Life On Our Funny Farm

Fun Shopping Lists!

2010-03-18T08:14:00.001-07:00

Okay, I'm a little sleepy this morning. We were up a lot last night with Drew and his croupy cough. He's wide awake this morning, though!

So, in my attempt to stay awake, I hopped online and came across a link to some really useful lists! Money Saving Mom has a ton of great shopping list forms for everything from simple shopping trips, to preparing your menu for once a month cooking, to creating a price book for keeping track of the regular price of the items you buy the most at the grocery stores in your area. (Plus the lists are cute...always important in my life!) :)

Pirates

2010-03-16T20:58:00.000-07:00

A conversation in the car this afternoon:

Drew--"Mommy, where are pirates at?"

Me--"Usually far out in the ocean...."

Drew--"I need you to take Isaac and I there so we can fight them, but first I need to be old enough to buy a sword and I need money to buy a cannon."

Me--"Hmmmmm....."

Jail Breakers

2010-03-16T19:22:00.000-07:00

Today the boys and I went to MOPS church for a meeting. (Yes, we refer to places by what we do there....MOPS church, BSF church and Journey church--which is it's actual name!) :) All the kids were together in the nursery to play while the mommies had their meeting. The nursery is, of course, a very secure room and is carefully watched by a very skilled nursery worker of 11 years!

So, anyways, that being said, I had lots of fun at my meeting. I hung around afterwards for a bit to talk with my friends, and of course, procrastinate a bit before my kid-less time was over. As I was walking down the hall to pick up the boys, I found the boys already in the hall playing around. Okay, weird. Also, Caleb, who is in the process of potty-training, was soaked from the waist down. I wasn't mad, just curious about how they got there. We went back into the nursery to find some dry clothes for Caleb and I mentioned to the nursery worker that I found my kids out in the hall. She was shocked! I know my boys well, so in NO WAY whatsoever was I angry with her! She said that in 11 years she has NEVER had a child escape! So "proud" that I have her first two escapees!

This is a pic from the only time of day when they truly are innocent! ;)

Reason #6243 to Hate McD's Playland!

2010-03-14T21:22:00.000-07:00

Drew just turned 5 last week! (How did that happen?!) We had a meeting that morning and Chris had to work until late, so I decided to invite a bunch of our friends to McDonald's for lunch and fun in the "PlayPlace". All was good and fun, with only a minor argument over who got to sit in the "King's" chair...the birthday boy, of course. The bigger kids were helping the little ones get up into the playplace and at some point Caleb made it up to the top...only the 2nd time he's been up there and outcome not so good that first time! (Didn't know Chris could fit up into that thing to chase after Caleb until that day!)

Well, lunch was coming to an end and everyone was slowly leaving to get home for naptimes and stuff. I gave Drew and Caleb the "5 minute" warning and gathered our stuff together. Everyone else was gone and I continued to call up to my "always obedient" boys that it was time to come down so we could go. 5 minutes went by, 10, 15, 20....I could not get Caleb to come down. I finally decided that my only hope of leaving McDonalds that day was to climb up and meet Caleb on one of his trips around the tunnels. I waited for my moment to attack and grab him. I attacked, grabbed, wrestled, attempted to reason, all while sitting up in the top of the tower in the playplace.

Oh, wait, let's take a step back...the play area was NOT empty. Several families were there enjoying lunch with their kids that were not refusing to come out of the playplace. After one of my many attempts to call up to Caleb to get him to come down, Drew calls out to me...."Mommmmeeeeeee, Caleb's poopy!" (Oh, doesn't that just bring music to every parent's ears!)

Okay, so back to the top of the tower. I decide to peek into Caleb's diaper just to see the extent of his "poopyness". Somehow, in his wrestling to get free from me, he wiggled out of his pants. Now my poopy child is only wearing a diaper. I begin to drag him down each level of the tower, with him screaming and kicking the whole way. (And he's not one of those skinny, lightweight kids that 4'11" moms should have either!)

We FINALLY make it down the tower. While I'm trying to catch my breath, Caleb wiggles free, takes off and climbs up the slide! What?!

I take some deep breaths, sit down, want to die and suddenly see him come down the slide a little bit. I run to stand guard next to the slide and grab him when he makes it down far enough (he was sliding down a little and then climbing back up again). Finally I get a hold of him. He's grabbing at my hair, my face, my earrings, hitting me, crying, kicking. I try to wrestle his shoes on him, gather all our "luggage", make NO eye contact with anyone else in the restaurant, and get us out to the car as fast as possible.

Oh, life is exciting! :)

Nummm, Nummms!

2010-03-14T21:12:00.000-07:00

Caleb is a boy of few words. He has "Childhood Apraxia" which causes him to have trouble with mimicking words and sounds. He has, however, perfected the word "Nummm, Nummms!" (aka, food/candy). He's had a runny nose the past couple weeks, and I was once again trying to clean it off. As he tried to dodge my kleenex, he said "Nummm, Nummms!" Oh, no! Those are NOT "Nummmm, Nummmms!"

So a little while later, he came into the bathroom try to blow his nose himself. He grabbed a kleenex and kept sniffing and picking at his nose. I finally realized that something must really be bugging him so I tried to help him out. I told him to blow really hard, he did, and to my surprise, a couple of dried split peas came out inside the kleenex! Somehow, in the process of "cleaning" up the dried peas & beans from their sensory table, a few of those peas just "happened" to make it up his nose. Guess there really are "Nummm, Nummms" up there! :)

I'm Back!

2010-03-14T18:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm back! I think I quickly burned out once I jumped into the blogging thing, but I have a new perspective now...to create a place to collect all the funny stories of life with Drew & Caleb...the ones that really create our Funny Farm!

Change, Change, Change!

2009-05-16T22:37:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I loved my first blog background, but then I found another cute one....so I had to change! This need for change, I think, affects lots of aspects of my life...I constantly flip flop from one project to another (unfortunately without finishing the project first), I am constantly looking at new paint colors to paint my house (fortunately for my husband, we have no money to buy paint, so he's off the hook for having to constantly repaint the house!), and I constantly have really great ideas that I want to try, but don't usually have the time (with 2 crazy boys) to use those ideas! Well, at least with this blog I hope to keep a record of all those great ideas I find and one day, when my kiddos go off to school during the day, I might get a chance to try them out! (But no need to rush that...I am blessed with the chance to stay at home and chase those little guys around each day!) :)

I'm Turning Green!

2009-05-03T22:39:00.000-07:00

I was NOT brought up to be a "tree hugger" (that term alone is evidence!), but, despite what my house looks like with two little boys who feel that every toy they own should end up on the floor, I really hate clutter! I'm really starting to notice the amount of "clutter" we have building up, with all the stuff we bought and used once or twice (or not at all) and all the stuff we throw away each day (like multiple plastic baggies for the snacks the boys feel they must have each time we get into the car--apparently car rides and snacks are required to go together!).

I love my cute new reusable grocery bags from Albertsons and am really trying to remember to bring them with me each time I shop (I'm getting better at it!). I'm also loving that my grocery bag stash is dwindling (and maybe sometime soon I won't really need them anymore, when we finally stop using diapers!). :)

In my blog reading today (I needed some stress relief...my boys are both sick), I found some really cute "reusable" items I plan to make to maybe cut back on some more of our waste. (Oh, and I found another new blog I absolutely love -- http://makeitandloveit.blogspot.com/

I've seen these before, but they're always made of such cheesey fabric prints. I can handle one of these made out of super cute fabric like this! You can find this plastic grocery bag holder and the directions for making it at Make It and Love It's blog.

My other finding was these super cute Snack Bags by Boogaboobabies.com. This would definitely cut down on all those baggies laying on the floor and shoved under the seats in my van!

And, speaking of all that trash all over the floor in my car, look at this cute little Trash Bag, also from Make It and Love It!

Okay, must go to bed now! Good night! :)

Okay, I'm Back!

2009-04-30T15:08:00.000-07:00

I didn't mean to fall off the planet for 3 weeks! We just got back from a wonderfully hectic week in Seattle--our first family vacation EVER with the 4 of us! We did almost everything you can do in a week, while commuting up and down the Sound! We drove 1,500 miles in those 7 days! The boys did awesome!

I'll post more pics about the trip, as well as the quilt/tablerunner I rushed to make during the trip and finished when I got back. It turned out so cute! It's going to be auctioned off at our annual auction for our MOPS group at Spokane Valley Nazarene Church. Everyone is invited to attend, enjoy yummy food, and get some great items, while supporting our MOPS group and other ministries at the church. It's this Saturday from 5-8 p.m.

As soon as I get my house back to some sort of order again, I'll get busy on blogging! See you soon!

Cathy :)

Resurrection Eggs

2009-04-09T14:32:00.000-07:00

I have been doing some homeschooling with Drew for Preschool and wanted to teach him more about Easter. I decided to make some Resurrection Eggs to help tell him the story of Easter with a hands-on approach. Instead of putting the eggs in an egg carton, I found a branch from the tree we just cut down in the backyard and created an "Egg Tree."

Resurrection Eggs

by Martha Matthews

Teach your children the story of Christ’s Resurrection with your own homemade "Resurrection Eggs".  

Purchase 12 small plastic Easter eggs in different colors. These should be the kind that you can fill and are the right size to fit into an egg carton. Number them 1 through 12.  Save one egg carton from the grocery store for storage.  Into each egg place an item along with the message and scripture reference written on a small piece of paper (see list below).  

Starting twelve days before Easter Sunday open one egg per day starting with egg number one. Look at the enclosed object. Read the message and scripture. Discuss it with your children. Leave each egg open, showing its contents. On the last day the egg is empty, just like Jesus' tomb!   

Egg Number 1  

Message: Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. The people waved palm branches. 

Passage: Matthew 21:1-11. 

Item: A small plastic leaf or a piece of a palm branch. 

Egg Number 2  

Message: Mary poured expensive perfume on Jesus' feet. 

Passage: John 12:2-8. 

Item: Small perfume sample, a piece of cloth or a piece of cotton with perfume on it. 

Egg Number 3  

Message: Jesus ate the Last Supper with His disciples. 

Passage: Matthew 26:17-19. 

Item: A small piece of cracker to represent the passover bread.  

Egg Number 4  

Message: Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.  

Passage: Matthew 27:3. 

Item: A dime or plastic “silver” money.  

Egg Number 5  

Message: Jesus carried His cross. 

Passage: John 19:17. 

Item: A Popsicle stick that is cut and glued in the form of a cross or a small plastic cross from a necklace.  

Egg Number 6  

Message: Soldiers placed a crown of thorns on Jesus' head. 

Passage: John 19:2. 

Item: A small thorny branch or a single large thorn. 

Egg Number 7  

Message: Soldiers parted Jesus' garments and cast lots for His coat. 

Passage: John 19:23. 

Item: Miniature dice.

Egg Number 8  

Message: Jesus was nailed to a cross and pierced in His side. 

Passage: John 19:18,37 and John 20:25-29. 

Item: A nail.  

Egg Number 9  

Message: They gave Jesus vinegar mixed with gall on a sponge to drink. 

Passage: Matthew 27:34. 

Item: A small piece of sponge.

Egg Number 10  

Message: Spices to prepare Jesus for burial. 

Passage: John 19:40. 

Item: a few whole cloves or other whole spices. 

Egg Number 11  

Message: The stone covering Jesus' tomb was rolled away. 

Passage: John 20:1. 

Item: A small rock. 

Egg Number 12  

Message: The tomb is empty. He has risen! 
Passage: Luke 24:6. 
Item: None.
I found this at: http://www.christian-homemaking.com/resurrectioneggs.htm

Wow! I have a blog?!

2009-04-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I never thought I'd have my own blog. I have gotten so addicted to reading everyone else's blogs, though, that I thought it must be time to start my own. There are so many things going on in my life right now, that my hope is to use this blog to sort my ideas (and future project ideas), share things I've learned in everything from my relationship with Christ to great ways to save money, and, of course, show off my cute little boys!

But, first things first...time to go play "Hi Ho Cherry-O" with Cutie #1! :)

Cathy :)