THE INFORMER

That's what we call Gracie. "The Informer". That's because we know that no matter where she is or what she's doing, we are going to get the full report of everyone's wrongdoings at any time. Here is just a smattering of what I've heard just since I got home at 3pm:

"Mom, Cole's chewing on his shirt sleeve. Isn't he going to ruin his shirt?"
"Mom, "so and so" (I won't mention names) doesn't use respectful words at school"
"Mom, Cole's got the wii remote cord in his mouth"
"Mom, is heck a bad word? (After careful consideration, I said "not really"). She looked dissapointed and said "Oh, because Cole totally just said it"
"Mom, do you think Cole should be having ANOTHER (said with great gusto) string cheese so close to dinnertime?"
"Mom, Dad gave Cole a mohawk for spring break"
"Mom, "so and so" and "so and so" were talking about "so and so" from the neighborhood yesterday. That's not very respectful, is it?" (after which she shook her head in dissaproval)
"Mom, Cole just said the "D" word". I looked shocked and said "What?" and she whispered in my ear.."yep, he just said DUMB" and a little while ago he also said the "S" word. ( "S" word = STUPID). I warily replied "thank you for letting me know", at which time she did her trademark hair flip and said "just thought you would want to know!"

What's that you say? You haven't SEEN the trademark hair flip? Take a look!

Now, its not as though she's trying to get others (her brother, in particular) in trouble, she just generally likes to "help" others make good choices. Hmmm, ok, maybe she IS trying to get her brother in trouble?! Regardless...these endless reports of wrongdoing is starting to drive me crazy! She is such a nurturer and really does have so much concern for others...but I try to tell her that she just needs to focus on herself and let others do what they will. Sigh....maybe I don't want to completely break this habit....it IS nice to know what Cole is upto...

On to other news...we have had family in town and went to Raptor Reef indoor waterpark in Hayden, ID. After we got past the fact that it cost us $72.00 for our family of four (Are you KIDDING me?), we had a pretty good time, although it wasn't as great as I was hoping. The kids enjoyed the wave pool, kids area and the big waterslides. All in all it was a fun day for all of us.

Uh oh, I just spoke with the "Informer" and she suggested that I "should probably be working on dinner, don't you think?". Thank goodness for her. She's ever so helpful. After all, watching out for everyone does make a person hungry.

ENDLESS BABBLE

Whew!! What a week its been! We had commitments every single night! This will serve as my weekly catch up of all our exciting happenings. Let's see...where to start...

Oh yes...conferences!! I actually really look forward to these. Both kids are doing really well academically...Gracie in particular. She received "exceeding expectations" in every category. She is so "into" school!! She's reading at a "mid-1st grade" level. The only area that she's not exceeding in was health and fitness. They seem to think that she hasn't bounced back completely since she was in the hospital. She seems to wear out really easy now and still complains of headaches. Hopefully she will be completely back to her old self physically soon. Cole is really doing great in reading and writing in particular. I spend alot of time with them throughout the week working on homework, workbooks, etc and the extra effort really shows. I will "homeschool" (in a very loose sense of the word) again this summer to keep them sharp for the next school year.

We had a bit of good news this week. I called Sacred Heart hospital on Wednesday night regarding our portion of Gracie's hospital bill. They had told me a month ago that if I paid it in full by today (3/27), I would get a 10% prompt payment discount. Her total bill was roughly around $25k-30k, and we have a max. out of pocket of $2600.00. So, potentially we could save $260 just by paying a bill that we would have to pay anyway. So, we socked away the money from our tax return and earmarked it for this purpose. HOWEVER....when I told the representative from Sacred Heart that I wanted to pay my bill over the phone, she said "you show a balance of zero". HUH? Apparently, our insurance picked up the entire thing. The kids are double covered, but we were under the impression that we would still have to pay the max. out of pocket of $2600.00. Needless to say, this was a pleasant surprise. I'm still a bit skeptical, so I've put the money back in savings in case it ends up being too good to be true. If not, we will finally be able to build a new fence in our backyard to keep our nosy neighbors away....errr...I mean to get a little privacy.

Yesterday miss Gracie got a fancy new "do"!! After almost a year of painstakingly waiting for her hair to finally get long, she opted to chop it off!! Here's a picture of my little sweetheart:

While we were at it, I decided it was time for me to do something with my neglected head of hair as well:

Obviously you can't see the back but its cut really high and then tapers down...super cute! I love it!

I've been a very good girl and have been really consistent with getting to the gym in the early mornings before work....4 days this week! Today I went a bit later due to the fact that Paco had to work at 5am and I had to get the kids off to school, so I went after I dropped them off. I spent 45 minutes on the treadmill and 15 on the elliptical machine and VOILA....I burned off 680 nasty calories and left feeling great. (Although right now my legs are very angry with me).

Time to get off the computer and hang out with my little darlings. We've got family coming into town tomorrow for 4 days. The kids are so excited to see Aunt Rose and cousin Sydney...we've got all sorts of fun in store for them. Of course, I'll take pictures!

APPARENTLY, WE'RE NEEDY

Today Gracie comes home with an application for free and/or reduced-price meals. I found it in her backpack and tossed it in the garbage. Later, she comes tearing into the dining room looking for the "important paper" she brought home for me. After we determined what she was looking for, I asked her why she wanted to keep it. She said "It's so I can have breakfast at Cole's school".

Let me explain.

Gracie catches a bus to her Kindergarten at Cole's school in the mornings. She waits in the gym, which is also where they serve a free/reduced breakfast (for qualifying families) in the mornings. She's bummed because she doesn't get to take part in this breakfast....so today she relayed her discontent to one of the supervisors and hence the application for assistance. Little did they know that this poor, darling child doesn't get breakfast in the mornings! It's no wonder she tried to sign herself up for free meals! The poor thing! I tried to carefully explain to her that this is a program for families that need a little help with meals for their kids, because they might be a little "low" on money, really trying to be as tactful as I possibly could. She answered by saying "I'm low on money, I'm broke!"

Somebody feed this girl.

JUST THINKING

So, I was reading an article last night about Michelle Obama. Now, whether or not I voted for her husband is irrelevant...I'm finding that I really like HER! She was saying in this interview that she insists that her daughters are not catered upon while living in the White House. They are expected to make their beds, help set the table for dinner, make their own toast and so on. What a great example that is setting for families all over the country! My kids have their own responsiblities in our home, I refuse to do it all on top of a full time job. They keep up their bedrooms on a daily basis, put away their own laundry, help feed the animals, dust and so on. It gives them a sense of being part of a working family, and also gives them the feeling of accomplishment and pride of ownership. I want them to know that we all have responsibilites, and how rewarding it is to follow through on them. Neither of them really even complain anymore about doing them, they know I won't budge. Gracie has gotten smart enough not to create a big mess in the first place because she doesn't want to clean it up! Cole on the other hand.....well lets just say he creates alot of work for himself! Now, don't get me wrong, its not like I've got them spending hours a day doing chores. Usually its 10 or 15 minutes a day, and sometimes not at all. We almost always get to do something really fun afterwards because we all pitched in and did it together. What great teamwork!

Birthday Tickers

My Family from WiddlyTinks.com

GOOD MORNING SUNSHINES!

Yes, morning already. Saturday morning, in fact, which is my favorite morning of the week! (Hmmm, except the occassional Sunday morning when Paco is off because we all know that means omelets are headed our way). I'm having a tough time waking up this morning! Funny thing is, I woke up at 4:20 like I was ready to get up for the day, since I got up at that time everyday this week to go to the gym. Instead of staying up, I went back to bed and now I'm dragging.

INTERESTING.

Anyhoo, thanks to everyone, and yes I mean ALL of you that voted on my hair color poll. That would be all 8 of you! It appears that the popular vote was strawberry blond. After careful consideration I am afraid, dear friends, that I must pull rank on you and go with the brown. Oh, and to the one voter who chose "no amount of hair color is going to make THAT mess look good", I humbly appreciate your honesty.

YEAH RIGHT.

Ahhhh, the coffee is brewing, hubby's in the shower and the kids are watching spongebob. Gracie and I did some delicious snugglin' in bed this morning, she is my most loviest lovebug..it's one of my favorite things. That girl loves her some mama.

AHHHH...SNUGGLIN'.

Okay, okay, this post is taking a weird turn...time to get my coffee and do...well...something.

WOW!

Can you believe it has been THREE WHOLE DAYS since I've blogged?! Unheard of! Give me a little slack though, I've been sick. Okay, Okay, so that hasn't stopped me from doing anything else this week but for whatever reason I just didn't get to the blog.

So, busy, busy week!! I'm so glad its Friday! We just got home from the park with my girlfriend Amy and her adorable little people, and now the kids are playing in the tub and I'm thinking about dinner. I am looking forward to Saturday morning in my comfy clothes (the same ones I wear every weekend, hmmmm, and come to think of it, most of the week)and enjoying my delicious coffee. If the weather is good the kids and I will be outside most of the day in the yard cleaning up the mess that Old Man Winter left for us. Ok, I'll be real here, I doubt I'll get much help from the kids!

I have been a fabulously committed girl and hit the gym 4 times this week by 5am!! Getting up an hour earlier (especially when I get up so stinking early to start with), was easier than I thought, because I really am enjoying the workouts and I feel great when I'm done. It's becoming an addiction!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and enjoyed the first day of spring!!

YUCK, UGH, AND EWW

So, apparently my daily "miracle cocktail" of olive leaf pills and orange juice mixed with emergen-c is not failproof. Yes, I've got something icky. Just a sore throat and gross nose stuff combo, but that's enough for me. I did manage to get in a great workout this morning, logging in a couple miles on the treadmill and burning a decent 430 calories! Sweet! Remember Mr. Annoying Guy from yesterday's "Not Me! Monday" entry? Yeahhhhh, he didn't pick the treadmill next to me this time. Weird?! Was it something I didn't say?

I promised the kids we'd go swimming tonight but what I really want to do is crawl into bed! Maybe I'll take tomorrow off from the gym and give myself an extra hour of sleep. We've got primo tickets to the Spokane Shock game tomorrow night (can you say Budweiser suite? go ahead, say it, doesn't it sound impressive?) so it will be a long day. A huge thanks to Bubba and Jeremy who are entertaining the little Suttons while we go!

Well, time to muster up some energy and find my second wind...

HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY!

Here's a few pictures of the kids in their green, enjoying shamrock cookies and green milk after school...yummm.

NOT ME! MONDAY

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Ok, so I don't have anything TOO scandelous to fess up to this week, but I did do a few things that I'm willing to admit to just for the sake of cheap entertainment for you.

I'll start off by telling you that I did NOT feel super motivated this morning and went to the gym at 5am before work (and I did NOT burn 360 calories!) While I was working out, I did NOT act like I didn't hear Mr. Annoying Guy on the treadmill next to me by pretending that my ipod was really loud. That would be rude and anti-social. Because, obviously, if I'm at the gym at 5am, half asleep and with my ipod earbuds in, I'm there strictly for socializing. OH YES, and of course I didn't have to use my workout clothes to dry off with after my shower because I left my towel at home. EWWWW, who does that? (I'll tell you who, someone who's desperate and has no other option)

Oh, and when I was painting my 5 year old daughter's fingernails I most definately DID NOT enable her thumb-sucking habit (which we've been trying to break for months) by giving in and agreeing not to paint her thumb fingernail so she could still suck it without it tasting like nail polish. I did NOT give in to her charms! She is NOT currently walking around with 9 beautifully polished nails and one that is deformed and all dried out. Nope, I'm a stronger parent than that. What I say, goes!

Finally, I am NOT considering forgoing all responsibilities and spending my whole evening playing Super Mario Galaxy on the wii with my kids. I am NOT that addicted to a stupid game! Oh,and I did NOT make it all the way to the ghost level yesterday! Whooo Hoooo!! (I mean, darn!)

Wow. That was really quick and fairly painless.

RAIN, RAIN DON'T GO AWAY

This morning I woke up to the pitter patter of raindrops. I love rainy weekend mornings! The coffee is brewing (my favorite smell), my favorite hazelnut candle is burning, the kids are watching spongebob, I'm blogging, and husband is snoring. All is well! Today is a family day, meaning its a rare day when Paco is off on a weekend and we all get to be together. The kids really look forward to these and I'm sad we don't get more! Family day also means Dad's world class made to order omelets!! Then we will do a few chores and a little homework and head to the gym to workout and swim. You gotta love a day like this! Tonight I am making capellini with fresh tomato sauce (another weight watchers recipe), it is so yummy! Perhaps I will snap a photo and post the recipe later. Cole refuses to eat any pasta whatsoever (the horror!), so it will probably be grilled cheese and some fruit and veggies for him. We are really committing to a healthier lifestyle and find it is so much easier when we do it together. The kids have always loved healthy foods, so that part is easy! I had a proud moment yesterday afternoon when they chose sugar snap peas and red peppper strips over a bag of chips. YAY!

Gracie and I had a girls' night yesterday evening with my girlfriend Michelle, her daughter and her granddaughter. We did our hair and makeup, painted our nails and wore pretty jewelry. Michelle's granddaughter Marley reminded me so much of my kids when they were babies!! She was such a little angel....and as I thought I realized its so hard to remember my life with young babies. Since my kids are only 18 months apart, they really were babies together. Where did it all go? Did I enjoy it enough? I remember the day before I had to return to work from my first maternity leave with Cole. I was so upset about going back that I laid in my bed with him most of the day and cried. I couldn't bear the thought of being away from him! Of course those first few days were rough, but then we really settled into our routine. It also helped that it was usually Paco or my grandmother who was with Cole while I was gone. I went through the same thing after I had Grace, I just loved being with those sweet babies all the time! We have been fortunate to have never had to put our kids in daycare, due to the fact that often we work opposite schedules (not really such a great thing), and also that I have a fantastic boss who allows me a ton of flexibility in my scheduling. So in a nutshell that's why I chose to continue to be a working Mom. I have never had to miss out on the things that are really important to the kids and I. (Okay, okay, I DID weasel my way out of math game night a few weeks ago, sheesh). I've never gotten involved in the working mom/stay at home Mom debate, everyone does what works best for their family! Don't get me wrong, I still have the Mom guilt some mornings when I have to leave. Moms have guilt. Period.

Now, there ARE some things I just don't miss about having young babies. Mainly just the hassle of trying to go somewhere and lugging all your gear. Now, we just pick up and go! I also don't miss my good ole' breast pump. That's a 2 year relationship I was happy to put an end to. I won't go into further detail on that subject, except, good riddance!

But oh, how I miss the little baby snuggling and cooing and co-sleeping and snugli wearing times. I loved the early early mornings nursing Gracie before I left for work, and she was so snuggly and lovey in her fuzzy sleepers. Those were true bonding times. I remember what a little chunk she was, and what a perfect little baby Cole was, just always so laid back and relaxed. Would one more baby be such a bad thing??

WHOA. SLOW DOWN GIRL. This always happens when someone lets me hold their lovely little bundle of joy. I've got the fever.

On to other things. This has become a virtual mixing bag of topics today, guess I have alot on my mind! I am tentatively planning a trip to visit my darling little sister in Virginia this fall...ALONE! JUST ME!! NOBODY ELSE! Can't wait!

Oh, another thought. Please say a prayer for our 4 year old neighbor boy, who has been in the hospital for almost 2 months (or so) battling leukemia. The family also has a younger son and a newborn. Even after being with Gracie while she was in the hospital, I can't imagine what they are going through. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers!

More to come later!!

WON'T YOU BE PLEASED?!

So, I have reset my blog so that you do not have to open a google account/etc to comment. If I did it right, it should not ask you for a password, word verification, etc. Just click on the "comment" link, tell me how totally cool I am, and we'll all be happy!

LAUGHING FROM HIS TOES

Yep, that's what my darling son does (actually both of them do). When he laughs,and I mean REALLY laughs it is literally down to his toes. I snapped this photo right after I showed him one of his goofy snorkel pictures, and he thought it was hysterical. This is one of my favorite expressions...

SPLISH SPLASH

Cole was hamming it up for pictures while fashioning his new snorkel and goggles. I'm totally pulling this photo out when the first girlfriend comes over.

ONE GOOFY GIRL

Gracie has been testing out her new goggles and snorkel, and we both agree she looks quite lovely in them, wouldn't you say?

Here's a lovely one of her making her best googly eyes:

And last, but not least, this one takes the cake. I told her "one day your eyes are going to stick like that" (all the parents, grandparents and great grandparents will be proud that I put their line to good use). Frankly, this picture alarms me!

YUMMY, YUMMY SOUP!

Ooohh...this is one of my favorite soups...its actually a Weight Watchers Garden Vegetable Soup recipe that I have changed just a little. If you are on the "point" system with Weight Watchers, you can have as much of this soup as you want because it has ZERO points, in other words people, I'm tellin ya, its freakin' healthy!! Here's the recipe if anyone wants to try it...I used organic veggies and broth and it was still really cheap to make. I love it!

Want the recipe? Here you go! (I usually multiply this recipe by 4 so I can make a huge pot of it)

GARDEN VEGETABLE SOUP
2/3 cup sliced carrot
1/2 cup diced onion
2 garlic cloves, minced (I use jar garlic)
3 cups fat free broth (beef, chicken or vegetable)
1 1/2 cups diced green cabbage
1/2 cup diced zucchini
1/2 cup green beans
1 tbs tomato paste
1 can tomatoes (undrained)
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt

In large saucepan, sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, saute the carrot, onion, and garlic over low heat until softened. Add broth, cabbage, undrained tomatoes, beans, tomato paste, basil, oregano and salt and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer, covered about 15 minutes until beans are tender. Stir in zucchini and heat 3-4 minutes. (I do tend to add a little extra salt and pepper to flavor it up a bit, otherwise its a bit bland)

-Per serving: 42 calories, 0g total fat, 0g saturated fat, 0mg cholesterol, 63mg sodium, 8g carbs, 2.4g dietary fiber, 3g protein, 41 mg calcium.

AND THE WINNER IS....

AMANDA!! Yes, my good friend Amanda has won the "Name that blog" contest, with the very, very exciting entry of "The Sutton Four". It doesn't quite have the hint of sarcasm that is so....ME...but it seems to be liked. Even with my husband compromising the order of things by voting twice, it still would have won. However, I may reserve the right to change it at any time or add in a smart ass subtitle just because...well...its my blog and I can if I want to!

I'm sure Amanda is especially excited over her grand prize...a weekend with the Sutton children, at HER house! PARTY TIME!! Okay, okay, she lives in an apartment and they don't allow uncivilized wild animals there, so I guess she will have to forfeit. It's her loss, really. Guess she will have to settle for some chocolate brownies and my good company. Lucky girl!

BLAH BLAH BLAH

Another evening at the gym...that's three in a row! I totally kicked my own butt and did 3 miles on the treadmill and then did the swimming/hot tubbing thing with the little Suttons. Cole picked up right where he left off last summer with his swimming and swam the length of the pool a few times. Gracie, who is the bravest of my little darlings, jumped into the deep end and swam about 15 feet to me. Progress!!! They will be SO ready for swimming this summer! I literally spent my summers in the water, so of course I've always hoped that my kids would be water lovers. Tomorrow we will take a break from the gym as we've got lots of catching up to do around here...mainly homework, bills and the like. Oh yeah, gotta go to work too. Blech.

A HINT OF EMBARRASSMENT

Last night the whole family went to the gym. I swam first with the kids while Paco worked out, then we switched so I could hit the treadmill. A little while later, they came out of the locker rooms and Cole saw me across the room (WAY across the room). Then, my darling, precious son yelled "Hey Mom!! Are you losing any weight?"

Yep. Embarassing.

MORE SNOW??

Come on now, a little snow isn't so bad!! It's not like we got 5 feet like we did in December. The kids geared up for a little snow fun before it melts!

GONE BABY GONE

The shopvac has left the bedroom. I repeat...the shopvac has left the bedroom!!! (Wow, that took less than a week!)

YUMMY BAGELS

Friends, these aren't just ANY ole' bagels...I made (with Gracie's help) homemade cheddar bacon bagels!! I used my bread machine to mix the dough, and did the rest of the work myself. I had no idea how time consuming it would be....this was an all afternoon/evening project! The time and energy was definately worth it though,take a look at these beauties!
Thats cheddar cheese, sesame seeds and poppyseeds on the top, with bacon and cheddar cheese inside. These are delish! Although, I really am anxious for the second batch to come out of the oven so I can go to freakin' bed already! I've been working on these for hours! Gracie was my fabulous little helper...she helped knead the dough and shape it. Cole helped by twirling the dough on the end of a wooden spoon (to form the hole and overall shape), and then also by dropping an 18 pack of eggs on the floor. Luckily I only lost 17 of them.

You may wonder if I feel silly posting an entire blog (not to mention a picture, for crying out loud) about nothing but bagels. Hmmmm..common sense tells me I should, but, NOPE!

GIVING IT ANOTHER GO

OK, so I have ditched the "poor me" philosophy from yesterday and moved on to positive thinking. I've had the coffee and am feeling good. I could write an entire blog just about the coffee....

AHEM.

Change of scheduling plans today, as I am home with a sick kiddo. There's vomiting involved...my favorite. Looks like I will be staying home and unfortunately making the work day up tomorrow. The good news is the sun is shining and that always lifts the spirits. Darling son has had his eggs and waffles and we've had a practice spelling test which he's totally going to ace. Looks like a good day. (aside from the vomiting!)

THE SHOP-VAC

You, dear friends, may be saying to yourself "Why in the world does she have a picture of a shop-vac on her blog?" Well, my answer to that would actually be in the form of a question, which is "Why in the world has this shop-vac been sitting in the middle of my bedroom for 3 days?" Now, I DO KNOW WHY it has been sitting in my bedroom since Monday...that's because darling husband got a wild hair and shaved his head, and for whatever reason he chose the shop-vac to clean up after himself (gotta give him credit for that). Why he didn't use the good ol' dirt devil is beyond me.

Now, this is NOT a new occurrence in the Sutton household. Often projects present themselves, tools are needed (usually a new one that we don't have already), and then said tool remains in the vicinity for at least 1 week, until I strategically place said tool somewhere where it will either A) be tripped over in the wee hours of the night or B) be stacked on top of husband's car keys or cell phone in hopes that he will get the hint. Occassionally there is also option C) where I just put the stupid thing away myself due to total exasperation.

So, I ask you...is this normal? Is this a boy thing? Do they all do this? Because as much as I enjoy looking at this 5.0 hp, 12 gallon beauty in my bedroom, unless it serves another purpose such as teeth brushing, bathroom cleaning or massage giving, I would like to see it go away. Soon. Wish me luck.

P.S. No husbands were hurt in the creation of this posting. In no way is it meant to offend, poke fun of, disrespect, or otherwise make fun of darling husband. I do LOVE the guy, you know!

TIRED, DISCOURAGED AND PRETTY MUCH A BIG OLE' DOWNER

Yep, that pretty much describes me tonight. You didn't think all my blog entries were going to be smiley and happy, did you? Maybe its because I haven't slept well the past 3 nights, or maybe its the crappy weather. Or maybe its just that I have so much freakin stuff that I'm responsible for that I feel like just ditching it all, and plopping myself somewhere nice and warm and care-free. Of course, I can't do that, but oh, how I dream of it often! Yes, I will allow myself this evening to sulk and say "What if" and "If only",and "Why me" and then tomorrow will come and I will pick up where I left off, and press on because I have to. Yes, tomorrow morning will be better. Just wait and see.

THE POLLS ARE OPEN!

I am looking (possibly) for a new and improved name for my blog. I've compiled a list of suggestions I have received...all you have to do is look to the right hand column and vote in my poll. Come on, if you're even looking at this blog you probably don't have anything better to do right now, so why not take a sec and humor me!? Please?

POTTERY

One of my favorite pasttimes is painting pottery. My studio of choice is Polka Dot Pottery. I've got a link to their site on the bottom right hand side of the page.
A perfect afternoon for me is grabbing a coffee and meeting a friend or two to do a little painting and bellyaching about our lives....its the perfect therapy.

Cole, the OTHER guy who stole my heart

Yes, the title says it all! There is nothing like having a little boy who adores me and will always think I'm beautiful even on my un-beautiful days. He says his heart is always full of "Mom-Love"....I feel so thankful that he's mine.

NOT ME!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

So, with much trepidation, I give you my first ever "Not me! Monday" entry:

*I did NOT put the finishing touches of my makeup on while driving to work at 5:30am just so I could squeeze in a couple minutes on the computer before I left for work. That is completely unsafe, and I wouldn't dream of it! I'm WAYYY more responsible than that.

*I did NOT bribe my son with candy to get him to go to the grocery store with me so I wouldn't have to go alone. NOT ME! I also did not tell him I thought someone was at the door (great diversion tactic) when we were cleaning his bedroom so I could quickly throw a few things away without him noticing. That's a sneaky, low down, no good thing to do, and I would never sink to that level.

And I DEFINATELY did not weasel my way out of taking my son to math game night at school tonight by guilting my husband into doing it by looking reaaaally tired and worn out, and giving him my best exasperated face.

NOPE. NOT ME.

Hey, this IS fun! Check back next week for a new "Not me! Monday" to see what sorts of horrible things I may (or may not) confess to doing simply for the purpose of entertaining my family and friends. That's right, I'm giving you permission to hear about my deepest, darkest doings (well, not ALL of them, what kind of girl do you take me for?) for the sake of fun. Lucky you!

PARTY GIRL

Yesterday, both of the kids had birthday parties to attend. Gracie loves to get dressed up so we went all out and did her nails (complete with flower decals, because, geez....you might as well do it right), hair ( to the best of my ability), and make-up. We locked ourselves in the bathroom, told all boyfolk to keep out, turned on chick music and had a total girl-fest. She always likes to sit in the bathroom with me when I'm getting ready, but this time was all about her. Girls totally rock.

MR. HANDSOME

I took this photo on our trip to the Oregon Coast last year. I thought I was just documenting the fabulously handsome Mr. Sutton, but didn't realize that I caught the image of the sunset in his sunglasses. Cool, huh?

MESSY, MESSY, MESSY

So... my goal for this weekend was to help the kids clean their rooms. I mean REALLY clean their rooms. Normally, we keep up on their rooms on a daily basis to avoid what I had to suffer through this weekend. It's been about a week since we've done much in there and boy was that enough time for disaster to strike. Gracie's room is normally fairly easy, mainly because she's not a messy person. However, as with any 5 year old things eventually catch up to you. We were able to get rid of clothes that don't fit, toys that are broken or missing pieces, and socks without buddies. We organized the books and just for fun color coded her clothes in the closet. (No, I DONT expect it to stay that way). We even got ALL of the teeny tiny polly pocket accessories all in one place. Whoever invented Polly Pockets should be shot. They owe me 2 new vacuum cleaners already. Poor Polly, its not her fault.

Cole's room? Another story entirely. To Cole, EVERYTHING is a treasure. Every scrap of paper, plastic red robin cup, and every tag that comes off his new clothes. Worksheets from preschool (that was 2 years ago!), one particular go-gurt package (hey, it DID have a great joke on the back!), and the lid to a plastic tub that met its demise during Mom's LAST purging episode. He has a use for everything. I guess the environmental enthusiast in me would find this wonderful, that we re-use our garbage as bedroom artwork. We spent most of the morning with me putting things in bags and him taking them back out. I'm sure all you parents out there go through the same thing. Speaking of treasure, we find a virtual treasure trove in the back corner of his closet!! Apparently that is where all his clothes go when I ask him to hang them up. Sooo, 3 hours were devoted to this project and I am happy to say that HE is very happy with the results. He even took pictures on his camera. Now I remember why we keep up on things! Honestly, though, I do love his creative side! I think I read somewhere that a messy room helps foster creativity. Interesting theory. For me it just fosters insanity.

Yes, Yes, I can hear it from some of you...this is all part of parenthood. However, being an organized self proclaimed neat freak, its my worst nightmare! I love having places for things and knowing where they are when I need them. I've always been that way...its just me. I like that about myself, but it can also make me crazy!! Paco keeps reminding me that one day all the mess will be gone and I will be aching for my kids back...with their messes!