My house is a zoo!

If your squeamish about animals you may want to avoid my house. The least offensive of our pets are our fish in their 80 gallon tank, and our rabbit Zoe, who I call a puppy. And of course my youngest child who seems to think she's a monkey. After that there's my hubby's 6 ft long california king snake, each of my older kids pet mice, and the 18 inch garter snake that my son let out of it's aquarium two weeks ago, and we still haven't found. My daughter's mouse was M.I.A. most of today but I caught her while getting the kids ready for bed.

I can picture half of you squirming and saying "No way in hell!" While the other half is saying "Yep, sounds like my house too!" I use to be in the "No way!" group, now I've just accepted it. As long as the snakes aren't big enough to eat my kids, I'm good. But I definitely draw the line at spiders. No if's, and's or but's about it. NO WAY!

Zoe the bunny/puppy

This is my youngest child and her bunny Zoe. Most of the time I call Zoe a puppy. I've never seen another rabbit like her, she really is more like a puppy or even a cat maybe. She lives outside in her hutch but I bring her in the house a few times a week to play and get lots of love (a lot of kisses come from me). Zoe and the baby take turns chasing eachother around the living room. My daughter can pet her, pull her fur or her ears, pretty much do anything to her, and Zoe just lays there. Out of all our pets (fish, a snake, and 2 mice) Zoe is definatley my favorite. She's so easy to maintain and has such a good temperment.

P.S.
See why I need the cleaning fairies? And this pic is just a small glimpse!

The cleaning fairies must be on strike!

How is it possible that only a few days after thoroughly cleaning my house, it suddenly looks like a hurricane and tornado had a play date here? My living room looks like Babies-R-Us, my kitchen looks like we catered a massive party, my bathroom resembles a small water park, and pigsty doesn't even begin to explain my children's rooms. I'm not even sure my son actually has a floor!

I asked my hubby if I looked like a maid to which I'm told that maid and mom are the same thing. I tell my son to clean up his room and he comes up with every excuse imaginable; he's tired, he's hungry, he needs a hug, there's a monster, he's too little, the list goes on.

When my daughter cleans her room, I have to specify not to shove things under her bed. Then when she claims to be finished, I have to tell her that shoes, clothes, and books do not belong in her toy box. Her barbies should be in her barbie box, her baby doll stuff in their box, her clothes in their drawers and closet, and on and on it goes.

The baby isn't innocent in this mess either. She has more toys than any child her age should have, yet she insists on getting into everything but her toys. Lately she loves to grab my shirts as I'm putting laundry away and carrying them around like a blankie. Even if I give her a blankie, she still wants my shirts. I have no idea what the fascination is.

I've heard tales of little fairies who come in the night to clean your house. I think they must have went on strike when they set eyes on my house! Please little fairies, wherever you are, come back!

Yayyy Sleep!!!!

Last night was the first full nights sleep I've had in over three years! The reason for this lack of rest? I have three children who turn into monsters when it gets dark outside. But the fates must have been with me last night because my 14 month old actually slept through the night for the first time ever! I was so freaked out this morning by this seemingly unreal occurrence, that I had to rush to her crib to make sure she was still breathing. Thankfully, she was snoring blissfully. I sure hope I don't have to wait another three years for a full nights sleep!

No Tattling!

Between me and my best friend, we have 6 kids, ages 14 months, 3 years, 6 years, 7 years, 9 years, and 10 years. Somehow, they all get along very well. We're together so much that they are all like siblings, which leads to sibling type problems, like tattling. So one day when all of them except the baby were playing outside, I made a list and taped it to the front door at their eye level.

For any of the following feel free to come find the closest adult...

1. If there is anything gross coming out of your body (blood, bones, vomit)
2. If you lose one of the smaller kids
3. If there is a wild animal
4. If there is a stranger
5. If there is rock throwing
6. If there is hitting, biting, or kicking

For anything else, figure it out yourselves!

And remember, we love you!

Believe it or not, this actually has helped cut down on the tattling! If anybody has anything to add to the list please let me know.

A best friend

A best friend......

treats your children like her own.

crys when you cry.

laughs when you laugh, sometimes even at you!

is at times better than a husband

seems to know exactly when to call or text when you need cheering up.

is somebody you can't go a day without seeing or talking to.

shares your life experiences, the good, the bad, and the sometimes shameful.

is your favorite shopping accomplice.

is your biggest fan.

surprises you with your favorite treats.

loves you no matter what!

You know who you are! Love you!

Romance for married people

Remember the early 'honeymoon" days with your spouse? The days when everything about them made you feel giddy and have butterflies in your stomach? The romantic dinners for two, bubble baths by candle light, late night talks after hours of making love? Ahh those were the days......


Fast forward 5, 10, 15 years and what do you get? You've looked at the same person every morning for what feels like an eternity. The feeling in your stomach no longer feels like butterflies, now it feels like gas from a quickly thrown together dinner. The only talks you do have are about bills, kids, or work to which are mostly answered in grunts or monosyllables. And those late night intimacies have turned into him falling asleep in the recliner, snoring so loudly you can't even hear yourself think much less hear the show you're trying to watch, which leads to you thinking of ways to "harmlessly" make the snoring stop.

So what does romance consist of now? For me it's when my hubby remembers to put the toilet seat down, when he takes out the trash without me "nagging" him to do it, or when he orders pizza on Mother's Day so that I don't have to cook or clean up. It's when he pours out his favorite soda just so that I can have the crushed ice that's in it. (Oh how I love crushed ice!) It's when one of my favorite shirts of my daughters' gets a hole in it and he cuts out the picture, frames it, and gives it to me as an early Mother's Day present. My husband laughs at me for finding these things sweet and romantic. Don't get me wrong, I still want a few late night dinners for two every year, and at least occasional talks in the dark, but at the end of the day, it's the little things that make the romance for married people.

Baby Bling

My youngest daughter is 14 months old, while at a certain popular store that will remain unnamed (I'll give you a hint, it starts with a W), we decided to get her ears pierced. My husband took our son and my BF's son off to look at "manly" things while my friend and I went off in search of baby bling. We picked out the cutest little 24 carat gold earrings with sparkly pink stones. Perfect for my little princess. We wait for the two sales women since the piercing is for a child. My friend holds the baby securely while I kneel in front of her to help sooth and comfort her. One lady marks her ear for the right spot. Oops, it's not even. So she tried again. And again. And again. By this point my daughter is irritated. I'm biting my tongue, and if my friend hadn't been holding the baby, she probably would have hit the woman. Finally, everybody is ready. One, two, three, pierce! That's when all hell really breaks loose. The lady on one side did wonderful, the earring was perfectly placed. The incompetent lady who couldn't even mark the ear right, put the earring so low on her lobe that it was almost off her ear! Then the $%*#@ had the nerve to say the baby moved! So not true! So we had to take the messed up earring out, and was told to bring her back a week later to do that one again. It's been a week and a half and we still haven't got her other ear pierced because every time we go back, the stupid woman is there and my daughter starts screaming as soon as she sees her. So my poor baby is still toddling around with only half of her pretty baby bling.

Do I look happy?

My 7 and 3 year olds were rough housing in the living room a few minutes ago, while ignoring my requests for them to stop before they woke the baby. Finally I sent them both to the corner for time outs. My daughter has learned to just stand there and get her punishment over with. My son however, hasn't quite caught on. He asked "Why Mommy?" to which I reminded him why he was in trouble. He stood there for about 3 seconds then tells me he's done. I reply with "You're done when I tell you you're done." We continue this for about a minute when he turns, looks at me, and with a mix of sarsasim and seriouseness, he says..."Do I look happy Mommy?" I had to go into the kitchen to keep him from seeing me laugh!

Versatile Blogger Award

MommaC at http://thebitchinspot.blogspot.com/ just awarded me with my very first award for blogging!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

I've been told there's rules that come with this honor...

Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post.
Tell us seven things about yourself.
Award fifteen recently discovered new bloggers.
Contact these bloggers and let them know they received this award

7 things I haven't already told you about me.

1) I lived in Tucson, Arizona as a kid

2) Many days I think I'm losing my mind (or maybe the straight jacket post gave that one away. lol)

3) My favorite colors are baby blue and hunter green

4) I can tell what time of day it is by the level of my kids' crankiness

5) We have a giant rabbit named Zoe, but I always say she's our puppy

6) I just caught myself arguing with my 3 year old!

7) I can't wait for the day that I never have to buy or change another diaper!!!

As for the 15 other recently discovered bloggers, I only know one other right now. And she's going to kill me for doing this to her! lol I will try to find other new bloggers also.