Did that just happen?

I don't think I can adequately describe the horror my girls and I witnessed in my backyard a few hours ago. There is a running list of things that paralyze me with fear...snakes, sharks, crocodiles, bridges.....and somewhere near the top are spiders and wasps.

Today, I was out laying by the side of the pool while my girls were swimming. I was completely relaxed until I heard Taylor scream, "Mom, what is that?" as she pointed at the flower bush near me. I turned my head to check it out. Was it a bird or a cat making all of that rustling noise in there? no, IT WAS A FREAKING TARANTULA! It came scurrying out of the bush as fast as it could trying to escape from what looked like a black wasp with bright orange wings.

My neighbors probably called 9-1-1 after hearing the high pitched screams coming from our backyard as we all booked it into the house with record speed. We watched through the sliding glass door as this "black wasp" stung the tarantula and killed it. It then dragged the tarantula about 5 feet across the grass and back into the flower bush. WHAT?! I had never seen such a strange looking wasp let alone one that could drag a huge spider across my yard. My poor girls were mortified and probably even more so as they found their mom on the floor crying in fetal position. Just kidding, but I won't lie, I was hyperventilating and very jumpy. I had never seen such a crazy looking wasp let alone one that could drag a spider three times it size across my yard.

I was so freaked out that I had to google "wasp with orange wings". It turns out I have a "tarantula hawk" living in my flower bush. They are wasps that paralyze large spiders with their sting and then they drag them back to their home to bury them in the dirt for their larvae to eat. Oh, by the way, the spider doesn't die, it's just paralyzed as the little baby wasps are eating it. WHAT?!! I have a paralyzed tarantula buried in my back yard with little baby paralyzing wasps feeding off of it. Anyone want to come over for a swim?

A gift from the heart

Recently, to my chagrin, Sheldon acquired a '68 Ford pickup truck. Yes, he still has the red mustang. (We won't go there) This "new" truck does not have A/C and Taylor has been worried about him. Her specific complaint was, "He will suffer from heat exhaustion!" I jokingly made the comment to Sheldon that Taylor had a military cooling neckband that he could wet and wrap around his neck when he drives the truck. Taylor did not like my comment because if anyone knows Taylor, she is not particularly fond of sharing. (As a side note, Taylor got the band from a military dad during career week at school)

This morning, Taylor knocked on our bedroom door bearing a gift for Sheldon wrapped in a red plastic cup with a note on top covering the contents of the cup. Here is what the note read:

Taylor had lovingly decided to gift her neck band to Sheldon, but her generosity had a "limit". He had to still let her use it and also needed to give her 20 bucks for it! What happened to the days when the girl got excited over a handful of pennies? Oh well,what can we expect from a girl whose dad used to make kids at recess pay him or give him something before they could use the slide?

Wanted: Hockey mask and/or helmet

Sydney has always been my not so coordinated child who somehow finds a way to bump the same spot on her head on walls, other people's heads, etc. I always joke with her that I am going to make her wear a helmet when she plays.

We made a quick trip to Idaho this past weekend for Sheldon's grandma's 80th birthday. The first night we were there, Sydney missed a frisbee tossed (more like chucked) at her by Taylor and got a shiner.



The second night we were in Idaho at the actual 80th bday party, Sydney and some boys were running around in a recreation room filled with ballet bars at the senior center and Sydney ran into one of the brackets holding up the ballet bars and cut open the right side of her face in three separate spots. The scariest part for me was that one of the cuts was about a centimeter from the bottom of her eyeball. We rushed her to the ER and came out 11 stitches later. (I'm still wondering if they count them so they can charge you for each one.)

>

Don't let her little face break your heart too much. She has definitely been milking it for all the dessert and treats she can get. Also, everyone keeps telling her how cool the bottom cut is because it's shaped like Harry Potter's lightning bolt scar.

Happy Birthday, Taylor!

Today is Taylor's 9th birthday! I usually only do a big birthday party for my kids every other year and Taylor got her big party on her 8th b-day. Taylor, however, talked me into letting her have a small pool party with friends this past weekend since we FINALLY have a pool for her to fulfill her pool party fantasy with. She invited just a few girls from school and had a great time this past Saturday.

Today was also Taylor's award ceremony at school. I was supposed to bring treats to her class this afternoon, but she asked me to bring donuts in the morning instead. Hmmm...I wonder why she wanted to do her treats so early. Oh, I know, she told her teacher that she was going home with me after the award ceremony (it got over at 10:30 am) since it was her birthday. The girl knows how to celebrate her birthday and apparently, it didn't involve school.

Once I left the school parking lot, Taylor asked me if I would take her to Target so she could spend some of her birthday money on herself. She didn't see the scarf she was looking for there so she didn't buy anything. (What 9 yr old wants a scarf?) On the way home, she asked what I was making for lunch. Once I told her Ramen noodles, she asked me if I could swing thru Taco Bell to let her buy her own lunch for her birthday. She was nice and bought me a taco for taking her there. :)

Sometimes it is a curse, but mostly, I consider it a blessing to have a daughter who knows what she wants in life and tries to make it happen.

Happy Birthday, Taylor! We love you.

Daddy Daughter Dance

A couple of weeks ago, Sheldon took Taylor and Sydney to their school's Daddy Daughter Dance/Luau. Remembering Taylor's 1st grade daddy daughter dance and some crazy moves he never knew she had, Sheldon usually tries to bribe Taylor with going somewhere else...anywhere else.

However, this was the first year that Sydney was in school and eligible to go to the dance. Sheldon tried to talk her into ice cream, restaurants, whatever, but she was going to that Luau with him no matter what. So Taylor and Sydney went to their Luau and sometimes fought over who got to dance with dad (just like Sheldon's high school days with girls fighting over him :)They all had a great evening together and ended up getting to go to the Outback Steakhouse afterwards (Dad's reward).

Mu- shun...magic-shun...zishon....

Last week Syd's Kindergarten teacher sent home a note asking parents to help their kids memorize their parts for their upcoming graduation. In class, each child was asked what they wanted to be when they grow up and then they were given a little poem to recite at their graduation that told about their chosen profession. Sydney's paper read:

"I want to be a musician
Playing in the band.
When I'm done performing,
the audience will clap and stand."

Musician????

Jen: "Syd, do you want to be a musician?"

Syd: "No, what's a zishon?"

Jen: "It's what you told your teacher you want to be when you grow up."

Syd: "No, I didn't! I told her I want to be a rock star, not a magic-shon!"


After many failed attempts to say "musician", her teacher changed it back to Rock Star for the program. I was surprised to see some real professions chosen by the children and not Darth Vader, Spider Man and Cinderella. However, I can't say I was surprised by Sydney wanting to be a rock star with "Jenny Kravitz" as her mom and "Van Sheldon" as her dad. It was the obvious choice. :)

Wimp

When did I become such a wimp?

I remember as a child jetting into the frigid ocean waves, splashing in the cold (& nasty, might I add) running ditch water in front of my house, and striking the most perfect cannonballs into swimming pools without first checking the temperature with my toes.

These days, I first check the water with my feet, look at the little ducky pool thermometer while muttering how freaking cold the water is, and then sit on the side of the pool threatening Sheldon's life if he pushes me in. Eventually, I move down the pool stairs in 10 min increments and then tip toe aroundn in the shallow end, again complaining how cold it is. I know, what a wimp! However, no matter how wimpy I may be in my old age, I refuse to turn on the heat. I will just have to suck it up and start brushing up on my canonball skills.

Making lemonade

"When life throws you lemons, make lemonade." Or just consume an obscene amount of Dr. Pepper and chocolate. That is how I roll.

I don't want to recap our move because I'm mentally blocking it out. ;) I rubbed off half of my eyebrow during our last move if that is any indication of how much I HATE moving. (such a freak) Anyway, I plan on trying to update our blog more often now that life isn't as hairy.

Here are some pics from events that I didn't get a chance to post about these past few months:

Meeting my beautiful niece, Leila!

Swimming in our freezing new pool with Madison before her big move to Florida! :(

Getting misty eyed at my brother's law school graduation!

Finishing another season with the Honeybee soccer champions!

Does that count?

"Does that count?" or "Can you do that?" were the typical responses I got yesterday when I told my friends that Taylor was at home learning my job for "Take your kid to work day". It counts in my book and I'm sure the principal doesn't want to argue with any stay-at-home moms that they don't really have a job.

I had planned on sending her to school since she has so many absences from our vacation, but I got an email from her teacher "strongly encouraging" parents to take advantage of this opportunity. She was even willing to offer extra credit so I wasn't going to be the evil parent who still sends my kid to her class that day. :)

Taylor was given the choice to go with Sheldon or to stay home with me and learn my job. I'm sure in her head it was a no brainer.....stay home where there are plenty of snacks and TV. (uhm...wrong!) She decided to stay with me, but gave me two conditions...she gets to use my cell phone and she would NOT change any diapers. Whatever and whatever.

To my surprise, Taylor took her new job very seriously. She woke up (with a little kick start from mom) and fed the kids breakfast, picked out Syd's clothes, sorted and folded laundry, made lunch, started dinner, took care of Avery's constant need of attention, and made a call or two on my cell phone. Don't get me wrong, there was a lot of grumbling during all of her hard work. She also decided to give me a pointer on how to get more things done during the day....

Just trap Avery in a corner with the dollhouse and couch until you can get everything done....Simple as that. :)

I think the "Take your kid to work" program was originally designed to have kids appreciate and understand the real world. Taylor caught a glimpse of the real world and found a renewed desire to go back to school every day. In fact, I told her that my job lasts all day long and she informed me that school is out at 3:21 and that is when she would need to clock out. And that she did, right on the dot.

What stinks?

I have a feeling that Avery will be easy to potty train when the time comes. She gets so upset when she has a dirty diaper and just tonight she notified Sheldon about her "situation" by walking around plugging her nose as if she was completely disgusted by her own aroma. Probably too much info for everyone on dirty diapers, but funny none the less.

My bologna has a first name.........

Am I alone when I say that I was raised on bologna, Kraft cheese singles, and white Wonder bread?

"Can I have a pepper turkey and colby jack cheese sandwich?" This is what I hear from my kids when I say I am making them sandwiches for lunch. Occasionally, I torture Taylor with a PB and honey sandwich.

Recently, Sheldon and I have decided to only buy groceries with cash and leave the debit cards at home in an attempt to stick to our grocery budget (yes, it is killing me!). The other day my girls and I stopped at the store to grab a few things for the week, but I only had $10 in my wallet at the time. One of things I needed on my list was lunch meat. We headed to the deli counter to put in our usual request of 1 lb peppered turkey breast (6.99 a lb). As I thought to myself that the lunch meat will take most of my cash, I passed by a cooler filled with bologna-turkey bologna- $1. The look on my girls' faces was that of extreme horror as I placed the bologna in the cart and turned away from the deli counter. Actually, I think Taylor dry heaved as she asked me, "WHAT IS BOWL-OGG-NUH?". I then told my girls that I grew up eating bologna sandwiches and loved them (totally lied...at least about the loving them part).

Later that day, my girls finally agreed to try to the bologna sandwiches, but their dad was not so willing. His actual response when offered the tasty delight was, "Uhm, I think I am just going to have a bowl of cereal for lunch today." He changed his mind when I told him that I would take the bologna and decorate his truck with it if he didn't eat one. ;)

How did my husband and kids like the dreaded bologna sandwiches? Sheldon's sandwich was bearable since he chased it with a Pepsi, but my girls actually liked them. Taylor wanted to pack a cold lunch today just so she could have a bologna sandwich. What?! However, I can just hear her saying to her friends, "My mom said that we don't have enough money to buy turkey anymore so we need to eat bologna now." Ha!

Yes, I know that bologna has very little nutritional value and I won't be feeding it to my kids on a regular basis and probably never to my husband again. However, now my kids can join the crowd that says that they had to eat bologna sandwiches growing up. It's a good thing Spam wasn't on sale that day. :0 YUCK! Never!

cha CHING!!

I had to resist jumping up and doing toe touches in Albertson's today (like I have ever been able to those). 12 boxes of cereal for 20 cents total...not each...TOTAL! Avery was screaming and crying and I didn't even hardly hear it because I was SO excited. Thanks to my peeps out there who clued me in on this SWEET deal.

Five minutes of your time

I have been surprised by the low voter turnout for the municipal election this year. Yes, probably like everyone else, I have grumbled that I was just at the polls recently...why didn't they have us vote for these officials then? However, I was just reading that in the last election for NLV mayor, council seats, judicial posts, etc. that only 2,415 people voted in the Primary and 1,402 in the general. That is such a low number of people considering the population of North Las Vegas is close to 220,000 people! Anyway, please pardon my rant. I just wanted to post a reminder for my NLV friends to get out there and cast your vote this week. (early voting at Sun City Aliante tomorrow) Your vote really makes a difference in this election, especially considering the low voter turnout.

Please know that I am not just reminding you because my uncle is running for mayor, but also because we should have a say in who is running our community. I have never been a big fan of telling people who they should vote for since we all have different issues that are important to us. However, I know all of you couponing moms out there are getting the newspaper now so take a few minutes and read up on the candidates. There is still a lot of vacant land near our homes that we need to be mindful of and a lot of possible budget cuts that will have an effect on our families directly. Okay, okay.....rant over.

I'm the weiner!!

Okay, have any of you seen the movie, "He's Just Not That Into You", where Scarlett Johansen wins the cooler at the grocery store and acts like she just won the lottery and hugs random strangers? Well, I just opened an email from a blog that I follow called http://www.cheapomcfrugalpants.blogspot.com/ and I won the Fiber One Health and Fitness Pkg!! YEE HAW!! My kids were giving me confused looks as I came skipping out of my office and gave them each a hug accompanied by a few giggles. I have never won anything in my life so I am just savoring the moment. Yeah Me!! ;) Don't laugh, but here is what I won:

This kit includes:
Coupon for free Fiber One multi pack yogurt
Food scale
Pedometer
Fitness & nutrition journal
BPA free water bottle- shatterproof/break/stain resistant

I am mostly excited about the pedometer and food scale. I've wanted a pedometer to see if I actually walk the equivalent of a half marathon chasing Avery throughout the day. If not, I'm sure it's pretty close!

The Azure Mermaid Show

Recently, I googled "What can I do in Las Vegas for FREE with kids that are on track break and driving me absolutely cuckoo?". Among the usual search results of free factory tours and not so free arcades was a new attraction I hadn't seen or heard of yet...."The Azure Mermaid Show" at the Silverton by the Bass Pro Shop. Apparently, the gigantic aquarium located in the Silverton has a mermaid that dives down and swims around with the fish and interacts with the tourists.

Because we do live in Vegas, I had to do a little more research to make sure the mermaid was family friendly and wouldn't resemble Darryl Hannah from Splash. Bikini top...check. Not in a bar...check. Plus, I checked out footage of the mermaid on YouTube just to be safe.

We invited Taylor's friend, Madelyn, to come with us to the aquarium last night. Sheldon and I told the girls that we were going to check out the Bass Pro Shop and the aquarium, but kept the mermaid a surprise.

The girls were amazed by how large the aquarium was and by how big the stingrays were that came right up to the glass. There was another show that was just ending where the diver came down and fed the fish and talked to the audience about the different fish and took any questions. After about 10 minutes of watching the fish....the long awaited mermaid appeared! The girls were pretty excited, but no oooh's and ahhh's like I had hoped. I forget my kids are getting older and that not everything is magical to them anymore. However, the mermaid came right up to the glass and played with the girls which they enjoyed quite a bit. Avery mostly had a look of "what the?" on her face, but she was definitely intrigued.

After taking in the aquarium, we ventured into the Bass Pro Shop to reward Sheldon for sitting thru the "magical mermaid" show. The girls loved looking at the ducks and Sheldon taught them to shoot the rifles in the arcade shooting gallery. Avery loved the stuffed animals on display. We ended the night with Oreo milkshakes and worn out kids which was my reward.