Drum roll, please

For all of you patiently waiting for the big Halloween costume unveil, here goes:







That's right, a bottle of chocolate milk. It is Blake's favorite drink and one day I told him, "you drink so much chocolate milk, you're going to turn into chocolate milk." And, voila. Chocolate milk he became.

One large amazon.com box, several shades of acrylic paint, tin foil and paper towel rolls. Oh, and about 6 hours of mom's time....but I caught up on my Project Runway dvr recordings.

This picture was taken this morning at Kindermusik. It was the Halloween party and all the kids dressed up. There are only 3 boys, so we had darth vader, a knight and the chocolate milk. And about 1000 princesses, fairies, ballerinas- boring.

We are headed to OK for the weekend- sheldon's brother lives there. Then we'll be home for Halloween night. Trick or treating in the new neighborhood.

Oh, and as if the anticipation for the Halloween costume wasn't enough, just wait for what Blake has decided to say when people open the door. You don't think I'm going to post that today, do you?! No, you'll just have to read the next post to find out- hopefully I can get a video of him to upload.

What's new

Unfortunately life has been pretty normal here lately. That makes life just a bit boring for me. Actually it's not boring....I have been running all over town tackling house building chores that can only be tackled between the hours of 9am and 4pm. For some reason most of these places have these hours.

Oh, I did get to have two mom's nights out this week. Yes, 2! The first one was with girls from my neighborhood. Walked over to the mexican place across the pond from us. We had a good time, although I come home to a house that's a TOTAL (yes, TOTAL, not just partial) disaster. Apparently my husband is blind and cannot see that a bomb exploded in Blake's bedroom, the living room, the kitchen, the laundry room. I was so mad! The next day I went to get my hair cut and I was complaining to my stylist and she said, "honey, nights out for a mom are never free." Amen, sister.

Last night I got another dinner out with different friends. I posted this on FB, but it bears repeating: thank goodness one group of my friends doesn't know the other group. This way I get to go out again! Fun night and because of the trouble in which he found himself earlier in the week, the house was mostly clean when I came home last night.

Finished Blake's costume for halloween. He still insists on wearing that Anakin costume I made, only some days it's Anakin and some days it's Obi Wan. He's a little obsessed and has never even seen any of the movies. Just one or two episodes of the Clone Wars on TV and every single Star Wars book in the Johnson County library system. Still can't tell you the costume.....don't worry though, you'll see it soon enough. Yep, it's that good. :) jk

No good Blake-isms this week. Don't worry though, he'll come through soon. Have a nice week.

The many faces of Blake

So Blake loves to dress up in costumes and pretend he is a character (he's a character, believe me). His latest costumes include Spiderman, Flash Gordon, Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker.

The good news is, I'm getting really good at sewing. He likes costumes too much for me to go out and buy the 'flavor of the week,' and his tastes are changing just about weekly. I did buy the spiderman suit because I figured it would cost just as much in material as it would to buy. I made the Flash costume- thank you stitch witchery and red shirt and sweat pants we already owned. I told Blake he could be Dark Thader (aka: Darth Vader), but all I was buying was the mask and the red light saber. I bought some cheap poly-blend fabric and made the costume. I was really proud of myself- I had never done a long sleeve and I must admit this came out really great.

The latest is Anakin Skywalker. I convinced him that Anakin wears black pants and shirt too, just like Darth Vader (since they are the same person after all. BTW- Anakin doesn't wear black, fyi). This got me off the hook for making another shirt and pants, just changed the cape and the light saber. Oh, and I found these totally pimpy looking cowboy boots at a garage sale. While I was living in NM, I'm sure I saw these on some vato at the state fair. Anyway, he loves them and they work for brown boots with the Anakin costume.

I did forget to mention that he wears these costumes everywhere. To school, music class, cooking class, the store, the library, everywhere. Oh, and nobody knows who Anakin Skywalker is, so that is why we had to make the mask- props to Sheldon. If you ask me, it just looks like Sheldon with brown hair.

Hold your breath, the Halloween costume is forthcoming. Prepare to be dazzled, that's all I can say.

The many faces of Blake

So Blake loves to dress up in costumes and pretend he is a character (he's a character, believe me). His latest costumes include Spiderman, Flash Gordon, Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker.

The good news is, I'm getting really good at sewing. He likes costumes too much for me to go out and buy the 'flavor of the week,' and his tastes are changing just about weekly. I did buy the spiderman suit because I figured it would cost just as much in material as it would to buy. I made the Flash costume- thank you stitch witchery and red shirt and sweat pants we already owned. I told Blake he could be Dark Thader (aka: Darth Vader), but all I was buying was the mask and the red light saber. I bought some cheap poly-blend fabric and made the costume. I was really proud of myself- I had never done a long sleeve and I must admit this came out really great.

The latest is Anakin Skywalker. I convinced him that Anakin wears black pants and shirt too, just like Darth Vader (since they are the same person after all. BTW- Anakin doesn't wear black, fyi). This got me off the hook for making another shirt and pants, just changed the cape and the light saber. Oh, and I found these totally pimpy looking cowboy boots at a garage sale. While I was living in NM, I'm sure I saw these on some vato at the state fair. Anyway, he loves them and they work for brown boots with the Anakin costume.

I did forget to mention that he wears these costumes everywhere. To school, music class, cooking class, the store, the library, everywhere. Oh, and nobody knows who Anakin Skywalker is, so that is why we had to make the mask- props to Sheldon. If you ask me, it just looks like Sheldon with brown hair.

Hold your breath, the Halloween costume is forthcoming. Prepare to be dazzled, that's all I can say.

Latest Blake-isms

Wanted to keep you up to date on some of the wonderful and wacky things spewing out of my little darling's mouth lately.

"Mommy, my elbows hurt. I think it's because I haven't pooped today."

Yelling at me from upstairs..."Mom, would you please mind coming up here?"

When we got a Clone Wars tattoo from McD's (the character was Cad Bane- whoever that is)...."Mommy, I assume this guy is bad because he has sharp teeth." I assume? What 3 year old says that?!

"When I get to be a grown up, I'll get to have a baby in my tummy."

"when I get to be a daddy, then I'll be the boss and I can eat sugar all the time."

"Mommy, I think I just wanted to start walking, that's why I got poop on the floor."

Trip to the Q

Last week we were in ABQ to visit my mom for a few days and then Sheldon joined us and we visited his family for a few days.

The ride with Blake on the airplane was mostly uneventful. A few trips to the bathroom, a few cups of apple juice and lots and lots of pulling on the tray table. I had to keep reminding him that there was someone in that seat and that every time he pulled the table down, he was bothering her. Ok, I'll admit I was saying this mostly so she would hear me and realize I was trying to get him to stop.

Once at my mom's, I was put to work. Cleaning out the shed- ok, it was mostly my stuff that had been in storage for the last 20 years, but hey, I still had to clean it. She liquidated my brother's stuff a couple years ago and now it was my turn. I assumed there was no way I had as much stuff as Tim....he is a serious pack rat. Well, turns out I had a ton of boxes too. Stuffed animals, dolls, Barbie toys, t-shirts. Ooh, I did find all my old strawberry shortcake dolls though- even had the strawberry house/carrying case. Some of them even still smelled like they used to. With every box I unpacked, Blake found more and more junk he "had" to have. We came to ABQ with 2 carry on suitcases (yes, I packed us for a week in 2 carry-ons, thank you very much). Well as he's picking out stuffed animals and other random junk I just keep thinking "how are we going to get all this home?"

In the last box we opened, I found the infamous camp letters. For those of you who don't know this about me, when I was about 10 years old I was a girl scout. I sold and sold and sold cookies like crazy to get a campership to go to camp. Well, once I got there, it was a DISASTER!!!! Hands down one of the worst times of my life. Ok, so while other girls were spending their extra money on candy and film, I was going to the trading post everyday to buy paper and stamps to write letters home. I wrote a letter home EVERYDAY!!! After all these years, I can still remember writing them and knew exactly what was in those letters. The funniest one we found was one addressed "Dear Mom and Ivan," (Ivan was my pet gerbil). My mom saved all the letters all these years and even made copies for Tim- reason being is that while I was sending these letters home everyday, Tim was sending these page long ramblings about how "fantastic" his camp was. Ok, she will be mad at me at this point if I don't tell you all how she actually called the camp to see what she should do. They told her I would be fine and that it was no big deal. No big deal?!? Still will not camp to this day.

That was the shed experience. Blake was "not so good" (these are his words) while we were at grandma's house. I don't know why he acts out when we're there, but I think it's because he's not getting 100% of my attention 100% of the time. Once we got to Shane's house he was much better, because he was surrounded by his cousins who don't mind listening to him tell crazy stories over, and over and over and they will play, read, feed, bathe, etc him and he gets all their attention. Oh well, at least I got a break and was able to visit some friends.

The trouble with a thinker

Blake has been getting up way too early and then coming in and waking us up. I researched these "stay asleep" clocks on the internet and decided on one with a monkey. You can set him to go to sleep with the child and not wake up until a designated time. You tell your child they can't be up until the monkey wakes up. We have named the monkey "mo mo."

Mo mo arrived in the mail and I was really hyping him up and thought Blake was on board with the idea of not getting up until mo mo's eyes are open (that's when the child knows that it's OK to get up. I set him to wake up at 7:30, which seems reasonable, right? Wrong.

The next morning, Blake comes barging into our room at like 6:45 saying, "there's something wrong with Mo mo. He won't wake up!" Sheldon explained to him that he won't wake up until a little later and that Blake needs to go back to bed and wait for Mo mo. Didn't work. Blake said, "no, I'm awake and Momo needs to be up too because I'm ready for him to be up."

We tried this again the following night...put Momo to bed, closed his eyes, told Blake he can't be awake until Momo wakes up. blah blah.

Next morning.....6:45. "Mommy, Momo won't wake up. It's morning and he's still asleep. Make him wake up."

So the way I see it, he is too smart for this clock. Ain't nobody, including a monkey, gonna tell him when it's time to get up.

Oh, and the thing was like $35. Yeah, $35 for a monkey clock! But now I can't return it (even though the point is lost on my child and I wouldn't really ever spend $35 on a clock for him anyway) because they're "friends."

More Blake-isms for you:
Blake-"Hey smelly, it's time to get up."
Me- "Are you calling me smelly?"
Blake- "No, I'm calling Dad smelly. Smelly, it's time to get up!"

Blake (to grandma) "we saw Desperaux. It was really depressing."



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Latest on the house

Ok, so the latest on the house is that you don't even wanna get me started on the latest with the house....unless you have either a) like two hours of your life to waste on the the ridiculous-ness of the situation or b) a psychiatry/psychology degree and want to earn some money for a therapy session or c) have a law degree and want to dish out free legal advice, because we're racking up the charges on the not-free legal advice.

They found rock on our property during the dig, went ahead and drew the funds out of our mortgage and didn't tell us till 6 weeks later. Now they want their money and have pulled all crews off the job until we sign and pay. Not going to happen right now.

There, now you're up to speed. That was easy.

Porta potty antics

We were over at the new house today checking on things when Blake announced that he had to go poop and couldn't wait till we got home. He also told us that there was a perfectly fine potty right outside that he could go use and didn't need any help. Since I am the one who has to take Blake to the bathroom 98.7% of the time, I looked at Sheldon and told him it was his turn.

They returned a few minutes later and Sheldon was still laughing. Blake went in the porta potty and closed the door. When Sheldon opened the door to check on him, he found Blake with his pants down hanging onto the hinges at the top of the inside of the door. He swung the door open and Blake came along for the ride, tushy hanging out. They were both laughing so hard when they were telling me about it. I was sad I missed this trip to the potty, but I'd never admit that to Sheldon.

Second babysitter story

No, we do not hire babysitters all the time, it just seems like those make the best stories.

Today we had to go finalize our cabinet selections for the new place and knowing this was important (and knowing that last time we went with Blake our appointment time was virtually wasted because I was cleaning up kid messes, etc) I decided to hire a babysitter. Not the babysitter from yesterday....the babysitter from down the street- the one Blake called fat last time she was here, yes she actually came back.

I asked her to take him to the park and then figured they play a little and watch a bit of TV. The TV is what happened last time....we came home and the TV was on and they had watched 2 movies. This made me totally mad because I don't pay a babysitter to watch TV, but then my friend Adele pointed out that for $5/hour (we pay all our other sitters twice that much) who really cares what goes on as long as your kid is safe and your house is still standing when you get home. Point taken. So at least our house was still standing today and Blake was OK. No park, 4 hours worth of TV. Not great, but at least he didn't call her fat today. progress.

The bad text from the babysitter

Yesterday, after months of delayed, re-scheduled hair appointments, I finally made it in to get my hair cut/colored...you mean it's not natural? :)

I hired a babysitter. She came at about 1:30. I was out of the house by 1:45, enough time to get a venti passion tea at starbucks before settling in to the hair dresser's chair at my 2:15 appointment.

2:05 the text you don't want to get. "I guess we're not going to the library. Blake's throwing things at me and I can't get him to stop. Tried timeouts and nothing is working. What should I do?" WHAT?!?! Now granted, this is the behavior I live through everyday, but never actually expected it out of him with a babysitter he really likes. I texted back and told her to put him in his room and leave him there until he stopped. Didn't work, he was still being bad.

Knowing how terrible this behavior is everyday of my life with this child, I certainly didn't wish that on anyone, so I told her that I would just get a hair cut and no color and come home immediately. Now this could have gone one of two ways: possibility 1: "no, don't come home, I'll handle it." Possibility 2 (and what really happened) "well, I would hate for you to have to come home, but..." As I said, I realize how it feels to be stuck with that and so I had no choice but to leave my haircut and go home and rescue the babysitter.

I am totally exasperated with this kid's behavior. Just ask my husband. I have tried everything I can think of...yelling, spanking, you name it. If he knew how to flip me off, that's what he'd be doing. I finally tried a new technique though. Locking MYSELF in my room. Golden. Basically all he wants is my attention 24/7, so taking myself away from him was the worst thing I could have done to him. I stayed in there for almost an hour with him knocking/crying/begging me to let him in. Priceless- noisy and annoying, but priceless.

Scarf in the winter

My newest craft is knitting. My first project was a scarf which was quickly hijacked by Blake. He has a little snoopy stuffed animal wearing a scarf and a hat and Blake wanted to look like snoopy, so he asked me to make him a scarf. Snoopy's scarf has two little Christmas trees on it, so once I finished the scarf we had to go to JoAnn fabric to buy felt for the Christmas trees.

Now, Blake has a mind of his own and getting him to get dressed is a daily challenge, so when he puts something on by himself, I usually just let him wear it. Today it was green fleece pants with a black tee shirt and his scarf. Oh yeah, the temperature today is over 100. Everyone kept looking at him and me through JoAnn fabric- you know, the condescending "you're a bad mother for letting him wear that in this heat" look. A few laughed. I didn't really care. We were at the cash register when the cashier asked if that was his security blanket and if he wore it everyday. When I told her no and that he just wanted to be like his snoopy doll she looked at me like I was from outer space.

On we went to Target. Oh, back up one purchase. A blue knit cap from the dollar bin at JoAnn fabric. Snoopy has a cap on too, so we had to have it. Ok, back to Tartet. Now picture a 3 year old child, on the hottest day of the year, wearing fleece pants, black tee shirt, green scarf and a blue knit cap over one ear and not over the other ear- pulled down over his hair but still sticking up on top. I, on the other hand was in shorts and a tank top. I got even more strange looks at Target. I can't decide if they thought I was a bad mother or if he was how we shall say "mentally challenged." I, myself was not entirely sure today. :)

Daily Blake

Today was just your average day of fighting with the builder over bills and prices and outlets and everything else. I swear I have spent more time at that house than I have at the one we are living in. Oh, and it's like 100 degrees and it's has no AC.

After bribing Blake with McDonalds, we went BACK over there to talk to the electricians. While I was in the house, Blake decided it might be a good idea to LEAVE the house and wander out in to the street! I chased him down and as a lady was driving by giving me the "who lets their child do that?" look, I had to explain to him why it was not a good choice.

Mom of the year award goes to......NOT ME! :)

Now it's time for your daily Blake-ism.
I was telling Sheldon about a dream I had in which Blake had chicken pox. Blake, always listening even when he's not listening, said, "mom, what are chicken pox? Are they like shrimp?!"

Daily Blake-ism

Ok, Ok, so I know I said I would post stuff that happens to us, but it's so late tonight and I really just wanted to write the funny stuff down before I went to bed and forgot it.

Blake-isms for today:
"Mommy, how did those poop bugs get on our porch? Did they fly or crawl?" fyi- a poop bug is the carcass of a locust. Apparently to a 3 year old, they look like poop.

What movie did we see today? "The Spiderwick Chronticles. It was really a cute film."
(yes, chronTicles)

After the movie...."Mommy, I shared my tweezers with Grammie." We had twizzlers.

Me: "If you don't go brush your teeth, you won't get stickers on your chore chart." Blake: "I don't really want stickers on my chart today."
Me: "Ok, then your Prince Naveen doll can go back to staying in my closet (taken away)."
Blake: up the stairs faster than you can picture a child running. Gotta love hitting 'em where it hurts. I'm not above it.

More tomorrow, I'm sure.

Blake-isms for the day

"mommy, why don't you have a weenie?"

"momma, can I be awake?" this one is yelled at the top of his lungs first thing in the morning

Best one of the day:
we were out on a walk with the dog this morning....
"mommy, why does Lila pee out of her bottom?!"

It's Blake's world. He just lets us live here.: Bad day, worse day

It's Blake's world. He just lets us live here.: Bad day, worse day

Bad day, worse day

Plumbing is still not fixed. Monday the plumber came to fix the hall bathroom sink and tub. After he was already gone, having fixed both problems, I went to the master bathroom. It was covered in water. The fix job in the hall bathroom (mind you, these are 40 year old pipes) caused the pipes under the master sink to burst. After waiting at home ALL day for the plumber (and having to pay extra for Blake to stay at camp late), I had to wait for another plumber to come back out. It was now 8pm.

When the plumber called my landlord to tell her how much it would be to repair, she said, "that's too much...I'll have my husband do it." Oh, BTW- he's out of town! So we have now been brushing our teeth, washing our hands, shaving, etc. out of either the shower or kitchen sink.

Day two of this was just as much fun as day one, only we got a bill from our builder for $13,000 for work they did and never told us about 2 MONTHS AGO!!!!! Really?!?!?!
I have only seen Sheldon really mad about 4-5 times in 9 years and this was definitely one of them. He was livid. Blake was terrible all day and ended up going to bed without dinner.

Day three of no water in the sinks....Sheldon, the calm, cool, collected guy was on the phone literally yelling at the builders. I couldn't believe it! Still waiting to see what tomorrow brings.

New babysitter fiasco

Saturday evening we wanted to go out to a movie and quick dinner. Our usual babysitter was unavailable, so I called the girl down the street. She is about 15 years old and told me she only charged $5/hr. This was great because the going rate around here is $10/hr/child. Don't even get me started on how much I made when I was a babysitter.

All was well with dinner and the movie. On our way home, we stopped at Wendy's and brought ice cream home for everyone. I was a little annoyed because when we left, the TV was off. When I got home they were watching movies (and once I turned the movie off, the Disney Channel was on). Now, this gal had to figure out three separate remote controls just to get the DVD player working. Oh, not to mention the fact that I'm paying you to PLAY with my kid. I can park him in front of the TV for free.

Anyway, the next morning Blake tells me "mom, some people are just fat." I said "really? where did you hear that?" Then he says, "______ (baby sitter's name- omitted in case anyone on my street is reading this) is fat." I asked him if he told her that. "yep." OMG! I was so embarrassed- at first I was upset with him, but then I had a hard time not laughing, so I had to just leave the room. When I got it back together, I told him all about why we don't do that, blah, blah.

so now I have this dilema.....do I say anything about it to the girl and/or her mom. Or, do I just leave it alone and chalk it up to the kid being 3 and not knowing fat isn't really a great thing to call people. I don't want her to think we called her fat to him. Oh, and on top of it, then we bring her ice cream?!?!

Well, at least the movie was good. "Cyrus," with John C. Riley, Marissa Tomei, Jonah Hill.

Finally!!!!

Ok, Ok, so I realize that it has been a year and a half- ok almost 2 years- since I kept up with this blog. I have several friends who have stayed up with theirs religiously and now have a good way to document their child's progress. not me.
I'll just have to rely on the old memory- that should last a couple weeks! :)

I will do my best to post photos, videos, funny Blake-isms here on the blog starting again now.

Enjoy