You Did What?

Last night Kevin was working late so the boys and I went ahead and started eating dinner. As usual when Kevin gets home right in the middle of dinner, the boys stop eating and start talking to daddy. You would think the boys had not seen their dad in forever the way they attack him every night. So last night the conversation went like this:

Todd: Daddy, Kyle peeded on my head.

Kevin: What!? Kyle, that is disgusting. How did that happen, in the bath tub?

Kyle: No daddy. I did not pee on Todd, I peeded in my face.

Kev: (again) What?

Ky: I was at the potty going go pee pee and it was facing up and pee hit me in the face. It also hit Todd in the leg.

T: concurring with this...he apparently got it wrong about who got pee in the face

Kev: (laughing) Kyle, when that happens you have to try to push it down and aim for the toilet.

Ky: But daddy it was hard, and it hurt to push it down.

Kev: (laughing so hard he can hardly breathe) Well, you have to stand back from the potty and arc it in...

Really, is this what I have to put up with living in a house of boys. It was rather hysterical watching Kevin demonstrate and explain the mechanics of peeing when "it" is hard. I thought I was going to fall out of my chair laughing. Of course Kevin gets this duty as I have no clue about any of that boy stuff.

And....it finally happened to me. Some random "well I must say something" lady corrected my children on a supposed infraction with me not an arms distance away. Also last night, on the way home from picking the boys up from school I stopped at Fresh Market (the special grocery store according to the boys). I was looking for shallots. Why they are in the cool section away from all the other onions I have not a clue...does not seem like smart placement to me. Anyway, looking for the now impossible to find shallots, I am half distracted and keep telling the boys to stop it and don't touch. They, not more than an arms reach from me, go right up to the section where the lettuces are. Of course they reach up to touch them...according to Kyle he "wanted to touch the ice." Two little sections over 2 red peppers and a celery root roll of the shelf and fall to the floor. This random, I don't know who she thinks she is, lady looks at the boys and says..."I don't think that is the way to behave in the grocery store. You should not throw the vegetables." Ummm, excuse me. My kids did not even touch the peppers. I look right at her and tell her..."They did not touch the vegetables." She comes back with some lame comment and I again tell her...."they did not touch them." She proceeds to pick them up off the floor and put them back. About a minute later the celery root rolls off on the floor again. I did not see her any where in the store after that.

I told Kevin this last night and he was quite in awe of my restraint. My kids are not perfect. They misbehave and half the time do not listen. However, they will never willfully destroy any property. I know the kids did not touch or even mess with the peppers or celery root. Things fall off those shelves all the time since the grocery store powers that be seem to think the best way to display stacked fruits and veggies is on a slant. Really, a slant?

So, what I learned is that my kids will get blamed for things that they did not do in snotty, stuck up grocery stores for the mere fact that they are kids.

Poet? Nope. Scientist

Two mornings ago when I was driving the boys to school, the sky was a little overcast with long rows of grayish clouds. The sun was sitting just above the cloud level and was making the sky look pink. Kyle asks me, isnt that pretty. I ask what he is looking at and he replies the sky off to the right. So I look and agree, the sky does look really pretty. He then follows with how it looks like the sun is melting into the clouds. I am thinking...how sweet, he sounds like a poet. That lasted all of 15 seconds when he followed that comment up with how the clouds are cold and the sun is hot so the clouds must melt when that close to the sun, etc etc etc. Well, no poet but scientists are not too bad either.

Immersion Blenders

Are so very cool! Paige got me one for Christmas and I am so totally hooked on this thing. I decided tonight that I would finally use the thing...honestly I was a little intimidated by it at first. Anyway I made a really yummy roasted red pepper and tomato soup. I originally saw a recipe for roasted tomato soup by Tyler Florence but did not ever attempt it because he says use an immersion blender. Now I have all the pieces. Using his base recipe I added a few things and voila...really yummy soup. Even Kevin ate it and I do not think I ever see him eat soup unless he is sick.

First Post of the Year...Update

I admit, I am not as good at this blogging thing as I was hoping to be. I have a hard time being motivated to add new posts with any kind of consistency. I was going to do a year in review post but realized that everything I was going to mention has already been posted here at one time or another. I can say about the new year that I do hope my year is filled with more positive outcomes and less waiting for the other shoe to drop.

For now we are all doing well. Kevin is still employed and receiving a pay check. He is 10% down on pay but with a little finagling with his IRS contributions we have actually not seen a drop in his monthly take home pay (he was putting in way more money and taking no deductions). Unfortunately his company is still fighting for life. The economic woes are taking a massive toll on manufacturing and people are just not spending money to develop new projects. Honestly you cannot blame them when no one can sell the current products they have. Everyone still employed with Kevin is working overtime to try and get any job possible. I have not mentioned on here before but there is a very real possibility that his company could shut the door permanently. Should that happen we are being forced to look into not only moving from our home but completely out of our home state. Not many manufacturing jobs here in Florida, especially SW Fla. Guess that is what happens when the legislative powers that be would rather base our future on sales tax dollars from tourism (shuffling money around) versus creating products (creating money). I must say being married to Kevin has really opened my eyes to how important US manufacturing is. I have seen an email being circulated about a guy wondering why he cannot get a job but all his items are foreign made. Really think about it because that is a lot more accurate than you realize.

We did have a fabulous time over the holidays. Got to see all my family in Alabama over Thanksgiving. I feel so blessed to have such great extended family and love spending time with them. I do wish we could get together more often but I will take what I can get. I was also introduced to antique/flea markets. So very cool. I got a little chandelier for my entry way and I must say it looks awesome. Outside of seeing family going to these markets was the best part. Of course I could have killed Kevin when he let the boys try on a helmet at one of the stores and both kids had lice once we got home. So gross. First time for us. By the way, the special comb does not work...you have to pull all those microscopic nits out with your fingernails. Yuck. Here are some of my favorite pics from Alabama this year....

Waiting for the train

Kyle...so sweet

Playing football

Leaving Alabama Kevin and I decided we would go to the UF/FSU game. We go every year but we were considering not this year. Glad we did as I did not know at the time it would be the last Gator game I got to go to. Of course we were completely soaked as the rain just came down and down and down. It was so muddy and wet everywhere. Worth it though, for me at least. Kevin was not too sure.

Christmas we did our usual round robin so we could get time in with all family. We spent Christmas Eve with Kevin's family, Christmas morning at home with just the kiddos, Christmas afternoon and evening with my family, Friday and Saturday back with Kevin's family and then the boys and I went with my mom to the Keys on Sunday for the following week. As busy as this all is we decided that now would be the best time to try and refinance our house for a lower interest rate. Of course this meant that we needed to redo our entire living room and finish the entry way. Oh man. For the week leading up to Christmas all Kevin and I were doing was striping, painting, replacing and hanging. With all our Christmas stuff, including the decorated tree, in the middle of the room. Ugh. Whatever I was thinking I do not know...but our entry way and living room are gorgeous now. Yea! Had our appraisal done and it has come in lower than what we really needed so we will see how the bank wants to proceed. I know our refinance will go through but may take a little more effort.

Most of Kevin's family

Cousins with Uncle Michael

Kevin did get to join us in the Keys New Year's eve which was good. Although we stayed at the house and did a low key celebration this year I think we had a nice time. Poor mama got sick the night before she was supposed to leave. We had already gone home. Todd also got sick the same time mom did. The two of them picked up some stomach bug. Ick. I think mama was worse off then Todd but she is finally feeling better now.

So, now everyone is updated. I am hoping I will be able to update more frequently but do not hold your breathe...you just might turn blue.