My first carnival

No, no no. Not the kind with rides, cotton candy and scary guys asking you to pop balloons with sharp objects. I've been to plenty of those.
This is a blog carnival.

I've mentioned on here before that I am on a couple local message boards. Back when I was planning my wedding I was addicted to TheKnot.com. Seriously, it was a sickness. There was a local board over there and as we all had our weddings and moved on to having families (well, except for those of us that did it backwards, but, whatever) we needed something else. One of the boards that was eventually created by a group of those same women is all about being or trying to become a mommy. My friends laughed at me when I was on the knot, they called it a cult and thought it just ridiculous...but now that I have these amazing women, who all have different opinions, thoughts and experiences to share, I'm so glad I was a part of that cult. My local boards are the go-to place when I have questions, when I need to vent or when I just want to tell a funny story to someone who gets it. Only other mothers (and 11 year old little boys) find poop stories funny.

Anyway, Paige started this Blog Carnival for us...each week we'll have a topic to post and discuss. Feel free to join in, you don't have to be an AntiDramaMama to participate. It's just fun...and be sure to check out the links below for some awesome and hilarious blogs.

This week's question:
What is your child's favorite and least favorite food?

Let's start with the eldest child. When he was tiny and we were young and didn't know any better we were all "oh, look, he likes peas...and green beans!" He ate most anything we gave him at first, HH's family was so impressed at Thanksgiving when he wanted more peas. His aunt proclaimed him to have a sophisticated palate.
Yea, then he hit 18 months and this is what his palate consisted of:

We spent a long time living on chicken nuggest, mac and cheese, PB&J, any bread, most fruits and of course waffles and pancakes. We'd sneak the ocassional veggie in there but for the most part, he was your typical toddler.
At 7, he tries most everything once. He has a definite opinion on what he does and doesn't like. Green beans, but only if they are from daddy's garden. Pizza. Celery with dip. Apples, peeled and cored but not sliced. We rarely have to fight with him to eat his dinner and generally, he'll try all the food at least once (Thank you YMCA preschool for starting that with lunch! Must try 1 of everything on your plate!) He still refuses broccoli and for some strange reason, will not eat soup. Of any kind.

Now, while my Mr. Thing 1 was pretty typical...his brother, is not. You see, this little guy eats everything...and anything....and all.day.long. Including markers. Yea...

And yes, he's following his marker snack up with water from my squirt bottle.

He's almost 19 months and I have a handful of things he doesn't eat and even those, it really just depends on his mood. Oh, and the kid likes HOT. Must get that from daddy. Handsome Hubby is addicted to this stuff:

I put a tiny drop on Thing 2's plate the other night because he kept going for HH's, and he screamed for more.
I can't say if he has a favorite food...he just loves food. At the moment his least favorite is probably Cheerios, apparently they simply do not have enough flavor for him. Which kind of sucks since I have a huge family size x2 box.

Okay, so visit the other blogs and feel free to play along (just make sure to link up!)

Things I was going to blog about, but didn't

As if I needed more reason to keep my blog off my Facebook page, I have a new one. My dad has Facebook...and he's my friend. At first I was all "oh, I can't be FB friends with my daaaad!" Then I realized that I'm pretty boring and the rest of my fam is on there, so really? Whatever. That being said, this blog is not dad friendly. So, yet another reason to keep it away from the fam. Eh, I'm okay with that.

Everyone was sick last week. First all three boys and then me. Luckily I had a mild case of the cold nastiness they had, but it's come back to bite me today. Not sure what is up with that.

We spend the weekend in a nice hotel with T1 for a belated birthday getaway. We to the Museum of Natural History, swimming, ordered pizza, played Uno and had cupcakes for dessert. It was a fabulous way to spend a Saturday night.

I'm behind on my 365 project, which will likely end up being closer to 326 since I forgot totake pictures while battling the cooties. Ah well. I'm going to catch up eventually...and post other pictures and recaps from things like...oh, Christmas!

Then and Now

My baby turned 7. Wow. He's such a little...man. He has strong opinions, he is independent, he notices everything and yet misses everything. LOL He's amazing...and frustrating...adorable and ornery. He will always be my baby. My first born. The baby I hadn't planned but couldn't live without. The baby that made us all grow up, made us want more, made us the couple...the parents...the individuals we are today.

I'll post more pictures later...along with some funny stories. Right now, I'm tired. I had 4 seven year olds at my house last night. And this morning those same 4 were up at 6:55am. Yea....part of me is excited for when they are 13 and sleeping until 11 :)

Maybe he should quit his job to be a comedian

M: I forgot to check the door
HH: I checked it earlier, it's still there.
M: Ass

That was the conversation I had with HH last night before bed, although it was via text. Yes, I've been known to text him from upstairs because I'm too lazy to actually walk down the stairs and tell him something. Plus, it's cold and my bed was warm.

Dear Target,

I love you. I do. This, my dear friend, will never change.

However, we need to have a little chat.

You see, it's January. Early January at that. It's, oh, -2 out there with the windchill lately. So while I am running in to your warmth and shaking snow out of my hair, I do not want to see skimpy little bikini's staring back at me. Last year they were out around Valentines Day, which was still unacceptable. Look, it's going to be freaking COLD here for the next, I dunno, 4 months. Also, swim trunks right next to snow pants? Really? If you are going to do that, have the decency to put the snow pants on sale. $16.99 for a pair of pants that will be worn 4 times is ridiculous.

Also, as if the fact that it's COLD (did I mention that??) isn't reason enough to keep those strips of fabric some people call a bathing suit in the boxes...let's discuss the fact that we just finished up Christmas and New Years. Which means, my lovelies, I do not want to think about putting my fat ass in to a bathing suit any time soon. I want to cover up with large sweaters and pretend like all those cookies aren't hanging out over the edge of my jeans. It's not work out incentive, it's more like...curl up with a package of Reese's peanut butter eggs incentive.

Thank you for your consideration,
The Cold & Chubby
Redheaded Mama

5 days in

I've made it 5 days in to this whole Project 365 and only once did I resort to taking a picture of one of the boys. What can I say? He was being darn cute.

And, of course there are stories for most of these...so, here goes:

This was HH's way of loading the dishwasher



He was offended that I had to take a picture (and this was before I decided to do this project!) but I couldn't help myself. I mean, everyone puts wine glasses on the bottom, right? And plastic plates and cups...

So, in all fairness, I took a picture the day I loaded the dishwasher

hmmm

And...things that make me happy this week.

Saying "Thank You"

As parents we strive to teach our children manners. Please, Thank You, You're Welcome, May I...etc etc etc.

So, why is it as adults, we slack off? Why do we forget to say please and thank you to the people that mean the most, that do the most for us? Do we simply start taking others for granted? Do we just forget in our busy day to day lives to thank the people who make it possible?

Even though my husband cleans in a different way and does things differently, I try to make it a point to tell him thank you. To tell him that I appreciate the fact that he helps out, that he does dishes and throws a load of laundry in when I'm swamped with other stuff, that when I'm in full blown panic mode he sits me down and asks me what he can do to help me out. Granted, sometimes all I want is for him to take the kids and leave me be...but that's not the point, right? :)

I think sometimes employers forget simple manners. Simple ways of telling the people who work for you, thank you. Thank you for supporting us, thank you for working hard to keep things going. Let's be honest, with out the employees...the employers would have nothing. It's simple human kindness, it's simple appreciation. I know right now most companies can't afford bonuses...or are using the economy as an excuse to skip out on bonuses and raises...but how about a simple Thank You. HH's company used to give out grocery store gift cards at Thanksgiving and they skipped it this year. They sent out a form letter/memo to everyone saying how the appreciate their hard work during these tough times. That is not the kind of Thank You I'm talking about...mass impersonal memo's floating around the office, yea...doesn't exactly have the same meaning behind it.

My point is, the next time someone does something nice for you...the next time someone goes above and beyond just say Thanks. Send a card, send an email, buy them a cup of coffee. It's the little things.

Project 365

First, when I typed that title in I wrote "Project 326", so apparently I'm creating my own project? hmmm.

At any rate, there is a thing going on in the internet world (or has been for a few years it seems) called Project 365 where you take a picture everyday about something that is going on in your life, something funny or meaningful, something out of the ordinary or totally mundane. Just, something. And then blog about it. The idea is to mix it up, and then go back and reflect on it at the end of the year.
I love this idea. LOVE IT. I already take pictures almost daily but they're 98% of my kids. This year, I'm going to attempt to not only take pictures of my kids...but take pictures of the things and the places around me. The people that mean the most to me, the things that makes me smile and laugh.

Now, I know what you are thinking...you're thinking that I must be insane b/c I am lucky if I blog once a week much less once a DAY! Well, I'm not going to set myself up to fail. My goal is to take the pictures...and then I'll likely post a weekly collage of those pictures with a short recap. I may post some individually and I might post 2 weeks at once. Hey, this is my "project 326" and I can do what I want.

Anyone else doing this?? Are you using your current blog or starting a new one? (considering starting a new one for this, but we'll see...)

Who says romance is dead?

Thing 1 spent the night with my parents last night, enjoying his last few days before school starts again. ahhh...school.

So anyway, after failing to find blue caroaco for my blue margaritas on NYE, I ran through the liquor store in my parents small town and there is was! I grabbed sushi on the way home and HH and I settled in for the night. We put the baby down and snuggled on the couch to watch Bourne Supremacy. (Love me some Matt Damon)

A movie and 3 margaritas later (what?) there was some cuddling and kissing going on. This was the conversation that ensued:

HH: You know I would have been fine just cuddling, I know you're tired.
M: Yea, well...
HH: It feels good to just hold you *all wrapped up on the couch*
M: Awe *snuggle*
HH: Of course it feels good to grab your boobs too
M: *laughing*
HH: Yep, I can kill the romance just.like.that. *snapping fingers*
M: hahahaha, yes you can
M: I'm so going to blog about this
HH: What?
M: Oh yea
HH: What, it'll go something like "and then he said..."
M: No, I'll just post it just as the conversation happened
HH: Oh, that's a little weird.

and then he went back to grabbing my boobs.

The End.