Let's just hope they never get seperated from me

In an effort to practice our emergency procedures should my children ever get separated from me for some tragic reason, I was going over questions and answers with my boys.

Mommy: What is mommy's name?
John & Nathan (in unison): Mommy
Mommy: Um, well, what does Daddy call Mommy?
John: Karen
Mommy (realizing this wouldn't be the question asked them): So what is mommy's name?
John: Mommy Karen Horn
Mommy: Okay, let's try again. What is my name?
John: Karen Horn
Mommy: Yeah John! Nathan, what is mommy's name?
Nathan (looking at me as if I had completely lost my mind because I didn't know my name) very emphatically: Mommy!
Mommy: Okay, let's try one more time, what is my name?
John & Nathan (in unison): Mommy Karen Horn
Mommy--sigh: Well, at least we've got it in there somewhere.

You should have seen Nathan's face when I asked him where he lived. Let's just say that conversation started with the answer of "with mommy" of course.....

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Ashley's birthday was last Sunday and she turned 7! We had such fun celebrating especially with the new puppy in the house. Her cake of choice was German chocolate and she choose to take chocolate cupcakes with white icing and M&Ms to celebrate with her friends at school.

Ashley loves science and her current passion is crystals and gems. She got this from her Aunt Alissa. She also got some super cute clothes from Uncle Steve & Aunt Mandy. (I didn't upload them b/c it took me 3 days just to get these loaded).

This is Ashley with her American Girl doll Josephina. Her new blanket is sitting next to her on her chair. It has princess poodles on it and completely fits Ashley's personality. It's hard to believe she's 7!

The latest addition to the Horn herd...

introducing....Sophie! Sophie was born on Christmas day and is a miniature dachshund. And I think she is perhaps the greatest dog ever and I definitely think the rest of the family would agree with me. She has just the right mix of hyper and cuddly. My perception of her is also helped by the fact that she hasn't chewed my slippers yet and likes me. She did take my blanket (anyone who lives in our house knows which blanket is mom's blanket) this morning but she was very gentle and just took a nap on it. I didn't even mind.

She's technically a gift for Ashley for her birthday, but she's also the "family dog". We've been trying to strike the right balance between those two things. (The kitchen timer has been involved in striking this balance.)

This picture is to prove her gentleness. If you know my Sara at all, you know that dogs are perhaps her least favorite thing in the world. She and Sophie have become good friends and her lap is one of Sophie's favorite.


Sophie's first bath. She took the water well. We'll see how she does after she gets used to the house and realizes that she can try to climb out of the tub.

My computer has been giving me fits lately. Once it is in a better mood I'll get a better picture posted--one that is closer up.

His two loves

Nathan decided to combine his two favorite activities yesterday--singing and tinker toys. He discovered that you could make a microphone out of his tinker toys and was in stage heaven the rest of the day. Although I do think I need to teach him some more songs--30 renditions of jungle bells and I don't think my dog is cute (his first composition) got kind of old on my ears. Gotta love the cheesy grin--it happens with all three year olds when you pull out a camera (at least all my three year olds did it!)

Happy St. Pat's Day (one day late)

Since I forgot to dress my girls in green for St Patrick's Day I decided to blend up some green nuclear waste for them to drink. Well, that's what Joe called it. It was actually a green milk shake. What's crazy is that my kids actually drank it. Give them pan fried tilapia with a peach BBQ sauce and they're convinced I'm trying to poison them.

Joe and I also actually went out for St. Patty's Day. We had some dear friends from church treat us to some corned beef and cabbage at a local restaurant. Don't knock it 'til you try it--it was actually really good. We decided to pass on the green beer.

It just wasn't right!

Joe & I had a date last night and despite my whole lent participation thing, we decided to do one of our favorite date things--play gin at the local Starbucks. So I had a spiced carmel apple drink. It just wasn't right! The only thing that should ever be drunk out of a cup that says "Starbucks" on it is coffee. I should have just abstained from drinking anything--the drink tasted horrible, but I don't think it was Starbucks fault. My tastebuds were having a conflict with the scent that my nose was picking up--the wonderful smell of brewing coffee. The apple drink didn't really stand a chance to begin with.

Free at last...

of the cast that is. Ashley's cast came off and the whole hand ordeal is officially over. You can see where the infection was in the palm of her hand in the picture. Her skin pretty much looks like that between her fingers as well. I must admit I feel like I need to retake my high school biology class. The final x-ray made no sense to me. I could still see where the bone was broken. The PA made an attempt to show me where all the new bone growth was and I nodded, smiled, agreed and hopefully pulled off my "I know exactly what you are talking about" look even though I was completely ignorant. We are just glad that it is over with considering it feels like it was a six month ordeal instead of a 4 week ordeal. Oh, and I told her that she better not break anything else for her entire life since we have no idea what she is allergic to--she had hives all over her forearm when the cast came off. How crazy is that!

So I probably shouldn't even be touching my computer right now--in the past 24 hours (actually it is more like 20 hours) I have managed to break my hair dryer (well, it had been on its way out for awhile, but it started shooting sparks today), our hair clippers (not sure what I did to them) and the refrigerator. The refrigerator thing was because I have a Maytag and I was trying to find the serial number to see if it was included in the recall. At first glance on the inside of the 'frig I couldn't find it, so I thought it was probably on the back. So after much grunting and groaning and a call to my husband, I moved the refrigerator. The number wasn't there. It was on the inside afterall. And in all the movement I managed to somehow cause the pipe that runs the water to the ice maker to leak. And I mean leak. And the kicker of the whole thing was that ours was not included in the recall. Fortunately my hubby fixed it without calling the plumber. Yikes, that would have really been bad. I'm thinking all of this is a good reason not to mop today. Who knows what else could happen!

Words you don't think you'd ever say...

The 2nd graders have been studying the brain. Sara got to bring home the plastic version of it yesterday--she was so very, very excited (seriously, she was extremely excited). But it also led to statements I never thought I'd say and always felt a little weird when I did:

John, give Sara back her brain.
No, don't throw the brain.
Sara, can you please take your brain to your room.
And, on the way out the door this morning, "Sara, don't forget your brain!" (Okay, maybe I've said that one before.)

Oh, and I think my training is paying off. I actually had a child say to me yesterday "Mom, my bottom itches. Can I go to the bathroom and stratch it?" Yeah! for politeness! Oh, and yes, I did then take the opportunity to tell said child that he/she does not need to ask the next time. Ahhh, the joys of motherhood. Sometimes they just make you so proud!

Monday mumblings

So I know I'm not alone in being ready for spring. Between facebook and blogs I'm sure I've read at least 20 times how people just can't wait. I'll join that bandwagon. I even pulled out the flip flops for MOPS this morning and had all the elderly women gasping and asking me if my toes were froze off. In all fairness to them it was 35 degrees outside and I was somewhat recognizing my foolishness when I stepped outside. However, at that point it was waaay too late to change shoes let alone put on socks. And in fairness to me the pants I was wearing really wouldn't have looked good with anything but my brown flip flops. For some reason vanity always wins over practicality for me. I've even been known to tell my kids not to wear their hats so that their hair doesn't get messed up--this is in the winter time mind you. You'd think age would cure some of that.

I'll also join the bandwagon of people that don't like daylight savings time (DST). Actually it's not DST that I'm opposed to. It is the changing of the clocks that I highly dislike. In my opinion, if DST is so great why don't we live on it year round? And, while I'm putting in my two sense worth, why not move it to Saturdays so I can at least enjoy sleeping in the one day of the year that my kids do. I've not adjusted to it yet, BTW. I was up until almost 11pm last night--wide awake and 5:15 came way to early--I was not wide awake then.

I felt like I needed to prepare myself better for Easter. We practice advent all December in preparation for Christmas, but I've never done anything for Easter. So I gave up something for lent....coffee. "Yikes! Coffee! Surely not, God!" is what I said when I felt led that direction. So I quit cold turkey on Ash Wednesday and was absolutely sick as a dog by Friday morning. So Joe let me out of my vow (check out your OT--it's allowed) and I've just significantly cut back. I'm down to one "normal" cup of coffee a morning and that's it for the day. You know all of you who have the gigantic mugs like I like are fooling yourselves when you tell the doctor during your check-up that you only drink one to two cups a day. Seriously, drinking out of those at least doubles your intake. Anyway, I'm definitely looking forward to Easter.

The batteries in my camera are dead and I need to see if I have some charged up. We had a big weekend with Grandpa and Grandma Horn--antler hunting and jewelry making and movie watching. Sadly--no pics to deliver. Must add that to my to do list...

Big Thursday coming up for Ashley--gets her hyrax (expander for her mouth) and her cast off all in the same day. Speaking of Ashley, we may have a special surpise for her birthday, but it's a secret. You'll have to wait right along with her.

Joe's home from work, supper needs cooked and so I will sign off for today.