetables or something. He didn't exactly agree, but he somewhat acknowledged my request.

About an hour later I get a picture on my phone of Tommy eating at Red Elephant. The pizza place where he eats about 3 times a week. Oh well. I found out later they also got dessert. This kid was livin' it up!

Before they went for pizza, they headed to Godby's football practice, where our friend Joe is a coach. Tommy got the special treatment. Joe brought the kickers over to where Tommy was and he got to kick with them. He even got to kick off a tee while Joe held the football. He had a blast.

Then after their dinner run, they went to the Chiles vs. Lincoln game. They arrived about an hour early, which would make me go insane, but Dean loves watching warm-ups (why?!? why would you love watching warm-ups??) and so now Tommy does too. He threw the little football that they handed out back and forth with Dean and stood by the fence while the players got ready. At one point he started stretching with them.



When Lincoln had a pretty good lead, Tommy looked over from where they were in the stands and noticed that the North Florida Fair was in town (the stadium happens to be adjacent to the fairgrounds) and he talked Dean into going to the fair. This was a feat in and of itself. Dean promised they could go on one ride and Tommy chose a huge slide that you ride down on a mat. He's afraid of climbing things so that was interesting. But he and Dean made it up to the top and Dean managed to sit down with him on the mat (he relayed the entire harrowing experience to me and let's just say I'm glad I wasn't there). But Tommy had a blast going down. Then Dean bought him some green glow-in-the-dark sword thing, which of course Tommy needed. On the way home he fell asleep, sword in hand. This is what I saw when I met them at the car in the driveway.

Met His Match

We Inserras love our friends the Knipples (the K is silent). Tommy and Riley have had an arranged marriage thing going since before Riley was born. And when Riley came out a redhead, we knew that she just might be as feisty as our little guy. We were about right. You see, Riley wound up getting her mommy's personality, and Tommy got his daddy's. On the other end of the spectrum, Shane and I are about as laid back as they come. Therefore, one might conclude there might be something in the water at Leon High School!

On Monday night, we were driving back from Tampa, so we called up Shane and Riley to see if they wanted to meet us for dinner (Lindsay was working night float at Shands so unfortunately couldn't be there). We decided on Cracker Barrel in Gainesville, and met them there. Apparently Riley was in a bit of a mood, because she attempted to throw a fit or two. This kind of amused me because since she's a year younger than Tommy, her fits aren't nearly as intense. They're still almost cute and funny at this stage. And she has mastered the pout. She sticks that lower lip out, and as her grandmother says, "She could walk all the way to Live Oak on that lip."

Tommy took advantage of this moment and decided to be the sweet one, rubbing her arm and telling her it would be ok (See?!? They were meant for each other!), sharing his crayons and that triangle peg game that I can never do.

What the Knipple family doesn't know is that just a few hours before that, after his naked romp in the fountain in Tampa, we had to drag him kicking, screaming, soaking wet, and in the nude over to the bench to dry him off and get him dressed so we could leave.

So maybe Riley's met her match.

My Exhibitionist

Yesterday we decided to take the day and drive Sally back to Tampa after visiting Tallahassee for a few days. She's 35 weeks pregnant and so we figured driving for 4 hour stretches at a time by herself might not be the best idea. So anyway, we took off on a road trip. Sally had told us about this great park that is about 2 blocks from her house and of course Tommy was psyched to go. In fact, he talked about it during the entire 4 hour drive. Every time we would stop to eat or get gas, he would ask if we were at "Sally's park" yet and when we told him no, he'd get upset and want to keep going.

We finally made it to Sally's park. Tommy ran around a bit near the swings and other standard park equipment. Then he saw the fountain. This is not just your run-of-the-mill fountain, folks. This is one of those ground level fountains with water that just continually shoots straight up through about 50 holes in the concrete. Oh yeah, and there are stone lions around, just for the effect. When he first spotted the fountain, we ran over there but he was very nervous around the lions. And he was wearing sweat pants, a t-shirt and sneakers (it started off cold that morning, but was 86 degrees by the time we got to Tampa).

So after psyching himself up a bit, he wanted to run in the fountain. We stripped the child down to his birthday suit and let him run wild. There were no other people around so it was all good. Except for the two little girls (they looked like they were in first or second grade) who were walking by with their little dog. Tommy ran out to the edge of the fountain and said "Come on girls, you can come in here too!" They didn't.

I asked Dean at what age it would be inappropriate for Tommy to run naked through a fountain and his response was "Anytime after today!" So that was his first and last time streaking. At least with his parents' consent and encouragement.

He Did It!

No, I'm not talking about potty training. We got a long way to go for that one. But it's just after 7 am in the new fall back time and I've been up for the last 20 minutes because apparently Tommy didn't get the memo that you're supposed to sleep an extra hour. However, I don't care. I'm just basking in the glow of his first successful Halloween.

What?!? I think I hear a collective gasp from a few of my tens of readers. A pastor and his family celebrate Halloween?? If you're asking if we worship Satan, the answer is no. But we do dress up (as Superman this year) and go house to house begging for candy. Then we come home, fill up on sugar, and go to bed as we're crashing off the sugar high. If you've been a faithful reader for at least, well, a year, you may remember our Halloween experience last year. Well, my friends, this year was different.

Our Halloween started with MeMe's (Dean's mom) first grade class's Spider Fest at school. I brought Tommy to participate and he absolutely loved it. He rotated through the four classrooms with the rest of the kids (all twice his age... which I guess isn't a lot when you're only 3). He made a spider headband thing, then helped call out Spider Bingo numbers, made a popcorn hand, and also made a spider necklace and got a tick (it was supposed to be a spider, but it totally looked like a tick) painted on his hand. Between each rotation, the teachers read spider or Halloween themed books to the kids. Tommy sat right in the middle of them all (notice the only kid in costume- that's his Superman cape) and even asked questions about the story. I think the first graders didn't like him at the end because he proved that he was paying more attention than they were, thus making them look bad.



Last year at Spider Fest, he did ok until he saw all the spiders. That kinda freaked him out. This year he actually put on MeMe's spider mask!

Then came the real Halloween test: trick-or-treating. Remember, since he's been able to walk, we've been to a total of... um... no houses to beg for candy. He's completely choked two years in a row. But this year, he totally redeemed himself. He was a little nervous about going to the first house, but we went and knocked on the door. They were our friendly kidless neighbors, who apparently didn't realize that trick-or-treating is a real thing. The husband showed up at the door with an individual size of Mott's applesauce and apologized for not being prepared. Then as soon as we got to the next house, we noticed them jumping into their car and hightailing it out of there. That was probably for the best. Once we had gone to a couple houses and Tommy realized that they were handing out candy, he really liked this trick-or-treat thing. We did run into one or two kids with scary masks. And yes, I did ask one of them to remove it around Tommy. No, I didn't know him, but I guess I'm just one of those moms. I wasn't going to let this little snotty nosed kid ruin my son's first successful Halloween!

We made it all the way around the block and only shied away from one or two houses that looked really scary. He filled up a plastic pumpkin and halfway filled a ghost bag that we brought as as backup. So his teeth will be good and rotten by the time we go for our first dentist visit. But the real measure of his success is that when he woke up this morning, he cried a little because he wanted to go trick-or-treating again tonight. Woo hoo!

Christmas Time's a Comin'

It's the most wonderful time of the year! I've always loved Christmas music and I've been guilty of playing it as early as October (when no one's listening, anyway... Dean protests if Thanksgiving hasn't occurred yet). But I've discovered that being a piano teacher takes it to a whole new level. This year I'll put on my 2nd annual Holiday Recital (gotta be PC. I know, it irks me too) and so my students are already hard at work on their holiday songs. Which is lots of fun, but with 17 students, I'm hearing "Deck the Halls", "Joy to the World", "Jingle Bells", and a slew of others way too much.

I'd like to get them to branch out. So I'll make a suggestion. Watch this and let me know what you think. This goes out to all you Inserras out there.

Like Father Like Son

During the last few days, Tommy's been really into forts. By forts, I mean draping a blanket over the couch and dragging in every stuffed animal that he owns. Today he referred to it as his "tent" for a while. Then, I think he remembered that he was Dean's son (background: Dean won't go camping. His motto is "Why sleep outside when you can sleep inside?"), and began referring to it as his "hotel". True story.

Potty Training... Take 3?

I think this is my third attempt at potty training. But this time I'm really serious about it (if I said I was serious in my other two tries, please disregard). And the good thing is that today we've actually had success! I started with Tommy yesterday after his nap because our morning was busy. He had 4 accidents between then and bedtime, and only one of them was on the couch, so that's a good thing. He still wouldn't tell me when he was wet (except when he went on the couch and then politely said "Mommy, I pottied on the couch"). He slept in a diaper last night and then when he woke up, I fed him breakfast and put him back in his underwear. He proceeded to have 4 more accidents and denied their existence (while standing in a puddle the size of Lake Michigan). Then all of a sudden, on the 5th pair of underwear (about 10:00 this morning), he crossed his legs, grabbed himself, and looked very panicked. We ran to the bathroom and he sat on his potty. And filled it. I couldn't have been more proud! He got to pick out an M&M (my bribe of choice this time), and put a sticker on his potty chart.

Then about 20 minutes later, he slipped off to the bathroom again and went potty in his potty seat (well, mostly) for the second time! I thought "Well, surely this potty training thing will be a breeze now!" I gave him lots of high 5's and more M&M's and stickers.

But then it happened. He suddenly decided he was done using the potty and didn't want to go anymore. We took a 20 minute trip to Coosh's to pick up some lunch and bring it home. I tried to get him to use the potty but he wouldn't. You're thinking "Is she nuts? Bringing him out of the house in underwear after only 2 successful potty visits?" Well, yes I am, but he didn't have the accident there. Thankfully he waited til we got home, but as I was pouring our drinks, I heard another pouring sound and looked up to see Tommy looking down and saying "Uh oh." When I tried to get him to the potty, he screamed and kept going. All over his shoes and socks. Lovely. So now he's in a diaper and is down for a nap. We'll try again when he wakes up.

So do you think we were 2 and done? Has he given up? Will there be a round 4 or will this be it?

Nap Time

I have 3 minutes before my first piano lesson for the day shows up. Tommy has been in bed since 1:45ish, but hasn't gone to sleep. I've gone in a few times and scolded him, telling him he needs to sleep. Right now. As I sit here typing this, he's singing the alphabet at the top of his lungs. He may not be sleeping.

Weekend Recap

I'm a bad blogger. I know. It's been a week since I've blogged. Just rest assured that this week was either really busy or completely uneventful. Or a combination of both. This weekend was great though. Dean was out of town Friday night for the Well's One Night Stand with our good friend Jonathan Merritt. I was going to attempt to ride over with Tommy but just before it would have been time for us to embark on our almost 2-hour drive, he decided to go crazy and throw a big fit. Not getting in a car with a cranky 3-year old for 2 hours! So we went to Dean's parents' house for dinner and hung out with the fam. It was great to spend time with Sally, who was in town from Tampa, and Sarah, who's still in town from Colorado.

Tommy had his last soccer game on Saturday morning. It was cold and windy but lots of fun. At one point, they did a drill where they were told to pretend there was a dragon and they had to rescue the princess before the dragon ate their ball. When they were told to go, everyone went except Tommy who stayed on the sidelines. Apparently he was afraid of the imaginary dragon because when I told him to go, he said "No, that's ok, everyone else is going. I'll just wait here." Oh well.

Church yesterday was awesome. I was in the band so I'm still exhausted, but what a great service! We did baptisms (in the cold) and we baptized 9 people! Only two had signed up previously, so that's always exciting to see if anyone wants to be baptized right there on the spot. Dean finished up the relationship series with a sermon entitled "Tools and Drama Queens". You just gotta see it here.

Here was Tommy's and my conversation in the car on the way home:

Tommy: "Mommy, I don't want to see the ghosts at Target"

Me: "Ok, we don't have to"

Tommy: "Does Jesus protect me from the ghosts at Target?"

Me: "Yes he does."

Tommy: "What else does he protect me from? Will he protect me from the witches? And the goblins? And the monsters?"

Me: "Yes, he protects you from all those things. And remember, those things are just pretend."

Tommy: "What's the man in the moon?"

Me: (not quite sure what to say here) "Um, I think it's when the moon looks like there's a face in it, but tonight there's no moon so you don't have to worry about that."

Tommy: "Where is he? Is he sick? Did he go home?"

Me: "Yes. His mommy had to make him some soup."

My poor confused child.

A Yummy Delicious Cake

I love to bake. I haven't done it as much lately since I realize that eating lots of baked goods generally adds to one's waistline and cholesterol. But tonight our small group is celebrating some birthdays so I'm making a peanut butter cake with chocolate fluffy icing. And I think I'll crush up some Reece's Peanut Butter cups and sprinkle them on top. Jealous? Hungry? Here's the recipe, courtesy of The Chocolate Cake Mix Doctor.

One box of regular yellow cake mix
1 1/3 Cups of water
1/3 cup of creamy peanut butter
3 eggs
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

Grease 2 9-inch cake pans. Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl with a blender on low speed (I used a stand mixer) for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and then mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour into cake pans and bake for 23-28 minutes. Allow to cool and frost with chocolate frosting. I make my own but a can of frosting is really good too.

Yummy and delicious!!

New Shows for Tommy's Mommy?

I just watched possibly the most anticipated episode of "The Office"... along with millions of other people, I'm sure. The difference between us though is that this was only my second or third full episode. And now I'm hooked. I mean, who doesn't love the YouTube video of the wedding processional? Yes, I realize they were making fun of it but I still laughed out loud.

And last night, while I was watching my usual "Law & Order: SVU", I did something I've never done before. I checked the TV Guide channel to see if there was anything better on. Yes, I know that just upset lots of people, but I guess I was getting bored. So I noticed that the new show "Glee" was on a different network at the same time. My friend Lindsay (who finally blogged and you might wet your pants laughing at the post) is now obsessed with that show so I figured I should at least check it out. The outcome? I watched the end of "Glee" instead of "SVU". What is the world coming to?

Sickie

This week in the Inserra household, we are dealing with something we don't usually have to worry about... a sick child. Saturday night brought a low-grade fever (we never have fevers), so I kept him home from church on Sunday. He seemed ok during the day, but that night he woke up with the dreaded croup. For those of you without children, or who are fortunate enough to never have dealt croup, it's no fun. It happens when the weather changes (even if just for a few days, i.e. the "fall" weather we had last week) and it happens in the middle of the night. Don't all sicknesses?!? Anyway, they wake up in the middle of the night coughing, but the cough doesn't sound human. It sounds more like a barking seal. And then they can't catch their breath and so it sounds like they're having an asthma attack or something like it. The only way to help it is to whisk them to the nearest bathroom and run all the hot water at full blast with the door shut in order to trap in all the steam, which helps their windpipe to open up. If that doesn't work after about 20 minutes, you quickly run with your barely breathing child to the freezer (or outside if you live in a cold climate) and stick their head in. Sounds awful. And if that still doesn't work, you're off to your local friendly emergency room. Thankfully we've been able to skip that last step each time, but we wound up at the doctor Monday.

But after a good dose of Prednisone, he was seemingly back to normal. Enough to go to school yesterday. At least the doctor said it would be fine. But now he's hacking and sniffling again and just being generally irritable. As in antagonizing the dog, insisting on sleeping in the middle of the living room floor instead of his bedroom, and having a sudden fascination with anything that plugs into the wall. And he won't eat chicken soup! This is one of those days that I just might watch the Disney cartoon Robin Hood movie at least 3 or 4 times.

Sports Rituals

We are a sports-friendly family. If you've been reading this blog for the last few weeks, you may have picked up on the fact that one of our favorite forms of family entertainment is to attend a local high school game, whatever happens to be in season. Dean and I have both been involved in sports at one time or another, and Tommy is already doing the same. As anyone in athletics knows, there are lots of rituals. Some have a purpose, most don't. Just a lot of tradition.

Well last night while we were at a high school football game, we had the privilege of standing on the track where the band was warming up for their halftime show. They did the standard scales, holding long notes to get in tune and other musical warm-ups. But then they did something I've never seen a band do before. Maybe I just don't pay attention, but I certainly will now. They all got in a clump and began doing organized stretches and calisthenics. Now I understand marching around with a tuba may get a little tiring, but they went all out. Here was the only picture that turned out. Yes, I'm the person making fun of the band by taking pictures of their stretching sessions. I believe this is a quad stretch.



This morning Tommy had his third soccer day. He participated even more and stayed on our field the entire time. There were a few times that in the middle of the drill, he would kick the ball about halfway and then just go the rest of the way and leave his ball behind. But I guess that's to be expected every so often. My new favorite part of their day is at the end of the practice. Enjoy.

A Lesson in Thankfulness

The other night, Tommy and I were reading before bed and we read a book on being thankful. Taking advantage of the teachable moment, I started talking to him about the things I was thankful for. The conversation went something like this:

Me: "I'm thankful for so many things. For you and Daddy, and Dorsi, and all of our family and friends, and for our house and our food. What are you thankful for?"

Tommy: "I'm thankful for the zoo."

Me: "Ok, well let's pray to God and thank him for all these things. Maybe you'll remember more. Dear God, thank you for Tommy and Daddy and Dorsi, for all our family and friends, for keeping us safe, and for taking care of us."

Tommy: "And thank you for the zoo."

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

I don't know what the deal is with me and frogs lately, but tonight while I was coming home from my small group, I noticed there was a tree frog inside my car on my dashboard. Just looking at me. I almost hit a tree. I tried to drive faster and nervously watched him hop back and forth on my dashboard. I prayed feverishly that this little guy wouldn't decide to jump into my lap because then surely I would get into a major accident. There was definitely eye contact the entire ride back (probably not safe to be driving while staring down a frog). When I pulled into the driveway, I quickly gathered my belongings and jumped out of the car as fast as possible. When I walked away, the frog was trying desperately to jump out through the windshield. Am I a bad person for not ushering it out through an open door? Now it will be there tomorrow. Oh well, it's Dean's car.

Weekend Update

We've had yet another packed weekend in the Inserra household.

Our fall Friday night ritual has been to grab a Hungry Howie's pizza and head to a local high school football game. Since pastors get into the games for free (at least we think they do... Dean shows his business card and we all just kind of walk in while the lady at the gate looks slightly confused), the whole night costs us just over $6. Not a bad deal. And Tommy loves the games. At least he loves the band and the mascots. Don't get me wrong, he's absolutely terrified of the mascots up close, but once they're on the other side of the field, he thinks they're the greatest things. So this week we went to the Leon vs. Madison game which was played at Leon's home field. Always a treat. It is a great atmosphere there and Dean was in his glory (of course). They lost miserably, but we all had a great time.

Saturday morning we got up for week 2 of Little Kicks soccer. This week Tommy warmed up with the team (for the most part) and was significantly better at listening to his coach, Coach Jessica. He only wound up on the wrong field once or twice. And he wasn't one of the 3 or 4 kids whose parents had to keep sending them back on the field in tears because they didn't want to do it anymore. He still kept yelling over to us that he was playing soccer.



Right after his soccer escapades, we headed over to good ol' Doak Campbell stadium for the FSU vs. USF game. We joined in on a great tailgate that had been going strong since 7:30 that morning. Talk about a spread! There were Chicken Biscuits from Chick Fil-A, bagels from Brueggers, donuts from Krispy Creme, egg casserole, cheese grits, fruit, veggies and dip, sausages on the grill, and of course a selection of adult beverages. Unfortunately we didn't last long at this tailgate because it was already near 90 degrees and we knew we'd have to sit in the sun during the game and Tommy and I were already more sweaty than we'd ever like to be. So after about an hour in the air conditioned bookstore, we headed to our seats. It was brutally hot. Tommy's face was bright red and he was soaking wet, but he didn't want to leave. After all, there were bands and mascots! But after one and a half quarters in the baking sun, we had all we could take and headed back home to watch another 8 or 9 hours of football on TV.



Finally, we had church this morning. Tommy and I only went to the morning service, as we're both recovering from a slightly busy weekend. But the service was awesome, Dean was amazing, the band was wonderful, and there were lots of new faces. Dean finished up his "We're Just Not That Into You" by asking what we're choosing over Christ. A great take on the story of the Rich Young Man.

Now I'm off to look at coupons. Yes, I'm super giddy because there were 3 inserts in today's paper. I'm a nerd.

Slammer Time

Today I did what every parent does but is told never to do.

I lied to my child.

A big lie.

We had to leave a little shindig at Karsyn's house because of a biting incident (he was the biter, not the bitee). I carried him out of the house kicking and screaming and we made it all the way to the car in this fashion. At one point, I had to put him down in the grass and just spank him (yes, I spank my child). That seemed to calm him down for a minute. Then when it came time to get in the car, still kicking and screaming, he decided that he didn't want to sit in his car seat and instead wanted to sit on the other side of the back seat. He's too big for me to wrestle with him while he's in the car, so I just did what every parent would do.

I told him that the police would stop me and take him to jail.

He immediately climbed into his car seat and let me buckle him in. And when he tried to unbuckle himself during the drive, I simply reminded him of the watchful eye of those nice policemen, and he put that seatbelt back on, thank you very much!

Sunday on Thursday

So I'm finally getting around to doing a Sunday recap. Yes, I know it's Thursday, don't judge me.

If you were at the night service, you got to see Todd Doss's awesome rendition of "Don't Stop Believing" to open up the service. I even got to rock it out on keys to that song (who doesn't want to play keys for an awesome Journey song?!) The rest of the music was really great, I especially love the song "With Everything". I guess I'm kind of on a Hillsong kick right now. You can watch it all here.

Dean was a-mazing. He's still in the series called "We're Just Not That Into You" and he talked about the Israelites basically slapping God in the face by building a golden calf and then worshiping it instead of the God who brought them out of Egypt only a couple months before. Then Dean called out some of the cows in our life. Of course there had to be a fun prop so for the "cow of me", he brought out a real stand-up Chick-Fil-A lifesize cow with a hole cut in the face, so you could insert your own face and take pictures. It went over well. And it's still in our guest bedroom.

He concluded that we needed to "get our redneck on, chew some dip, and go cow tipping". And he really got fired up in the night service. He just began reading chapters of Scripture that pertained to all of this, becoming more emotional as he read. It's awesome to see when God has placed such a burden on someone and they can't help but to declare His word. The sad thing is, God has placed this burden and responsibility on all of us and we just keep turning back to those cows that are simply more convenient.

What stuck out to me was how powerful just the reading of Scripture is. Dean didn't need commentary when he started reading, he just read large portions. The Bible stands alone, it doesn't need any help. It would just do me good to remember that more often.

Watch Out Beckham

This Saturday Tommy began his career in city league sports. Here in Tallahassee they have a soccer league that starts as early as 3 so of course we signed him up and eagerly brought him down to the field. He was so excited! We got there, ball in hand, and waited for his name to be called to let us know what team he would be on. We did hear a few names like Santiago Diaz or something like that, so we figured he would probably get his butt kicked. But it's strictly drills and fun games, no actual soccer matches (seriously, what did you expect from 3 and 4 year olds?)

Tommy's team of about 10 kids got in a little clump to do warm-up stretches with their coach. Tommy kind of stood off to the side and kicked around his soccer ball. Apparently stretching is for the weak.

He did pretty well listening to the coach when she would tell them what to do, but we still need to work on our listening skills a bit. But he had an absolute blast. About every 5 minutes he would look over to the sidelines where we were all standing (he had a cheering section) and yell something like "Mommy, I'm playing soccer!" It was really cute.

You didn't think I would let this post go by without a first day of soccer video, did you? It gives you a bit of an idea of what he'll be doing for the next 4 Saturdays.

It's Almost Like a Petting Zoo

The other day I walked into the garage to get Dorsi some dog food and I felt something hit my foot. I thought it was a ball that Tommy had rolled in there and so I kicked it a bit. I looked down just in time to see my old friend, Mr. Toad. Did I mention I was barefoot? I screamed like a little girl and ran back inside, dropping Dorsi's food on the way. Gross.


Then yesterday when I was coming inside, I noticed something scurry in the plants next to our house. Usually when I hear that I just imagine it's a lizard or a squirrel or something (that would have to be a big lizard). But yesterday I saw a very long reptilian tail as it ran underneath the house. My first thought was, "oh great we have snakes living under our house". But my second thought was, "I wonder if he and the toad are friends. He's crawling under the garage where I saw the toad."

Today I caught a glimpse of the critter in full. Turns out it's a skink. A great big one. At least 8 or 9 inches long. Awesome. (with a hint of sarcasm)

Sunday Recap

I'm exhausted today and when I look back on my weekend I can see why. Backtrack to Friday at lunch. I get a last minute text from our music leader at the Well this week (Scott Simmons) saying that the keyboardist is out sick and they need me to fill in Sunday. So I had practice with the band at 9:00 on Saturday morning. A couple hours after that was over, I headed to Trinity Reformed Church where I was playing in a wedding for a friend of Dean's and mine. After the reception (where, incidentally, the tent we were sitting under collapsed from the massive storm that was going on and we got momentarily trapped), I went home with Dean, changed clothes, and met my friend Lindsay (who needs to blog again) for coffee. Got home at 10:30. Whew.

Sunday, it all started again. I left at 8:00 am to get to Godby (with a pitstop for coffee and a bagel) to play in the band. Those guys and gals are awesome. So much talent up there and I kinda wonder what I'm doing there half the time. The music was really great this week, you can listen to it here.

Dean had an incredible message this week. He's on week 2 of a series called "We're Just Not That Into You" about how we care more about our finances, families, friends, football, and basically everything else than we care about God. We're only into Him when it's convenient for us. I'm sure it's evident everywhere, but you can see it clearly here in Tallahassee where everyone goes to church, but if something better comes up or if they get a hangnail, it's not a priority. On a sidenote, I saw a family at the Well yesterday morning that I knew from Fort Lauderdale and we were talking for a bit. Their son is a freshman at FSU this year and he's been to the Well 3 times and loves it. Friday night, he had an emergency appendectomy (when is it not an emergency?) and Sunday morning he was at church. I'm just sayin'.

So back to Dean's message. He started by reading the verse in Galatians that asks the very pointed question, "Am I now trying to please God or man?" and proceeded to talk about the areas where we try to gain approval. Anywhere from following religious protocol, to listening to the peanut gallery and pleasing our friends and families for acceptance, to how we view ourselves. Then he remedied all of that by stating "I don't have an answer for how to stop doing this. But I do know that Jesus Christ is Lord" and he explained that all throughout the Bible God always offers himself as our solution. Then he went on to read Ephesians 1:4-14, which is possibly one of the most encouraging passages of Scripture. It was a really great service.

Then when it was over we got to do it all again a few hours later. And I loved every minute of it.

New Look

True story: I was sitting on the couch, minding my own business, clipping coupons and getting ready to do the Sunday crossword puzzle (which is one of my new favorite Sunday night wind-down activities). Dean sweetly informed me that my layout for my blog was bad and because people read it (that's the rumor anyway), it needs to be better and I should go to a website where they customize blog layouts. Now he didn't actually know how to do this, but assumed that I could figure it out. Well, it's now been an hour and a half and I think I finally got something. Here's the short version of how I found this:

1) I went to The Cutest Blog on the Block and decided to pick one of their layouts. Apparently the link I picked sent me somewhere else and I sifted through more than 27 pages of blog backgrounds and layouts of anything from ponies and beaches to Jordin Sparks and Kanye West. I chose a fun floral design but when I finally figured out how to put it on my blog, it was terrible with the fonts.

2) I changed my fonts roughly 35 times and still was not able to find anything that looked decent. By this time I was beyond frustrated and was yelling at Dean for even suggesting that I change anything. Clearly all this confusion was directly his fault.

3) I deleted my last hour of work and went back to Cutest Blog on the Block. Then I realized that you don't actually have to click a link, the layouts are just right there. Seriously?!?

4) So I found something cute and took another 25 minutes to figure out how to post it. I suddenly no longer had a "layouts" tab and had to go get one. Very confusing.

5) After about 12 hours of being upset about the fact that my old "dots" were still on top of each post, I finally looked in the FAQ section of Cutest Blog on the Block. It gave me step-by-step instructions for removing them. Silly me.

So do you like my new look?

Some Highlights (and Lowlights)

We have had an unusually busy last few days, but I do feel like there were some blog-worthy moments.

- We went to the Godby vs. Pace football game the other night. Tommy's really into football games, and he loves everything about them. He's a little confused though. While we were in the car he asked, "Are the football players going to sit on the bench and watch the band play?" Dean was only slightly devastated.

- I discovered a new milkshake/smoothie. I was reading Lynn and Sarah's blog and I came across this odd thing called a Green Monster. The description was enough to either make you want to vomit or get the recipe and find out more. I decided to follow the link she gave to the Green Monster website. You should definitely check it out. The basic Green Monster is flax seed, raw spinach, bananas, and almond milk. You can add in other stuff as well (blueberries, canteloupe, etc.). I drink them for breakfast and amazingly, you don't taste spinach at all. Not one bit. You may get some in your teeth though.

- I also tried a new wrap at our neighborhood cafe, Tuscan Sun. If you live anywhere near Killearn Lakes, you need to go there. And get the grilled chicken, walnut, and apple wrap with spring mix and cranberries and balsamic vinaigrette. Yum!

- We went to Maclay Gardens on Friday to go swimming in the lake with our friends. Tommy had a blast and there were 5 other toddlers about his age with us. Loads of fun. PS, I don't particularly care to swim in lakes (unless I'm skiing behind a boat or something like that) so I just waded up to my calves. And watched for gators.

On a downside, while we were there, one of the little boys got a wasp in his bathing suit and the darned thing stung him 4 times! He screamed and cried, but after a little while and a dose of benedryl, he was playing again as though nothing had happened. You gotta love the resilience of toddlers!

Wonder Mop??

Hi. My name is Krissie and I'm a Libman Wonder Mop user. I had it for about a year before I realized you could change out mop head (I didn't mop much). So after getting it gunked up by cleaning behind the refrigerator, I decided to get a new mop head. I excitedly attached my new mop head and vowed in my heart to wash it in a hot water cycle with bleach a couple times a month. No germs here!

Well about 3 months after I got the new head, I decided to take it off and wash it. I pulled and pulled, twisted and turned, and nothing happened. So I just shrugged and continued to mop with it. I was beginning to thing maybe this Wonder Mop isn't all it's cracked up to be.

So today, I'm mopping... with my dirty mop head, mind you... and snap! The mop cracks in half. I'd like to think it's because I've been working out more. However, I suspect that's not the case.

Torn

Yes, just like Natalie Imbruglia, I'm don't quite know what to do. As I type this I'm watching the FSU vs. Miami game and stuffing my face with Lite Butter popcorn (gotta watch the figure, you know). This should be a no-brainer. I graduated from Florida State, I've done the chop many a time, and been to lots of home and away games for the Seminoles.

But it's not that easy. Dean's a huge Miami fan and he gets really into it. There's a lot of sentimental value in the Canes for him, besides the fact that he just loves them, regardless. So that's my dilemma. If FSU wins, I'll be really happy, but not as happy as Dean would be if Miami won. But if Miami loses, Dean will be in a slight state of depression for a bit, which is considerably more upset than I would be if FSU loses. Tommy has chosen to root for the Canes. But he's asleep and doesn't even know there's a game on. I was raised a Canes fan and chose the Seminoles when I came here. But there's always been a soft spot in my heart for that silly looking stork... I mean ibis.

So I really don't know who I want to win. My mother-in-law will get on me for that last statement, but I want there to be peace and happiness in the Inserra house.

I guess I can just say, "Go Team"?

Happy Football Season

It's that time of year again... school has started, the stores are beginning to put back to school items on clearance and they're making room for fall decorations. The weather is cooler in the mornings and at night (though still 90 in the day), and I'm getting a hankerin' to eat some acorn squash. Yes, fall is upon us. I suddenly want to smell cinnamon and pumpkins all day long and I have an intense desire to bake something I probably shouldn't eat.

But perhaps the most exciting part of the fall is football season. I know, it's all in how you look at it. Football and I have a love-hate relationship. I do enjoy the game, it's my favorite sport to watch. I have my teams that I cheer for and those I boo (I hate Kentucky... there, I said it). I love tailgates and the atmosphere that is a football game, whether it's high school or college (I'm not really into pro). And going to away games is always fun.

I do have some beef with football though. First of all, if a game is almost 4 hours long, it's just too long. And the whole 2 minute warning thing... that totally means 15-20 minutes. On a side note, when I was little and I would want my dad to come outside while he was watching a game, he would tell me he'd come as soon as it was over, and there were less than two minutes left. It didn't take me long to figure out that football time is not real time (it's ok Dad, you still came and played and I had lots of fun). And do we really need to watch it from the time Game Day starts (which I enjoy very much) to the time the West Coast game is over? Really?

Oh well, football season, here we come. And I'm truly excited about it. But to all you football widows out there (I'm not one), January is just around the corner.

My Morning Out

This week Tommy started Mother's Morning Out, which is a childcare co-op at a local church here in town. He goes two mornings a week and I pay a very small fee and agree to stay and work it twice every six weeks. Not a bad deal at all. So he's going Tuesdays and Thursdays. And that means I get to go to the gym. And go to Target. Or Kohls. Or Publix. Or the mall. Or just sit at home and stare. Do crosswords if I'd like.

Today I made my first dangerous yard tool purchase by buying a pair of hedgeclippers. And then I attacked the hedges in front of Tommy's window. They're not perfect but much better than they were. Yep. It was awesome.

And even more awesome is that Tommy just asked me for carrots as a snack. Yes, friends, it's a good day!

Mind Your Manners

Tommy to a two-year-old boy today while playing with the Thomas train set at the bookstore:

"Excuse me, sir. Can I play with this?"

After finding out his name was Ty, he rephrased the question:

"Miss Ty, can I play with this train please?"

He's a little confused with the sir and ma'am, mr. and miss thing. But at least he was polite.

Natural Flavors?

If you've read this blog or you know me at all, you might know that I attempt to eat healthy. By healthy, I don't necessarily mean low fat, low calorie, low taste. A lot of times I will buy a full fat item (cream soups, or crackers for example) and just make sure we don't eat the whole box at once. I've learned to be a label reader. And my rule is that if I can't read the whole label while standing there in the aisle at the grocery store without needing to stop for a lunch break (some of those labels are long!), then I can't buy it.

If you have been reading this for a while, you may also know that I'm really into couponing. I get giddy on Saturday nights because I can't wait to see which coupons will be in the paper. I'm also really pumped on Wednesday nights because on Thursday Publix switches their sales and I am so excited to see the items that will be BOGO (that's buy one get one... as in free... for you non-couponers). Yes, I'm a nerd. I know.

So today Ritz crackers were BOGO and I had a coupon for a free box of the new Ritz Crackerfuls with the purchase of Ritz crackers so I decided to get them. Since they were free and all. Well, when I got home and read the label, it practically said "to be continued..." at the end. Oh well. So then I kept reading the box and it advertised the crackers as having "Natural Flavors with Natural Flavors". What the heck does that mean? There was nothing natural in there!

But I bet they do taste good.

Randoms

I love my church! We officially launched our morning service last week and I still can't decide which service I want to go to. I don't want to miss anything! Yes, I realize they are the exact same service, but twice is always nice. Don't worry I'll decide at some point and I won't force Tommy to go to the same thing twice in one day. But for now, all he knows is that he gets to play with playdough, hear a Bible story, eat goldfish, drink juice, and play on the bridge two times on Sunday. Not a bad deal.

I can't wait for small group tonight. Those ladies are so great and I love the time I get to spend with them. And we're doing dessert tonight. Yes, that always makes it even better.

Dorsi and I have this little game that she plays. When she's outside and ready to come in, she barks incessantly. I open the door and tell her to come in. She doesn't and just keeps on barking. I close the door for a brief second, open it up again, and offer her a cookie (dog treat... yes I know I'm reinforcing bad behavior). The bribe usually gets her in. We're currently out of cookies and I have to go grocery shopping tomorrow. I tried opening the door and closing it multiple times (that works a lot too), offering her various treats, and pleading with her to stop barking. She didn't. Finally, Tommy got up, opened the door and in his diaper and paci said "Dorsi, come here girl!" And she waltzed right in. He's on Dorsi duty from now on.

It's about time for me to go to the gym. I have energy and I'm not craving an unhealthy snack. However, it's absolutely pouring down rain outside and I can't find our umbrella. So now I'm forced to sit here until the rain slows down, during which time I might lose all desire to go to the gym. Aaah!

To Gym or Not to Gym

Tommy's taking a nap, Dean's home watching TV and resting up for tomorrow, and even Dorsi is snoring in her kennel (with the door open- she just likes to be in there and I don't really understand why). This is my chance to get to the gym. At this very moment I'm psyching myself up for a good jog/walk (a wog, if you will) on the treadmill while watching something at least somewhat entertaining on my own little personal TV (I love my gym, it has all that fun stuff). Then I'll do some weights and stretch and all the other things that you're supposed to do at the gym. And I'll feel really great afterward.

But for some reason I really want to just stay here and sleep. And eat potato chips. Wait, we don't have potato chips. Well, I can run to Walgreens (which happens to be right next door to the gym) and get some. Or I can make some cookies and eat them. Yes, I'm letting you in on a little secret of mine: every time I get a chance to work out I have this inner struggle in my mind. Every single time. Yesterday I went with sleeping and potato chips. But today...

I better go, I'm off to the gym now.

Aaaahhhhhh....

Today's been a good day so far. Tommy and I spent the morning at the Museum of Florida History with my friends Jen and Danielle and their little ones, Karsyn, Lila, and Mackenzie. Lots of fun there, only a couple meltdowns. The funniest thing was that before we got there all he could talk about was the "elephant" (which was a skeleton of a mastadon found in Wakulla Springs, not too far away... very cool) and the train. Obviously a giant mastadon is a bit hard to miss, so we found that one right away, but he still kept talking about the train and how he wanted to go see it. I looked at the visitor's guide and it said nothing about a train so I just figured he was confused. But as we were walking through the 20th Century Florida exhibit, low and behold, there was a display case that was about 2 feet by 4 feet. It was a model of Silver Springs, featuring the tugboats and paddleboats and kind of on the side, not doing anything, was a train. I think it had about 6 cars on it and it didn't actually move, but he was mesmerized. One of the meltdowns was getting him to leave the train. That's my boy.

When I got home with him, we got ready for a nap, I took a nice hot shower, and swiffed the floor. I was about to empty the dishwasher when I saw that my fabulous husband had come home while we were gone and emptied it for me. Thanks Dean!!! That totally made my day. Now I have 35 minutes before piano lessons and a clean house, so I'm curling up with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate. Yes, you read that right. I'm having hot chocolate in August. But it's been raining all day long and I think a good mug of cocoa is called for in this situation. So bring on the rain!

Gooooooood Morning!

Warning: This post is not for the faint of heart or the sick of stomach.

This morning I walked out of our bedroom and was greeted by the distinct aroma of... poop. I knew it wasn't Dorsi because she was in the room with us (although she did eat an entire bag of dog treats last night, so it wouldn't have surprised me). As I turned on my coffee maker, I heard Tommy starting to open his door. This was another odd sign because he usually stays in bed until I go in his room and get him (it's awesome, I have no idea why he started doing that, but I'm not about to stop him). When I opened the door I almost passed out from the odor. I said "Oh my, I think I smell something poopy!" (understatement) His response?

"I pooped-ed all over my bed. But it's ok, I cleaned it up with my blanket."

There was poop all over his bed and bedding, on the back of his pants, and on the bottom of his shirt. So when I started undressing him of course the poop spread all over him. Lovely. I managed to get everything off of him (while dropping piles on the floor... I told you this was gross) and got him into the bath. He was scrubbed from head to toe and played happily while I cleaned and sanitized and deodorized his room. Thank goodness for Febreeze!

All of this was before 8:30 this morning. I hope that's the extent of my excitement for the day!

Gotta Love Those Imagination Movers!

Besides eating vegetables, what's the toughest thing to get a three-year-old to do? Clean his room, of course! Unless you're watching Imagination Movers, on the Disney Channel. I had begged and pleaded with Tommy to clean the disaster area that was his room last night and this morning and I finally gave up, figuring it would probably get clean sometime before he went to kindergarten. We went out in the living room and were watching Mover Scott, Mover Dave, Mover Rich, and Mover Smitty. They had to clean the warehouse (maybe I watch this show a bit too much?) and came up with this cute little ditty. About 15 seconds into it, Tommy goes "Mommy, let's go clean my room now, just like the Imagination Movers!" And before I could say anything he was making a mad dash for his room.

I wanted to help the rest of the frustrated parents out there and since I couldn't find it on YouTube or anywhere else online, here's the audio clip. It's called "Clean My Room". Enjoy and I hope your toddler sprints to clean their room as well!

Never Give Up (or If You're Going To Pick a Battle, You Better Win)

I've been trying really hard to get Tommy to eat healthy lately. It's not that easy. Not only does he not enjoy vegetables, but he thinks he makes all the rules and runs the show in this house. The other night I made a really good vegetable soup (containing carrots, green beans, corn, peas, potatoes, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, barley, celery, and onions). He decided he didn't want any and so I told him that if he didn't eat that, he wouldn't eat anything that night. That seemed fine with him so he went to play while Dean and I ate. Of course later on that night he wanted a popsicle after his bath. I reminded him that he didn't eat his soup and so he could have nothing else until he ate it (I should have just made him go to bed because he didn't eat the soup when I told him to, but we'll get there someday). I gave him two options. He could either eat his soup and then have a popsicle, or he could brush his teeth and get ready for bed. His response?

"No, I'm going to play with my fire trucks and then eat a popsicle."

He kept coming up with "compromises" like this but I stuck firm. Finally when I got his toothbrush out to brush his teeth, he agreed to eat his soup. So I let him. I didn't even warm it up. He had a pretty full bowl in the beginning and this is what I was left with.



I told him that Hulk Hogan eats all his vegetables and that with each bite he gets bigger Hulk Hogan muscles. So here he is showing off his Hulk muscles. All because I stuck firm in that he could have nothing else until he ate it. Woo hoo!

Fall Cleaning

I've been doing some fall cleaning lately. I wish I could say I'm a clean freak. Or that I can't stand clutter. Well, I guess I can't stand clutter, but I don't hate it enough to eradicate it all the time. However, I had finally had it and so I tackled our bedroom the other day. We had to get a new comforter set because Dorsi had completely destroyed the other one (she's no longer allowed on the bed...she hates our new comforter). So of course when you get new bedding you want to show it off! Since then my allergies have been going nuts but at least the bedroom and bathroom are clean. And I'm getting some lean pork chops all ready to put in the crock pot for dinner tonight. This is one of those days where I really feel like I have it all together. I even cleaned out my e-mail inbox! But then I walked into Tommy's room and this is what I saw.



Apparently he's not a clean freak either.