Noah and the Mouse

It's been really quiet since Austin and Connor went back to school and my productivity level has once again increased to pre-summer vacation levels. I find that it's easiest to do my housework upstairs while Noah is awake and then type downstairs while he's sleeping. Occasionally he joins me downstairs while I try to get some extra work done.

Today he discovered a new playland - under mommy's desk! What fun! All the cords to pull on, some getting more of a reaction out of mom than others.....I knew he was close when I felt his little hand on my foot and noticed he loved watching my foot go up and down on the foot pedal. Then, just as I went to reach for my mouse......it disappeared over the back of my keyboard shelf! My stern "authority voice" saying, "No, no Noah" only seemed to make him enjoy it even more.

So, I redirected him with some of his brother's toys, and this worked, for about 10 minutes. Now I must go as I see he is attempting the stairs! Remind me again.... the work will be there tomorrow!! :)

She Came...She Saw....

So you're probably all wondering why it's taken me so long to post. It's taken me awhile to recover from my mom's visit......JUST KIDDING MOM!!

She came, she saw.....she did a TON of laundry! We agreed that my laundry does a little "bow chicka bow bow" in the dark because it multiplies at an amazing rate! But seriously, we had a good time. Noah managed to wait to crawl until the day Nommie arrived and continued to delight her the entire week she was here.

Austin and Connor also got lots of laughs and snuggles from their Nommie. (See the picture below for proof of how silly we get when Nommie's around....just kidding again, we're always that silly!)

We shipped her out on Saturday and by Sunday I missed her terribly, I had at least 3 loads of laundry to do!! JUST KIDDING MOM!! Apparently it's a genetic thing. When her mom (my grandma) visits her she does laundry. When my mom visited me....yup laundry. So, someday when my kids have a place of their own - they can do their own damn laundry! I'll have done it for 18 years!!

White Glove Inspection

When I was little my grandparents traveled from Michigan out to Montana once a year in the summer or fall to visit us. While we were all excited to see them each year, we dreaded the frantic state that my mom would go into about a week before their arrival. Let me just say that my mom keeps a pretty clean house and always has. However, prior to my grandmother (her mother) coming to visit, she went into full-blown cleaning-Nazi mode, which wasn't pretty. I vowed that I would never do this. I lied.

My mother will be here tomorrow morning. I started my "To Do" list a week ago and have been slowly but surely checking things off, things like tidying up the garage. I know, just as my mother knew back then, that she isn't coming to conduct a white glove inspection. She's coming to spoil her grandchildren rotten. She's also coming to help me get my laundry caught up, keep the dishwasher loaded and get my kids squared away before school begins next week. But I'm on to her sneaky little scheme. I've been doing laundry faithfully every day this week. My counters are immaculate. And all the school shopping is done!

Isn't it ironic? She knows I don't keep house like that all year, just as her mother knew, but we can't stop ourselves from doing it? My friend Cassie says that a messy house means a happy family - we are an ecstatic family - but for one week twice a year, we will be a little less happy and a lot more tidy!

The Trough

Plates were invented to keep your food off the table, right? So why is it after any meal I find a large portion of food on the table? Because children are like little piglets rooting around their plates, that's why! Instead of calling my children to dinner (or breakfast or lunch) like a "normal" person, from now on I'm just going to say "Soueee, soueee little piggies!" Perhaps I'll even replace my dinner table with a trough as I'm sure they'll still eat out of it and that should keep the mess to a minimum! :)